MODIFICATION
R -- National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS)
- Notice Date
- 2/5/2013
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Labor, Employment Training Administration, Division of Contract Services, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N-4655, Washington, District of Columbia, 20210
- ZIP Code
- 20210
- Solicitation Number
- DOL131RI20612
- Archive Date
- 3/2/2013
- Point of Contact
- Jeffrey Brown, Phone: 2026933159
- E-Mail Address
-
brown.jeffrey@dol.gov
(brown.jeffrey@dol.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 10.002(b)(2)(i) this notice is issued for the purpose of market research to determine what types of businesses are capable and experienced to perform the required work. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP). THE RFP RESULTING FROM THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE WILL BE ISSUED SEPARATELY AND ADVERTISED on the fbo.gov website https://www.fbo.gov. The information received will be used to determine whether to issue the proposed solicitation as a competitive set-aside or full and open competition (unrestricted). The extent of the work is described within the attached statement of work. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is seeking a qualified contractor that can administer the Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), a national random survey of the employment, demographic, and health characteristics of hired crop farm workers. When submitting your response, please provide a list and description of survey research activities to demonstrate how the firm meets the criteria. The Federal Government has collected information on the demographic and employment characteristics of hired farm workers since the 1940s. Until 1987, the Hired Farm Workforce Survey, a December supplement to the Current Population Survey, was used to collect the information from agricultural employers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture summarized the information in hired farm worker profile reports. In 1988, and as a result of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), the DOL assumed responsibility for collecting this information. To comply with the IRCA mandate, which required annual estimates of the rate at which seasonal agricultural service workers exited the farm labor market, the DOL launched the NAWS, an establishment-based survey of hired crop farm workers. The NAWS questionnaire will be used to collect farm worker demographic, employment, and health information through in-person interviews with farm workers, over the contract period. The primary purpose of the NAWS has changed since the IRCA mandate and annual estimates of the rate at which farm workers leave agriculture are currently not required. As such, farm workers are interviewed only once per year and no attempts are made to locate the same respondent in ensuing interview periods. There are three data collection cycles each year. The start date for the fall, winter-spring, and summer cycle typically occurs between the first and fifteenth of October, February, and June, respectively. Each cycle lasts approximately three months. As such, interviews are conducted on a nearly year-round basis. Federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as private organizations utilize NAWS findings for a multitude of purposes, such as quantifying and assessing the human resources that are available to agriculture. The findings are also utilized in programs that aim to improve the well being of farm workers and their dependents. At the Federal level, these programs have included the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP), Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, Migrant Education, and Migrant Health. Since 1988, the DOL has collaborated with several Federal agencies to increase the utility of the NAWS, including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Administration for Children and Families, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Collaboration with Federal agencies will continue over the contract period. The contractor will be responsible for carrying out the NAWS and delivering a variety of NAWS-based research products on topics relevant to the ETA and other Federal agencies that administer migrant and seasonal farm worker and related programs. Activities undertaken in this project include, but are not limited to: • using Unemployment Insurance data and other information sources to develop a sampling frame of agricultural employers • using farm labor and agricultural production data from various sources to implement a multi-stratified probability-based sampling methodology, • developing and testing survey questions, • training interviewers to randomly select and interview between 1,500 and 3,000 farm workers per year, • developing and managing information for the construction of sampling and post-sampling weights, • managing, safeguarding, and analyzing data for the development and dissemination of research products, such as public-use and restricted-use datasets, reports, and on-line data tables, and • conducting appropriate statistical analysis and summarizing data in written, tabular, and graphic formats to complete deliverables The performance of the contract will involve access to confidential data, including data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These data are protected by law, including the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act. Protecting these data requires strong safeguards. In this particular situation, the ETA has decided within its discretion and in consultation with the BLS that all personnel who will handle the employer sampling frame data, which the BLS will provide directly to the Contractor, must be 1) direct-hire employees of the Contractor, and 2) agents of the BLS. As such, offerors who may be contemplating contracting portions of the work requirement that involve handling of sampling frame data, such as data collection, are hereby advised that further contracting for such purposes will not be permitted. Restricting the further contracting of tasks that involve handling the confidential data is necessary, after taking into account the safeguards needed to protect the data and the need for administrative convenience in implementing these safeguards. Although SMALL BUSINESSES ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESPOND, interest in this Sources Sought announcement is open to all businesses relative to the primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. The small business size is $14 million. Following the review of the responses to this notice, the Government will determine whether the solicitation for this project will be issued as a set aside or as unrestricted competition. If applicable, include whether or not your firm is a small business; HUBZone small business; service-disabled, veteran-owned small business; 8(a) small business; woman-owned small business; and/or small disadvantaged business. All firms responding to this Sources Sought must demonstrate their experience in the aforementioned work. Pertinent factors for consideration of qualifications are the firm's demonstrated experience in the following: (1) Developing and implementing a statistical methodology for a national random survey of a difficult-to-sample population. (2) Designing a management information system for survey research data. (3) Collecting individual-level data on demographic, employment, and health characteristics through in-person interviews with non-English speaking populations. (4) Obtaining relevant datasets and other information from various sources for the development of sampling frames for establishment-based surveys. (5) Developing interview protocols, including field-level random sampling procedures under various workplace settings, and training interviewers on field procedures. (6) Developing and testing information collection instruments. (7) Interviewing a minimum of 1,500 respondents per year, in-person, throughout the continental United States. (8) Developing documents to support the Paperwork Reduction Act clearance process with the Office of Management and Budget for data collection activities. (9) Obtaining appropriate reviews and approvals for the handling and securing of confidential and personally identifying information in the context of a survey research project, including in the development of public-use and restricted-use datasets. (10) Serving as the lead author for analyzing data and developing draft reports for the government's review and comment, and final reports suitable for public dissemination. All interested firms must submit a capabilities statement, to Jeffrey Brown, Program Analyst, Division of Contract Services, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N-4643, Washington, DC 20210. Responses are due February 15, 2013 by 2 p.m. EST. Electronic copies of capability statements are preferred and may be emailed to ETA.Lockbox@dol.gov with DOL131RI20612 NAWS in the Subject field. The response must be specific to each of the qualifications listed above to demonstrate that the respondent is capable. The submittals shall not exceed 10 pages, TOTAL. Oral communications, telecommunications, and faxed inquiries or comments are NOT acceptable as a response to this notice.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOL/ETA/WashingtonDC/DOL131RI20612/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: TBD by contractor, United States
- Record
- SN02980078-W 20130207/130205234630-cee87382359896ef74c71de32c6e89d6 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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