MODIFICATION
B -- PROMOTING OPPORTUNITIES DEMONSTRATION (POD) PROJECT
- Notice Date
- 4/26/2016
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Social Security Administration, Office of Budget, Finance, Quality and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1540 Robert M. Ball Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland, 21235, United States
- ZIP Code
- 21235
- Solicitation Number
- SSA-RFI-17-1002
- Point of Contact
- Adrianna Shaney, Phone: 4109652566
- E-Mail Address
-
adrianna.shaney@ssa.gov
(adrianna.shaney@ssa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) PROMOTING OPPORTUNITIES DEMONSTRATION (POD) PROJECT This is a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. It is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations and in no way obligates the Government to award a contract. 1. Purpose The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) from the Social Security Administration (SSA) is to solicit feedback from industry on approaches to accomplish the Implementation and Evaluation of the POD project. The information provided in response to this RFI will be used for SSA's informational and planning purposes including market research. We request vendors' feedback to the Draft Brief Scope of Work and responses to the questions in this RFI. However, vendors are advised any such feedback may be used in a solicitation(s). Absolutely no proprietary information shall be submitted. By submitting responses to this RFI, you are authorizing the Government to use the information that you provide. SSA will not return any information submitted in response to this RFI or notify vendors of the specific results of the RFI. SSA reserves the right to contact, or not contact, any party responding to this notice in order to obtain further information for market research purposes. We issue this RFI solely for information and planning purposes and this notice is not to be constructed as a commitment by SSA. We will not consider responses to this notice as offers and cannot accept responses to this RFI to form a binding contract. Vendors are solely responsible for all expenses associated with replying to the RFI, as no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information submitted in reply to this notice. Again, this RFI in no way obligates the Government to award a contract. In addition to this RFI, on April 25, 2016, SSA will hold a one-day panel meeting, which will also provide input to SSA concerning the POD project. The recommendations of the panel will be made public via an amendment to this RFI. 2. Background Section 823 of the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 instructs the Social Security Administration (SSA) to carry out the Promoting Opportunity Demonstration (POD). The purpose of POD is to test a $1 for $2 benefit offset for individuals in the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program. SSA will apply the benefit offset to earnings above a standard threshold (determined by the Commissioner) or an itemized Impairment-Related Work Expense (IRWE) level. The BBA states that once benefits reach $0 under the offset, SSA may terminate beneficiaries DI eligibility, but their Medicare coverage will continue for 93 months. The demonstration is to begin no later than January 1, 2017 and will last for five years. Participation must be voluntary and participants may withdraw at any time. 3. Potential Project Scope SSA is in the planning stage for two potential acquisitions; one, for the implementation and another, for the evaluation of POD. SSA anticipates conducting the demonstration in three to ten sites constituting a variety of areas with the ability to provide meaningful analyses and policy recommendations reflecting national diversity. In general, the potential acquisition for implementation piece would include two services to participants in the demonstration, 1) the coordination of earnings and IRWE information submission to SSA and 2) benefits counseling based on POD policies. A separate potential acquisition for the evaluation piece would include the evaluation of all of the sites and will fulfill research goals. This request for information offers interested parties the opportunity to provide recommendations on effective approaches for the implementation and evaluation of POD. Input in response to this request will assist in refining our requirements for this project. The information included in this RFI includes a Draft Brief Scope of Work for implementation of POD (Attachment 1) and a separate Draft Brief Scope of Work for the evaluation of POD (Attachment 2). 4. Key Questions : Please note: The following questions solicit input that may be used to aid in refining our requirement for POD project. Vendors' responses are greatly appreciated and encouraged. Please note that as stated above, any information provided may be used in possible upcoming acquisitions. Although SSA is encouraging your input, vendors must not provide proprietary information. POD Policies: • What are the pros and cons of using the Trial Work Period monthly amount ($810 in 2016) as the threshold? • What would the evaluation issues be for testing more than one threshold? • Are there other policy modifications that could be tested, for example, related to the offset rate, suspense, or termination? POD Services: • Are services that mirror the current Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program sufficient to provide support for the benefit offset and earnings reporting? Are there additional types of assistance that a WIPA-like entity could provide that would be valuable, e.g., outreach, reminders, follow up? • What are the implications of increasing the capacity of current WIPAs, compared with completely separate entities, to serve POD participants? • The WIPAs negotiate a multitude of state and local entities and environments and reflect these variations in their services. Could a national provider by telephone/call center deliver these differing, individualized services? • Are there other services widely available that would be beneficial for POD? POD Evaluation Issues • What primary research questions best reflect the legislative intent for the demonstration? • What measured outcomes best answer the primary research questions? • What modifications to criteria for the participant population should be considered? • What are the pros and cons of having the States recruit participants vs. the evaluation contractor conducting recruitment? • Are there ways to make the evaluation more generalizable, given the conditions set out in the legislation? • What are the benefits and drawbacks of the alternative ways to achieve generalizability? Lessons Learned • What have we learned from prior SSA demonstrations that is important for POD? • How can we enhance beneficiary understanding of the benefit offset and POD rules? 5. Response to RFI In addition to your comments on the Draft Brief Scopes of Work and responses to SSA's questions, please provide the following information about your company: a. Company name: b. DUNS Number: c. Address: d. Point of Contact: e. Email: f. Phone: Responses must be sent electronically via email to Adrianna.Shaney@ssa.gov. Please reference SSA-RFI-17-1002 in the e-mail subject line. The file size limitation for e-mail attachments is 4 megabytes; however, multiple emails may be submitted. Neither telephone responses nor faxed information will be accepted. Responses are due by 11:00 a.m. EST on 5/04/2016.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/SSA/DCFIAM/OAG/SSA-RFI-17-1002 /listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Nationwide, United States
- Record
- SN04095215-W 20160428/160426234159-2ac9386f5a96c9af65940d4393b5aa1d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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