MODIFICATION
R -- Office of Head Start - National Interim Management Program
- Notice Date
- 5/4/2017
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Acquisition Management Services, 7700 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, Maryland, 20857, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20857
- Solicitation Number
- 17-233-SOL-00348
- Point of Contact
- Paula L Conner, Phone: 3014925581, Alicia Allen, Phone: 3014925582
- E-Mail Address
-
paula.conner@psc.hhs.gov, Alicia.Allen@psc.hhs.gov
(paula.conner@psc.hhs.gov, Alicia.Allen@psc.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Office of Head Start National Interim Management for The United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start Attachment C SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE - 17-233-SOL-00348 INTRODUCTION The Program Support Center at the Department of Health and Human Services wants to identify viable small businesses that are capable of fulfilling the objectives of this requirement for the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start. This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. BACKGROUND The Head Start Program is authorized by the Head Start Act, 42 U.S.C § 9831 et seq. The program is administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services. OHS provides grants to local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families. The Head Start program provides grants to local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families. Head Start promotes school readiness by enhancing the social, cognitive, physical and emotional development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Head Start programs engage parents in their children's learning and help them in making progress toward their educational, literacy and employment goals. The Head Start Program also emphasizes the significant involvement of parents in the administration of local Head Start programs. Early Head Start was established in 1995 as a program for low income families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women. In creating Early Head Start, the Congress acted upon evidence from research and practice which indicates that the time from conception to age three is critical for human development and that for infants and toddlers to develop optimally, they must have healthy beginnings and the continuity of responsive and caring relationships. Early Head Start programs provide family-centered services designed to promote the development of the youngest children, and to support positive parenting, and help families move towards self-sufficiency. Since its beginning in 1965, Head Start has served more than 34 million children and their families. In FY 2016, Head Start served 1,100,000 children, of whom 195,587 were served in Early Head Start programs. There are approximately 1,600 Head Start grantees, including 1,000 grantees providing Early Head Start. Head Start grantees range from small agencies serving 100 children to large agencies with budgets in the millions of dollars, serving thousands of children. ACF set aside $635 million for new and existing Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships and Expansion. In FY 2014, Congress appropriated $500 million which funded 275 grantees. In FY 2016, Congress appropriated an increase of $135 million to support additional EHS-CC Partnerships and Expansion programs. To assure high-quality services, the Office of Head Start is responsible for evaluating all Early Head Start and Head Start grantees' compliance with the Federal regulations and Head Start Program Performance Standards. Grantees which are not in compliance, as determined by the OHS Monitoring System reviews may lose their Head Start grant through a suspension or termination of that grant. Grantees may also choose to relinquish their Early Head Start and/or Head Start grant. In addition, OHS may determine a Head Start or Early Head Start agency not to be providing high-quality services to children and families. These grantees will compete for continued federal funding which may result in the transition of services to a more capable agency. While the Office of Head Start is engaged in the discretionary grants competition process to select a new permanent grantee in a community, an agency may be appointed for an interim period to assure there's no disruption of services to children and families through the continuity of services. SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS The mission of interim management is to avoid interruption of critical Early Head Start and Head Start services in low-income communities when there is a loss of local grantee sponsorship either through summary suspension, termination or relinquishment. Based on OHS' determination of need in a community, contract services shall be delivered in one of the following two service delivery models to ensure continuity of services, to the extent possible, as well as technical assistance for the transition of operations from former grantees to newly awarded grantees. OHS will determine which option to use based on each circumstance and the availability of resources. 1. Grantee Interim Management In cases where OHS has determined there is a need for interim management of Early Head Start and/or Head Start services in a local community in order to avoid interruption in services, the Contractor shall serve as interim management for up to one year, or until such time as permanent grantee sponsorship for the service area is resolved. As interim management, the Contractor shall provide for the oversight and administration of the day-to-day operation of Early Head Start and/or Head Start programs as assigned. The Contractor shall work with prior grantees and replacement grantees, as appropriate, to ensure orderly transition of sponsorship to include on-site technical assistance on transition activities, licensing, property transfers, vehicle transfers, hiring of staff, lease agreements, inventory transfers and ensure timely and orderly transition of grantee operation with minimal or no disruption of services to children and families. 2. On-site grantee transition support In cases where a new grantee is awarded and there shall be a transition of grantee business to a successor grantee, the Contractor shall serve as technical assistance and support during transition of operations from a former grantee to a newly designated grantee. Upon assignment and when appropriate this may include deployment of a small transition assistance team to support the organizational transition of operations from the former grantee to the newly designated agency. This option would only be employed in the case of no children being served due to a natural break in service, or if services to children were not at risk of disruption for a significant period of time. The on-site transition assistance team shall work with the newly designated agency to develop a transition plan and timeline that addresses licensing, property transfer, vehicle transfer, hiring of staff to ensure an orderly transition of grantee operations with minimal or no disruption of services to children and families. Assumptions for the number of grantees to be supported by each model are provided in the chart below. It is anticipated that the number of grantees supported by each model will fluctuate within optional additional periods of performance. Approximate Number of Grantees Annually Model 1 - Interim Management Up to 30 Model 2 - Transition Management Up to 20 RESPONSE INFORMATION HUB ZONE SMALL BUSINESSES, 8(A) FIRMS AND SMALL BUSINESS FIRMS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT CAPABILITY STATEMENTS. THE CAPABILITLY STATEMENT MUST CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE THE FIRM'S CAPABILITY AND EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING THE GRANTS.GOV PROGRAM WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) SERVICES TO HOST, OPERATE, MAINTAIN, AND ENHANCE THE GRANTS.GOV SYSTEM. In order to respond to this notice, interested firms should address the depth and breadth of professional and technical capabilities, past performance working with federal early childhood programs, and must be able to clearly convey its experience and/or ability to perform in the following areas, which are identified as core services: 1 Quality Control System; 2 Assume Role of Interim Management Grantee; 3 EHS/HS Interim Grantee Operations and Monitoring; and 4 Grantee Transitions. 1. QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM The Contractor shall establish and implement a quality control system that includes the following: • The formation and implementation of a Management Team; • Specific activities and timelines, for implementing quality assurance processes, including the process for reporting to the Contracting Officer Representative (COR); • Specific activities and timeline for on-boarding and orientation of staff; • Process and specific strategies to be used for the ongoing supervision and support of staff, including oversight of the quality and content of their work; • Strategies for working with grantees; and • Strategies for working with ACF Regional Offices, Tribes, State and local authorities, governing boards, community stakeholders and other early educators, as appropriate. 2. ASSUME ROLE OF INTERIM MANAGEMENT GRANTEE FOR SELECTED GRANTEES (Applies Only to Model 1) OHS will provide, to the extent possible, advance notice of the need for services; however, the Contractor shall be prepared to be on-site as the interim management agent for a selected area(s) within 48 hours of being notified. When the COR is notified that a grantee may be suspended, relinquish a grant, or be terminated, the COR and Contractor will begin planning for the interim assignment at the grantee's site. Under the Head Start National Interim Management contract the Contractor will be acting as a management and fiscal agent on a temporary basis on behalf of ACF. The Contractor will operate as an Early Head Start and/or Head Start grantee and is responsible for maintaining high-quality operations of the program in accordance with all appropriate federal and Head Start Program Performance Standards and state and local regulations and laws. The specific functions of the interim management agent are: • Provide oversight and ensure the continuity of the Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) grant program operations which includes performing day-to-day activities in areas of management, personnel, fiscal, payroll and accounting. • Comply with the Head Start Program Performance Standards and all application federal regulations, 45 C.F.R. Parts 1301-1305, and 45 C.F.R. Part 74 and 92. • Participate in all OHS grantee reporting requirements and data systems that include, but are not limited to submitting annual Program Information Reports (PIR) and monthly enrollment reporting in the Head Start Enterprise System (HSES). • Ensure all facilities are licensed as applicable with state requirements. • Maintain a safe environment for children, staff and families. 3. EARLY HEAD START AND/OR HEAD START INTERIM GRANTEE OPERATIONS & MONITORING (Applies Only to Model 1) The Contractor shall: • Develop a system to support and assist federal staff when necessary in all matters of federal interest of real properties associated with grant programs under interim management; including activities to gather legal documentation on federal interest as early as possible after assuming interim management of an individual grant program. • Submit for each individual grant program under interim management nationally a fundable application using the required standard federal forms. • Develop and maintain data collection, on-going monitoring, and reporting systems to execute and demonstrate accountability, oversight, and compliance for individual grant programs under interim management. • Possess experience managing HHS federal grants at the program level and possess in-depth knowledge of grant application requirements. 4. GRANTEE TRANSITION (Applies Only to Model 2) Based on their past performance with successfully transitioning program operations of an Early Head Start or Head Start grantee, or like transition of early childhood programming from one entity to newly designated entities, the Contractor will: • Develop approaches and activities to meet the unique and specific needs of grantees as OHS transitions operations from the current grantee to the newly designated grantee organization. The Contractor shall provide materials, training and resources that will enable grantees new to OHS to transition seamlessly and prepare to continue to operate quality programs for children and their families. • Support federal program staff in assembling key resources necessary to begin working with Early Head Start and Head Start grantees that have been designated to compete to initiate the process of transitioning services, with minimal disruption, to the newly designated grantees. • Deploy staff to grantee programs nationwide that are experiencing a transition to manage and lead the transition of services from the existing grantee to the newly designated community-based grantees. INSTRUCTIONS TO INDUSTRY INTERESTED SOURCES POSSESSING THE CAPABILITIES TO MEET THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS SHOULD SUBMIT A COVER LETTER ALONG WITH A CAPABILITY STATEMENT NOT TO EXCEED TEN (10) PAGES DEMONSTRATING ABILITY TO PERFORM, AND SHOULD INCLUDE AN OUTLINE OF PREVIOUS OR SIMILAR PROJECTS SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN PERFORM A PROPER EVALUATION OF THE COMPANY'S CAPABILITY. THE STATEMENT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE AN INDICATION OF CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS STATUS; THIS INDICATION SHOULD BE CLEARLY MARKED ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE CAPABILIITY STATEMENT. This notice is for PSC's planning only. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Interested small business firms are highly encouraged to respond to this notice. However, firms should understand that generic capability statements are not sufficient for effective evaluation of their capacity and capability to perform the work required. Responses must directly demonstrate the company's capability, experience, and ability to marshal resources effectively and efficiently to perform objectives described above. The written response to this notice should consist of the following items: 1. Company Name 2. Company DUNS number 3. Company point of contact, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and website address Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of company point of contact who has authority and knowledge to clarify responses with government representatives 4. Date submitted 5. Applicable company GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle 6. If you have a Government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system. 7. Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). All respondents must register on the CCR located at http://www.ccr.gov/index.asp Responses must be submitted not later than May 15, 2017. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. The maximum number of pages for submission is ten (10) pages. As previously stated, the Government will not entertain questions regarding this market research; however, general questions may be forwarded to the following: Contract Specialist: Paula Conner Email Address: paula.conner@psc.hhs.gov
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