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R -- ACADENIC SYMPOSIUM WITH HOWARD UNIVERSITY DUE 051598 POC JANE QUINN, 410-965-9495 WEB: Download Solicitation when/if available, http://www.ssa.gov/oag. E-MAIL: Contracting Officer, SSA/OAG, JANE.QUINN@ssa.gov. The Social Security Administration (SSA) intends to negotiate with Howard University on a sole-source basis for conducting an academic symposium. The purpose of this symposium is to establish a dialogue with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) researchers and scholars on the social policy issues being publicly discussed and debated. SSA seeks both to orient interested faculty, researchers, providers and African American leaders to the complexity of the processes that address the issue, and to obtain the information, perspectives and research results from African Americans in a concentrated way. The contractor must have all of the following characteristics: 1. It must be an HBCU. HBCUs serve a unique function in educating African American students, and their special place in that community generates thought and discussion about relevant issues that SSA could not access through a mainstream university. 2. It must be able to hold the symposium in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This location would result in the greatest public notice for the effort. Further, Washington is a major population center for African Americans, and it attracts scholars on a regular basis, thereby increasing the pool from which to choose. 3. It must have doctoral level programs for both its School of Social Work and School of Economics. 4. It must be a Research 1 University as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 5. It must have extensive experience with the social policy issues that are relevant to Social Security, including experience working collaboratively with government agencies. All of these characteristics are vital to ensure that the symposium attracts the greatest number and highest quality of scholars. SSA knows of only one HBCU that meets all of these requirements, Howard University. This is not a request for quotations or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation. Requests for copies of a solicitation in response to this announcement will not be honored or acknowledged. The Government will not pay for information submitted in response to this publication. All responsible sources may submit a response which will be considered by the Agency. All responses must be received within 15 days from the date of this publication. (0120)

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