DHHS/Administration for Children and Families, Division of Acquisition Management, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W., Washington, DC 20447

B -- DHHS/ACF/DAM, 370 L'ENFANT PROMENADE, SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20447 SOL ACF990095 DUE 043099 POC Rosemary Murray, Contr. Spec.(202)401-5563; Debbie Powell, Contr. Officer (202) 205-4916 PROCUREMENT ORDER FOR A SPECIAL CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION CONSULTANT TO THE HEAD START BUREAU IN THE AREAS OF CHILD AND EDUCATION. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Administration on Children, Youth and Families' Head Start Bureau is issuing a Request for Quotation for the Procurement Services of a Special Childhood Development and Education Consultant to the Head Start Bureau in the areas of Child and Education. This procurement will use Simplified Acquisition Procedures in FAR Part 13. The Standard Industrial Code (SIC) 8742. Any contractor/vendor able to meet requirement must demonstrate in writing by RFQ due date. This notice is intended for competitve puroses. You may E-mail questions/concerns to RMurray@dhhs.gov. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Please include the following: Company Name; Address; Phone Number; Business Class; and E-mail Addrsss. NO PHONE CALLS ARE ACCEPTED. All questions must be in writing and will be answered in writing. Award shall be made to the firm whose offer provides the best value to the Government, price, technical capability and past performance considered. Award may be made without discussions if the most favoable inital quote results in the lowest overall cost to the Government. Four copies of all proposals, for the following Statement of Work should be delivered to the following address. (fax/E-mail copies will not be accepted) Department of Health and Human Services, 901 D Street, SW, ACF Mailroom -- 2nd Floor, Washington, DC 20447, Attn: Rosemary Murray, 2:00 p.m. East (Any quotes received after the due date will not be considered or opened. WRITTEN RESPONSES SHOULD INCLUDE PRICES AND TECHNICAL DATA SUFFICIENT TO DETERMINE CAPABILITY. BACKGROUND -- The "Head Start Act" is Title VI, Subtitle A, Chapter 8, Subchapter B of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, PL 97-35 (8/13/81). This Act was most recently re-authorized, through fiscal year 2003, by the Coats Human Services Amendments of 1998, PL 105-285 (10-27-98). The new legislation reaffirms core features of Head Start's mission and structure and adds significant new provisions to strengthen program quality, accountability, expansion, and partnership and research efforts. The internet address for this information is www.2.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/hsb/ choose What's new. The Head Start Bureau will be working in partnership with ACF Regional Offices, Head Start grantees and delegate agencies, and other leaders in early childhood services and research to guide and support implementation of this legislation. OBJECTIVE Head Start is a comprehensive Child Development Program that has served low-income children and their families since 1965. Children served in Head Start are between the ages of birth and five. In October of 1998, President Clinton signed into law the bipartisan Head Start Reauthorization Act of 1999, which re-authorized Head Start through fiscal year 2003. The objective of this legislation is to promote school readiness.This is done by enhancing the social and cognitive development of low-income children through the provision of health, educational, nutritional, social, and other service that are determined, based on family needs assessments, to be necessary. The focus of the 1998 Reauthorization Bill is providing quality service. The purpose of this procurement order is to identify an Early Childhood Educator to be a consultant to help guide and advise the Bureau on the implementation of the 1998 Reauthorization Bill. The government anticipates the period of performance for this contract to be approximately four months with an anticipated award date of May 1999. The contractor will be expected to do an assessment of existing legislation and to compare the new mandate with the previous legislation and provide recommendation to the Bureau on how the Head Start Bureau might begin to meet the new requirements regarding (1) teacher qualifications, (2) mentoring and supervision and (3) child outcomes. Task 1 -- Orientation -- The contractor shall meet with the Federal Project Officer (FPO) and other appropriate Head Start Bureau staff within five working days after the award of the purchase order to clarify the objectives of the project and to ensure the mutual understanding of the tasks to be performed and the approach to be taken. The contractor will provide a work plan that will include a three-page draft assessment work plan and timetable, which must be agreeable to the FPO, at the time of the orientation meeting. This work plan will outline a plan of action for assisting the Bureau on meeting the legislative requirements. The plan of action will be based on the assessment and comparison of the current happenings, the past and the new requirements.The contractor is to submit a monthly progress report to the FPO. The report will consist of the contractor's activities, list problems, best practices and recommendations. The report shall critique the draft compendium on model approaches to mentoring; the report shall include teacher qualifications, mentoring and child outcomes Task 2 -- Teacher qualifications -- The 1998 legislation gives new requirements related to teacher qualifications. These higher level professional requirements for teaching staff have been placed upon Head Start to ensure that high quality services are provided to the children and families served. The contractor will: Assess the current teacher qualification requirements; Compare the requirements of the previous legislation and the 1998 legislation and attend a local focus group, analyze the written reports from the focus groups, and identify the major areas to be addressed by the Bureau. Task 3 -- Mentoring and supervision of child development and education staff -- working in the various Head Start program options to assist Grantees in meeting the mandate of quality identified in the 1998 legislation and to help them implement, the use of mentors as a vehicle through which to achieve this goal. The contractor will assess the use of mentors in Head Start and other early childhood programs; compare practices on the use of mentors in Head Start and other programs that use mentors and attend a local focus group on mentoring and discuss with the Bureau highlights of the information provided by regional staff, grantee representatives, and other professionals in attendance. Task 4 -- Child outcomes -- The 1998 legislation mandates new requirements regarding child outcomes as a result of participation in Head Start -- Recommend appropriate measures for children birth through five; analyze what the current program Performance Standards requires and see how this meets the requirements of the 1998 Reauthorization and attend a local focus group on child outcomes and discuss with Bureau staff the highlights of the information provided by regional staff, grantee representatives, and other professionals in attendance. Task 5 -- Final Report -- The final report must state how the Bureau can meet the Federal mandate. Also, the final report must include a summary of activities; results of the assessment, problems the Head Start community may encounter and recommendations to the Bureau. Level of Effort: The labor category and days listed below are estimates for the level of effort required to carry out the work described herein. The Government presents this description of the level of effort only as a sample of how to carry out the scope of work. Offerors are expected to make their own assessment of the resources required to perform the stated tasks. LEVEL OF EFFORT: POSITION and PERSON DAYS: Special Childhood Development & Education Consultant -- 120 days. The Schedule of Deliverables/Activities and Period of Performance -- The period of performance shall be conducted over a period of approximately four months. The anticipated award date is May 1999. Task 1 Orientation -- 5 business days Task 1a. Submit written draft Work Plan at Orientation; Task 1b Monthly Progress Report -- 10th of the month; Task 2 Teacher qualifications -- Task 2c Attend a local focus group -To be announced; Task 3 Mentoring and supervision -- Task 3c Attend a local focus group -- To be announced; Task 4 Child outcomes -- Task 4c Attend a local focus group -To be announced Task 5 Final Report -- Task 5a Final Report -- Last day of the contrac. The contractor is to deliver final report in one hard copy and a disck. The final report is not to exceed 10 pages. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The following factors and weights constitute the evaluation criteria against which the proposal will be judged. SOUNDNESS OF THE APPROACH -- 35 points -- The extent to which the consultant demonstrates a sound approach to meet the requirements of the tasks listed. The extent to which the applicant explains why the approach is effective in light of the needs, objectives and outcomes described in the Background and Objective sections of the procurement order. UNDERSTAND THE SCOPE OF THE WORK STATEMENT -- 30 points -- This section is a discussion of the requirement and will be evaluated on the degree of understanding the scope of work statement. CONSULTANT QUALIFICATION -- 35 points -- The consultant should state technical and professional qualifications and include a resume and relevant experience. The consultant will describe previous experience in providing comprehensive child and family development services to infants through five-year-old children. The consultant will describe experience with teacher qualification, mentoring, and child outcome assessments. Cost Evaluation: Cost will be evaluated on the basis of best buy to the Government and cost realism which is defined as the offeror's ability to project costs which are reasonable and indicate the offeror understands the nature and extent of the work to be performed. Past Performance: An offer will be reviewed on performance under existing contracts and past performance on prior contracts for similar products or services as specified in the Statement of Work. ACF will focus on information that demonstrates the quality of the work performance relative to the size and complexity of the procurement under consideration. THIS ACTION IS SET-ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. THE DUE DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS IS 4/30/99. Posted 04/15/99 (W-SN320877). (0105)

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