R -- ACQUISITION TRAINING FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

Notice Date

May 25, 2001

Contracting Office

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Division of Contracts and Property Management, Mail Stop T-7-I-2, Washington, D.C. 20555

ZIP Code

20555

Solicitation Number

RS-HR-01-284

Response Due

June 15, 2001

Point of Contact

Carolyn A. Cooper (301)415-6737/Mona Selden (301)415-7907

E-Mail Address

Click here to contact the Contract Specialist via (cac3@NRC.GOV)

Description

C.1 BACKGROUND During the past four years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) provided an acquisition training program consisting of eleven workshops to NRC acquisition Project Managers (PM's) and their managers. The acquisition training program consisted of six half-day and five full-day sessions. NRC used contractor support to design and develop the workshop materials, maintain the currency of the materials, and provide Participant Handbooks (PH) and an Instructor's Guide (IG) for each of the eleven workshops. Five of the workshops were required for certification of PM's. NRC's Division of Contracts and Property Management (DCPM) staff members taught six of the eleven workshops and an outside contractor's instructors taught the other five workshops. C.2 CONTRACT OBJECTIVE C.2.1. The NRC desires to continue this training and is now seeking a contractor who is technically capable of performing the services described herein and to provide qualified instructors, who have demonstrated experience in presenting acquisition training to Federal Government PM's. In this endeavor, the contractor must be able to support, update, and maintain the accuracy and currency of the workshop materials and furnish participant materials for all of the eleven workshops. The contractor shall provide the training materials based on an assumption that the eleven acquisition workshops will be offered at least two times during a fiscal year to at least 10 participants per session. The training materials furnished by the contractor shall be identical to NRC's current workshop materials. (A sample a PH, along with the front and spine covers and excluding the white binder is provided for one of the workshops.) The contractor will be required to instruct five of the workshops. The five workshops to be taught by contractor instructor(s) are: Developing an Independent Government Cost Estimate -- half day Developing Proposal Evaluation Factors -- half day Negotiation of Project Terms and Conditions -- full day Contract Administration -- full day Preparing Statements of Work -- full day C.2.2. The first objective of the contract is to obtain the services of highly qualified instructor(s) with excellent platform skills that will enable the instructor to: instruct five workshops of an eleven-part acquisition training program for PM's. The instructors shall be fully cognizant of the nuances of the acquisition process as practiced by the NRC; impart knowledge to NRC's Project Managers attending the workshops in such a way so that maximum learning takes place and that participants, upon completion of the workshop, are able to articulate in a clear and precise manner their role and the role of others in acquiring the goods and services NRC needs to meet its mission; and reflect the NRC acquisition environment, its policies, procedures and processes, and highlight the principles embodied in the highest standards for effective and efficient program management. C.2.3 The second objective of the contract is to obtain contractor support to: furnish workshop materials for the eleven acquisition workshops, including an IG and PH for each of the workshops; and update and maintain the IG and PH for each of the workshop in an accurate and current state, either from the contractor's own knowledge of changes in procurement laws, regulations, rules or through requests from NRC's PM on NRC's policy changes, as provided through NRC's DCPM. C.2.4 To attain the second objective, the contractor shall:(1)Use the current NRC workshop materials as an example for the eleven stand-alone training modules;(2)Print slides "as is" in color (i.e., convert the background to blue and leave everything else the same);(3)Ensure that workshop materials include practical exercises to illustrate concepts taught;(4)Ensure that the hands-on orientation of the acquisition process addresses the application of established NRC's standards of contracting for both DOE laboratory agreements and commercial contracts; and(5)Ensure that the workshop materials provided by the contractor reflect NRC's current acquisition policies, processes, and procedures. (This will be accomplished by periodic telephone discussions with DCPM subject matter experts.) C.3 DEFINITIONS C.3.1 Throughout this statement of work, the following words and terms are used as defined in this subpart unless (a) the context in which they are used clearly requires a different meaning or (b) a different definition is prescribed for a particular part or portion:(1)Half-day training means a three-hour training session.(2) Full-day training means an six-hour training session.(3)Project Manager is the common title for an NRC employee who monitors the work accomplished by others either through contracts, interagency agreements, or DOE laboratory agreements. C.4.SCOPE OF WORK C.4.1 The contractor shall provide qualified instructor(s), with knowledge of the acquisition process and experience in teaching acquisition workshops to Federal Government employees. The instructors shall possess excellent platform skills and be able to teach each of the five workshops, discussed below, at least two times during a fiscal year. C.4.2 The contractor shall furnish all training materials (which includes the PH's and IG) for each of the workshops. Once the NRC PO establishes the course dates for a calendar year, which is mutually agreed upon between the DCPM instructors and the contractor, the NRC PO will send a copy of that schedule to the contractor. At least ten calendar days prior to each workshop session, the contractor shall contact the PO to obtain the number of participants for a particular workshop. The number of workshop materials specified by the NRC PO, shall be furnished to the NRC PO, at least five working days prior to the scheduled class date. C.4.3 The contractor's instructor(s) shall make every effort to achieve the learning objectives of the workshops being taught. Upon completion of the workshops, as a minimum, Acquisition Project Managers shall be able to use the contract processes and procedures to perform the following: Acquire commercial goods and services; Place orders with the DOE; Evaluate proposals and negotiate reasonable costs; Write clear and concise statements of work; Modify contracts; Describe the specific steps for effective technical and cost monitoring of contracts and DOE Lab agreements; Use basic procurement methods; and Prepare an Independent Government Cost Estimate. C.4.4 The instructor(s) shall present the following five workshops: C.4.4.1 Acquisition Workshop 2 -- Developing an Independent Government Cost Estimate. This half-day module workshop is organized under the following topics: Introduction (including thresholds requiring development of an IGCE) Underlying assumptions regarding labor (level of effort, technical skills, and skill mix) required for performing the contract; The process for preparing an IGCE; Estimating the number of hours required for each labor category; Direct labor and indirect labor rates; Application of direct labor and indirect labor rates to direct labor hours; Estimating materials, services, and Information Technology (Technology support,Estimating travel costs,Estimating the amount of subcontracting(including consultants), Estimating other direct costs, Estimating general and administrative (G&A) costs, Determining the commercial contractor's fee or profit,or the DOE added factor. Upon completion of this half-day workshop, Project Managers should know what information is needed in order to prepare an IGCE. C.4.4.2 Acquisition Workshop 3 -- Developing Proposal Evaluation Factors. This half-day workshop covers the following topics: Elements of the Award Decision Process; Purpose of Proposal Evaluation Factors; Function of Proposal Evaluation Factors; Proposal Evaluation Planning; Selecting and Developing Evaluation Factors; Desirable Characteristics of Evaluation Factors; Criteria for Choosing Evaluation factors; Required Evaluation Factors; Evaluation Factors for Complex Procurement; Weighting Evaluation Factors; Describing Evaluation Factors and their Relative Importance in the Solicitation; Cost Considerations; IGCE Factors Contract Types; Cost Considerations in Fixed Price Contracts; Cost Considera- tions in Cost Reimbursement Contracts; Cost Comparisons; Best Value Continuum; and Summary of Process for Developing Evaluation Factors. Upon completion of this half-day workshop, participants shall be able to more clearly understand the relationship between the SOW and technical evaluation factors and how the SOW and technical evaluation factors influence the source selection decision. C.4.4.3 Acquisition Workshop 5 -- Negotiation of Terms and Conditions. This full-day workshop covers procedures and techniques to successfully negotiate technical approach, project costs, terms and conditions. The following topics are covered under this module: Establishing the Government's negotiation position; Reviewing the statement of work, independent government cost estimate, and proposal notes; Developing the Competitive Range Recommendation Report and technical/cost questions for negotiation discussions; Presenting technical/cost questions to commercial offerors and DOE National Laboratories; Determining if responses to questions indicates an understanding of the SOW and includes a viable contractor approach; Pursuing lines of inquiry with follow-up questions when necessary to arrive at a meeting of the minds' regarding project costs, terms and conditions; Documenting the agreement in a Summary of Negotiations statement. Upon completion of the workshop, participants should, at a minimum, be able to develop a supportable agency negotiation position and apply negotiation techniques to assess the offeror's/DOE Laboratory's understanding of the project's statement of work. C.4.4.4 Workshop 6 -- Contract Administration. This full day workshop is organized into eight sections with supporting subsections. Topics in this workshop are: Introduction to Contract Administration; Post-award kickoff meeting; Monitoring performance; Spending controls; Modifying contracts and agreements; Common project problems; Dealing with problems; and Documentation. Upon completion of this full-day workshop, participants shall be able to clearly understand proven contract monitoring techniques and how to: Track project costs against the spending plan; Remedy performance based problems; Modify or terminate a contract/agreement; Properly approve/disapprove vouchers; C.4.4.5 Workshop 10 -- Preparing Statements of Work. In this one-day workshop, the instructor shall address the:Contents of an acceptable Statement of Work (SOW), and The stages and general principles involved in writing a SOW, including the proper SOW language. A significant part of the day will be devoted to participants writing and reviewing Statements of Work as a means of improving skills, and obtaining first-hand knowledge in writing clear and complete SOWs. Through practical exercises, participants will evaluate and write a Statement of Work to gain an understanding of the importance to the contracting process of a well written scope of work. Upon completion of this workshop, the participant shall be able to: Describe the essential characteristics of a statement of work; Describe the different stages of writing a statement of work; Recognize how a poorly-written Statement of Work can have an adverse effect on competition and lead to contract administration problems, such as late or unacceptable deliverables; and Identify and prepare proper Statement of Work language. C.5 WORKSHOP MATERIALS C.5.1 The training materials consist of a PH and an IG for each of the following stand-alone workshops:(1)Acquisition for Project Managers-Overview-Full day; (2)Developing an Independent Government Cost Estimate-Half day;(3)Developing Proposal Evaluation Criteria-Half day;(4)Source Evaluation Panel Procedures -- Full day; (5) Negotiation of Project Terms and Conditions-Full day; (6) Contract Administration -- Full day;(7)Property Management-Half day;(8)Closing Out the Contract-Half day;(9)Organizational Conflict of Interest-Half day;(10)Preparing Statements of Work-Full day; and(11)Acquisition for Supervisors and Managers-Half day. C.5.2 The contractor shall update and maintain the workshop modules in an accurate and current state. The contractor shall replicate all workshop materials as shown in each of the workshop modules, using PowerPoint software, unless otherwise instructed. Upon award, the NRC will provide the contractor with the following items:(1)A disk for each of the eleven workshops to use for replicating the IG and the PH. Each time the contractor updates any workshop materials, the contractor shall date the Table of Contents page for both the IG and the PH (example: Rev: 021899), and provide three copies of each of the pages updated plus three copies of the disk to the NRC PO,(2) The IG and the PH for each workshop module shall be identical in design and format as the current issue of the training materials. The contractor shall replicate all workshop materials exactly as shown in each of the workshop modules unless otherwise instructed by the NRC PO.(3)The IG and the PH shall be assembled in a white three-ring binder with cover and spine artwork. The title of each workshop shall be printed with white letters on dark blue paper and the NRC logo and IG/PH shall be printed in blue lettering on a white background as illustrated by the sample provided with this SOW. C.5.3 The Contractor shall furnish the NRC PO three copies of the IG for each workshop. The IG shall include the following:(1)A binder spinal and front cover for both IG and PH; (2) A specific objective for the particular workshop, setting forth the outcome expected from each workshop;(3)A table of contents for each workshop. The IG shall have correlating PH page numbers;(4)A daily schedule for each workshop;(5)A step-by-step approach to the method of instruction, including the time devoted to each topic;(6)Miniaturized versions of all slides used by the instructor with appropriate text providing and explanation of the slide to be discussed;(7)Three-holed punched slides of all vugraphs to be used inserted into the IG afte the text under tab entitled "Slides";(8)Slides printed on blue vugraph paper;(9)Date of update on Table Contents page lower left side of page;(10)Set of applicable tabs for each module; and(11) Materials developed using PowerPoint. C.5.4 The Contractor shall provide the NRC PO three copies of the PH. The PH shall include the following:(1) Goals -- Purpose of the training;(2)Learning objectives;(3)The actual course materials with Tables of Contents and Topic tabs;(4)Miniaturized versions of all slides used by the instructor with appropriate text provided explaining the slide to be discussed with space provided for note taking;(5)Materials developed using PowerPoint; and(6) Three new disks each time workshop(s) is (are) updated, plus updated replacement pages. C.5.5 The IG and the PH shall correspond with each other so that the instructor will be able to point out to the class participants the topic under discussion and the page number in the PH. C.5.6 Other workshop materials requirements include the following:(1)A table of contents for each guide/handbook, tied to the text;(2)All reference materials tied to the applicable text; and(3)Interactive student exercises on all "how" to modules. C.5.8 The NRC PO will establish mutually agreed upon workshop dates between the contractor and DCPM, and notify the contractor as soon as possible once the schedule has been established. The contractor, upon receiving the workshop schedule, shall establish procedures to ensure that the materials for a particular workshop are furnished to NRC, at least ten calendar days prior to the date of the scheduled workshop. The NRC PO will review the workshop materials for quality, accuracy, and completeness and correct assembly and collation, as well as the number of copies ordered versus the number of copies received. Should any errors be discovered that are caused by the contractor, such as omissions, incorrect collation, illegibility, or packaging, the NRC PO may reject the materials and the contractor shall immediately take action to correct all errors prior to the scheduled course, at no cost to the NRC. C.5.9 The contractor shall update and maintain all materials in a current status pertaining to procurement law, regulations, and NRC's policies and procedural changes. Each stand-alone module shall contain material reflecting the NRC's acquisition environment. The workshop materials shall provide for lectures, practical exercises, group discussions, and NRC-provided reference materials. The practical exercises shall convey contract principles and illustrate acquisition policy, practice, and procedures used at the NRC. C.5.10 After presentation of any workshop, the instructor shall review participants' evaluations for comments and make recommendations, as appropriate, to the NRC PO and the Contractor for minor changes to improve workshop training materials. C.5.11 A minimum of two months before the next offering of the workshop, the contractor shall contact the NRC PO and the DCPM subject matter expert to determine if any changes to the training materials are needed. C.6 WORKSHOP INSTRUCTION C.6.1 The contractor shall provide qualified instructor personnel to teach the five individual training workshops listed in paragraphs C.4.4.1 through C.4.4.5 of this SOW. Although NRC internal instructors will conduct the other six workshops of the acquisition training program, the contractor's instructors shall have a basic understanding of how the other six workshops fit into the program. The Contractor's instructor(s) shall also be knowledgeable with regard to the concepts and processes of NRC Management Directives 11.1 and 11.7. The contractor shall provide its instructor(s) with an IG for teaching purposes. The instructor shall discuss the objectives of each workshop presented and check throughout the workshop to ensure that the stated learning objectives for each workshop are properly addressed. C.6.2 The contractor's instructor personnel shall possess a thorough knowledge and understanding of the workshop materials, as well as have knowledge in both Federal and NRC contracting regulations and DOE Laboratory agreements. Instructor personnel shall also be able to apply NRC contracting policies and procedures regarding both commercial contracts and DOE laboratory agreements. NRC will provide samples of applicable solicitations and contracts to be used in classroom discussions, case studies, and practical exercises. The contractor's instructor personnel shall utilize their professional knowledge in evaluating and enhancing learning through motivation, impromptu examples, and group dynamic techniques. Lectures, audiovisuals (excluding films), class discussions, case studies, and practical exercises shall be used for effective learning. All resources used shall be oriented toward the NRC. The instructor shall focus heavily on participant involvement in the topic being discussed. This emphasis shall include hands-on learning activities, such as case studies and practical exercises, and interaction between participants and the instructor to clarify points and reinforce learning objectives. NOTE: See amendment for the rest of solicitation document!

Web Link

Click here to download a copy of the NRC solicitation (http://www.nrc,gov/ADM/CONTRACT/solcon.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010530/RSOL013.HTM (W-145 SN50N1X7)