SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Expert Knowledge, Advice, and Support on Management of Commercial Trust Operations as it Relates to the Development and Implementation of Options for Conducting a Historical Accounting of Individual Indian Money Accounts.
- Notice Date
- 2/21/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Minerals Management Service, GovWorks, 381 Elden Street, MS 2500, Herndon, VA 20170-4817
- ZIP Code
- 20170-4817
- Solicitation Number
- 86199
- Response Due
- 3/8/2002
- Archive Date
- 4/8/2002
- Point of Contact
- Wallace O. Adcox, Contracting Officer, (703) 787-1354
- Description
- Gov.Works is issuing this request for proposals on behalf of the Office of Historical Trust Accounting, U.S. Department of the Interior. This notice is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in the Federal Acquisition Regulations, Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; OFFERS ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. Contract period is for a base period of two years with an option for an additional year. The Government reserves the right to unilaterally extend the period of contract performance in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, "Option to Extend the Term of the Contract--Services." STATEMENT OF WORK: The Office of Historical Trust Accounting, an office of the Secretary of the Interior, has a need for long-term support, analysis, and expert advice and Departmental leadership for the historical accounting on how a commercial trustee would operate and provide information to common law trust beneficiaries. BACKGROUND: The Department of the Interior (Department) has the fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the U.S. Government to manage both Tribal trust funds and Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust funds. These two trust funds and accounts are managed by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST). The Office of Historical Trust Accounting (OHTA) was established on July 10, 2001, to plan for and direct the historical accounting of IIM accounts. The OHTA is developing a Comprehensive Plan for the historical accounting which must be presented to and approved by the Congress to secure long-term funding, and to the District Court in relation to the "Cobell v. Norton" litigation (see below). In creating the OHTA, Interior Secretary Gale Norton set a first charge to prepare an initial plan for what must be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan. This initial plan submitted September 10, 2001, the "Blueprint for Developing the Comprehensive Historical Accounting Plan for the Individual Indian Money Accounts," is the framework for preparing the Comprehensive Plan. The Secretary's second charge was to develop a plan for initial work that can begin before the Comprehensive Plan is completed. The OHTA submitted on November 7, 2001, the "Report Identifying Preliminary Work for the Historical Accounting." (Both documents are available on the OHTA website at www.doi.gov/ohta/). The OST, established by the "American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994" (PL. 103-412), was created to improve the accountability and management of Indian funds held in trust by the Federal Government. Currently, OST maintains approximately 1,400 accounts for 315 Tribal entities with cash and investments of approximately $2.8 billion, and more than 285,000 IIM accounts with cash and investments of approximately $300 million. Annually, approximately $800 million passes through the Tribal trust fund, and approximately $300 million passes through the IIM trust fund. This income is generated from the sale or rental of Indian-owned land and natural resources such as timber, farming, grazing, and royalties from various minerals and oil and natural gas exploration and production, and from land use for rights-of-way and easements. Funds also are derived from interest earned on invested funds, as well as awards or settlements of Tribal or individual Indian claims. The BIA, along with the Department's Minerals Management Service and the Bureau of Land Management, manage the land records, and income collection and processing. COBELL V. NORTON: The facts underlying the "Cobell v. Norton" litigation involve a broad sweep of United States history. Although U.S. policy through the 1870s was to locate Indians on reservations, the government began to break up reservations starting in the 1880s. Thousands of individual Indians were allotted 60-to 120-acre parcels of land in the breakup. The government held these parcels in trust, and established an Individual Indian Monies Trust Fund to collect and disburse to the Indians any revenues generated by mining, oil and gas extraction, timber operations, grazing or similar activities on their land. In June 1996, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Department by five Indian plaintiffs on behalf of Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders which asked for, in part, the historical accounting of IIM accounts. The case was divided into two phases: the first phase addressed the Department's efforts to reform the management of IIM trust funds, and the timing and scope of any second phase relating to actual accounting issues is not known at this time. Trial was held during June and July 1999 on the first phase of the complaint. In December 1999, the U.S. District Court ruled that the Department was in breach of four specific duties. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the ruling of the District Court; however, it stated that the actual legal breach was the failure to provide an accounting. It is within this context that the Department will design its approach and conduct the historical accounting using appropriate methods to fulfill its trust responsibility. HISTORICAL ACCOUNTING PROJECT: As part of the Department's overall trust reform efforts, the Department is undertaking an evaluation of the reliability of past IIM account activity. Part of this work is already underway for the period after enactment of the "American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994." That work will not, however, discharge the Department's duty to account as outlined by the two courts. The mission of OHTA is to determine what will be required to meet the Department's duty to account, present the plan to Congress, and upon appropriation of funds needed, implement the accounting. Given the length of time involved, the distinct histories of various groups of trust assets, the various business practices that generated trust income, known or suspected problems in the records, and other historical factors, the development of a plan for the historical accounting is expected to be a complicated task. Among the things that must be evaluated are the relative costs, utilities, and impact upon beneficiaries of various approaches to providing the accounting for distinct subgroups of accounts or trust assets. The plan for the accounting must be both fair to beneficiaries and feasible. Based on information developed through public meetings and from related efforts, including substantial work in relation to production of records for the five named plaintiffs, reconciliation of the five named plaintiffs' accounts, additional research and progress toward the historical accounting, and related trust reform efforts, the Department will develop a plan, as requested by Congress in the fiscal year 2001 appropriations report language, describing in detail how the Department will conduct the historical accounting, the methods to be employed, the anticipated costs, and anticipated levels of confidence and accuracy in the results. In her Secretarial Order and memorandum of July 10, 2001, Secretary Gale Norton established the OHTA and charged the OHTA with planning and carrying out this historical accounting. NATURE OF THE CONTRACT: This contract is intended to provide the OHTA and the Department with independent expertise and advice on the historical accounting from the perspective of managing a large commercial trust operation. Generally, the contractor will be asked to review materials provided by the OHTA and provide comments and suggestions on how the issue would be or has been addressed in the commercial trust setting, pursuant to trust specifications and common law trust responsibilities. The contractor may be asked to review reports, plans, alternative proposals, legal documents, accounting procedures, historical accounting results, information to beneficiaries, or may be asked to address specific issues and questions. The contractor is expected to offer its own independent analysis and comments strictly from the standpoint of its own practice and experience as a commercial trustee. As required, the contract may be modified, curtailed, or extended, as needed by the OHTA. WHAT WE NEED: The selected contractor will: 1) Have experience managing a large commercial trust operation; 2) Possess knowledge of what constitutes an accounting to beneficiaries by a trustee; 3) Possess knowledge of the responsibilities and obligations of a commercial fiduciary/trustee across a broad range of trust assets and management situations; 4) Examine and evaluate records, documents, plans, accounting work, and other materials from the standpoint of a commercial trustee; 5) Provide independent advice to the OHTA and Departmental leadership on how a commercial trustee would carry out its trust obligations in similar or related situations and on issues in the historical accounting of IIM accounts; 6) Provide independent advice to the OHTA and Departmental leadership on trustee-beneficiary relationships in a commercial trust setting; 7) Suggest alternative approaches to a historical accounting of the IIM trust accounts based on commercial trust management experience. There are two principal parts to the historical accounting that affect this contract. The first part is a planning phase focused on developing the Comprehensive Plan for the historical accounting. The second part is actually conducting the historical accounting. Some aspects of the historical accounting may, as part of the preliminary work and pilot projects, be commenced prior to completion of the Comprehensive Plan. The contractor selected will be used to provide continuing trust management advice and expertise regarding their trust management experience and perspective. DURATION: While the duration of this contract is envisioned to be approximately three years, the actual term will be determined by the contractor's performance, need for the expertise, and available funding. LOCATION: It is anticipated that the contractor will be available for periodic meetings at its offices, at the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC, or at sites around the United States. Meeting frequency is expected to average about once a month. DIRECTION: The contractor(s) will work with and be directed by the Deputy Director of OHTA, who will also be the contract technical representative for Interior. However, the contractor may also receive tasks directly from senior OHTA and Departmental officials. All tasking, reporting, and communicating procedures will be established at the start of the contract. TASKS AND DELIVERABLES: Tasks and deliverables on an ongoing basis will include but are not limited to those below. Additional tasks may be added by mutual agreement. 1) Review and analyze documents, reports, options, issues, and questions submitted by the OHTA that relate to the historical accounting of IIM accounts; 2) Provide independent, expert analysis, advice, comments, and recommendations, as appropriate, based on the contractor's experience of how it did or would address similar issues as a commercial trustee; 3) Prepare written analyses, reports, or discussion papers to address documents, issues, and questions submitted by OHTA. The contractor's analysis will include the basis for arriving at its conclusions and recommendations; 4) Participate in discussions with key OHTA, Departmental, and other contractor personnel on historical accounting, beneficiary relations, and related decisions, policies, procedures, and provide expert independent advice and recommendations as appropriate. HOW TO PROPOSE: Offers must submit brief written proposals NOT EXCEEDING Fifteen (15) pages in length. The proposal shall detail the methodology by which the offer will meet our needs and demonstrate the relevant experience of the company and its key personnel. Resumes must accompany the proposal but do not count against the 15 page limit. The proposal must include a Management Plan detailing how the offeror will manage the project with a clear table of organization. The offeror must demonstrate in their proposal: 1) extensive experience acting as a trustee for a large number of clients; 2) record of exceptional past performance acting as a trustee. As part of the proposal, the Offeror shall provide the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three (3) businesses or Government agencies for whom the Offeror has performed as a trustee. Offers must also submit a business proposal priced on a time-and-material basis. The proposal should be priced by task showing the position; loaded hourly rate; number of hours; and an estimate of other direct costs such as travel. EVALUATION CRITERIA: 1) Experience acting as a trustee; 2) past performance acting as a trustee; 3) technical approach; and 4) price. This is a best value procurement which favors technical competence over price. Among offers considered technically equal, price will be the deciding factor. The following provisions/clauses are incorporated by reference: FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items (Oct 2000); FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items (Jan 1999); FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items (May 2001); FAR 52,212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items (May 2001); and FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or executive Orders-Commercial Items (May 2001). Copies of these provisions and clauses are available via the World-Wide Web at http://www.arnet.gov/far/. Offerors may download and use the FAR 52.212-3 section from the website or request a copy from the Contracting Officer. You may fax a written request for these documents to the Contracting Officer at 703/787-1387 or send an e-mail request to "Lngshot9@AOL.COM". OFFERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 4:00 P.M. (LOCAL TIME) ON MARCH 8, 2002, AT MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, GovWorks, MS 2500, 381 ELDEN ST., HERNDON, VA 20170. Offers must include the following: (a) the 3 references described above, (b) the completed Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items FAR provision 52.212-3, and (c) time-and-materials priced offer for the base period and option year. You should submit one original and five (5) copies of your proposal. We would also appreciate a digital copy submitted via e-mail by the due date. All correspondence must reference RFP 86199. PLEASE FAX OR E-MAIL ANY QUESTIONS.
- Record
- SN00028278-W 20020222/020220213029 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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