SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Evaluation of Promising Employment and Self-Sufficiency Strategies
- Notice Date
- 4/19/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 07Y013042
- Archive Date
- 12/31/2007
- Description
- The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management has a requirement for the Office of Planning , Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families. The purpose of the project is to test a range of promising strategies to promote self-sufficiency and reduce welfare utilization. This project represents the next step in a series of evaluation of demonstrations designed to promote employment and self-sufficiency among economically disadvantaged families, including those receiving or at risk of receiving welfare benefits. This project will evaluate multiple employment-focused strategies that build on previous approaches and are adapted to the current federal, state, and local policy environment. Approaches of particular interest include employment services that involve couples together, those that serve families with barriers such as a disability or a history of substance abuse, employment-focused diversion programs, self-employment programs, strategies involving employers, strategies to increase employment retention and those designed to promote career advancement. However, other approaches may also be evaluated. Such programs and services will be operating in the context of the requirements set forth in Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which changed the work participation rate calculation among other changes in the TANF program. The goal of the evaluation is to increase our knowledge about the empirical effectiveness of programs utilizing varied strategies aimed at helping low-income families sustain employment and advance to positions that enable self-sufficiency. The research for this study will be based on random assignment, experimental evaluation designs and will include impact and implementation evaluations in up to six sites. ACF expects that the interventions evaluated may range from short-term, narrowly focused activities to more comprehensive longer-term services, and that each intervention site will enroll a sample sufficiently large to allow detection of policy relevant effects. For some interventions, the evaluation may require enrollment of approximately 2,000 individuals or couples into the research sample, divided between treatment and control groups. The sample sizes may vary based on the intervention design, the population focus, and the results of power analyses for specific interventions and outcomes. At a minimum, the evaluation shall address the following research questions: 1. What are the types and packages of services or policy approaches provided under each intervention? What are the characteristics of the populations served? How are services for the target population implemented? How do services for the treatment group compare to the services available to the control group? What are the issues and challenges associated with implementing and operating the service packages and policy approaches studied? 2. What are the net impacts of selected approaches under the project on outcomes including but not limited to employment rates, earnings, wage rates, family income, employment retention, and public assistance receipt? 3. Do some programs work better for some subgroups than others? How do program impacts vary by sub-group or by treatment type? 4. What are the costs of employment programs in the study? Do estimates of benefits of providing services or implementing policies outweigh the costs of these initiatives? ACF expects that the sites selected for this demonstration may vary considerably. These broad research questions are expected to be consistent across sites and programs; however, more refined questions shall be developed to reflect the specific interventions included in the study. The proposed procurement is full and open. It is anticipated that a Cost-Plus Award?Fee Contract will be awarded for a period of 7-years for the Core Study. The contract will include optional tasks that if exercised may extend contract performance up to a period of 10 years. Solicitation 07Y013042 will be issued 15 days after publication of this notice. Prospective offerors will be given an opportunity to submit questions prior to submission of a proposal. Details and instructions for submission of questions prior to submission of a proposal will be provided in the RFP. The RFP and any amendments to the RFP will be posted on FEDBizOpps. No telephone, fax or e-mail requests for the RFP package will be accepted.
- Record
- SN01276757-W 20070421/070419220505 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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