MODIFICATION
R -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to procure professional services for the administration of its nationwide "Child Care Subsidy Program." The applicable NAICS code is 541611, "Administrative Management & General Management.
- Notice Date
- 8/20/2010
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- Contracting Office
- Environmental Protection Agency, Simplified Purchases, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw, Washington, DC 20460
- ZIP Code
- 20460
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ-DC-10-00189
- Response Due
- 9/1/2010
- Archive Date
- 10/1/2010
- Point of Contact
- Point of Contact, Tanya Brice, Purchasing Agent, Phone (202) 564-4799
- E-Mail Address
-
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(BRICE.TANYA@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NAICS Code: 541611THIS IS MODIFICATION 2: THE PURPOSE OF THIS MODIFICATION - CUT OFF DATE FOR QUESTIONS ARE ON DUE AUGUST 24, 2010 AT 2:00PM. NO QUESTIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THAT DATE AND TIME. ALL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WILL BE POSTED ON AUGUST 31, 2010. ALL PROPOSALS ARE NOW DUE ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 AT 2:00PM AT THE SAME LOCATIONS AS STATED IN MODIFICATION 1. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking offers from qualified firms who are capable of providing administrative task associated with the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program. The procurement is being conducted in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 15. The applicable NAICS code is 541611, "Administrative Management & General Management. This procurement is a Total Small Business Set-Aside. Contractors must also be registered in the (CCR) Central Contractor Registration to be considered for award of a Federal contract. Registration information can be found at the CCR website at www.ccr.gov, or by calling (888) 227-2423. It is the U.S. EPA intent to award a hybrid fixed price/cost reimbursement contract. However, the government reserves the right to award the type of contract deemed most appropriate with or without conduction negotiations. The period of performance will be one 12 month base period and four 12 month priced option periods. Your response to the Request for Quote (RFQ) must demonstrate an understanding for the requirements, as well as your firm's ability to successfully complete the effort in accordance with the evaluation criteria, and detailed proposal instructions detailed herein. All materials should reference the RFQ number, RFQ-DC-10-00189. Please be advised that if your firm submits a proposal, it shall be considered valid for a period for 120 days from established solicitation closing date. Proposals will be evaluated based on both price and technical factors, with the successful offeror representing the best value to the government, all factors considered. The specific evaluation criteria for this procurement shall be explained in detail in the solicitation package. U.S. Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) may award the contract with or without discussions. It is anticipated that one award will be made as a result of this solicitation. Attached is a copy of the Statement of Work, providing details on the work to be conducted and contractor responsibilities. All interested parties must download the solicitation from the FBO websites; telephone or fax requests will not be accepted. ALL PROPOSALS ARE DUE NOT LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 by 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. All interested parties will be required to submit one (1) original and five (five) copies of their written proposal in response to the RFQ to the addressee identified below: Headquarters U.S. Postal Service Mailing AddressEnvironmental Protection AgencyBid and Proposal Room, Ariel Rios Building (3802)1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.Washington, DC 20460Attn: Tanya Brice Headquarters Commercial Carrier or Hand Carried Address Environmental Protection AgencyBid and Proposal Room, Room #61107Ronald Reagan Building, 6th Floor (3802)1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20004Attn: Tanya Brice If you have any further questions regarding the solicitation, please email me at brice.tanya@epa.gov. Environmental Protection AgencyChild Care Tuition Assistance Program AdministrationPerformance Work Statement Background The contractor will administer the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Child Care Tuition Assistance Program. Congress passed Public Law 107-67, Section 630 on November 12, 2001, which permits federal agencies to assist their lower income federal employees with the costs of child care. Tuition assistance can reduce the amount of tuition parents pay for child care by providing subsidies directly to the child care provider. Section 630 of this law provides permanent legislation authorizing executive agencies to use appropriated funds for child care services for lower income employees. Performance Objective EPA requires a contractor with the ability to receive a specified sum of money from the Agency and distribute it to child care providers as tuition assistance funds. Tuition Assistance Eligibility and Determination of Tuition Assistance Subsidy Amount Application forms will be available on a web site maintained by EPA at the following address: http://intranet.gov. Completed applications will be sent directly to the contractor, who will determine eligibility and the tuition assistance amount based on the formula provided under the ineligibility Criteria'' section in this document. Tuition assistance through the fiscal year will be disbursed by the contractor. Required reports will be furnished by the contractor. The Government shall have the option to extend the program four additional years. Applications will be received on a first-come, first-served basis until funds have been exhausted. Applications received and approved will be effective the Monday following the week of receipt and approval. Funding for Tuition Assistance Payment Within eight weeks of the close of the application deadline, the contractor will provide the Project Officer with an estimate of the funds needed for tuition assistance or providers through September 30 of each year. Performance Standards Process tuition assistance applications and make a determination of eligibility and tuition assistance amount based on family income (see Eligibility Criteria Section) within two weeks after receipt of application forms. Notify the parents and child care providers of the percentage of tuition assistance that each family will receive, and their effective dates no later than two weeks after receipt of application. Notify employees if they have been, or if they have not been accepted into the program within three weeks after receipt of application. Notify the Project Officer of applicants who have been denied and why. Provide the Project Officer with an estimate of the funds needed for tuition assistance payments to providers through September 30 of each year. Provide information on the tuition assistance program in response to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act. Maintain confidential all information contained in tuition assistance applications and ensure that only the contractor, the Project Officer, and child care provider know the identity of the applicant. On an as needed basis, the project Officer may receive a copy of the applications). Ensure that those child care providers that receive federal funds as a result of the Agency's tuition assistance program are licensed and/or regulated by state and/or local authorities. Require child care providers to submit a copy of their latest license and/or statement of compliance from their state and/or local authorities. Require child care providers to submit a completed copy of OPM Form 1644. Ensure that licensed child care providers understand that if a provider, for whatever reason, is no longer licensed and/or regulated by the state and/or local authorities, the provider will immediately notify the contractor, the Project Officer, and the federal employee whose child is enrolled in the child care program. In such cases, the provider will no longer be permitted to receive tuition funds. Upon receipt of invoices and verification of the tuition assistance amounts from the child care providers, vendor should verify that services were provided', and provide payment based on the invoiced amount not later than 14 days from the date the invoice was received. The contractor will pay the tuition assistance directly to the child care provider and not to the federal employee. Ensure the child care provider submits a written invoice o the contractor. Both the child care provider and the parent (or legal guardian) must certify on the invoice that the care was provided. Tuition assistance awards will be quoted as weekly amounts, and invoices must be prepared using full week amounts unless services for the child end during a particular week. Reporting Requirements: By January 3, the contractor will issue a report to the Project Officer which will include: "Number of EPA applications received by each participating location "Number of employees who submitted an application, but were not eligible, and reason for the ineligibility "Number of employees who submitted an application but were denied due to lack of funds; Number of employees accepted for child care subsidy; total family income and grade level of each EPA participant's "Number of children enrolled whose parents received tuition assistance, broken down by location; "Chart showing the weekly tuition assistance; overall totals dispersed for the fiscal year; "Names of participants whose total subsidy exceeds $5,000 for the fiscal year; and "Number of children enrolled whose parents receive tuition assistance, broken down by subcomponent. The contractor will issue a quarterly report to the Project Officer on the status of the Agency's Tuition Assistance Program. Quarterly reports will contain the following information and will be due on the l5 of the month following the end of the quarter. If 15th falls on a weekend, the report will be due on the following Monday. The report will include the following: "The amount of tuition assistance disbursed in the quarter "The remaining balance of Agency funds "Any changes in the basic information provided in the first report, e.g., child no longer receives a subsidy "Names and dates of the participants whose total subsidy exceeds $5,000 during a given month in order that payroll may begin tax withholdings. By January 31, the contractor will provide the Project Officer with financial information for employee tax purposes. This information will be provided in an electronic format on a disk or email and will include: "The name of each employee whose child care provider received tuition assistance Each employee's social security number and the amount of tuition assistance received by that employee's child care provider. By January 31, the contractor will provide a completed Form 1099, as required by law, to child care providers who received tuition assistance under this program. "Contractor will notify employees who are accepted into this program that they must meet certain IRS requirements for tax exemption. "Contractor will provide other reports as requested by the Project Officer. EPA Program Provisions Project Officer for EPA Program and ContractPatricia Midgett, National Program Manager - 202-564-3006 The Environmental Protection Agency's Child Care Tuition Assistance Program is available at all our locations. The Child Care Tuition Assistance Program has been extended agency-wide to all eligible employees under the provisions mentioned in this SOW. Now that Public Law 107-67, Section 630 is permanent (as of November 12. 2001); EPA is exercising the contract to extend the program to all EPA locations and is increasing the total family income criteria level to $75,000 and under. EPA still maintains the right to: Discontinue the program based on limited agency resources or other factors', or make this a permanent program. Application Procedures Applications for the EPA Child Care Tuition Assistance Program can be downloaded from the child care website at: http://intranet.epa.gov/. An applicant may be contacted for clarification on their tuition assistance application. The following documents will be required: 1.Pay statements for the two (2) most recent pay periods for each parent or guardian, 2.A copy of the most recent federal income tax return for each parent or guardian, 3.A completed OPM form 1644 (April 2002), a Child Care Provider Form, signed by the child care provider, and a copy of the child care provider's most recent license or statement of compliance with State and/or local child care regulations. (Note: lf care is provided by more than one child care provider, a completed Form 1644 and accompanying documentation must be submitted for each provider). Approved applications received after the initial deadline will be effective the Monday following the week of receipt. Only one application per employee will be accepted. If both parents/guardians are employed at EPA, only one parent/guardian may submit an application for the same child or children. Applications that are not fully completed or do not contain the requested information will not be considered. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL AND COST/PRICE FACTORS a)The Government will make an award to the responsible Offeror(s) whose offer conforms to the solicitation and is most advantageous to the Government, cost or price and technical factors considered. The combined relative merit of the technical evaluation factor listed below will be considered more significant than cost or price in the selection of the Contractor. While the cost or price factor had no numerical weight, it is a significant criterion in the overall evaluation of proposals. The proposed cost/price must be considered reasonable in consideration of the proposed technical approach. b)The Government may award a contract to other than the lowest priced Offerors. In the event that two or more Offerors are considered technically equivalent, the evaluated cost or price will become the determinative factor of which proposal is most advantageous to the Government. TECHNICAL FACTORS FOR AWARD All proposals received will be evaluated in accordance with the technical factor listed in this Section. The factors are considered to be of equal importance. Each Offeror shall provide a statement within their proposals that addresses each of the factors listed below. Failure to explicitly address a factor may result in the factor being rated as Unacceptable. I.FACTOR: Experience Demonstrated experience in performing work that is the same as, or substantially similar to child care subsidy that is required by the contract.Sub factor 1: Demonstrated experience of the offeror in conduction organizational analyses of complex, large-scale organizations. II.FACTOR2: Quality of Past Experience The offeror shall demonstrate successful past performance for the same or similar work in the past three years. The offeror must provide evidence of their successful performance of commercial and/or governmental contracts. The offeror must provide relevant past performance in directing contractor this type and scope, and accomplishing tasks similar to those describe in the Statement of Work. Past performance information should be demonstrate proper successful supervision and coordination of work, performance of staff, subcontractors, and consultants, compliance with the contract requirements, use of properly trained and qualified personnel, ability to successfully handle daily routine and non-routine issues as the arose, compliance with regard keeping schedules providing additional services. Provide reference including Government and private sector, for whom the offeror (subcontractors) had performed the same or similar services as those required for this RFQ during the three (3) years immediately prior to this solicitation closing, which included the following : contract number; description of services, Contracting Officer and Government Technical Representative including phone number; agency organization; dollar; and contract performance period. Sub factor 1: Quality of Service The offeror complied with contract requirements, used appropriate personnel, and demonstrated technical excellence. Sub factor 2: Timeliness of performance The offeror met performance milestones reliably, was responsive to technical direction, and completed work in a timely manner. Sub factor 3: Cost Control The offeror performed contracts within budget, submitted accurate and complete billings was cost efficient, and submitted no change orders due to poor cost control. Sub factor 4: Business Relations The offeror employed effective management; communicated in a businesslike fashion noticed the customer promptly of problem; was reasonable, cooperative and flexible; and had an effective small business. III.FACTOR 3. Key Personnel All proposed key personnel must be identified, and each must meet or exceed the training and experience requirements for the position for which each is proposed. Offerors must provide a resume and three references for each key personnel. The offeror must provide the names, position descriptions, and related information to support the qualifications of all staff proposed to meet key qualification requirements. Information should include relevant experience, training, and education. If subcontractors and consultants are proposed, the same information must be submitted for these subcontracts and consultants. IV.Evaluation Of Proposed Price/Costs The Offeror's cost proposal, while less important that the technical proposal, will be considered in addition to the technical factors for award to determine the proposals most advantageous to the Government. In the event that two or more Offerors are considered technically equivalent, the evaluated cost or price will become the determinative factor or which proposal is most advantageous to the Government. The offered price for the based and option periods will be added together to obtain the total price. This overall price will be sued to determine the lowest price proposals. Furthermore, an offeror's cost proposal will not be considered if it is determined to be unreasonably high.
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