SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- LPI (Language Proficiency Trainer) - Application Form
- Notice Date
- 11/25/2014
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 611630
— Language Schools
- Contracting Office
- Peace Corps, Office Of Acquisitions And Contract Management, OACM, 1111 20th Street, N.W., Room 4416, Washington, District of Columbia, 20536
- ZIP Code
- 20536
- Solicitation Number
- PC-15-Q-005
- Archive Date
- 12/27/2014
- Point of Contact
- Vijaya Murthy,
- E-Mail Address
-
vmurthy@peacecorps.gov
(vmurthy@peacecorps.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- LPI Tester/Trainer Application Form Base Notice: LPI (Language Proficiency Trainer) - PC-15-Q-005 Notice Type: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Posted Date: November 25, 2014 Response Date: December 12, 2014 Archiving Policy: Automatic, 15 days after response date Archive Date: ____________ Classification Code: R -- Professional, administrative, and management support services NAICS Code: 611630 - Second Language Instruction NOTICE INFORMATION Solicitation: PC-15-Q-005 Agency/Office: Office of Acquisitions and Contract Management Location: Washington DC Title: LPI Tester Trainer Description(s): This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 05-77. This RFQ is a 100% small business set aside. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 812990. The FAR clauses contained herein apply to the solicitation. Only the FAR clauses matching the awardee's Small Business Program and Type of representation applies to this award. Prospective contractors shall complete electronic annual representations and certifications at www.SAM.gov in conjunction with required registration in the System Acquisitions Management (SAM) database Peace Corps is an independent civilian executive agency of the Federal Government established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to promote world peace and friendship through the service of American volunteers abroad. The three primary Peace Corps goals established in the founding legislation are: • Improve the lives of people through grassroots assistance, • Foster a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served, and • Foster a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. The Peace Corps has a requirement for the acquisition of testing and training services for the conduct of Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) Tester/Trainer Workshops on the dates and at the locations listed below. Please note that workshop locations and dates may change. Provide alternate dates if you are interested in the workshop but unavailable for those dates: Post Language Workshop Dates # of participants (approximate) Health Considerations Consult CDC Website: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/ 1  Ghana Sign Language 1/5/2015 12 Yellow Fever, Malaria 2  Mozambique Portuguese 3/16/2015 12 Malaria 3  Mexico Spanish 5/2015 (exact date undetermined) 15 NA 4  Morocco English 5/4/2015 12 NA 5  Togo French 5/11/2015 12 Yellow Fever, Malaria Benin French 5/18/2015 12 Yellow Fever, Malaria 6  Costa Rica Spanish 6/8/2015 12 Dengue, Chikungunya Nicaragua Spanish 6/15/2015 12 NA 7  Paraguay Spanish 6/8/2015 12 Yellow fever 8  Colombia Spanish 7/27/2015 12 NA 9  Senegal French 8/3/2015 12 Yellow Fever, Malaria Burkina Faso French 8/10/2015 (tentative with Senegal) 12 Yellow Fever, Malaria Language Tester Trainer Statement of Work Contractor coordinates with Language Testing Specialist at Peace Corps Headquarters and local Peace Corps staff in the country where the workshop is conducted. The LPI Tester Trainer will prepare for, facilitate, and process the results of a 5-day language tester certification workshop to be conducted at each specified Peace Corps Post. The workshop will be conducted for local Peace Corps staff in how to correctly administer and conduct Peace Corps' Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) and apply Peace Corps' LPI system to evaluate spoken language. The contractor is important in re-certifying previously trained testers, certifying new testers, and providing quality assurance and quality control at Post for language testers. Duties and Responsibilities 1. Work with the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington to plan workshop and trip. 2. Prepare for trip in terms of vaccinations, passport, and travel reservations and visas through SATO travel. 3. Participate in a conference call with each post at least one week prior to trip facilitated by the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington. 4. Transport materials to posts from Peace Corps-Washington as needed. 5. Conduct PC LPI tester training for each post using materials as supplied by PC-Washington to supplement the training manual (audio files, video files, role-play cards, manual, and PowerPoint slides). 6. Discuss with local Language Coordinator issues of quality control, Training of Language Trainers (TOT), and LPI Standards at each post. 7. Within three weeks of return to the United States, email participant evaluations to the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington and recommend candidates for certification after carefully reviewing the following criteria for each candidate:  performance in the tester training workshop  performance on two interviews conducted by each candidate  performance on written theory test  performance on listen and rate test 8. Within three weeks of return to the United States, email a detailed trip report to the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington for each post visited. 9. Return all materials supplied by PC-Washington to the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington. 10. Mail all participant workshop evaluations, written assessments, and recorded certification interviews on CDs or cassette tapes to the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington.   Schedule (2 posts) The consultancy will consist of sixteen days between date of award and September 30, 2015, and is divided as follows: • Two (2) days between date of award and September 30, 2015 to review PC LPI tester training materials and hold a conference call with each post prior to arrival at post. • Five (5) working days, date of award and September 30, 2015, in-country to conduct PC LPI tester training workshop and meet with local Language Coordinator at Peace Corps post. • Five (5) working days, date of award and September 30, 2015, in-country to conduct PC LPI tester training workshop and meet with local Language Coordinator at Peace Corps post. • Four (4) working days between date of award and September 30, 2015 to review each candidate and submit recommendations for certification according to performance in the tester training workshop, performance on two interviews conducted by each candidate, performance on written theory test, and performance on listen and rate test. Schedule (1 Post only) The consultancy will consist of eight days between date of award and September 30, 2015, and is divided as follows: One (1) day between date of award and September 30, 2015 to review PC LPI tester training materials and hold a conference call with post prior to arrival at post. Five (5) working days, date of award and September 30, 2015, in-country to conduct PC LPI tester training workshop and meet with local Language Coordinator at Peace Corps post. Two (2) working days between date of award and September 30, 2015 to review each candidate and submit recommendations for certification according to performance in the tester training workshop, performance on two interviews conducted by each candidate, performance on written theory test, and performance on listen and rate test. Close-Out/Final Payment After completing the contracted period of performance, please send a final voucher/payment package to the Contracting Officer in Washington, DC and Contact Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington after trip. Return all materials to Language Specialist (training materials, participant assessments, participant workshop evaluations, and trip report). Return the following travel voucher and contract payment forms: International Travel Voucher: All expenses related to your international travel (round trip travel from home of record to Post) are to be claimed on travel voucher forms attached to your initial Travel Authorization Form (TA). Refer to form for Travel Voucher. Compensation (Daily Rate) Voucher: You will submit an invoice for salary. You will receive this form with your contract. Pre-Contract Costs Voucher (Non-taxable): You will submit receipts and a separate invoice to claim reimbursement for pre-contract that are itemized in the contract expenses (insurance, visa, passport, immunizations, FedEx, etc.). Non-taxable items must be invoiced separately from taxable compensation. You will receive this form with your contract. Final Report: You will complete this at the conclusion of your contract. Signed Contractor Release Form: You will receive this form with your contract. Make arrangements within 3 weeks after the workshop to conduct a conference call with the Language Testing Specialist at PC-Washington to discuss recommendations for tester certification, notes from local Language Coordinator meeting, and overall workshop feedback. The contractor MUST be able to work at the locations on the specified dates listed above. 1. Participant evaluation forms: these will identify the participant as certified, provisionally certified, or not certified. The evaluation will be based on the participant's workshop participation, 2 certification interviews, written exam, and listen & rate exam. This evaluation will be shared with the participant by Peace Corps-Washington • 1 for each participant • Required to be submitted electronically 2. Trainer workshop report • 1 detailed report for each Peace Corps post visited • Required to be submitted electronically 3. Written Exam (1 for each participant) • To be corrected during the workshop with participants 4. Listen & Rate Exam (1 for each participant) • To be corrected during the workshop with participants 5. Participant's Workshop Evaluation (1 for each participant) • To be completed at the end of the workshop by participants 6. Cassettes/CDs of 2 certification interviews for each participant 7. Training Audios CDs (provided by Peace Corps prior to the workshop) 8. Testing Audios CDs (provided by Peace Corps prior to the workshop) 9. Training Video DVDs (provided by Peace Corps prior to the workshop) 10. CD with PowerPoints and Other Workshop Materials (provided by Peace Corps prior to the workshop) Travel-related Forms: 1. Travel Voucher Sheet with original signature 2. All receipts pertaining to travel (itemized food receipts not necessary) 3. Completed Schedule of Expense sheet • required to be submitted electronically Contract-related Forms: 1. Contractor's Release (1 page) with original signature 2. Purchase Order, Receiving Report and Voucher (2 pages) with original signature on both pages 3. All receipts related to contract agreement (Clements, SOS, mailings and misc.) INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS: All offerors should submit the following materials to Peace Corps via email at the contact information listed below: Fernando Tonolete Email: ftonolete@peacecorps.gov cc: vmurthy@peacecorps.gov 1. Application form (Attachment A) Please submit proposals in response to this solicitation in the manner described below: 1) Attachment "A" to this solicitation is the prescribed application form with all of the workshops for this year listed; 2) Select all of the workshops you are interested in for this year on the application form;2. Past Performance: Please submit supporting documents which consist of your resume and three (3) references. References shall be signed personal reference letters. If you have conducted the same workshops in the past, the Peace Corps would already have your supporting documents consisting of resumes and references in its records. Hence, you do not have to resubmit them. 3. Price ?? The quote must be good for 120 Calendar days after close of RFQ. Award will be based on best value to the Peace Corps. Responses are due on or before 12:00 PM December 5, 2014 Eastern Standard Time (EST) via email attachment. Questions shall be submitted in writing on or before that date, in any case no later than COB November 30, 2014. EVALUATION CRITERIA Peace Corps (PC) seeks to award multiple contracts for Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) Tester Trainers for upcoming workshops at various Peace Corps posts in 2015. This work is essential in order to accurately assess Volunteers' foreign language proficiency using a valid, standardized testing system accepted around the world. Being able to assess Volunteers' language proficiency allows Peace Corps to demonstrate compliance with the Peace Corps Act (Peace Corps Act Pub. L. 87-293, title I, Sec. 24, Sept. 22, 1961, 75 Stat. 624) and report on Indicator 1.2.1.a. of the Agency Strategic Performance Plan. Without this training posts would not be able to accurately assess Volunteers' foreign language proficiency and the Agency would not be able to demonstrate compliance with the Peace Corps Act or report on Indicator 1.2.1.a. of the Agency Strategic Performance Plan. The evaluation team will review individual applications, resumes, and references and evaluate each applicant according to the evaluation criteria. Evaluation Factors - only quotes which meet the minimum technical evaluation criteria will be considered. Technical Evaluation Criteria Minimum Qualifications for Language Tester Training: • MA in Teaching English or other languages as a Second/Foreign language, or MA in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics or similar with a focus on teaching languages. • Certified ACTFL Tester. • Experience conducting language tester training workshops. • Significant experience in language testing. • Superior proficiency in the language of the workshop • Experience working in multicultural and multilingual contexts outside of the United States of America. Desired Qualification for Language Tester Training: • Certified ACTFL Tester Trainer. • Prior experience working with Peace Corps. The evaluation will consider strengths, weaknesses, and deficiencies. The Offerors were rated using the adjectival rating scale shown below. Outstanding (O) The proposal exceeds the fullest expectations of the Government. The Contractor has convincingly demonstrated that the evaluation requirements have been analyzed, evaluated, and should result in outstanding, effective, efficient, and economical performance under the contract. The proposal is comprehensive, thorough and of exceptional merit. No deficiencies or significant weaknesses have been found. When applied to criteria and/or the proposal as a whole, an outstanding rating indicates that no deficiencies or significant weaknesses exist within any sub-criteria that represent a performance risk within the criteria and/or the proposal as a whole. Good (G) The proposal demonstrates overall competence, meets all minimum requirements and exceeds requirements in some areas but not all. No deficiencies or significant weaknesses are apparent. Strengths outbalance any weaknesses that exist. No more than a few minor weaknesses have been identified that are easily correctable and do not represent a performance risk. When applied to criteria and/or the proposal as a whole, a good rating indicates that no deficiencies or significant weaknesses exist within any sub-criteria that represent a performance risk within the criteria and/or the proposal as a whole. No more than a few minor weaknesses have been identified within the criteria and/or proposal that are easily correctable and do not represent a performance risk. Acceptable (A) The proposal is reasonably sound and meets the minimum requirements. The proposal may contain weaknesses and/or significant weaknesses that are correctable but no deficiencies. If any weaknesses and/or significant weaknesses are noted, they should not seriously affect the Contractor's performance. Marginal (M) The proposal demonstrates a shallow understanding of the requirements and approach and marginally meets the minimal requirements for acceptable performance. The proposal contains weaknesses and/or significant weaknesses and may contain deficiencies. If deficiencies exist, they may be correctable with a significant revision of the proposal. The Contractor may complete the assigned tasks; however, there is a moderate risk that the Contractor will not be successful. When applied to the criteria and/or the proposal as a whole, a marginal rating indicates that there are deficiencies and/or significant weaknesses within the criteria and/or proposal that represent a moderate performance risk. Only a significant revision of the proposal would correct these areas of concern. Unacceptable (U) The proposal fails to meet minimum requirements or contains one or more major deficiencies. The proposal is incomplete, vague, incompatible, incomprehensible, or so incorrect as to be unacceptable. The evaluator feels that the deficiency or deficiencies is/are uncorrectable without a major revision of the proposal. The deficiencies, weaknesses and/or significant weaknesses would seriously affect the Contractor's performance and represent a high risk that the Contractor will not be successful. Past Performance: Three (3) professional references for relevant work performed. Price: Please submit salary information for positions held in the past ten (10) years. The Peace Corps will utilize salary information you submit for past positions to calculate daily rates. Evaluation of price will be based on daily rates of the trainers. Award will be made to the offeror whose proposal for each workshop represents the best value to the government, based on three evaluation factors: technical approach, past performance, and price. The technical approach and past performance adjectival ratings will be equally weighted, and the two combined will be significantly more important than price. The Government will evaluate all applicants and will assess each applicant as related to the Evaluation Factors. Multiple awards may be made from this notice. • Competitive evaluation of applicants will be based on the following criteria: • Experience conducting Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) using ACTFL's OPI testing system • Experience training and evaluating Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) testers in ACTFL's OPI testing system • Documented Superior level language proficiency according to the ACTFL Guidelines if workshop will be in language other than English • Prior performance if the applicant has previously conducted LPI tester training workshops After the announcement closes, the Peace Corps will evaluate all applications for the purpose of making selections based on the evaluation criteria listed in this solicitation, taking into consideration factors such as trainer availability and cost to arrive at a judgment of best value. Within a reasonable time thereafter, will be notified about your status for all of the workshops you applied for, whether you were selected or not. Awards will be made based on individual purchase orders to be issued to the selected candidates. For questions relating to the contracting process this year, please contact the undersigned at: Fernando T. Tonolete Contractor Peace Corps /Acquisitions and Contract Management(ACM) 1111 20TH ST. NW, Washington, DC 20526 202-692-2628/ftonolete@peacecorps.gov Place of Contract Performance: Various overseas locations The selected Offeror must comply with the following commercial item terms and conditions, which are incorporated by reference: FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition; FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items - selected Offeror must submit a completed copy of the listed representations and certifications; FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items; FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items, and the following additional FAR clauses as cited in the clause at paragraph (b) are applicable to this acquisition: (11) 52.219-6, Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside (Nov 2011) (23) 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Representation (Apr 2009) (26) 52.222-3, Convict Labor (Jun 2003) (27) 52.222-19, Child Labor -Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (Mar 2012) (28) 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Feb 1999) (29) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Mar 2007) (31) 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities (Oct 2010) (38) 52.223-18, Encouraging Contractor Policy to Ban Text Messaging While Driving (Aug 2011) (47) 52.232.33, Payments by Electronic Funds Transfer - Central Contractor Registration (Oct 2003) ATTACHMENTS: Attachment A - Application Form
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- Place of Performance
- Address: Worldwide, United States
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