U -- DESIGN AND DELIVERY OF A BASIC BUSINESS WRITING COURSE

Notice Date

May 22, 2001

Contracting Office

U.S. OPM Retirement Operations Center, 1137 Branchton Road, Boyers, PA 16017

ZIP Code

16017

Solicitation Number

ROC-01-001

Response Due

June 21, 2000

Point of Contact

Karen Crisman 724 794 2005 ext. 5231

E-Mail Address

kscrisma@opm.gov click her to contact the contracting (kscrisma@opm.gov)

Description

C. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT BACKGROUND/PURPOSE The Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center in Boyers, Pennsylvania is part of the United States Office of Personnel Management, Retirement and Insurance Service in Washington, District of Columbia. This office is responsible for the initial processing of retirement and death claims for retired federal employees and their survivors, responding to customer correspondence and the final storage of all federal civil service retirement and insurance related records. The Office of Personnel Management has accepted the Plain Language Writing Technique and is seeking a contractor to design and deliver a basic business writing course to be delivered to approximately four hundred employees. The timeliness and quality of this service is crucial to the overall mission of the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center. STATEMENT OF WORK A. Content The contractor shall design and deliver a basic business writing course that incorporates the six (6) main principals of the Office of Personnel Management's accepted plain language criteria to approximately four hundred employees. The plain language criteria includes: 1. Focus On Your Audience  Use "you" when you can  Use examples or question and answer format Organize Your Document Logically  Lead your reader through the document  Use informative headings  Keep sections short  Summarize main points before going into details Use Active Voice  Have an actor! For example: use: OPM Issued new guidelines not: new guidelines have been issued  Get rid of tion & -ment For example: use: recommend or improve not: make a recommendation or improvement Be Clear  Use common, everyday words  Use must not shall to convey a requirement  Define industry terms  Use acronyms sparingly  Avoid jargon and legalese  Use correct grammar Be Concise  Use short sentences (average 20 words)  Use short paragraphs (under 15 lines)  Drop repeats such as: Absolutely complete or end results  Avoid word build-up For example: use: Many OPM employees write letters. not: There are many employees in OPM who write letters. Make it Visually Appealing  Include white spaces in design and layout  Use bullets, tables and charts The course shall contain exercises as much as practical. Samples of "Pattern Letters" currently in use will be provided to the course designer. B. Course Design An employee profile (pre test) will be developed by the contractor and administered to participants to determine what level of training he/she shall receive. We envision a course design consisting of three (3) option levels based on the results of the pre-testing. While the contractor can recommend the appropriate length for each of the course designs, they should use a benchmark of fifteen (15) classroom hours for each course:  Beginner  Intermediate  Advanced C. Quality Assurance A post course assessment shall be developed and approved by the OPM prior to the delivery of training. This assessment will provide a qualitative measure of the effectiveness of the training being delivered and will be given to all participants to assess their level of comprehension of the course. The results will provide the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center an ongoing evaluation tool to measure the effectiveness of the course material and delivery. Should these assessments indicate poor results, the contractor will be expected to modify the course design as indicated and re-train staff at no additional costs. D. Other Considerations The course need not be accredited, and it shall become the property of the Office of Personnel Management. This includes all handouts and instructor notes. The course will be held at the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center 1137 Branchton Road, Boyers Pennsylvania 16017. The contractor shall be within a fifty (50) mile radius of the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center. The Office of Personnel Management anticipates a starting date for the delivery of the course to be August 1, 2001 and the days and hours of training shall be Monday Thursday from the hours of 7:00 AM -- 4:30 PM. Exact start up date and class hours will be determined as sessions are developed and as workload permits. The Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations shall provide the facility and training equipment. E. Proposals The offeror should provide the Office of Personnel Management, Retirement Operations Center with a proposal consisting of:  a description of the course offered with recommended goals and objective and their recommended course material;  descriptions of past experiences and list of references, including names and telephone numbers of individuals that could attest to the success of your training courses(s);  resumes and experience of instructors who will be doing the actual training. Offerors must submit three copies of a proposal covering the program offered, including pricing for all classes. Proposal should be submitted no later than the close of business June 21, 2001. Proposals will be evaluated based on a combination of cost and the quality of technical factors. Technical factors include quality of the course and course materials offered, experience and past performance, and qualifications and experiences of instructors. Technical factors will be give primary consideration over cost.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010524/USOL002.HTM (W-142 SN50M7Z2)