R -- BIOTERRORISM AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Notice Date

July 30, 2001

Contracting Office

DHHS, Office of the Secretary, Office of Acquisition Management; Room 443H, Humphrey Building; 200 Independence Avenue, S.W.; Washington, D.C. 20201

ZIP Code

20201

Point of Contact

Point of Contact: Cheryl Howe, Contract Specialist, 202-690-5552

Description

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) intends to negotiate with Kroll, 900 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022, on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR 6.302.1. The purpose of this contract would be to obtain the technical expertise necessary to assist DHHS in carrying out its responsibility within the federal government for bioterrorism preparedness and response on behalf of the civilian population. DHHS has a long-standing responsibility under the Federal Response Plan to lead medical consequence management efforts in the wake of mass casualty events of all sorts, including natural disasters, major transportation accidents, and more common forms of terrorism such as nefarious use of conventional explosives. DHHS must ensure that its policies, procedures, initiatives, workforce and organizational arrangements are tailored appropriately to fulfill this multi-faceted mission. Therefore, DHHS has a need for temporary expertise related to bioterrorism specifically and emergency management in general. The contractor shall prepare a report regarding the status of and progress toward enhancement of DHHS performance related to bioterrorism specifically and emergency management in general. The report shall 1) identify needs in the areas of policies, procedures, initiatives and workforce; 2) propose approaches to meet the identified needs and 3) identify potential functional realignments or organizational restructurings. Kroll has unique background and broad corporate expertise and experience in risk assessment, risk management and other methodologies critical to the wide variety of security threats possible. Kroll specifically has background and expertise regarding the following facets of bioterrorism specifically and emergency management in general: Operation of the largest municipal-level agency in the United States established to plan for and carry out emergency responses to actual or potential mass-casualty events of all types, including bioterrorism. Developing and exercising partnerships with other municipal entities such as fire fighters, police, hazardous material personnel and emergency medical services as well as partnerships with State and national level public health entities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and various supplemental emergency responders such as the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Kroll personnel also have unique expertise and experience related to unprecedented municipal-level surveillance tools to help detect a possible covert bioterrorism event. They are also acknowledged international experts in this field and have participated in seminars, table-top exercises and field drills to assess the adequacy of various modalities of emergency management, especially preparedness for and response to bioterrorism. They have previously provided this type of expertise to DHHS. Any other contractor would have to develop the necessary relationships and capabilities listed above, and acquire the knowledge of the DHHS organization in order to perform the analyses required in the scope of work and to make valid recommendations in the report. Therefore, the government believes that to award this contract to any contractor but Kroll would result in a significant increase in cost and time and even then would not assure adequate expertise. The purpose of this synopsis is to determine whether there may be other sources with the requisite qualifications to perform the work described above in a cost effective and timely manner. Any organization capable of performing the work should submit a statement of capabilities with documentation supporting its ability to meet the Government's requirement as described above. No solicitation document is available. Capability statements should be submitted within 45 days of the publication of this synopsis to the contact point and address given above. See Note 22.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010801/RSOL004.HTM (D-211 SN50T478)