SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- MBE/WBE Fair Share Rulemaking Technical Assistance
- Notice Date
- 2/20/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Bid and Proposal Room, Ariel Rios Building (3802R) 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460
- ZIP Code
- 20460
- Solicitation Number
- PR-HQ-03-10502
- Archive Date
- 3/27/2003
- Point of Contact
- ELEANOR R. NOLAN, Contract Specialist, Phone: 202-564-3446, E-Mail: nolan.eleanor@epa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to ELEANOR R. NOLAN
(nolan.eleanor@epa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total HUB-Zone
- Description
- STATEMENT OF WORK MBE/WBE Fair Share Rulemaking Technical Assistance BACKGROUND The purpose of this requirement is to provide the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) with technical support during its Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)/Women Business Enterprise (WBE) Rulemaking process. In an effort to further assist the Regions and EPA grant recipients in complying with and understanding new standards resulting from the Supreme Court ruling in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 115 S. Ct. 2097 (1995), OSDBU has a need for experienced professional technical assistance in the areas of outreach; facilitating public hearings; responding to public comments; and evaluating and analyzing availability analyses and disparity studies. The newly established mandate in the Adarand decision is new to the Federal government procurement process. Over the next 48 months, OSDBU will be completing its Rule making process to change the Agency's MBE/WBE program to meet the changes now required given the Adarand decision and the Department of Justice's review of the program. The Agency will also consider changes that will make the program more user friendly and uniform across the Regions, between the states, tribes and territories. The contractor shall perform work on a work assignment basis. TASK 1 The Contractor shall provide technical assistance to EPA by reviewing the proposed rule and providing comments for EPA's consideration. To accomplish this task, the contractor must be knowledgeable of Adarand v Pena, procedures for conducting availability analyses and disparity studies, DOT and other federal agencies similar programs, and how DOJ might react to the proposed rule. TASK 2 The contractor shall identify the affected business community in the 10 regions. Specifically, the contractor shall identify the numbers of MBEs and WBEs providing supplies, services, equipment, and construction in the 10 regions, indian tribes, trust territories, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, likely to contract or subcontract on EPA-funded projects. The contractor shall accumulate the data obtained in a database. In addition, the contractor shall identify constraints the firms are having related to small disadvantaged business certification, amount of work received from prime and subcontracts, and other issues of concern. TASK 3 The contractor shall perform National Outreach to the affected business communities in up to ten EPA regions to educate them about the rulemaking process and to get their input. The contractor shall provide background information on the history of the socio-economic procurement program leading up to Adarand, explain why the Agency must be in compliance with Adarand, and explain EPA's rulemaking process and schedule. Firms identified through the previous task will be targeted directly through mail and telephone contacts and indirectly through advertisements. The Contractor shall coordinate and facilitating meetings with the communities to gather input for the Rulemaking. The contractor shall prepare a presentation which summarizes the proposed EPA rule, solicit comments, prepare charts, graphs, and audio/visuals explaining the proposed rule, and provide , logistical support for public hearings, to include arranging for court reporters and transcripts, and providing transcripts to interested parties. TASK 4 The contractor shall meet with with Federal, State, Tribal and Trust Territories to get their input on the Rule Making process. The contractor shall prepare a presentation explaining the rulemaking process from each audience's perspective(s). In addition, the contractor shall facilitate discussion, solicit comments, and record the comments. To the extent possible, these meetings will be held concurrently with the meetings in Task 3. However, there may be a need for two or more additional meetings to make sure Indian tribes and trust territories, such as Puerto Rico, are included in the process. TASK 5 Once the rule is "proposed", the contractor shall facilitate a series of public hearings. The contractor shall assist EPA by conducting outreach to the affected business community to maximize attendance at the hearings. The contractor shall also prepare handouts summarizing the proposed rule. We expect no more than 10 public hearings which could take place at any location within the continental United States, territories, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. During the hearings, the contractor shall facilitate discussion, solicit comments on the proposed rule, and record the comments. TASK 6 The contractor shall provide technical assistance on all comments referred by the project officer relating to fair share negotiations and the EPA MBE/WBE program. As is required in Task 1, the Contractor must be knowledgeable of DOT and other Federal Agency's similar programs should we get questions on why the programs are different. In addition, the contractor shall provide technical assistance on how goals should be established in line with the census bureau's county business patterns database, Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code and North American Industrial Classification (NAIC) Code classifications, and on any other issues that OSDBU does not have the technical expertise to answer. It is expected that OSDBU will receive hundreds of comments, which will require a response, during the 90- day comment period. In addition, comments must be sorted, classified, characterized, and summarized. The general categories of comments may include the following: TASK 7 The contractor shall assist in developing a "How To Guide"/Cookbook on the MBE/WBE program once the Rule becomes final. The assistance will involve updating the OSDBU MBE/WBE Guidance Document, Guidance for Utilization of Small, Minority and Women's Business Enterprises in Procurement Under Assistance Agreements - 6010, 1997 Edition on changes to the MBE/WBE Program resulting from the final rule. The guidance document currently has approximately 100 pages of text and charts. TASK 8 The contractor shall provide formal training to EPA, State, Tribal, and socio-economic firms on MBE/WBE program guidance and requirements, procedures for conducting and availability analyses and disparity studies. It is anticipated that the contractor shall provide no more than 10 four-hour sessions per year. DELIVERABLES/PRODUCTS 1. At the completion of each work assignment, the contractor shall submit one copy of a report summarizing the work accomplished to the Work Assignment Manger/Project Officer, with a copy of transmittal to the Contracting Officer, within fifteen (15) calendar days following completion of the technical effort. 2.The proposed reports shall document in detail all of the work performed under the respective work assignments including presentations, data, analyses, statistics and interpretations, as well as recommendations and conclusions based upon results obtained. The report shall include tables, graphs, diagrams, or charts, as appropriate, summarizing the results of the contractor's accomplishments. Each report shall be in sufficient detail to document the work accomplished. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA 1.After receipt of each of the Contractor's reports, the Project Officer/Work Assignment Manager may require the Contractor to provide answers to questions that may result from the Project Officer/Work Assignment Manager review. 2.Approval or disapproval (in part or in total) of each report will be accomplished by the Project Officer/Work Assignment Manager within fifteen (15) calendar days after receipt. Disapproved reports shall be resubmitted for review following correction of the cited deficiency unless otherwise directed by the Project Officer. SCHEDULES Schedules will be furnished to the contractor as specified in the individual work assignments. SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS Contractor personnel will need access to files located at EPA. Access is not such that it will require allocation of office space; it is intermittent during the period of the work assignment for which it is required. During these episodes, steps will be taken by EPA to clearly identify contractor personnel as such while on site at EPA.
- Web Link
-
The Environmental Protection Agency
(http://www.epa.gov/oam/solicit)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Mason-Tillman Associates, LTD 1111 Broadway Suite 2130 Oakland, CA
- Zip Code: 94607
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 94607
- Record
- SN00262393-W 20030222/030220213651 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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