SOURCES SOUGHT
U -- eArmy University Educational Training, Development and Support Services
- Notice Date
- 9/13/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 611310
— Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
- Contracting Office
- Defense Contracting Command-Washington(DCC-W), ATTN: Policy and Compliance, 5200 Army Pentagon, Room 1D245, Washington, DC 20310-5200
- ZIP Code
- 20310-5200
- Solicitation Number
- W74V8H-091304JDH
- Response Due
- 9/24/2004
- Archive Date
- 11/23/2004
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Request for Information (RFI) to conduct Market Research Document Type: Sources Sought Notice Solicitation Number: Not Yet Applicable RFI: W74V8H-091304JDH Posted Date: September 13, 2004 Original Response Date: September 24, 2004 Classification Code: U-Education and Training Services NAICS: 611 Educational Services 611710, 611310 FSC: R419 Contracting Office Address: Defense Contracting Command-Washington (DCCW) Attn: Mary Young, DCCW 5200 Army Pentagon Room 1D243 Arlington, VA 20310 Description: The Defense Contracting Command-Washington (DSSW) is seeking sources to participate in an up-coming solicitation, on behalf of. the Human Resources Command (HRC), Alexandria, VA. DCCW, the Office of the Adjutant General (TAG) Army Continuing Education Sys tem (ACES) and Personnel Information Systems Directorate (PERSINSD). PERSINSD is in the process of identifying the requirements to re-compete the existing eArmyU contract and initiate the development of an Army virtual education capability. This Request for Information (RFI) is to support market research being conducted by the Army to identify capable sources and innovative solutions. The eArmyU Program Management Office is seeking information and insight from experienced sources to support the continuation of eArmyU capabilities and the development of an Army virtual education capability. The estimated period of performance for this acquisition will be base year plus 4 option years, starting in the Jul-Sep 2005 timeframe. The current eArmyU contract will expire in December 2005. This is a sources sought notice. Responses to this request should be submitted to Mary Young, no later than September 24, 2004 at 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. This is NOT a Request for Proposals (RFP). At this time, neither the SOW nor a solicitation is available. Potential sources are requested to provide a capability statement that describes their experience providing services of the same or similar nature. Responses should be complete, answer all questions , and address all potential tasks. The Government reserves the right to issue the solicitation as all or none. Tasks may not be broken out. Small businesses are strongly encouraged to respond. Questions should be emailed to: Jacquelyn.Harris@hqda.army.mil. eArmyU is an Army education initiative, which offers eligible soldiers online courses leading to certificates and postsecondary degrees recognized by a majority of U.S. educational institutions. eArmyU is currently available to 50,000 soldiers at 16 insta llations worldwide offering 146 degree programs from 29 regionally accredited colleges and universities and enables a soldier to get a degree online. The eArmyU Program Office will begin the implementation of eArmyU Army-wide beginning October 1, 2004. The eArmyU program features include the eArmyU portal (eArmyU.com), 100 percent tuition assistance, books and fees (up to the DoD established FY per semester hour cap and annual tuition ceiling), academic tutoring, program mentoring, 24 x 7 helpdesk, Galil eo library services and the option to receive a technology package (laptop, carrying case, maintenance and warranty, and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) account) for soldiers. Beginning Fiscal Year 2005, enrollment in eArmyU with an Army-issued laptop will be refocused to support retention and readiness. Only active duty enlisted soldiers who agree to reenlist for duty into combat forces/operational units as defined by senior Army leadership, subject to adjustments, will be eligible to receive an Army- issued laptop. The technology and academic support provided to soldiers is continuous and seamless beginning with enrollment in eArmyU and includes transfer to other installations. Online support (e.g., academic tutoring, mentoring, virtual counseling, e lectronic library resources, and helpdesk services) is available throughout the soldiers' involvement in the program. In order to maximize credit for military skills and experience, and to ensure that soldiers can transfer education credits across institutions, only Service members Opportunity Colleges Army Degree (SOCAD) member schools may offer undergraduate programs as part of eArmyU. Non-SOCAD institutions offering only graduate and/or certificate programs must agree in writing to the SOC institutional principles and criteria. Both horizontal (associate to associate) and vertical (associate to bachelor's) transfer of academic credit between 2- and 4-year member institutions have been built into eArmyU to provide soldiers the opportunity to advance in their degree options. The current contract integrator provides the following services: coordination of universities offering degree programs, operations and maintenance of eArmyU Portal (including compliance with Army security requirements), single sign-on capability with onlin e registration and access to courses through the Portal, access and coordination of courses through streamlined adoption of a course management system, issuance and timely repair of laptops, issuance of Internet Service Provider (ISP) and email accounts, i ssuance of books, student services (e.g., program mentors, tutorial services, online writing lab, digital library), eArmyU Common Application that is accepted by all institutions, on-line, fully searchable course catalog, 24x7 help desk with a Customer Rel ationship Management (CRM)/Student Status tool, development and maintenance of data warehouse and reporting capability, Offline Learning Application (OLA) capabilities among four participating institutions, off-line/on-line testing, interfaces with legacy Army systems, T-Cash eBusiness payment solution, consolidated invoicing, marketing/conference support and program status updates. In addition, a Pre-Enrollment Readiness Profile (PReP) tool will be implemented in Fiscal Year 2005 to standardize the enro llment process and to assist Army Education Counselors in screening distance learning readiness prior to eArmyU enrollment. The Army must ensure current eArmyU soldiers are served after the expiration of the existing contract. Consequently, at a minimum a new contract(s) must be established to continue existing eArmyU critical services. In addition to the continuation of an eArmyU capability, the Army is considering the implementation of a centralized and virtual Army-wide education capability. The Army needs assistance in defining a solution that can provide such a capability. Developme nt of a virtual capability is needed to support projected reduction in education center staff starting in FY06. The virtual capability should automate and simplify many of the educational processes and services currently provided by the counselors and adm inistrative staff at the education centers. High-level Army virtual education requirements include the following: centralized tuition assistance management capability to enable ACES to effectively view and manage tuition assistance funding and utilization across the Army; virtual counseling services to support a robust interface between soldiers and ACES; anytime anywhere educational support for soldiers around the globe to include access to forms, Army regulation, and virtual education services. To further assist the eArmyU program, interested parties must provide responses to each of the following questions: 1. Do you have a solution in house that meets the needs of eArmyU? If so, is your solution Commercial Off the Shelf or is it a custom product? 2. With the given requirements information and the timeline of the current contract expiring in December 2005, what would be the most effective contracting strategy? 3. What level of virtual student services, such as program mentoring and tutoring, should eArmyU provide its DL students? What services should institutions provide? What types of academic online tutoring services currently exist at post-secondary institutions a. Should Army require participating institutions to provide online academic tutoring services? b. What are the advantages of including access to all these services in the Portal? c. Is it necessary for the program to provide online digital library services, or are these services duplicitous at the institution level? d. What is the future of online mentoring? How might it look? Do you think it is needed in order to decrease attrition rates and improve success? e. Can on line educational counseling be provided in a virtual setting? 4. Studies have indicated that soldiers should be required to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency in DL and in reading, math, and writing before admission to eArmyU. Does your company provide a standardized pre-enrollment readiness tool 5. What are the pros and cons of enforcing standardization (common application, grades, student agreements, degree maps, etc.) among schools involved in eArmyU? a. How can asynchronous online interaction between students and faculty be standardized across all education partners and courses? b. How should testing and testing procedures be standardized across eArmyU? Should academic standards for online unproctored testing be removed or changed to non-proctored online testing c. Should the eArmyU contract require some standard of technological competency, infrastructure, or course management system from participating institutions (for purposes such as online posting of grades, offline learning applications with automatic synchr onization, etc.)? 6. Do you see the cost of online learning as compared to traditional education leveling off, increasing or decreasing in the near and long term? 7. How should ACES incorporate training for program staff into the contract so that staff are prepared to equally represent all degrees and institutions to soldiers at the time of program enrollment, thereby helping to equalize enrollment across all parti cipating academic institutions? 8. How should the contract be structured? a. How should education partners be contracted for services? By Degree, by institution? b. How can we ensure institutions and faculties are given the opportunity to provide input into the decision process for the eArmyU program? c. What academic assessment requirements should be built into the contract to ensure that quality programs of instruction and assessment are maintained throughout the life of the contract? 9. Have your products been certified as Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) conformant? If so, to what level and what version (1.2 or 2004)? Will you provide test logs? 10. Should the eArmyU portal and all web-based courses be ADA compliant and use W3C accessibility guidelines 11. Should the Army consider requiring courses be available for delivery in a variety of modes to include laptop, tablet and handheld devices? 12. Should Army include contract requirements to support a wireless interface to eArmyU for soldiers and staff? 13. Should the eArmyU program provide entirely asynchronous online delivery? Would you consider blended learning approaches? 14. What system documentation would you require to ensure a smooth and expedient transition from the current contractor? What would be a reasonable timeline to accomplish the transition? 15. Discuss how technology refresh is addressed in standard commercial practice and how your company performs it as part of your commercial management services. 16. What is a feasible timeframe for the development of a virtual Army-wide education capability? 17. The current contract is a base year with four option years. What is a feasible timeframe for the duration of an academic contract? Please provide the following information regarding your organization. What is the size of your organization? 18. Are you considered a small business and if so what is your status (8(a), women owned, veteran owned, SDB, etc?) 19. If you are a large business, discuss how you would develop an effective small business plan with aggressive goals? 20. Do you plan to team with other businesses to provide the types of services discussed? 21. Can your firm provide all the types of services discussed herein or are you interested in only portions of the tasks or services? What portion of this contract would your organization bid on? 22. Do you currently have any contracts to provide the same or similar services? 23. The Government anticipates developing a performance work statement (PWS). Do you have any suggestions on performance incentives, performance standards, and/or performance metrics?
- Place of Performance
- Address: Defense Contracting Command-Washington(DCC-W) ATTN: Policy and Compliance, 5200 Army Pentagon, Room 1D245 Washington DC
- Zip Code: 20310-5200
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 20310-5200
- Record
- SN00671315-W 20040915/040913212322 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |