SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA): PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT BASED HEALTH AND PENSION BENEFITS PLANS
- Notice Date
- 5/26/2005
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541720
— Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Contracting Office
- Department of Labor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, Procurement Services Center, N5416 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20210-0001
- ZIP Code
- 20210-0001
- Solicitation Number
- DOL059RQ20059
- Response Due
- 6/30/2005
- Archive Date
- 12/30/2005
- Description
- Description The Office of Policy and Research of the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor solicits a proposal for research projects focused on private employment-based health and pension benefits and plans, and related public policy issues. For consideration, projects shall propose a budget of $25,000 or less, and a performance period of 12 months or less. This is an unrestrictive solicitation. The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 541720. Proposals shall describe new research that would be undertaken, and not work currently funded or completed. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of: policy relevance, study design and implementation, work plan and schedule of deliverables, qualifications and past performance of primary researcher, and proposed cost. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may permit extensions to the proposal submission date or that may otherwise modify this announcement. Proposals received after Thursday, June 30, 2005, will not be considered under this solicitation. Proposals shall be written. Orders awarded will be firm-fixed price. Introduction Landmark employee benefits legislation enacted in 1974 gave the Federal government primary responsibility for protecting the rights of workers covered by private employee benefit plans. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 places oversight responsibilities at the Department of Labor (DOL) in the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Section 513 of Title I of ERISA directs and authorizes the Secretary of Labor to undertake research on employee benefit plans. Statement of Work EBSA solicits proposals for research projects focused on private employment-based health and pension benefits and plans, and related public policy issues, with a performance period of 12 months or less. The funds made available with the solicitation could fund work conducted by the primary researcher or support research assistance related to the primary researcher?s project. Proposals shall describe new research that would be undertaken, and not work currently funded or completed. Projects shall not involve primary data collection. Employee benefits policy issues and research projects of particular interest would include, although not exhaustively: 1. Employers? and workers? access to affordable health benefits coverage, and the nature and quality of such coverage, including the effects of: Health insurance market structure and regulation, including proposals for new purchasing arrangements; Tax preferences for health insurance purchased in group and individual markets; Health savings accounts; and Consumer-driven choices of health plans or providers. 2. Workers? strategies to ensure retirement security, including the causes and effects of: Individual account participant contributions, investments and distributions (e.g., lump-sum or annuitized payments), and the role of professional financial advice, investment education and other techniques to improve participation rates (e.g., automatic enrollment); Proliferation of hybrid and other non-traditional pension plan designs (e.g., cash balance plans); Competing saving or asset accumulation priorities, e.g., retirement income needs and healthcare costs, education costs; Transitional employment or phased retirement; and Management of longevity risk. 3. Determinants of employers? decision to offer, amend or terminate employee health and pension plans, including: Applicable federal laws and regulations, including recent and proposed changes to such laws and regulations; Recent and proposed changes to Medicare and Social Security programs; Demographic and economic trends, including labor, capital and healthcare market trends; Healthcare cost increases, drivers and control efforts; Pension plan financial risks, including strategies for management; and Role of global competition. 4. Developments in financial markets and instruments and corporate finance, and the implications for defined contribution accounts and defined benefit funds, including issues related to: Accounting standards reform for ERISA plans; Alternative trading systems (ATS), automated quotation systems (AQS) and electronic communications networks (ECNs); Plan fees and transaction costs; and Brokerage windows in participant-directed plans. Employee benefits research projects could be based on population or employer (i.e., plan-sponsor) databases. Frequently applied secondary databases of both types are briefly described below: Population Databases. Several federally funded household surveys are used to study employee benefits. Relevant surveys include: employee benefit modules of the Survey on Income and Program Participation (SIPP); employee benefit supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS); the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Component (MEPS-HC); the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF); the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS); and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The 1996 SIPP included two employee benefit modules: a module on employment-based health coverage conducted in 1997 and released in May 2001; and a module on pension coverage status of workers and pension benefit amounts paid to retirees, which was conducted in 1998 and released in early 2002. An employer-provided health benefits module fielded in 2002 as part of the 2001 SIPP became available late in 2003. Supplements to the CPS that provide employee benefit information include the April 1993 supplement, the September 1994 supplement, the contingent worker supplements fielded in February of 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001, and the annual March income supplement. The contingent worker supplement to the CPS was not fielded in February 2003. (The Appendix describes how to obtain further information on these surveys.) Employer Databases. Some projects lend themselves to investigation with the use of employer or plan-sponsor databases. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) collects information on employer-sponsored health plans. Form 5500 Annual Report files, which are jointly produced by Treasury, PBGC and EBSA, are publicly available. Employer studies might also rely on proprietary data collected from a group of employers (or intermediaries) sharing characteristics of interest. If confidentiality with respect to the identity of these employers is required, assurances of appropriate protection measures shall be provided at the time of submission of the proposal. (The Appendix also describes how to obtain further information on Form 5500 files.) Evaluation. The following criteria and weights will be used for scoring the proposals: Policy relevance Study design and implementation Work plan and schedule of deliverables Qualifications of primary researcher Past Performance Proposed Cost General. Eight copies of proposal submissions should be mailed to: Carol Jenkins, Acting Division Chief Contracting Officer OASAM Office of Procurement Services U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N5416 Washington, DC 20210 Inquiries concerning the submission procedures for this BAA may be directed to: Helen Lawrence, as follows: lawrence.helen@dol.gov or 202-693-8429. Oversight The Government will appoint a Contracting Officer?s Technical Representative (COTR) for oversight of technical matter. The COTR will be appointed by letter issued by the Contracting Officer. All other matters related to this requirement will be administered by the Contracting Officer Deliverables 1. Draft and Final Reports Eight months from the date of award, a Draft Report shall be electronically submitted to the COTR. Twelve months from the date of award, a Final Report shall be electronically submitted to the COTR. 2. Quarterly Reports Quarterly Reports shall be submitted to the COTR to document the progress of the project. 3. Publication of Final Reports EBSA reserves the right to publish final reports on the EBSA Website. Final reports shall include an abstract of 100 words or less, and cite the funding source. The funding citation shall include a disclaimer for DOL and EBSA responsibility for the author?s work. Milestone Billing The Government intends to use milestone billing. An invoice for half the value of the contract may be submitted to DOL for payment when the Draft Report is accepted by the COTR. An invoice for the final half of the contract value may be submitted to DOL for payment when the Final Report is accepted by the COTR. Procedures for Proposal Submission (Technical and Cost) Deadline. Proposals received after Thursday, June 30, 2005, will not be considered under this solicitation. Proposals. For consideration, projects shall propose a budget of $25,000 or less, and a performance period of 12 months or less. It is the intention of the DOL to award approximately four orders under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). With these constraints, this solicitation seeks to attract the interest of academic researchers who may be in the process of completing a dissertation or in the early stages of establishing an academic career. Proposal submissions shall consist of a maximum of 10 double-spaced pages providing the information listed below. Submissions shall also include a vita for the primary researcher and a budget. (REMINDER: Projects shall not involve primary data collection.) Proposal submissions shall contain the following information: 1. Name, telephone number and address of primary researcher; 2. Name, telephone number, address, and social security number or employer identification number (EIN) of party to whom payment for purchase order should be made; 3. Title; 4. Abstract of a 100 words or less; 5. Policy rationale; 6. Objectives; 7. Review of research literature; 8. Methodology; 9. Database; 10. Deliverables (e.g., interim and final reports); and 11. Schedule. The budget shall itemize expenses for: 1. Personnel; 2. Computer usage, if significant; 3. Electronic submission of all deliverables, and three hard copies of final report; and 4. Other significant expenses. Please note that EBSA does not reimburse expenses for the purchase of a computer or related equipment or software, or travel. Appendix: Obtaining Further Information About Employee Benefits Databases Requests for or questions regarding the Form 5500 Annual Report files should be directed to: David McCarthy (202-693-8430). For projects selected for funding that propose use of Form 5500 computerized files, EBSA will provide copies of the files at no cost to the contractor on a CD ROM. The most recent year for which complete Form 5500 data will be available for projects funded from this RFQ will be the 2000-filing year. Series 5500 forms and instructions for 2000 and other years are available at: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/5500main.html Requests for or questions regarding the Health and Retirement Study data should be directed to one of the following: E-Mail: HRSQUEST@ISR.UMICH.EDU Web Page: http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu Telephone: (734) 936-0314 Information about the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey is available at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov Information for the National Longitudinal Surveys is available at: http://www.bls.gov/nls/ Information about the Survey of Consumer Finances is available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/scfindex.html An overview of the Survey of Income and Program Participation is available at: http://www.sipp.census.gov/sipp/ Questions regarding the special supplements to the Current Population Survey should be directed to the Census Bureau in Maryland by calling (301) 763-3806. If you know the data tapes or CD ROMs you wish to order, call Census Bureau Customer Services at (301) 763-4636. Further information about the CPS is available at: http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/cpsmain.htm
- Place of Performance
- Address: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 200 CONSTITUTION AVE., NW, ROOM N5416, WASHINGTON, DC
- Zip Code: 20210
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 20210
- Record
- SN00816138-W 20050528/050526211818 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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