ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (ACF) HEAD START TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS

ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (ACF) HEAD START TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS Contracting Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Park lawn Building Room 5-101 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857, UNITED STATES Description: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP), INVITATION FOR BID (IFB), REQUEST FOR QUOTES (RFQ), OR AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF A SOLICITATION AND DOES NOT ASSUME THE GOVERNMENT WILL AWARD A CONTRACT OR PROCEED WITH ANY OF THE ABOVE SOLICITATIONS IN THE NEAR FUTURE. THIS NOTICE IS ONLY FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES. This is a sources sought notice to determine the availability of potential small businesses (e.g. 8 (a), veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUB Zone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business) to provide State Training and Technical Assistance Centers (TTA) to local grantees across the United States and its territories. The purpose of this announcement is to procure State Training and Technical Assistance Centers that will provide local grantees with high-quality, sustained, and intensive training and technical assistance that, "to the maximum extent practicable," improves the capacity of local programs to deliver services that meet or exceed the standards described in section 641 (A)(a)(1) of the Head Start Act, within the following areas: - School readiness - Training/career development needs of staff - Correction of deficiencies The Office of Head Start is seeking the procurement of up to 52 State Training and Technical Assistance Centers that will secure services of at least one Early Childhood Education specialist in every state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico who possess demonstrable and credible experience in the field of early childhood education. Specific expertise is sought from offerors providing training and technical assistance strategies that positively impact the developmental and educational outcomes for children birth to five. Each state will include at least one early childhood education (ECE) specialist, with the number of ECE specialists increased in accord with the number of grantees and delegates within a state. The work of these specialists will be directed toward two of the three priority areas: school readiness and the training/career development needs of teaching staff. In each state one ECE specialist shall function as the Center Manager. The Early Childhood Education (ECE) specialist position requires a degree and qualifications in Early Childhood Education/Development at the bachelor's degree level with masters' degree preferred and a minimum of five years experience in programs for young children. The degree and experience for a least one ECE specialist per state must be inclusive of both birth to three and three to five year old development and learning. This experience should include the provision of training and technical assistance to teachers/home visitors and education managers. For states staffed by more than one ECE specialist, the education and experience of one specialist may be specific to children from birth to three; the education and experience of the second specialist may be specific to children from three to five. For states staffed by more than one specialist, it is also recommended that each specialist have experience and/or education with the implementation of effective strategies for working with unique special populations of children. In addition, the government is seeking to secure the services of at least one Grantee Specialist for each of the ten ACF Regions. These specialists will be deployed by the regional office to work on the third priority area: deficiencies identified through the monitoring system. In regions with few grantees with identified deficiencies, the grantee specialists may also be deployed to work with grantees with multiple areas of noncompliance, grantees with concerns raised through risk management meetings, or with grantees about which concerns have been raised though other data sources, such as the Program Information Report (PIR). In order to facilitate and support close communication between these grantee specialists and the regional office, these specialists will be employed by the TTA Center in the State where the regional office is located. These states are as follows: - Region I - Massachusetts - Region II - New York - Region II - Philadelphia - Region IV - Georgia - Region V - Illinois - Region VI - Texas - Region VII - Missouri - Region VIII - Colorado - Region IX - California - Region X - Washington The Grantee Specialist position requires a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science (BA or BS) Degree-with a preference for a Master's degree in a field related to program design and management. A minimum of five years experience in the provision of training and technical assistance and consultation with directors, boards of directors, staff and parents; and experience analyzing and redesigning systems for grantees. Both positions, the Early Childhood Specialist and the Grantee Specialist, require a significant background in the use of reliable data collection systems that track measurable outcomes for children and programs. Finally, there will be one TTA Coordinator/Grantee Specialist for each of the ten regions. (See above.) As is true with the grantee specialists, this individual will be employed by the state Center in which the regional office is located and will work with regional office staff to coordinate the work of the State TTA Centers within that region. The TTA Coordinator/Grantee Specialist requires a BA or BS Degree-with a preference for a Master's degree in a field related to program design and management. A minimum of five years experience in the provision of training and technical assistance and consultation with directors, boards of directors, staff and parents; experience analyzing and redesigning systems for grantees. The number of Early Childhood Education Specialists, Grantee Specialists, and TTA Coordinator/Grantee Specialists depend upon the number of grantees and delegates per state. Attachment 1 provides the estimated level of effort in each state. Offerors may propose staff that lives near, but not in, the state for which the capability statement is being written. However, it is required that all individuals have some relationships established with the early education community in that state. To provide economies of scale, the use of home offices is strongly encouraged. Services may be provided off-site, on-site, through virtual media, or a combination thereof. The Head Start Act requires individual TTA contracts be awarded for each State unless grantees agree to the formation of a consortium of two or more States within a geographic region. At this time there is no information available as to whether grantees in any states will give permission for a consortium. However, additional information will be provided in the RFP. In addition to the educational requirements detailed above, the minimum contractor requirements are: (1) The capacity to implement comprehensive training and technical assistance for the Early Head Start and Head Start community. (2) Demonstrated experience supporting the training and technical assistance needs of early childhood programs serving children from birth to five, specifically with programs serving infants and toddlers. (3) Institutional experience collaborating with state-level early childhood organizations such as Head Start Collaboration Office, State Advisory councils, State Head Start Associations, Child Care and other organizations that represent early childhood providers within states. (4) Demonstrated experience providing training and technical assistance specific to child assessment, curriculum implementation and selection. (5) Demonstrated experience providing early childhood programs with training and technical assistance that is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate to a variety of populations. (6) The capacity to recruit and retain highly skilled professionals in accordance with the mandatory educational/experience requirements listed above for: Early Childhood Education (ECE) specialist, Grantee Specialist, and TTA Coordinator/Grantee Specialist. Interested parties having the capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirements may submit capability statements via email to pscacquisitions@psc.hhs.gov; Attention Erica Binnix. CAPABILITY STATEMENTS MUST DEMONSTRATE THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE, INCLUDING ANY TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS AND SHOULD NOT EXCEED 50 PAGES. Please respond only to the information stated above on a state by state basis. Identify the state or states in which the respondent has the capacity to serve. Offerors are not required to include any information regarding consortiums. Capability statements must also include the following information: Company name, address, DUNS, Point of Contact, Phone and Email address of individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses, and business size and status (e.g., small business, 8(a), veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUB Zone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women owned small business). Teaming Arrangements are encouraged. All teaming arrangements shall also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Responses are requested by 1:00 pm EST February 16, 2010. Capability statements will not be accepted after the due date. Point of Contact Erica Binnix, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-443-2475, Fax 301-443-3238, Email: Erica.binnix@psc.hhs.gov