Head Start Grants Management and Administrative Support

This is a Small Business Sources Sought Notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your response to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. Background: Head Start is a nationwide comprehensive child development program serving eligible children from birth to five and their families. Head Start is child focused and has the overall goal of helping children from low-income families become ready to succeed in school. Administered by the Office of Head Start in the Administration of Children and Families (ACF), funds are provided through grants to local public agencies, private organizations and Indian tribes. These organizations provide services in early childhood development and education, health, dental health, mental health, nutrition and parent involvement. Project Synopsis: The Office of Head Start (OHS) provides budgetary, programmatic and policy guidance to Head Start (HS) and Early Head Start (EHS) operating grantees nationally and directly administers approximately 217 Head Start operating grants to American Indian/Native Alaskan and Migrant/Seasonal program grantees, and approximately 404 research and other discretionary grants. A portion of the latter has been transferred to the Office of Program Research and Evaluation (OPRE) although these grants are funded annually out of the OHS's appropriation. The Office of Grants Management's Division of Discretionary Grants (OGM/DDG) located within the Office of Administration, and part of ACF, provides management and technical administration of discretionary grants for several Federal grant programs. Two teams within OGM/DDG currently provide management and technical administration of discretionary grants for the OHS. OGM/DDG assures that all discretionary grant awards comply with applicable Federal statutes, regulation, policies and directives and that resultant awards are administered in a manner that fosters effective stewardship of Federal funds. The Office of Head Start is located at 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C., and OGM and OPRE are located at 901 D Street, SW, Washington, D.C. Together OGM and OPRE provide a full range of grants and program management activities. OGM provides services such as: dissemination of guidance to applicants about due dates and funding levels; receipt of competitive applications and non-competing continuation of refunding applications; interaction and communication with grantees about submissions; review and clearance of all grants program announcements; management of the grant application review process; cost analyses of approved grant applications; generation of award documents; administration of awarded grants including receipt and approval of post-award change requests; providing training and technical assistance to program staff and their grantees; resolution of all audit findings; administrative closeout of expired grants. OPRE develops budgetary and programmatic guidance on research and other discretionary topics and guidance to operating program grantees as they develop their annual refunding submission, provides technical assistance to grantees on the programmatic and operational aspects of their grant, monitors and reviews all grantees every three years (including follow up reviews, desk reviews and special reviews), and determines whether grantees are entitled to continue receiving Federal funding. OHS works collaboratively with OGM to provide grantees with the full range of grants management and programmatic guidance and services. As a result of the rapid growth of the Head Start program (including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which increased funding for the expansion of both HS/EHS programs by $2.1 billion in February 2009) and the relatively slower growth of Federal staff to manage the program, grantees have suffered from a lack of adequate attention to their growing and increasingly sophisticated needs for prompt and efficient grant-making assistance, to their need to communicate with grants and program staff in a timely manner, and to receive prompt and accurate responses to technical and program questions that arise in the course of managing Federal funds and providing Head Start services. The burden is especially evident with small grantees that lack the internal capacity to manage the increasingly complex requirements of Federally-assisted programs in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations. The purpose of this procurement is to obtain administrative and technical support to provide prompt, accurate and "user-friendly" assistance to Head Start grantees by providing high-quality grants management and programmatic services to them. Required tasks include maintaining a grant tracking system, assisting with establishing and maintaining official grant files, as well as supporting closeout activities for definite and indefinite project period grants, audit resolution activities, grant award and administration and participating in on-site program/fiscal reviews of Head Start agencies. Successful delivery of these services will require: (1) knowledge of and experience with the administration of discretionary grant programs, (2) an in-depth understanding of the Federal grants process, especially that of HHS, (3) demonstrated background and training in accounting and/or financial management, and (4) experience and knowledge of automated financial and program information systems. This requirement is limited to the support for Head Start grants administered by ACF in Washington, D.C. Capability Statement/Information Sought: Respondents must provide as part of their response a capability statement, which demonstrates the following capabilities in order to provide the technical and administrative support described above: - Corporate experience managing and administering grants administered by HHS/ACF or other federal government agencies. - Capability to provide sufficient experienced, qualified staff with the proven ability to perform the required tasks, including the capability to provide staff needed to meet unforeseen, urgent assignments. - Expertise in computer software applications (Windows, Microsoft Office 2007, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access). - Capacity to navigate and utilize HHS/ACF web-based systems such as GATES (Grants Administration Tracking and Evaluation System), GABI (Grant Application Budget Instrument), PIR (Program Information Report), Grants.Gov (Head Start electronic applications), Office of Head Start Monitoring System (OHSMS) and Audit Tracking system Respondents' must include their DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code. Include technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Submissions should be sent electronically to Camille Timmerman, Contract Specialist, at Camille.Timmerman@psc.hhs.gov. Responses must be double-spaced and single-sided on 8.5" x 11" plain white paper, with 1" margins on all side, using a standard font no smaller than 12 point. Please limit all capabilities to 15 pages. The response must be sequentially numbered, beginning on the first page after the table of contents. Responses are due by 1:00PM EST on May 19, 2011. Responses will not be accepted after the due date. Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.