Highway Safety Training

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE / MARKET RESEARCH for the Development and Delivery of Highway Safety, Business, Public Administration, and Quality Training Courses DTFH61-10-R-00048 The Government is conducting market research to: Determine if responsible, qualified, capable sources exist that are interested in satisfying the Government's requirements generally described below; Determine the capabilities of potential contractors, including an estimate of prices; Determine size and status of potential sources; and Determine the nature of competition (i.e., 8(a), small business set-aside or full and open) The National Highway Institute (NHI), within the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Department of Transportation, plans to award multiple 5-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts for the development, revision, and presentation of training courses in the areas of Highway Safety, and Business, Public Administration, and Quality. The work requires skilled, knowledgeable, experienced subject matter experts and instructional designers working together to develop and update course materials, and instructors who possess adult learning facilitation skills and credible subject matter expertise. The NHI is the technical training arm of the FHWA, and as such plays a vital role in the FHWA's overall effort to provide training in new and evolving highway related technologies. NHI courses respond to changing workforce development requirements and are a part of the technical professional development of engineers, planners, and others in the surface transportation industry. The target audience for these courses is very broad, and includes Federal, state and local highway and transportation agencies located within the United States, Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Centers, associations, consulting firms, private industry, universities, and other national and international entities engaged in highway work of interest to the United States. The NHI maintains a training curriculum of approximately 250 courses and presents over 700 training sessions per year to more than 25,000 participants nationwide. For each session, the NHI provides course materials and instructors who are trained in the presentation of learner-centered, active course facilitation and are highly qualified in their technical fields. NHI Engineering courses are taught by university faculty with advanced degrees, FHWA engineers, ex-FHWA contractor engineers, very experienced professional engineers (PE) or combinations thereof. NHI courses are varied and support many customer needs. They are an integral part of development activities for graduate engineers in many states as they learn about transportation engineering and prepare for professional licensure. Additionally, because the NHI emphasizes the implementation of new research, standards, and procedures, many courses are directed toward experienced, practicing engineers. The NHI awards International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to those who must earn professional development hours to maintain their license. Some of the NHI courses have prerequisites that are part of state certification curricula. In order for the NHI to best accomplish its training mission, it is necessary to accurately determine the needs of the target audience, and then develop and deliver a variety of training packages that will most effectively and efficiently present the intended messages. The NHI has been performing this role primarily by delivering traditional, instructor-lead, classroom training on a broad range of topics since Congress established it in 1970. However, the electronic era is rapidly opening new avenues for cost savings, complying with divergent schedules, and training larger audiences in shorter periods of time. In addition to instructor-led classroom training, the NHI is developing distance-learning courses. The NHI has an active web conferencing system that delivers instructor-led synchronous web conference training directly to participant workstations. Self-paced web-based training is also offered, as well as a blended approach of all three methodologies. Considering the complexity of the technical subject matter, the NHI believes the flexibility of the blended learning model has great potential for reaching our national audience in the future. The NHI's goal is to optimize training for maximum effectiveness, ensuring that the greatest amount of learning takes place within certain defined constraints. Part of this process involves development of material precisely targeted to participant needs and providing clearly articulated Learning Outcomes. The principles of adult learning and instructional systems design (ISD) must be incorporated into the courses, as well as a learning assessment (i.e. post tests, exercise, skill demonstration, etc) in order to be consistent with IACET requirements. Training includes a combination of instructional strategies such as lectures, videos, case studies, and group exercises/discussions. To meet this goal, the contractor will be required to provide a development team consisting of both Instructional Systems Designers and Subject Matter Experts to design and develop the courses. The contractor are required to provide highly qualified, experienced, approved instructors to teach these courses. To be truly effective, instructor led training requires skilled, competent, knowledgeable, credible, instructors with adult education experience. All instructors are required to be NHI certified or achieve instructor certification by an NHI Master Trainer. Potential instructors with limited or no classroom teaching experience must begin the certification process by attending the NHI Instructor Development Course and completing the Web-based NHI Instructor Development Module for Web Conference Training. The procedure for becoming certified is explained more fully on the NHI Web site, http://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/. From time to time, those awarded an ID/IQ contract will be invited to compete for award of task orders that may also include other functions relating to training development and delivery such as needs assessment, marketing, or electronic formatting for Section 508 compliance. Limited research necessary for development of technical reference manuals may be included. Performance under the Task Orders is subject to the requirements of Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended in 1998. Section 504 deals with accessibility for all participants in training classes. Section 504 specifically addresses classroom settings, course materials and accommodations for special needs. Section 508 addresses accessibility issues relative to electronic media such as web postings, web sites, computer simulations, and videos. The NHI follows Section 504/508 Compliance in all of its training development and delivery efforts. The NHI and its contractors must, to the greatest degree possible, meet all accessibility needs of its participants. NHI course offerings currently covered by expiring ID/IQ contracts in the area of Highway Safety, and Business, Public Administration, and Quality, as well as the NHI style guide may be found on the NHI web site at www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov under the 380XXX and 310XXX course series numbers . Additional related courses or web-based offerings may be added as needs are defined. PARTICIPATION IN THE MARKET RESEARCH IN NO WAY AFFECTS YOUR ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE FOR THESE SERVICES WHEN THE RFP IS SUBSEQUENTLY ISSUED. Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought notice. PAGE LIMIT: Responses, in addition to this form, shall not exceed 5 pages in length with font size 12 or larger. Place an X beside each requirement your firm would be able to satisfy. _________ 1. Conduct a Needs Assessment to identify performance/skill gaps and define training requirements in the areas of Highway Safety, and/or Business, Public Administration, and Quality. _________ 2. Design courseware for graduate level civil engineering courses: define target population characteristics; identify Learning Outcomes; indentify instructional strategies and methods; develop subject content, student exercises, and media; chunk/sequence content; determine instructional time allocations; develop evaluation strategies. _________ 3. Develop and revise an Instructor Guide, Participant Workbook, Reference Manual, and Visual Aids, based on the established principles of Instructional Systems Design (ISD) for courses offered by NHI. _________ 4. Provide teams of technical experts-preferably with adult education experience- to deliver instructor-led classroom training in Highway Safety, and/or Business, Public Administration, and Quality according to NHI standards. _________ 5. Design and develop web-based training and web-conference training in the areas of Highway Safety, and/or Business, Public Administration, and Quality. _________ 6. Provide teams of technical experts and support for synchronous web-conference training in Highway Safety, and/or Business, Public Administration, and Quality. _________ 7. Develop and implement a marketing plan. Based on your firm's experience, please provide a rough estimate for the following services. ITEM UNIT PRICE Item 1: Course Development for a new 1-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Item 2: Update of an existing 1-day Instructor-Led course Each $ Item 3: Course Delivery with 1 Instructor for a 1-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Item 4: Course Development for a new 2-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Item 5: Update of an existing 2-day Instructor-Led course Each $ Item 6: Course Delivery with 2 Instructors for a 2-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Item 7: Course Development for a new 3-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Item 8: Update of an existing 3-day Instructor-Led course Each $ Item 9: Course Delivery with 2 Instructors for a 3-day Instructor- Led course Each $ Is your firm - A small business? - A small disadvantage business? - A woman-owned business? - A HubZone business? - An 8 (a) business? - Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business? A large business? Other? Please provide a narrative of no more than 250 words for each criteria below. - 1. Please describe your ability, knowledge and experience in working with and supporting the highway community organizations and their programs. Such organizations include Federal, State, and local authorities and public and private highway and highway safety organizations such as American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), National Association of County Engineers (NACE), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP). - 2. Please describe your approach to instructor development for classroom instruction including corporate support for instructor professional development. - 3. Please describe your approach to instructor development for web-conference training delivery. - 4. Please describe your approach to designing course content for a distance-delivery format. Please return the completed form no later than September 10, 4:30 PM EDT to Thomas.Elliott@dot.gov or fax (703-235-0593) and reference "Highway Safety Training Sources Sought, DTFH61-10-R-00048" in the subject line. Thank you for participating in FHWA's market research.