INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES

BACKGROUND: The Department of Labor (DOL), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, Civil Rights Center (CRC) enforces various Federal statutes and regulations that prohibit discrimination within the Department of Labor. The primary activities of the CRC include counseling, mediating, investigating and issuing decisions on discrimination complaints filed against DOL. The Center is responsible for ensuring that discrimination complaints are processed fairly, promptly, thoroughly, and in strict compliance with the federal sector Equal Employment Opportunity regulations and/or applicable law, statute, regulation, Executive Order or directive. Complaints of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) discrimination filed by DOL employees, applicants for employment with the Department of Labor, or DOL contractor employees that qualify as Federal Employees (contingent workers) are covered by Title 29 Code of Federal Regulation (C.F.R.) Part 1614 and any relevant law, statute, regulation, Executive Order and internal personnel procedures and are included within the scope of this Statement of Work. The CRC also coordinates compliance with the Department of Labor's internal policy to Prevent and Eliminate Harassing Conduct in the Workplace. This Policy is intended to assure that the Department of Labor is taking all necessary steps to prevent sexual harassment and other forms of harassing conduct in the workplace and to correct harassing conduct that occurs before it becomes severe or pervasive. Where the CRC determines that a potential conflict of interest exists, the Chairperson of the Department's Administrative Review Board (ARB) has the delegated authority and assigned responsibility for providing for all aspects of the administrative processing of discrimination complaints including the assignment of investigators and the issuance of final decisions. The ARB is governed by the following authorities and shall also subscribe to this Statement of Work. The purpose of this RFI is to give industry and academia an opportunity to provide information for Investigation Services to obtain Reports of Investigation in conformance with the standards established by the EEOC. Upon assignment, CRC/ARB will issue a letter of investigative authorization. Investigators shall compile an investigative report containing sufficient relevant sworn testimony and other documentary evidence to support the rendering of a decision on the merits of the complainant's allegations. The investigation shall include a thorough review of the circumstances under which the alleged discrimination occurred; the treatment of members of the complainant's protected group(s) as compared with the treatment of other similarly-situated individuals, if any; and any policies and/or practices that may constitute or appear to constitute discrimination. At the conclusion of the investigation, the contractor shall provide a Report of Investigation (ROI) to the CRC/ARB. EEO investigations shall be conducted DOL-wide. The geographic coverage of this Statement of Work is domestic (covers the 48 contiguous states; Washington, D.C.; Alaska; Hawaii; and Puerto Rico). Investigators shall coordinate contact with witnesses (excluding the Complainant) and the receipt of documentary evidence through the relevant sub-agency's EEO Manager. This individual is an employee of the sub-agency, not of the CRC/ARB. The CRC/ARB shall provide contact information for these individuals to the Contractor. If a Complainant fails to cooperate in the prosecution of his/her complaint, the Contractor shall provide documentation to support such a conclusion to the CRC/ARB. Consistent with the regulatory requirements, the CRC/ARB shall propose and, when appropriate, may recommend dismissing the complaint. See Terminating or Interrupting the Investigation Prior to Completion, Infra. The CRC/ARB and the Contractor shall entertain timely requests for extensions if supported by - good cause reasons for delay. When an extension has been approved, the Contractor shall obtain from the Complainant an agreement to extend the Investigative Period pursuant to 29 CFR 1614.108(e). A copy of the fully executed agreement to extend the investigation shall be provided to the COTR by the Contractor prior to submission of the ROI. In most cases, witnesses shall be requested to produce fully responsive and appropriately executed affidavits (with appropriate corroborating documentary evidence) within fifteen (15) calendar days of their receipt of the request. (Exercising the option to seek legal advice from the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) does not extend the timeline for submission. See Management Right of Review, Infra.) The CRC/ARB and the Contractor shall entertain timely requests for extensions if supported by - good cause reasons for delay. If a completed affidavit is not received by the designated Investigator within twenty (20) calendar days of the witness receipt of the affidavit request, the Investigator will attempt to inquire on the status of the statement with the witness directly. The witness will be afforded an additional seven (7) calendar days to make delivery to the Investigator. If a statement is not received by that time, the Investigator shall inform the EEO Manager via email of the delinquency. If a statement is not received by the Investigator within seven (7) calendar days from that time, the Contractor shall notify the COTR and the CRC/ARB shall send a memorandum to the agency head. If this action does not produce the desired result, the investigative record will be closed and the aforementioned attempts to secure a statement shall be documented. These procedures shall also apply to requests for documentary evidence - often requested from agency Human Resources offices - which should not be sanitized by the agency. HARASSING CONDUCT INVESTIGATION An additional purpose is to obtain reports of investigation for claims of harassing conduct. Investigations shall be performed to identify and obtain all relevant evidence from all relevant sources and gather sufficient information relevant to the issues in the complaint to determine the validity of the claim(s). At the conclusion of the investigation, the contractor shall provide a Report of Harassing Conduct Investigation. Harassing conduct investigations shall be conducted DOL-wide. The geographic coverage of this Statement of Work is domestic (covers the 48 contiguous states; Washington, D.C.; Alaska; Hawaii; and Puerto Rico). The use of information received from industry and academia shall be used to complete final solicitation documents at the discretion of CRC. Eligiblity to participate in future solicitation does not depend on responding to this noice. The Government will not critique a potential offer's information. Proprietary information is not being solicited and, if included, should be identified as such. Contractors submitting any replies per this RFI must have a Commerical and Government Entity Code (Cage Code) and be registered in the Central Contractors Registeration (CCR) at www.ccr.gov. All materials submitted in response to this RFI will become the property of the Government. DISCLAIMER RESPONSES to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by DOL to form a binding contract. All responses are for informational purposes only. DOL does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. For the purposes of this RFI, the term vendor offers refers to those members of the industry providing a response to this RFI Proprietary information. Respondents are not provide any information that is considered proprietary, trade secrets, privileged, or confidential as part of the RFI responses. Submissions must be no more than 8-pages. The cover letter must include the following information: (1) Response to RFI Number DOL089RI20591; (2) Contractor Name, Address and Phone Number; (3) Point of Contact Information: Email Adress, Phone and Fax numbes. The closing date for the receipt of response is July 30, 2008, at 3:00 p.m., EST. All submissions responsive to this listing must be delivered to the following address: Eupha M. Washington, RFI#: DOL089RI20591, Office of Procurement Services, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room S-4307, Washington, DC 20210-0001.