National Call Center

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE FOR HHS/ORR NATIONAL CALL CENTER PROJECT TITLE: Office of Refugee Resettlement - National Call Center This is a 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 all qualified Large Business Sources and Small Business Sources whether (2) small businesses, HUBzone, Service Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business, 8(a), Woman-Owned, or Small Disadvantaged, and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 541990 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 a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. This is strictly market research. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) will not entertain questions regarding this market research. I. REQUIREMENT INFORMATION BACKGROUND On March 1, 2003, section 462 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA) transferred functions under U.S. immigration laws regarding the care and placement of unaccompanied children (UC) from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services (DUCS) was created within ORR to serve this purpose. In 2011, ORR reorganized and the UC program was brought under the newly formed Division of Children's Services (DCS). The UC population includes those who: (1) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; (2) has not attained 18 years of age; and (3) with respect to whom - (i) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody. ORR's main function is to provide temporary residential care in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child taking into consideration risk of harm to the child and/or the community, as well as risk of flight. ORR identifies care options and placements for UC in licensed shelters, group homes, secure facilities, or foster care, according to their specific needs. ORR takes into consideration the unique nature of each child's situation and incorporates child welfare principles when making placement, clinical, case management, and release decisions that are in the best interest of the child. Under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, "UC shall be promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child." To safely release UC to sponsors living in the United States, certain categories of UC who are at risk of harm to the child and/or the community, as well as risk of flight or display special needs are referred for home studies. Home studies are also conducted for any case in which a sponsor presents a risk to the UC. In order to promote the safety and well-being of UC after their release to a sponsor in the U.S., certain categories of children with special needs are referred for post-release services. ORR is also responsible for the safe and timely reunification of UC with appropriate sponsors. Under the Homeland Security Act, ORR, in making placement decisions, shall make such determinations to ensure that UC "are likely to appear for all hearings or proceedings in which they are involved; are protected from smugglers, traffickers, or others who might seek to victimize or otherwise engage them in criminal, harmful, or exploitative activity; and are placed in a setting in which they are not likely to pose a danger to themselves or others." Under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, "An UC may not be placed with a person or entity unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services makes a determination that the proposed custodian is capable of providing for the child's physical and mental well-being". The UC population is particularly vulnerable, having faced traumatic situations in their home countries, such as dire poverty, war, forced military or gang recruitment, human trafficking, domestic violence, abuse, familial separation and government neglect. Some are also very young, most have little or no formal education, and are primarily non-English speaking. ORR has the responsibility to ensure the child's safety and security while in an ORR care provider. Once released, ORR seeks to provide UC resources in the community and information on how to get help if needed. Over 90% of UC were released to the custody of a sponsor in FY15 while awaiting their immigration proceedings; most UC immigration cases are not resolved until after they are released from an ORR care provider. In 2014, ORR experienced an unprecedented influx of UC migrating to the United States. In response to this historical event, ORR and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) established a National Call Center to process thousands of callers attempting to find migrant and migrating children and to help potential sponsors navigate the family reunification process. The National Call Center routinely facilitated communication between callers and programs sheltering UC and distributed Family Reunification Packets (FRPs) to potential UC sponsors. In response to a sustained increase in UC referrals since 2014, National Call Center hours were expanded to 24/7 coverage. Additional tasks have been added to the National Call Center, including referring eligible UCs for post release services and providing on-call crisis intervention for UCs and children formerly in an ORR care provider experiencing a risk to their safety. Children formerly in an ORR care provider and their sponsors can rely upon the National Call Center for assistance in finding and completing paperwork that enables UC to attend court, enroll in school, and attain medical care. On December 24, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) on standards to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment involving unaccompanied children. 45 CFR Parts 411. The IFR sets forth standards to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment in ORR care provider facilities that house unaccompanied children in accordance with section 1101(c) of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Pub. L. 113-4 (VAWA 2013). Under section 411.54 of the IFR, ORR is required to establish a method to receive third-party reports of sexual abuse and sexual harassment and make available to the public information on how to report sexual abuse and sexual harassment on behalf of a UC. Under sections 411.51, 411.53, and 411.61, ORR care provider facilities are required to provide UC with multiple ways to report sexual abuse and sexual harassment, retaliation for reporting, and staff neglect or violation of responsibilities that may have contributed to such incidents. One way for UC to report may be to outside community service providers or rape crisis centers who must then report the allegation directly to ORR. Once ORR care provider facility staff becomes aware of any allegation, they are required to report all allegations to all appropriate local authorities and to ORR. In 2015, ORR established the UC Sexual Abuse Hotline to fulfill multiple responsibilities required under the IFR. The UC Sexual Abuse Hotline provides any child or third party, including family members, sponsors, legal service providers, child advocates, and any other individual with knowledge or suspicion of sexual abuse or harassment occurring at a care provider, an avenue to report allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment directly to ORR via the UC Sexual Abuse Hotline. The National Call Center will play a pivotal role in locating migrant and migrating children and to help potential sponsors navigate the family reunification process. Additionally, the National Call Center will provide community resources and assist with linking UCs to assistance as needed upon release from an ORR program. Finally, the National Call Center is an avenue to report allegations of sexual abuse and sexual harassment directly to ORR. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE ORR seeks to (eventually) award a contract to perform services for a National Call Center and Sexual Abuse Hotline to provide child welfare community based referrals, post release service referrals, crisis intervention, and safety planning to eligible Unaccompanied Children (UC) and children formerly in an ORR care provider. MINIMUM PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS Due to the nature of UC arrivals, ORR seeks sources for a contract vehicle that is flexible, cost-efficient, and could provide the following services throughout the United States: - Maintaining, operating, and staffing the toll-free 24/7 National Call Center and Sexual Abuse Hotline operation 365 days a year. - Staffing services with qualified individuals who are bilingual in English and Spanish. Staff must be qualified individuals with a high level of experience in child welfare, interviewing minors, and serving immigrant youth and families. - Assuming the current toll-free hotline numbers to ensure consistency and continuity. - Providing toll-free services for answering and logging calls from UC, children formerly in ORR custody parents, legal guardians, other family members, sponsors, stakeholders, attorneys, community service providers, care provider facility staff, or any other individual. - Providing live interpretation/translation services for callers who speak languages other than Spanish and English, such as Mandarin, Punjabi, etc. For obscure dialects for which live interpretation services are unavailable, transcription and translation services may be utilized after a call is recorded. - Intake and reporting concerns that may include, but are not limited to: allegations of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, behavioral concerns, trafficking concerns, child abuse and neglect allegations, sponsor fraud attempts, change of location of children formerly in an ORR care provider, and other grievances occurring at ORR care provider facilities; - Receiving and processing calls from families and stakeholders searching for migrating UC. Processing calls includes searching for UC in the UC Portal database, communicating contact information to the shelter caring for the UC, and protecting UC whereabouts and personal information from un-vetted callers. - Assisting child behavioral issues of unaccompanied children post-release, including, but not limited to: running away, suicidal ideation, depression, violence, and involvement with drugs, or gangs, inappropriate relationships, problems at school, child abuse and neglect. - Communicating with ORR shelter programs and provides copies of immunization records. - Assisting in completing required ORR paperwork, including, but not limited to: the Family Reunification Packet (FRP), Change of Address / Change of Venue (COA / COV) form, and requesting UC case file records. - Accepting reports, including anonymous reports, from UC, children formerly in an ORR care provider, legal guardians, sponsors, stakeholders, attorneys, community service providers, care provider staff, or any other individual with any issue of concern; - Receiving calls from various parties, gather information via phone interviews, and make reports to ORR, state, and local authorities. The National Call Center and Sexual Abuse Hotline elevates safety concerns and collaborates, as needed, with ORR to inform UC, children formerly in an ORR care provider, and their sponsors of relevant resources; - Providing child welfare community based referrals (education, medical care, juvenile justice, substance use, legal support and safety), post release service referrals, crisis intervention, and safety planning to eligible Unaccompanied Children (UC) and children formerly in an ORR care provider; - Contacting prospective sponsors and distributing the Family Reunification Packet (FRP), as directed by ORR. - Referring eligible UC for ORR funded post release services. - Conducting safety and wellbeing calls, as needed, to UC. - Reporting information and statistics gathered from calls on a routine and ad hoc basis; - Assess hotline needs based on call volume and other reports to determine gaps in service, high and low volume times, or other issues that show the need for modifications. - Maintain a community referral and resource list and provide this list to ORR upon request. - Train National Call Center staff in reporting all calls, as appropriate, to ORR, state and local authorities, and other entities as directed by ORR. - Train National Call Center staff in responding to incidents and entering data into the UC Portal database or other ORR system of record within required timeframes. (Date, time of call, duration, number of calls, etc.) - Maintain a confidential database of call information and data. - Comply with trace call functionality and call recording functionality to be priced as an option. Anticipated period of performance: The period of performance will be a base of 12-months and four (4) 12-month option periods. II. CAPABILITY STATEMENT/INFORMATION SOUGHT Respondents must provide, as part of their responses, a capability statement, which addresses the services requested above and address the information listed below: 1. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the mission of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Division of Children's Services. 2. Demonstrated expertise on unaccompanied children services. 3. Demonstrate the ability to supervise a national network of professionals with child welfare, immigration and multi-disciplinary expertise. 4. Demonstrated ability to provide professional staff with extensive expertise and knowledge in a) child welfare based recommendations; b) child welfare community based referrals and/or case management ; c) family reunification/child placement and d); risk assessment and safety planning. 5. Demonstrate the ability to recruit qualified staff with an MSW bilingual in Spanish to serve a national network. 6. Demonstrate the ability to screen, hire and train staff to meet State licensing and ORR requirements. Training should address elements specific to working with the UC population, prevention and intervention in child abuse and neglect, national reporting procedures, and staff code of conduct. 7. Demonstrate a clear description of overall program management and plan for provision of the services aforementioned (provide child welfare community based referrals, post release service referrals, crisis intervention, and safety planning to eligible Unaccompanied Children (UC) and children formerly in an ORR care provider). Interested sources are invited to submit a capability statement no more than ten (10) pages. This capability statement should include: - A cover letter which includes the offeror's name, company address, a point of contact, phone number, email address, DUNS number, and current GSA schedules appropriate to this work (if any). If you have a government approved accounting system, please identify the agency that approved the system, and the type of company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). - A clear and concise statement of the offeror's capability and organizational capacity to perform the work as described above. - Bios or resumes for proposed key staff members, including the project manager and lead technical staff. - The offeror's most pertinent previous experience with similar government contracts within the last four years. The capability statement does not need to describe how the contractor would carry out the proposed tasks, does not need to include any budget proposals, and does not need to provide resumes or other information for non-key staff. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s) and for any other purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Qualifying small businesses which have the organizational capacity to provide the services are encouraged to respond to this request. All teaming arrangements (if any) should also include the above-cited information with certifications for each entity on the proposed team. All offerors must register or be registered on SAM located at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Responses must be received by 10:00 am EST on March 8, 2017. All submissions should be sent to Linda O'Neil, via email at Linda.Jules-ONeil@psc.hhs.gov. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. 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 solicitation may be published. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.