Notice of Intent to Award Sole Source - International Fire Service Training Association

The Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency/U.S. Fire Administration (DHS/FEMA/USFA) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a sole source basis (IAW FAR 6.302) with the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) located at 930 North Willis, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-8045. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) was established by Public Law 93-498, the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, which called for: 1) the establishment of a National Fire Academy (NFA) to advance the professional development of fire service personnel and other people engaged in fire prevention and control activities; 2) a technology program for the development, testing and evaluation of equipment for use by the nation's fire, rescue and civil defense services; 3) the operation of a National Fire Data Center (NFDC) for the selection, analysis, publication and dissemination of information related to the prevention, occurrence, control and results of fires of all types; and 4) to take all necessary steps to educate the public and overcome public indifference to fire and fire prevention. USFA, through its NFDC, provides a federal fire focus for applied research and technology. Actual studies and research are accomplished in partnership with a wide range of organizations that share USFA's interest in reducing the nation's fire loss. The purpose of this purchase order is to procure services to: 1) perform an extensive review of selected USFA fire service technical materials through an in-depth needs assessment to identify and determine materials to be updated and/or developed, 2) perform all-encompassing revisions based on the results of the needs assessment which include the development of new programmatic and technological information to ensure currency with modern operational practices, fire service occupational health and safety, standards compliance, and technological advances, and, 3) perform extensive validation through a long term conference of independent fire service national level subject matter experts to ensure the accuracy and applicability of the newly developed fire service technical materials. IFTSA is the only national level fire service organization that has a proprietary long-term fire service training and safety technical document validation conference process which has been in existence for over 80 years. The members of this validation conference are vetted national level fire service subject matter experts comprised of balanced representation of all phases of the fire service including career and volunteer fire departments, training academies, technological experts, fire service manufacturers, the military, and regulators throughout North America. IFSTA has a highly defined and very selective process for those chosen to serve as a national level subject matter expert on their validation committee. IFSTA has extensive experience developing firefighter health and safety technical materials supporting USFA's National Fire Academy educational programs, including the Fire Emergency Service Higher Education (FEHSE) model core curriculum. IFSTA has a long history of performing successful complex firefighter health and safety research studies and technical document development for both the USFA and the fire service in general. These studies have resulted in the publication of related texts or manuals and other outreach deliverables. USFA projects that were completed by IFSTA include the Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity study and the Traffic Incident Management Systems study. IFSTA has tremendous experience and credibility among the U.S. fire services for their over 80 year history of producing training manuals and instructional materials on firefighter health and safety as well as other fire service topics. IFSTA staff members serve on numerous national-level consensus standards committees dealing with firefighter health and safety. All of this organizational and staff history related to firefighter health and safety will benefit this effort. The USFA fire service technical publications need to be updated to provide current and accurate information with an intended audience of local level emergency responders, primarily the fire service. Therefore, all revised publications must include the most up to date information related to operational and safety practices, technology, standards, and other relevant areas to the subject matter. The contractor shall provide an extensive review and validation process involving national level subject matter expertise. The contractor shall examine related USFA (and other) project efforts in the subject matter of the USFA publication being revised and, where appropriate, include them in the updated material/publications. The contractor must be able to meet the core responsibilities required for this requirement as follows: - Have extensive experience in developing emergency response technical and training materials for publications related to emergency response, but particular to fire services, especially related to firefighter health and safety. - Have extensive national level experience and a proven record of success in the validation process of firefighter health and safety publications, including the employment of a long-term standing validation committee/conference that consists of subject matter experts who are selected to represent a wide cross section of the emergency response field. Requirements: - Experience creating publications and other outreach deliverables for both the USFA and the fire service in general - Experience in the validation process of fire service, especially firefighter health and safety materials. FEMA determined that IFSTA is uniquely qualified to perform this work. This purchase order will be awarded using simplified acquisition procedures in accordance with FAR Part 13. This notice is NOT a request for quotation (RFQ) for competitive quotes/proposals and no solicitation document exists for this requirement. However, parties interested in responding to this notice shall submit technical data, sufficient to determine capability in providing the same services. All capability statements received by the closing of this notification of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Based on the above information, the only known organization which can provide technically acceptable services is the IFSTA. Submit capability statements (using PDF, MS Word, Excel attachments) to Cindy Adams, Contract Specialist at Cindy.Adams@fema.dhs.gov Statements are due by 11:00 a.m. EST on March 28, 2016. Primary Point of Contact: Cindy Adams Contracting Office Address: DHS/FEMA/NETC Building D 16825 South Seton Avenue Emmitsburg, MD 21727 Place of Performance: Contractor's Facility Classification Code: R410 NAICS Code: 813920