R -- Disability Program Navigator

This synopsis is published to the requirement of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.201. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA), pursuant to FAR 19.202-2, Locating Small Businesses, is seeking small business concerns to provide training, technical assistance, and evaluation of the Disability Program Navigator (DPN) grants funded under the Work Incentive Grant (WIG). The technical assistance will focus on assisting the grantees to develop/implement/disseminate strategies for sustainability and effective practices to improve employment outcomes, opportunities for life-long learning, career advancement, and economic self-sufficiency of job seekers with disabilities, The small business concern will support DOL/ETA and the Regional Federal Project Officers (FPOs) by providing information, resource development/dissemination, evaluation, training and technical assistance activities that promote the DPN Initiative's objectives. The contractor's activities will be closely coordinated with the ETA's Office of Workforce Investment's, Division of Adult Services, Disability Team; these activities will be multi-faceted and demonstrate an understanding of and sensitivity to the devolved workforce investment system under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), diversity of state and local needs (vis-vis DPN project implementation), preferences for different learning styles, and the importance of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of effective practices/strategies to improve the employment outcomes and promote the economic and financial independence of people with disabilities. The period of performance for the contract will be 12 months from the date of execution plus four 1-year options at the government?s discretion. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541611 and the size standard is $6.5 million. The small business concerns must demonstrate extensive knowledge and experience with conducting ongoing technical assistance and training using a multi-modal approach to build Navigator capacity that advances systemic change, the development of partnerships to leverage resources, outreach strategies with employers, and expands the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to provide integrated, comprehensive, seamless, and quality services to people with disabilities. The small business concerns must also demonstrate its capacity to complete the following activities within one month of the contract award: (1) develop a Technical Assistance Plan that includes the: assignment of a team of experts skilled in the DPN Initiative to provide technical assistance to the 47 DPN grantees and identification of multi-modal training strategies for DPNs and State DPN leads, including one-on-one training, remote training opportunities, etc.; (2) development and implementation of a web-site for the 47 DPN grantees and DPN Initiative; (3) development of a Site Visit Plan which includes a process for selecting the grantees to receive visits, including criteria, frequency, format, and a timeline for the visits; (4) development of a Training Plan for providing multiple training and other learning opportunities for DPN grantees, including audio-conference training series on, but not limited to: Integrated Resource Teams, Maturity Model; new DPN training and Orientation Series; Understanding of Social Security work incentives; developing partnerships with ETA?s mandated and non-mandated partners, mastering negotiation and communication skills to improve collaboration across workforce investment and disability systems; One-Stop Career Centers and Local Workforce Investment Boards becoming Employment Networks; outreach to employers, etc. The small business concerns must also have previous experience and understanding of the DPN Initiative and its relevance for improving employment outcomes of people with disabilities and expanding the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to provide integrated, seamless, accessible, and quality services to job seekers with disabilities. The small business concerns must demonstrate extensive knowledge of the: workforce investment and disability systems; effective strategies developed by the individual DPN projects and future direction, including specific strategies to implement sustainability; effective strategies to achieve successful employment outcomes of people with disabilities via the One-Stop Career Center system; and the DPN process evaluation and reporting. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) AND IS NOT A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO ISSUE A SOLICITITATION OR ULTIMATELY TO AWARD A CONTRACT ON THE BASIS OFTHIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. Responses to this sources sought notice will not serve as proposals, bids or offers, which could be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. Submission of any information in responses to this sources sought notice is completely voluntary, and shall not constitute a fee to the government. The main purpose of this sources sought notice is to conduct market research and determine the small business concerns capable for future competition. The Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration invites all interested small business concerns to submit a written response to this sources sought notice. Qualified sources interested are invited to submit a Statement of Capability (SOC), not to exceed ten (10) pages in length, within fifteen (15) days of this publication. The SOC should clearly demonstrate the interested sources previous experience working with the DPN grantees and knowledge of the DPN Initiative. The SOC should also demonstrate the interested sources knowledge and understanding of developing and implementing Integrated Resource Teams (IRTs) to blend and braid resources around the individual's employment needs in the One-Stop Carrere Center system and the implementation of the Maturity Model to assess the progress of the DPN projects. No solicitation document exists. Responses to this notice must be in writing. No telephone inquiries will be accepted. Responses must include the SOC and reference the notice number PR-081A-3297-DPN, and DOL contact, Mr. David Houston, Contract Specialist, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-4655, Washington, D.C. 20210. No award will be based on any offer or proposal received in response to this notice.