Transition Assistance Program

This is a draft solicitation issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs under solicitation number 36C10X26Q0099 for the Transition Assistance Program, intended solely for industry feedback and not for submission of offers. The formal solicitation will be published on GSA at a later date. Questions and comments must be submitted electronically to Rebecca Ubert and Roxana Cepeda by 4:00 p.m. EST on May 15, 2026. The contract is governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and VA-specific clauses, with key requirements including compliance with Section 508 accessibility, plain language standards, and VA Directive 6500.1 for data sanitization and protection. Contractors must adhere to strict data handling protocols, including media sanitization prior to disposal and certification of destruction within 30 days of contract termination. The performance period includes a one-year base with four optional one-year extensions and a potential six-month additional option, totaling up to 60 months, with work to be performed primarily at the VBA Central Office in Washington, DC, and potentially at other VA facilities or global DoD installations. The solicitation mandates a seven-volume proposal format with strict page limits, formatting rules, and submission protocols. Non-price factors, including experience, key personnel, technical approach, SDVOSB/small business status, and performance risk, are significantly more important than price, and a best-value trade-off approach will be used for selection rather than LPTA. Proposals must demonstrate compliance with VA-specific subcontracting limitations—capping non-certified SDVOSB/VOSB subcontracting at 50% for services—and require verification of small business status through the VA's VIP database. Key personnel substitutions require 15 days’ advance notice and government approval, while contractor staff must comply with personnel conduct rules, including prohibitions on wearing military apparel unless explicitly authorized. Financial operations are governed by electronic invoicing through the VA’s EIPP system, and payments will be processed via electronic funds transfer through SAM. Offerors must be registered in SAM with a valid UEI, and all submissions must follow prescribed file naming conventions and formats. The evaluation will proceed in phased stages, with pass/fail thresholds for experience and key personnel, mandatory minimum “Good” ratings for technical approach, and adjectival ratings applied across performance risk and small business factors, with final award based on overall best value to the government.