Transitional Jobs Initiative Technical Assistance Contract

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking qualified contractors for technical assistance support of its transitional jobs programs. The technical assistance contract will support programs to guarantee timely implementation, impactful partnerships and effective service delivery to ensure successful participant outcomes, consistent with ETA expectations while the programs undergo a rigorous random assignment evaluation. ETA is conducting market research to identify firms that qualify under the Small Business Programs mentioned in Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 19. When submitting your response, please indicate the program for which you meet the criteria. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541611, and the Small Business Standard is $7 million. The contractor will be responsible for supporting the Transitional Jobs Demonstration grantees with information and staff training to help grantees successfully implement their projects. The contractor will also work closely with the evaluation contractors to ensure successful program implementation and operation, adequate enrollment, and successful working relationships with required partners. The intention of the aforementioned activities is to ensure the participants are supported during the transition phase from subsidized employment in a transitional jobs setting to longer-term unsubsidized employment. Specific activities undertaken as part of this contract include, but are not limited to: - Coordinating and managing a group of technical assistance coaches who will have subject matter expertise in required program elements and target populations of the grant program; - Providing program oversight and training in the implementation of the grants, including partnership development, capacity building and staffing; - Assisting grantees with ongoing areas of concern or difficulty; - Coordinating with the evaluation contract team to ensure the development of required program components and partnerships; - Assisting with training and support of the MIS data management and reporting system; - Conducting at least two site visits to each site per year for targeted training and program support; - Providing ongoing communication and resource development to ETA national and regional staff; and - Providing logistics, staffing and support for at least one national meeting of grantees per year, with expected attendance of up to 60 people. All contractors responding to this announcement must demonstrate their experience in successfully doing the aforementioned work. Please be advised that the following factors will be used to gauge the capability of a firm who responds to this request for information. Therefore, a firm's capabilities statement should address the firm's past experience in: 1.Developing a plan to enlist and coordinate technical assistance coaches, who have verifiable experience working with low-income non-custodial parents and ex-offenders, as well as employment programs, building partnerships and supportive service strategies. 2.Providing continual technical support including trouble shooting, problem solving, and training to grantees on a Web-based MIS reporting system and assisting sites in best utilizing performance data for program improvement and reporting. 3.Helping sites develop effective practices for serving participants with multiple barriers to successful employment. 4.Planning and managing technical assistance meetings and/or conferences, including all pre-conference work, development of the agenda, hotel and meeting space logistics, support for speakers and presenters, announcements, registrations, conference materials, post-conference wrap-up, conference proceedings, and evaluation. 5.Coordinating a schedule of site visits among TA coaches, evaluation contractors, and Federal Project Officers. 6.Promoting and supporting ongoing communication among those organizations and/or agencies involved with this project. 7. Working with sites undergoing random assignment evaluation, including the ability to assist sites to adequately recruit for random assignment, facilitate communication to the community about the evaluation process, and support successful implementation of the random assignment process. All interested parties are invited to submit a capabilities statement, to Ms. Marsha Daniels, Contracting Officer, Division of Contract Services, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N4655, Washington, DC 20210. Responses are due January 12, 2011 by 4 p.m. EST. Electronic copies of capability statements are preferred and may be emailed to daniels.marsha@dol.gov. The response must be specific to each of the factors listed above to demonstrate that the respondent is capable. The submittals shall not exceed 15 pages, TOTAL. A determination by the Government to proceed with the acquisition as a set-aside is within the discretion of the Government. Please be advised that telephone inquiries will not be accepted. In addition, be advised that the Department of Labor will not notify individual companies who respond to the RFI as to the decisions that DOL has made regarding the procurement after reviewing capability statements. This RFI is merely for market research purposes. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL.