Inactive

Page 5 of 5 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION INTRODUCTION THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI... Page 5 of 5 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION INTRODUCTION THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for Chapter 36, Personalized Career Planning and Guidance (PCPG) Services. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only. There is no obligation for the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI. In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 15.201(E), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by VBA in developing its acquisition strategy and informing, refining and finalizing the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Only electronic responses to this RFI will be accepted. The Government will not pay for any time expended or information submitted in response to this RFI. Eligibility in participating in a future acquisition does not depend upon a response to this RFI. BACKGROUND The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), has authority, pursuant to Title 38 USC Chapter 36, to provide all services and assistance necessary to enable eligible Servicemembers, Veterans, and eligible Dependents (from here forth Veteran will refer to all eligible participants) to achieve their academic and vocational goals and objectives. The purpose of providing these services is for the individual to achieve their desired educational and vocational goals and objectives. In order to provide these services, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the Office of Transition and Economic Development (TED) requires contractor assistance to meet the educational and vocational counseling needs of the Veteran. The objective of this procurement is to aid the individual in selecting (1) an educational or training objective and an educational institution or training establishment appropriate for the attainment of such objective; or (2) an employment objective that would be likely to provide such individual with satisfactory employment opportunities in light of the individual s circumstances; or (3) related services. INFORMATION SOUGHT The Government is seeking the following information to be provided by the vendors when responding to the RFI: Company Information Answers to Questions Draft PWS Comments 3.1 Company Information RFI respondents shall provide the following information: Company Name Company Address Company Point of Contact (name, address, telephone number, email address) DUNS Number Type of business (i.e. Large Business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), Small Business (SB), etc.) under NAICS 624310, which contains a size standard of $12 Million; Existing Multiple Award Contract (MAC) vehicles currently held by your company (examples may include General Service Administrations (GSA) schedules, Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), Indefinite Delivery Contracts (IDCs), Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs)) available for the Government s use for this requirement. For each MAC vehicle provide: vehicle name vehicle number date of award expiration date 3.2 Answers to Questions RFI respondents shall provide answers to the questions provided in Section 5.0 of this RFI. RFI respondents are requested to address each question. Questions that do not apply to RFI respondents or RFI respondents cannot provide answers to shall be addressed by marking these questions with N/A . 3.3 Draft PWS Comments RFI respondents shall provide comments on the PWS in the following table format: Comment # PWS Page # PWS Section # Comment The comments may include recommended changes, noted errors, inconsistencies, ambiguities, areas requiring further clarifications or higher level of detail, etc. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Please submit responses via email to the Contracting Officer, Heather Hampton, at heather.hampton@va.gov. Submissions are due no later than Wednesday, March 4, 2019, 11:00 a.m. (ET). The email subject line must contain the following: Response to RFI 36C10E20Q0107, PCPG. VBA reserves the right to not reply to any emails, responses, questions and materials submitted in response to the RFI. Mark your response as Proprietary Information if the information included is considered to be business sensitive and / or includes trade secrets. RFI responses shall not exceed 10 pages total (exclusive of the Draft PWS Comments). Responses shall be prepared on standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper (charts may be landscaped but must be on 8.5 x 11 inch paper) and shall be in Times New Roman, font size (12), with 1 margins. All pages of the response shall be appropriately numbered, and identified with the RFI number LIST OF QUESTIONS Please provide information regarding proposed joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances or other business arrangements to satisfy requirements of the entire PWS. Please describe your organization s expertise in the areas of employment and educational counseling as delineated in the PWS. Also, indicate the relationship to areas of expertise and skills as they relate to providing employment and educational services or support to Veterans and their dependents. Provide any examples that are similar to those in this RFI. Please describe relevant certifications that your organization possesses which are specific to employment and educational services. Please describe your organization s strategy, experience, and capability to recruit and retain Program managers and Certified Counselors. Please discuss how your organization would prepare for and respond to referrals issued by the VA's Office of Transition and Economic Development, specifically the timelines to contact participants for sessions and submit reports to the VA based on those counseling sessions. On average, how many full-time equivalent (FTE) Certified Counselors are employed by your company? How long has your company been providing employment and educational counseling services? Over the last 3 years what rate of success does your company have for placing clients into suitable employment? Please identify the range that best reflects the percentage of your company's clients that have been placed to the total number of company clients on an annual basis. (i.e., 60 clients placed in employment out of 100 total annual clients = 60%) How many counselors have a minimum of 3 years of experience in employment and educational counseling? For the previous 3 years, for whom has your company provided employment and educational counseling services, and in what capacity (select all that apply and notate whether the services were provided as a Prime Contractor or Subcontractor)? What is your average retention rate over the past 3 years (year-over-year) for Certified Counselors? How do you identify performance deficiencies? How do you address them? How do you implement corrective action? What recommendations would your company make relative to pricing structures? What are the major risk factors in the performance of services required in the PWS? How can those risks be mitigated? Please indicate the Regions(s) of the country your company is interested in and capable of conducting Chapter 36 services, by completing the attached AREAS OF CONSIDERATION INTEREST FORM . If the Government were to solicit for these services, individual contracts would be awarded for each of the 4 Regions outlined in the attachment. ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1 - Draft PWS (PCPG_PWS_DRAFT_Feb 13 2020)