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SOL-DC-11-00003, Technical and Outreach Support Services for Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Development and Implementation

Update: November 30, 2011

HPOD awarded IDIQ contracts to Eastern Research Group, Research Triangle Institute, Science Applications International Corporation, and Systems Research and Applications Corporation. Requirements shall be competed amongst the aforementioned contractors. The period of performance for each contract is base plus four option years. The contracts support the Climate Change Division and their continued finalization of 40 CFR Part 98 and the implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The services provided under the subject contract includes: Technical and Engineering Analyses support, Regulatory Program and Guidance Development Support, Outreach, Communications, and Training Support, Data Systems and Information Technology Support, and Data Analytics and Publication Support.

Update: February 24, 2011

The purpose of this amendment is to provide SOL-DC-11-00003 Amendment No. 2. The amendment is attached immediately below.

Update: February 17, 2011

The purpose of this amendment is to fulfill the requirements of 52.215-110, Technical Questions, and to extend the proposal due date. Technical questions are incorporated into the solicitation as Attachment No. 5. Technical questions resulting in revisions to the solicitation are hereby incorporated into the solicitation. The revised due date for proposals is now March 17, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. EST. Amendment No. 1 is attached immediately below.

Update: February 4, 2011

The Request for Proposal is available below.

Update: February 3, 2011

The purpose of this update is to reflect a revision to the paragraph (c) of the Limitation of Future Contracting clause. The revision to that clause may be found immediately below:

Limitation of Future Contracting

The text of this clause will mirror the Limitation of Future Contracting (EPAAR 1552.209-74, Alternate V) except for paragraph (c). Paragraph (c) of the clause shall read as follows: “ The following applies when work is performed under an awarded task order: Unless prior written approval is obtained from the cognizant EPA Contracting Officer, the contractor, during the life of the task order, agrees not to enter into any contract with or to represent any entity, other than EPA, that would create an organizational conflict of interest with the activities of that task order. Entities identified as having a high probability for organizational conflict of interest with an significant portion of the tasks under this contract are those that: (1) owns, operates, or has a significant financial interest in or business relationship with a direct greenhouse gas emitter, fossil fuel supplier, and industrial gas supplier regulated under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, (2) owns, operates, has a significant financial interest in or business relationship with a company that builds, repairs, inspects, markets, and/or supplies parts for gas monitoring equipment, such as Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems for power plants, (3) has a significant financial interest in a product, in the market or under development, designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (4) has a business relationship with a company engaged in or intending to engage in the development or marketing of a product designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (5) provides services to a company to prepare their annual GHG report to EPA, (6) manages directly or on behalf of the Government stationary combustion sources that meet or exceed the reporting threshold (see 40 CFR Part 98), (7) has a significant financial interest in a source category listed in the Appendix of the Statement of Work.”

Posted: January 21, 2011

Pre-Solicitation Notice for SOL-DC-11-00003

Particulars:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Climate Change Division, intends to conduct a competitive Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 15 procurement under solicitation number SOL-DC-11-00003, Technical and Outreach Support Services for Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Development and Implementation. This procurement is full and open. Award will be made to the responsible firm whose proposal is determined to offer the best value to the Government. The NAICS Code for Environmental Consulting Services is 541620 and the current size standard is $7.0 million. The Government contemplates multiple award Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity contracts as a result of the solicitation. More specifically, the Government intends to award no more than four contracts as a result of the solicitation. The anticipated period of performance will be a one-year base period with four one-year option periods. The anticipated solicitation issue date is on or about January 24, 2011 with a solicitation closing date on or about February 23, 2011. Please do not contact the contracting office prior to the projected issue date. The solicitation will identify the deadline for submission of any questions pertaining to the solicitation requirements; any questions submitted after that deadline may or may not be responded to at the option of the Government. All responses to questions, clarifications, and/or comments deemed necessary by the Contracting Officer will be promulgated via amendment(s) to the solicitation. Offerors are advised to monitor the EPA Website and the Federal Business Opportunities Website for issuance of the solicitation and to download any amendments issued during the solicitation period. No paper copies will be furnished. Please note, on June 21, 2010 a Sources Sought/Request for Information notice was posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Website ( www.fbo.gov ).

Background:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a rule for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases (GHG) (also referred to as 40 CFR Part 98) from large GHG emissions sources in the United States. The implementation of the rule is referred to as the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). 40 CFR Part 98 applies to direct greenhouse gas emitters, fossil fuel suppliers, and industrial gas suppliers. In general, the threshold for reporting is 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per year. Reporting is at the facility level, except for certain suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial greenhouse gases. An estimated 85-90 percent of the total U.S. GHG emissions from approximately 10,000 facilities are covered by this final rule. This comprehensive, nationwide emissions data will provide a better understanding of where GHGs are coming from and will guide development of the policies and programs to reduce emissions. In addition, this publicly available data will allow reporters to track their own emissions, compare them to similar facilities, and aid in identifying cost effective opportunities to reduce emissions in the future. The subject procurement is primarily intended to support the work for the continued finalization of 40 CFR Part 98 and implementation of the GHGRP.

Scope:

The purpose of this procurement is to provide support to the Climate Change Division. The work to be performed under this statement of work corresponds with the task/functional areas listed below.

•  Technical and Engineering Analyses Support

•  Regulatory Program and Guidance Development Support

•  Outreach, Communications, and Training Support

•  Data Systems and Information Technology Support

•  Data Analytics and Publications Support

Organizational Conflict of Interest:

The Contracting Officer has determined that the subject procurement involves potentially significant organizational conflicts of interest issues. Therefore, the following organizational conflict of interest clauses and provisions will be included in the subject solicitation and any resultant contracts and task orders as necessary. This list may not represent the final list of all organizational conflict of interest clauses and provisions. Interested parties should review the solicitation for the final organizational conflict of interest requirements. Award cannot be made to an offeror that is unable to successfully mitigate significant organizational conflicts of interest.

Further details regarding significant non-EPAAR organizational conflict of interest clauses are as follows:

Limitation of Future Contracting

The text of this clause will mirror the Limitation of Future Contracting (EPAAR 1552.209-74, Alternate V) except for paragraph (c). Paragraph (c) of the clause shall read as follows: “Unless prior written approval is obtained from the EPA Contracting Officer, the contractor is prohibited from entering into any financial interests or business relationships, including acting in any type of advisory or representational capacity, with an entity that (1) owns, operates, or has a significant financial interest in or business relationship with a direct greenhouse gas emitter, fossil fuel supplier, and industrial gas supplier regulated under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, (2) owns, operates, has a significant financial interest in or business relationship with a company that builds, repairs, inspects, markets, and/or supplies parts for gas monitoring equipment, such as Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems for power plants, (3) has a significant financial interest in a product, in the market or under development, designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (4) has a business relationship with a company engaged in or intending to engage in the development or marketing of a product designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (5) provides services to a company to prepare their annual GHG report to EPA, (6) manages directly or on behalf of the Government stationary combustion sources that meet or exceed the reporting threshold (see 40 CFR Part 98), (7) has a significant financial interest in a source category listed in the Appendix of the Statement of Work.”

Disclosure Requirements for Organizational Conflict of Interest

(a) The proposed contract requires that the contractor provide EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, (OAR), Climate Change Division (CCD) with services primarily intended to support the work for the continued finalization of 40 CFR Part 98 and implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). An offeror shall specifically disclose whether it has any financial interest in or business relationships with the source categories regulated by 40 CFR Part 98 or whether it is performing any work that potentially conflicts with work under this contract for EPA. For example, please disclose whether the offeror: (1) owns, operates, or has a significant financial interest in or business relationship with a direct greenhouse gas emitter, fossil fuel supplier, or industrial gas supplier regulated under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, (2) owns, operates, has a significant business relationship with or financial interest in a company that builds, repairs, inspects, markets, and/or supplies parts for gas monitoring equipment such as Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems for power plants, (3) has a significant financial interest in a product, in the market or under development, designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (4) has a business relationship with a company engaged in or intending to engage in the development or marketing of a product designed to monitor or reduce GHG emissions in a source category, (5) provides services to a company to prepare their annual GHG report to EPA, (6) manages directly or on behalf of the Government stationary combustion sources that meet or exceed the reporting threshold (see 40 CFR Part 98), (7) has a significant financial interest in a source category listed in the Appendix of the Statement of Work.

(b) ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST CERTIFICATION (EPAAR 1552.209-72), requires the offeror to certify whether it is or is not aware of any potential organizational conflict of interest (COI). If the offeror is aware of a conflict, then Provision, ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST NOTIFICATION (EPAAR 1552.209-70), requires the offeror to provide a disclosure statement in its proposal describing all relevant information concerning any past, present, or planned interests bearing on whether it (including its chief executives and any directors, or any proposed consultant or subcontractors) may have a potential organizational conflict of interest. Firms responding to this solicitation are required to disclose any such business or financial relationships. The disclosure statement must address and identify any actual or potential organizational COI within the offeror's entire corporate organization, including parent company, sister companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries. In addition to identifying potential organizational COI, the disclosure statement shall describe how any such conflict can be avoided, neutralized, or mitigated. Also, the contractor's COI Plan shall describe the process by which the contractor will ascertain whether any actual or potential COI exist within its own company and all identified organizational relationships. The EPA contracting officer will determine an offeror's eligibility for award based on the information provided in the disclosure statement.

(c) The Agency has determined that firms having significant business interest in or financial relationships identified in paragraph (a) may have a significant actual or potential organizational conflict of interest in relation to the requirements of this solicitation. In addition, the Agency has determined that firms that provide consulting and/or technical services to the regulated community may present significant actual or potential COI concerns.

(d) The purpose of requiring the information covered by Paragraph (b) above is to provide the Agency with an opportunity to assess its vulnerabilities relative to organizational COI with respect to individual offerors prior to award. The Agency recognizes that there exists a need for firms to gain the requisite experience necessary to fulfill the requirements of the proposed contract and that such experience is often gained through provision of consulting or related technical services to the regulated community.

Accordingly, the fact that a firm has worked, is working or plans to work for entities in the above referenced industries will not necessarily disqualify the firm from consideration for award on the basis of actual or potential conflicts of interest (COI). There is no precise formula for determining whether a firm's business or financial relationships or its past, present, or future effort performing work for entities in the above referenced industries would result in a determination by the contracting officer that award to a particular offeror would not be in the best interest of the Government due to organizational COI concerns. Each offeror will be evaluated individually on the basis of the information disclosed pursuant to the requirements of this provision and upon the adequacy of the offeror's plan for avoiding, neutralizing, or mitigating such conflicts. In summary, the Agency is seeking a technically qualified firm which can demonstrate that its activities and relationships will not impact its ability to provide unbiased work products to the Agency under the proposed contract.

Task Order Conflict of Interest Certification

Within 20 days of receipt of the task order or similar tasking document, the Contractor shall provide a conflict of interest certification. Where task orders or similar tasking documents are issued under this contract for work on or directly related to a source category, the Contractor is only required to provide a conflict of interest certification for the first task order issued for that source category. For all subsequent work on that source category under this contract, the Contractor has a continuing obligation to search and report any actual or potential conflicts of interest, but no additional conflict of interest certifications are required.

Before submitting the conflict of interest certification, the contractor shall search its records accumulated, at a minimum, over the past three years immediately prior to the receipt of the task order or similar tasking document. In the COI certification, the Contractor must certify to the best of the Contractor's knowledge and belief that all actual or potential organizational conflicts of interest have been reported to the Contracting Officer or that to the best of the Contractor's knowledge and belief, no actual or potential organizational conflicts of interest exist. In addition, the Contractor must certify that its personnel who perform work under this task order or relating to this task order have been informed of their obligation to report personal and organizational conflicts of interest to the Contractor. The certification shall also include a statement that the Contractor recognizes its continuing obligation to identify and report any actual or potential conflicts of interest arising during performance of this task order or other related work.

Conflict of Interest Plan

As part of the initial offer, offerors should submit an Organizational Conflict of Interest (COI) Plan, which outlines the procedures in place to identify and report conflicts of interest, whether actual or potential, throughout the period of contract performance. The plan shall address, step-by-step the checks and balances in place to detect potential or actual conflict of interests, organizationally and with personnel, which could result from activities covered by the Statement of Work (SOW). The COI plan shall be incorporated into any resulting contract.

The COI plan shall be evaluated in accordance with the provision in Section M entitled, “EVALUATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST PLAN”.

The Agency's minimum standards for Organizational Conflict of Interest Plans are included.

Evaluation of Conflict of Interest Plan

The plan described in Section L entitled “CONFLICT OF INTEREST PLAN” will be evaluated as acceptable or not acceptable. Notwithstanding any other evaluation of the offeror's proposal, an offeror that submits a plan that is unacceptable at the time of award will not be eligible for a contract award.

Minimum Standards for Conflict of Interest Plans

1. PURPOSE

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified a need to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate actual and potential contractor conflicts of interest (COI). To accomplish this, contractors are required to have a COI plan for identifying and reporting actual and potential COI. The purpose of this document is to set forth the minimum standards for a contractor's COI plan.

2. COI PLAN

The contractor's COI Plan is a document which describes the procedures a company uses to identify and report COI. Generally, a contractor's corporate COI plan will describe how a company, in its entirety, addresses conflicts, and will not be contract or program specific. The plan may also describe the options a company will consider proposing to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate a COI whenever a conflict is identified. The plan will be evaluated and approved by the applicable EPA Contracting Officer (CO) if the COI Plan meets the EPA's minimum requirements for detecting and reporting conflicts of interest. Contractor's COI Plans should be identified by a version number, date, and applicable CO for any previously approved COI Plan.

3. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR CONTRACTORS' COI PLANS

A. Corporate Structure

The COI Plan shall describe any parent relationship and list all affiliates, subsidiaries, and sister companies, etc. Generally this need not exceed three corporate tiers, unless a relationship exists beyond three tiers that would potentially create a conflict. In such a case, relationships beyond three tiers should also be included in the COI Plan. Contractors should report changes in its corporate structure to the Agency throughout contract performance. Contractors are invited to include under this section a company profile. The profile should discuss all pertinent information relevant to COI including a summary of a contractor's primary and/or environmental business functions and activities. This background information will be very useful to COS when evaluating whether or not a contractor has a COI.

B. Searching and Identifying COI

The COI Plan shall include a requirement describing when a COI search must be performed by company personnel and clearly identify the procedures to be followed. The searching requirement shall encompass all work related to all clients for whom work was performed over the last three years, all current work, all sites (if applicable) and any future work reflected in marketing proposals. Contractors must search their records over the past 36 months, or through all available records for a new company until 36 months of records are accumulated, from the time of receipt of the work from EPA. However, contractors are encouraged to search back as far as a company's records cover.

C. Data Base

The COI Plan shall require a data base that includes all necessary information for a contractor to review its past work (at a minimum over the past 36 months or through all available records for a new company until 36 months of records are accumulated), work in progress, and work the company may be pursuing under any marketing proposals. This requirement does not establish any particular type or kind of retrieval system, however, the data base shall contain, at a minimum, the following information and capabilities.

(1) a list of the company's past and public clients;

(2) a description of the type(s) of work that was performed and any other pertinent information;

(3) a list of the past sites (when applicable) a contractor has worked on;

(4) a list of site name(s) (when applicable) related to any work performed;

(5) the ability to search and retrieve the information in the data base; and

(6) dollar value of work performed.

If applicable, the COI Plan shall include provisions for supplemental searches of parent, affiliate, subsidiary, or sister company records. The COI Plan shall also describe any cross-checks used by the company when searching COI issues.

D. Personal Certification

At a minimum, the COI Plan shall require ALL employees of the company performing work under an EPA Superfund and/or Non-Superfund contract, including work on a site, work relating to a site, work pertaining to a CERCLA/RCRA action, or work that may endanger a CERCLA enforcement action, to sign a personal certification. EPA recommends a policy whereby all company employees are required to sign such a certification rather than only those employees working under an EPA contract. The certification shall require at a minimum, that the individual agrees to report to the proper company authority any personal COI and that the individual has read and understands the company's COI Plan and procedures. Employee certifications shall be retained by the company.

E. Work Assignment (WA), Technical Direction Document (TDD), or Task Order (TO) Notification and Certification

The COI Plan shall describe the process the company requires for notifying the Agency prior to beginning work, and for submission of its WA/TDD/TO certification within 20 days of receipt of the work from EPA. NOTE: WA/TDD/TO certifications are NOT required if the contract contains an annual certification requirement. Nevertheless, the contractor's COI Plan should address the procedures to be followed for WA/TDD/TO certifications.

F. Annual Certification

The COI Plan shall describe the process the company requires for submission of its annual certification.

NOTE: Annual certification is NOT required if the contract contains a WA/TDD/DO certification

requirement. Nevertheless, the contractor's COI Plan should address the procedures to be followed for annual certifications.

G. Notification and Documentation

The COI Plan shall clearly delineate the official within the company responsible for making COI determinations. Generally, this would be someone at a middle to upper level of management. The responsible official shall be free of any personal conflicts for the purpose of making COI determination, e.g., a program manager who receives bonuses based on the total amount of sales may not be free of conflicts. The plan shall clearly identify the process that is required when notifying the EPA of any actual or potential COI and the actions that the company has taken or will take to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate the conflict. In addition, the contractor shall document all COI searches related to EPA work, whether or not an actual or potential COI has been identified.

H. Training

The COI Plan shall require all employees of the company to receive basic COI training and that each employee receive COI awareness training at least annually. The company's COI Plan shall be available for all employees to review. Annual awareness training shall include, at a minimum, a review of the certification language and any changes that may have occurred in the company's COI Plan. In addition, companies are encouraged to routinely disseminate to their employees current COI information.

I. Subcontractor's COI Plans

The COI Plan shall describe the process and mechanism by which the company will monitor its subcontractors to ensure all subcontractors are complying with the COI provisions in their contracts. It is important that subcontractors identify and report COI as well as submit Limitation of Future Contracting (LOFC) requests for approval.

The primary point of contact for this procurement is Christopher Jenson, Contract Specialist, at jenson.christopher@epa.gov

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