U.S. House of Representatives House Information Resources SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE Workplace Rights Training Sources Sought: This is NOT a solicitation for a proposal, proposal abstract, or quote. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding qualified business sources. The responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method. Background On December 19, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Res. 630 for the first time requiring all Members of Congress, officers, and employees of the institution to complete mandatory training in workplace rights and responsibilities. In its first year the House provided live, in-person training to more than 16,000 individuals. In each subsequent year, the training and its administration was amended and improved. After four successful years of training development and delivery, the requirements have changed substantially from the initial program envisioned in early 2018. The House has regrouped and consolidated updated requirements for House-wide, mandatory workplace rights education. The House seeks information from vendors for the design, development, and management of mandatory Workplace Rights and Responsibilities Training for the 118th Congress. The Requirements for each annual training requirement differ as legislation is passed for the requirement. The current requirements can be found in H.Res 257 and in subsequent Committee on House Administration regulations set forth in Committee Resolution 117-15. Design and Development The selected vendor must demonstrate specific, deep subject matter expertise in the area of workplace rights, anti-harassment and discrimination, and employment law. Design and develop four variations on one curriculum which meets the requirements set forth by Committee on House Administration regulations. The four variations are for four audiences: New Supervisory staff Returning Supervisory staff New non-supervisory staff Returning non-supervisory staff The training must contain and explain anti-discrimination and anti-harassment in the context of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. §1301), which provides the legal framework governing employment and workplace safety laws for Congress. Specifically, the training must meet the following legal and regulatory requirements: All training must be at least one hour in length and include: information regarding workplace rights and responsibilities specific to the Congressional workplace, including information specific to employing offices, supervisors, and employees; as appropriate, elements discussed in the June 2016 Report of the Co-Chairs of the Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including risk factors for harassment; information regarding prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation and options for reporting complaints, including complaints made by bystanders; an overview of the reporting process of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights and the dispute resolution process; information regarding proper responses to allegations of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, including examples of situations including blatant and subtle forms of behavioral harassment, discrimination and retaliation; information regarding unconscious bias, including a definition of "unconscious bias;" information regarding workplace safety rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and information on the House Office of the Attending Physician as a resource for guidance, information on the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act and issues of retaliation, interactive elements, including a question-and-answer component, and include the ability to ask questions; the opportunity for participants to provide feedback and evaluation of the training at its conclusion and to do so anonymously, if they wish; a clear statement that all House employees whose location of employment is outside of the Washington, DC, area shall have equitable access to the resources and services provided under the Congressional Accountability Act and House Rules, and information about how to access those resources and services; from the employee’s duty station if not available; and an interactive webinar or videoconference may satisfy the requirement that the training be conducted in-person. For the purposes of item 10, an interactive webinar or videoconference must be a live, synchronous event delivered by a qualified instructor. Using the Congressional Accountability Act as a guide, the selected vendor is required to design and develop customized instructional content, which must include House-specific examples of workplace rights awareness (e.g., anti-discrimination and anti-harassment) and the conflict resolution process. In addition, the selected vendor will design, develop, and produce all instructional content and materials to include but not necessarily limited to presentations, situation based scenarios, graphics, videos, and student handouts (e.g., worksheets, job aids, and reference material). All content must be delivered in paper and digital copy. To accomplish this objective, the selected vendor may draw from existing proprietary content and materials, publicly available content and materials, and previously developed House of Representatives content and materials in the creation of training under this contract. The vendor may consult with the following offices for subject matter expertise: Committee on House Administration Office of House Employment Counsel Office of Congressional Workplace Rights Office of Diversity and Inclusion Chief Administrative Officer Office of Human Resources Chief Administrative Officer Office of Employee Advocacy Chief Administrative Officer Office of Employee Assistance Chief Administrative Officer Administrative Counsel Members of Congress and staff identified by the Chief Administrative Officer Final approval authority for the training module will rest with the Committee on House Administration. Instruction Delivery The selected vendor will provide sufficient qualified instructors with the professional temperament and expertise required to deliver no fewer than 300 training sessions per year, with the flexibility to add more sessions to accommodate full compliance of all approximately 16,000 individuals per year. The majority of sessions will be delivered within a 90-day period to train all House personnel within the 90-day timeframe. The selected vendor will provide sufficient qualified instructors with the professional temperament and expertise required to deliver the training module in-person in Washington, DC. Instructors for the supervisory training sessions must be practicing employment attorneys. Instructors for non-supervisory training are not required to be attorneys, but must have demonstrated expertise in the field of human resources, employee relations, employment law, and civil rights law. In addition, specific knowledge of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. §1301) coupled with a demonstrated ability to apply the law to the House of Representatives environment is a plus. The selected vendor will use House of Representatives web conferencing tools Webex or Zoom for Government, to deliver all training sessions. Instructors will provide sufficient answers to student questions, but at no time will instructors provide legal or medical advice, or guidance on House policy. Instructors will refer questions on House specific regulations and processes to the Committee on House Administration. Schedule The selected vendor must manage a very tight and complex schedule. Development of the training involves many stakeholders, who must be interviewed and given the opportunity provide comments and edits to the curriculum. Development is collaborative with unlimited comment and edit requests from stakeholders. The final product must be given at least three review loops with our principal stakeholders. Comment periods may extend several weeks. Live, dress rehearsals of the final product must be given as many times as needed to satisfy principal stakeholders and gain final approval. There is an initial 90-day period of training for all current House employees, and then each month sufficient training sessions must be provided to train all new staff through the end of the calendar year. Program Administration Support The selected vendor will provide a highly competent, full-time program administrator to manage all aspects of the completion of the Workplace Rights and Responsibilities training program, project management, communications, reporting, and customer service. The program manager will be experienced in training administration, use and administration of Cornerstone learning management system, enterprise communications planning and execution, data management and reporting. The selected vendor will use Project Management best practices to manage the development and delivery of all aspects of the program, will provide a project schedule, and weekly updates on the status of all project deliverables, risks, and issues. Registration The selected vendor will administer registration for Workplace Rights and Responsibilities training using any combination of the House of Representatives IT systems which allow for ease of registration, and accurate accounting. The House currently uses Cornerstone OnDemand Learning Management System (LMS), Microsoft Forms, Survey Monkey. The vendor shall accept registrations in any method used by a House employee (phone, email, verbal), and register the user in the system of record. The selected vendor will make training sessions available for registration no fewer than 30 days prior to the date of the schedule session unless it is directed by the CAO. Registrants shall receive an Outlook calendar invite at the time of registration for a training session. The selected vendor will send a reminder to registered students one week, and 24 hours before the scheduled training. The selected vendor will verify attendance at each session. The selected vendor will provide sufficient staff to answer a Workplace Rights and Responsibilities hotline and email box to support registration, attendance, and any other customer service questions related to the program from 8:30am to 6:00pm M-F, and from 8:30am – The selected vendor will provide the same full scope of administrative support for the Member of Congress training sessions which are developed and taught by the Office of House Employment Counsel. There are approximately 125 sessions for Members of Congress. Event administration The selected vendor will administer all aspects of training session events including tracking attendance, material distribution, and operating audio/visual equipment supplied by the House. For webinar and videoconference training the selected vendor will also manage the online delivery platform, chat functions, and phone lines. The selected vendor will provide the same full scope of administrative support for the Member of Congress training sessions which are developed and taught by the Office of House Employment Counsel. There are approximately 125 sessions for Members of Congress. Tracking The selected vendor will use data available from the House of Representatives payroll, active directory, and learning management systems, and identify other data needed through manual collection to create and maintain lists of staff covered by the training requirement, and their completion status. The selected vendor will obtain lists from the Office of Payroll and Benefits of all new employees for the purpose of tracking compliance with mandatory training within 90 days of the date of hire. Communications The selected vendor will develop a comprehensive communications plan for the notification, marketing, and administration of the Workplace Rights and Responsibilities Program. The selected vendor will design all graphic components and draft all communications for review and approval by the CAO and Committee on House Administration. The Communications Plan and all draft communications and graphic designs will be submitted for approval no fewer than 30 days prior to the start of training. In addition to the notices outlined in the “registration” section above, the communications plan must include at least the following communications: General announcement and associated graphic (in two dimensions) Alternating monthly registration reminder graphics for campus digital boards All slides and associated graphics for the training content Monthly reminder email to all non-registered, non-complete employees Starting 30 days out from deadline, a weekly reminder email to all non-registered, non-complete employees Starting 14 days out from deadline, a daily reminder email to all non-registered, non-complete employees Monthly email to Chief of staff and any other designee of the office compliance report Certificates and Reporting The selected vendor will issue digital or physical certificates to participants within 24 after the completion of training. The selected vendor will provide the following reports: During the time period starting the first date of training the selected vendor will provide a weekly report of training completion to the CAO and the Committee on House Administration every Monday that is accurate through the previous Friday. The report must include the following information in a searchable sortable format (excel): Total number of individuals trained Itemized listing of every individual trained Total number of eligible individuals not trained Itemized listing of every individual not trained Every individual should be listed with at least the following information username, email address, organization, employee start date, training due date, status of training completion Weekly reports will be separated by Republican, Democratic, Bipartisan, Nonpartisan, and must be able to be separated to send to individual offices. The selected vendor will provide a compliance report to each individual Congressional office upon request. Starting 30 days from the initial 90-day training deadline, the selected vendor will provide a report of all outstanding non-compliant staff, and provide recommendations for training delivery and communication efforts to achieve full compliance. Starting 14 days from the initial 90-day deadline, the selected vendor will provide a daily itemized listing of every individual that is not yet completed training before noon. The daily reports will be separated by Republican, Democratic, Bipartisan, Nonpartisan, and must be able to be separated to send to individual offices During the time period starting the day after the 90-day deadline through December 31, the selected vendor will provide a report no later than one week after the close of the previous month of all certificates for new employees to the CAO and the Committee on House Administration one week after the close of the month. During the time period starting the day after the 90day deadline through December 31, the selected vendor will provide a report no later than one week after the close of the previous month of a list of all employees who have not completed training within 90 days from the date of their hire. Within 72 hours of the close of the initial 90 day period compliance period, within 72 hours after the close of the calendar year, and as requested by the CAO or Committee on House Administration, the selected Vendor shall provide a report on the status of all House employees. The selected vendor shall maintain sufficient records that the House can determine if any employee received communications, notifications, registered for training, attended training, or contacted the Workplace rights program. If interested, please submit a capability statement demonstrating your capacity to complete the requirement outlined above to
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[email protected] no later than (NLT) January 17, 2022, at 2 PM EST. The Capability Statement shall meet the following criteria: On page one (1) of the Capability Statement, begin by providing your company information as follows: Company name, address, phone number, CAGE code, DUNS number, GSA Contract Number (if applicable) and point of contact (name, phone and e-mail). Capability Statement must be in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF format, single spaced, 11-point font (excluding charts and graphics) and the entire document shall not to exceed 10 pages in length to include all attachments, charts, etc. Capability Statement must include but is not limited to (a) companies core capabilities (b) corporate experience and management capability; and examples of prior completed Government contracts (if any), references, and other related information; and (c) Rough Order of Magnitude in terms of pricing for the various scenarios (onsite, remote, hybrid). (Pricing that is provided is not legally binding, will be only used for budgeting and potential solicitation purposes.) DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES This Sources Sought does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Please note that the United States House of Representatives is not subject to Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) or any of its supplements. CONFIDENTIALITY No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).