This sources sought is for information and planning purposes only. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. A contract may not be awarded as a result of this sources sought. The US Army Contracting Agency, Contracting Center of Excellence (CCE), on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for Business Transformation (DUSA(BT)), is seeking contract support for the Lean Six Sigma continuous process improvement effort. The Department of the Army (DA) recognizes the need to incorporate the most current business practices to reduce cycle times, improve productivity, reduce the cost of doing business, and to develop these skills and tools in the Army workforce. This requirement will include DA Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) deployment consultation, Master Black Belt project work as the lead in enterprise-wide projects, project coaching, training that leads to certification within a prescribed timeline for Green Belt, Black Belt and or Master Black Belt Projects, and implementation and sustainment support towards the goal of the Army becoming self-sustaining. CCE intends to procure these services as a either s small business set-aside or under full and open procedures. Only small businesses are to submit capability packages in response to this request. Interested small businesses that are certified and qualified as a small business concern under NAICS code 541614 with a size standard of $6.5 million are encouraged to submit their capability packages. Capability packages must not exceed ten pages and shall be submitted electronically via email. Small businesses are to outline their experience in the following key areas or tasks. Areas or tasks where a contractor does not have prior experience shall be annotated as such. " Development and maintenance of a parsimonious set of statistics and analyses that guarantees optimum performance by projecting and forecasting shortfalls, errors, and failures in sufficient time to take corrective actions. " Coaching and mentoring Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt projects. " Providing subject matter expertise on belt certification. " Providing coordination of deployment advisors and belt coaches/mentors. " Development and execution of a comprehensive strategic communication plan. " Development and maintenance of portals, websites and sub-sites to include all data sets and applications. " Development and implementation of an annual fiscal year training program with a management philosophy to ensure the right people are selected for training. The following questions shall also be addressed in addition to the capability package: 1. Typically, the Government attempts to provide a minimum of at least 21 days notification prior to performance. However, the Government may require sufficient resources of on-site personnel within a 2-week window anywhere in the Active Army, Army Reserves or Army National Guard locations. What limitations or constraints do you foresee with this approach to support the mission of the Program Management Office to deploy LSS? 2. What level of capability exists in your company to provide a cadre of individuals with SECRET security clearances for both OCONUS and CONUS efforts to include, but not limited to, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Kuwait? 3. What experience and tools have you employed to implement the DMAIC methodology? Is this methodology consistent with industry standards? 4. What is your capacity to train up to 15 simultaneous LSS classes that include Green Belt, Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Project Sponsor Workshops and Executive Level Workshops? What approach do you use and is it industry standard? 5. What qualification standards do you use to qualify your personnel as Black Belts and Master Black Belts? Is this an industry standard? 6. What is your management process and oversight plan for both staff and sub-contractors? If at least two responsible small business concerns are determined by the Government to be capable of performing this requirement based on an evaluation of the capability packages submitted by 2:00 PM EST on Monday, September 29, 2008, the requirement will be solicited as a 100 percent set-aside for small business concerns. If capability packages are not received from at least two responsible small business concerns by the response date or if the Government determines that no small businesses are capable of performing this requirement based upon an evaluation of the capability packages submitted, this requirement will be solicited under full and open procedures. Please provide your companys name, point of contact (POC), address, phone number, and business size under the above NAICS code to the POC for this procurement. A performance-based, multiple award, Indefinite-Delivery-Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract is anticipated with Firm-Fixed Price and Time-and-Material provisions included for the issuance of task orders. The period of performance will be for one (1) base year and four (4) one year options for a total of five (5) years. The places of performance will be indicated in each individual task order. Contractor personnel will require a current SECRET clearance and be able to obtain a Common Access Card (CAC). A written Request for Proposal (RFP), if issued, will be posted mid to late December 2008. The RFP must be retrieved and downloaded from CCEs homepage at: http://cce.hqda.pentagon.mil/home/index.asp. Once to the site, please click CCE Business Opportunities, followed by RFPs, then select the desired RFP and click the Process button. No hard copies of the RFP will be issued. All amendments will be posted and must be retrieved from this website. No solicitation mailing list will be compiled. Contractors are responsible for all costs for submitting their capability packages. POC is Contract Specialist, CACI Support Contractor, Paul Martin at (703) 695-0748 or
[email protected], or Contracting Officer, Ruby Mixon at (703) 695-2181 or
[email protected].