The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) in Washington, D.C., is conducting market research to support an upcoming procurement for professional, technical, and management support services. This Sources Sought notice is aimed at determining the availability and technical capabilities of small businesses. All small businesses, including veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small businesses, are encouraged to submit a response. As a precursor to the competitive process for acquiring these services, DOE EA is conducting market research to assess the market's ability to meet the requirements outlined in the Draft Support Scope (DSS). The DOE intends to gather insights from respondents with demonstrated experience in performing the activities described herein. Specifically, DOE EA seeks to evaluate the capacity and capability of small businesses to provide these services under the anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541690, which has a size standard of $19.0 million. Interested parties are encouraged to review the DSS Attachment 1 for detailed requirements related to the upcoming procurement.This Sources Sought Notice affords interested parties an avenue to provide feedback for this requirement via Capability Statements. This is optional and participation will not affect a party’s ability to provide a proposal if a solicitation does result from this requirement. For informational purposes only, this requirement was last solicited under RFP 89303018REA000001, and a copy of the expired RFP can be found here: (https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2ffedconnect%2f%3fdoc%3d89303018rea000001%26agency%3ddoe&doc=89303018rea000001&agency=doe). Requested Capability Statements: Please limit capability statements to fifteen (15) pages in length. Interested parties are requested to submit capability statements that specifically outline their capacity and capability to meet the requirements detailed in the DSS. The statements shall provide administrative information to include the following: company name, title, mailing address, phone number, and email address of the designated point of contact, as well as the business type and size (according to the applicable NAICS), and the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number. Additionally, these statements should specifically address the following: Please identify your company’s core competencies and experience that are directly relevant to the activities outlined in the DSS. Submit a list of comparable support services your company has provided to government agencies within the last three years.. Please provide a statement describing the technical proficiency and skill sets of your company or team to support all aspects of the EA requirements as described in the draft contract work scope. Identify specific technical areas where additional hiring or teaming with another company may be necessary to provide the required expertise. Additionally, discuss a potential high-level approach for selecting sites and topics for assessments in each of the EA areas, including nuclear safety, safeguards and security, worker safety and health, emergency management, and cybersecurity. Include a description of your strategy for identifying the general types of risks that may be encountered, including both process risks (such as scheduling) and risks to the safety and security of DOE operations and personnel. Please provide an overview of your company's or team's business management and project management principles. Include a discussion of your approach to fiscal management and contract cost control. Additionally, describe your corporate structure and leadership, including the identities of the corporate leaders and their roles in executing the contract work, as well as their relationship with the project manager. If you are proposing a teaming arrangement, please outline the role of each team member, explain how they will collaborate to achieve EA missions, and identify which team member will provide overall leadership. Please describe whether your company's personnel possess current Department of Energy L/Q clearances or current Secret/Top Secret clearances from another federal agency, or if those personnel are likely to be granted L/Q clearances in the future. Additionally, explain their availability and capacity to provide diverse technical support services in a classified environment. Assuming the successful contractor will employ an incumbent capture strategy, with the possible exception of certain key personnel specified in the procurement, please describe your approach to retaining these experienced employees, as well as your overall strategy for employee recruitment and retention. Additionally, outline your corporate culture and philosophy regarding people management, and explain how these elements will align with the EA culture and support its mission. Finally, detail your approach to promoting the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility within your workforce. EA considers the integrity of the assessment and enforcement processes to be of utmost importance. What steps should be included in a contractor plan to ensure the integrity of these efforts while supporting EA? Such a plan should address both corporate and individual integrity, ensuring that neither prior DOE work nor the pursuit of future DOE work by the corporation or its employees could influence, or be perceived as influencing, any discussion, observation, action, or conclusion associated with an EA assessment or enforcement action. Please indicate whether your firm is USA-owned or if it requires a Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence clearance, as well as an Organizational Conflict of Interest clearance from the DOE or the Department of Defense. Based on the DSS, are there any aspects that are vague and do not provide a clear understanding of the Government's requirements? Are there sections that you believe are weak and require further clarification? If so, please identify them. Are there any recommendations, innovations, or criticisms that the government should consider regarding this requirement? What contract type do you believe would be most suitable for this acquisition? Please provide a rationale and potential cost savings for the government. Please provide feedback on the appropriateness of selecting NAICS Code 541690 for this requirement. Is there another NAICS code that would be more appropriate? NOTE: the supporting documentation MUST demonstrate that you can do the tasks in the DSS. DO NOT simply state that you can perform these tasks. SUBMISSION DEADLINES: The capability statement must be submitted via email to
[email protected] and
[email protected] no later than September 17, 2024. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THIS IS NOT A NOTICE OF SOLICITATION ISSUANCE THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY to identify small business sources that can provide capabilities to the DOE and receive comments regarding the requirements documentation. This Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes only as defined in FAR 15.201(e) to obtain comments on preliminary requirement specifications - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Energy is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this Notice. DOE has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this Notice should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. Not responding to this Notice does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The information provided in the Notice is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned, but will be handled in accordance with applicable proprietary markings. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor FedBizOpps.gov and FedConnect for future information pertaining to this requirement. All information submitted will be considered procurement sensitive, becomes Government property, and will not be returned, but will be handled in accordance with applicable proprietary markings. Proprietary information, if any, MUST be kept to a minimum and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Information which the respondent considers Proprietary Information pursuant to existing laws and regulations must be marked accordingly [see FAR 3.104-1 (3) & (4)]. NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION shall be submitted in response to this Notice. Note: Please note that 89303024REA000008 is a reference number for this notice; it is not expected to be the reference number for any forthcoming solicitation. Attachment: 1 DSS