Description
THIS NOTICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. THIS OPPORTUNITY IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO THE EXISTING CONTRACTOR, TRUE NORTH COMMUNICATIONS, D/B/A DRAFTFCB, INC., UNDER CONTRACT NUMBER YA1323-07-CQ-0004. Using Recovery Act funding, the U.S. Census Bureau intends to issue a task order to contract number YA1323-07-CQ-0004, a competitively awarded Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract for the 2010 Census Communications Campaign, awarded to True North Communications, D/B/A DraftFCB, Inc., 100 West 33 RD Street, New York, NY, 10001-2900. Under this task order, the contractor shall design, develop and implement an augmentation of the Census in Schools (CIS) program currently designed under TO-009 of the referenced contract, in order to provide additional outreach to hard-to-count (HTC) populations. The Census Bureau’s Census In Schools (CIS) program is one component of the entire 2010 Census Communications Campaign. The purpose of the CIS program is to educate students in grades K-12 about the Census. The focus of the CIS program is national with emphasis on the Hard-to-Count (HTC) population, that is, people and communities who are less likely to respond to the 2010 Census. On September 11, 2008, Task Order No. TO-009 was issued under the 2010 Census Communications Campaign master contract, for the contractor to develop materials in support of the CIS Program. Under that task order, materials were required for the following CIS components: 1) Program for Kinder through 12 th (K-12) grade for the 50 states and Washington D.C.; 2) Program for Kinder through 8 th (K-8) grade for Puerto Rico and each Island Area (Northern Marianas Islands, American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands); 3) Program in support of the CIS Week; 4) Program for District Superintendent Program. Materials for all the above, excluding CIS Week, include an introductory letter, teaching guides, parent take home materials, brochures and maps. All materials are tailored to the specific areas (i.e. materials for American Samoa consists of data relevant and culturally sensitive to that particular area). The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides additional funds for the Census in Schools program, which allow for the development of new components and to print additional materials in order to reach more schools, especially HTC schools. Under this task order, the contractor is required to provide the following services: 1) Develop, print and distribute a Kinder to 8 th Grade English Language Learners (ELL) program and materials; 2) Print and distribute Kinder to 8 th Grade teaching guides (actual lessons) to all schools in Puerto Rico and for each Island Area identified above; 3) Develop, print and distribute 9 th –12 th Grades Programs for Puerto Rico and for each Island Area identified above; 4) Develop, print and distribute a Pre-Kinder CIS Program and Materials; 5) Transcreate Parent Take Home Materials in 25 additional languages; 6) Print and distribute additional CIS materials originally developed under TO-009; and 7) Provide program management for these efforts. The existing contract must be used for the following reasons: 1) The work to be performed is within the scope of the original contract technical provisions. 2) The incumbent contractor has the management, technical, and administrative skills to efficiently and effectively accomplish this work at a reasonable cost. 3) The CIS extended services must be integrated and coordinated with the overall 2010 Comm campaign messaging and with the CIS theme and products already developed by the existing contractor. 4) This contract enables the work to begin immediately. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains specific acquisition requirements that must be met when using funds appropriated by the Act. Acquisitions must comply with FAR, and to the maximum extent practicable, be awarded under competitive procedures as fixed-price (FP) contracts. The U.S. Census Bureau intends to use the current IDIQ contract to meet its requirements. A task order with multiple contract line items is anticipated. Contract Line Items will include fixed-price and materials type line items. This contract was awarded competitively.