This is a Sources Sought Notice for market research purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). A solicitation is not being issued at this time and this notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. The Government intends to determine through this Sources Sought Notice if there are two (2) or more small businesses that are responsible and capable of carrying out the requisition. The Office of Research and Analysis (ORA) in the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is seeking a contractor to conduct a study of WIC vendor management practices to improve the prevention, detection, correction and reporting of unallowable vendor practices under Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) operation. It will draw heavily on experiences from fraud prevention-related activities of early WIC-EBT adopters as well as SNAP-EBT, credit and debit card processing, and other commercial and government forms of electronic payment and benefit delivery. FNS seeks a contractor to examine and evaluate WIC-EBT and non-EBT States on how vendor monitoring practices are being conducted and what indicators are most beneficial in identifying high risk vendors. The contractor will examine the TIP data collection system and evaluate how the system could be updated to more efficiently predict high risk indicators. The contractor shall assess the effectiveness of different administrative models, report lessons learned, and discuss opportunities for better WIC vendor management monitoring and detection of high risk indicators. The study seeks to be descriptive in nature, evaluating the present and future high risk indicators in WIC vendors to identify and determine potential violations in the program. Currently there are three food delivery systems in WIC: (1) systems in which participants purchase authorized supplemental foods by submitting a food instrument or cash-value voucher to an authorized retail vendor; (2) direct distribution systems in which participants pick up food from a distribution facility operated by the State or local agency; (3) home delivery systems. For each of the following objectives, the contractor will collect, compile, analyze and report on the data. OBJECTIVE 1: Describe the current approved high risk vendor identification systems by all WIC state agencies. 1. What are current WIC vendor management practices in EBT States? 2. What are current WIC vendor management practices in non-EBT States? 3. How have vendor monitoring practices changed from paper to EBT? 4. How do the states evaluate effectiveness of high risk vendor identification practices; how do the methodologies compare to each other? 5. Do states currently have lists of high risk indicators? OBJECTIVE 2: Identify data sources and data needs in WIC to be used by WIC state agencies to increase identification of indicators for high risk vendors. 1. What reported data in WIC would be useful for identifying indicators of high risk WIC vendors? 2. What, if any, are the implications with the TIP data system? OBJECTIVE 3: Identify practices from other government and non-government programs that could be applied in the WIC context. * What practices do programs such as SNAP, TANF, credit and debit-card companies use that can be applied to WIC? ANTICIPATED DATA SOURCES INCLUDE: Program Documents States currently report their related activities to FNS individually. The contractor will compile the information from those documents into a format desirable to FNS. Survey of State and ITO WIC Agencies Based on the review of program documents, the contractor will determine what additional information is necessary and develop a survey of the 90 WIC State and ITO agencies. The contractor will be responsible for developing the survey instruments, and collecting, analyzing, and reporting on the data. Case Studies The contractor will be responsible for conducting case studies in the WIC state agencies in the eight current EBT states to examine their current and planned practices in the arena of high risk vendor identification systems. CAPABILITY STATEMENT INFORMATION Interested parties are to demonstrate their experience, skills, and qualifications with projects of similar scope and size completed within the last three (3) years, and explain in appropriate detail how they intend to demonstrate competency in each of the following points (A) through (M). Expound, utilizing specific examples, on how the firm has undertaken and/or demonstrated the prerequisites listed below: (A) Detailed understanding of WIC program regulations and operations. (B) Detailed understanding of the various WIC food delivery systems. (C) Detailed understanding of additional supplemental foods programs fraud monitoring systems (D) Coordinating with WIC State Agencies to collect administrative data. (E) Conducting qualitative interview in multiple sites including recruiting and training staff to conduct the interviews, using appropriate sampling methodologies, developing interview protocols, recruiting participants, and recording, coding, analyzing, and reporting on qualitative data. (F) Conducting policy analyses, including locating appropriate policy information. (G) Using multiple sources of data, including administrative data and survey data to address research objectives such as those described above. (H) Ensuring Personally-Identifiable Information is secured and protected. (I) Writing technical reports. (J) Writing reports of technical information put into language appropriate to non-technical audiences. (K) Providing briefings of technical data appropriate for non-technical audiences. (L) Writing policy briefs appropriate for the USDA website and public communication. (M) Managing projects of a similar size and scope, including meeting government objectives, ensuring the quality and timeliness of deliverables, and coordinating with the government funding agency. Interested parties must submit as part of their capability statements a description of staff experience and skills. Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned. No entitlements to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges to the Government will arise as a result of offeror submission of responses, or the Government's use of such information. The information obtained from responses to this notice may be used in the development of an acquisition strategy and future RFP. No questions will be entertained or comment responded to by the Government. Offerors capable of providing these services should submit the information requested above via e-mail to Christina Carter-Kurant at
[email protected] no later than 3:00PM EDT on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Limit the length of the packages to 20 pages. Packages over 20 pages will not be evaluated.