This is not a request for competitive proposals. This is a notice of intent to sole source for the procurement of non-personal administrative and professional services. The Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b), "Soliciting from a single source". In November 2009, Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, unveiled a plan to end homelessness for Veterans. This action is in direct support of meeting this goal. To accomplish the goal of preventing and ending Veteran homelessness, VA has increased resources and transformed its service model to be more focused on homelessness prevention, permanent housing, rapid engagement in healthcare and other supportive services. VA has also increased partnerships at both the Federal and local levels and implemented data driven, research informed best practices. Collecting accurate data on the numbers and characteristics of individuals and families experiencing homelessness is a critical part of VA planning and program development to end homelessness. As such, VA intends to contract with the Houston/Harris County Continuum of Care (CoC) to augment the existing efforts of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to overcome the challenges of collecting data on unsheltered homeless Veterans. This particular CoC was selected for this project because it accounts for one of the identified areas in which over 42 percent of homeless Veterans are living in the US. Under the guidance of HUD, CoCs undertake community-wide efforts to collect information on the number and characteristics of individuals and families experiencing homelessness on a single night. These one-night enumerations, called point-in-time (PIT) counts, are conducted annually for counts of homeless persons in homeless shelters and at least every two years (in odd calendar years) for unsheltered homeless persons. The PIT count is a primary measure for assessing progress in ending Veteran homelessness. The Government intends to contract with the Houston/Harris County CoC to supplement the current PIT count efforts and to ensure that this CoC has sufficient resources for the accurate enumeration of unsheltered homeless Veterans. Collecting accurate data on the numbers and characteristics of individuals and families experiencing homelessness is a critical part of VA planning and program development to end homelessness. The proposed source for this acquisition is the: Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County 600 Jefferson Street, Suite 2050 Houston, Texas 77002 The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code established for this requirement is 541910 - Sampling Services, Statistical. This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in systematically gathering, recording, tabulating, and presenting marketing and public opinion data. This notice is being published for information purposes only and is not a request for competitive quotations. Any notice received must show clear and compelling evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government. However, any quotations received by the response date specified in this notice will be considered by the government. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a competitive procurement. Any comments should be e-mailed to
[email protected] by 4:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time on September 12, 2013. Any questions should be directed to Berneta Ellis by e-mail at
[email protected]. Be advised that all correspondence sent via e-mail shall contain a subject line that reads "Houston/Harris County PIT Count".