R -- Evaluation Technical Assistance and Cross-site Evaluation of Demonstration Grants

In a joint initiative with the Children's Bureau (CB), the Early Head Start Bureau (EHS), Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Division of Acquisition Management, Program Support Center, HHS, intends to issue a Request for Proposal for a cross-site evaluation and the provision of evaluation technical assistance to approximately 25 demonstration grants funded in Fiscal Year 2002 under a new Early Head Start Child Welfare Services Initiative (EHSCWS) to promote and expand partnerships between local Early Head Start (EHS) programs and local child welfare services (CWS). Approximately 25 demonstration grants will be jointly funded for FY 2002, under the Head Start Act as amended (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.) Section 45A(h), and 45 CFR 1304, Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) Section 430 [42 U.S.C. 629] as amended by the Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1993 and 45 CFR 1357. The Contractor shall perform a cross-site evaluation of the demonstration grants, and provide technical assistance to each site for its own evaluation. The Contractor shall become familiar with each of the funded projects and provide technical assistance on evaluation to them. The projects should receive assistance to design and conduct local evaluations. Projects without evaluation plans should receive assistance in designing and implementing evaluations that rely as much as possible on data that is already being collected. Projects that have evaluations in place or designed should receive assistance in fine-tuning or upgrading their plans. If projects have or plan to have outside evaluators or in-house staffs conduct their evaluations, the Contractor must cooperate with theevaluation staff selected by the project. The Contractor shall provide training and technical assistance in selecting outcomes and measures, training staff, creating reporting procedures, writing reports of evaluation findings, modifying programming in accordance with the evaluation findings as appropriate, and assisting grantees to learn about including evaluation results in other federal reports. In all activities, the Contractor must be respectful of the integrity of the project staff and project goals. The Contractor is expected to gather data with a minimum of burden to the site in order to complete its cross-site evaluation of these grants. This requirement will be for a period of five years. During fiscal year 2002, it is estimated a total of 25 new grants will be funded for a period of five years. The first four years, the Contractor shall provide technical assistance on evaluation for each grantee and gather data collection that will benefit the quality of work performed by grantees. At the end of the 2005 each grantee shall submit a final evaluation report to the CB Project Officer and the Contractor. In the fifth year the Contractor shall produce a cross-site evaluation report of all 25 sites. The Contractor shall have relevant academic and applied experience the following areas; conducting research and/or evaluation projects that focus on early head start programs, child abuse and neglect and a range of child welfare issues including adoption and foster care; conducting site visits in community service settings; analyzing and integrating data with varying levels of quality from multiple sources; and writing reports for research and policy audiences. This is a 100% Small Business Set Aside under NAICS 541611. The Request for Proposal will be issued approximately 15 days after this synopsis is issued. The solicitation and any amendments will be posted on Fed Biz Opps. No telephone request for the solicitation package will be accepted.