United States - Study to update USFA Publication Funding Alternatives for Emergency Medical and Fire Services

Description

Added: Jun 13, 2019 3:11 pm

The Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency/U.S. Fire Administration (DHS/FEMA/USFA) intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a sole source basis (IAW FAR 6.302) with the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), located at 930 North Willis, Stillwater, OK 74078-8045.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Fire departments require funding for operating expenses, equipment, training, salaries, etc. in order to provide necessary protection to their respective communities. However, with tighter tax budgets, less government subsidies, fewer donations, etc. it is becoming increasingly harder for fire and emergency services departments to meet greater and more complex demands for its services.
To meet this critical need of its constituents regarding effective methods of obtaining funding, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) developed Funding Alternatives for Fire and Emergency Services in 1993 and completed updates and revisions of this document with the latest being released in April of 2012. This has been one of the USFA's most popular projects with thousands of copies being distributed and downloaded from the USFA web site.
However, there have been many recent changes in the availability of Federal funding for fire departments recently, including the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE), the Staffing for Adequate Emergency Response (SAFER) Act grant program(s) administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as other grant programs that were not discussed in the previous editions. As such, this document needs to be updated to include sources of Federal funding as well as other potential new innovations not discussed in previous editions. This is much needed information and an update of the publication is needed for USFA to effectively serve its constituents in this area.
Additionally, there needs to be enhanced study of critical funding issues for EMS.
The objective of this project is to obtain the services from IFSTA to update and revise in the April 2012 edition of Funding Alternatives for Emergency Medical and Fire Services (FA-331) in order to provide the most up to date comprehensive and innovative information regarding sources of funding for local-level EMS and fire departments.
This information will be placed on USFA's web site as well as be developed into a publication.
A key part of this project initiative will be the enhanced study of critical funding issues for EMS, both fire and non-fire service based.

The list of funding programs and sources, points of contact, eligibility, how to apply, and other pertinent information needs to be included and verified. The information developed from this project will be designed for a target audience of local-level Emergency Medical Services and fire departments.
To develop this comprehensive and informative listing of funding programs with the intent of DHS/USFA and DHS/OHA distributing this information via print and web site to the appropriate audiences of local-level EMS and fire departments wishing to obtain the most current and innovative information on innovative funding programs via both print and web media.
As part of this project, the contractor shall update and revise the USFA Funding Alternatives for Emergency Medical and Fire Services; April 2012 edition (FA-331).
In the update and revision of the document, discussion shall include information about Federal grant and financial assistance programs including the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE), the Staffing For Adequate Emergency Response (SAFER) Act, as well as other grant program(s) administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Rural Fire Assistance Programs administered by the US Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service; and other relevant Federal grant programs.
This project effort shall include other sources of information, including the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).
Relevant State-level grant and financial assistance programs shall be discussed in the update and revision. The IFSTA shall coordinate with organizations such as the National Association of State EMS Officials (NAEMSO) and the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NAFSM) in this effort.
It is essential that the information developed by this project effort include the most current funding programs for EMS (both fire and non-fire based) and the fire service. Further, this information on funding must be designed to effectively serve career, combination, and volunteer EMS and fire departments of all sizes and geographic areas of the United States and its territories.
The technical approach for accomplishing this work shall not invoke Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Survey requirements or any requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
The overall focus of the information of this project is to provide both the local-level Emergency Medical Services and fire departments the most current and innovative information on potential sources of funding.
The contractor must possess the following minimum qualifications/experience/capabilities:
• Extensive experience in developing emergency response technical and training materials for publications related to fire service management, but specific to fire and EMS alternative funding.
• Extensive national level experience in the validation process of fire service management and operations publications, including the employment of a long-term standing validation committee that contains subject matter experts who represent a wide cross-section of the emergency response field.
• Experience creating publications and other outreach deliverables for both the USFA and the fire service in general
DHS/FEMA determined that the IFSTA is uniquely qualified to perform this work as IFSTA and several of their staff members have a long history of performing successful complex research studies for both the USFA and the fire service in general. These studies have resulted in the publication of related texts or manuals and other outreach deliverables. Recent USFA projects that were completed by IFSTA include the April 2012 edition of Funding Alternatives for Emergency Medical and Fire Services as well as other studies including the study of Safety and Health Considerations for Designing Fire and EMS Stations, the study of Risk Management Practices in the Fire Service, the Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity study, the Traffic Incident Management Systems study, the original Emergency Vehicle Safety Initiative study, the Safe Operation of Fire Tankers study, and others. IFSTA has the experience and credibility among the U.S. fire services based on their extensive background and history of producing training manuals and instructional materials aimed to enhance fire service operations and safety required for this project. IFSTA staff members serve on numerous national-level consensus standards committees dealing with numerous fire and EMS topics. No other companies possess this type of experience and expertise in developing complex research reports and publications which include intensive validation process IFSTA uses to validate information derived from complex research studies for the fire service focusing on firefighter health and safety in general.
IFSTA possesses unique qualifications, background, expertise, proprietary validation and number of years of experience in developing emergency response technical and training materials like the publications to be developed under this order.
IFSTA is the only organization capable of performing the tasks to satisfy this requirement.
This notice is NOT a request for quotation (RFQ) for competitive quotes/proposals and no solicitation document exists for this requirement. However, parties interested in responding to this notice shall submit technical data, sufficient to determine capability in providing the same services. All capability statements received by the closing of this notification of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete based on 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 to conduct a competitive procurement.
Based on the above information, the only known organization which can provide technically acceptable services is the IFSTA.
Submit capability statements (using PDF, MS Word, Excel attachments) to Kim Logue, Contracting Officer at Kim.Logue@fema.dhs.gov. Statements are due by 11:00 a.m. EST on June 28, 2019.
Primary Point of Contact: Kim Logue
Contracting Office Address:
DHS/FEMA/NETC
Building D
16825 South Seton Avenue
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
Place of Performance: Contractor's location
Classification Code: B537
NAICS Code: 813920

Opportunity closing date

28 June 2019

Value of contract

to be confirmed