[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 131 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35552-35555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-16777]



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Technical Assistance for Public Participation

AGENCY: Department of Defense, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of 
Defense for Environmental Security (DUSD(ES)).

ACTION: Notice of request for expressions of interest.

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SUMMARY: On May 24, 1995, the Department of Defense published in the 
Federal Register a request for comments on several options being 
considered for providing technical and public participation assistance 
to community members of Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs) and 
Technical Review Committees (TRCs) established at Department of Defense 
facilities. The Department of Defense has not yet decided which 
option(s) to implement. One option under consideration involves the use 
of independent technical assistance provider(s) to administer and 
provide this assistance. The Department of Defense is issuing this 
notice to request expressions of interest from eligible organizations 
and institutions for cooperative agreements of grants to provide 
technical and public participation assistance to community members of 
established RABs and TRCs. This request is for expressions of interest 
only. Expressions of interest are expected to be no more than three 
pages long and it is not anticipated that they will require prior 
meetings or discussion with Department of Defense personnel. Guidance 
on the establishment of RABs can be found for non-closure bases in the 
April 14, 1994, Department of Defense Management Guidance for Execution 
of the FY 94/95 and Development of the FY 96 Defense Environmental 
Restoration Program and for closure bases in the September 9, 1993, 
Department of Defense policy for establishing RABs at closure bases. 
Section 326 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
1995 (NDAA-95), provides for technical assistance funding to citizens 
affected by the environmental restoration activities ongoing at 
Department of Defense facilities.

DATES: Submittals must be received on or before September 8, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Mailed submittals should be addressed to: the Office of the 
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security/Cleanup, 
3400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-3400.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia Ferrebee or Marcia Read at (703) 697-7475.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Today's notice has the following sections:
I. Introduction
II. Discussion of the Technical and Public Participation Assistance 
Provider Concept
III. Expressions of Interest and Informational Proposals
IV. Special Instructions
V. Number of Copies Required
VI. Proprietary Information
VII. Submission of Preparation Costs
I. Introduction
    Section 326(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 1995 (NDAA-95) (Public Law 103-337), provides for technical 
assistance funding to citizens affected by the environmental 
restoration of Department of Defense facilities and requires the 
promulgation of regulations on this funding. In the May 24, 1995, 
Federal Register, the Department of Defense published a request for 
comments on proposed options for providing technical and public 
participation assistance to community members of TRCs and RABs. The 
options deal with the question of administering funds for assisting 
community members near Department of Defense facilities. Among the 
options being considered is the use of an independent party other than 
the Department of Defense to administer this program and to provide the 
assistance. The purpose of this notice is to seek expressions of 
interests from eligible organizations and institutions that would be 
interested in participating in this effort.
II. Discussion of the Technical and Public Participation Assistance 
Provider Concept
    The RABs and TRCs which receive funding for assistance may have 
little experience in applying for federal grants or meeting the various 
record keeping, accounting and contracting and other requirements 
established in the Department of Defense grant and procurement 
regulations. Rather than having the community members on RABs and TRCs 
devote some of their limited resources to managing grants in compliance 
with Department of Defense regulations, the Department of Defense may 
seek to procure one or more independent technical assistance providers 
to provide technical and public participation assistance to community 
members of TRCs and RABs. Technical assistance would include the 
provision of technical advisors, facilitators, mediators and educators. 
Public participation assistance means the provision of training and 
related expenses. Technical assistance providers would assume full 
responsibility for ensuring that the technical services and public 
participation support provided are delivered in a timely and effective 
manner, and that all funds are managed and disbursed in full compliance 
with appropriate Department of Defense regulations. The technical 
assistance provider would be subject to audit(s) and liable for any 
costs disallowed as a result of an audit. The provider would also be 
responsible for ensuring that use of the funds was consistent with the 
overall program budget, scope of work and the allocations for 
individual RABs and TRCs. The technical assistance provider concept 
could incorporate either a nationwide provider or a series of providers 
set up by geographic area.
    The community members of individual RABs and TRCs would be 
responsible for making requests to the community co-chair or designated 
members of the RAB or TRC responsible for applying to the designated 
technical assistance provider for assistance and for preparing facility 
specific statements describing the type and level of support requested. 
The provider would be responsible for allocating available resources 
among these competing requests using general guidelines and established 
criteria provided by the Department of Defense.
    Technical assistance providers would be responsible for ensuring 
that use of the funds was consistent with the overall program budget, 
scope of work and the allocations for individual RABs and TRCs, and for 
ensuring that all funds are managed and disbursed in full compliance 
with applicable Department of Defense regulations. Providers would 
report periodically to the Department of Defense on activities 
performed under this program. Providers would also provide information 
to the Department of Defense on the status of the program including the 
information for the report to Congress required by the legislation.

III. Expressions of Interest and Informational Proposals

    Respondents to this notice should have, at a minimum, the following 
qualifications:
    (1) Perceived as neutral and credible.
    (2) Either have or be able to obtain an interdisciplinary staff 
with demonstrated expertise in hazardous substance remediation, 
investigation, management and/or research.

    (3) Management capability, for both financial and scientific 
management, and a demonstrated skill in planning 

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and scheduling projects of comparable magnitude to that discussed in 
this notice.
    (4) Ability to provide facilitation and mediation services.
    (5) Knowledge and experience in environmental restoration 
activities preferably at federal facilities.
    (6) A demonstrated ability to disseminate results of hazardous 
substance information through an interdisciplinary program to locally 
affected and concerned citizens.
    (7) The ability to perform the required tasks either nationally or 
within a defined geographic area.
    (8) Not-for-profit.
    Expressions of Interest submitted in response to this notice shall 
indicate interest in serving as a technical assistance provider for 
providing technical and public participation assistance to community 
members of TRCs and RABs that, at a minimum, includes the following:
    (1) The identity of the responding institution, organization or 
consortium, including the name, title, telephone number, mailing 
address, facsimile number and where available electronic mailing 
address of an individual point-of-contact.
    (2) Brief statement of qualifications.
    (3) Summary of ability to perform the required tasks at either a 
regional or national level.
    Respondents are advised that the Department of Defense is not 
requesting extensive data on technical performance, partnership 
arrangements, or project economics as part of any proposed submission 
under this notice. Respondents are also advised that any procurement of 
technical assistance providers in the future would not be limited to 
parties and organizations responding to this notice.

IV. Special Instructions

    Expressions of Interest shall be prepared in accordance with the 
special instructions provided, and shall be structured in the order 
that follows. Respondents may reproduce and complete these forms 
electronically (by computer software) in lieu of completing the actual 
forms published in this notice. There is no preference given to the use 
of published forms versus electronically recreated forms.
    (1) Cover letter.
    (2) Expression of Interest response form (see Appendix A).
    (3) Attachments to Expression of Interest response form.

Cover Letter

    A single page cover letter should accompany the expression of 
interest response form. The cover letter should contain a basic 
statement of interest on the part of the responding party in serving as 
a provider. The cover letter must include the notice of proprietary 
information described in Section VI if one is required.

Expression of Interest Response Form

    Appendix A of this notice provides a form that shall be used for 
the preparation of the Expression of Interest response form. Submitters 
are required to complete the form in accordance with the instructions 
that follow, and then to photocopy that form for use in their 
submission. Instructions for the form are provided in the following 
section.
    (1) Respondent: Identify the name(s) of the submitting 
institutions, organization or consortium listing the primary party 
first and listing all other participants in the response.
    (2, 3, 4, and 5) Mailing address: Provide the full mailing address 
of the primary single point-of-contact for the respondent (i.e. the 
party that Department of Defense should contact if necessary).
    (6) Primary contact. The name of the person who will serve as the 
primary point-of-contact for the expression of interest.
    (7 and 8) Phone/Fax Numbers. The telephone and facsimile numbers 
for the person identified in item (6), area code first.
    (9) Electronic address: Where one is available, the electronic mail 
address of the primary contact.
    (10) Project phase: Respondent should check the box indicating 
which phase(s) of the project the respondent is interested in.
    (11) Geographic area: Respondent should indicate whether the 
Expression of Interest is national in coverage or should indicate the 
geographic area in which it could provide service.
    (12) Attached statements: Respondents shall indicate the number of 
attached pages.

Attachment to Expression of Interest Response Form

    Respondent shall attach two statements. Attachment 1 shall indicate 
that the respondent meets the qualifications listed in Section III. 
Attachment 2 shall include a summary of the respondent's ability to 
perform the required tasks as described in Section II.

V. Number of Copies Required

    Each submittal should consist of seven (7) copies, one original and 
six (6) photocopies. The original copy of the expression of interest 
shall contain all documents that bear original signatures. Indicate the 
copy number of each copy using number ``1'' for the original and 
numbers ``2 through 7'' for the six copies.
    The cover letters, expressions of interest and attachments should 
be contained on sheets of paper that contain no writing or information 
of any kind on the reverse sides. In each instance, for all items, no 
other information shall appear with, or be added to, that required in 
Appendix A.
VI. Proprietary Information
    Submitters should strive to avoid including proprietary and 
confidential business information in their expressions of interest. 
However, information provided by a respondent and identified as a trade 
secret or confidential business information will be treated in 
confidence, to the extent permitted by law, provided that this 
information is clearly marked by the submitter with the term 
``Confidential Proprietary Information,'' and provided that appropriate 
page numbers are inserted into the notice that is set forth in the 
following section which must be placed in the expression of interest 
cover letter:
Notice on Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data
    This submission includes data that constitute trade secrets or 
confidential business information and shall not be duplicated, used, 
disclosed, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than to analyze 
information contained in this submission, except to the extent 
permitted or required by law. This restriction does not limit the 
Government's right to use information contained in these data if it is 
obtained from another source without restriction. The data that are 
subject to this restriction are contained in sheets ______ [insert page 
numbers or other identification of sheets].
VII. Submission of Preparation Costs
    The Department of Defense is not able to reimburse respondents for 
any costs associated with the preparation of expressions of interests 
or informational proposals.
    Dated: July 3, 1995.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.

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Appendix A

U.S. Department of Defense; Expressions of Interest Response Form for 
Administration of a Program To Provide Technical and Public 
Participation Assistance to Community Members of Restoration Advisory 
Boards (RABs) and Technical Review Committees (TRCs)

    (1) Respondent:
    (2) Mailing Address:
    (3) City:
    (4) State:
    (5) Zip Code:
    (6) Primary Contact and Title:
    (7) Phone Number:
    (8) Fax Number:
    (9) E-mail Address:
    (10) Project phase:
    Respondent is interested in:
    {time}  Initial Phase (FY95)
    {time}  Subsequent Phase (if implemented)
    {time}  Both phases
    (11) Geographic area:
    {time}  Nationwide
    {time}  Other
    If other, specify area:
    (12) Number of attached pages:

[FR Doc. 95-16777 Filed 7-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5000-04-M