>> Brooke Baker: Good afternoon and welcome
back. Our panel session today is Supply Chain Management and Sustainment Roundtable Engagement
with Industry. Our moderator for this event is going to be Chris Walters. >> Chris Walters: From NBC >> Kenyata Wesley: [laughs] I heard that. [laughter] He's there from NBC. [laughter] >> Chris Walters: No, I'm not from NBC. I'm
from GCS. We're going to represent GCS. So, welcome back to this afternoon session. I
am Chris Walters. I'm the chief of Strategic Communications at GCS. And I guess I am tasked
with keeping you guys awake after lunch, but I don't think that will be a problem. I have
a panel here with four dynamic speakers and great acquisition minds that we are here to
task and talk about supply chain management and sustainment with industry. So, before
we get started, I just want to kind of like foot stomp that, you know, this is what we
want to be a two-way conversation. We will only get as much out of this panel as if we
get feedback from industry. We have some, you know, areas that we've identified from
the government side. But we really want to know, from your guys'
perspective, you know, how can we get a better handle on, you know, maintaining the supply
chain and making sure that we have the goods and services that we need on time at a fair
cost, and in the right amount when that time happens. So, I would like to introduce my
panel members today. Starting from left to right, Mr. Kenyata Wesley. He's the executive
director of Acquisition at GCS. Then we have Ms. Evelyn Tyndell. She is the director of
Specialty Contracting and Procurement at GCS. Mr. Kevin Duvall is our chief technology officer
and chief information officer for ACF. And Mr. Richard Debany, who is the Lead Requirements
guy at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. So, again, we want to make sure you guys be
engaged. We do have mic runners. So, if -- as we get in the conversation, if you have a
question, raise your hand, we'll make sure we get the mic to you. So, the first question,
and this is to all of the folks on the panel, feel free to answer, from your perspective,
your respective agencies, what do you feel are the biggest challenges when it comes to
maintaining supply chain? >> Kenyata Wesley: Who wants to jump on it
first? >> Richard Debany: Well, we're going to be
talking -- this is probably going to be the big word for this whole panel, is just managing
disruptions to the supply chain, being proactive to anticipate challenges that might arise.
You know, who would've thought that a little virus might affect supply chains across the
world and in ways that we never saw. And so, the lessons learned out of that, of course,
are too for contingency planning, so -- >> Kevin Duvall: Hey, good afternoon, everyone.
It's nice to see all these folks in the audience and online. You know, for me, the thing I
worry about is our software supply chain. So, you know, we live in a global world. Software
is developed both in the United States and outside of the United States. And, you know,
there's lots of people in the world that have different equities about the U.S. government,
and, you know, I think that's a huge risk. I think that became very apparent during the
SolarWinds cybersecurity incident about how that impacts what we do every day. And whether you're a person that is directly
supplying software to the government or you are an integrator, I think that applies to,
you know, both audiences that we need to think about and contextualize our risk in software
relative to how we deliver our mission. The government does a lot of very complex things
and a lot of mission-critical activities that we can't, you know, afford that cyber risk
on. And so, that's the one that really sticks out in my head that's particularly concerning
because, again, software is not something that you have to ship everywhere physically.
It can, you know, transverse borders and boundaries very easily. And so, how do we make sure that
the software that we are buying as the U.S. government is secure for our use? >> Evelyn Tyndell: I would say from a contracting
perspective. So, my director is responsible for information technology for the ORR, unaccompanied
children's program, for construction, and also for real estate. And so, within all of
those portfolios, I would say availability and inventory. And one of the things that
we talked about throughout this morning was just about having quality and at the best
possible price. So, when mission partners need those needs,
when they need them, and also when you all are looking at us to see what our requirements
are -- and we have very dynamic missions, right? And so, they're not static. They're
going to be changes and ebbs and flows. And so, I'm really hoping that you all share with
us some of the challenges that our requirements create for you all from a supply chain management
and being able to offer us that quality as well as cost-effective solutions that we can
integrate and execute. >> Kenyata Wesley: And so, I want to foot
stomp first -- I have three items. The first one, I'm going to foot stomp from Kevin, because
a lot of people don't really think about the effects that software can have on the supply
chain. You know, we manage -- no matter where you go in the world, software is managing
the supply chain, where it goes, how it moves, managing the actual process, the machinery
that ships it and moves it within the factory. And so, if that -- if we don't have a software
that's safe, that is prudent, and that operates efficiently the way the government requirements
are written, you end up with waste, shutdowns, delays, all kinds of things. So, I want to
-- because I really wanted to take a second to foot stomp that because it's something
that people don't really think about with supply chain. The next one are materials. So, you know,
whether it's on Kevin's side and the hardware side of his job, and you have metals, chip
manufacturers, all kinds of things that we saw been going through delays over the last
few years, or whether it's something on a specific kind of metal or a specific kind
of lumber that maybe affects certain types of furniture that we may need for ORR, or
certain materials that manage or we need to be for radios, for OHSEPR, right? I need to
know how it's affecting you and your ability to deliver on time at the required quality. And then last but not least, that's the segue
into communication of these challenges. You know, there's an old saying that my grandmother,
like, drilled into me when I was a kid because I didn't want to tell her if something was
wrong. And she would always say, "Bad news does not get better with time." And we, for
some reason, as we became adults, we're like, "Oh, don't worry about it. We'll deal with
it. We'll deal with it. It'll get better." And then four months in, and you've lost four
months of adjustment time where you could have gotten help and support. You are now
running behind the eight ball, scrambling, and then you feel like the government's not
there to help. So that even if you're telling us, "Hey, we
don't have -- we haven't felt this pinch yet, but this might be something that will affect
this contract or the one that's coming out," it's okay to communicate that even if it's
for no action, to make sure that the government is aware that this could be -- arise either
before award or during execution of that contract. Hopefully, that makes sense to everybody. >> Chris Walters: So, Kenyata, just to kind
of piggyback off what you just said about communication. What steps do you think that
we can take to kind of pretty much improve communication and collaboration with our industry
partners? >> Kenyata Wesley: So, a couple of things.
Events like this help, but when we take the time to do these events, honestly, it's okay
to talk to us, right? This isn't that old, I forget which movie it was, "We're the government.
We're here to help." This isn't that, right? [laughter] This is the government asking for your help,
right? >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: And this is important because
as smart -- I'm very blessed to work here. Like, I'm really blessed to work here. I have
-- I'm surrounded by some of the most brilliant minds on the planet, some of the most eloquent
PhDs on the planet, but they don't know everything, and neither do I. And you all are seeing it
from a different lens and a different vantage point. So, when you come to the event, please
share the information. And then secondly, when you get those chances
in front of the program managers, the acquisition program managers to be specific, you want
to ensure that you are explaining to them the impacts that certain supply issues, materials
and/or metals, or software challenges, whatever it may be, may impact, and that we
need to plan for in our requirement. It really does matter. >> Chris Walters: Thank you. Do anyone from
industry partners want to provide any comment or feedback on, from your perspective, what
we, as the government can do to kind of also get out there, you know, improve collaboration
and communication? If so, raise your hand. We have one right here in the front. >> Male Speaker: Thank you for taking the
time. My question really surrounds around continuing the conversation. A lot of times,
our only interaction is with passing events, events like this, or even responding to RFIs.
How do we continue the conversation on specific topics? Just because one of the biggest pain points
from small business liaison -- and you know, folks from the government is, you know, we
don't want somebody walking in here trying to boil the ocean. We want -- you know, for
Kevin's perspective, he wants to be in front of all the technology companies. I mean, who
here -- raise a hand -- is a technology company? I mean, those are the people he's really trying
to hear from. [laughter] Everyone else, not so much, you know what
I'm saying? Because that's what he's looking for. But how do we continue those conversations
specifically with the individuals who need that subject matter expertise so that it's
not just relegated to being just in the auditorium. This is great, this is fantastic, but I think
it's a first step in a very -- you know, a multitude of steps required to be able to
say, "I'm confident in the diversity and the impact of my small business community." And
they're showing up, rather than just -- you know, meet and greets are great, but I think
we -- everyone here is trying to go a little bit deeper in that conversation. Thank you. >> Evelyn Tyndell: Thank you so much for that
question. So, here's what I'll say, is, there's been some conversation about our competition
improvement plan. You also heard a lot about how GCS started and we were born. And so,
part of what we are doing in addition to this is industry engagement one-on-one. So, you
can reach out to your contracting teams, whether that is myself and Dr. David Greaves, who's
the Deputy for the Directorate, or Ms. Loon Sands and Mr. John Conlan, who are the director
and deputy director of the Contracts Directorate. And we are meeting with industry one-on-one.
I want to get a show of hands, how many folks here have had one-on-one conversations with
us and our teams over the last 90 days or so. Over the -- >> Kenyata Wesley: The proof is in the pudding. >> Evelyn Tyndell: -- at any point in time. >> Kenyata Wesley: The proof is in the pudding.
[laughs] >> Evelyn Tyndell: So, we are definitely having
those conversations. So, we're all here, of course. And Kenyata has been very open about
having those conversations as well, as well as us participating in industry events. And
then Mr. Demetrius Kittrell, could you please wave your hand? Demetrius is the GCS Small
Business Specialist. So, please, get to know him. Get his information. And he will also
make sure -- >> Kenyata Wesley: LaTonya. >> Evelyn Tyndell: -- that our folks have
the conversations and we start to build our capability repository. And then you all met
Ms. LaTonya earlier. Ms. LaTonya, can you please wave your hand or stand? She is our
HHS Small Business Specialist and we have very regular communications with LaTonya.
We have a weekly meeting that those folks that I just mentioned, we all participate
in. So, there's a lot of collaboration that takes place with us. And we also bring our
program and mission partners to those conversations as well. So, please get in front of us, share
your capabilities. I think you got some awesome tips earlier
from Ms. Katrina Brisbon, as well as Kenyata about how to bring those conversations to
us, things that you should share when you get to the table. And it's okay to ask us
questions that help you improve your collaboration and communication with the mission partners.
Does that answer your question? >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. I'll give you one of
my cheat questions. So, in any meeting with -- you know, conducting market research or
meet and greets or anything like that, one of the things I'll ask always is what is your
unique competitive advantage, right? Like, I want to understand, not only what you can
do, but what you feel like you really do well. Because, again, ACF is an incredibly diverse
complex mission, and I really want to understand how you do what you do and what you think
you're good at. And, you know, an answer that is not very satisfying is like, oh, you know,
everything, right? It's like, sort of, I think we need to, you know, really talk about, like,
I think we're really good at this part of software development. I think we need to improve
in these areas. And, like, that helps on the government side
to really understand like, okay, got it. I think, you know, this makes more sense or
that makes more sense. It's a little bit of a fitting conversation about, you know, what
works for your firm, your organization, and what works for us, and what we're optimizing
towards. Because, you know, I've long kind of given up on the fact that we can do everything
perfectly a hundred percent of the time. So, how do we, as a result, have honest conversations
about, okay, these are the things that we're really good at, and as a result, I think this
is what you really need to be successful here. Or the back and forth. I mean, again, all the people in this room
are technology -- you know, a lot of them are technology experts, right? We're hiring
you as experts, as organizations to help us deliver our capability or something. And so,
a little bit of like kind of back and forth about, hey, you said that -- you said it this
way, but maybe there's a different way that we can approach solving that same problem. >> Kenyata Wesley: Hey, Kevin. Do you want
to talk to them about your round table idea that you pitched to me last week? >> Kevin Duvall: Oh, wow. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [laughs] He's like, "That's
so many." >> Kenyata Wesley: That you want to bring
the industry together for a round table discussion? >> Kevin Duvall: Oh, I think I pitched having
a round table discussion with industry. [laughter] Man, last week was a long time ago. So, sorry,
Kenyata. [laughter] >> Kenyata Wesley: No, I got your back. So,
I just didn't want to steal your idea, your thunder. So, last week, we were in a -- in
the hallway, me and Kevin are fortunate to be office neighbors. And one of the things
he pitched was an idea to get a cyber and software round table together to where we
can go through some specifics with you all and where his brain is going and his team's
operational skillsets are going. And I told him this would be, if it came up, which it
did, it's almost like you had a spy in the room, man. If it came up, we would ask the audience.
By a show of hands, who would like to see or have or participate in a round table specific
to that? All right. I think we got our answer because I -- my guess is online, it's probably
doing the same thing if it's doing that in here. For people online who didn't see the
audience, it was like three quarters of the room put their hands up. So, I will take that
as a due-out. Kobe, hold me accountable. [laughs] And, Kevin too. He got to help. [laughter] >> Chris Walters: Richard, do you want to
add something? >> Richard Debany: Yeah. I'd like to. The
only thing I want to -- >> Kevin Duvall: Maybe that one -- >> Richard Debany: I don't think it's working.
Is it working? >> Kenyata Wesley: It is. It's just low. >> Richard Debany: Okay. I got some -- thanks. >> Kevin Duvall: It's fine. We'll share. [laughter] >> Richard Debany: The one thing I want to
add to that answer to that question is, when we do meet with industry -- and I can't tell
you how many times we've done that. Usually, I've been on the contracting side when that
occurs, sometimes, the requirement activity of the program isn't in the room. I think
we have a great relationship across ACF that allows us to be in the room. And so, that
greatly helps. But also, if you're coming to the government to talk about your capabilities
and you get that audience, think about, what is the message that you're trying to send? And if it's just about your capabilities,
and that's one story and one narrative. But if you've also come, if you've got the audience
to say, "Hey, here are things that we are seeing" -- it may not even be about exactly
ACF, but, "This is what we're seeing as problems with requirements and why it's affecting us."
And, you know, you might be speaking, kind of, for the industry in that case and saying,
"This is what we're having troubles with, with your requirements." And that helps us
to articulate it better for the future, which I think is better for everybody. >> Kenyata Wesley: Hey, just one footnote
on that. When you see requirements that RFPs and solicitations go out, there's normally
a question-and-answer period. All right? Use it. [laughter] It is remarkable how many times we do this.
We'll get three or four questions from the same company. And -- but then if -- when it
doesn't work out in a particular company's favor, then they go, "Well, we had the question
on this and this wasn't clear in this RFP, or this wasn't clear in this solicitation."
And I have to look at them and go, "The time for Q and A is now closed. We are at the award.
You should have brought this up." We do want to make our contract pre-award
documents friendly for industry as long as it doesn't change or alter the government's
requirement from what it really needs and wants. Okay? What we're aiming for is a way
for the government to receive what it needs, at the right quality level, for the right
price, but we want to make that easy on you to do so. All right? So, it's really important
that you ask those questions when you have the opportunity. >> Chris Walters: Thank you. I think we have
a question over here. >> Male Speaker: I wanted to add one quick
thing that I have found great for talking to government officials, is when you're responding
to a government official, or you're trying to reach out to talk to a government official.
If you put your business name and the one thing that you do well in the subject line,
it makes it easier or searchable, for market research purposes and communication as -- so
I know where we started from. So, just kind like a tidbit of when you communicate with
your contract professionals or small business reps or whoever talking with, that always
helps a, to be more searchable, and b, add it to the conversation. >> Male Speaker: [inaudible] one more time. >> Male Speaker: Oh, one more time. >> Male Speaker: For the folks out there online. >> Male Speaker: Online? Okay. >> Male Speaker: [inaudible]. >> Male Speaker: Okay. [inaudible]. >> Female Speaker: Hello? Test. No. >> Kenyata Wesley: I think -- are mics dying? >> Male Speaker: This is not working as well. >> Male Speaker: This one's working now. Okay.
So, I'll say it one more time. [talking simultaneously] [laughter] >> Male Speaker: Two. [laughter] All right. So, in order to make the conversation
go easier and make you more searchable, when you're talking to your government officials,
people in contracting or small business reps, make sure you utilize the subject line. You
want to put the business name and what you're good at. You know, maybe your top next code
or your top service or typing that you offer, so, therefore, when we're looking for a short
list or doing our market research, which we can start with our own short list before we
do RFIs, we do -- so -- notice you're easily searchable. And then in addition to that, we can use that
as a point of contact in reference to have a conversation with you about an initiative
or need that we may have. So, it may -- I know it's a very small thing to do, but it
makes it -- the world a lot easier in our profession. Because we have a hundred emails,
a hundred projects, and we're trying to make sure nothing slips and we have a good picture
before we go forward with procurement. So, just putting that forward and putting that
on when putting that request out there. >> Kelsey Donnellan: Thank you. And thank
you for taking questions. I'm Kelsey Donnellan with the Lindahl Reed team. The question I
have is around disability access and accessibility. One thing that has come up a couple of times
for a project we're working on is that we are specialists and not disability accessibility.
And we have requests that come in and the time for us to go find a subcontractor to
meet reasonable accommodations takes away from us being able to be successful or have
people in the room who really are experts but need additional considerations to join
our meeting or our call. And so, I'm wondering to what extent you're
thinking about integrating disability and inclusion and accessibility throughout all
contracts or having a mechanism so that when contractors who are specialists and X, Y,
Z, we can then go and say, "We've got a request and we need to meet in one week. We don't
have time for a subcontract." So, would love to hear a little bit more about how you're
thinking about accessibility. >> Kevin Duvall: Thanks for that question.
This is something that's very near and dear to my heart actually. When I came over to
ACF, the Section 508 program, I moved it directly to report to me because, you know, we serve
all Americans at ACF and we don't want to disadvantage someone. You know, disabilities
take lots of forms. Some are invisible disabilities and we need to serve all of those people equally.
That's our responsibility. And it's also the law, right? So, Section 508 in information and communications
technologies are required to be accessible. And so, I think, for me, one of the things
that I really think about is, as an industry, we need to be consciously thinking about universal
design and putting that at the foundation, right? Like, you can't just build something
quick and like, you know, there's the -- probably the most glaring example is like, there's
photos of text, right? Like, that's not screen reader. Oh, that's not accessible. And you see industry leaders doing that, right?
You know, I'll take an example, an iPhone. An iPhone is an incredibly accessible device.
Does it have shortcomings? Absolutely. But if you've ever seen a person that has a disability
use an iPhone, you know, there's lots of different workarounds. And so, I think, as a whole,
we need to make that foundational to every requirement. And all the contract language that, you know,
my office inserts into contracts have that language included because it's so important.
I think you bring up a point which is valid, which is, you know, the people that really
can support and think about that are hard to find in industry. But I think, as a whole,
we need to be growing that because, you know, as long as I'm here at ACF, we're going to
take that stuff seriously. And I think, you know, we need to do that because we have a
responsibility to all the people we serve. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, one -- two things.
The first one is, when he said grow it, that was not his thing of saying go out and not
incur costs. Just want to make sure that you all understand that. [laughter] All right? Have to -- I have to say that as
a disclaimer. What he's telling you, though, is start thinking through, as you're going
to reply to our acquisitions, our programs, our strategies, how you would incorporate
it at that time. Okay? But don't go out and jump on that grenade and say, "Oh, Kevin told
me at the conference." Because somebody will do it. So, I just want to be careful. And I have a -- I'm going to make a do out
for my policy team on the acquisition side. Mitri [phonetic sp] I think is out there,
see her over there. We need to have a discussion after this event about, how do we want to
have addressed universal language for this? I believe that there is some standard FAR
language, but I think, getting after her real question, how do we kind of make sure we're
standardizing it across programs, not just the CIO section. So, we'll take that as a
do out. Thank you. Question here. >> Sarah Sanchez: Hi, Sarah Sanchez with ATG
Innovations. My question is around supply chain risk management. And there's a lot of
discussion around supply chain risk management. Some of the GWACs coming out are starting
to incorporate that as a part of the requirements or looking at including them and sometimes
maybe retracting it because industry might not quite be ready. There are also some ISO
certifications around supply chain risk management. Have you started to incorporate that into
your procurements? Or if not, do you anticipate a timeline when you will? >> Kenyata Wesley: Do you want to take it
or do you want me to? >> Evelyn Tyndell: You. >> Kenyata Wesley: [laughs] She said, "You." [laughter] All right. So, I'm going to answer that two
ways because it really is a twofold answer. So, the first one is, we do take supply chain
risk management into effect for, and into account rather, for acquisitions surrounding
logistics directly. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Okay. What we have not
gone the level down yet, and that's because supply chain and the reason for this panel
became a focus area of our secretary and our assistant secretary over the last few months
in saying, "Hey, you know, industry is affected by everything that happens globally and it
affects us, and how are we handling the risk?" So, the supply chain risk management piece
is one of the reasons we're having this so we can actually become -- come up with an
HHS-wide synergistic strategy. Okay? And so, what I would tell you for right now,
for our logistics contracts, it's there. Okay. But for actions that have a logistics component
that people didn't think through when they were thinking through the -- what they wanted,
what they needed, we're now thinking through, how do we handle that? And the timeline for
that, I would tell you, you'll probably see a round table on the -- on logistics coming
up probably after the fourth quarter. And then from there, we can give out a timeline
depending on the results of that panel, okay, or that round tape. Okay. But this was the basic beginnings of this
because we are like, "Man, there's so much about engineering support, research and development."
And then we are just thinking, we really do need to hear from industry on this. Take some
notes, come back, do a round table, and then with what we learned, how we're planning on
implementing it, and get your feedback on, does that break you? Does that make your life
easier? And then do a final plan based on that. Does that make sense? >> Sarah Sanchez: Yes. Thank you. >> Sean Wybenga: Excuse me. Sean Wybenga from
Groundswell. We are very much in the technology space, so that's what my question is related
to. So, one of the issues we run into, like, we do a lot of systems for like CDC, CMS,
FDA, but we then if we have a very successful system, it's hard to then go out and, like,
showcase it to even another government agency. So, is there -- and also, you don't want to
give away, like, intellectual property and stuff like that. So, is there like, a safe space you guys could
provide one-on-one where like if it's a CDC system, we could sit down and like give you
a demo or show you what CDC is doing and give you that information? Because right now, we
have to say like, "Hey, CDC needs to go to this agency and talk to them about that."
And then they don't really want to like, you know, push another company somewhere. But
you would get a lot of really good insight, you know, if you sort of set up a safe space
like that. >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. I think that's a valid
point. You know, one of the things that I -- again, I feel like I'm giving away my cheat
sheet a little bit. So, you know, the previous one was about competitive advantage. But having
a government contact, like, kind of readily available -- because I -- you know, as we
do market research, I do want to kind of understand you know, is there someone that has previous
experience with this product or this thing that they can kind of give me the pointers
of like, do this, don't do that? Being able to kind of make that government-to-government
connection at the outset and sooner rather than later I think is really useful. You know,
we -- I think all of our email addresses are public, you know, through the PSC directory
system or most of them. And so, you know, we kind of -- we serve the public and part
of that government-to-government connection is connecting and making sure that we are
communicating and understanding kind of capabilities. So, that's what I'd say kind of at the outset. >> Kenyata Wesley: And if I heard the question
right, the second part of it was almost like, hey, because I heard the term safe space,
almost like a colab where people could set up and demo their software tools that the
government had already paid for. I don't know if we have anything like that in HHS. I haven't
heard about it in my first few months here, but we'll take that as a due-out to ask the
question or maybe you can take it to the other CIOs and -- >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. No, I think that's
a fair question. And I can talk to the HHS CIO. They kind of -- you know, part of their
role is like ensuring collaboration. So, I'll connect with them as well. >> Chris Walters: Any other questions? Oh,
right here in front. >> Male Speaker: I just had another question.
Going back to the reporting functionality and data being a decision making -- increasing
efficiency for you all on the decision-making side, but from the industry side, is there
an opportunity for you guys to create an ongoing reporting function, particularly related to
small and disadvantaged businesses where you're not seeing capabilities, which is why there's
potentially a delta in your guys' small business contracting goals? So, you can be providing that communication
and that feedback to small business, and whether it's through strategic partnerships or actually
having us go out and recruit other organizations, firms that are not -- they're not aware of
the mission for HHS and ACF, that we can bring to bear so that we make sure that we can lean
in and help those small businesses moving forward. Thanks. >> Kenyata Wesley: Yeah. So -- I'm looking
at LaTonya. Is SBX? Am I saying that right? >> Evelyn Tyndell: SBCX. >> Kenyata Wesley: SBCX. So, one of the ways
-- that's one of the ways. We have like, three different ways. SBX [sic] is a tool you heard
Ariel mentioned earlier, for those who were here. If you're not registered in there, please
go register in there. It is really important. Then put in there the -- your -- what your
specialties, expertise, primary mission, focus areas, are for your company because that helps
us inform what's available to us, who know about us in the areas you think that you are
wanting to play. Next, we do have systems that allow us to
pull and tell us where small businesses, women-owned small businesses, SDBs, 8as, veteran-owned
companies, service-disabled veteran-owned companies, Native American companies, are
spending, bidding -- well, spending and being awarded contracts. But the data doesn't necessarily
tell me who's bidding because it doesn't track that. Okay? And I'm not sure off the top of
my head how that would be done. But, right now, that is probably the larger
gap in my swing of being able to know who's actively bidding by large or -- large business,
academia, or socio-economic category at large. I can tell on an individual acquisition, obviously,
but being able to capture that data and then run reports on it to say, "Hey, I know who's
winning. Now, I know who's bidding and what their expertise is." And then turn around later and say, "My real
gap in my swing are the people who aren't bidding, aren't actively seeing this. And
this is the -- are the skillsets I still have holes in. They're now my target audience for
that." And I understand exactly what you're getting after, but that little piece, I don't
have yet. I'm not able to see. We are working on ways to try to get the lens for it. I just
don't have it yet. >> Male Speaker: Is that just due because
of internal capacity? Obviously, you guys are pretty stretched. Is that just -- that's
a -- that can be a heavy lift? >> Kenyata Wesley: I think it's a little bit
of a system issue, right? You -- if you don't capture data, right? You -- because you have
to have a place to capture it before you can generate the report. And that lens is, to
my knowledge, is not captured anywhere of saying, on a large scale, who bid this action,
what categories they were in, and what were their expertise in areas. That's not captured
anywhere that I've seen on a large scale. And I think that's a gap in our swing to be
able to answer the real crux of your question. >> Male Speaker: Thank you. >> Kenyata Wesley: But I'm not taking that
as we're not going to get there. Right? We will get there. I've just got to figure out
a way working with Kevin. I see another hand. >> Chris Walters: So, we got one here in the
front right here and then one behind James. >> Male Speaker: With some of the workforce
challenges in terms of finding people and having resources, are you guys doing anything
within automation or artificial intelligence within ACF to help augment some of that? >> Kenyata Wesley: So -- I've got to be careful.
[laughs] I would say from an acquisition standpoint, we are looking into that now. Okay? So, meaning,
systems that help us develop our requirements packages, things that help us write better
contracts, more informative contracts, and more complete contracts, that would potentially
require less modifications and for our systems to learn from us as we go. Okay? So, that way, like requirements, similar requirements,
are actually -- those documents are -- the system would be learning my CO's habits, my
contract specialist's habits, my COR habits, and the good lessons that are confirmed, locking
them in, and then they become suggestions to future workforce as to the why behind the
answers and/or options. And so, yes, we are looking into those areas now. Obviously, there's a lot of progress being
made in those areas. And all I can tell you to date is that we are going through and looking
at different products and systems that do that. And then outside of acquisition, I'll
turn to Kevin and let him discuss that. >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. That's a really great
question. I mean, I would say, in general, we're pretty limited at ACF and our use of
artificial intelligence. And I think you kind of referenced robotic process automation.
You know, I think to myself as one of the ones that actually, the ASA [phonetic sp]
Office of Human Resources and then I think the program support center has done some pretty
interesting work in that domain. So, I think that is an area that we should be looking
at more and more. Internal to ACF, one of the things that we launched this year was
-- we called it the ACF year of data, but really, to think internally about how we build
capacity as an organization. We have lots of data that -- you know, everything from,
we collect reporting from our grantees. And, you know, part of my charge is to build
a more coherent message about all the things that ACF does. When I think about ACF as a
whole, people know our sub-programs, right? They know Head Start, but, you know, you ask
a person on the street, you know, ACF. I think connecting and bringing that data to bear
so we can better understand the populations we serve is part of the goal of that initiative.
And so, I have some folks focusing on that and really thinking about what we can do there
because, you know, this is important data. It's about humans. It's about children. It's
about families. And so, again, we need to be looking at
that further. >> Eduardo Ortiz: Good afternoon. >> Kenyata Wesley: It's all right, man. >> Eduardo Ortiz: Good afternoon. Eduardo
Ortiz with Coforma, SDVOSB and 8(a) firm. Thank you so much for sharing today. Kenyata,
you shared earlier this morning that the ACF's goals last year for competition were about
12.3 percent, and you were trying to hit 25 percent this year. And looking at the fact
that this round table is on supply chain, I wanted to offer one comment that is building
out of what the gentleman that asked about the safe space for sharing solutions spoke
to. Your partners over at CMS, the Centers for
Medicaid & Medicare, specifically those with the Data and Services Group, DSG, which is
part of CMCS, the Centers for Medicaid, Medicare, and Chip Services. They had -- they held a
summit about three weeks ago where they said that they were going to ensure that every
single opportunity that was hitting the market, that their tools were actually being open
sourced. And that the tools that were already in GitHub,
which is the tool that just stores the source code, was being open sourced as part of the
actual work being done, so that when you had competition, you had fair competition rather
than the incumbent holding all the cards because they're the only ones that have access to
the source code. Trying to remove the limitation that today says, "Where the incumbent is able
to answer the question end-to-end, while as those on the outside are only able to speak
to an idea as to how they would be able to solve the problem." Kevin, being on the panel, I wanted to offer
that because I think that this could help address some of the problems that you're having
on supply chain by opening the market up to small businesses, speaking as a user set of
one. But I'm pretty sure that most people here would raise their hands. I won't ask
you to just so that I don't look bad. [laughter] But I'm pretty positive that this would help
address some of the concerns that you are already seeing by bringing small businesses
that are qualified just as much as large and incumbents to come to the table and provide
you with other options. >> Evelyn Tyndell: Good idea. >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. I -- so, thanks for
that question. I think that's a really solid point. I mean, I think some of the -- I can't
remember if it's in an executive order. I'm trying -- I haven't been on code.gov recently,
but that is one of the pushes is to, again, make more of that available. I think probably
our benchmark program for that is the TANF Data Portal. I think they publish a lot of
data through HHS's GitHub account. But you bring up a very solid point, which
is, bringing that and making it more open allows not only for, you know, competition,
but also, you know, one of the things that -- I was the Chief Data Officer during COVID-19.
When we released publicly available data, people were able to catch errors and we acknowledged
that. You know, there were two states that were about, I want to say 14 percent off.
And so, that was very -- that was caught relatively quickly because we released that data to the
public. So, I think that's a solid kind of strategy.
The thing I would say as, not necessarily a caution, but something that does happen
from time to time is people believe that, like, hiding the source code is your way to
secure it, right? Which is challenging. And so -- but I think it's an area of growth that
we should consider. So, I appreciate that question. >> Kenyata Wesley: Got one in the back. >> Dave Fedlam: Hi. Oh, wow. [laughter] Hi, I'm Dave Fedlam with Guidehouse. I think
sort of building on this question that was just asked by the gentleman over there, you
know, Kenyata, you talked about, you know, increasing the number of, or the percentage
of competitive awards. And, Kevin, I know that you manage and oversee,
you know, mission critical systems. And, you know, I used to be on the HHS side in the
financial systems world. And the first thing that always comes up when you start looking
at this is transition risk and the risk of changing from, you know, one contractor to
the other, particularly, again, when things are so, sort of, mission forward and mission
centric. So, just curious how you, while we have you
up here, how you guys consider it and think about, you know, the notion of transition
risk and sort of the devil you know versus the devil don't, versus the need for innovation
and how you sort of balance that in your mind as you think through future, you know, acquisitions
of procurement. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, from an acquisition
systems piece, I'll tackle that and then Kevin can tackle the rest. It's interesting. The
answer to your question is, are we considering it? Yes. I am a person who's not really afraid
of change, right? I am -- when I -- I tell people all the time,
watching how my kids grew up and how my nieces and nephews are growing up now, I didn't want
to be that granddad or great-uncle that can't do any of the modern technology, right? If
some of you can remember that every house had a house phone and it was the old rotary
dial. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Then we went to the dial
tone and push button. Then we slowly got into our cordless, and now, very few homes have
a house phone. And then we went from a regular cell phone to now where everybody has a smartphone.
You got that one or two people sitting out there with the oldest, biggest -- [laughter] -- cell phone that they can find because they
refuse to change, right? Well, that's no different inside the federal government. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: And you -- if you really
want to lead through innovation, you can't be afraid of change. And that means you have
to understand what the original platform was written on, how that data is stored. You've
got to be able to understand the naming conventions behind that data and that code because if
you’re understanding the naming conventions behind that code, you can transition it fairly
easily into a new system. But the key is understanding that. And in my case, because I know what my acquisition
systems are, I can do that fairly okay. There are going to be some glitches, but nothing
that would shut us down and not be allowed to transition. And then we are going to go
to probably a universal naming convention with the next ground. So, we'll -- that way
we'll always know what that naming convention in source code really was. And then we'll
be able to transition anytime we get ready to a new or more -- newer or more updated
system. And so, well -- the goal for me is to never
be handcuffed to a particular name, brand, or company for more than the length of my
contract. I will be able to compete it again after that -- anytime I get ready or returning
to government needs or there is a significant advancement in that space. All right. So,
hopefully, that answers your question, but we are definitely managing that risk, documenting
it, and then planning forward, so, how we don't have to be handcuffed in the future.
And, Kevin, I'll turn it over to you for the rest. >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah. Good question. I mean
-- so, one of the things that I'm working on internally is basically, bottom line up
front, kind of making our governance processes more agile. I don't want governance to be
a performative activity for industry or program offices. Governance is about how you make
decisions, right? And because of [unintelligible], because of FITARA, I mean, you can name off
the letters, right? You know, we have to do a pretty extensive amount of documentation.
The question is, are we getting value from it, right? Are we able to make meaningful
decisions from that? And so, I think that's a challenge back to
industry is, you know, being collaborative about like, we feel like we're fulfilling
this need and this way of documenting is working for us. Can we work together on finding solutions
here? I also think, you know, having systems for numbers of years and having -- the tech
industry has kind of choice and there's a lot of competition for talent in the tech
industry. And it behooves all of us to document our systems well and document our code well
to be effective long term. Even a -- you know, an organization that keeps a contract for
a certain number of years, you may have turnover. And so, having effective documentation so,
you know, when Bobby leaves that, you know, yeah, someone else can pick up that work and
evolve that system. The one thing I'll say is my view on technology is it's always evolving.
It should always be helping us advance our mission. And so, as a result, it should always
be changing and supporting that. And in order to do that, you have to have effective documentation
and knowledge management. And it's hard. I mean, I don't think industries kind of crack
that as a whole. And it's hard in government too, but I think that should be a fundamental
part of every delivery, is, not only the code, but also, how we document it well in a way
that someone else could understand it. >> Kenyata Wesley: My -- because my tech companies
are taking over. >> Kevin Duvall: [laughs] >> Kenyata Wesley: What about the service
contractors and the companies that are kind of turnkey for children's services and managing
government-furnished property, government-furnished equipment, contractor-furnished equipment
and property. What are you seeing in the spaces that might be affecting delivery for those
areas and things that kids and families need? We'd be really open to hearing from what's
affecting your supply chain and/or your logistics into standing up those services. Got a key
hand in the front. >> Joe Grabenstein: So, one of the challenges
-- oh, I'm sorry. Joe Grabenstein with Akima LLC. We're an Alaska Native corp. And one
of the challenges that we see with particularly firm fixed price contracts for services, whether
it be construction or facilities maintenance, any of the types of different services, is
supply chain problems can happen like -- with COVID. After the contractor is awarded, and
if it's a five-year contract, then the contractor is performing at risk and sometimes has no
control over the costs. Are you looking at new language for contracts
that would protect the well -- let me -- the way that we can -- one of the ways that some
contractors avoid risk is by bidding higher, but that's not in the government's best interest.
So, if there were a way to adjust costs based on inflation or supply chain problems in the
future, if that were written into the contract upfront, then companies could bid more competitively. >> Kenyata Wesley: Yeah. So, there is language
that applies to contracts for economic price adjustments and things of that nature. And
that applies to contracts, especially things that are driven from act of God and things
of that nature. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: And then I would also tell
you one of the things we're also thinking through is, or are, different strategies other
than fixed price contracting. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Because the fixed price
contracting, in some of these spaces, has not been advantageous to the government nor
the contract. All right? It was a time-driven, very reactionary method and approach because
we had the -- my predecessors had something that was not overcomeable by traditional methodology
and timelines. Now that we are actually going after and competing these things going forward
for all these different types of professional services, we're looking at whether or not
we need to use cost contracts for some of them, whether or not we need to use firm fix
for some of them, or hybrids for some of them. And so, what I would tell you is some of you
in this room already have your approved accounting systems and some don't. You need to start
making sure you're getting after that. That's another good deed I've given you all for the
week because that's going to evolve. This organization has to be able to manage in a
very complex and fluid environment and I need to be able to have that kind of acceptance,
right? And I know that some people are like, I own everything firm fixed price, but we
are not that kind of organization. We want the right tool for the right problem. And
I can't stress that enough. So, I would tell you more and more, be prepared to adjust to
flexible and fluid vehicles. >> Chris Walters: All right. I think we had
a question in the back and then we have the gentleman up front. Right here, James. >> Kate Cavanaugh: Thank you. Kate, with Team
Housing Solutions. I'm curious as it relates to supply chain for facilities in real estate,
it's difficult to propose real estate, let's say in May and then have that real estate
still be available in August. I would like to propose, potentially, if your
team would consider like 50 acres in this region, we will lock that in when it's necessary.
It's something that's more of outlining the requirements of the facility of the land and
then locking it in upon award because it's difficult to have that supply chain ready
months and months in advance. >> Kenyata Wesley: You got the right one today. [laughter] >> Evelyn Tyndell: So, the facility and our
ability to acquire, not only property and land -- so, just a quick recap from November.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, within their statutory authority, it allows us to
lease as well as acquire property, land, and construct facilities in support of the Unaccompanied
Children's program. So, the question about facilities and property is really in response
to that mission. So, one of the things our team is working on and working through, we
have the traditional lease process, and much of you are familiar with that from a GSA perspective.
And what we're doing is we're formulating our leasing program, our real estate program,
to be responsive to the needs of ORR. We had a recent RFI go out. Those RFIs that we said here today, they're
really important for us because we are trying to figure out how to be the most innovative
and responsive to that mission within our authorities. And that's important because
we want to keep our authorities. And so, we need to be smart about how we execute. And
so, some of that means we need to be able to identify first what's available and us
being able to be at different areas because all of the borders will have children crossing,
not just our southern border. And so, we want to be responsive to being sure that we are
able to have facilities within those spaces. Having them available six months to 12 months
in advance is sometimes not a luxury that we have. And so, there are going to be different
solutions that we have to execute based on those needs, hence the rapid deployment RFI
that was issued. So, understanding where people are in that space and what is within the realm
of possible is really important for us. It's also important for us to be able to understand
if we have modular construction capabilities that are available to us and what some of
those real estate requirements are for you. So, come and tell us, "This is how long we
can hold on to a property." Or let us know, "This is a property that we are considering
and if the government is open to this property, here is what would be available to us." Because we're operating off of traditional
real estate, but we need to be able to put together a program that's responsive for ORR.
So, we're really customizing our real estate program. And so, we need to know where those
things are so that we can customize it appropriately so that we're not putting solutions out there
that do not -- that are not responsive to what you all are capable of doing so that
we can make sure that's within our authorities. So, having an inventory is important to us
and understanding how that inventory is within your span of control is important to us as
well. Does that answer your question? >> Kate Cavanaugh: It does. Thank you. >> Evelyn Tyndell: You're welcome. >> Rob Brady: Hi there. Rob Brady with OST.
We are a technology question [sic], but I promise this is not a tech question. [laughter] So, during your opening remarks, Ms. Tyndell,
you mentioned the concept of availability. You know, making sure that you have things,
and the great way to do that is always maintaining a diverse vendor portfolio, having multiple
partners to do multiple things. During Mr. Wesley's, you know, presentation, you know,
you mentioned that you're looking at ACF 360 strategic sourcing, you know, and I know that
ORR is understandably continually under emergency review. Both of those situations can lead
to an area where there's roadblocks to new entrance. You know, if you put out a vehicle and, you
know, I don't get on that vehicle as a potential vendor, I might move on. I might go somewhere
else, you know, because I don't have a good opportunity of getting in there. So, would
you mind talking through -- or, you know, or with, you know, emergency contact, if you're
constantly in emergency, I'm going to go somewhere else. I'm going to take my solution somewhere
where -- that I might have a better chance. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Rob Brady: Could you talk through some
of the solutions that you are thinking of to make sure that doesn't happen as you go
to a more streamlined acquisition? >> Kenyata Wesley: Yeah. So, that's actually
a really good question. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: So, I'll try to not make
this a long-winded answer. [laughs] So, think of it in stages, right? You got a brand-new
organization, crisis happens immediately. And then you're in that crisis for 18 to 24
months almost, right? And you're finally getting a little bit of air to plan, strategize, and
start to execute, and then the threat of another title ending and flooding you again says,
it threatens your ability to execute that plan before it's ready. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Okay? So, the way I would
think through it and try to explain it is this, we are -- we were in that reactionary
mode. We are in a combo reactionary plan execution now. So, that's progress. Not as fast as I
would like it, but it is progress. And so, now, we actually have packages coming over
from our mission partners in ORR and that we are in the -- making valid efforts to compete.
And then -- but what you're going to see are the extensions necessary in those old ones
to keep alive while we do those competitions. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Then once those actions
are competed and awarded, now, we have long-term solutions that we can actually use. And then
it's about the teaming arrangements on those long-term solutions that will help advance
the marketplace as we evolve. And then if the need arises and Congress appropriates
funding for additional potential sites, we would be able to now have time to plan and
execute those because we have existing competitive solutions in place, right? So, it's kind of that crawl, walk, run. We
were crawling in the beginning. We're starting to walk now, and once we get those competitive
actions awarded, we will feel very confident in being able to actually go at a marathon
pace and not a sprint pace. Does that make sense? All right. Richard, you want to add
anything there? >> Lisa Cummins: Hello. My name is Lisa Cummins.
I am with Urban Strategies, a women-owned small business. We do a lot of work in direct
service, and so, the wraparound services kind of thing. One of the things that is increasingly
difficult is to obtain liability insurance for this type of work. >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: [affirmative] >> Lisa Cummins: And so, while it's kind of
a supply chain issue -- but we see not only are prices going sky high, but there are providers
that are now beginning to decide not to provide any type of insurance. So, I think that's
going to be an issue. If it isn't already for the industry, it's going to be certainly
an issue going forward. >> Kenyata Wesley: Do you mind me asking,
and it doesn't have to just be you, just because I'm kind of learning the insurance piece of
the direct care and that piece. Is there a range of how that insurance is valued? >> Lisa Cummins: You know, I'm removed enough
to not know how to answer that question. >> Kenyata Wesley: Do you mind sending us
an email once, if you -- that's for any of you, if you can help us with that, it allows
us to -- somebody has a hand up? >> Lisette Burton: Hi, good afternoon. I'm
Lisette Burton. I'm the chief policy practice advisor for ACRC. It's the Association of
Children's Residential and Community Services. >> Kenyata Wesley: Welcome. >> Lisette Burton: The issue around liability
insurance is an issue for all providers who are providing particularly foster care, residential
care services. And so, I can get you some information on some of the insurance companies
that are refusing to insure providers of that care. >> Kenyata Wesley: Please. >> Lisette Burton: And there's also an issue
of the mix of services. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, I work with some providers
who are providing maybe in-home community services, school-based services, foster care
and residential. If they start to provide too much foster care, the insurance company
says, "Don't do that, or we're not going to insure you." >> Evelyn Tyndell: [affirmative] >> Kenyata Wesley: Wow. >> Lisette Burton: And so, even though we
want kids being served in community-based, family-based settings, insurance is absolutely
a barrier to that. Not just within ORR, but also on the domestic side of services as well.
So, happy to send you some additional information. >> Kenyata Wesley: That would be very helpful.
Thank you. Any other questions from the audience? >> Chris Walters: Any questions? >> Kenyata Wesley: Okay. Chris? >> Chris Walters: So, we've touched on, you
know, the different challenges of supply chain and some of the factors that cause those issues.
Rich, I was interested, particularly because with your mission it's very sensitive to unforeseen
events, and how do you mitigate the risk disrupting the supply chain and still be able to meet
our mission when those events happen? >> Rich Debany: Sure. So -- >> Evelyn Tyndell: The mic. You just don’t
like it. >> Kenyata Wesley: You just don’t like it. >> Chris Walters: [laughs] [laughter] >> Rich Debany: Starting off with a good supply
chain of batteries, would probably be where I would start. [laughter] >> Evelyn Tyndell: Yeah, I just had to. [laughs] >> Rich Debany: So, the supply chain to support
-- you know, speaking from the ORR perspective, what we -- you know, dealing with a mission
that is critical that we can't have failure on, you know, you think back to what could
possibly prevent an industry from being able to provide the services that they contractually
agreed to. And supply is certainly one of those things. And when I think of supply availability,
it's the entire logistical trail of supplying that. Everything from inventory planning,
inventory management, to understanding your sources of supply, understanding what could
happen in the environment of the marketplace that could affect your chain of supply. And so, it's -- the partnership part of this
is making sure that the requirements are correct, and so that when you get the requirement and
you bid on it, and you truly understand it is that if it doesn't make sense, there's
got to be a communication. Going back to what Kenyata said at the beginning is, is using
that question-and-answer period to communicate the flaws in the requirements that you see.
So, that's the first thing, it's trying to get the right requirement in there. And then
truly understanding what it takes from a logistical standpoint to provide the services. Because you might be focused on the childcare
aspect of it, or whatever it is, the service that you're providing and not really think
through the supply aspect of that material availability, and how that can absolutely
affect the quality and the delivery of your supplies to make sure that you're delivering
the quality -- the services that you agreed to. And looking at the risk, everything's
about risk, and where risk will lie, and whether it's having multiple sources of supply, or
understanding if you're buying at origin and transporting it yourself is, what are your
methods of transporting that, and how will you adjust based on disruptions to the supply
system. And so, whether you're a service provider
or not, you have to be thinking as a logistician to understand the entire trail, the entire
supply chain, and understand that from your -- and if that's not a core capability, then
have that partnership so that you do have that skillset within your portfolio to provide
that. >> Chris Walters: Any other panelists want
to expound on how you mitigate your risk during disruption of the supply chain? >> Kenyata Wesley: So, it's going to be a
broken record, right? Early communication, and often communication. I mean, if you're
trying to mitigate risk, you got to know the risk exists, and you can't be afraid to identify
the risk exists. And then just like any other risk assessment, you start thinking through
what are the potential laws, policies, rules surrounding what's causing the risk. Then
compare that against the laws and regulations of the end item or service being provided
for the government and the program. And then weigh out your available top options from
there. What typically happens, that I'm not happy
to see, is that industry tends to sometimes not tell us until it's too late. And then
sometimes if they do identify it, they don't have any of the potential options available
identified. So, we can actually have something to consider and bounce off of the ideas we
and the government have on the requirement side. So, having that kind of educated and
informed discussion both ways really is crucial. So, I think never be afraid to offer potential
solutions, and then discuss the risk around your solutions, and then how you plan on recommending
we mitigate them. And then we share all the same with you, especially
if you're under contract. Because if you're under contract already that free flowing communication
should be existing between the COR and the contracting officer. So, that's how I would
tell you to start trying to manage and think through communicating that, and then going
through the identification, mitigation, and decision-making process. >> Kevin Duvall: And I would just add since
there's a lot of tech organizations, you know, there's a standard contract status reporting
meeting that as part of our FITARA review process is generally inserted, unless there's
some other equivalent as part of some of our governance. I mean, that is a venue, a monthly
venue for you to have those communications. You know, there's a risk register and that's,
again to foot stomp what Kenyata said, I mean, that's an open venue that includes members
of my team, members of the program office, and, you know, the vendor organization that's
supporting the requirement to have those discussions. And then those teams afterwards report back
to me about what they learn, what's going on. So, I would use that forum for addressing
some of those challenges, and again, early, and often. >> Chris Walters: All right. Thank you. I
think we are running on time. So, before we go though, do any of the panelists have any,
you know, parting words, advice, or any issues pertaining to the supply chain they would
like to touch on before we close this out? >> Rich Debany: Kenyata had mentioned communicating
with the COR. And I double tap that as, if you're not speaking to your COR, if you have
a service contract and you don't know who your COR is, your Contracting Officer's Representative
-- and if it's an ORR contract, please come see me after this. But, you know, communicate
often, and communicate quickly on challenges. And your only communication shouldn't be about
turning over deliverables or passing over invoices. It should be a conversation that
is consistent to -- you know, capitalize on successes, and to mitigate risks as they occur. >> Kevin Duvall: Yeah, and we talked a lot
about risk. I mean, I always see this as two sides of a coin, there's value protection
and value creation. I mean, to the point about free form exchange and kind of, like, sharing
the value that's being created, that's how we get to innovation as an industry. That's
how we get to innovation as the U.S. government. And so, I think that was a helpful point to
make, because, you know, again, I think we can adopt modalities and share kind of ways
of doing things to solve common challenges. And as a result, you know, we deliver better
products as a whole. >> Evelyn Tyndell: What I would say is we
are starting this conversation now, right? So, this is not meant to be the end of it,
it's only meant to be the beginning. It's kind of to get your juices flowing, and for
you to understand that we are here to have a two-way exchange. There's
going to be two opportunities as a follow-up to this, in addition to, I know you all will
be reaching out for those one-on-one opportunities to introduce your company, and your capabilities,
and the alignment to ACF's strategic objectives, but also round table discussions. The one is going to be centered on what the
CIO needs, right? And then the other one is going to be on property. Government property
is a huge challenge that we're currently seeking solutions for. We want to talk through with
you all what that looks like. We talked about property logistics and those requirements,
so that's going to be really important for us too. So, when you see those requests for
participation to go out, or you can reach out to us and let us know that you're interested,
please participate, please come and give us the information that you all have, so that
we can put out better requirements, so we can have information that truly meets the
mission partners' execution of their mission. So, thank you all for asking your great questions
today, and for participating this week. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, I echo the sentiments
of all my outstanding panel members. Thank you all for participating in doing this with
us. But I would also add, this is the beginning, not the end of it. And so, the gentleman over
here to my right, he asked a question about what happens next. I'm paraphrasing a little
bit. But it's the truth. What happens next? And what happens next as you talk through
the round tables? Because we're going to take all these questions that you all gave us today,
review some of our answers, then also start to strategize about how we want to focus in
on some specific areas. And then when we lock in on the round tables,
we're going to announce them, and hopefully get participation in those round tables. And
you come prepared, not just to ask questions, but with real ideas about what you are seeing
maybe in other government agencies that actually are working, and actually is building synergies,
and reducing capability gaps. We are not so prideful that we can't plagiarize from others
that it actually works. And then lastly, I would just say keep your
positive mind frame as we continue to grow and evolve as an organization because we -- the
longer you are a part of this group that is actually trying to vie for business, and help
us meet our mission, and, you know, the more successful you become, the more successful
it will make us in taking care of the American public. And so, thank you all for doing this
with us. We take this extremely serious. If we didn't, all you'd get is a bunch of lecturers
and we'd walk off the stage, shake hands, kiss babies, and you'd never hear from us
again. That by having free flowing conversation is us investing in you, and hopefully you
investing in us. Chris. >> Chris Walters: Thank you. I want to thank
my wonderful panelists for providing some very, very great information. But most importantly,
I want to thank you guys for showing up and participating. You made my job a whole lot
easier. I swear I had probably about 20 questions that are here written to, you know, kind of
like prime you guys. But you took care of all that. You made my job easy. And like they
said, we want to continue to have the conversation. So, don't let it stop here. We have a networking
section after this, mix and mingle, get emails, contacts, so we can continue the conversation
and drive this thing forward. So, thank you. [applause] [music playing] >> Brooke Baker: For the next 30 to 45 minutes,
please network, stretch your legs, get up, move around, and then we'll be back with mission
partner briefs. Thank you. Thank you. It's now my pleasure to ask our first, [laughs]
mission partner to come to the stage. Please welcome our Office of Human Services Emergency
Preparedness and Response. [applause] >> Natalie Grant: It's fine. Yeah. It's fine.
All right. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. My name's
Natalie Grant. And I'm the director of the Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness
and Response. And I'm joined by my colleague today, Mr. Pete Torres. He is our chief of
our Financial Management and Administration and Budget Formulation. Next slide, please. So, the Office of Human Services Emergency
Preparedness and Response is exactly as the name indicates. We are the emergency management
entity for the Administration for Children and Families. Our office was created after
Hurricane Katrina when the White House indicated in their sort of after-action report, that
there was a requirement to create a robust, comprehensive, and integrated system to be
responsive to the needs of disaster survivors, individuals, households, and communities.
[unintelligible] that had represented itself in the form of public safety and management,
and there was an acknowledgement that there was an acute need for that to manifest also
for the human services entities. And that would be for the Department of Health and
Human Services within the Administration for Children and Families. Next slide, please. Following from this creation, then our mission
and vision reflects exactly what those outcomes indicated were important to create as a capability
for the nation. That is to say, a robust national infrastructure that's responsive to the needs
of disaster human services for children, families, individuals, and communities. And we intend
to do that by providing leadership to our partner entities across the federal government
and non-federal actors, in addition to our state partners and grantees. Strengthen them
by providing them robust technical services and administration, really creating a community
of practice that is focused in on human services holistically, and really allowing them to
have platforms to advance that community of practice. So, across industry itself, the service providers,
and also in concert with our post-secondary education elements. So, masters of social
work, clinical social work associations, and others. It's only through these partnerships,
this community of practice, this concerted effort to learn from prior disasters and emergencies
that we believe that we can achieve a nation that's fully prepared to respond and recover
from emergencies and crises. Next slide, please. So, as I indicated at the top, as the emergency
management lead, we do a few different things in our portfolio. You'll hear me reference
Disaster Human Services as our focus area, and I'll speak a little bit further to that,
and what that means and looks like definitionally for us. But for those of you who are familiar
with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, we are support to Emergency Support Function
6, which really focuses in on not only mass care services, but also temporary housing
in concert with our colleagues over at HUD, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
and then also emergency financial assistance and human services programs. In addition, as part of our portfolio, we
administer and oversee the U.S. Repatriation program, which is authorized out of Section
1113 of the Social Security Act. It is one of our oldest programs based upon just when
the authorizing legislation was founded. This is where we return American citizens from
abroad and their dependents who may have destitution, illness, war, threat of war, or otherwise.
So, right now we are actively working with our partners at the State Department on returning
American citizens from the Sudan. We are also as part of our emergency management
portfolio, the lead for our Continuity of Operations. So, as you can imagine, the services
that you've heard about and will hear about over the subsequent days are critical, essential,
lifesaving, and life preserving across ACF. So, we have very much a no-fail state when
it comes to supporting our agency programs and the individuals that they support. Next
slide. When I speak to Disaster Human Services, I'm
speaking about four probably distinct definitional areas. And for those that may have been steeped
in emergency management, this will be new to you. And for those that have no awareness,
welcome. Disaster Human Services from our frame of reference in concert with our industry,
academia and otherwise, has really been focused in these four areas. At the top, we start
with the historically underserved and marginalized, those persons that are receiving the services
and support from our programs on a day-to-day basis. These folks don't need a bad day to
be in a crisis situation. We already know that the fact that they are availing themselves
of these services indicates that they have some pre-incident need, and that's important. So, very much like the curb cuts that everyone
enjoys, that benefits all, we think that if we focus on the marginalized and those folks
that are at the edges, that we're actually lifting up all communities as well. In addition,
we recognize that there are some individuals and households that are working poor, individuals
that may be at the margins that don't necessarily need services or avail themselves of it for
whatever reason. And they are also very vulnerable after a disaster because their resources may
have been constrained further. And this is the first time an opportunity that they have
to really engage with government services, which are not easy under normal circumstances
most times, and especially after a disaster when you're navigating a number of life changes. In a similar way, we recognize that through
ACF, and the grantees, and the programs and services we support, buttressing the community
is absolutely important, right? As federal partners, we know that our time in a community
is limited, importantly so. And by extension, we need to buttress, augment, and complement
the services and ensure that our community-based organizations and other service providers
can stand up as we depart, and that we're leaving them stronger than when we encountered
them previous. And then finally, we focus in on some of our
host communities. That is to say we acknowledge that after a disaster and those destabilizing
incidents, if you've lost everything, if you've lost your housing, if you've lost family members,
oftentimes you may be displaced, and you may find yourself thrust into another community
due to evacuation orders, or otherwise, and really trying to start over, and that in and
of itself can be extraordinarily challenging. By extension, we know that the service providers
in that community may not necessarily have the resources available. And similarly, because
they were not impacted by the disaster, may not have those resources readily available
to provide the support. So, we know that those vulnerabilities exist, and we really want
to step in and provide support to that host community and provide support to that displaced
person or family. Next slide, please. As you see, I mentioned previously these are
our mission types. Just as a reminder. Next slide, please. We've been busy. We've been
busy. So, I joined ACF as the director at the end of November 2018. And clearly I did
not cause these things. But this just gives you a sense of -- Hopefully not. [laughter] If I have bad luck that way. But that just
gives you a sense of our portfolio. Our portfolio ebbs and flows with the disaster threats and
risks that we face on a day-to-day basis across this country, inclusive of our territories
and tribal partners. We are there to provide them with support. By extension, I will have you know that ACF
in terms of direct services for human and social services far outstrips FEMA's Individual
Assistance program to the tune of billions of dollars through Congressional Supplemental
Appropriations. So, while you may not hear of us very much, we are absolutely ever present
in communities and providing those supportive services. But we can only provide those supportive
services in partnership with our business community and through each of you all. So,
I'm going to pass it to my colleague, Mr. Pete Torres, to speak a little bit about that.
Thank you. >> Pete Torres: Thank you, Natalie. Hello
everyone. Welcome to this afternoon. Again, my name is Pete Torres. I'm the financial
analyst and COR on 12 different contracts. I did want to give a shout out to Natalie
Grant. You know, I've been with the agency 13 years, 10 years with OHSEPR, Natalie's
been with us for five years, and she's actually quadrupled our budget and doubled our staff.
Unfortunately, I've got six more contracts behind that, so I've got to, [laughs] exercise
those two. [laughs] So, thank you Natalie. I only have three slides here. Basically,
what we have now, what we currently have, and then where are we going in the future,
what we have in a pot basically. So, first slide is there. This is what we're doing,
what we have, what we did last year. I think you guys have seen this slide last year, $12
million in funding, 12 different contracts, six grants. We continue to have those ongoing
contracts, and we're actually adding on four more. So, there's total 16. The next slide
will show you the four new contracts that we're doing. Okay? So, these are the current 12 contracts I have
and their expiration dates. You can see the first one, the one on top is about to expire
next year. I will start that requirement sometime in September, hopefully award it by April.
So, that's one you folks really want to go out and look for. That's our IDCM contract.
IDCM contract basically in a couple of sentences, FEMA will call me and says, "Pete, I need
50 case managers out to Puerto Rico." I call my contractors, "I need 50 case managers."
They give me a cost estimate, all that works out. But that is our contract for them. Okay?
And final slide. I do hope these slides are available for them, right? >> Chris Walters: They will get them. Absolutely. >> Pete Torres: Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right.
And then this is what we got in the pot currently. Although the peer performance, they're all
-- the first one's going to be two years and all the rest of them are going to be Base
plus four. Okay? If you got questions on these contracts, you can certainly ask me. You've
got my email. You see the IDCM contract on the bottom? That's going to expire. The one
on the other slide, that's third one there. And then we have the program support contract,
which is the third one there. Again, that says nine FTEs on that one, just to let you
know, is to support the program itself. Okay? And then we have the other ones which are
pretty small, but they're going to be approximately about four FTEs each or five. Okay? That's
all I got. Questions? >> Joe Grabenstein: Hello? Joe Grabenstein
with Akima. Did I hear correctly, did you say that your spend is $12 million a year
on 12 contracts? >> Pete Torres: Yeah. Yeah. >> Joe Grabenstein: Okay. >> Pete Torres: That's true. That's correct. >> Joe Grabenstein: Okay. Thank you. >> Pete Torres: Yeah. Some of them are small,
$500,000. There were four of them that were $250,000. Some of them are $2 million. So,
it varies. Just to let you know, we have our contracts spread out in three different contracting
offices, PSC, HIA, DOI. Okay? >> Sarah Sanchez: Okay. Thank you. Is it on?
Yeah. Okay. Hello. >> Pete Torres: Hi. >> Sarah Sanchez: Sarah Sanchez with the ATG
Innovations. I noticed that on some of those you mentioned number of FTEs. My question
to you is, are you considering, or do you have requirements, are you looking at them
possibly eventually as fixed price procurements where FTEs are not necessarily what you are
requesting, but more outcome-based services? Or do you tend to contract based on number
of labor resources? >> Pete Torres: So, that's a good question.
And the way I price it out, and the way I look at it is how much help do I need? And
I can only give an estimate about the help that I need, and I can only do it through
FTEs. I don't know all the material costs and things like that. You can certainly add
that to your proposal. But I submit my IGCE, my cost estimate through FTEs that counts.
So, for instance, if I'm going to support the program with nine FTEs, I don't think
there's any materials or travel that's needed. It's just nine FTEs. That's all I need. Absolutely. >> Sarah Sanchez: So, obviously -- can you
guys hear me? >> Natalie Grant: No. >> Sarah Sanchez: All right. >> Natalie Grant: All right. There it is.
So, I'll give Pete a little bit of help on this also. So, Pete is in the disaster and
emergency preparedness business, right? So, that doesn't always lend itself to firm fixed
price contracts. And so, there are sometimes needs that he's going to need where he knows
specifically FEMA has said, "Here's the amount of support that we need you to provide." And
that's driven by something. And so, a firm fixed price environment may
not be the best tool for all of his requirements where he's providing you with some of those
FTEs. But in some of those other areas that they need, more outcome-driven solutions would
be better. >> Pete Torres: Right. We currently have two
types, IDIQ for our case manager contracts when I need huge amount of cadres, and then
we have simple ones that are firm fixed price. Okay? Sure. >> Male Speaker: Quick question on the training
opportunity that's coming up. >> Pete Torres: Sure. >> Male Speaker: Can you talk a little bit
about what you're currently utilizing from a training perspective, or whether this is
going to be a completely new buildout and requirement? Thank you. >> Pete Torres: So, it's a new buildout this
year. But I can't give you too much information. I just got the statement of work, and so [laughs]
-- but I know the amount and the requirements, but I've forgotten to finalize that document.
The only thing I have finalized right now is the nine FTE one. That one should be going
through wherever they posted them, I'm sorry. Where? >> Evelyn Tyndell: Sam. >> Pete Torres: Sam? It's Sam's. It should
be posted within three, four weeks as far as an RFI. So, you should look out for those.
But all four of those, you should look out. They should be coming, and you should look
out for them sometime this year. We do plan to award them by the end of the fiscal year,
so. >> Rita Obi: Is it on? Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Rita Obi. And I'm from Info Gain Consulting. And my question is, how do you
plan on engaging, or getting small businesses to bid on these contracts from a programmatic
side? >> Pete Torres: So, I'll show you the insight.
Sure. [laughs] But it's a good question. It's a really good question. So, what happens is
I submit my requirements to the office, and the office automatically must offer it -- I
hope I'm not misstating this. Automatically offers it to small business. And now if I get enough small business that
are interested, and there are two or more small business that can do the job, are capable
of doing that function, then I have to go with small business. If not, I can go full
and open. [laughter] >> Kenyata Wesley: You totally got this. You
totally got this. [laughs] >> Pete Torres: I've been doing this a long
time. Yeah. [laughter] Okay. Thank you folks. >> Multiple Speakers: Thank you. Thank you. >> Pete Torres: Okay. [applause] >> Brooke Baker: Thank you. >> Pete Torres: Sure. >> Brooke Baker: All right. Our last presentation
for today is the Office of Refugee and Resettlement. >> Michael Smith: Good afternoon. How's everybody
doing? >> Multiple Speakers: We're doing good. We're
doing okay. >> Michael Smith: Okay. You know what it says
when you're the last speaker of the day, right? So, we got a 30-minute window. I promise this
won't take more than two, two and a half hours, and we'll get you out of here. [laughter] Okay. No, we'll keep you on schedule. First
off, appreciate everybody being here today. I apologize up front. I waited until I turned
54 to get seasonal allergies. [laughter] So, I'm just happy to have a voice going here
this morning. But I just wanted to thank you all for coming here, listening to what we've
got to say, looking at the services, resources, requirements that we're looking at as we go
forward into the coming years. So, we're going to talk a little bit about Office of Refugee
Resettlement. I'd like to take a minute and introduce the team that's going to be here
with us today. A couple of them are online because they're out traveling. There we go.
There's Ken Tota. Hi, Ken? Ken is the director of our Refugee program. >> Ken Tota: Hi. I'm Ken Tota. Thanks for
joining. >> Michael Smith: Can you hear us good? Awesome.
Okay. And, Melissa, are you on board with us? Let's see if we can grab Melissa. >> Chris Walters: Here she comes. >> Michael Smith: Here she comes. Technology.
[laughs] [laughter] Okay. We'll jump back to Melissa. We've also
got Kevin Duvall who is with our higher element, the Administration for Children and Families.
He's the chief technology officer that carries a big part of the mission for us also. We've
got -- and there we go, Rich Debany hiding behind me. He is, if you think of the world
of Mr. Contract's art, he is the man that runs this for us. We'll try for one more second
to see if we can get Melissa to come up. >> Melissa Johnston: I'm here. >> Michael Smith: There she is. You were trying
to hide. >> Melissa Johnston: Hi everyone. >> Michael Smith: She was trying to hide from
us. And Melissa, she is with the Unaccompanied Children Program. So, it's great to have her
today. Obviously, they're very busy, couldn't be here in-person, but we're glad that we
have them dialed in here today. And Rich's other job today is when my voice goes out,
he'll step up and carry the water for the rest of this meeting. So, let's go to the
first slide. Okay. So, again real quick, these are the people you're going to hear from today.
And we've got a guest speaker also who'll be speaking to us from Administration of Children
and Families. My name is Michael Smith. I'm the acting chief operations officer of the
COO for ORR. I'm very seasoned. I've been there about six weeks. [laughter] So, I'm still learning where my parking spot,
[laughs] is, and where my office is. But again, it's a great team, great to be a part of it.
As mentioned, you have Kevin Duvall. He's our chief technology officer, and he helps
us with all the data, information, the systems that keep us up and running, so we can maintain
situational awareness as we execute our mission. You saw Mr. Ken Tota. He's the director of
the Refugee Program. And then Melissa Johnston, who is our associate director, runs the Unaccompanied
Children Program. Next slide. How many folks are familiar with what the
Office of Refugee Resettlement is? Well, I don't need to do an introduction. [laughs]
I guess we can get straight to work. That's great. No, that's good to hear, because a
lot of folks aren't familiar with the mission that we have. It's a very important mission.
As we like to say, our focus is to help people today have a better tomorrow. These are folks
that have come in from around the world, and our job is to get them linked up with the
right services, the right resources, so they can have a successful transition into our
country. So, as you can see up there, we have the two
main programs, Resettlement Services, that's Ken's program that deals with the refugees.
As you may be aware, just last year Operation Allies Welcome with the Afghani Repatriation
that came in from -- well, not repatriation, but the folks that were evacuated from Kabul.
Their team was very busy supporting and helping them. They're still busy today with that. And then we have the Unaccompanied Children
Mission. Obviously, this is a very busy mission. It's been busy. I was detailed over to this
organization in FY-21 or 2021. As you can tell, I'm retired from the military, so I
still military talk, so I apologize. But this is where we help unaccompanied children that
come across the border that do not have their parents. Our job is to get them in, help them
get processed, and then onward movement, and get them sponsored so that they can take care
of business here in the States. Next slide. So, at this point, we're going to turn it
over to Ken and he's going to talk to you a little bit about the Office of Refugee Resettlement,
and his mission with the refugee program. Ken, your door. >> Ken Tota: All right. Thank you, Mike. Great
to be joining today. Really appreciate the opportunity to provide a bit of an overview
on our refugee program within the Office of Refugee Resettlement. So, just as some background, our program is
really about helping restore lives. Certainly, those been impacted and our refugees and those
really fleeing their home country in pursuit of a new safe haven. And we welcome many thousands
of refugees each year, often as part of what is the presidential determination for refugees.
This year, the president had set the determination at 125,000. And we are working closely with
our interagency partners to help meet that goal. Probably this year, you know, we're
really hoping to welcome probably 65,000 refugees this year. And those are those who are processed overseas,
granted refugee status, and then welcomed into the U.S. as part of the U.S. Resettlement
Program. We also, as part of ORR's mandate, actually serve a number of other populations.
As Mike had said, recently the fleeing Afghanistan were granted humanitarian parole status. And
we served probably more than 85 to 90,000 Afghans in the past year. We've also been
serving tens of thousands of Ukrainians, also fleeing the war in Ukraine, and received basically
eligibility or authorization to serve Ukrainian parolees over the past year as well. We also have the ability to provide services
to Cuban Haitian entrance. Those who may come into the U.S., and by the virtue of coming
from Cuba or Haiti, they are eligible for ORR service as well, as well as any other
person that may actually apply for refugee status in the U.S. and be granted asylum,
they would also be eligible for our services. We work with a host of providers, and a network
that really helps to provide those services. Each state actually has a refugee state coordinator.
We fund them with an allocation to support refugee cash and medical assistance for those
who may not be eligible for mainstream services by virtue of basically their initial classification
in terms of whether they're family or single. And then we also provide a host of refugee
support services to help folks integrate into communities. A big focus is on really helping
provide initial case management to help that family identify the resources and supports
that they need to become successful. And that's really the core of our program. As you can
see in kind of this highlight slide it does talk about some of the refugee support services
that we provide. Much of that is around helping our OR populations and refugees achieve self-sufficiency,
and really integrate into communities. And we hope to do that by helping provide supports
such as in English, certainly in language supports, employment-related support, vocational
training, and other assistance programs to help them through that process. We also really try to have some more tailored
integration-related programs that may help build capacity within communities through
our ethnic community self-help program. We also have programs to help folks start businesses,
to attain individual financial goals like education or possibly even housing. And we have a program that supports unaccompanied
refugee minors, those who may be identified as refugee minors overseas or possibly come
from our Unaccompanied Children's Program, depending on their status to be able to provide
them a foster care environment to help support them in the longer term. Currently given the
numbers of arrivals we've seen in the current years with Ukraine, Afghan, and even Cuban,
and Haitian entrance, and our refugee population, we're really welcoming, probably close to
400,000 individuals this year. And it's really this service network that is really there
to support them. Much of it is supported through a network
of funding and grants to our state partners. So, these would be actually state partners
that carry out a lot of those services. And then we have a number of discretionary grants
that provide some of the more specialized services. However, as we expand, and our mandate
has expanded, we're really trying to build additional support to really help bolster
the program and bolster our overall service provision. And so, we do have a number of more contract
or procurement-related actions sort of at play and in the works. And we hope to kind
of move forward on those, certainly in the coming months. So, I'm going to stop there
and turn it over to my colleague Melissa. But hopefully that was a helpful overview.
Thank you. >> Melissa Johnston: Thank you, Ken. My name
is Melissa Johnston. And to go over the UC Program, the UC side of ORR, the Unaccompanied
Children's Program started through the Homeland Security Act of 2002, where they transferred
responsibilities from the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization to the Director
of Office of Refugee and Resettlement. And since then we have cared for over 409, 550
children. We are governed by four laws, one being the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the
Flores Settlement Act, and then the Wilberforce Trafficking Victim Protections Reauthorization
Act of 2005 and 2008. Our mandate at ORR is to provide unaccompanied
children in the least restrictive setting with their best interests at heart. Our goal
is to make sure that they're placed in a safe environment, and then we are releasing and
unifying them as quickly as possible. Next slide. Part of our fairly recent rollout of
our program core beliefs and values, we believe that children and youth are first, and that
they are at the center of our work. We are looking for partners that are going to be
aligned with our core values and beliefs. We also believe that children's safety and
wellbeing should be paramount to the care that we are providing them. They need to be
in a safe environment where their physical, medical, and mental health needs are being
addressed. We also want to make sure that we're doing a culture -- that we're being
culturally responsive to their needs, as well as ensuring that their family, and that their
process of healing is happening while in our care, but also after our care. And then we
are also trying to focus on the strength and accountability of not only the work that we're
doing, but what we're providing to these children. We have a number of funding opportunities
through grants, through contracting that will be discussed further down the line. But we
want to thank you for showing your interest in partnering with us and ensuring that your
expertise will be aligned with our cores and beliefs, and that we will be able to partner
and have a successful partnership moving forward. I'm going to turn my time over to Kenyata
who will go through our strategy. >> Kenyata Wesley: I'm back. [laughter] I thought I was done for the day. So, real
quick, so this is a strategy, so I wanted to have a conversation with you all. I hint
-- I dropped a few hints earlier when it comes to ORR and real-life scenarios that are happening
right now. So, the first one I'm going to talk about is Greensboro Direct Care. Greensboro
Direct Care. The Greensboro Direct Care contract is currently active, but it is about to come
to an end. And unfortunately the timing of that coming to an end against Title 42 is
put us in crisis mode. We have of the -- well ORR as a program office has a plan forward. However, Title 42 coming to an end has kind
of messed with the alignment along -- when I say Title 42, I should be very clear, not
just Title 42, there were two protests on Greensboro that required corrective action.
Okay? And so, the first one was over with Department of Interior on the base contract,
that eventually did get awarded just recently in March with 17 offers. Unfortunately, since
that's a DOI vehicle, I can't really talk more other than it's there. It is now active,
but now they have to go through their process to compete with the actions that are going
on that vehicle. Greensboro itself will be then awarded here
with us at GCS. And in order to align and actually have those contracts be on the same
schedule, you have to go back a minute and think through that one was also protested
and went through -- is currently going through corrective action for the facility's maintenance
piece. Okay? That one now is close to being awarded again. [laughs] You noticed I said
again, right, because it was awarded before and got protested. That delayed us being able
to use the direct care that was awarded. And so, now we have to align the new direct
care, [laughs] with the facilities maintenance, because if you don't have them aligned and
we are starting to go down a path, if we were going down that path and that contract's ended,
now I've got to stop work on another contract, which is going to be incurring costs and then
potentially losing staff. And so, you guys know how expensive it is to replace staff
in this line of work. I don't have to tell you. If you start losing them, then you may
not get them back because they are waiting and they need to feed their families. So, what we are doing our best to do now is
award the direct care as a bridge strategy sole source while we compete the full joint
direct care facilities maintenance for Greensboro. Okay? That we are only going to extend that
contract, or issue that bridge for only enough time to do our competition. We're not going
to pad those numbers. All right? So, our goal is to avoid a break in service, and we've
-- so, you'll see stuff start flying out tonight because we were strategizing all weekend to
make sure we got this right. I wanted to ensure that I was very fair, open, and communicative
with you. So, you know, don't panic when you see here's
a sole source for Greensboro. It is strictly the bridge to buy us time to get through the
competition. So, I'm going to pause for a second because I know we have people online,
and I know we have people in this room. So, while I deal with questions inside the room,
you guys can check the online to see if there are questions online. So, I think there's
a question here. So, I'll start here. >> Laurie Robinson: Testing. >> Kenyata Wesley: There you go. >> Laurie Robinson: Hi, I'm Laurie Robinson
with Project and Vendor Management Advisors. I do have a question about the sole source
contract. Well really the contract that's going to be bid for the direct care. That's
not under the DOI contract, that's going to be under HHS, ACF, or? Yes. >> Kenyata Wesley: For Greensboro, the competitive
action will be combined with direct care and facilities maintenance. >> Laurie Robinson: Okay. And that's coming
out as a competitive bid, not under the DOI contract separately? >> Kenyata Wesley: That is correct. That's
correct because we do not have award authority to use that DOI vehicle at all. >> Laurie Robinson: Okay. >> Kenyata Wesley: That is a DOI-only vehicle. >> Laurie Robinson: So, any contractor under
the DOI vehicle can also bid on the Greensboro? >> Kenyata Wesley: Greensboro. Absolutely. >> Laurie Robinson: Okay. Thank you. >> Kenyata Wesley: That we will not be limiting
competition. You will be able to bid on it. You all are going to let me off hook that
easy? There goes one in the back. >> Chris Walters: Hold on. Got you. Sorry
Jason. >> Male Speaker: Yeah. Good afternoon. I just
want to ask, when is that solicitation going on in Greensboro? >> Kenyata Wesley: The competitive? >> Male Speaker: Yes, sir. >> Kenyata Wesley: Rich, did we say first
quarter? >> Rich Debany: First quarter. >> Kenyata Wesley: First quarter of fiscal
year 24 is when that one -- you should expect that to hit the street. Good question. Thank
you for keeping me honest. >> Laurie Robinson: Hi again, just quick question
to clarify. Will this be an emergency intake site or is this an influx center? The status
of Greensboro. >> Kenyata Wesley: It is influx. >> Laurie Robinson: Thank you. >> Kenyata Wesley: Yeah. I had to phone a
friend for a quick second and make sure I said the right thing. [laughter] I hear whispers. Okay. Anything online? >> Chris Walters: We have a few questions. >> Kenyata Wesley: Go ahead. Tell her to come
on. It's okay. >> Laurie Robinson: Same person again. Question
on the Influx Care Center in Greensboro? >> Kenyata Wesley: Yes. >> Laurie Robinson: The current sole source
is that facility going to now be operational? >> Kenyata Wesley: So, once we do the sole
source, it will be fully operational, and they will be able to start pulling kids through
that site. Absolutely. >> Laurie Robinson: Okay. Thank you. >> Kenyata Wesley: That is the whole purpose
of doing this. Got one right here in the middle. You're brave man. [laughs] You guys that's
online should see our mic runners. [laughter] They're getting all their calories burned
today. >> Rich Burke: Yeah. Good afternoon. Rich
Burke, Gritter Francona. >> Kenyata Wesley: Hey, Rich. >> Rich Burke: Could you please -- good afternoon.
Could you please explain for those of us who don't know some of the background on that
DOI-ORR contract as best you can, for those of us who aren't -- >> Kenyata Wesley: The one that's current? >> Rich Burke: Yes, the one that was just
awarded recently. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, the only thing I can
tell you -- Rich, if you want to come up and speak to any of it. Is there is a current
contract with DOI that was awarded in March? It has 17 vendors on it. And there will be
some actions that were sent over with the original task orders to be cut. And so, they'll
kind of -- the plan is to complete those actions. So, I'm going to pass the baton to Rich for
a second. Any info on the Base IDIQ that was just awarded for DOI? >> Rich Burke: Yeah, just trying to understand
the gentleman had made reference to the DOI contract, and how that might relate to Greensboro
or not. Just trying to understand the lay of the land, so to speak. >> Rich Debany: Yeah. So, the IDIQ, you know,
I would let DOI answer it since it's their IDIQ. But Greensboro is not part of the IDIQ.
So, they would be doing other task orders for ICFs for ORR. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, you know how many are
we planning, at least attempting to go initially? >> Rich Debany: So, all I can say is there'll
be multiple task orders. Right now, some of it will depend on the capacity that the awardees
believe that they can do. And so, that's why there'll be multiple. I don't want to be specific
and then you'll hold me to that. But there'll be multiple task orders for separate ICFs. >> Kenyata Wesley: So, just to -- for the
mic. So, as you're talking through this, think about it this way in Rich's scenario. And
I'm just going to use estimated numbers, please do not hold these. Here's my disclaimer, right?
Let's just say we have a bed capacity of 10,000 beds. I'm just going to make that up. And
then we go out and we compete this, and we have a company that can do 5,000 beds, a company
that can do 3,000 beds, we thought we were only going to award two. But now we realize
we have a 2,000-bed delta. And so, we may be able to award some smaller ones, two people
who can do 500 bed increments, or other increments, right? So, when he says that he's not being coy.
It's literally, hey, until we see the capacity of all the sites and what they can actually
do, we need to be very open and honest with you. It's going to be multiple. We just don't
know if it's going to be two, five, three until we see what they can actually do that.
That fair? Okay. >> Rich Debany: Was your name Richard Burke?
Did you say? What was your last name? >> Rich Burke: Yeah. Last name is Burke. >> Rich Debany: Okay. My name's Richard Burke
Debany. So, I just wanted to point that out to you. [laughter] >> Kenyata Wesley: You can't make this up,
man. You can't even make this up. Did we get any questions from online? None. Okay. So,
we'll be around a little bit longer. I think my battle buddy has arrived back from CIO.
So, I'm going to pass it on over to Kevin. >> Kevin Duvall: All right. Like a bad penny,
I'm back. Okay. Next slide please. So, frankly I just wanted to talk through this one slide.
And I, you know, give a voice track to it, but really kind of talk about changes in approach,
and how this kind of affects delivering for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and specifically
the Unaccompanied Children Program. So, you may have seen a federal register notice about
slight realignment within ACF. One of the small pieces of that that was a part of it
was the digital services at ACF organization. So, similar to CMS, similar to the United
States Digital Service, ACF will have its own digital service. It was established in
the Federal Register. And the first program that we are supporting is the Unaccompanied
Children Program. And so, currently we have staff that report
up to me, that directly support unaccompanied children, and evolving and moving their technology
portfolio forward. This is how we deliver. I think it's an important thing to talk about.
So, we kind of have a general product development process. But to support the Unaccompanied
Children Program, I think we need to look at not only a single product, but multiple
products to make them successful. And so, you know, I think we have more than one underlying
platform that supports the Unaccompanied Children Program, and that will be the plan moving
forward. How we work on the Unaccompanied Children
Program, so if you look at that top-left slide, you see that, you know, we have a governance
committee, we have program staff. Every time we release a new feature on a piece of technology,
we actually send out a mass communication to all the users. And in that mass communication
is a suggestion form. So, we take it very seriously that we are user-centered, and human-centered,
and delivering technology. That builds a pretty extensive product backlog. I would say we
have a lot of features that we need to release to support the Unaccompanied Children Program. And then whether it be, you know, a low-code
platform, or a best of breed platform, we do standups and Agile-based delivery. The
thing I would say about this is we are delivering into production on an incremental basis. You
know, there's a lot of hype about Agile in our industry. And I think it's a very important
distinction that Agile means for us delivering into production incrementally on some periodic
basis. So, you know, not every year, it's more like every month, every two weeks. That
is how we measure success, and that's also how we introduce features safely to the Unaccompanied
Children Program. The Unaccompanied Children Program, I'm sure
Kenyata has talked about, it's one of those things that, you know, there's certain features
and functions that cannot fail, and the technology that supports it is a part of that. So, we
covered our kind of product development approach a little bit. You know, our vision there is
kind of outlined. But it's really about technology and data that delivers timely and accurate
information, so we can make decisions, delivers an excellent user experience. I think it's really important to call out
to the people that work in this program. So, their case managers, their social workers,
we're not paying them to understand a really complicated technology system. We're paying
them to help children. And so, my job, and my team's job, is to deliver technology that's
really easy to use. So, even during times of stress, or when they're working directly
with a child, they can support and deliver on what they need to do with our technology. And then the final piece is, you know, does
it advance the program holistically? Does it allow the UC Program to do more, achieve
more, and continuously improve the child's journey? So, another kind of philosophical
thing is technology's never done, right? We should always be looking at ways that technology
is changing and evolving to support this program. And that's how we'll ultimately be successful
in improving a child's journey from intake to discharge out of the program. That's all
I have. Are we doing Q and A here or not? Okay. Okay. [applause] All right. Okay. >> Michael Smith: I appreciate that Kevin.
Kevin plays a huge role. Information and data are essential for us to be able to execute
our mission, make sound timely decisions as we support both of these programs. So, we're
really appreciative of the help that he and his team bring to us. So, with that said,
we're almost done. If we can go to the next slide. Got a couple slides down. One more.
Let's see. Back up two. There we go. One's missing. Okay. We'll just go to the next side
and we'll talk about this. If you can look across here, we just wanted
to give you some of the potential vessels that we'll be looking at coming up for '23
in the 24-year, of course with refugee services, unaccompanied children, and the IT services.
And again, those are the three people you just heard from. These are some of the requirements
we've identified for the coming years. Excuse me. And again, just wanted to give you a second
to take a quick look at those. That's where we'll be asking for help and looking for support
as we go forward. Next slide. Hang on. Did everybody get that? Saw a lot of cameras up.
We're good? >> Male Speaker: Can we get some to reference
the point that Kenyata spoke about. >> Michael Smith: Yeah. And that is separate
from the one Kenyata just briefed you on about reference Greensboro. Next slide. We had some
breakouts. As you can see, this is one for the Unaccompanied Children, the Special Populations
team. That'll be this Friday at 10:00 a.m.. The virtual link will be on the slide that
you can join us, and that'll give you a little bit of a drill down into that program, and
what resources we'll be looking for as we go forward with that. Next slide. And then we have another one. This is Fingerprinting
and Adjudication Services. That one will also be Friday from 11:00 a.m., to 12:00 p.m..
And the link will be attended. The program managers that are responsible for both of
those or those missions will be available to talk with you and what we're looking at
as we go forward. So, with that said, we've still got the experts here online. We'll pause
and see if you have any questions that you'd like to ask with reference to the Refugee
Program or the Unaccompanied Children. And Kevin is still here if there's any tech questions.
See that's the benefit of being the last briefer for the day. >> Kenyata Wesley: I think you may have answered. >> Michael Smith: Okay. >> Female Speaker: Hello. Can you hear me?
Great. Excellent. >> Michael Smith: Yes. >> Female Speaker: Good afternoon and thanks
for having us. At the last industry day, there was conversation around the post-release legal
services solicitation that would be forthcoming. I'm wondering if you can share any information,
updated information on the timeline for the release of that RFP. >> Michael Smith: Yeah. We'll have to get
back with you on that one. >> Kelsey Donnellan: Thank you. Okay. All
right. Thank you for your encouragement to ask my question. So, hi. Kelsey Donnellan
with Lindahl Reed again. I'm just curious if you could speak a little bit more to the
training and technical assistance that was listed there, and specifically the capabilities
that you're hoping to have available through those training and technical assistance offerings.
Thank you. >> Michael Smith: Thanks. >> Kelsey Donnellan: Thank you. >> Michael Smith: Excuse me. Melissa, are
you still with us? She's coming back? >> Chris Walters: She's coming. >> Melissa Johnston: Ken's training and technical
assistance for refugee services. >> Michael Smith: Okay. Ken, can you take
that one? Can we drop Ken? >> Chris Walters: I can drop. >> Michael Smith: Okay. Well, we'll get that
question for you and get you information back. >> Kelsey Donnellan: Thank you. >> Michael Smith: Sorry. The online question
was regarding influx sites and whether it will be restricted to GSA? >> Multiple Speakers: No. No. >> Michael Smith: No. >> Kenyata Wesley: That was the short answer. [laughter] >> Michael Smith: You have to elaborate a
bit. >> Kenyata Wesley: [laughs] Yeah. I know,
right [laughs]? >> Rich Debany: I think that's it. >> Michael Smith: Okay. Well, I think we're
complete. Again, I appreciate you being here today. Look forward to the opportunities for
further discussions. Again, the ORR is a great place to work, great mission. Again, appreciate
you taking the time to be with us here today. Thank you. >> Male Speaker: Produced by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
