|
|
|
| GSA and MOBIS Contract HolderGSA Contract Number: GS-10F-0214J SIN 874-1 Consulting Services GRA, Incorporated will provide consulting services in the following areas: Process and Productivity Improvement: Since 1972, GRA has provided highly regarded economic analysis to organizations in the public and private sectors of the transportation industry. This analysis directly addresses issues related to the efficiency and effectiveness of existing and anticipated work programs and processes. Such analysis can be of special value for organizations in the public sector, since these organizations normally have responsibilities and objectives that are not necessarily related to the "bottom line" economic objectives of private sector organizations. Performance Measures and Indicators: Due to the strategic importance of many federal agency activities, it is important to identify both the effects and the effectiveness of these activities as completely as possible. GRA has extensive experience in working through the process whereby federal agency activities have impacts on the economy and the broader society, and is able to present decision makers with reliable options and/or recommendations for possible courses of action. Program Audits, and Evaluations: Federal agencies often face choices among potential projects, and choices about the timing of expenditures and related aspects of projects after they are implemented. GRA can provide consulting services in these areas that are regarded, on a national level, as being of the highest quality and reliability. Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) allows comparison of the social benefits of particular projects with the total costs, direct and indirect, that are associated with completing and implementing the project. It is also possible to include measures of uncertainty within a benefit-cost analysis. This perspective will improve the ability of agency decision makers to evaluate and compare the value of alternative projects--an important capability in times of increasing pressures on agency budgets. A related area of GRA expertise concerns ROI analysis, which expresses the value to society of alternative investment projects in terms familiar to decision makers in both the public and private sectors. Strategic, Business and Action Planning: GRA advises public sector enterprises in strategic and business issues. The firm combines practitioners (who are personally familiar with operations) with economic and operations research capabilities to build enterprise models. These models incorporate detailed information on alternative operations regimes and their economic and financial consequences. Such models are particularly useful in reorganizing public enterprises as well as for anticipating the consequences of alternative funding mechanisms. SIN 874-3 Survey Services GRA, Incorporated will provide complete survey services, including the following components: Planning Survey Design: An effective survey must be preceded by several preparatory steps, including the design of the survey. At GRA, the initial survey design considerations will include the most precise possible statement of the goal of the survey effort. Sampling and Survey Development: After concluding the initial stages of the survey design process, GRA begins planning to actually conduct the survey. Relevant considerations at this stage include planning for the appropriate survey size--How large should the sample be?--and how extensive, complex, or time consuming should the survey questionnaire be--How much should be demanded of survey respondents? Careful consideration of these issues is necessary to ensure the reliability of the eventual survey, which will be related both to the sample size and to the care with which the persons or entities in the sample treat their survey response. Pilot Surveying/Survey Pretesting: Pretesting is an important technique for gauging and calibrating the effectiveness of a survey instrument, especially if the cost of administering and recording the survey is relatively low, and if the population from which the survey will sample is relatively large. By examining the outcome from a trial, or pilot, run of the survey, it will be possible to improve the focus and understandability of the final survey instrument. Defining and Refining the Survey Agenda: The time taken to develop a more effective survey instrument is an opportunity for continuous improvement of the survey design and questionnaire. This is true even if it is not possible to conduct pretesting of the survey instrument. With or without pretesting, GRA will keep the initial design considerations open to improvement as long as possible, since only by such openness can the most appropriate range of enhancements to the survey be uncovered. Administering the Survey Database: GRA will ensure that there is the capability in place to construct and administer all databases necessary for tracking survey results. Smooth, straightforward procedures for tabulating survey responses--including anonymity requirements as necessary--are an important factor in achieving survey credibility. Assessing Survey Reliability and Validity: While developing and conducting survey efforts, GRA will also document and monitor the survey process. Because of the diverse uses of survey derived data and results, it is essential to design (and record) sufficient "checkpoints" within the survey process to allow an assessment to be made of survey reliability and validity both during the survey effort and after its completion. Administering Surveys Effectively: Different survey situations require different techniques of administration--on site interviews, telephone conversations, or written survey instruments, all of which may include follow-up efforts. GRA can not only make the correct choices among these alternatives, but can also administer each type of survey in an effective way that maximizes the information to be derived from each contact. Quantitative/Qualitative Analysis of Survey Data: GRA personnel have the necessary background, education and experience to capture the meaning and significance of seemingly disparate survey results. This capability extends both to the more traditional quantitative treatment of statistical issues and to issues related to survey context, framing concerns, and other topics of a more qualitative nature. Produce Survey Reports that Clearly Communicate Survey Results: In any report writing situation, GRA will seek to understand the precise concerns and questions of decision makers in the contracting office. GRA achieves this understanding through frank and frequent communication with clients, and through an iterative process of providing draft reports, which can be strengthened and focused using client comments and other input. Survey Follow-up: While they provide more precise answers to the questions they pose, survey efforts also raise new questions and concerns in many cases. In these circumstances, GRA would, at the direction of the contracting office, identify and organize these new issues. SIN 874-6 Privatization Support Services and Documentation Circular A-76 of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as revised on August 4, 1983, provides guidelines and rationales for the use of commercial services by government agencies or personnel. The policy stated in the circular notes that because competition enhances service quality, economy, and productivity, whenever it is possible or permissible for entities in the commercial sector to perform a Government operated commercial activity, cost comparisons should be used to determine who will do the work. While inherently Governmental functions should be performed by the Government, other Government activities can be performed or provided by commercial sources. Such commercial sources should be used if they are more economical than is the Government. In many situations, however, identifying the line dividing inherently Governmental functions from other Government activities is not simple, nor is it always straightforward how the costs of relatively complex Governmental activities should be calculated, for comparison to the costs of commercial service providers. GRA has extensive experience assisting Federal agencies with questions of this nature, and can provide services in the following areas: Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Level Planning Support: GRA will provide support services to assist federal decision makers with issues related to identifying inherently Governmental functions. This support may include valuation of Governmental support for basic research and development (R&D) in industries of strategic national interest and the means by which Governmental services can be most effectively and efficiently provided. While such support may begin at the strategic level, it will also require support services at a more detailed, operational level, including the ability to evaluate the value or effectiveness of R&D support in particular project areas, or to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative institutional arrangements to provide a particular Governmental service. GRA has the expertise and the experience to offer a complete range of planning support services that will assist Governmental agencies meet the performance and resource allocation standards of Circular A-76. Development of In-House Government Cost Estimates: Before determining whether commercial provision is more economical for functions and services that are not inherently Governmental, it is of course necessary to have estimates of the relevant Government costs. Especially in the case of complex functions and services, federal agency accounting and budgetary methods may make calculating these costs more difficult. GRA has had extensive experience in developing cost and activity estimates related to complex government services. This experience includes assisting agencies to develop novel uses of existing agency databases, which allows service costs to be estimated more quickly and economically. Performance of Management Studies to Assess Alternatives for Organizational Restructuring and Streamlining: In some cases, it may be necessary for Governmental organizations to restructure themselves, not only to better enable it to utilize commercially available services, but also to better fulfill its inherently Governmental responsibilities. Such organizational restructuring or streamlining may also be related to fiscal or other operational constraints. GRA has experience in providing support and advisory services to Governmental organizations seeking to restructure themselves. These services have included presenting decision makers with alternative forms of organizational structure as well as assessments of these alternatives. An important part of the assistance provided by GRA has involved helping Governmental organizations to get a better focus on the nature and value of the services they provide to the nation. With an improved understanding of its actual outputs and impacts on the economy, Governmental organizations will be better able to operate as Performance Based Organizations that can interact more smoothly with a dynamic private economy. Ordering Instructions/Terms and Conditions Minimum
Order: $300 Contractor is registered in Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. |
|
|
HOME |
THE
GRA PRODUCT | AREAS
OF PRACTICE | GLOBAL
CLIENTELE | GRA
KEY PERSONNEL | CONTACT GRA | |
