19020 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 61 / Thursday, March 29, 2012 / Notices 

within the parameters of its original 

intent. 

There is sufficient Government 

expertise available to adequately and 

objectively evaluate the work of the 

FFRDC. Program management 

responsibilities for the FFRDC will be 

placed in CMS’ Office of the 

Administrator, Chief Operating Office to 

ensure the proper use and evaluation of 

the FFRDC. CMS has established an 

Executive Steering Committee 

comprised of senior agency leadership 

to oversee and monitor performance 

occurring under the FFRDC. We note 

that the Executive Office of the 

President, Office of Science and 

Technology was notified in March 2011 

of our intent to establish an FFRDC. 

CMS will use established controls to 

ensure the costs of services under the 

FFRDC are reasonable. In accordance 

with FAR 15.404, the Contracting 

Officer is required to ensure the final 

agreed-to contract price is fair and 

reasonable. The CMS Contracting 

Officer will ensure that any FFRDC 

contract costs are fair and reasonable by 

performing a combination of cost, price, 

and cost realism analysis and obtaining 

cost audit support, as necessary, to 

assess the offerors understanding of the 

work and to verify that the offeror has 

proposed realistic costs commensurate 

with the methods and approaches 

proposed. Additionally, CMS will seek 

competition for the establishment and 

award of the basic FFRDC contract to 

help ensure that costs are fair and 

reasonable. 

CMS clearly defines the scope of the 

FFRDC’s responsibilities to enable 

differentiation between the work that 

the FFRDC can perform and the work 

that should be performed by nonFFRDCs. The FFRDC sponsoring 

agreement fully describes the activities 

to be performed by the FFRDC as 

follows: 

1. Strategic/Tactical Planning and 

Analysis. 

2. Conceptual Planning and 

Prototyping. 

3. Acquisition Assistance. 

4. Organizational Planning and 

Relationship Management. 

5. Continuous Process Improvement. 

6. Strategic Technology Evaluation. 

7. Feasibility Analysis and Design. 

CMS will maintain a reasonable 

continuity in the level of support to the 

FFRDC. Current CMS and legislative 

requirements will provide sufficient 

activities to an FFRDC to ensure they 

are a viable entity to meet CMS’ needs. 

CMS intends on awarding a single 

Indefinite Delivery—Indefinite Quantity 

contract and will issue live task orders 

for the offerors to propose during the 

competition, therefore, we will award 

these task orders with the award of the 

contract and periodic task orders will be 

awarded thereafter. 

CMS will ensure that the organization 

meets all of the prescribed requirements 

for independence and objectivity in 

performing CMS’ work. The sponsoring 

program management office will review 

the FFRDC regularly to ensure 

compliance with this requirement. The 

sponsoring agreement between CMS and 

the FFRDC will require a clause that 

prohibits the FFRDC from competing 

with other non-FFRDCs for Federal 

procurements. Additionally, CMS will 

conduct an annual organizational 

conflicts of interest audit of the FFRDC. 

The FFRDC will not perform quantity 

production or manufacturing of items. 

We note that the Secretary of the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services approved the establishment of 

the FFRDC on March 17, 2011. 

II. Small Business Competitiveness 

CMS has a long-standing history of 

exceeding its small business goals and 

is committed to continuing to maintain 

small business participation in its 

programs by following established FAR 

and Health and Human Services 

Acquisition Regulation requirements to 

ensure small businesses are provided 

maximum practicable opportunity. CMS 

will ensure that every requirement, as 

part of its governance process, will be 

reviewed by the Department small 

business specialist before initiating any 

contracting action under the FFRDC. 

Additionally, contracting staff and 

senior executives at CMS who are 

responsible for meeting small business 

goals have a performance element 

established in their performance plans 

to ensure we maximize the use of small 

business contracting at CMS. Finally, 

the HHS Office of Small and 

Disadvantaged Business has directed 

CMS and all HHS Operating Divisions 

to develop a fiscal year 2012 Small 

Business Strategic Plan to ensure we 

meet or exceed our specific small 

business goals. We note that CMS has 

recently submitted this plan to HHS as 

requested. 

III. Transparent Award and 

Governance Process 

CMS will conduct the FFRDC award 

in accordance with FAR 15 Contracting 

by Negotiation procedures. CMS posted 

a draft solicitation on the Federal 

Business Opportunities Web site in 

November 2011, soliciting comments 

from the industry. The final solicitation 

will be posted on the Federal Business 

Opportunities Web site as a full and 

open competition (see https://www.fbo.

gov/index?s=opportunity&

mode=form&id=

39f12bfda712bdd2248a8a94795fb1b3&

tab=core&tabmode=list&=). CMS will 

make all required public 

announcements of the contract award 

through the Federal Business 

Opportunity Web site, HHS award 

notice requirements and the Federal 

Procurement Data System. This FFRDC 

will be awarded via FAR 15 procedures. 

Therefore, all task orders awarded to the 

FFRDC will be submitted to the Federal 

Procurement Data System and will be 

publically available on the usaspending.

gov Web site. 

The FFRDC will be governed by an 

Executive Steering Committee and a 

Charter, managed by CMS’ Office of the 

Administrator, Chief Operating Office, 

that defines CMS’ policies and 

procedures for managing and using the 

FFRDC. It also provides guidelines and 

procedures for ensuring compliance 

with the Government-wide policies set 

forth in FAR 35.017. 

Additionally, CMS will evaluate the 

effectiveness of the FFRDC by 

establishing a quality performance plan 

for monitoring performance of the 

FFRDC. The Executive Steering 

Committee will establish goals and 

objectives each year for the FFRDC that 

strive for improvements in operations 

and financial savings of CMS operations 

as well as all the programs CMS 

oversees. The Executive Steering 

Committee will appoint staff to create 

and monitor a quality performance plan 

for assessing these goals and objectives. 

Dated: March 12, 2012. 

Marilyn Tavenner, 

Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7495 Filed 3–28–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Children and 

Families 

Tribal Consultation Meeting 

AGENCY: Administration for Children 

and Families’ Office of Head Start 

(OHS). 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Improving 

Head Start for School Readiness Act of 

2007, Public Law 110–134, notice is 

hereby given of a one-day Tribal 

Consultation Session to be held between 

the Department of Health and Human 

Services, Administration for Children 

and Families, Office of Head Start 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 61 / Thursday, March 29, 2012 / Notices 19021 

leadership and the leadership of Tribal 

Governments operating Head Start 

(including Early Head Start) programs. 

The purpose of this Consultation 

Session is to discuss ways to better meet 

the needs of American Indian and 

Alaska Native children and their 

families, taking into consideration 

funding allocations, distribution 

formulas, and other issues affecting the 

delivery of Head Start services in their 

geographic locations [42 U.S.C. 9835, 

Section 640(l)(4)]. 

DATES: May 4, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: 2012 Office of Head Start 

Tribal Consultation Session will be held 

at the following location: 

Friday, May 4, 2012—Oklahoma City, 

Oklahoma—Sheraton Oklahoma City 

Hotel, 1 N. Broadway Avenue, 

Oklahoma City, OK 73102. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Camille Loya, Acting Regional Program 

Manager Region XI, email 

Camille.Loya@acf.hhs.gov or phone 

(202) 401–5964. Additional information 

and online meeting registration is 

available at http://www.

headstartresourcecenter.org. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS) announces Office of 

Head Start (OHS) Tribal Consultations 

with leaders of Tribal Governments 

operating Head Start (including Early 

Head Start) programs for each of the 

nine geographic regions of Head Start 

where American Indian and Alaska 

Native (AI/AN) programs are located. 

We are convening the OHS Tribal 

Consultations in conjunction with other 

Tribal Leader events in order to 

minimize the financial and travel 

burden for tribal participants. The 

session in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is 

being held in conjunction with the HHS 

2012 Regional Tribal Consultation 

Sessions for Regions I, II, IV, VI, and VII. 

We will schedule additional 

consultations around the country for 

later in the year. 

The agenda for the scheduled OHS 

Tribal Consultations will be organized 

around the statutory purposes of Head 

Start Tribal Consultations related to 

meeting the needs of AI/AN children 

and families, taking into consideration 

funding allocations, distribution 

formulas, and other issues affecting the 

delivery of Head Start services in their 

geographic locations. In addition, OHS 

will share actions taken and in progress 

to address the issues and concerns 

raised in 2011 OHS Tribal 

Consultations. 

Tribal leaders and designated 

representatives interested in submitting 

written testimony or proposing specific 

agenda topics for the Oklahoma City 

Consultation Session should contact 

Camille Loya at Camille.Loya@acf.hhs.

gov. Proposals must be submitted at 

least three days in advance of the 

session and should include a brief 

description of the topic area, along with 

the name and contact information of the 

suggested presenter. 

The Consultation Session will be 

conducted with elected or appointed 

leaders of Tribal Governments and their 

designated representatives [42 U.S.C. 

9835, Section 640(l)(4)(A)]. Designees 

must have a letter from the Tribal 

Government authorizing them to 

represent the tribe. The letter should be 

submitted at least three days in advance 

of the Consultation Session to Camille 

Loya at (202) 205–9721 (fax). Other 

representatives of tribal organizations 

and Native nonprofit organizations are 

welcome to attend as observers. 

A detailed report of the Consultation 

Session will be prepared and made 

available within 90 days of the 

Consultation Session to all Tribal 

Governments receiving funds for Head 

Start and Early Head Start programs. 

Tribes wishing to submit written 

testimony for the report should send 

testimony to Camille Loya at 

Camille.Loya@acf.hhs.gov either prior to 

the Consultation Session or within 30 

days after the meeting. 

Oral testimony and comments from 

the Consultation Session will be 

summarized in each report without 

attribution, along with topics of concern 

and recommendations. Hotel and 

logistical information for the 

Consultation Session has been sent to 

tribal leaders via email and posted on 

the Head Start Resource Center Web site 

at http://www.headstartresourcecenter.

org. 

Dated: March 21, 2012. 

Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, 

Director, Office of Head Start. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7556 Filed 3–28–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–40–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Health Resources and Service 

Administration 

Advisory Committee on 

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based 

Linkages; Notice of Meeting 

In accordance with section 10(a) (2) of 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463), notice is hereby given 

of the following meeting: 

Name: Advisory Committee on 

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based 

Linkages (ACICBL). 

Dates and Times: April 24, 2012, 10 a.m. 

to 4 p.m., EDST. 

Place: Webinar Format. 

Status: The meeting will be open to the 

public. 

Purpose: The Committee members will 

finalize their efforts to develop the 12th 

Annual Report for the Secretary of the 

Department of Health and Human Services 

(the Secretary) and the Congress, focusing on 

the topic Preparing the Interprofessional 

Team to Care for Diverse Populations. The 

meeting will afford Committee members with 

the opportunity to finalize the outstanding 

components of the annual report. 

Agenda: The ACICBL agenda includes an 

overview by Dr. Linda Redford, Chairperson 

of the ACICBL, specific to the opportunities 

outlined in the report and recommendations 

indicated. The agenda will be available 2 

days prior to the meeting on the HRSA Web 

site (http://www.hrsa.gov/ 

advisorycommittees/bhpradvisory/acicbl/ 

Meetings/index.html). Agenda items are 

subject to change as dictated by the priorities 

of the Committee. 

Supplementary Information: Requests to 

make oral comments or to provide written 

comments to the ACICBL should be sent to 

Dr. Joan Weiss, Designated Federal Official, 

at the contact information below. Written 

comments can be provided before and after 

the meeting. Individuals who plan to 

participate in the webinar should register at 

least one day prior to the meeting using the 

following webinar information: https:// 

hrsa.connectsolutions.com/e45379671/event/ 

registration.html. 

The conference call-in number is 1–888– 

946–9420, and the passcode is ACICBL. 

For Further Information Contact: Anyone 

requesting information regarding the ACICBL 

should contact Dr. Joan Weiss, Designated 

Federal Official within the Bureau of Health 

Professions, Health Resources and Services 

Administration, in one of three ways: (1) 

Send a request to the following address: Dr. 

Joan Weiss, Designated Federal Official, 

Bureau of Health Professions, Health 

Resources and Services Administration, 

Parklawn Building, Room 9C–26, 5600 

Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857; (2) 

call (301) 443–6950; or (3) send an email to 

jweiss@hrsa.gov. In the absence of Dr. Weiss, 

CAPT Norma J. Hatot, Senior Nurse 

Consultant, can be contacted via telephone at 

(301) 443–2681 or by email at 

nhatot@hrsa.gov. 

Dated: March 22, 2012. 

Reva Harris, 

Acting Director, Division of Policy and 

Information Coordination. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7564 Filed 3–28–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4165–15–P 

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