Thread: Gov’t Confirms Authenticity of Contract Request for ‘Escort Services for Alien Kids

Gov’t Confirms Authenticity of Contract Request for ‘Escort Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children’ at the Border

Jun. 20, 2014 11:32am Sara Carter

A recently discovered government request for “escort services for unaccompanied alien children” dating back to January is raising questions about whether the government was planning for a surge of illegal immigrants this year as amnesty talks heated up in the United States.

The request specifically says it was preparing for 65,000 undocumented children.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the request to TheBlaze, which is for transportation companies to escort children from the U.S.-Mexico border to relocation facilities throughout the United States. The conservative website Weasel Zippers was among the first to notice it.


Image source: fbo.gov

The application, dated Jan. 29, is posted on Federal Business Opportunities, a website that advertises government contract openings.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has a continuing and mission critical responsibility for accepting custody of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) from U.S. Border Patrol and other Federal agencies and transporting these juveniles to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelters located throughout the continental United States,” a description of the request reads.

It goes on to add specifics, including how many minors the agency is expecting:

Transport will be required for either category of [Unaccompanied Minors] or individual juveniles, to include both male and female juveniles. There will be approximately 65,000 UAC in total: 25 percent local ground transport, 25 percent via ICE charter and 50 percent via commercial air. Escort services include, but are not limited to, assisting with: transferring physical custody of UAC [Unaccompanied Alien Children] from DHS to Health and Human Services (HHS) care via ground or air methods of transportation (charter or commercial carrier).

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez confirmed the authenticity of the document to TheBlaze but could not immediately respond to detailed questions. ICE officials said they would contact TheBlaze with more information as it becomes available.

According to the document, ICE was “seeking the services of a responsible vendor that shares the philosophy of treating all UAC with dignity and respect, while adhering to standard operating procedures and policies that allow for an effective, efficient, and incident free transport.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/20/govt-confirms-authenticity-of-contract-request-for-escort-services-for-unaccompanied-alien-children-at-the-border/

By Tom Blumer | June 21, 2014 | 09:10
newsbusters

Though the Associated Press is covering "the waves of immigrant children crossing the border illegally" (AP's words), the wire service doesn't seem to believe the story is particularly important. As of 8:15 this morning ET, the situation had no presence on its "Big Story" page. The dominant "Big Story"? How made-up "scandals" and Democratic Party prosecutor-driven "criminal investigations" are hurting the potential 2016 presidential candidacies of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey's Chris Christie.

There are four "non-Big" AP stories on the "wave." One of those stories reports that "The spike in border crossers - southern Texas is now the busiest border crossing in the country - prompted the Homeland Security Department earlier this year to start sending families to other parts of Texas and Arizona for processing before releasing them at local bus stops." Here's a reasonable question which the AP reporters seem uninterested in pursuing: Why did DHS request private help in responding to the influx — in January — indicating that it somehow knew that the wave was coming?





Procurement Type: Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought

Title: Escort Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children

A. Introduction

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has a continuing and mission critical responsibility for accepting custody of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) from U.S. Border Patrol and other Federal agencies and transporting these juveniles to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelters located throughout the continental United States. ICE is seeking the services of a responsible vendor that shares the philosophy of treating all UAC with dignity and respect, while adhering to standard operating procedures and policies that allow for an effective, efficient, and incident free transport.

The Contractor shall provide unarmed escort staff, including management, supervision, manpower, training, certifications, licenses, drug testing, equipment, and supplies necessary to provide on-demand escort services for non-criminal/non-delinquent unaccompanied alien children ages infant to 17 years of age, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year. Transport will be required for either category of UAC or individual juveniles, to include both male and female juveniles. There will be approximately 65,000 UAC in total: 25% local ground transport, 25% via ICE charter and 50% via commercial air.

Escort services include, but are not limited to, assisting with: transferring physical custody of UAC from DHS to Health and Human Services (HHS) care via ground or air methods of transportation (charter or commercial carrier), property inventory, providing juveniles with meals, drafting reports, generating transport documents, maintaining/stocking daily supplies, providing and issuing clothing as needed, coordinating with DHS and HHS staff, travel coordination, limited stationary guard services to accommodate for trip disruptions due to inclement weather, faulty equipment, or other exigent circumstances. In emergency situations, the Contractor shall be called on to provide temporary shelter locations (such as trailers) with shower facilities for juveniles who are pending placement with HHS when bed space is unavailable nationwide for extended periods of time. The Contractor shall provide temporary guard services and other support as necessary during these emergencies.

In addition, the Contractor shall have personnel who are able to communicate with juveniles in their own designated language(s). While this may not require each employee to be fluent in all of the encountered languages, personnel should have access to and knowledge of translation services.

... The Contractor shall follow a fully developed training curriculum and transporting staff shall have the highest level of competency possible. Areas of training shall include, but are not limited to the following: Airport rules and regulations for travelers, crisis intervention, child development, working with and transporting youth with special needs, transporting youth with behavioral problems, CPR & First Aid training, non-secured UAC policy and procedures and the implementation of contingency plans in the event of a crisis during transport, which include de-escalation techniques.

· Background Investigations and Suitability Screenings will be conducted on all Contract Employees by the Office of Professional Responsibility and Personnel Security Unit (OPR-OSU).
· The Contractor shall agree that each employee working on this contract will successfully pass the DHS Employment Eligibility (E-Verify) program operated by USICS to establish work authorization and U.S. Citizenship.
· Employees must reside in the United States.

C. Contract Type

The Government anticipates awarding a five (5) year Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle consisting of a one year base period, and four (4) option years. ...

The anticipated release date of the solicitation is March 3, 2014. The solicitation closing date will be thirty (30) days after release of the Request for Proposal (RFP).

Projected Set-Aside: All business sizes are welcome to participate; however, ICE is trying to determine small business interest, particularly HubZone companies. All information received in response in to this notice will be used to determine the appropriateness of any small business set-aside for this requirement.

D. Place of Performance:

Service Area: Throughout the Continental United States (US)

... For example, the following two circumstances may occur: (1) The contractor could initially provide transportation services only in the Southwest Region of the U.S. for those juveniles who are apprehended in the state of Texas; or, (2) The Contractor may be required to providetransportation services for all juveniles who are in DHS custody throughout the continental U.S.

... E. RFI Purpose/Requirements

The purpose of this RFI is to obtain market information and capabilities for planning purposes and to determine appropriate strategies to meet the Agency's requirements. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a commitment for an RFP in the future. Responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this announcement and information submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned.

... F. Submissions and Point of Contact Information

Submit written or electronic submissions via email ... by 1:00pm EST on Monday, February 19, 2014.

Obvious questions: How did the government know to expect roughly 65,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children this year — a number which from what I can tell far exceeds any annual number seen previously? (Side question: If DHS is allowed to call such children "aliens," why won't the press?) How did the government know that half of them would need to be transported by air, presumably meaning far from the Texas border, to their ultimate destination? Why did it seem to know that these apprehensions would predominantly take place in Texas, and not Arizona or California?

Another obvious question: Why isn't the Obama adminstration's apparent foreknowledge of the illegal "wave" not news at the Associated Press, whose stories linked above all have Friday time stamps, or other establishment press outlets?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blu...ildren-january

C. Contract Type

The Government anticipates awarding a five (5) year Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle consisting of a one year base period, and four (4) option years. ...

The anticipated release date of the solicitation is March 3, 2014. The solicitation closing date will be thirty (30) days after release of the Request for Proposal (RFP).

Projected Set-Aside: All business sizes are welcome to participate; however, ICE is trying to determine small business interest, particularly HubZone companies. All information received in response in to this notice will be used to determine the appropriateness of any small business set-aside for this requirement.

D. Place of Performance:

Service Area: Throughout the Continental United States (US)

5 years?

By Cheryl K. Chumley
The Washington Times
Monday, June 23, 2014

The Obama administration say they were caught off-guard by the sheer number of illegal children who’ve crossed into America in recent days, but an employment ad from the Department of Homeland Security may prove otherwise.

The ad, dated Jan. 29 and posted on FedBizOpps.Gov, seeks contractors to “provide unarmed escort staff, including management, supervision, manpower, training, certifications, licenses, drug testing, equipment and supplies necessary to provide on-demand escort services for non-criminal/non-delinquent unaccompanied alien children ages infant to 17 years of age, seven days a week, 365 days a year. … There will be approximately 65,000 [unaccompanied alien children] in total.”

The advertisement, first reported by the blog Conservative Treehouse, is notable because of the specific number of expected illegal aliens that was cited.

As the Treehouse reported, the largest number of illegal children who entered America in the previous year was about 5,000, a number used by immigration and administration officials to explain why they have been overwhelmed by the recent influx of children crossing the border.

“Why would DHS and ICE be claiming ‘surprise’ by the current influx of unaccompanied minors on the border in June, when they were taking bids for an exact contract to handle the exact situation in January?” the Treehouse opined. “Secondly, how could they possibly anticipate 65,000 unaccompanied minors would be showing up at the border, when the most ever encountered in a previous year was 5,000 total?”

The DHS ad also specifies that any contractor making a bid for the job should have “personnel who are able to communicate with juveniles in their own designated languages,” and specifies that “there will be approximately 65,000 UAC in total: 25 percent local ground transport, 25 percent via ICE charter and 50 percent via commercial air.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-falls-flat-f/

Added Washington Times article to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=3...grant-children

This is a huge revelation which is not surprising at all to most of us who have been following this problem all these years, however, this story should be a big wake up call to those who haven't been involved in the fight to stop illegal immigration into the US and consequently don't know the facts. Wake Up Americans! Remember, it's your money that pays for this abomination, and it's long past time to stop it cold in its tracks. Do not vote for any candidate from now on that wants to allow illegal aliens of any age of any circumstance to remain in the United States. It's that simple. Get these political traitors who want to steal your money to fund the livelihoods of people who aren't even supposed to be in our country out of our government and do so from the top to the bottom, which means from the White House to the local city council.

Another Obama lie. How can there be a "humanitarian crisis" when the contract for handling this "unexpected" flood of illegal alien kids was already being advertised - complete with correct number of aliens - six months ago?

And the media is not even calling him on it. Another instance of fanboy/fangirl journalism.
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