National Fire Data Training Corps (NFDTC) Data Literacy and Fire Service Analytics Training Program

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), requires information to inform program development for the National Fire Data Training Corps (NFDTC).  

BACKGROUND:

The United States Fire Administration (USFA), a component of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), serves as the nation's primary federal authority for fire prevention, fire research, and fire service training. Within USFA, the National Fire Data Center (NFDC) operated the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) and oversees its successor platform, the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), which together constitutes the nation’s largest all-hazard incident database.

The NFDC is responsible for collecting, analyzing, publishing, and disseminating fire and emergency incident data to support evidence-based fire prevention, resource allocation, and policy decisions at federal, state, and local levels. The National Fire Data Training Corps (NFDTC) is a USFA/NFDC initiative to build national data literacy competency across the American fire service workforce, from entry-level firefighters through executive fire officers.

The contractor shall provide all personnel, management, supplies, and services necessary to design, develop, deliver, and maintain the NFDTC training program as defined in the Statement of Work (SOW). The Government desires that respondents offer their experience and recommendations on the following questions and issues related to the NFA requirements. The Government recommends that you first review the draft Statement of Work (SOW) so that you may have a better insight when answering the questions below.

GENERAL INFORMATION:  This RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes to identify sources capable of providing support for the USFA. In accordance with FAR 15.101(c), RFIs may be used when the Government wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, and capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to these RFIs are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose, nor does it restrict the Government to an ultimate acquisition approach. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with their RFI response. Respondents will not receive additional information in response to their submittal to the RFI and will not be notified of the resulting market research.

NO PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED OR ACCEPTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS SYNOPSIS AND NO CONTRACT SHALL BE AWARDED AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS:  Respondents shall identify any proprietary information in its RFI response. Information submitted in response to this RFI will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. FEMA reserves the right to utilize any non-proprietary technical information in the anticipated PWS or solicitation.

Although it is not necessary to address in their response, respondents shall be aware of any potential, actual, or perceived organizational conflicts of interests. Any real or potential conflicts must be sufficiently mitigated prior to a contract award. For further guidance, refer to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Part 9.5.

NAICS CODE: 611430

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE (PSC): U006

ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: Not later than 9/30/2026

ATTACHMENT: Statement of Work [USFA-NFDTC-SOW-2026-06-02]

RFI RESPONSE SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Interested contractors shall submit their RFI responses electronically to James Suerdieck, Contracting Officer, at james.suerdieck@fema.dhs.gov, and Katie Brown, Contract Specialist, at Kathryn.brown@fema.dhs.gov, no later than 4:00PM Eastern Time (ET), June 19, 2026.

“RFI Response for USFA National Fire Data Training Corps” shall be in the subject line of your e-mail.  All responses shall be unclassified, with proprietary information clearly marked. The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. Pages shall be 8.5 by 11 inch and shall use a type pitch that is no smaller than a standard 11-point font type, with the exception of charts, graphs, or tables, which shall use a pitch not smaller than 10-point font. Responses shall not exceed (page limit) pages in length including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. Page limitation does not include: 1 cover page. Do not include promotional materials.

RFI Responses shall include the following information in the order below: 

A.  Cover Page with the following information:

1.   Company Name 

2.   Company Address 

3.   UEI Number 

4.   Company Point of Contact - Name, Title, Phone, and Email address  

5.    Statement of current business size status (i.e., HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteran-owned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business concern). Also, business size in relation to the NAICS code size standards assigned to this acquisition.

6.    GSA Schedule Number, Contract Number, and Period of Performance and/or DHS Strategic Sourcing Vehicle Category Name and Contract Number, if applicable

B.   Contractor Capability Statement (No more than five (5) pages in length)

1.   Summarization of relevant projects showing capabilities

2.   Past performance in applicable areas

C.   Contractor RFI Responses to questions:

The responses received will assist FEMA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves potential technical solution providers. Each respondent, by submitting a response, agrees that any cost incurred in response to this RFI, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of the respondent. FEMA shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) QUESTIONS

The page limit for responses in this section is two (2) pages.

Provide feedback and recommend any changes to better support the requirements detailed in the draft PWS.

1. Is the draft Statement of Work (SOW) clear, concise, and/or sufficient to develop and submit the required information in response to a Request for Quote (RFQ)?
2. Discuss any concerns, comments, or recommendations you may have with the attached draft SOW.
3. Is 30 days enough time for a contractor to prepare a quote/proposal given the scenario of a full trade-off best value source selection requiring a technical and price proposal and past performance references?  If 30 days is not sufficient, please provide a reasonable timeframe to prepare a quote/proposal.
4. Are there any pricing, terms, and conditions, and/or business practices that are uniquely prevalent or customary in the industry that NFDC should consider?
5. Would your firm require any additional information, such as specific historical data, to successfully respond to a formal solicitation and/or propose a firm fixed price for the tasks identified in the draft SOW?

No inquiries will be answered at this time and respondents shall not be notified of the results of the market research. Again, this document is merely for market research and planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment, implied, or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued, nor will the Government pay or reimburse for information solicited or produced and may not be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract. In the event a solicitation is developed, it will be assigned a formal RFQ number, and the announcement will be published on the applicable Government Point of Entry (i.e. SAM.gov or GSA eBuy).

Vendor comments may be incorporated and used to develop the final SOW, as well as the solicitation.

Responders to this RFI will not automatically be notified of any potential solicitation; therefore, interested parties should be vigilant in looking for and must respond to the official solicitation announcement when it is posted to the Government Point of Entry.

Submissions must be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word or an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF); no other document format or type will be accepted. It is important to note that there is a system wide size limitation on e-mail attachments of 10MB per e-mail message. It is highly recommended that respondents check the total size of the response before sending and if necessary, submit responses on sequential e-mails.