Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a Request for Proposals, RFP for the continued operation of the Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone.
“Each Job Corps Center contract is issued for a base period of two years. After the base period, the government may issue an RFP at any of the subsequent three option years, and they must issue an RFP every five years. In this case, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a 6-month extension to the 2-year base period and announced that they were issuing a Request for Proposal for ‘the convenience of the government,’” said Kathy Coogan, vice president of operations at the Training and Development Corporation, TDC.
The contract is currently held by TDC, which has held the contract since Loring Job Corps’ inception in 1996. Since that time TDC has met with much success at the Loring Job Corps Center according to Coogan.
The center is ranked 68th of the 121 centers nationally, and is projected to end the fiscal year in June with a ranking in the mid forties. The center is ranked 10th of the 19 centers in the Boston region. Also of note has been the center’s performance in recruiting local students from Aroostook and Washington counties. Loring Job Corps has achieved 102 percent of its outreach goals giving the center a national ranking of 15th and a regional ranking of third.
Coogan also pointed out the appointment of Van Buren native Jim Gagnon as center director who has brought over 20 years of Job Corps experience to the position.
“His strong leadership is having a positive impact on Loring’s performance,” said Coogan.
TDC also held the contract for the Penobscot Job Corps Center in Bangor until Sep. 1, 2005 when the contract was awarded to Career Systems Development of West Henrietta, NY.
The contract, will be up for bid following a pre-proposal conference and site visit on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. at Loring Job Corps. The contract will have a two year base period from Jan. 1 2009-Dec. 31 2010 with three renewal options of one year each.
Potential contractors are encouraged to download the entire RFP at http://www.fbo.gov/ prior to attending the conference and site visit. All potential attendees are required to register with the contracting office running the procurement by mailing to Binh Kha, U.S. Department of Labor, OASAM, 201 Varick Street, Room 815, New York, NY 10014. Notices of intent to attend should be received no later than Feb. 8.
Written proposal submissions are to be received no later than April 10, 2008 at 12 p.m. to the address listed in the RFP.
“With Loring’s strong management team and positive performance, TDC and the Loring Center look forward to demonstrating Loring’s strength and success as part of this bid process to win a re-award of the Loring contract,” said Coogan.
