RFP: A History of the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

[We have the following Request for Proposals for a "book on the history of the creation and the first 25 years of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims."]

Content.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (USCAVC) seeks proposals for a scholarly book on the history of the creation and the first 25 years of the Court. If the Court determines to publish such a book, the book will describe judicial review of veterans appeals and the effect of the Court upon veterans' benefits and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) claims and appeals process. Possible topics could include:

· Efforts of veterans and organizations to obtain judicial review of veterans benefits decisions
· Legislative history and the process involved in the creation of the Court
· The Early Phase of the Court's History, including
· Interviews with original judges
· Creating a new body of law
· Administrative challenges in establishing a new court
· Later Phases of Court history, including significant events since inception
· Gardner v. Brown-first USCAVC decision subject of Supreme Court review
· The effect of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act on the Court
· The second wave of new judges
· Establishment of USCAVC Bar Association
· Temporary expansion of Court to nine judges
· Unique features of the Court and their impact
· Single-judge decision authority
· Representation of veterans by non-attorney practitioners
· Appellate review by an intermediate appellate court
· Court's place in the veterans appellate structure
· Significant decisions of the Court

Sources will include published records of the Court, other published accounts (such as journal articles, Congressional legislative records, and VA records), statistics, and oral histories.

Format.  The book will be a hard cover illustrated history of approximately 100-200 pages in length not including the table of contents, index and appendices. The book size is expected to be 6.75" x 10".

Terms of Service.  The Court will pay reasonable author's fees plus expenses.  The Court will not pay any fees incurred for the preparation of any bidder's response to this Request for Proposals.  There will be a series of deadlines for deliverables and drafts to the Court for review, with the ultimate time for the author(s) to complete the draft to be approximately one year from the signing of a contract.

Rights to the Work.  The Court will retain exclusive right to publish the materials. The author will be provided a specified number of copies for personal use and not for resale.

Selection Criteria. Selection is at the sole discretion of the Court but if a selection is made, it will be made based upon the Best Value.  Factors considered will include:
· author's proposed approach to the book, suggested deadlines, schedule, and budget
· author's overall experience
· quality of author's past publications
· author's familiarity with subject matter
· author's fee and estimated expenses

Selection and any resulting contract will be in compliance with the Court's procurement policy and all applicable federal laws. Award of a contract is contingent on the absence of, or the absence of appearance of, any conflicts of interest, as determined by the Court, between the bidder and the Court.

Proposals and Deadline.  All proposals should include the following:
 · a curriculum vitae for each author
· a 1,000-1,500 word description of the proposed approach to the book
· complete contact information for each author
· suggested deadlines and schedule for deliverables
· suggested budget to include fees and expenses
· two references

Deadline for the submission of proposals is November 30, 2015.  Proposals should be sent as email attachments to:

Gregory O. Block
Clerk of the Court
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20004
Email: contracting@uscourts.cavc.gov

Questions.  Questions should be directed to the Clerk of the Court care of the email address noted above.  Answers to questions will be sent by reply email, and all questions and answers submitted will be published for review on our Court website under "Employment" via the link titled "Court History Book Request for Proposals Q&A Summary."

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