SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Regional Innovation Program Evaluation (Economic Impacts)
- Notice Date
- 2/8/2018
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541618
— Other Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B130, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20899-1410, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1410
- Solicitation Number
- SB1325-18-00538
- Archive Date
- 3/23/2018
- Point of Contact
- Stephanie Kelly, Phone: 2024827876
- E-Mail Address
-
stephanie.kelly@nist.gov
(stephanie.kelly@nist.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- DESCRIPTION: THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN FAR SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. FAR PART 13, SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES, ARE UTILIZED IN THIS PROCUREMENT. THIS ANNOUCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION; PROPOSALS ARE BEING REQUESTED, AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS WILL NOT BE ISSUED. This solicitation is a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation document incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-97. 1352.215-72 INQUIRIES (FEB 2018) Offerors must submit all questions concerning this solicitation in writing to the contracting officer (stephanie.kelly@nist.gov). Questions should be received no later than Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 10:00 am, seven (7) calendar days after the issuance date of this solicitation. Any responses to questions will be made in writing, without identification of the questioner, and will be included in an amendment to the solicitation. Even if provided in other form, only the question responses included in the amendment to the solicitation will govern performance of the contract. I. APPLICABLE PROVISIONS AND CLAUSES: The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation: 52.212-1; 52-212-3; 52.212-4; 52.212-5; 52.217-8; 52.222-3; 52.222-19; 52.222-21; 52.222-26; 52.222-36; 52.222-50; 52.223-3; 52.225-13; 52.232-33; 52.233-3; 52.233-4 II. DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT TO BE ACQUIRED Performance Work Statement Regional Innovation (RI) Program Evaluation 1. BACKGROUND Housed within the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) works to foster a more innovative U.S. economy focused on turning new ideas and inventions into products, services, and innovative companies that spur job growth and competitiveness while promoting economic development. The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 statutorily established OIE and its mission: "to foster innovation and the commercialization of new technologies, products, processes, and services with the goal of promoting productivity and economic growth in the United States." 15 U.S.C. § 3720(a). OIE operates the Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program (the Program), which was created under EDA's Regional Innovation (RI) program authorities. 15 U.S.C. § 3722(b); see also 13 C.F.R. Part 312; U.S. Economic Development Administration, Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) Program, https://www.eda.gov/oie/ris/. In order to retain and increase global competitiveness and to realize job growth, regions must build public and private capacity to invent, improve, and bring to market new products and services. The Program provides funding that builds these capacities at the regional level and empowers communities to provide proof-of-concept and commercialization assistance to innovators and entrepreneurs and operational support for organizations that provide essential early-stage funding to startups, ultimately aiming to support growing, resilient, and vibrant economies throughout the United States. Since 2014, OIE has awarded nearly $57 million in Federal funding that has leveraged more than $66 million in local matching funds across 140 grants in 40 States and Puerto Rico. This funding has supported a variety of projects, including projects that provide business and technical assistance, mentoring and support networks, and increased access to early-stage capital. 2. OBJECTIVE EDA has a statutory obligation to evaluate its implementation of the Program. 15 U.S.C. § 3722(e). This evaluation should aim to determine • whether the Program is achieving its goals; • how the Program may be improved; and • whether the Program should be continued or terminated. 15 U.S.C. § 3722(e)(2). This evaluation should not be construed as an audit exercise or business process consulting engagement but instead as an analysis of the program's effectiveness toward reaching its goals (i.e., of its economic impacts). 3. SCOPE The contractor shall: • evaluate existing data inputs, outputs, and outcomes and provide an analysis of the outcomes to determine whether they are sufficient to measure the Program's impacts; • if additional data are necessary to evaluate the Program, identify, collect, and provide to EDA additional data essential to evaluating impact; • evaluate the impacts of the Program and the grants made thereunder; • evaluate OIE's and EDA's self-evaluation methodology and, if necessary, recommend improved methodologies to self-evaluate the Program's impacts in light of its goals; • make recommendations for potential improvements to the Program; • make a recommendation as to whether the Program should continue or be terminated; • submit a report that includes an analysis of the Program's effectiveness in light of its stated goals, any recommendations for how the Program may be improved, and a recommendation as to whether the Program should be continued or terminated. 4. SPECIFIC TASKS. 1. The contractor shall provide a project plan. The project plan shall include but not be limited to roles and responsibilities, goals, a detailed project schedule, and descriptions of all deliverables, intended results, and milestones. The contractor shall review the Program's goals and determine quantitative and qualitative means of evaluating the Program to help in developing the project plan. 2. The contractor shall review Program data, including but not limited to grantee performance data, to determine whether those data are collected and analyzed in a manner that will provide appropriate and correct measures of Program grant outcomes and impacts. The contractor shall make recommendations on additional data that grantees or EDA should capture, if any, and recommend to EDA on mechanisms to collect these data efficiently. 3. The contractor shall analyze the Program's effectiveness based on the collected data and any other necessary data (e.g., external economic data) in light of the Program's goals and mission. 4. The contractor shall prepare a written report of the final analysis which shall include a summary of the Program's grants' performance in light of existing data, additional data needs, ongoing and additional analyses to be conducted, recommendations of potential Program improvements, an analysis of the effectiveness of the Program, and a recommendation as to whether the Program should continue or be terminated. 5. The contractor shall provide bi-weekly status reports that include but are not limited to progress against the timeline for meeting deliverables and any delay that may have occurred. 6. The contractor shall submit to EDA all supporting documentation for the project, including documents and data supporting assumptions, validation, sampling, and methodology, whether received from EDA or created or collected independently. 5. SCHEDULE AND DELIVERABLES The Contractor shall deliver each of the items detailed below no later than the required delivery dates. Deliverable Required Delivery/Completion Date Kick-off meeting (including a list of contractor staff assigned to the engagement) 1 week after contract is awarded Project plan for approval (Task 1) 2 weeks after contract is awarded Documented current grant impact evaluation framework and process (Task 2) 4 weeks after contract is awarded Review of program effectiveness (Task 3) 10 weeks after contract is awarded Final report to OIE on Program effectiveness, potential improvements, and recommendation to continue or terminate the Program (Task 4) 16 weeks after contract is awarded Submission to OIE of all supporting documentation, data, etc. (Task 6) 16 weeks after contract is awarded Bi-weekly status report (Task 5) Bi-weekly All draft deliverables will be submitted to the OIE task manager and Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) in a soft copy, editable file, and provided in accordance with dates specified in this section. The government will have 5 business days to review, and, if no feedback is provided, the deliverables will be considered final. If the government provides feedback within the allotted time, the contractor will incorporate the feedback and finalize within 2 business days from receipt of the feedback. All final deliverables shall be provided in soft copy (via email) and hard copy to the COR and the OIE task manager. 6. EVALUATION CRITERIA 1. Past Performance. The contractor shall submit past performance of the latest evaluations they have conducted. Past performance shall be reviewed and verified through the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). 2. Technical Approach. The contractor shall be evaluated on their how it analyzes data, economic impacts, and business processes. Emphasis shall be made on metrics, key performance indicators, and other performance metrics that the contractor will use to measure the program. The contractor should have economic subject matter experts to evaluate the effectiveness of the Program. 3. Feasibility. The contractor shall be evaluated on the feasibility of its proposal, including but not limited to the contractor's organizational capacity and the capacities of its proposed project team. 7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The period of performance for this contract will be 16 weeks from date of award. 8. GOVERNMENT PROVIDED SERVICES/SPACE The Government will furnish the following to the contractor: • Space: The government will provide workspace of sufficient quantity and kind to enable the contractor to perform all functions addressed. No square footage is guaranteed. The government shall ensure the space is free of any hazardous conditions, taking into account safety and health priorities. The contractor shall be exclusively responsible for compliance with applicable laws and regulations for the protection of employees. 9. OPERATING HOURS The contractor will have access to the Department of Commerce (DOC) Herbert C. Hoover Building Economic Development Administration offices as required. Personnel will have access Monday through Friday during normal OIE operating hours. If the contractor requires daily access, contractor staff must be able to pass a background check in order to obtain a security badge for DOC. See Section 10, "Security Requirements." 10. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS The contractor shall comply with DOC security requirements regarding access to government facilities and follow DOC policies and procedures. The contractor must also comply with DOC and IT Security Policies. The contractor will provide the COR or designate the names of contractor staff assigned to the project, by one week after the contract is awarded, so that the DOC staff has sufficient time to process requests for DOC badges and network access prior to contractor staff starting work at the DOC location. For any subsequent staffing changes, the contractor, at minimum, will provide five (5) working day written notice of requests for contractor staff to be provided DOC badges and any other required access. III. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTION Submit offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on letterhead stationary or plain paper. The proposal must include: (1) The solicitation number; (2) The name, address and telephone number of the offeror; (3) Description of technical solution in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with requirements in the solicitation (4) Price and terms (5) "Remit to" address, if different than mailing address (6) FOB Destination based on a firm-fixed-price for each contract line item number, and any discount terms for those prices; (7) Include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Proposals that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration. (8) Period for acceptance of offers: The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation. (9) Late submissions, modification, revisions, and withdrawals of offers: Offerors are responsible for submitting offers and any modifications, revisions, or withdrawals so as to reach the Government office by Thursday, March 8, 2018, at 11:00a.m. eastern standard time (10) All offers must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (sam.gov) to be eligible for an award. IV. DELIVERY All proposals shall be submitted so that they are received no later than 11:00a.m. eastern standard time on Thursday, March 8, 2018, to Stephanie Kelly, Contracting Officer email address Stephanie.kelly@nist.gov. Faxed quotes will not be accepted.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/SB1325-18-00538/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Department of Commerce, Herbert C. Hoover Building 1401 Constitute Ave NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20230, United States
- Zip Code: 20230
- Zip Code: 20230
- Record
- SN04817323-W 20180210/180208231709-11f050c0d1b5e3a744c5cf9d58aa500c (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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