RFQ IFB RFP

WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS

(WOSB) ELIGIBLE UNDER THE WOMEN-OWNED

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30

1. REQUISITION NUMBER PAGE OF

2. CONTRACT NO. 3. AWARD/EFFECTIVE

DATE

4. ORDER NUMBER 5. SOLICITATION NUMBER 6. SOLICITATION ISSUE

DATE

7. FOR SOLICITATION

INFORMATION CALL:

a. NAME b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (No collect calls)

8. OFFER DUE DATE/

LOCAL TIME

9. ISSUED BY

13b. RATING

14. METHOD OF SOLICITATION

CODE

15. DELIVER TO 16. ADMINISTERED BY CODE

18a. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODEFACILITY

CODE

CODE

TELEPHONE NO.

17b. CHECK IF REMITTANCE IS DIFFERENT AND PUT SUCH ADDRESS IN

OFFER

18b. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN BLOCK 18a UNLESS BLOCK

BELOW IS CHECKED

SEE ADDENDUM

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

(Use Reverse and/or Attach Additional Sheets as Necessary)

25. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA 26. TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT (For Govt. Use Only)

28. CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND RETURN

DELIVER ALL ITEMS SET FORTH OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED ABOVE AND ON ANY

ADDITIONAL SHEETS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SPECIFIED

29. AWARD OF CONTRACT: REF.

DATED . YOUR OFFER ON SOLICITATION

(BLOCK 5), INCLUDING ANY ADDITIONS OR CHANGES WHICH ARE

SET FORTH HEREIN, IS ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS:

30a. SIGNATURE OF OFFEROR/CONTRACTOR

30b. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 30c. DATE SIGNED

31a. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER)

31b. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 31c. DATE SIGNED

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

PREVIOUS EDITION IS NOT USABLE

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.212

COPIES TO ISSUING OFFICE. CONTRACTOR AGREES TO FURNISH AND

OFFER

13a. THIS CONTRACT IS A

RATED ORDER UNDER

DPAS (15 CFR 700)

11. DELIVERY FOR FOB DESTINA-

TION UNLESS BLOCK IS

MARKED

SEE SCHEDULE

12. DISCOUNT TERMS

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

27a. SOLICITATION INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-1, 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-3 AND 52.212-5 ARE ATTACHED. ADDENDA

27b. CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-5 IS ATTACHED. ADDENDA

17a CONTRACTOR/

OFFEROR.

CODE

8 (A)

SIZE STANDARD:

NAICS:

% FOR:SET ASIDE:UNRESTRICTED OR

SERVICE-DISABLED

VETERAN-OWNED

SMALL BUSINESS

HUBZONE SMALL

BUSINESS

SMALL BUSINESS

10. THIS ACQUISITION IS

EDWOSB

SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM

April 09, 2026

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012) BACK

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

32a. QUANTITY IN COLUMN 21 HAS BEEN

RECEIVED INSPECTED ACCEPTED, AND CONFORMS TO THE CONTRACT, EXCEPT AS NOTED:

41a. I CERTIFY THIS ACCOUNT IS CORRECT AND PROPER FOR PAYMENT

32b. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32c. DATE

41b. SIGNATURE AND TITLE OF CERTIFYING OFFICER 41c. DATE

42a. RECEIVED BY (Print)

42b. RECEIVED AT (Location)

42c. DATE REC'D (YY/MM/DD) 42d. TOTAL CONTAINERS

40. PAID BY

32d. PRINTED NAME AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32e. MAILING ADDRESS OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE 32f. TELPHONE NUMBER OF AUTHORZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

32g. E-MAIL OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

33. SHIP NUMBER 34. VOUCHER NUMBER 35. AMOUNT VERIFIED

CORRECT FOR

PARTIAL FINAL

37. CHECK NUMBER

38. S/R ACCOUNT NO. 39. S/R VOUCHER NUMBER

36. PAYMENT

COMPLETE PARTIAL FINAL

Attachment Page

PAGE 3 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

IDIQ CONTRACT INFORMATION

Description of Contract: This is a multiple-award Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract under which the contractors shall provide any or all of the services described in the contract Statements of Work, as applicable, and as detailed in individual task orders issued by a warranted contracting officer during the term of this contract.

Multiple Award Contract: The Government intends to award up to three contracts for the primary category and up to three contracts for each of the specific categories as a result of this solicitation. The Government reserves the right to include a small business reserve in each of the specific category contracts.

All proposals will be evaluated based on the evaluation factors detailed in the RFQ. A determination on whether the issuance of multiple awards is in the best interests of the Government will be made by the government during the evaluation process.

Minimum and Maximum Orders: The amount of all orders issued under the IDIQ contract shall not exceed $7,400,000.00 over the potential five-year ordering period. The individual ceiling for each order under any category is $2,000,000.00. Contractors may exceed the individual ceiling with the consent of the Ordering Contracting Officer (OCO). The contractually obligated minimum amount each IDIQ contract holder is entitled to receive for the life of the contract is $5,000.00. This amount will be obligated and may be invoiced in the last month of the IDIQ contract if the awardee has not received a task order.

Task Order Procedures: The following procedures apply for the issuance of task orders.

a. Requesting Task Order Quotations. The IDIQ contract(s) may only be used for NIST requirements. Any warranted NIST contracting officer may issue Requests for Task Order Quotations (“RFQs”) and award task orders under this contract. As a general matter, an RFQ will contain the following documents:

Statement of Work / Performance Work Statement that includes all deliverables and reporting requirements

Quotation due date and location to deliver quotation. Quotation due dates may be as short as within 48 hours after issuance of the RFQ at OCO discretion depending on the urgency of the requirement.

Anticipated type of task order Period of performance of task order Technical and business quotation instructions Evaluation factors for award

Contractors shall not be paid for the costs of preparing task order quotations.

In extraordinary circumstances, task orders may be issued verbally by the OCO provided that the OCO provides the contractor with evidence that funds are available for the required performance. Following verbal authorization to proceed, documented by an

PAGE 4 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

email, the parties shall at the earliest opportunity memorialize the contract action consistent with FAR regulations. Parties are cautioned that oral contracts are an extraordinary remedy meant for extreme instances where services are needed in response to an unforeseen emergency. Labor rates in any oral contract may not deviate from the rates specified in the IDIQ contract.

b. Fair Opportunity.

1. General. Fair opportunity for this IDIQ contract means that contractors within a category (primary or distinct specific category) may be afforded an opportunity to respond to any RFQ exceeding the micro-purchase threshold, subject to further limitation provided by FAR Parts 16 and 19 and the Small Business Reserve language identified in part 2 of this section.

Fair opportunity is satisfied if an OCO elects to set-aside a RFQ for any distinct specific category. Such set-asides do not require justifications for exemption from fair opportunity as required by FAR 16.505. Additionally, Contractors with contracts under any distinct specific category may participate directly in RFQs competed under the primary category.

An OCO may identify more than one category and issue the RFQ to multiple categories if they so choose.

2. Small Business Reserves. In accordance with 19.504(c)(1)(ii), the Contracting Officer may issue orders directly to one small business concern in any of the three specific scope categories for work that it can perform when there is only one contract award in that specific scope category to any one type of small business concern.

c. Exchanges. The OCO may determine, after a RFQ closes, that additional information is necessary to make an award determination to award a task order. The following exchanges with contractors will not necessitate exchanges with all contractors:

1. Exchanges to clarify certain aspects of quotations or to resolve minor clerical errors;

2. Obtaining written agreement form the Contractor for incorporation of commitments/statements proposed by the Contractor in its technical or price quotations;

3. Any matter pertaining to past performance, including but not limited to exchanges on adverse past performance information, additional submissions or substitutes on past performance references, and responses to questions about submitted past performance;

4. Questions pertaining to locating information in quotations;

5. Requests for support for price information; and

6. Questions and answers concerning mathematical calculations.

PAGE 5 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

d. Quotation Revisions. The OCO, at their discretion, may determine that quotation revisions are necessary prior to the award of a task order. In such an event, the OCO, at their discretion, may:

1. Not request revisions from contractors who have submitted quotations that would require substantial revisions and/or if the initial quotation is determined to be technically unacceptable;

2. Conduct exchanges on limited aspects of a quotation and/or limit revisions to only specific parts of the technical or price quotation based upon a determination that there is not a material impact to the other sections of the technical and price quotation;

3. Not provide information regarding all aspects of the evaluation of the quotation and limit the information provided to only the deficiencies and/or significant weaknesses or significant price issues;

4. Provide all contractors a common date by which all revisions are to be submitted.

e. Required Responses to all Task Order Request for Quotations. In response to all issued task order RFQs, all IDIQ contract holders eligible to respond to the RFQ are required to either 1) submit a timely quotation or 2) provide the OCO with a brief rationale explaining why a quotation will not be submitted. Such rationales shall be submitted no later than the response deadline of a given task order RFQ. Failure to adhere to these response requirements may result in contractor off-ramping from the IDIQ contract.

Only information received by or before the due date and time for quotations will be considered. It is the responsibility of each awardee to ensure that a quotation or brief rationale for a “no quote” is submitted such that it is received timely by the Government.

Late quotations, or portions thereof, will not be considered.

f. Acceptable Task Order Types. Only firm-fixed-price type task orders are anticipated under the IDIQ contract. Hybrids of these three contract types are also allowable for task orders.

Under Firm Fixed Price (FFP) RFQs, contractors shall price the order by multiplying the quantity of hours of each required labor category against the rate listed in the pricing schedule and the cumulative extended total of all line items shall define the total task order value. RFQ responses must include hourly breakouts unless otherwise specified.

Travel and other direct costs (ODCs), if applicable, may be estimated for each task order.

Any amount negotiated for travel and ODCs will be added to the extended price of all ordered items to arrive at the total price for the task order; however, negotiated amounts for travel and ODCs will be awarded on a not-to-exceed basis and only authorized and approved expenses will be reimbursed. FFP task orders may be commercial (subject to FAR Part 12) or non-commercial.

PAGE 6 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

g. Task Order Price Reasonableness

1. General. Although the labor rates on this contract have been determined fair and reasonable at the time of award, the OCO is still responsible for a determination of cost or price reasonableness for each task order.

2. Labor Rates. The ceiling fully burdened hourly labor rates that shall be used by the Contractor for each labor category when providing an official task order quotation can be found in the “Schedule of Labor Rates” included within each IDIQ contract.

The description of the minimum requirements for each labor category under this contract can be found in the “Schedule of Labor Categories” included within this IDIQ contract. In no event shall the labor rates identified in the “Schedule of Labor Rates” be exceeded for the corresponding labor categories during the corresponding period of the contract. The contractor may offer, and the Government may request further price reductions in accordance with commercial practices and market forces at any point during the life of this contract. Such reductions in the labor rates would be incorporated through a bilateral modification to the base contract. In addition, the contractor may offer discounts off of the contract’s ceiling fully burdened hourly labor rates when responding to an RFQ for an individual task order.

3. Other Direct Costs.

3.i. Travel may be reimbursed at actual cost and as limited in FAR 31.205-46.

Contractors may apply indirect costs to travel if doing so is a part of the Contractor’s usual accounting practices and it is consistent with FAR 31.2.

The OCO should (but may not if a specific circumstance requires a different approach) identify a not-to-exceed travel ceiling under a separate contract line item number (CLIN) on the task order. Travel and ODCs will be estimated for each task order and reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR).

3.ii. Labor dollars will not be used to pay for ODCs nor ODC dollars used to pay for labor without a contract modification.

SCHEDULE Continued

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

This is an Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract.

0001 The Contractor shall provide Technology Evaluations Support Services within the NIST Technology Test and Evaluation Division (TTED).

Period of Performance: 09/30/2026 to 09/29/2031

1.00 LO

PAGE 7 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

Table of Contents

Statement of Work - IDIQ

Instructions to Offerors

Evaluation Factors

Statement of Work - Mock Task Order 1

Statement of Work - Mock Task Order 2

List of Attachments

52.202-1DEFINITIONS (JUN 2020)

52.203-3 GRATUITIES (APR 1984)

52.203-6RESTRICTIONS ON SUBCONTRACTOR SALES TO THE GOVERNMENT (JUN 2020)

52.203-11CERTIFICATION AND DISCLOSURE REGARDING PAYMENTS TO INFLUENCE CERTAIN FEDERAL TRANSACTIONS (SEP

2024)

52.203-12LIMITATION ON PAYMENTS TO INFLUENCE CERTAIN FEDERAL TRANSACTIONS (JUN 2020)

52.203-13CONTRACTOR CODE OF BUSINESS ETHICS AND CONDUCT (NOV 2021)

52.203-17CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWER RIGHTS (NOV 2023)

52.203-19 PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING CERTAIN INTERNAL CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS OR STATEMENTS (JAN 2017) 47

52.204-5 WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESS (OTHER THAN SMALL BUSINESS) (OCT 2014)

52.204-7SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (NOV 2024)

52.204-9 PERSONAL IDENTITY VERIFICATION OF CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL (JAN 2011)

52.204-10REPORTING EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND FIRST-TIER SUBCONTRACT AWARDS (JUN 2020)

52.204-13SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT MAINTENANCE (OCT 2018)

52.204-16COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT ENTITY CODE REPORTING (AUG 2020)

52.204-17OWNERSHIP OR CONTROL OF OFFEROR (AUG 2020)

52.204-19INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS (DEC 2014)

CERTIFICATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS

Protecting the Government's Interest When Subcontr

Information Regarding Responsibility Matters

Updates of Publicly Available Information Regardin

Prohibition on Contracting With Inverted Domestic

Representation by Corporations Regarding Delinquen

52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984)

52.216-18ORDERING (AUG 2020)

52.216-19 ORDER LIMITATIONS (OCT 1995)

52.216-22 INDEFINITE QUANTITY (OCT 1995)

52.216-27 SINGLE OR MULTIPLE AWARDS (OCT 1995)

52.219-6NOTICE OF TOTAL SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE (NOV 2020)

52.219-8UTILIZATION OF SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS (JAN 2025)

52.222-3 CONVICT LABOR (JUN 2003)

52.222-19CHILD LABOR--COOPERATION WITH AUTHORITIES AND REMEDIES (JAN 2025)

52.222-35EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR VETERANS. (JUN 2020)

52.222-36EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES (JUN 2020)

52.222-37EMPLOYMENT REPORTS ON VETERANS (JUN 2020)

52.222-50COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (OCT 2025)

52.226-7DRUG-FREE WORKPLACE (MAY 2024)

52.226-8ENCOURAGING CONTRACTOR POLICIES TO BAN TEXT MESSAGING WHILE DRIVING (MAY 2024)

52.229-3 FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL TAXES (FEB 2013)

52.232-17 INTEREST (MAY 2014)

52.232-1 PAYMENTS (APR 1984)

52.232-23 ASSIGNMENT OF CLAIMS (MAY 2014)

52.232-25 PROMPT PAYMENT (JAN 2017)

52.232-33 PAYMENT BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER--SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (OCT 2018)

52.232-39 UNENFORCEABILITY OF UNAUTHORIZED OBLIGATIONS (JUNE 2013)

PAGE 8 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

Table of Contents

52.232-40PROVIDING ACCELERATED PAYMENTS TO SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS (MAR 2023)

52.233-1 DISPUTES (MAY 2014)

52.233-2 SERVICE OF PROTEST (SEP 2006)

52.233-3 PROTEST AFTER AWARD (AUG 1996)

Security Prohibitions & Exclusions Representations

52.246-4 INSPECTION OF SERVICES--FIXED-PRICE (AUG 1996)

52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

1352.201-70 CONTRACTING OFFICER?s AUTHORITY (APR 2010)

1352.201-72 CONTRACTING OFFICER`S REPRESENTATIVE (COR) (APR 2010)

1352.208-70 RESTRICTIONS ON PRINTING AND DUPLICATING (APR 2010)

1352.209-70 POTENTIAL ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (APR 2010)

1352.209-72 RESTRICTIONS AGAINST DISCLOSURE (APR 2010)

1352.209-73 COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAWS (APR 2010)

1352.209-74 ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (APR 2010)

1352.216-74 TASK ORDERS (APR 2010)

1352.216-75 MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM CONTRACT AMOUNTS (APR 2010)

1352.216-76 PLACEMENT OF ORDERS (APR 2010)

1352.216-77 CEILING PRICE (APR 2010)

1352.233-70 AGENCY PROTESTS (APR 2010)

1352.233-71 GAO AND COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PROTESTS (APR 2010)

1352.237-71 SECURITY PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS - LOW RISK CONTRACTS (APR 2010)

1352.237-75 KEY PERSONNEL (APR 2010)

1352.239-72 SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES (APR 2010)

NIST LOCAL-07COMPUTER SECURITY POLICY

NIST LOCAL-36TRAVEL NOTE

NIST LOCAL-53CONTRACT PERFORMANCE DURING CHANGES IN NIST OPERATING STATUS

NIST LOCAL-55ELECTRONIC BILLING INSTRUCTIONS FOR DELIVERY/TASK ORDERS

NIST LOCAL-56INVOICING PROCESSING PLATFORM-ALTERNATE I (DEC 2022)

PAGE 9 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

CLAUSES

Statement of Work - IDIQ

PAGE 10 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

STATEMENT OF WORK

Title: Technology Test and Evaluation Division (TTED) Technology Evaluations Support

Services

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Founded in 1901, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST's mission is to promote U.S.

innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST requires contractor support to fulfill this mission in the Information Technology field.

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) is one of NIST’s six research laboratories. ITL focuses on IT measurements, testing, and standards, and is a globally recognized and trusted source of high-quality, independent, and unbiased research and data. ITL’s mission, to cultivate trust in information technology (IT) and metrology, is accomplished using its world-class measurement and testing facilities and encompassing a wide range of areas of computer science, mathematics, statistics, and systems engineering. This non-regulatory role, along with ITL’s deep technical expertise in all fields of information technology, helps increase trust in IT worldwide.

The Technology Test and Evaluation Division (TTED) is a division within NIST’s ITL. TTED is known for world-class evaluation-driven research programs that accelerate the readiness of emerging technologies for widespread deployment. For decades, TTED has fostered community evaluations for foundational Artificial Intelligence in research areas such as human language technologies, biometrics, search, information retrieval and natural language processing. TTED advances the measurement science, develops novel evaluation paradigms, and performs research to ensure technology is developed and used correctly and efficiently. Through collaborations with industry, academia, and the federal government, TTED enables the advancement of these technologies and provides the technical underpinnings to support the development of standards.

TTED has multiple groups and research programs that work collaboratively on technology evaluations. TTED technology evaluations can vary in size, purpose, and sector served; in addition to working with various academic and industry communities, TTED’s frequent evaluation partners come from the law enforcement and intelligence communities. The Multimedia Language Technologies Group focuses on measurement and evaluation methods to facilitate the use of technologies that provide easier access to multimedia and multilingual information and improve human-technology interface modalities. Within the Multimedia Language Technologies Group, the Retrieval Program facilitates retrieval research involving large, unstructured text files by providing test collections and organizing the Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) and its proceedings. Retrieval Program research focuses mainly on collections to support specific information retrieval sub-tasks, such as cross-language retrieval and multimedia retrieval. The AI Technologies Group is home to the NIST GenAI evaluation program that supports various evaluations for research and measurement science in Generative AI by providing a platform for test and evaluation. The Human-Centered Technologies Group performs research to develop user-centered measurement and evaluation methods, guidelines, and standards by applying human factors, cognitive science, user-centered design, and usability principles to improve human system interaction.

PAGE 11 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

TTED conducts technology measurements and evaluations across a variety of existing and emerging technologies, including technology evaluations and research with a usability testing component. TTED’s technology evaluations can include technologies or algorithms, testing scenarios, multi-modal data (e.g., text/code, image, video, audio, multi-media data), metrics, and can also include humans with various roles and tasks, ranging from general public participants interacting with technology to expert annotators annotating data or providing judgements.

Human judgements can be multi-faceted, including comparison to state-of-the-art technologies.

Evaluation results are communicated back to the larger evaluation community via reports, presentations, and workshops.

Human subjects research at NIST is guided by and adheres to the ethical principles set forth in the Belmont Report. These principles are ratified into federal regulations in Department of Commerce regulations at 15 CFR 27 and the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations at 21 CFR 50 and 21 CFR 56. The NIST Research Protections Office (RPO) makes determinations regarding whether a project is considered research, research not involving human subjects or exempt human subjects research. In addition, the RPO will make institutional engagement determinations to determine whether NIST is engaged in non-exempt human subjects research. For non-exempt research conducted by NIST researchers, the NIST Institutional Review Board (NIST IRB) reviews the project. The IRB Administrator within the RPO assists researchers, manages, and supports this review process by the NIST IRB. NIST researchers are responsible for seeking RPO approval for contract work involving human subjects research.

II. PURPOSE

The purpose of this contract is to create and refine topic statements, queries, and descriptions, as well as making judgments and annotations on various content types (text, video, audio, images, etc.). This also includes assessing the quality and accuracy of content, determining whether content is from the same source or has been tampered with, evaluating the quality of human-produced and technology-generated content, and recruiting humans with specific expertise to complete human-technology interaction tasks, interviews, and surveys.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Work performed under the resultant IDIQ contract may require Contractor personnel to work off-site at the Contractor’s facility or on-site at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus. The place of performance will be specified in each individual task order.

The following applies to on-site work at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus:

Regular business hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the exception of Federal holidays or other official closures.

The Contractor shall not be allowed to work on-site at NIST outside of the aforementioned core hours unless specifically stated in the task order.

In the event of facility closures, Contractor personnel shall not perform on-site services unless otherwise approved by the Contracting Officer.

All Contractor personnel must comply with the NIST safety prevention regulations.

Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety and fire prevention.

Contractor personnel shall wear a visible visitor’s or security badge ID when working on-site at NIST. The badge will be provided by NIST. The Contractor shall

PAGE 12 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

immediately report any lost or stolen badges to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). Upon termination/resignation of the Contractor’s services under this contract, the badges shall be relinquished to the COR.

Contractor personnel shall identify themselves as a “Contractor” in all e-mails, telephone communication, meetings, and conferences.

All Contractor personnel must register their vehicles in accordance with NIST Security requirements to gain access onto the NIST campus.

Contractor personnel shall not use Government facilities or Government property in connection with conducting activities not associated with requirements under a given task order.

At any time during the performance of this contract, any Contractor personnel whose actions (e.g. intoxication, debilitation resulting from drug use, insubordination, theft) result in clear disruption to the work force will be immediate removed by the Contracting Officer.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The Period of Performance of the IDIQ contract shall be five (5) years, from September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2031. The period of performance for each task order shall be defined within each respective task order.

TYPE OF CONTRACT

This is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract. All task orders issued against the IDIQ shall be firm-fixed price.

III. SPECIFIC RQUIREMENTS

Various combinations of the tasks described herein are envisioned to support cross-division technology evaluations, measurements, and research for TTED, ultimately serving to improve technology measurement science.

The specific tasks required under this IDIQ contract will be detailed in each individual task order. However, the following section provides information on the types of tasks that the contractor will be required to perform.

Various combinations of the following tasks are envisioned to support technology evaluations and research for TTED.

TASKS

Task 1: Technology Evaluations

This task area consists of the following:

Creating initial topic statements.

Creating refined topic statements and relevance assessments.

Creating queries (a short sentence that identifies a video uniquely).

Creating descriptions of videos.

PAGE 13 OF 80 1333ND26QNB770088

Making judgments of whether a given segment of video contains a given feature (e.g. person; place, thing or event) or meets the information need specified in a topic (information request).

Making annotations of the presence of entities or other linguistic structures in text.

Creating usable topics with topic statements.

Selecting newswire articles for each usable topic.

Writing summaries for each usable topic and making assessments on the quality of the automatic and manual summaries.

Reviewing topics, queries, descriptions, assessments, or annotations created within the task, for purposes of quality control.

Creating initial test sets across multiple data modalities, developed by both humans and technologies for specific tasks.

Writing descriptions and annotations for a variety of content types, including text, code, audio, images, and videos.

Summarizing articles, producing both accurate and inaccurate versions.

Assessing various characteristics of the data, for example, accuracy and data source.

Assessing whether two contents (e.g., face or speech) are from the same source.

Assessing whether content has been tampered with.

Evaluating the quality of both human-produced and technology-generated content.

Task 2: Usability Testing

This task area encompasses evaluations in which representative users perform defined tasks using the system, enabling the measurement of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction.

Usability testing tasks are composed of the following:

Research on user/participant demographics Recruiting and screening of test participants;

Providing usability testing facilities, including remote usability testing capabilities;

Developing test materials, including information sheets or informed consent materials Developing test instrumentation;

Facilitation of test protocols;

Proctoring of surveys;

Facilitating or conducting interviews and contextual analysis;

Evaluation of user engagement Annotating data;

Analyzing data;

Compensation of test participants;

Reporting/Documenting the results of the tests;

Project management

Task 3: Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12

This task area applies to all task orders where services are performed on-site at NIST.

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The Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) and its employees who require physical access to NIST facilities or logical access to NIST IT networks or systems must comply with Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12, Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors; OMB M-05-24; OMB M-19-17; FIPS 201, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors; NIST HSPD-12 policy; and Executive Order 13467, Part 1 §1.2.

The Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) must submit a roster by name, position, e-mail address, phone number and responsibility, of all staff working under this acquisition where the Contractor will develop, have the ability to access, or host and/or maintain a government information system(s).

The roster must be submitted to the COR and/or CO within 14 days of the effective date of this contract. Any revisions to the roster as a result of staffing changes must be submitted within 14 days of the change. The COR will notify the Contractor of the appropriate level of investigation required for each staff member. If the employee is filling a new position, the Contractor must provide a position description, and the Government will determine the appropriate suitability level.

Position Sensitivity Designations Requirement All Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) employees must obtain a background investigation commensurate with their position sensitivity designation that complies with Parts 1400 and 731 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

The following position sensitivity designation levels apply to this solicitation/contact: LOW.

IV. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Government-Furnished Property, Data, and Intellectual Property Information All property, data, and information provided by the Government in the performance of each task order remains the property of the Government and shall be surrendered to the Government upon completion or termination of each task order. Likewise, all deliverables generated under each task order remains the property of the Government.

As defined in the individual task orders, the Government will provide use of the necessary NIST facilities, office equipment, computer, phone, e-mail, and web access required for performance of each task order at the NIST campus. The Contractor is responsible for providing its own equipment for personnel that will not be working on-site at NIST.

Telephones, facsimile machines, copiers, and computer equipment are authorized for transaction of official Government business only and shall not be used for personal business.

Personal long-distance calls are not authorized. Telephones, facsimile machines, and computer equipment are always subject to communications security monitoring.

Space used by Contractor personnel in performance of any task order may be used for other purposes during the hours that the Contractor is not on-site. Clothing and personal items cannot be secured by the Government during the Contractor’s absence. The Government will not incur any liability for theft, damage to, or loss of the Contractor’s personal items.

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For each applicable task order, Contractor personnel will be given a tutorial on how to use the computer system.

Inspection & Acceptance In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in the specific FAR clause, the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense.

The Contractor deliverables within each task order will be inspected by the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) or COR to determine their acceptability. Deliverables will be accepted if they meet the requirements set forth within each task order.

Specific performance standards and acceptance criteria for inspection and acceptance will be defined and included within each task order.

Safety The Contractor employee must be responsible for knowing and complying with all installation safety prevention regulations. Such regulations include, but are not limited to, general safety, fire prevention, and waste disposal.

Security NIST is a restricted campus. An identification badge is required for access for entry into buildings and is shown to the armed Security Police when entering the campus.

Identification Badges Contractor employees must comply with NIST identification and access requirements. Each Contractor employee must wear a visible identification badge provided by the NIST Security Office.

Requirements for Contractor Personnel

Base IDIQ Contract Key Personnel:

As identified below, the Contractor shall assign a Supervisor/Program Manager as key personnel at the base IDIQ contract level for managing all tasks issued under the IDIQ contract. The Contractor’s Supervisor/Program Manager may or may not be one of the key personnel performing the tasks identified in task orders issued under the IDIQ contract. The Supervisor/Program Manager shall be responsible for managing the work across all task orders. The Supervisor/Program Manager will be designated as key personnel at the base IDIQ contract level.

At the IDIQ contract level, the contractor shall identify and provide a key personnel candidate for the following position. The key personnel will be identified in the resultant IDIQ contract and shall be subject to the terms and conditions of clause 1352.237-75 Key Personnel.

The following position is the ONLY contractor key personnel position required at the base IDIQ contract level:

1. Supervisor / Program Manager – [Key Personnel on IDIQ base contract]

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Description of Duties and Responsibilities: Responsible for managing the work across all task orders issued under the IDIQ contract.

Minimum Qualifications: Contractor personnel responsible for supervision and program management for task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have a formal program management certification, or demonstrable equivalent training and experience, that demonstrates a professional's knowledge, skills, and abilities in managing programs, which involves coordinating multiple projects and activities to achieve strategic objectives, and directing and managing program/project schedules, resources, and outcomes.

The Contractor shall be responsible for employing technically qualified personnel to perform the work specified in this SOW. The Contractor shall maintain the personnel, organization, and administrative control necessary to ensure that the work delivered meets task order requirements.

Personnel assigned to, or utilized by, the Contractor in performance of work shall be fully capable of performing the contemplated functions of the respective labor categories in an efficient, reliable, and professional manner.

Individual task orders issued under the IDIQ contract may contain contractor key personnel requirements. The contractor’s personnel under a given task order shall fall within the labor categories proposed and agreed upon by the contractor and Government, incorporated into the IDIQ contract.

Required IDIQ Labor Categories:

The following labor categories are categories that must be made available under the base IDIQ contract, at a minimum.

Allowable Education Equivalents:

For the following labor categories, five (5) years of relevant work experience is an allowable equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Two (2) years of relevant work experience plus an associate’s degree is also an allowable equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.

Project Manager

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 3 years minimum experience as project manager.

Responsibilities: Specific duties include defining project scope and requirements, managing project budget, acquiring creative and technical resources from internal and external resource pools, organizing team meetings, facilitating client meetings, product reviews and approvals, creating and maintaining production schedules, troubleshooting problems and communicating project status to internal clients, team members and Senior staff as required. Project Manager will also work with other departments within client company environment as project liaison to ensure successful implementation of product and interdepartmental support as needed. May participate in planning marketing strategies for product and provides input into the development of marketing materials. Works with all departments involved to implement the product on time and within budget.

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Research Manager

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 2 years minimum experience as research manager.

Responsibilities: Manages all aspect of the research facility, including scheduling the various stages of studies, setup and maintenance of the facilities and testing rooms, and running test-day operations. Will set up all cameras, on-screen recorders, audio sources, etc. for each study.

Assessor Level I:

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract for technology evaluations involving a text retrieval component shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources.

Responsibilities: Responsible for performing IR research support as described in individual task orders.

Level II:

Minimum Qualifications: All Contractor personnel working under task orders issued under this IDIQ contract shall have experience in intelligence analysis. This experience shall include work for the intelligence community such as the Department of Defense, National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and others gathering intelligence by examining large amounts of data from various sources.

Responsibilities: Responsible for performing IR research support as described in individual task orders, and assistance to new Assessors.

User Experience (UX) Researcher

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 3 years minimum experience as UX researcher.

Responsibilities: Assesses the current user experience and seeks to understand future user experience needs. Plans, moderates, and summarizes reporting of a wide range of research activities. Coordinates with the design team to ensure design assets are in alignment with the goals of the studies being conducted. Conducts and evaluates qualitative and quantitative user research to understand needs, goals, and challenges to make recommendations for maximum project benefit. Conducts data collection and analysis through ethnographic, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus groups, usability testing, surveys, persona creation, and experience mapping research techniques. Develops personas for each audience segment to enable a common understanding and adoption of each audience segment. Identifies, portrays, and evaluates the existing as well as to-be-created journey for a particular persona to help understand users and their challenges. Oversees UX lab operations including participant recruitment and scheduling, incentive disbursement, facility and equipment set-up, recording of research sessions.

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Usability Test Moderator

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 3 years minimum experience as usability test moderator.

Responsibilities: Oversees recruiting, can write the screener, and help identify the audience.

Recommends the methodology and writes the moderator’s guide. Moderates the study. Analyzes the data and makes recommendations. Writes a report based on the findings and can present the findings and recommendation to stakeholders.

Focus Group Moderator

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 3 years minimum experience as focus group moderator.

Responsibilities: Oversees recruiting, can write the screener, and help identify the audience.

Recommends the methodology and writes the moderator’s guide. Moderates the study. Analyzes the data and makes recommendations. Writes a report based on the findings and can present the findings and recommendations.

Senior Developer

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 6 years minimum experience as senior developer.

Responsibilities: The Senior Developer creates, codes, and maintains large-scale web sites and applications. Senior Developers will troubleshoot bugs and deal with cross-browser and interface testing as well as discuss requests with users for clarification. Senior Developers will recommend modifications to lower costs, enhance usability or expand functionality. Senior Developers create time and expense estimates to fulfill user requests. The Senior Developer uses in-depth knowledge of multiple technologies, user-centered analysis and evaluation techniques, and new programming standards to develop world-class products, sites and applications.

Developer

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 4 years minimum experience as developer.

Responsibilities: The Developer creates, codes and maintains user experiences for high profile web sites. Developers keep abreast of developing web technologies and issues and adhere to and develop new programming standards. They understand browser specific compatibility issues and ensure that they are delivering software which is fully compatible & fully exploits available capabilities.

QA Engineer

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Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 2 years minimum experience as QA Engineer.

Responsibilities: Test web sites and applications for technical and functional accuracy. Identify and evaluate tools that will streamline testing. Create test plans and cases by analyzing product requirements and system architecture; execute test plans accordingly. Document test results.

Report and track bugs and discrepancies between requirements and the product, facilitate remedies to any issues found.

Software Engineer Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 4 years minimum

Responsibilities: The Software Engineer is responsible for developing, implementing, and deploying a framework that facilitates the installation and execution of systems with large datasets on a GPU-accelerated cluster. The engineer will create a baseline algorithm to support various evaluation series. Additionally, the Software Engineer will conduct and implement experimental designs, curate datasets, and manage data by querying and translating data formats and specifications.

Computer Science/Electrical Engineer

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 4 years minimum

Responsibilities: Responsible for configuring, installing, and deploying the systems/hardware that performs the data collection. Assures that the data is properly collected, formatted, ground truthed, and stored (including backups) before it is made available to researchers.

Senior Writer

Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 6 years minimum experience as senior writer.

Responsibilities: To write, proofread and rewrite technical manuals, training materials, user documentation and presentations. May also write marketing materials, subject matter content, product narratives, descriptive text, or fulfill other writing needs. Maintain a library of technical publications and journals. Recommend changes to document formats to make them easier to develop and use. Coordinate the production and presentation of documents, text, artwork, photographs and other media requirements. Maintain and modify any documentation as needed because of changes to products. The Senior Writer may also be called upon to coordinate and/or manage teams of writers, as well as assist in setting marketing strategy.

V. SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES

Each task order placed under this contract will include deliverables and deliverable due dates to the maximum extent practicable.

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Standards of Acceptance: The NIST COR shall review all the above deliverables and respond with an ‘acceptance’ or ‘request for revision’ email to the Contractor Point of Contact (POC) within the period specified in the individual task order.

Performance Requirements Summary

Individual task orders under this contract will include a Performance Requirements Summary as applicable. The following is a sample Performance Requirements Summary for a task order involving usability testing components.

Task Desired Output

Required Service

Performance Standard

Monitoring Method

Research on user/participant demographics

Report on user/participant demographics

Research and document user/participant demographics

Document all collected data in accordance with the task protocol

100% inspection by

COR

Recruiting of task participants

Schedule of task participants

Recruit, screen, and schedule participants for HF and usability tasks

Recruit and screen required participants in accordance with the task protocol

100% inspection by

COR

Usability testing facilities

Configured onsite usability lab and recorded test sessions

Configure usability lab with screen, audio, and video capture capabilities

Configure lab and record each session (audio/video/screen ) per protocol

100% inspection by

COR

Developing task materials and instrumentation

Prepared task materials and instrumentation

Develop materials and instrumentation for usability sessions

Deliver materials and demonstrate instrumentation meets protocol requirements

100% inspection by

COR

Developing software to support HF and usability tasks

Developed software code

Develop software in accordance with task protocol requirements

Develop software using a defined and documented SDLC process

100% inspection by

COR

Conducting or assisting usability task protocols

Facilitated usability sessions

Configure data collection mechanisms and support task execution

Document all data collected in accordance with the task protocol

100% inspection by

COR

Implementation and proctoring of surveys

Developed and disseminated survey

Develop and administer surveys per protocol

Document survey design, implementation, distribution, and collected data

100% inspection by

COR

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Facilitating interviews

Completed interviews with documentation

Conduct interviews, take notes, and transcribe recordings

Provide interview methodology and collected data

100% inspection by

COR

Analyzing data Completed data analysis results

Perform data analysis per task protocol

Provide documented analysis results

100% inspection by

COR

Compensating task participants

Compensation records for participants

Compensate participants per task protocol

Document participant schedules and compensation provided

100% inspection by

COR

Project management

Successful task execution and timely deliverables

Manage quality and timeliness of all tasks and deliverables provide activity reports detailing progress and issues

100% inspection by

COR

Individual task orders under this contract will include a Performance Requirements Summary as applicable. The following is a sample Performance Requirements Summary for a task order involving technology evaluation components.

Task Desired Output Required Service

Performance Standard

Monitoring Method

Creating topic statements

Developed and refined topics

Create initial topic statements, explore the collection, select final topics, refine topic statements

Create XX-XX initial topic statements at X/hour; create XX refined topic statements at X topics/hour

100% inspection by COR

Topic relevance assessments

Completed relevance assessments

Assess pool of topics as relevant or not

Judge X-XX topics at X topics/hour

100% inspection by COR

Homepage relevance assessments

Judged homepages

Assess pool of pages as relevant (or not) homepages for each topic

Judge pools of homepages at X topics/hour

100% inspection by COR

Creating known-item queries for video search systems

Created known-item queries

Create video queries

Create queries at X queries/hour

100% inspection by COR

Assessment of videos

Judged video clips

View and assess video clips

Assess XX short video clips per hour (avg)

100% inspection by COR

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Descriptions of videos

S…