Attachment_1_Data_Analysis_&_Viz_PWS_19FS1A18Q5000.pdf

DOS/FSI/EX/ACQ

United States Department of State Foreign Service Institute

School of Applied Information Technology (SAIT) Performance Work Statement (PWS)

DOS/FSI/SAIT/BA requires a vendor to design and deliver interactive workshops to expand data literacy for Department employees who produce and consume data.

Data Literacy, Analysis, & Visualization Workshops

Background The U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the bureau of record responsible for providing training opportunities in support of the Department’s mission. The School of Applied Information Technology (SAIT) is the school within FSI responsible for conducting IT training for the entire Department. In support of Department of State goals to increase employee data literacy, SAIT delivers a course “Data Analysis & Visualization” to employees taught by in-house instructional staff. Students use Microsoft Excel for all class exercises and are introduced to other software tools during discussion and presentations delivered by members of the State Department’s Data Community.

Information about the existing introductory Data Analysis and Visualization course taught by Department of State in-house staff is provided below with the intention of clarifying the training we currently have the capacity to deliver, thus separating it from what we hope to achieve through the procurement of data literacy workshops:

Audience: All Department of State Direct-hire employees. This includes Foreign Service Officers and Specialists, Civil Service employees, and Locally Employed Staff at our embassies and consulates overseas. Since December 2017, we have taught this class to 200 employees representing more than 25 Department bureaus who work in a broad range of functional work-streams. The class is not tailored to specific work-streams, rather the students (maximum 12 per class) are all of mixed functional work backgrounds. All class exercises use Department-specific data sets that would have relevance and/or meaning to most employees. Students to date have also represented a broad range of experience at the Department from entry-level to senior Foreign Service.

Course Description: In Data Analysis & Visualization students learn how to perform practical data analysis (prepare and navigate data sets for analysis, explore preliminary patterns, calculate descriptive statistics, and create pivot tables) and communicate their findings by applying principles of data visualization (creating a plan tailored to audience, method of delivery, and desired message/story for the data) through creation of charts, graphs, and dashboards. Students use Microsoft's Excel 2016 and Power BI for all class exercises and are introduced to other software tools during discussion and presentations delivered by colleagues who are members of the Department of State’s Data Community.

Course Objectives: Prepare data sets for analysis, Perform basic and advanced data analysis, Identify and develop effective data visualization techniques.

Pre-Requisite Knowledge: Basic working-level experience with Excel.

Length of Course: This is a three-day (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) class.

Evaluation Data: The class has been well-received, with employees newer to data analysis providing the highest scores while more experienced students have asked for more advanced-levels of this type of training for themselves while also making the case for data literacy training aimed at managerial and executive-level leadership audiences.

Demand for this introductory-level class is high, and employees performing a wide spectrum of functional work as well as those serving in roles from entry-level to senior-level have expressed interest in receiving additional “data literacy” training culminating in a requirement for a series of data literacy workshops. Department employees have access to online training covering various toolsets that can be used for data analysis and visualization (beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau) and concept-based online training (data visualization essentials, data collection and measurement in Six Sigma).

Purpose FSI is seeking subject matter experts to design and deliver highly interactive workshops to expand data literacy for Department employees. We aim to procure three distinct workshops for two types of employees: 1) those who are producers of data analysis (typically program analysts and employees who synthesize, analyze, and produce presentations to be consumed by Department leaders and policy makers) and 2) those who are consumers of data analysis (typically managerial and executive-level employees who must make decisions based on the information given to them and must direct the aforementioned “producers” to perform analysis that suits their needs.) The intent is to augment existing in-house training, described in the Background statement, by tapping outside expertise in the data field to provide three distinct data literacy, data analysis, and data visualization workshops to a broad spectrum of Department employees. While attendance prior completion of the existing Data Analysis & Visualization course is not a pre-requisite for attendance, it is anticipated that many of the students in these workshops, especially the “producers”, will have already completing this training.

Scope The Department of State’s work covers a vast spectrum of functional work and foreign policy activities (www.state.gov), and we are aiming to encourage Department employees at all levels within the organization to embrace a data-driven culture. We are therefore looking to offer a repeatable series of workshops delivered to two difference audiences: analysts who produce data analysis and executives and managers who consume data analysis to inform decision and policy making. We invite vendors to propose responses for workshops directed at either “Producers of Data Analysis” (Workshop #1 and Workshop #2) or “Consumers of Data Analysis” (Workshop#3) or both audiences (all three workshops). We expect to offer each workshop approximately three times per year, but the actual number of offerings may vary based on need.

We are interested in face-to-face interactive workshops to be delivered to a minimum of 12 and no more than 25 employees in classroom environments at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, VA. Class hours at FSI run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a 45-minute lunch break and two 15-minute breaks each day. To extend the training to a full 8-hour day, we file://fsiexacqfp01/ACQ_Staff_Share/Solicitations/FY18/Online%20Labs%20RFI%20for%20SAIT/Draft%20PWS/www.state.gov require that awarded vendor(s) offer a 1 hour tutorial or advisory session following the conclusion of each day of the formal workshop during the 4-5 p.m. timeslot for any employee who wishes to stay and ask for additional help.

Training for Producers of Data Analysis Tool training designed for employees already familiar with Excel and those who are practitioners of data analysis and looking to take their skills to a more advanced level. These employees would already be proficient with Excel and regularly perform data analysis in their work. It is likely that employees who apply for either of these workshop will have taken our in-house offering of “Data Analysis & Visualization.” Employees who choose to attend the following workshops will have the following performance outcomes:

Workshop 1: Business Data Analysis: Advanced Excel & Power BI

Workshop Duration: 3 days

• Use advanced-level features of Microsoft Excel

• Execute statistical and predictive models in Excel

• Create static and interactive visualizations using Excel

• Demonstrate Excel’s functionality through connectivity to Microsoft’s Power BI and other platforms and software

Workshop 2: Business Data Analysis: Programming with R

Workshop Duration: 3 days

• Perform the foundations and effective use of R programming

• Install and configure R for statistical programming environment

• Load, clean, and visualize data in R

• Demonstrate how to apply algorithms to build predictive models using R

• Create static and interactive visualizations using R

• Demonstrate R’s functionality through connectivity to R packages, and other platforms, and software

Department employees who produce data analysis and data visualization are attracted to “hands-on” and practical “how-to” workshops. Department employees at the analyst level have experience with analyzing subject matter policies, field reporting and other contextual or text-based analyses but need to learn how to incorporate data analysis and best practices into their data visualizations. Building on the existing “Data Analysis & Visualization” class SAIT already offers, these Department employees are eager to learn new tools and take their Excel proficiency to the highest level while others are ready to learn and effectively use the R programming language. They want to become more familiar with data analysis and visualization concepts, best practices, and strategies to create effective visualizations and to tell stories with data.

Training for Consumers of Data Analysis

Workshop 3: Business Data Analysis for Managers & Executives

Workshop Duration: 3 days

Non-tool training designed for managerial and executive audiences. Employees who attend this class will have the following performance outcomes:

• Describe the benefits of data-driven strategies within organizations

• Apply principles of valid data analytics, data visualization, and data science

• Develop a framework for questions to which data analytics can be applied

• Identify the hallmarks of effective data storytelling

• Identify foreign policy-related data sources

• Discuss best practices from other data-driven organizations

• Identify issues surrounding data ethics and cognitive bias to avoid data pitfalls and improper use of data and data analytics

Executive and managerial-level staff need to understand how to navigate and query data presentations, as well as how to interpret data analysis to better inform their decision-making processes and to create compelling data stories of their own to justify the need for resources and/or to negotiate a particular policy. Department employees at the executive and managerial level are consumers of data analysis and are attracted to training events that would provide inspiring examples of data analysis and data visualization as effective and essential drivers influencing strategic resource planning and policy making. Principles of data analysis, trend analysis, high-level overviews of predictive modeling, and knowing how to recognize and avoid data pitfalls such as data bias are all topics that would help leaders build a more data-driven organization.

Performance Requirements

1. Curriculum Design & Delivery: The contractor shall be tasked with designing, developing, and delivering the curriculum of the workshops.

2. Collaborative Meetings: The contractor will participate in collaborative meetings (in person or via telephone) with FSI staff to review and refine curriculum content and delivery plans. The content of meetings includes refining design plans, integrating workshop feedback, and guiding learning scenarios that align with the context of FSI.

These meetings will not be billed separately so the cost shall be included in the fully burdened firm fixed session rates.

3. Technical Specifications: When applicable, students will have access to PCs with Windows 10 operating system and Microsoft Office 2016, Microsoft PowerBI, and Tableau Reader as well as internet connection to view online sites, though they will not be allowed to download new software. In the case of R training, students will have access to computers that can connect to an alternate network. FSI will work with the trainer to discuss logistics and identify a technical solution for the class. The contracted instructor(s), when working on premises, will have access to a Department of State unclassified computer and/or be able to connect his/her laptop to the audio/visual equipment in the classroom. Both WiFi and wired connections to the internet are available.

Instructor Qualifications Each instructor included in the technical proposal shall have the following professional experience and skills: experience in performing Data Literacy, Analysis and Visualization work. Demonstrated understanding of Foreign Affairs work. Experience teaching adult learners in this field. Experience teaching this field to the Federal workforce.

Operating Constraints While the students will have access to the internet, they will not be able to download software unapproved by the Department of State for use during delivery of the workshops. All software must be approved in advance of the workshops.

Place of Performance/Delivery The contractor will deliver instruction to employees in a classroom or lecture hall at the Department of State’s training campus: 4000 Arlington Blvd. Arlington, VA 22204.

Department of State George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center Shultz Center FSI Washington, DC 20522-4201

Government-Furnished Property When working on premises, a Department of State unclassified computer will be provided and/or the contractor will be able to connect his/her laptop to the audio/visual equipment in the classroom.

Fully Loaded Firm Fixed Price Session Rate One session is defined as all required preparation plus delivery of one 3 day workshop to include the 1 hour of on-site availability for advisory/tutorial services at the end of each training day.

The Contractor is entitled to bill at one session rate per complete 3 day workshop, regardless of the number of participants (no less than 12 and no more than 25).

Session rates provided by the contractor shall be fully loaded and inclusive of all costs for which the contractor expects compensation, including travel to and from the place of performance in Arlington, VA. No other costs shall be billed separately.

Security Clearance Requirements None.

Anticipated Period of Performance September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2023