19FS1A21N4000 Draft SOW.pdf

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

STATEMENT OF WORK

Needs Assessment Contractor

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Foreign Service Institute

School of Professional and Area Studies Economic and Commercial Studies (ECON)

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

STATEMENT OF WORK

Needs Assessment Contractor

1.0 Introduction

The Department of State’s (DOS) Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides training and professional development to civilian personnel of the DOS and the foreign affairs community. The Division of Economic and Commercial Studies (ECON) of the School of Professional and Area Studies (SPAS) at FSI provides members of the foreign affairs community with the knowledge, skills, and tools they require to analyze overseas economic and commercial developments and assist U.S. firms seeking advice, market access, trade and investment opportunities, defending investment and trade rights, and participating in overseas projects to promote the growth of U.S. jobs.

Ambassadors, Deputy Chiefs of Mission and Principal Officers (ADPOs) at consulates and missions lead U.S. government interagency efforts to promote opportunities for U.S firms overseas. Their efforts are especially vital for small and medium sized U.S. firms that lack subject matter expertise or an in-depth understanding of the local business climate. While some ADPOs have substantial experience with U.S. Government programs aimed at supporting American business abroad, others may lack the critical knowledge and on-the-job experience needed to optimize their commercial advocacy efforts.

Participants in ADPO courses fall into two categories:

• Mid- and senior level Foreign Service Officers with seven to 20+ years of work experience. However, many of these are not from the economic specialization, and therefore may lack extensive experience in U.S. business promotion.

• Ambassadors who are political appointees. They may have extensive business experience, but may lack familiarity with U.S. government programs to assist business promotion.

2.0 Purpose

ECON requires a contractor to design and conduct a needs assessment to 1. Assess the state of existing senior-level commercial advocacy training(current state), 2.Identify the desired state, 3. If a gap exists, indicate how these courses should be modified to be more effective, including suggesting new training modules if appropriate in addition to non-training solutions and 3. Recommend the optimal formats for ADPO learning.

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

The contractor will be expected to work with ECON’s staff as well as staff of the Leadership and Management School of the Foreign Service Institute (LMS).

3.0 Background

FSI provides training and professional development to personnel of the Department of State and is the federal government’s primary training institution for Department personnel and other U.S. Government foreign affairs professionals. FSI’s mission is to develop the men and women needed to advance and defend U.S. interests. FSI offers more than 700 classroom courses, including some 70 foreign languages, about 270 custom-developed distance-learning products, and about 2,700 commercial distance-learning courses available via Internet. Annual enrollment exceeds 100,000 students.

4.0 Needs Assessment

4.1 Needs Assessment

The goals of this needs assessment are to determine:

1. What knowledge and skills and attitudes (KSAs) do ADPO’s need to effectively build, lead, and empower commercial advocacy teams at their posts?

2. What type of learning structure would best deliver such knowledge and skills?

3. What “lessons learned” from commercial advocacy cases would be useful to ADPO’s?

4. What strategies do competing governments use to promote their countries’ commercial interests, and how best can U.S. missions counter them?

5.0 Requirements

ECON requires a contractor to design and conduct a needs assessment to 1. Evaluate the effectiveness of existing senior-level commercial advocacy training, 2. Indicate how these courses should be modified to be more effective, including suggesting new training modules if appropriate and 3. Recommend the optimal formats for ADPO learning.

This will require the following:

a. Consultation with ECON and LMS staff on the structure and content of the needs assessment.

b. Gathering information via the needs assessment. This includes interviewing high level Department of State and other USG agency officials, currently serving ADPOs, as well as interviewing private sector business organizations.

c. Conduct focus groups and in-depth interviews in Washington and overseas via DVC/conference call covering each State Department region (AF, EAP, EUR, NEA, SCA, WHA), large, medium and small posts with and without Foreign Commercial Service (FCS)

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

presence, U.S. Embassies and missions with a commercial focus (e.g. the United States Mission to the European Union), and developed and developing nations.

d. Compile the data generated from the needs assessment and focus groups into a comprehensive report to the Director of the Foreign Service Institute, including recommendations for course design and content.

The contractor will be responsible for delivering the fully completed report of needs assessment findings, recommendations and the raw data of the needs assessment to ECON.

5.1 The period of performance will be one six-month period.

5.2 The contractor may fulfill the contract in their primary office setting, and via meetings with needed participants at their offices or other venues. Transportation and other costs will be paid for out of the contract funds and are not reimbursable to FSI. The primary location will be the Foreign Service Institute, 4000 Arlington Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia. The Government will not provide local transportation or parking costs to and from FSI.

5.3 The Contractor, under the direction of the ECON Director and the COR, with consultation with LMS staff will:

Organize and conduct the needs assessment. Contractor will meet with ECON Director to review their work a) once they have created the outline of the needs assessment, b) once contractor has written the needs assessment questions, and c) once contractor has written the interview questions and complied a list of interviewees. The ECON Director, with the assistance of LMS and curriculum development specialists as needed, will ensure these materials conform to achieving the end goal of the needs assessment as defined in this contract and in the initial grant document.

Provide a draft of the report, including executive summary and recommendations, to the ECON Director who, in consultation with LMS staff, will ensure the report format is consistent with FSI requirements.

Provide the final report, in conjunction to the ECON Director, who will submit it to the FSI Director.

Provide a copy of all materials, including all raw data of the needs assessment, to the ECON Director in order to assist FSI in implementing the needs assessment report recommendations.

If due to illness or other indisposition, contractor is unable to complete the needs assessment report on the specified due date, contractor must alert ECON Director no later than two weeks before the specified due date. The ECON Director will then determine if an extension is feasible; however the maximum extension period is nine months from the date the contract is signed. If contractor fails to provide the needs assessment after an agreed extension period, the ECON Director, with concurrence from the FSI Acquisitions office and the Dean of the School of Professional and Area Studies, can withhold up to 10 percent of the contract

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

cost for every month the final report is delayed after the agreed extension period.

Contractor will be paid as project milestones are achieved.

The final payment installment shall follow presentation of the final report to the FSI Director, and copies of the report and raw data to the ECON Director. ECON COR will certify these conditions have been met.

5.3.1 The contractor shall provide the following administrative services:

1. Provide a draft and then final of the needs assessment.

2. Provide a work plan to the ECON Director. This will include:

a. The list of individuals who will receive a needs assessment.

b. The list of focus groups, and their participants.

c. The list of high level individuals the contractor will interview.

3. Provide a draft and then final of the needs assessment report and recommendations.

4. Provide a copy of the needs assessment, focus groups, and interviews raw data.

5.4 Needs Assessment Structure and Design

Module Structure: The contractor will design the needs assessment in a manner consistent with FSI’s Policies and Standards for Curriculum and Evaluation

5.5 Personnel Qualifications

Subject matter expertise (SME): Contractor must have the following qualifications:

▪ At least 20 years as a foreign affairs professional, affiliated with the Department of State, Department of Commerce, USTR or Department of Treasury. This maybe in the form of a former government employee and contractor with the majority of the experience being as a former government employee.

▪ Proven experience in engaging high-level USG officials on subject matter issues.

▪ Experience working on U.S. business promotion, assisting U.S. businesses overseas, promoting U.S. exports.

▪ Familiarity with Foreign Service Institute senior-level training is highly desired.

▪ Evidence of collaboration with diverse stakeholders in the foreign affairs and/or government foreign policy environment.

▪ Experience in designing and implementing needs assessments, gaps analyses, or similar reports is highly desirable.

5.7 Security Clearance Requirements

None

6.0 Deliverables and Milestones

The contractor must prepare and deliver all deliverables/reports by the dates specified in

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

Table 1, Delivery Schedule. The government reserves the right to modify the deliverable requirements during the performance of the order.

Table 1: Delivery Schedule

Deliverables Delivery Schedule

Formal consultation with ECON and SLS staff

Draft Design of Needs Assessment and Plan for focus groups. ECON must edit/approve within ten workdays.

Focus groups finished, needs assessment distributed and results received, interviews finished.

Draft of final report to ECON

Final Report to FSI Director

Due two weeks after contract finalized.

Due 30 days after contract

Due five months after contract finalized.

Two weeks before end of six months.

Six months after contract

7.0 Quality Assurance

The contractor must facilitate a high-quality, coherent, appropriate needs assessment, specific to facilitating FSI’s senior level leadership training.

Quality:

The Contractor must adhere to the requirements outlined in the SOW and facilitate a high quality, coherent, appropriate needs assessment. Multiple measurements will be used to formulate a rating between 1-5 including types of questions, number of focus groups and interviews, timeliness of delivery, and observations by ECON Director, and the COR.

Timeliness of Performance:

The Contractor must adhere to the deadlines specified by the COR with regard to providing the needs assessment and final report and/or participating in planning meetings and progress

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

report meetings. The rating between 1-5 will be formulated by the COR based on his/her observation and input from the Economic and Commercial Training Division Director.

Business Relations/Customer Satisfaction:

The Contractor must provide effective customer service to the internal FSI clients of this BPA Setup - COR, and Economic and Commercial Training Division Director – per contractor duties in the SOW. The COR will use his/her expertise and general observance of interactions and customer service. A rating between 1-5 will be tabulated for this evaluation based on Director and stakeholder feedback, and COR observations. The COR observations will include timeliness of responses to inquiries and requests within the scope of the contract and delivery of training.

8.0 Contractor Travel

No contractor travel costs will be reimbursed.

9.0 Roles and Responsibilities

9.1 Listed in Table 2 are the primary roles and responsibilities for the personnel who will be supporting contractual requirements, both from the government and the contractor’s perspective.

Table 2: Roles and Responsibilities Chart

Role Responsibility Contracting Officer (CO) A Contracting Officer is an individual who has the authority to enter into, administer, or terminate contracts and make related acquisition determinations and findings. As a warranted government professional, the CO is the only person who can make awards and changes/modifications to the contract, and legally bind the government.

Contracting Officer Representative (COR) This individual is assigned as the liaison to the CO for the contract. The COR performs day-to-day management of the program, ensuring that performance is done in conformance with the schedule and quality requirements within the scope of the contract. The COR’s responsibility is limited to technical direction, acceptance of deliverables, surveillance, monitoring, and recommending proposed changes in scope or provisions to the contract to the

CO.

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

Government Technical Monitor (GTM) This individual interfaces with the government COR.

The GTM’s primary job is to ensure that contractor personnel provide quality and timely performance within the scope of the contract. The GTM will have responsibility for ensuring that all contractor personnel issues are addressed in a timely fashion to ensure minimal operational disruptions to the contract.

9.2 The contractor shall not perform the following duties related to this work:

• Evaluation Design and Development - FSI will design, develop, and implement Kirkpatrick evaluations. No vendor action is required.

• Course design or redesign – FSI LMS and FSI ECON will design, develop, and implement any course changes or new courses which may result from the final Needs Assessment Report recommendations. Any changes/new courses will be approved by the FSI Director.

10. Quotes and Evaluation Criteria

To facilitate evaluation per the criteria listed below, the offeror must format the quote per the instructions below:

1. A proposed technical approach for producing the deliverable including suggested design of the needs assessment, in-person interview list, focus group participants lists.

2. Resumes of key technical personnel who will work directly on the project, including examples of foreign affairs and commercial experience. The Government requires that any individuals whose qualifications are included in the proposal are deemed key technical personnel.

3. Project plan to include milestones. If any revisions are made to the Government’s required deliverable schedule in Section 6.0, the project plan must explain and justify relevant specifics as required by the vendor’s technical approach.

4. Examples of previously produced needs assessments or reports, including executive summaries and recommendations where appropriate.

5. Fully-loaded firm fixed price quote.

The Government will evaluate quotes submitted in response to this RFQ considering the following evaluation criteria listed below. All parts of the offerors quote, including technical approach and proposed key personnel will be incorporated as a component of the awarded task order.

1. Technical Approach- the government will evaluate the quote on how well the offeror’s quoted approach to developing the deliverable meets our requirements as stated in the

This document is a draft SOW intended use as part of a Request for Information (RFI)/ Sources Sought (SS) notice.

It has been developed by the Government for market research purposes only. Nothing in this document can be construed to bind the Government in any way. A formal solicitation for this requirement may/ may not follow.

PWS. The approach must demonstrate an understanding of the requirement and a viable path to the solution.

2. Proposed Key Personnel/ SME Team Lead- the government will review the qualifications of the proposed key personnel /SME Team Lead against the requirements stated in the PWS. Resumes must highlight relevant capabilities of key technical personnel who will work directly on the project.

3. Experience- The government will evaluate the schedule holder’s corporate experience in performing relevant work similar in scope and size. Contract holders with more relevant experience will be evaluated positively.

4. Proposed project plan – The government will evaluate the project plan on feasibility and adherence to schedule.

5. Past Performance- The Government will review past performance.

6. Price- The government will evaluate the quoted fully burdened firm-fixed price to ensure reasonable pricing. Price will not be evaluated on a deliverable basis. Only the overall price will be evaluated.

The Government will consider all evaluation criteria listed above and will make an award decision based on a best value determination in accordance with FAR. The Government reserves the right to award an order to other than the lowest price offeror. However, when quotes are technically similar price may become the determining factor in the best value determination.