2020-10-28_KI_Simplified_Sole_Source_jensign.pdf

SOLE SOURCE - SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITIONS

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

RECOMMENDATION AND DETERMINATION TO SOLICIT FROM ONE SOURCE

I recommend that NSF negotiate with Knowinnovation only for NSF SII-Center Proposers’ Lab.

I have reviewed other products/services to identify other vendors which might meet NSF’s requirements through one of the following methods:

GSA Schedule Open Market Price Lists Previous requirements X Other: Market Research

FAR 19.502-2 requires award to Small Business for supplies or services with an anticipated dollar value exceeding $3,000. If applicable specify why award is being recommended to other than a Small Business.

X No other Small Company can supply the equipment or service The Company does not have a small business distributor that can supply the equipment or service GSA schedule does not provide the equipment or service from small business Other:

The total estimated cost, including shipping and handling (if applicable), of this effort is $95,700.

This recommendation is made pursuant to FAR 13.106, for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source. Competition is impractical for the following reasons:

Justification

The NSF Spectrum Innovation Initiative (SII) is a new NSF program designed to catalyze innovation research and cooperation between the nation’s many sectors engaged in spectrum research, including but not limited to federal agencies, commercial business, academic researchers, and formal and informal education institutions. In May 2020 NSF awarded 17 SII-Center planning grants to encourage interested groups to begin work designing plans for a national SII-Center that will meet the broad and visionary goals of NSF’s SII program. The SII-Center is a 5-year, $25M grant from NSF that is planned to be awarded in summer 2021. Because of the broad and visionary scope that NSF aims to support in an SII-Center, it is essential that NSF engage in pre-proposal activities with the prospective proposers to make clear the aims and goals that NSF seeks to enable through this new initiative. From the SII-Center solicitation, NSF aims for the SII-Center to “…go beyond 5G, IoT, and other existing or forthcoming systems and technologies and chart out a trajectory to ensure United States leadership in future wireless technologies, systems, and applications in science and engineering through the efficient use and sharing of the radio spectrum.

The SII-Center should also seek to foster scientific and technical collaboration and grow the spectrum workforce. The establishment of an SII-Center will have a transformational impact on wireless spectrum research by serving as a connecting point for the biggest and most challenging questions in spectrum management that the nation is facing.”

NSF’s approach to helping proposers to plan the most competitive SII-Center proposals includes two key pre-proposal activities.

1 – in November, NSF will hold a NSF-run two-day webinar (no funding requested here – mentioned here only for context) of speakers and panel discussions to make clear to proposers what key national resources available are available for spectrum research and what key challenges various stakeholders feel need to be addressed in the coming years. Many of these challenges will be complex requiring sophisticated and likely novel solutions.

2 – in December, NSF will hold a 2-day Proposers’ Lab that will be facilitated through an expert external contractor (funding requested through this sole-source request) that will bring together likely proposers to brainstorm novel solutions and Center designs and possibly to catalyze individual proposers to join forces to submit a stronger combined proposal. The design of this Proposers’ Lab will borrow from the highly successful NSF IdeasLabs that have previously been used to develop new and novel solutions to challenging research problems in advance of other NSF funding opportunities (see, e.g., https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505229).

NSF has had success with the IdeasLab model and Knowinnovation has been the exclusive provider of development and support services for the facilitation of NSF’s past IdeasLabs. A key element of the Proposers’ Lab (as was also true with NSF’s past IdeasLabs) is the careful planning of Lab activities through collaboration meetings between NSF Program Officers and other scientists together with Knowinnovation’s activity managers. The need to catalyze novel ideas and new productive relationships between researchers who previously have not worked together and who may have previously been competitors is a great challenge and requires careful social engagement management. This is a key element of what Knowinnvation does in its Lab pre-activity with NSF. No other comparable contractor has been identified through market research that is able to provide both the pre-activity planning and development as well as the day-of facilitation of the activity.

Pursuant to FAR 5.201, this proposed contract action will be synopsized in FedBizOps. The results received in writing will be added to this document by addendum.

Deputy Division Director 28 October 2020 Division of Astronomical Sciences (Name) Date (Title) (Office)

(Added by Contracting Officer after synopsis)

(Insert the following if over $25K)

Pursuant to FAR 5.201, the proposed contract action was synopsized. No other firms requested consideration under this procurement.

[ OR ]

https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505229

(Contracting Officer explain other results of synopsis)

I hereby accept the above stated recommendation and determine that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

Contracting Officer Date