2023-R-017 Executive Search Services.pdf

U.S. CONGRESS

EXECUTIVE SEARCH SUPPORT – ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

STATEMENT OF WORK

1. INTRODUCTION

The United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (“Committee”), on behalf of the Congressional Commission described in section 1801 of title 2 of the United States Code (“Commission”), seeks the services of a professional executive search firm to assist in conducting a national search to identify qualified candidates for the 13th Architect of the Capitol.

2. BACKGROUND

The Architect of the Capitol (“Architect”) is responsible to the United States Congress for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex, which includes the Capitol building, the congressional office buildings, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Capitol Power Plant, the Capitol Grounds and Arboretum, and other facilities. In total, the Architect oversees approximately 18.5 million square feet of space across 36 structures. The agency is comprised of approximately 2,200 employees and has an annual budget of approximately $1.3 billion.

The Architect is appointed for a 10-year term as described by 2 U.S.C. § 1801. The salary of the Architect of the Capitol is $183,100.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

The selected vendor shall provide comprehensive executive search services, to include executing a variety of methods and strategies to identify and screen highly qualified candidates. The vendor shall conduct due diligence and interview highly qualified candidates as identified by the vendor’s search, or as referred to the vendor by the Committee on behalf of the Commission. The vendor shall identify for the Committee a minimum of six (6) candidates for interview by the Commission.

4. REQUIREMENTS

4.1. Kick-off Meeting

The vendor shall attend a kick-off meeting within 30 days of its selection with the Committee and members of the Commission in Washington, DC, to review the contract, identify project expectations and milestones, review the project timeline, establish communication protocols between the vendor and the Committee, and establish the process for submission of candidate materials for the Committee’s and Commission’s review.

4.2. Position Validation and Search Plan

The vendor shall review documents provided by the Committee on behalf of the Commission, and conduct interviews with personnel from the office of the Architect of the Capitol and members of the Commission, to validate the Architect of the Capitol position profile and the skills and experience most relevant to identifying suitable candidates. Using this input, the vendor shall develop an executive search plan including, but not necessarily limited to:

4.2.1. A written profile of the characteristics, qualifications, skills, competencies, and experiences that a desirable candidate should possess. The Committee will review this profile on behalf of the Commission and suggest modifications, as necessary.

4.2.2. An executive search schedule reflecting a detailed plan for accomplishing a search for potential candidates, including relevant milestones, consistent with the vendor’s standard practices for conducting recruitment to identify a diverse group of potential candidates.

The Committee will have approval of the final search schedule and plan presented by the vendor.

4.3. Candidate Search

The vendor shall conduct a national search for candidates whose skills, competencies, and experiences align with the profile created for the position. The vendor shall assess the skills, competencies, and experiences of the interested individuals resulting from its search, as well as any individuals referred by the Committee on behalf of the Commission, and shall determine the most promising candidates.

Before any candidate is recommended to the Committee for the review of the Commission, the vendor’s Executive Search Director shall personally interview the candidate according to the vendor’s standard recruitment practices for executive positions of comparable national visibility.

4.4. Candidate Recommendation Report

The vendor shall submit to the Committee a report to the Commission identifying a minimum of 6 candidates suitable to be recommended by the Commission for nomination as the 13th Architect of the Capitol. The report shall include written assessments of each candidate’s experience, qualifications, and skills relative to the position profile; evidence of the vendor’s due diligence including reference checks and verifications of all aspects of the candidate’s prior experience, educational history, and background information; and all other information gained through the vendor’s assessment, screening, and interview process.

5. DELIVERABLES

Section Description of Deliverable Due Date

5.1 - Project Schedule Detailed report outlining each milestone, the tasks required to achieve it and the schedule.

Kick Off meeting

5.2 - Position Profile & Executive Search Plan

Report content in accordance with Sections 4.2.1 and 4.2.2.

Within three (3) weeks of award

5.3 - Bi-weekly Progress Reports

Report of the progress made every two weeks and progress on the established milestones.

Every two (2) weeks

5.4 - Initial Qualified Candidates List

List of qualified candidates before interviews are conducted by the search firm.

After qualified candidates are identified

5.5 - Interview Reports Reports on the interviews conducted with each candidate, including the interviewer’s impressions.

After interviews are conducted

5.6 - Final Candidate Recommendation Report (Minimum of 6 Candidates)

Report of the final recommended candidates after interviews are conducted.

Report shall include the information in section 4.4 above.

Within three (3) months after award

6. ANTICIPATED SCHEDULE

The Committee anticipates an executive search schedule of approximately 3 months, starting from the date of the kick-off meeting. If a shorter or longer schedule is proposed, the vendor should explain the basis for the proposed schedule.

7. KEY PERSONNEL

The vendor shall propose an Executive Search Director with a demonstrated level of professional expertise and experience necessary to successfully meet or exceed the requirements of this statement of work. The Executive Search Director shall be responsible to the Committee for all candidate search and recruitment tasks, including the requirement to personally interview qualified candidates, and shall be the direct point of contact with the Committee.

8. TRAVEL COSTS

The Committee is unable to pay vendor personnel or candidate travel expenses on a reimbursable basis. Accordingly, consistent with the price quotation instructions, each vendor shall propose a separate not-to-exceed price for all travel and incidental expenses anticipated in connection with the statement of work.

Travel and incidental expenses shall be itemized and invoiced to the Committee on a monthly basis.

9. ORAL PRESENTATION

The vendor’s proposed Executive Search Director shall provide a 30-minute presentation to representatives of the Committee and the Commission in Washington, DC. The presentation shall explain the vendor’s executive search approach, proposed schedule, and proposed personnel to complete the requirements of this recruitment project. The presentation should specifically address unique aspects of this executive search and the challenges and risks that the vendor anticipates in connection with recruiting well qualified candidates to be recommended for nomination as the 13th Architect of the Capitol.

Oral presentations will be scheduled by invitation to follow, and will be held during the period of March 27 – March 31. The Committee’s invitation will contain a specific date of presentation.

Once the presentation date and time is accepted, the vendor shall complete their presentation on the scheduled date and time.

10. PRICE AND TECHNICAL QUOTATIONS

Price

The vendor shall submit a fixed price quotation comprised of two contract line item numbers (CLINs), using the attached price quotation table (Attachment 1) and signed by an authorized representative of the vendor.

For CLIN 0001, the vendor shall propose a fixed price for all services necessary to accomplish an executive search consistent with the requirements of this statement of work. For CLIN 0002, the vendor shall propose a not-to-exceed price for reasonable required travel and incidental expenses anticipated in connection with the statement of work.

Technical

The vendor shall submit a brief synopsis of the organizational capabilities, corporate experience, individual experience, and past performance relating to executive recruiting services relevant to the search requirements for similar executive level positions.

Provide one (1)-page resumes for the proposed Executive Search Director and any other personnel necessary to execute this executive recruitment effort for the Board.

11. EVALUATION CRITERIA

This is a best value, competitive source selection conducted in accordance with the Senate Procurement Regulations. The Committee intends to select the single vendor determined to be most advantageous to the Committee, considering technical, oral presentations, and price.

For the purposes of a best value tradeoff analysis, between the evaluation factors, Technical and Oral Presentations are equal; both together are more important than Price. The importance of

Price as a factor could become greater where vendors’ technical approaches are evaluated as more equal.

The Committee may, based on the evaluation process described above, decide that award on the basis of initial quotations is not in the best interests of the Committee. In such an instance, the Committee may establish a competitive range of those vendors having a reasonable chance for award, may conduct discussions with, and only with, each of the vendors included in the competitive range, and request that each of the vendors so included submit final quotation revisions. Exchanges may vary based on the Board’s need to understand or to give the vendors an opportunity to improve their quotations, but all exchanges will be fair and equitable.

Following an evaluation and, where appropriate, a tradeoff analysis, the Committee may make a single award to the vendor determined to represent the best value to the Congress. The Committee reserves the right to make an award based on other than the lowest quoted price, according to the evaluation factors. The Committee, on behalf of the Commission, reserves the right not to award a contract depending on the quality of the responses and the availability of funds. The Committee will not provide debriefings.

12. INSTRUCTIONS

The following are the instructions and requirements for the completion and submission of quotes in response to this RFQ:

a. The attached contract clauses (Attachment 2) shall govern any contract awarded by the SAA.

Vendor’s quotes must include all other applicable contract terms and conditions, if any, or terms vendors uses in sales to government agencies. Any terms and conditions referenced as hyperlinks, or in other documents including third party terms, are not applicable to this order unless submitted in full text, in searchable PDF, with the quotation. If terms or conditions are provided, then the vendor must sign and return the ADDENDUM TO COMMERCIAL AGREEMENTS (see included PDF file) with the quotation (Attachment 3).

b. The information contained in this RFQ will be the only information provided by the SAA during the RFQ process. All qualified sources should respond to this RFQ by submitting a quotation in accordance with the RFQ instructions via e-mail to: Acquisitions@saa.senate.gov and cc mashonda_walston@saa.senate.gov with subject line ATTN: Mashonda Walston RFQ# 2023-R-017 entitled EXECUTIVE SEARCH SERVICES by 12:00 noon on March 17, 2023. No other method of transmittal will be accepted. Early submissions are encouraged. E-mails that do not reference the RFQ Number in the subject line may not be accepted.

c. The vendor shall register or be registered in the System for Award Management (“SAM”) database (www.sam.gov) within ninety (90) calendar days from the date of award. The vendor shall ensure that all information contained in its SAM registration is current, complete and accurate throughout the performance period of this award and until final payment is made by the Senate.

d. The vendor shall provide Firm-Fixed-Prices for services.

mailto:mashonda_walston@saa.senate.gov

e. The SAA reserves the right to reject the entire quotation if any of the required RFQ line items from the PRICING TABLE Excel Worksheet (Attachment 1) are missing from the quotation or differ from the specifications contained therein. This request does not commit the SAA to pay any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of this quotation, nor to purchase or contract for any item on this RFQ.

f. This is a competitive source selection in accordance with Senate Procurement Regulations.

Vendor may submit an open market quotation or a quotation in accordance with NASA SEWP, GSA Schedule, or other GWAC contracts.