20Q1818 Diversity Inclusion Combined Synopsis-Solicitation Final.pdf

Combined Synopsis-Solicitation, NSF BFA Racial Equity Initiative

(i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items in accordance with the format at 12.6, a supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation: proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

(ii) The solicitation number for this combined synopsis/solicitation is 49100420Q1818 and is issued as a request for quote.

(iii) This document incorporates provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2020-06.

(iv) This procurement is set aside for small disadvantaged busines, HUBZone, Woman Owned Small Business, and/or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small business. Quoters must have one or more of those small business designations in order to be considered for award of this purchase order. The associated NAICS code is 541612 “Human Resources Consulting Services” with a size standard of $16,500,000.

(v) Line items (CLINS) for this action are described below:

CLIN Description Unit U/I Price 0001 NSF BFA Racial Equity Initiative 1 Lot Tasks 1 and 2 1001 Task 3 (Option) 1 Lot

(vi) The description of this requirement is found in the attached statement of work.

(vii) The date of deliverables is estimated to be six months from date of order. Delivery of services and deliverables is expected to be virtual.

(viii) The provision at 52.212-1 “Instructions to Offerors—Commercial Items” apply with the addenda found in attachment 2.

(ix) The provision at 52.212-2 “Evaluation—Commercial Items” applies to this action with the addenda found in attachment 2.

(x) Quoters shall confirm that their representations and certifications in accordance with the FAR provision 52.212-3 are available electronically in the sam.gov database. This certification shall be provided in the cover sheet/letter. The cover sheet/letter shall also include the quoter’s DUNS number.

(xi) The FAR clause at 52.212-4 applies to this acquisition without addenda.

(xii) The FAR clause at 52.212-5 applies to this acquisition with the following FAR clauses cited:

52.204-10; 52.209-6; 52.219-6; 52.219-9; 52.219-28; 52.222-3; 52.222-19; 52.222-21; 52.222-26;

52.222-36; 52.223-18; and 52.232-33.

(xiii) NSF will include its payment clause in the resulting order. This clause describes the payment procedures using the Department of the Treasury’s Invoice Payment Platform at www.ipp.gov.

(xiv) This order does not have a DPAS rating.

(xv) Phase I quotes are due on August 19, 2020 at 4 p.m. Eastern.

(xvi) Quotes shall be sent via email to Keith Boyea at kboyea@nsf.gov. Phone number is

703.292.4486. Email inquiries are strongly recommended.

http://www.ipp.gov/ mailto:kboyea@nsf.gov

Attachments

Attachment 1 Statement of work Attachment 2 Instructions to offerors and evaluation factors for award

Attachment 1: Statement of Work

The Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management (BFA) is an administrative office of approximately 160 employees within the National Science Foundation (NSF). BFA is charged with leading the formulation and execution of the Foundation’s budget, awarding and overseeing grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts, and providing agency-wide support for the management of major research facilities, auditing, financial reporting, performance assessment, risk management, and other financial and administrative activities. BFA’s leadership consists of 13 Senior Executives and approximately 30 non-executive managers.

BFA management seeks to create an inclusive, trusting, and diverse working environment consistent with its core values of achieving success through teamwork, mutual respect, integrity, creativity, responsibility, initiative, professionalism, and a sense of humor.

BFA leadership is seeking a facilitator to assist with initiating and conducting conversations about race, equity, diversity, and inclusion in BFA. The facilitator should help to develop a shared understanding of challenges and concerns and provide the basis for a set of core tenets for leadership and staff to demonstrate.

Task 1 – BFA Climate Survey

The contractor shall provide analysis and facilitation to support efforts to achieve racial equity within the organization. BFA envisions that this work will include the following elements:

- Assist BFA leadership with identifying how and where implicit or unconscious biases exist within the organization and affect its working environment so that they can be better understood and addressed.

- Facilitate small group session to survey the attitudes of BFA employees on issues related to race, inclusion, and diversity through small group meetings (e.g., Branch/Division staff, BFA front-line supervisors, BFA SES). Aggregate the information captured during those sessions to identify BFA-wide and branch/division specific themes.

- Construct a demographic profile of BFA to assess the levels and types of diversity across BFA and identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement.

- Facilitate a session with BFA leadership on the aggregate results and demographic profile to identify next steps which BFA leadership can use to ensure that BFA fully embraces and remains true to its core values. This plan should include built-in accountability measures to ensure that BFA can monitor its progress toward the desired outcomes.

- Facilitate a BFA-wide session with staff on the information developed under this task.

Task 1 Deliverables: summary reports and presentations based on the activities described above, notably the results of the Climate Survey, the small group meetings, the demographic profile, and the facilitated sessions with staff and leadership.

Task 2 – Human Resource Management Process Improvements

Based on the results of Task 1, review and identify opportunities for improvement in BFA’s HR processes, including hiring practices, support for training, and practices related to developmental opportunities and special assignments. This would include assistance in 1) identifying any biased practices, interview questions, and/or processes, and 2) the development of process improvement action plans for areas identified as high priority.

- Task 2 Deliverables: summary report & presentation

Optional Task 3

Consistent with the identification of themes and next steps identified in Task 1 and the human resource management process improvements identified in Task 2, the contractor shall be able to provide the following support, at a minimum:

- Small group facilitation to address specific branch/division level issues or concerns.

- Diversity and Inclusion coaching.

- Training to assist in the implementation of hiring process improvements.

- Other D&I tasks needed to implement next steps identified by the contractor in Task 1.

Attachment 2: Instructions to Offerors and Evaluation Factors for Award

Instructions to Offerors

The NSF will conduct a two-phase quote submission and evaluation. A notional schedule of the of the phase process is outlined in the chart below.

Event Date Phase I Quote Due August 19, 2020 Notification of Advisory Down-Select and Schedule for Oral Presentations, as applicable

Approximately 7 working days from date of phase I quotes due.

Phase II Oral Presentations* August 28, 2020 – September 4th Order Award September 14, 2020

*Price quotes are due on day of oral presentation. Specific oral presentation date and time will be specified in the advisory notice.

Questions regarding this combined synopsis/solicitation are due on August 7, 2020 at 4 p.m. Eastern.

Questions shall be emailed to Keith Boyea at kboyea@nsf.gov.

Phase I quote is due on August 19, 2020 at 4 p.m. Eastern and shall be emailed to Keith Boyea at kboyea@nsf.gov.

Quotes shall be on 8 ½” x 11” paper with font no smaller than 11 point.

The chart below summarizes the content of the quote:

Phase Factor Content Phase I N/A Cover Letter (Not Rated) Phase I Factor 1 Summary of recent and relevant past performance.

Phase I Factor 2 Questionnaire Response

Advisory Down-Select Phase II Factor 3 Oral Presentation Phase II Factor 4 Price

The required content of each factor is described below.

Phase I, Cover Letter

The quoter shall provide a cover letter that shall include the quoter’s DUNS number, Point of Contact, and confirmation that the quoter’s firm holds one of the relevant small business certifications described in the combined synopsis/solicitation.

Phase I, Factor 1: Summary of recent and relevant past performance.

The quoter shall provide a summary of recent (last three years) and relevant projects completed. The summary shall establish the recency and relevance of the cited project. It shall also include the points of contact (phone number and email address) for the client, the contract/order number (if applicable), and any associated formal performance evaluations. This section shall not exceed three pages.

Phase I, Factor 2: Questionnaire Response.

The quoter shall provide a written response to the following questions within the page limits set forth below:

1. How does your firm elicit candid feedback from staff at all levels about the state of issues related to racial equity in an organization? This response shall not exceed two pages.

2. How will your firm help to create a level of trust within the organization for staff and managers to have candid conversations regarding issues related to racial equity issues? This response shall not exceed two pages.

Advisory Down-Select

After NSF completes evaluation of Phase I quotes, quoters will receive an advisory notification via email from the Contracting Officer. Quoters who receive the highest evaluations for factors one and two will be advised to proceed to Phase II. Quoters that did not receive the highest evaluations for factors one and two will be advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors, along with the general basis for that opinion. The intent of this advice is to minimize quote development costs for those quoters with little chance of receiving an award. This will be a recommendation only and discontinuing the pursuit of the requirement following the notification is voluntary.

NSF does not intend to provide debriefings after the completion of the advisory down select notifications. Failure to participate in Phase I precludes further consideration of any quoter. Quotes will not be accepted from quoters who have not submitted Phase I requirements by the due date and time provided for in this combined synopsis/solicitation.

Quoters that receive the highest evaluations and will to proceed to Phase II of the process will receive the date and time for their oral presentation in the advisory letter.

Quoters who do not receive the highest evaluations and are advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors but still choose to proceed shall email Keith Boyea at kboyea@nsf.gov no later than 24 hours after receiving the advisory notification.

Phase II, Factor 3: Oral Presentation.

The oral presentation will consist of the quoter’s proposed approach to accomplishing the statement of work. The oral presentations will be conducted via zoom and the zoom link will be shared in the advisory letter. Participants are limited to a maximum of three people from the quoter’s team. The oral presentation will be one hour long. Prior to the start of the hour, there will be a short period to allow for introductions. At the conclusion of the hour, the NSF evaluation team will meet for 15 minutes to determine if there are any follow up questions required. If so, the NSF team will allow for an additional 30 minutes of question and answer time.

Rules of Engagement for Oral Presentations

- The NSF will not ask questions regarding information in the quoter’s Phase I submission or the quoter’s Phase II pricing submission. The NSF’s questions will be delivered by the contracting officer.

- The Offeror may not generally ask questions during the oral presentation. Any questions asked must be directed to the Contracting Officer and should only deal with logistics and conduct of the oral presentation.

- Oral presentations do not constitute discussions. NSF will not ask questions that invite or allow the quoter to change its quote. The quoter shall not volunteer any information that might be construed as changing its quote. Oral presentations are distinct from the Government’s reserved right to conduct exchanges.

- The quoter is in control of the presentation and may use PowerPoint or any other mode of presentation. The quoter shall confirm other modes are compatibly with zoom prior to the oral presentation.

- The quoter’s participants shall not reach back by telephone, e-mail, or other means to any other personnel for assistance during the presentation.

- The NSF evaluator’s notes will constitute the record of the oral presentation.

Phase II, Factor 4, Price.

The quoter shall provide a fixed price quote for the CLINS in section (v) of the combined synopsis/solicitation. There is no page limit to this section. NSF has approximately $75,000 for this effort. NSF recommends that the quoter design the project to maximize the value of the $75,000 available.

Evaluation Factors for Award

The NSF will employ a best value tradeoff evaluation methodology. The non-price factors are more important than price. The evaluation factors for award are:

1. Past Performance

2. Questionnaire Response

3. Oral Presentation

4. Price