49100422P0046 JA signed.pdf

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

Michigan State University, Center for Interdisciplinarity, Toolbox Dialogue Initiative

National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator's Asynchronous and Synchronous Custom Team Science Curriculum

(1) Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity: The National Science Foundation, Division of

Acquisition and Cooperative Support proposes a Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition for Asynchronous and Synchronous Custom Team Science Curriculum. The division requesting the justification is the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) and the Convergence Accelerator program.

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved: This sole source action is to issue a contract to the Michigan State University’s Center for Interdisciplinarity and Tool Box Dialogue initiative for the unsolicited proposal titled, “National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator’s Asynchronous and Synchronous Custom Team Science Curriculum.” The overall objective of this project is to further develop, refine, implement, and facilitate the custom Team Science content (e.g., principles, concepts, and skills) associated with the Convergence Accelerator Innovation Curriculum.

The U.S. National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator speeds use-inspired research into practice through a two-phase convergence research process. The program releases a solicitation featuring research track topics each year. Topics aligned to specific research focus areas called "tracks" and funded teams within the tracks make up a cohort. All teams within a cohort begin in Convergence Research phase 1. During phase 1, teams participate in a nine-month planning effort, which includes a hands-on Innovation Curriculum, covering topics including human-centered design, communications, storytelling and pitching, and team science.

Since the program’s first cohort in 2019, the Innovation Curriculum has been adapted and streamlined from in-person sessions to virtual real-time (synchronous) sessions and now to a mix of pre-session, asynchronous work, and virtual synchronous session work. As the Convergence Accelerator has grown and evolved, the Innovation Curriculum has adapted to better meet the needs of our awardees and improve the outcomes associated with team participation. The adapted curriculum is based on ensuring the curriculum meets the needs of the NSF-funded teams in a digestible user-friendly format – designed to ensure the teams gain the knowledge and skills to work collaboratively and efficiently to develop new partnerships needed to accelerate their ideas into proof of concepts.

Since 2019, the Michigan State University’s (MSU) Center for Interdisciplinarity, Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) has worked collaboratively with the NSF Convergence Accelerator program to develop and facilitate the Team Science content of the program’s Innovation curriculum. In 2019, through an EAGER grant (Award ID: 2114321), the MSU TDI team developed and refined the Team Science content to provide a custom curriculum for the Convergence Accelerator’s needs. A key pillar of the Convergence Accelerator is to ensure the NSF-funded teams are working at the highest level of convergence and engaging multiple types of partners (e.g. academic, industry, government, nonprofit, etc.) to develop their ideas into prototypes and eventually viable solutions. The Team Science curriculum is a support tool designed to provide the knowledge and skills to enhance team effectiveness, improve communication and increase mutual understanding, and collaborate better in a positive and supported environment. Thus, the Convergence Accelerator is seeking to foster complex use-inspired research that will lead to innovative solutions and real-world societal and economic impact, requiring teams to overcome the challenges and complexity involved in cross-disciplinary research and cross-sector partnerships. As such, it was established at an early stage that the Convergence Accelerator Innovation Curriculum would heavily emphasize the development of team skills, collaboration, and experience using team science.

The unique requirements of the Convergence Accelerator program led to the decision to develop a bespoke curricular program, particularly around the team science aspects. The Convergence Accelerator sought to develop a team science curriculum that would 1) appeal to the academic and research community, 2) be action-oriented and accelerate teams forward in their projects (and not be overly laden with theoretical concepts), and 3) emphasize the core values of the Convergence Accelerator. The work conducted by MSU’s Dr. Michael O’Rourke and the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative stood out as a solid foundation for developing the custom team science content for the Convergence Accelerator. Dr.

O’Rourke has over 25 years of experience researching interdisciplinary collaboration and working in team science. He is the director of both MSU’s Center for Interdisciplinarity and the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative. The Toolbox Dialogue approach is a methodology, grounded in many years of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research that supports reflexivity and perspective-taking. It enables transparency within teams and contributes to a better working environment, particularly in the context of convergent research. The goal of the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative workshops is to increase the collaborative capacity of interdisciplinary teams, which is a key outcome of the Convergence Accelerator Innovation Curriculum. Dr. Michael O’Rourke and the TDI team have years of experience in epistemic integration, collaborative communication between cross-disciplinary research, and linguistic communication. They have researched and investigated philosophical approaches to structure dialogue among collaborators that focus on real-world challenges and positive outcomes. In that dialogue, collaboratives are provided an opportunity to share their perspectives and to learn from each other in a way that enables them to see the research landscape and the identified challenge problem from each other’s viewpoint.

The Convergence Accelerator program engaged with the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative to develop the bespoke curriculum, with the TDI workshops, knowledge, and skillsets being a foundation, execute the curriculum for three cohorts (e.g. 2019, 2020, and 2021), and to evaluate and improve the curriculum over time as it was delivered to different cohorts—featuring a wide range of disciplines and expertise from a variety of sectors. As the Team Science content has become more established over time, the Convergence Accelerator is now seeking to establish a repeatable and scalable curriculum for future cohorts and NSF-funded researchers to experience. As a result, NSF needs to transition from an exploratory grant (e.g., seeking to develop, experiment, and evaluate the curriculum) to a contract that will enable the Convergence Accelerator to further refine the curriculum for future cohorts and provide credible experts to facilitate the content. While the original grant focused on the development and evaluation of a new and innovative curriculum, the contract will focus on executing what has already been established and developing mechanisms and products (e.g., supplementary materials, prompts, templates, facilitation briefs) by which the curriculum can be scaled. Additionally, we are seeking expertise in team science workshop facilitation and curriculum execution that is not available elsewhere.

Providing valuable workshops and team science content to our diverse, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sector awardees requires is challenging and the fast-paced nature of the Convergence Accelerator requires workshop facilitators and team science faculty to have extensive experience in the domain and be able to execute effective workshops. A deep experiential and research background in interdisciplinarity is critical in connecting effectively with our teams and encouraging them to incorporate these key concepts into their project workflows. A general facilitator wouldn’t be able to support a diverse set of convergence research tracks and specific communication needs per team.

(3) Description of the services required:

The Convergence Accelerator is looking for the following tasks to be completed in accordance with the needs of the Team Science Innovation Curriculum:

1. Adjust and execute the Team Science curriculum for live synchronous sessions for the 2022 cohort Track G.

2. Revise and develop the Team Science curriculum for pre-session work (asynchronous) and live synchronous sessions for 2022 cohort Tracks H, I, and J.

3. Assist in the development of pre-session video modules for the Team Science curriculum, which will be featured and tested by the 2022 cohort Tracks H, I, and J and later used by future cohorts and tracks.

4. Execute the Team Science curriculum for the 2022 cohort Tracks H, I, and J.

5. Adjust and execute the Team Science curriculum for the 2023 cohort.

(4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: The statutory authority for this non-competitive action is derived from 41 U.S.C. § 3304(b)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

(5) Proposed contractor’s unique qualification and nature of the action requires use of authority cited:

Michigan State University’s Center for Interdisciplinarity and Toolbox Dialogue Initiative has extensive experience in facilitating deep interdisciplinary convergent and complex cross-sector teams in developing a productive internal team dynamic. To date, the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative has conducted workshops across the United States (in 23 states) and globally (14 countries). The TDI has worked with the Convergence Accelerator since 2019, developing and facilitating the custom team science curriculum which includes the facilitation of the Toolbox Dialogue initiative workshops with over 75 teams across three separate cohorts. The bespoke Team Science curriculum has been extremely well-received by the NSF-funded research teams, with >95% of surveyed participants believing the Team Science content and activities helped them succeed in Phase 1 of the Convergence Accelerator and, for those selected, in Phase 2. Additionally, qualitative data collection revealed that the Team Science curriculum encouraged teams to discuss critical issues, challenges, and concerns early in the collaboration process, helped developed shared expectations amongst the team, and encouraged teams to develop processes for resolving challenges in a systematic and established way. This allows teams to develop a unified project mission and vision and to work collaboratively together to those goals. In addition to our internal validation of the Team Science curriculum within the Convergence Accelerator, the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative has conducted several large sample analyses of the TDI methodology to not only validate that it leads to better team collaboration but also to refine the process [see references below]. We believe that the rigorous scientific grounding for the Toolbox Dialogue approach in conjunction with the extensive experience that the Center for Interdisciplinary brings to the curriculum are critical to its success. Facilitative these workshops and the team science content to our diverse, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sector awardees is challenging and the fast-paced nature of the Convergence Accelerator requires workshop facilitators and team science faculty to have extensive experience in the domain and be able to execute effective workshops. Team science experience and accessibility of these faculty members to the NSF funded awardees allows the teams to be more supported, as the experts can provide guidance custom to their specific team concern or challenge. A deep experiential and research background in interdisciplinarity is critical in connecting effectively with our teams and encouraging them to incorporate these key concepts into their project workflows.

Evaluative studies of the Toolbox Dialogue Approach:

O’Rourke, M., and S. J. Crowley. 2013: Philosophical intervention and cross- disciplinary science: The story of the Toolbox Project. Synthese 190:1937– 1954.

Looney, C., S. Donovan, M. O’Rourke, S. J. Crowley, S. D. Eigenbrode, L. Rotschy, N. A. Bosque- Pérez, and J. D. Wulfhorst. 2014:

Seeing through the eyes of collaborators: Using Toolbox workshops to enhance cross- disciplinary communication.

Eigenbrode, S. D., M. O’Rourke, J. D. Wulfhorst, D. M. Althoff, C. S. Goldberg, K. Merrill, W. Morse, M. Nielsen- Pincus, J.

Stephens, L. Winowiecki, and N. A. Bosque- Pérez. 2007: Employing philosophical dialogue in collaborative science. BioScience 57:55– 64.

(6) Descriptions of efforts made to solicit sources from as many offerors as practicable:

NSF did not post a solicitation in accordance with FAR 5.2 because the MSU TDI team brings a unique team science expertise, founded by rigorous scientific findings, that no other service provider is currently providing to interdisciplinary convergent and complex cross-sector teams. The Convergence Accelerator’s Team Science curriculum has been developed and refined over many years. Prior attempts by the Convergence Accelerator office to engage with other organizations in content development for the Team Science curriculum have proven unsatisfactory. Additionally, the NSF Convergence Accelerator has worked closely with the MSU TDI teams to develop the team science curriculum. The team’s intellectual and historical knowledge will enable the MSU TDI team to work effectively and efficiently to develop the custom team science content, facilitate and provide a meaningful knowledge transfer to NSF awardees.

(7) Determination of fair and reasonable cost:

The Contracting Officer reviewed the proposed costs and has determined that these costs were fair and reasonable.

(8) Description of market research conducted:

The Team Science content of the Convergence Accelerator Innovation Curriculum has been developed and refined over many years. Prior attempts by the Convergence Accelerator office to engage with other organizations in content development for the Team Science curriculum have proven unsatisfactory.

Despite extensive competency and experience in the area of fostering innovation and scientific collaboration, participants in our program did not respond to the workshops facilitated by prior contractors due to their inability to generate content sufficiently well-aligned with the requirements of the Convergence Accelerator. This demonstrated that only organizations that have particular experience in both cross-disciplinary and cross-sector convergence, linguistic communication, and philosophical approaches, as well as in research-focused facilitation would be well-suited to developing and executing the Convergence Accelerator Team Science curriculum.

(9) Other facts: N/A

(10) Sources expressing interest in writing: Itemfarm, Advanced Tec Solutions.

(11) Actions to remove barriers to competition:

No companies with the capability to support this requirement contacted NSF as a result of the synopsized contract action. Despite this, should the requirement continue to exist following the end of the performance period of this award, it is our intention to issue a solicitation to provide other entities with the opportunity to respond.

(12) Certifications/Coordination/Approval:

REQUESTING OFFICE CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that the facts presented in this Justification are current, complete, and accurate. This action falls within the statutory mission of TIP.

Shelby Smith Date Program Officer

Ibrahim Mohedas Date Associate Program Director

PROCURING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I certify that this Justification is current, complete, and accurate. A detailed analysis will be performed on all proposed prices to assure that they are fair and reasonable

Ben Patterson Date Contracting Officer bpatters Typewritten Text 08/24/2022