SF30 -73351025Q0173 (with attachment).pdf

(x)

73351025Q0173 x x copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted ; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted , such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

DENVER CO 80202

208050

SUITE 300

721 19TH STREET

DENVER FINANCE CENTER

DENVER ACQUISITION OFFICE FOR SBA

DENVER CO 80202

208050

SUITE 301

721 19TH STREET

DENVER FINANCE CENTER

DENVER ACQUISITION OFFICE FOR SBA

12/06/20240001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended , by one of the following methods: (a) By completing

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

11/21/2024

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return __________________ copies to the issuing office.

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

This requirement supports the Office of Advocacy in fulfilling research on Research on

Small Business Lending Topics.

This amendment is issued to provide responses to questions received by the deadline of

Friday, November 29, 2024.

Quotation responses are due Thursday, December 19, 2024 at 5PM ET and should be sent via email to angel.butler@sba.gov and minnisha.hill@sba.gov. No responses will be accepted after this deadline.

Attachment:

Continued ...

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

Angel Butler

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9 A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect .

TEL: EMAIL: adbutler2@sba.gov

12/6/2024

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

NAME OF OFFEROR OR CONTRACTOR

2 7

CONTINUATION SHEET

REFERENCE NO. OF DOCUMENT BEING CONTINUED PAGE OF

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

73351025Q0173/0001

1 - Responses to Questions

NSN 7540-01-152-8067 OPTIONAL FORM 336 (4-86)

Sponsored by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.110

Solicitation

Number

73351025Q0173

Document Title

Research on Small Business Lending Topics –

Response to Questions

Page

Responses to Questions

1. We would like to know if this is a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. There is not an incumbent performing this specific research, each RFQ's scope varies and is not the same.

2. If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number? N/A

3. I have never applied for a contract through the SBA, and I was hoping to find out more about expected dollar amounts for this contract, the ideal number of individuals collaborating, and the time until decision about who receives the contract. It is also not clear to me what typical contracts have been awarded to do. We expect quotes to be for a level of effort commensurate with meeting the deliverables and performance requirements of the SOW. We cannot disclose our budget estimate. Prior prices of awards on similar contracts range with complexity and methodology of the research. For example, an award from last year was 73351023P0059 $82,000.

However, the level of effort required to perform the SOW of producing a report deliverable could be above or below depending on the proposal.

Typically one or two people co-write the research. However, we’ve had research teams of up to 4 people work on a contract. There is not a cap to the amount of people working on a research team in a proposal. However, the research team should demonstrate in the proposal the roles each person would have, their qualifications, and how they will work together to meet the deliverables on schedule.

The target award date is mid-January 2025.

4. I don't know if there is a list of contract awards from the past, so that I can get a sense of expected types of projects?

Website: https://advocacy.sba.gov/category/research/economic-studies/ o An Examination of Entrepreneurship Among Americans with Disabilities:

Demographics and Economic Outcomes Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic o Patterns of Small Business and Young Business Hires Pre & Post COVID-19 by Region o The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Disparities in Small Business Earnings o African-American Entrepreneurs: Contributions and Challenges o Millennial Veteran Entrepreneurship: Research on the Next Generation of

Veteran Entrepreneurs o Effects of Small Loans on Bank and Small Business Growth o Bank Lending to Rural vs. Urban Firms in the United States Before, During, and After the Great Financial Crisis o An Investigation of Women Business Owners, Industry Concentration, and

Family Composition https://advocacy.sba.gov/category/research/economic-studies/

73351025Q0173

Document Title

Research on Small Business Lending Topics –

Response to Questions

Page o Job Characteristics and Transitions Among Older Self-Employed

Individuals with Work-Limiting Health Conditions o How Accelerators Promote Regional Entrepreneurship

5. I work at a university, and one or two of my colleagues would be interested in applying for this contract with me as a research project, but we would need to ask a few more questions about how this works before doing so.

Regarding working at a university, the procurement is a small business set aside.

Universities as large entities are not directly eligible to compete. However, researchers can independently register on SAM.gov through their own LLC to be eligible as a small business or a university can partner with a small business to compete but the small business partner needs to perform at least 51% of the work.

6. Could you clarify the page limit for the technical proposal? Per the instructions for offerors the technical and past performance sections of the proposal combined shall not exceed 25 pages. This page limit does not include the cover page, company credentials, references and writing samples. The file format can be in PDF or

Word.

7. Are there specific guidelines regarding formatting, such as acceptable font types (e.g., Times New Roman), font size (e.g., 11-point or 12-point), line spacing (e.g., single, 1.5, or double), and margin size? There are no formatting guidelines for the proposal.

Times New Roman 12-point font are acceptable. The final report produced as the final deliverable of the contract must follow the formatting guidelines specified in the SOW.

8. Are there specific requirements for including appendices/annexes or supporting documents, and do those count toward the page limit? No, appendices do not count towards the proposal page limit.

9. Should the final submission be in a specific file format, such as PDF or Word? Page 9 of the SOW #7 Final Report Submission states: Microsoft Word documents formatted in accordance with specifications and/or statistical results (no PDFs or locked files).

10. Among the datasets listed (e.g., FDIC Call Reports, Federal Reserve Small Business

Lending Survey), is there anything that the SBA prefers or considers essential for this research? The proposed analysis can use a variety of economic datasets, and proposals should identify and describe the data that will be used. The listed data is not a comprehensive list of data sources appropriate for this research, and proposals that use the mentioned data will not necessarily be given preference.

11. If proprietary or non-public data is proposed for use, are there specific restrictions, guidelines, or permissions required? Proprietary and non-public data are acceptable, however the offeror should clearly describe the data to be used in the proposal and be able to produce reproduceable findings and provide source details and data

73351025Q0173

Document Title

Research on Small Business Lending Topics –

Response to Questions

Page coding. It is the responsibility of the contractor to access and prepare the data to be used in the analysis. Data and analysis are subject to OMB’s Guidelines for

Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of

Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies . Data rights under FAR §§ 52.227-

14 (alternates 2 and 5), 52.22715, and 52.227-16 apply.

12. Are there preferred analytical methods, and should these methods align with specific policy objectives? Advanced statistical techniques are preferred. The proposal should describe the empirical methods that will be used. The use of modern statistical techniques to test hypotheses about causal relationships is preferred.

Proposals involving instrumental variables should identify the instruments to be used and defend their suitability.

13. Is there a preferred statistical software package, or are proposals using alternative tools equally acceptable? The software that will be used to conduct the analysis should be identified. Research should be thoroughly documented and reproducible, and scripts of the analysis in statistical packages like R or Stata should be available. Any statistical software can be acceptable.

14. Will the SBA provide access to proprietary or restricted datasets that are critical to the proposed research? No, the Office of Advocacy does not have access to proprietary or restricted datasets. It is the contractor’s responsibility to access and prepare the data to be used in the analysis.

15. Among the research topics outlined (e.g., trends in AI and FinTech, community bank roles, small business lending patterns), are any deemed higher priority by the SBA? The

Office of Advocacy does not prioritize a particular topic.

16. Should proposals focus on a single topic, or are cross-topic integrations encouraged? The proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria. Policy relevance of the topic is considered and evaluated under Technical Approach 1b.

17. Are there specific policy challenges or decision-making objectives within these topics that the SBA expects the research to address directly? Successful offerors will best exhibit a policy relevant, high quality research plan and high likelihood the report will be produced soundly and successfully in researching an important small business issue under Advocacy’s mandate to study small businesses.

18. Could you provide the evaluation criteria? Please refer to pages 55-58, Instructions to

Offerors for further details.

19. Specifically, what is the relative importance of the technical proposal compared to the cost proposal? Please refer to page 58, Instructions to Offerors which states: The non-price factors are significantly more important than price. Note: Submissions

73351025Q0173

Document Title

Research on Small Business Lending Topics –

Response to Questions

Page will first be reviewed for compliance to the instructions. Failure to comply may result in elimination. A Poor rating will result in the proposal being disqualified from evaluation. If discussions are held, the Government reserves the right to hold those discussions with only the most highly rated submissions.

20. Are specific percentages, points, or weighting factors assigned to each evaluation category (e.g., 60% technical, 40% cost)? The following rating method shall be used in the evaluation of past performance information (Excellent, Good, Marginal, Poor, Neutral), no percentages are listed and none will be used.

21. Within the technical evaluation, are certain factors (e.g., methodology, past performance, qualifications of key personnel) weighted more heavily than others? Please refer to page

58, Instructions to Offerors which states: The non-price factors are significantly more important than price.

22. What level of detail is required in the cost proposal? Please refer to page 50, Instructions to Offerors #10 Price. The table provided is how pricing should be presented in the cost proposal, broken down by deliverable.

23. Specifically, should the budget be broken down by deliverables, milestones, or tasks, including hourly labor rates, labor categories, and estimated hours per role? Yes, you may include labor categories, estimated hours, unit price (hourly rate) and total price for each proposed staff member/role.

24. Are there specific guidelines for documenting indirect costs (e.g., overhead, fringe benefits, G&A), and should these align with federal cost principles such as FAR or OMB guidance? This requirement will tentatively be awarded as a FFP (firm fixed price) award, this is not projected to be awarded as a cost-type contract.

25. Is there a budget ceiling for this solicitation, and if so, does it include all direct and indirect costs? This requirement will tentatively be awarded as a FFP (firm fixed price) award, there is no ceiling with FFP awards.

26. If a ceiling exists, does it apply uniformly to all proposals, or is there flexibility to propose higher budgets with justification? This requirement will tentatively be awarded as a FFP (firm fixed price) award, there is no ceiling with FFP awards.

27. Are there specific formatting requirements for deliverables, such as file types (e.g., Microsoft Word, Excel) or adherence to ADA Section 508 compliance standards?

Section 5.2.9 ADA Section 508 Requirements of the SOW, page 13: The according to the Office of Advocacy will provide guidance to achieve 508 compatibility at the time of award; however, it is ultimately the contractor’s responsibility to provide all deliverables in accordance with the legal requirements for section 508 compliance.

73351025Q0173

Document Title

Research on Small Business Lending Topics –

Response to Questions

Page

28. Should deliverables' tables, figures, and charts be provided in editable formats? Yes

29. Will the SBA facilitate external consultations or peer reviews, or is this the contractor’s responsibility? The COR will facilitate the peer review process.

30. If the onus falls on the contractor, should the contractor identify peer reviewers or external consultants, and should their qualifications and roles be outlined in the proposal?

The contractor is required to consider and respond to peer review feedback.

31. What level of documentation is required for the peer review process, and should contractor responses to reviewer feedback be included in interim deliverables? The COR will identify reviewers.

32. What are the minimum qualifications for key personnel, and are specific roles (e.g., project lead, senior analysts) required to meet certain credentials (e.g., Ph.D. in

Economics, advanced econometric training)? The Key Personnel section (5.2.3a) provides that personnel performing the research should have the appropriate skills, training, and experience to do so. Offerors should provide the training level of the personnel performing the research and demonstrate the appropriateness of the training to perform the research.

33. Should resumes for all team members or key personnel be included in the response?

Section 8 Technical Approach, Instructions to Offerors, page 49 states: include resumes for relevant subject matter and technical experts who will conduct and present the research.