WWC-GRAPE.Capability_Instructions.v2.pdf

U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences

National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance

What Works ClearinghouseTM Guides to Research that Assists Practitioners in Education (WWC-GRAPE)

FISCAL YEAR 2018 TRACKING #IESE180025AP

CAPABILITY STATEMENT INSTRUCTIONS

The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) is conducting market research to determine if sufficient interest and capability exists in the marketplace for an anticipated What Works ClearinghouseTM Guides to Research that Assists Practitioners in Education (WWC-GRAPE) indefinite quality, indefinite delivery (IDIQ) contract. This notice is NOT a request of proposals, but is an invitation for potential offerors to express interest and provide information regarding their relevant knowledge, skills and capabilities. Information submitted in response to this Request for Information (RFI) may be used to assist the Department in finalizing its acquisition strategy. Submission of Capability Statements, while strongly encouraged, is NOT a pre-requisite for a prospective vendor being able to submit proposals when the WWC-GRAPE solicitation is released for competition.

Disclaimer: The Department will not pay for the provision of any information nor will it compensate any respondents for providing this information. This notice in no way obligates the Government to award any contract to any interested party. Feedback will not be provided to any interested party who submits information to the Department in response to this notice.

Capability Statement Submission Deadline

The deadline for submitting Capability Statements is Thursday, March 8, 2018 by 12:00 noon (ET) via e-mail to the following: Jaamal.Jennings@ed.gov, and cc: Gabriella.McDonald@ed.gov

Primary Point of Contact:

Jaamal Jennings Contract Specialist Jaamal.Jennings@ed.gov Phone: (202) 245-6499 Fax: 202-245-6297

Secondary Point of Contact:

Gabriella McDonald Contracting Officer Gabriella.McDonald@ed.gov Phone: (202) 281-5460 Fax: 202-245-6297

Capability Statement Instructions

In response to the attached Draft WWC-GRAPE Performance-based Work Statement (PWS), the Department hereby solicits capability statements from eligible, interested small businesses.

These small businesses are encouraged to partner with larger organizations if needed in order to meet this requirement. Qualifications of partnering organizations may be included with each capability statement. Capability Statements shall be no longer than 4 pages (single-spaced, with a minimum of one-inch margins and 12 point font). Vendors shall provide responses addressing each of the capability statement content areas noted below.

BASIC INFORMATION

(a) Please state your business/company name and address. Include contact information such as a corporate email address and website URL.

(b) Please state your business size status (i.e. large or small) in the stated NAICS code of 541720. Also provide all socio economic categories for your company and the corresponding NAICS code.

(c) State whether or not 541720 is the most appropriate NAICS code for the WWC-GRAPE contract. Why or why not?

(d) State if the requirement should be set-aside for small business, and why (or why not)?

Provide the specific small business, socio-economic category in your response.

(e) State whether the requirement appears to be commercial or non-commercial in nature.

(f) Provide a suggested contract type, or confirm that Firm Fixed Price for the task orders of this contract is appropriate and provide a brief, supporting statement.

CAPABILITY STATEMENT CONTENT AREAS

The capability statement must describe the collective expertise and experience of personnel, in each of the following areas:

Experience and skill in applying the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Evidence

Standards (requires staff with WWC reviewer certification) and the WWC Systematic Review process in assessing research. Interested parties shall state whether personnel possess WWC reviewer certification (especially in Version 3.0 or Version 4.0 standards for group designs), as well as provide evidence of staff contributions to the review of individual studies and reviews for products that synthesize results across a given intervention, program, or practice.

• Experience and skill in preparing practitioner-friendly reports relying on syntheses of education research studies. Interested parties shall provide evidence of personnel’s successful past experience writing, revising, and disseminating reports that summarize, in a manner accessible to education practitioners and policy makers, syntheses of education research findings in content areas spanning prekindergarten through Grade 12 education.

• Substantive knowledge of the topics of priority interest for possible practice guides, including Response to Intervention. Interested parties shall provide evidence of personnel’s content knowledge in the area of Response to Intervention (in both mathematics and reading) and interventions and supports focused on student behavior.

This information should demonstrate that potential key personnel possess the substantive knowledge to identify key effective practices in these areas, as well as to identify topic area experts to recruit to serve as practice guide panelists. Note that the base task order of the contract is expected to focus primarily on Response to Intervention in mathematics, while subsequent task orders may focus on additional topics including Response to Intervention in Reading and reducing behavior problems in classrooms.

In addition, the capability statement must address the following experience and capacity at the corporate level:

• Experience conducting projects similar in nature to that described in the Draft WWC-GRAPE PWS. Interested parties shall provide evidence of successful corporate experience with past projects that are similar to that described in the Draft WWC- GRAPE PWS in terms of the specific content areas to be performed, complexity, and the level of effort required.

• Sufficient capacity in terms of numbers of highly skilled staff. Interested parties shall provide evidence that they have a sufficient number of highly skilled staff (or the ability to obtain highly skilled staff with relevant experience) to perform comprehensive literature searches in the area of Response to Intervention, conduct reviews of individual studies for a practice guide and to synthesize the reviews into evidence-based recommendations. Interested parties shall also provide evidence of the ability to produce engaging, user-friendly products geared toward educators.