DRAFT PWS Organizational Development 3282024.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SERVICES

TRACKING NUMBER: 163

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

February 13, 2024

1.0 PURPOSE

This Performance Work Statement (PWS) will outline the requirements for contract support for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), within the U.S. Department of Education. Specifically, the contract will support the work of OESE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management. The contractor will assist with projects in the areas of organizational development, facilitation, executive coaching, and professional learning for OESE’s executives, managers, supervisors, and staff.

The desired result is to create a significant and sustained improvement in organizational effectiveness and efficiency within OESE. It is also to increase employee satisfaction, commitment, engagement, and productivity.

2.0 ORGANIZATIONAL NEED

OESE requires the services of a contractor with deep expertise in organizational development, facilitation, executive coaching, and professional learning to assist in conducting innovative improvement projects in areas like:

· Adaptive organizational structure

· Customer Experience

· Knowledge and data management

· Process efficiency/innovation

· Talent management

· Employee Development

· Employee Retention

· Leadership Development

· Performance Management

· Professional Learning

· Succession Planning

· Workforce Planning

· Workplace culture

3.0 BACKGROUND

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) provides leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to state and local education agencies for the maintenance and improvement of both public and private early childhood, elementary, and secondary education.

OESE administers programs designed to advance academic opportunities for the nation’s neediest children. It also administers, coordinates, and recommends policies for improving programs and activities that promote the health and well-being of students in elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.

OESE has roughly 300 employees who are organized into eight offices. Offices that make and administer education grants are called “program offices”. The program offices are supported by a cross-cutting Office of Administration, which will administer this contract.

Here are OESE’s:

· VISION—Excellence and Equity for All Students.

The vision is what OESE is working to achieve long-term.

· MISSION—to empower States, districts, and other organizations to meet the diverse needs of every student by providing leadership, technical assistance, and financial support.

The mission is what OESE does, how the office does it, and for whom.

· CORE VALUES—Collaboration, Accountability, Diversity, Integrity, and Excellence.

The core values describe the behaviors that form the cultural foundation for the organization. OESE recognizes that effective, mission-driven organizations are shaped by a few enduring values that, when widely shared, believed in and followed, become essential factors in individual and collective attitudes, decisions, and actions.

OESE would like to deepen our understanding of the root cause of employee satisfaction, commitment, engagement, and productivity among our workforce, and continue to improve on all dimensions. OESE’s goal is to continually become a higher performing organization, and a best place to work.

4.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for this requirement will be one base year and four 12-month option years.

5.0 TASKS

The tasks that the contractor may perform under the scope of this contract are described below. The contractor must furnish all the necessary personnel and materials required for the performance of work under this contract (except for "Government Furnished Information," which will be provided as needed).

TASK 1 – KICK-OFF MEETING

Subtask 1.1 – Initial Kick-Off Meeting (Firm Fixed Price)

The contractor must participate in a kick-off meeting at the Department or virtually within 10 business days of the effective date of the contract. The purpose of this meeting is:

· for Department personnel to explain the vision for the contract,

· to review the PWS to resolve any questions and clarifications,

· to discuss the project management system for this contract, including the assignment of new tasks,

· to discuss specific projects that the contractor must complete, and the envisioned level of effort,

· to begin developing estimated timelines, and

· to provide the contractor with additional information and documentation (if any) needed to successfully complete the contract.

Subtask 1.2 – Project Kick-Off Discussion (Time and Materials)

Each time a new project is assigned, the contractor must participate in one or more kick-off discussion(s) with the COR and key Department staff. Discussions can occur in person, by phone, or over email, depending on the complexity of the project. The purpose of these discussion are:

· for Department personnel to describe the vision and expected outcomes for the project,

· for the Department and the contractor to agree upon the best and most cost-effective approach to successfully complete the project, and

· to begin identifying project milestones/deliverables, an estimated level of effort, and estimated timelines.

TASK 2 – ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

(Time and Materials for Organizational Development Services) (Firm Fixed Price for Executive Coaching and Off-the-Shelf-Training)

Need for Agile Management and “Just in Time” Services

OESE has very clear organizational goals. However, OESE works in a constantly changing environment, and therefore needs enough agility to address emerging organizational needs and priorities on a “just in time” basis. Since the identified needs change from year to year, the contractor’s approach will also need to change. Each performance period, the contractor must provide those services that the government has determined will be of the greatest importance in achieving organizational goals. The contractor must have the ability to do intermittent work, often with little advance notice. Moreover, at times, multiple projects will occur simultaneously, and at other times there will not be any projects.

How Services Will be Determined

The services that are required each year will be based primarily on data and information sources like the following:

· management and organizational needs and priorities (ongoing and emerging)

· the results of the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (particularly areas that had the lowest levels of employee satisfaction)

· internal data collections (e.g., OESE’s professional learning needs analysis, focus groups or interviews aimed at helping OESE understand the root causes of low scoring areas, employee suggestions and feedback)

· research on best practices around identified issues

Anticipated Number of Services

The Department estimates the following volume of projects each year:

· 1-3 major projects that have multiple phases

EXAMPLES:

· analyze FEVS scores, conduct focus groups, and present the resulting analysis to leadership teams

· assist with developing a strategic plan (includes a series of client meetings)

· support a workgroup for a series of meetings (agenda, facilitation, notes)

· assist in documenting and improving internal processes through developing process maps and determining strategies to streamline work

· 5-12 small projects

EXAMPLES:

· facilitate a coaching group for managers or supervisors (requires a certified or highly experienced executive coach)

· produce a literature review

· facilitate a meeting

· facilitate a retreat (or part of a retreat) that is from ½ day to 2 days long

· customize an off-the-shelf course

· 1-10 trainings that typically range in length from 1 hour to 1 day (6 hours)

PLEASE NOTE: These are general estimates for planning purposes and may increase or decrease each year as needs change.

Types of Projects and Services that MAY be Required

OESE requires the assistance of a contractor who has experience and expertise in the topics listed in the Organizational Need section of this document. To achieve the goals described in the Purpose and Background sections, the contractor must provide services like those described below.

Examples of types of projects that may be required:

· Help Build Management/Leadership Capacity—Provide support in identifying and fulfilling professional learning and development needs for OESE executives, managers, supervisors, and staff. This may include making recommendations regarding the type, design, and delivery of management development activities, and providing appropriate “just-in-time” development, professional learning, and executive coaching solutions. It may also include providing instructors for leadership development programs for staff at varying pay and performance levels.

· Create and Sustain a Work Environment that OESE Staff Describe as a Best Place to Work—Provide support to OESE in responding to issues identified through the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey by determining the underlying reasons for the survey results, and using this knowledge to identify, prioritize and help implement high-impact solutions to continually improve OESE’s work environment.

· Support Performance Management—Provide support in creating a strong, results-oriented performance culture for OESE (see Appendix B). Help OESE’s executives and managers establish clear standards that differentiate between performance levels on the Department’s REsults ACHieved (REACH) performance system.

· Support the Formation of New Groups and Organizational Units—Assist with leadership and organizational transitions.

The Department will identify specific organizational priorities, and the Department and the contractor will work together to determine the most effective approach.

In performing this work, the contractor may be required to perform the following types of services:

· Facilitate Meetings. The contractor may be required to facilitate meetings, retreats, and/or working groups. Upon request, the contractor may be required to gather data from participants, develop draft agendas, facilitate meetings, and produce meeting proceedings.

· Gather Data. The contractor may be required to gather valid and reliable data using the data collection methods that are determined to be the most appropriate for the project. The contractor, in consultation with the Department, must decide which methods to use. For example, the contractor may be required to produce literature reviews, conduct focus groups, interview staff, develop and administer surveys, conduct needs assessments, administer polls, and/or gather data in comparable ways. In some cases, the data may be sensitive or confidential or may require that respondents are provided anonymity.

· Provide Analytic Services. When data analysis is required, the contractor must use valid and reliable analytic strategies. The data may be collected as described above or may be provided by an external source. As part of this analysis, the contractor may be required to identify one or more of the following: root causes, trends, projections, patterns, relationships, factors, components, gains/losses, results, etc. The contractor may be required to create data maps or visualizations. The contractor may be required to use the data to provide recommendations to Department officials. The contractor may be required to present recommendations to groups of various sizes, including all OESE staff or subgroups (e.g., executives, managers, supervisors, staff from a particular office).

· Develop and/or Help Implement Strategic Plans or Action Plans. The contractor may be required to develop and/or implement strategic plans or action plans that are based on an approach that is determined through the work described above. The plans should contain clear goals, objectives, activities, responsible parties, timelines, and resources. Implementing the plan may require activities like presenting content at meetings, facilitating meetings or discussions, recording meeting proceedings, developing products, testing products, developing communications, providing training on products, etc. It may also require conducting follow-up meetings to assess progress, address emerging needs, and determine where adjustments to the plan are needed based on experience gained through the implementation process.

· Provide Executive Coaching Services. When required, the contractor must provide the services of a certified or highly experienced executive coach to facilitate coaching GROUPS for managers and for supervisors (separate groups). The purpose of the coaching groups is to provide a psychologically safe and structured environment where managers and supervisors can increase their self-awareness, share knowledge, problem-solve, drive transformational change, and increase the capacity, skills, and knowledge that they need to be successful. The contractor may also be required to provide individual coaching on request.

· Provide Professional Learning and Training. When required, the contractor must provide professional learning on topics identified by the government. The purpose of the professional learning is to improve the capacity, skills, and knowledge of OESE’s executives, managers, supervisors, and staff.

The contractor may be required to assist in conducting a learning needs assessment to determine the office’s highest priority professional learning needs. In most cases, the contractor will be required to use “off the shelf” courses that have already been developed that require minimum or no customization. The contractor must provide instructors that employ highly interactive and engaging teaching methods.

While OESE is the focus of this work, OESE may occasionally share professional learning services with other principal offices within the Department or procure professional learning services for those offices. For informational purposes, here are examples of types of professional learning courses that might be required.

· Building Trust

· Change the Game: Why Bias and Equity Matter

· Collaborative Communication

· Conflict Management

· Customer Experience

· Developing Critical Thinking Skills to Solve Complex Problems

· Distinguishing Between Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction

· Diversity and Inclusion

· Effective Communication & Information Sharing

· Effective Training Design

· Elevating Your Workplace Communication

· Emotional Intelligence

· Facilitation Skills

· Good Government Writing: Using Plain Language

· Leadership that Improves Performance

· Leading Change

· Leading from Where You Sit: The Art of Getting Results

· Managing Multiple Priorities

· Managing Performance

· Problem Solving

· Process Improvement with Gap Analysis

· Project Management

· Resilience

· Self-Awareness as a Leader

· Stakeholder Management

· Team Building

· The Art of Leading Others

· Tools for Effective Teamwork

· Using Data to Improve Decisions

· Evaluate and Produce Evaluation Reports. The contractor may be required to plan and conduct an evaluation of specific services. This may include developing an evaluation plan that identifies key performance indicators and outcomes (e.g., what should we measure to know that we have been successful), compiling evaluation results, conducting various types of analyses, summarizing the evaluation results, presenting the results through charts, graphs, dashboards, infographics or other visual methods that make the data easy to understand and interpret (data visualization), providing recommendations based on the data, etc.

The Department does not anticipate that the contractor will provide all the services described in this section every year and new organizational development services may be added to reflect changing organizational needs. The Department also anticipates that some services may take more than a single year to complete as part of a multi-phase approach. For every service provided, the contractor must informally evaluate both the process that was used and the results and make recommendations to guide future work.

TASK 3 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The contractor must complete and submit the following reports:

Subtask 3.1 –Project Plan and Cost Estimate (Time and Materials)

Prior to the start of each project, the contractor must develop and submit a basic Project Plan and Cost Estimate to the COR.

a. Project Plan—The contractor must provide:

· a brief description of the project,

· list of key project tasks/milestones and associated deliverables,

· the estimated number of hours required by each staff member to complete each milestone/task, and

· the estimated timeline.

The contractor must base this plan on discussions with Department staff (including the COR), data collected by the contractor (where applicable), and information supplied by the Department (where applicable).

b. Cost Estimate—The contractor must:

· estimate the resources required to complete all tasks—especially labor (name of contractor, labor category, labor rate, labor hours).

· base costs on anticipated milestones/deliverables.

· submit the estimate as an Excel chart or an alternative that is acceptable to the COR, so that the Government can independently verify the formulas used.

c. The contractor must submit the Project Plan and Cost Estimate as a single combined document unless the COR approves an alternate format.

d. The contractor must submit the Project Plan and Cost Estimate within 10 business days of when the project requirements are conveyed to the contractor. The COR will approve the Project Plan and Cost Estimate before work may begin.

e. The contractor must submit the final version of documents no more than five business days after the contractor receives feedback from the COR, unless an extension is requested and received from the COR.

Unless otherwise authorized by the COR, work on each project must begin within 10 business days after final COR approval of the Project Plan and Cost Estimate. If it becomes clear after the Project Plan and Cost Estimate are approved that it is advisable to change the approach or level of effort (the government requests changes or a better approach is identified by the contractor), the contractor must discuss proposed changes with the COR as soon as possible, and the contractor must update the Project Plan/Cost Estimate to reflect all agreed upon changes. The COR will approve all changes to the documents.

Subtask 3.2 – Consultation and Status Updates at Key Decision Points (Time and Materials)

For each project, the Department will provide the project goals and objectives, and may suggest a preferred approach. The contractor must provide options and recommendations for management’s consideration. The contractor must focus on high impact solutions that can be institutionalized given the Department’s current budgetary and human resources constraints.

If requested, the contractor must provide a concise summary of discussions, ensuring that key decisions regarding the approach are documented. The contractor must provide the summary to the COR, per the deliverables schedule.

Once the Department has determined a preferred approach, the contractor is responsible for developing all procedures and materials needed to implement the project. The contractor must assist the government in using the most effective and cost-efficient strategic approach to ensure the success of the project.

Subtask 3.3 – Consolidated Burn Report (Firm Fixed Price)

Each month, the contractor must submit a Consolidated Burn Report that describes the current funding status of the contract. At a minimum, the contractor must provide the following information in the report. An example of an acceptable reporting format has been provided in Appendix A. The contractor may propose alternate approaches for approval by the COR.

For the contract as a whole:

· Reporting Month

· Current Project Period

· Base year, option year 1, option year 2, etc.

· Performance period beginning and ending dates

· Total funding for the project year

· Funds expended to date

· Funds remaining

· Funds allocated but not spent (proposed/approved projects that have not been completed)

· Unallocated funding

EXAMPLE:

Reporting Month:

June 2025

Amount

· Current prime contractor/ subcontractor payment split

· Estimated future payment split

EXAMPLE:

For each project:

· Project name

· Project personnel (name, labor category, labor rate, labor hours used this reporting period, labor cost this reporting period, total cumulative labor cost to date)

· Other invoiced costs (item, cost per unit, number of units used this reporting period, cost this reporting period, cumulative cost to date)

· Total project costs (1) during the reporting period, and (2) cumulative to date.

· Indication if project is in-progress or completed

COST

RATE

Hourly loaded labor rate

Labor hours billed this performance period

TOTAL USED

Total labor hours to date

REMAINING

Labor hours for this project

LABOR COST

Labor rate X hours used

OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Billed to date

TOTAL APPROVED COST

Labor cost + other direct costs

TOTAL USED

Total funds used to date

REMAIN-ING

Total funds left for this project

Project Name: ABC PROJECT

IN PROGRESS (Approved July 1)

Facilitator

Executive Coach

Content Specialist

Administrative Support

Other Direct Costs (Itemized) --Printing --Travel

Project Total

The contractor must submit the Consolidated Burn Report the first business day of every month in a Microsoft Excel format. The contractor must maintain the current Consolidated Burn Report and all prior reports for that performance period in a single workbook that has a tab for each month. The contractor must provide the current month in the 1st tab, with all prior months in chronological order.

In addition to the Consolidated Burn Report, the contractor must provide detailed monthly invoices that describe the work completed during the previous month by project. The government will compare the number of hours being billed each month against the description of work performed to ensure that the number of hours being billed is reasonable.

The contractor must complete and submit other ad-hoc reports as requested. For example, the COR could request a brief description of the contractor’s progress, including both planned and completed work, for projects that the COR is not involved with on a day-to-day basis.

TASK 4 – CLOSING CONSULTATION (Time and Materials)

Upon request, the contractor must conduct a closing consultation with the COR and key Department staff on major projects to provide final products, to assess the success of the work, to discuss “lessons learned,” to describe how to maintain progress, and to make recommendations to guide future work. If requested, the contractor must provide a concise closing report that briefly documents the service that was provided and provides the information discussed above.

6.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED INFORMATION

If required, the COR will provide the contractor with information regarding OESE’s results on the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and other reports and data as needed.

7.0 SCHEDULE OF DELIVERABLES

The contractor must e-mail every deliverable identified in the following table to the COR in accordance with the prescribed schedule. The contractor must e-mail all documents in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel unless another format is approved by the COR. When applicable, all deliverables must meet the accessibility requirements of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1978.

The contractor and COR must consult and agree upon dates in the Project Plan for specific project deliverables.

Final within 5 business days of COR approval

APPENDIX A— Example of a Consolidated Burn Report

CONSOLIDATED BURN REPORT

Reporting Month:

JULY 2025

Amount

COST

RATE

Hourly loaded labor rate

Labor hours billed this performance period

TOTAL USED

Total labor hours used to date

REMAINING

Labor hours for this project

LABOR COST

Labor rate multiplied by hours used

OTHER DIRECT COSTS

Billed to date

TOTAL APPROVED COST

Labor cost + other direct costs

TOTAL USED

Total funds used to date

REMAIN-ING

Total funds remaining for this project

Project Name: ABC PROJECT

APPROVED JULY 1

Executive Coach

Other Direct Costs (Itemized) --Printing

$ XXX

Project Total

$ X,XXX

Project Name: XYZ PROJECT

COMPLETED (Approved July 1)

Facilitator

Content Specialist

Administrative Support

Other Direct Costs (Itemized)

Project Total

$ X,XXX

Grand Total

$ XX,XXX

$ XX,XXX

Unused Funding

$ XX,XXX

APPENDIX B—Roadmap for a Results-Oriented Performance Management Culture in OESE image2.png image1.png