A01_REVISED v.2 PWS -OII Innovative Program Experimentation Sources Sought Draft_6-12-24.docx

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

OFFICE OF INVESTMENT AND INNOVATION

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

Innovative Program Experimentation and Research (IPER)

PURPOSE

The Ecosystem Development Division (EDD) in SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation (OII) has a need for program experimentation and research to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of its funding programs, specifically the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative. Program evaluation typically occurs after a program has been implemented while program experimentation is a real-time evaluation effort which increases the speed in which a program’s effectiveness can be studied. The use of both program evaluation and program experimentation will build a strong evidence base which EDD program staff can utilize to improve existing programs and design future programs.

1.0 BACKGROUND

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the Federal Government to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise, and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. Although SBA has grown and evolved in the years since it was established in 1953, the mission remains the same: to help Americans start, build, and grow businesses.

OII through EDD is investing in entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) and regional innovation clusters throughout the U.S. that span a variety of industries, ranging from energy and manufacturing to agriculture and advanced defense technologies. EDD’s investments and programs support SBA’s Strategic Plan Objective 1.2: Build a thriving national innovation ecosystem that promotes investments in all small business communities.

EDD has two funding programs – GAFC and the RIC Initiative. GAFC is a prize competition that awards funds to ESOs in two stages. Stage one funding is awarded to organizations to catalyze relationships between aligned stakeholders (ecosystem partners) to develop Growth Accelerator Partnerships. Stage two funding is awarded to those Growth Accelerator Partnerships to aid entrepreneurs that transition R&D into the marketplace. The RIC Initiative provides funding to for-profit, small businesses through contracts to deliver small business support services in their designated industries.

EDD is focused on continuous improvement of GAFC and the RIC Initiative and wants to ensure all program decisions are informed by evidence. This focus on evidence-based policy making aligns with President Biden’s Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policy Making released on January 27, 2021. In the Memorandum, agencies are encouraged to use a broad set of methodological approaches for evidence-based policy making, including the methods used in program experimentation (randomized control trials). Additionally, EDD’s focus on evidence-based policy making aligns with SBA’s Enterprise Learning Agenda Objective 3.1: Strategically manage resources by integrating quality data, evidence, and risk in decision-making processes.

3.0 SCOPE

Program evaluation and program experimentation are OII priority areas. EDD aims to strengthen its ability to evaluate in real-time the impact of its programs and generate evidence regarding the effectiveness of its programs, specifically GAFC and the RIC Initiative. By doing so, SBA will better incorporate best practices, make evidence-informed program changes, effectively manage program awardees, and contribute to the existing body of literature on technology-based economic development.

To achieve these goals, SBA requires the offeror to:

· Assist EDD with the development and implementation of real-time evaluation efforts (program experiments) done through randomized controlled trials, the real-time evaluation efforts will be focused on EDD policies and programs, mainly GAFC and the RIC Initiative;

· Report to EDD the outcomes from the real-time evaluation efforts done through randomized controlled trials and provide recommendations for program improvements;

· Disseminate outcomes to a network of subject matter experts for review, validation (or disagreement), and adaptation; and

· Provide access to a growing community of researchers that design and run these specific types of experiments to generate evidence related to specific policies and programs.

4.0 SPECIFIC TASKS & DELIVERABLES

Deliverables include:

· Biweekly meetings, and meeting minutes delivered within 48 hours among SBA, the vendor, and the vendor’s partners to identify, develop, and scope experiments;

· Produce at least three fully designed and scoped experiments with defined hypotheses to be tested by the experiments;

· Provide experimental results and evidence that validate or invalidate relevant hypotheses and that suggest subsequent experiments, the timeline of delivery of the experimental results will be determined in collaboration between the COR, program manager, and vendor; and

· Ad hoc and regular access to vendor expertise in policy and program experimentation, including but not limited to one-on-one meetings and working groups, as needed, to fully design and scope experiments, and suggest subsequent experiments; while these will be conducted on a situational basis SBA anticipates no more than 5 such meetings would be necessary per month.

5.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

One (1) 12-Month Base Period Plus Two (2) 12-Month Option Periods.

Base Period: 12 month-period from time of award xx-xx-2024 – xx-xx-2025 Option Period 1: xx-xx-2025 – xx-xx-2026 Option Period 2: xx-xx-2026 – xx-xx-2027

6.0 CONTRACT TYPE

Firm-Fixed Price

7.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The events will take place in a virtual/remote environment of the contractor.

8.0 REQUIRED TRAVEL

Travel is not anticipated. Contractor employees will be responsible for getting themselves to and from the workplace at their private expense. However, should special travel be required, all travel must be preapproved in writing by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and shall adhere to FAR 31.205-46.

9.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY/EQUIPMENT/INFORMATION

It is anticipated that the Government may furnish GFP. GFP is required to the extent that the contractor allows its employees to telework or requires its employee to work offsite at the Contractor’s facility, hand receipts or other documentation in support of Receipt and Issue System for Government Material may be required upon issuance of a Government laptop. Such laptops are Government Furnished Property, and compliance with FAR clause 52.245-1, Government Property is required. The unit acquisition cost of each provided laptop is approximately $1,000.00/each. Laptops will be provided to Contractor employees within 14 days after the employee’s submits and gets approved security clearance.

10.0 DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Information made available to the contractor by the Government for the performance or administration of this effort shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the written agreement of the Contracting Officer.

The contractor agrees to assume responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of Government records, which are not public information. Each contractor or employee of the contractor to whom information may be made available or disclosed shall be notified in writing by the contractor that such information may be disclosed only for a purpose and to the extent authorized herein.

11.0 RELEASE OF INFORMATION

No news release (including photographs and films, public announcements, denial or confirmation of same) on any part of the subject matter of this effort or any phase of any program hereunder shall be made without the prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

The Contractor is prohibited from releasing to any source, other than the sponsoring activity, any interim, draft, and final reports or information pertaining to services performed under this contract until report approval or official review has been obtained. Furthermore, the contractor shall insure that the cover of all interim, draft, and final reports contains the following statement: "The view, opinions, and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Government position, policy or decision, unless so designated by other documentation."

There shall be no dissemination or publication, except within and between the Contractor and any subcontractors, of information developed under this contract or contained in the reports to be furnished pursuant to this effort without prior written approval from the Contracting Officer.

Information made available to the contractor by the Government for the performance or administration of this effort shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the written agreement of the Contracting Officer.

The contractor agrees to assume responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of Government records, which are not public information. Each contractor or employee of the contractor to whom information may be made available or disclosed shall be notified in writing by the contractor that such information may be disclosed only for a purpose and to the extent authorized herein.