Attachment_1_SP-1257-20_Final.pdf

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REQUEST FOR SPECIAL PROCUREMENT No. SP-1257-20

PART A. Requesting Agency must complete Items 1 through 13.

1. Requesting Agency Name: The Department of Administrative Services, Procurement Services (DAS PS) on behalf of the Oregon Employment Department (OED)

2. Date of Request: November 17, 2020 3. Agency Number: 107090

4. Agency Contact Name: Rachel Smith 5. Phone: (971) 707-0263

6. Type of Request: Class Special Procurement X Contract-specific Special Procurement

7. Time Period Requested: From: December 9, 2020 To: December 8, 2025

8. Total Estimated Cost: $268,090

9. Title: Supplies and/or Services to be Acquired:

The Conference Board’s Help Wanted On-Line (HWOL) Statistical Time Series and Job Listing Subscription

10. Request, Background and Proposed Contracting Procedure:

a. Request:

DAS PS, on behalf of OED, is requesting approval of this Special Procurement (SP) No. SP-1257-20 to reinstate, amend and extend Contract No. ED-1011-09 (Agreement) from December 9, 2020 through December 8, 2022, for a two (2) year cost of $105,340, with options to extend for up to an additional three

(3) years with a not-to-exceed (NTE) total of $268,090.

b. Background:

The Oregon Employment Department’s (OED) mission is to support economic stability for Oregonians and communities during times of unemployment through the payment of unemployment benefits, serve businesses by recruiting and referring the best-qualified applicants to jobs, to provide resources to diverse job seekers in support of their employment needs, and finally, to develop and distribute quality workforce and economic information to promote informed decision-making about employment opportunities.

Help wanted job listings are provided by The Conference Board to the Oregon Employment Department to assist job seekers through OED website tools such as, Job Finder and Occupational Profiles. The job listings are updated daily using three (3) custom processes developed by OED IT staff that: 1) downloads the job listings from the vendor, 2) prepares the job listings by removing duplicates and inappropriate job ads, and 3) updates our website tools with these job listings. Re-developing these processes to be compatible with a new vendor would divert OED IT resources away from their other assigned duties.

The Conference Board provides access to Help Wanted OnLine Index (HWOL) and Burning Glass Technologies real-time job market analytics used by OED economists to measure labor market demand over time. The economist have received training and are experienced analyzing data from this vendor. If

SP-1257-20 Page 2 of 6 similar real-time job market analytics are available from a new vendor, using it would 1) create a time-series break in our analysis where future analysis is no longer comparable with past analysis, and 2) would require retraining our economists on how to use a new system and how to analyze a new source of data.

The monthly data will be provided through the OED’s QualityInfo web site.

The HWOL fulfills OED’s core business needs to:

• Analyze labor demand on a real-time basis for geographic locations throughout the State.

• Address the macro questions on movements in labor demand by the Office of the Governor, State of

Oregon Legislature, Oregon Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), and other customer groups, and to provide publishable data as needed.

• Provide detailed information on labor demand in specific geographic areas to assist local WIBs and one-stops to assess and meet the current needs of job seekers and businesses.

• Analyze occupational and skills demand, provide detailed information on the occupations and the skills in demand in market areas across the State, and be able to inform the workforce system.

• Enables the filtering of data based on specified locations, time periods, industries, employers, occupations, job titles, occupation codes, salary ranges, sources, keywords, experience levels, education levels, certifications, and skills (both individual skills and skill groups).

• Provides dynamic coding of education requirements, skill requirements, experience requirements, certification requirements, and salary based on what employers specifically request in job postings, as opposed to the more static data available in occupation-based tables

• Presents skills data that are extracted from job postings, not inferred, and which are broken down by specialized skills, baseline skills, and software & programming specific skills.

• Presents skills and skill cluster data against a taxonomy that of over 18,000 tracked skills with roughly 90,000 – 100,000 skill variants.

• Provides access to a variety of published data in addition to real-time labor market data and facilitates side-by-side comparison.

• Provides access to workforce demographics and facilitates the identification of changes in workforce composition and productivity.

• Access to online job ads data that is consistent with existing federal and state data systems including Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) coding and consistent with labor demand data in geographic locations across the nation.

• Download HWOL data into files compatible with other data sets.

• Access a user-friendly format that allows quick access to the labor demand set to enable short-answer turnaround.

• Load the HWOL data into your customized web site in a real-time fashion.

• Access to knowledgeable support from The Conference Board economists for assistance with issues on labor demand and for general information on economic trends and other issues impacting business.

OED procured, through a Sole Source procurement method and advertised on the Oregon Procurement Information Network (ORPIN) Notice No. ED-1383-09 on September 16, 2009, an annual subscription to provide detailed data used in OED’s website QualityInfo beginning December 9, 2009 for $56,218 via Master Customer Agreement #10-196 and ORPIN Contract No. ED-1011-09 (Agreement).

In December 2011, OED procured a second year of services totaling the Agreement to a not-to-exceed of $110,573.

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On December 13, 2011, OED posted via ORPIN a second Sole Source Notice No. ED-1034-11, for five

(5) additional years with a total NTE of $252,975.

Amendment No. 4 for Year five (5) extended and increased the NTE to $275,815. Amendment No. 5 for Year six (6) extended and increased the NTE to $331,258.

In October 2015, OED executed Amendment No. 6 to extend for five (5) additional [years seven (7) through eleven (11)] extending the Agreement to December 9, 2020 and increasing to $594,608.

Current Need:

The Term of the Agreement ended December 8, 2020 and OED wishes to reinstate the Agreement and continue the subscription.

Cost Breakdown for five years of subscription:

c. Proposed Contracting Procedure:

DAS PS proposes a reinstatement of the Agreement, with an amendment to extend the term and compensation.

1. As required by Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 125-247-0287, DAS PS will issue a public notice of the Special Procurement on the Oregon Procurement Information Network (ORPIN) for a period of seven (7) days. The notice will include provisions that any affected party may protest the approval of the Special Procurement.

2. DAS PS will respond to and resolve any protest of the Special Procurement.

3. Upon conclusion of the notice period, if no protests are received and sustained, DAS PS will proceed to reinstate the Agreement, amend and extend the Agreement for up to five (5) years and increase the Agreement for a NTE of $268,090.

11. Justification for use of Special Procurement: Describe the circumstances that justify the use of a Special Procurement. Attach relevant documentation.

The information that OED Research division uses from HWOL is directly transferable to OED’s software format, without requiring OED Research to search, reformat or validate the data.

Renewal Dates Pricing:

Year One - December 9, 2020- December 8, 2021 $52,670 Year Two - December 9, 2021- December 8, 2022 $52,670 Year Three - December 9, 2022- December 8, 2023 $54,250 Year Four - December 9, 2023- December 8, 2024 $54,250 Year Five - December 9, 2024- December 8, 2025 $54,250 Total Cost for five (5) Years: $268,090

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The HWOL data series is only available through The Conference Board. With access to HWOL data, Oregon’s Workforce and Economic Research Division will also have a membership in The Conference Board, which provides access to a number of other economic services and access to the regional data for The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. The analytic data OED’s Research division has been pulling from the Conference Board’s HWOL consists of a constant stream of information for over 10 years. To maintain the integrity of the information and subsequent analysis; the data stream must continue to match. This is a requirement for any type of longitudinal research work, where consistent variables are required for valid and repeatable results.

12. Findings to Satisfy the Required Standards: This proposed special procurement:

__X__ (a) will be unlikely to encourage favoritism in the awarding of public contracts or to substantially diminish competition for public contracts because:

There are several existing vendors who currently provide/sell job board products to States (e.g., Geographic Solutions, Indeed.com). However, the primary goal for these vendors' products has been to provide a large volume of current ads to clients (such as States) in order to support/augment the State's public web site for job seekers. This is in contrast to The Conference Board's primary goal, which has been to develop and publish real-time economic time-series data using a set of job boards, which cover the full population of all on-line ads. The Conference Board's effort requires a high-degree of accuracy and carefully designed statistical and quality control methodologies. A "by-product" of producing the economic time-series data is a high-quality comprehensive set of unduplicated job postings.

The other vendors do not publish (or provide) counts of total unduplicated ads, nor do they provide documentation on their detailed definitions/methodologies/procedures. OED believes that none of the other vendors produce viable economic time-series products.

In addition, while the other vendors do have large data sets of current ads available, these only appear to cover a subset of the full population and often do not adequately control for the large amount of duplicates present on most job boards. The HWOL experience has been that only about 1/4 of the ads collected are actually unique ads (i.e. 3/4 are duplicates). If a State requires full coverage of all online advertised occupational job openings containing only current/active unduplicated ads, then there are no other viable products currently available.

The HWOL data series is only available through The Conference Board. With access to HWOL data, Oregon’s Research Division will also have a membership in The Conference Board, which provides access to a number of other economic services and access to the regional data for The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index.

and

______ (b)(i) will result in substantial cost savings to the contracting agency or to the public because:

or

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__X__ (b)(ii) will otherwise substantially promote the public interest in a manner that could not practicably be realized by complying with the requirements of ORS 279B.055, 279B.060, 279B.065, or 279B.070, or any rules adopted thereunder because:

Maintaining the subscription with the Conference Board’s HWOL will promote the public’s interest by consistently pulling a constant stream of data information to support OED’s mission to Oregonians. To maintain the integrity of the information and subsequent analysis, the data stream must continue to match results from the past 10 years. This is a requirement for any type of longitudinal research work, where consistent variables are required for valid and repeatable results. Additionally, the information that OED Research division uses from HWOL is directly transferable to OED’s software format, without requiring the OED Research division to search, reformat or validate the data. This ultimately saves taxpayer’s dollars by avoiding a long timeline to complete formal solicitation methods, where market research has determined alternative products do not meet OED’s needs.

13. Signature: The actual signature of the Agency Head or designee (e.g., Designated Procurement Officer) is not required on the Request if it is submitted through ORPIN. Agency may elect to attach a signed Request.

Signature: e.g. Electronically in ORPIN _________________ Type Name: Date:

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PART B. The Department of Administrative Services completes Part B.

STATUTORY AND RULE AUTHORITY:

ORS 279B.085(2) states the Director of the Department of Administrative Services may approve a special procurement if the Director finds that a written request submitted under ORS 279B.085(4) demonstrates that the use of a special procurement as described in the request, or an alternative procedure prescribed by the Director will:

(a) Be unlikely to encourage favoritism in the awarding of public contracts or to substantially diminish competition for public contracts; and

(b) (A) Result in substantial cost savings to the contracting agency or to the public; or

(B) Otherwise substantially promote the public interest in a manner that could not practicably be realized by complying with requirements that are applicable under ORS 279B.055, 279B.060, 279B.065 or 279B.070 or under any rules adopted thereunder.

OAR 125-246-0170 delegates the authority of the Director of the Department of Administrative Services to approve special procurements to the State Chief Procurement Officer. OAR 125-247-0285 through 125-247-0288 implement

ORS 279B.085.

OAR 125-247-0700(2) Protests and Judicial Review of Special Procurements designates the State Chief Procurement Officer as the Contract Review Authority.

FINDINGS: The findings are accepted, adopted, and incorporated by reference herein.

CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL:

1. Notice Period. The Authorized Agency shall post the Public Notice on ORPIN. The Special Procurement may not be used until after the completion of the seven (7) day notice period required pursuant to OAR 125- 247- 0287(4), and either:

a. No Written protests are received by the Contract Review Authority, State Chief Procurement Officer, from an Affected Person in response to the notice, or

b. If any protest is received during the notice period, then not until:

i. the State Chief Procurement Officer or delegate issues a written disposition of the protest in accordance with ORS 279B.400 and OAR 125-247-0700 and OAR 137-047-0700, and

ii. confirms in writing the first possible date of use of the Special Procurement.

2. ORS 279A.165 Requirements. Authorized Agency shall comply with the requirements of ORS 279A.165 and

OAR 125-247-0287(12) regarding a report about this Special Procurement. Agency shall use a form and follow the instructions provided by the State Chief Procurement Officer or delegate.

3. Authorized Agency shall comply with all Enterprise Information Services (EIS) conditions and requirements prior to execution of any contracts or amendments and will obtain Department of Justice (DOJ) legal sufficiency review and approval, as may be required.

APPROVED:

Approved by Debbie Dennis via email on: December 14, 2020 @ 11:08 AM PT Debbie Dennis, State Chief Procurement Officer, Date:

Department of Administrative Services