Justification_and_Approval_Aug_15-Award_Notice.doc

Justification and Approval For Other Than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Agency: Defense Human Resource Activity- Procurement Support Office 4800 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia, 22350.

2. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

3. Description of Supplies and Services: The Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO) requires a cultural intelligence assessment tool that will identify individual capabilities; help recognize the effectiveness of training programs associated with cultural interactions. This is able to be accessed and administered and scored via an online link and allow for effective assessments covering over 100 cultural regions.

4. Description of Action: A Firm fixed price contract is planned with a period of performance of twelve months from date of award. FY15 Operating and Maintenance (O&M) funds are available in the total estimated amount of.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. The Department of Defense (DoD) allocates resources annually in support of culture and region training programs. Programs supported by DLNSEO include the Boren Scholarship program, the Language Flagship program, and Project Global Officer. Participants in these programs travel to more than 100 different countries to work within various cultures while applying learned language skills. Some of the students receive language testing at the conclusion of their institutional programs. However, the testing does not enable DLNSEO to determine if the students are receiving the required levels of regional and cultural understanding required for interactions in other countries. As a result DLNSEO needs a method/tool that will provide the ability to assess the current culture and region training programs, enable a more accurate means to guide training/development efforts, provide feedback that will help determine requirements, and ensure that there is an accurate return on investment. DLNSEO cultural training covers over 100 cultural regions and to be effective the assessment tool must cover the breadth of training

b. Market research identified several products could possibly meet some of the Government’s requirements. For example, several cultural assessment products exist that are based on a specific regional or country culture but do cover all of the breadth of the assessments and cultural feedback needed by Government users who travel to improve interactions across many cultures and regions. However, the Government is seeking one method/tool, rather than multiple products, to meet the full requirement. Use of one solution is necessary as the feedback will help establish training programs that will improve interactions across many cultures and regions. The feedback mechanism is critical to the success of the requirement and must translate simply to the user or the training developer and this criteria was not met by some products reviewed. For example, use of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) requires taking e a certification course in order to properly translate the meaning of the results of the cultural assessment. The user feedback from a number of the other instruments was tied into the developers’ research methodology and that methodology was not always able to be validated other than by using the cultural assessment. As a result, market research identified only one solution, from a single source, the Cultural Intelligence Center, that is capable meeting the Government’s full requirement.

6. Effort to Obtain Competition: Until such time as the requirement changes or the Cultural Intelligence Center products become obsolete, this acquisition will continue to be limited to manufacturer and any other authorized products resellers that may become available. A notice of the Governments intent to award on a sole source basis will be posted on FedBizOps and any interested offeror will have the opportunity to submit a capability statement for the Government’s consideration.

7. Effort to remove barriers to/increase competition: DLNSEO will continue to monitor the market place for competitive options to meet this requirement. For future requirements, DLNSEO will conduct a thorough review of the marketplace to ensure that any barriers to competition can be identified and removed so that competition can be obtained to the maximum extent practicable.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted via internet searches, review of vendor websites/products, and GSA Advantage. Information available from academic institutions we site was also reviewed including the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching from the University of Michigan, http://www.crlt.umich.edu/interculturalcompetence, and the Intercultural Communication Institute, http://www.intercultural.org/tools.php which provided additional links that were reviewed for organizations that distribute and sell cultural self-assessment tools including: the Global Competencies Inventory (GCI), the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES), Description, Interpretation, Evaluation (DIE), Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), Diagnosing Organizational Culture, Discovering Diversity Profile, Diversity Awareness Profile (DAP), Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS), Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), International Mobility Assessment (IMA), the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC), Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory (ICSI), Learning Styles Inventory (LSI), Overseas Assignment Inventory (OAI) and Intercultural Candidate Evaluation (ICE), the Global Perspectives Inventory, the Global Competence Aptitude Assessment, Conducting a Cultural Competence Self-Assessment, and the Cultural Intelligence Self-Assessment Pro. The Kozai Group

9. Interested Sources: Cultural Intelligence Center, Holt, MI

10. Other Factors: N/A