ED-IES-14-R-0003_Amendment_0002.pdf

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 STANDARD FORM 30. (Rev. 10-83) Previous Edition unusable Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

Page of Pages AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. Contract ID Code

2. AMENDMENT MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (if applicable)

6. ISSUED BY CODE 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6) CODE

(x) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (NO., Street, Country, State and ZIP Code)

CODE FACILITY CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning ______ copies of amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OR OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

Check One

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return _______ copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. DATE SIGNED

Attachment Page

PAGE 2 OF 6 ED-IES-14-R-0003/0002

Additional Questions Received

WARNING! Offerors must note that there are email attachment size restrictions. The

Department of Education cannot accept attachments larger than 25 MB. The Government is not responsible for attachment size restrictions that may exist on offerors' email servers! Offerors are advised to check with their provider for information on email size restrictions and plan accordingly.

If offerors attempt to submit a proposal to Jonathan.Bettis@ed.gov and receive an error message, they MUST contact the Contract Specialist, Jonathan.Bettis@ed.gov, PRIOR TO

THE CLOSING OF THE SOLICITATION during standard business hours (8:00 A.M. ET to 5:00 P.M. ET, Monday through Friday). The solicitation closes promptly at 2:00 P.M.

ET, on March 24, 2014. Late proposals will not be accepted.

(1) In follow-up to the RFP on the SBIR from ED/IES, we wanted to ask for the definition of

“students with at risk for disabilities” used in Priority 2 wording on the RFP. Our information is that limited English proficient children (LEP) or English-language learners

(ELLs) qualify in as much as language may impair diagnosis, consequently, they may be at risk for disability. Do ELL students qualify under this priority?

Response: Response: If the focus of the research is on students with disabilities or at risk for disabilities (English Language Learner or not), a proposal would likely be submitted to Priority 2. If the focus of the research is for students without disability or at risk for disability, the proposal for a product would likely be submitted to Priority 1.

(2) Also, can you let me know when response to questions become available? Where will this appear? Can you add us to the list to be informed when these responses are released?

This would be highly appreciated, thank you.

Response: The Department does not maintain an email notification list for this solicitation. All offerors are encouraged to constantly monitor www.FBO.gov for updates regarding this and other open solicitations.

(3) I’ve searched for a clear definition of the phrase “authentic education setting” on your site and elsewhere and can’t seem to find anything. Specifically I need to know the parameters of the meaning for the letter of Agreement (Appendix B) stating willingness to participate in the pilot research.

We are an organization that provides professional development to teachers, so as such we are an “education setting”. We are collaborating with a small business, [REDACTED] and will be conducting a pilot study with teachers from an urban school district. Can the letter for Appendix B come from our organization (a non-profit, education setting) or should it come from an administrator in the school district?

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Response: As is noted in the RFP, the letter must be from an authentic education setting.

In the example provided above, the letter may come from the urban school district or a school in that district.

(4) I am writing for clarification regarding the Department of Education’s SBIR Fast Track application. The Priority Areas are clearly identified in section IX of the document.

However, on page 2 of the document under Program Overview, section that ‘provides details on the scope of the Fast-Track proposal: The 2nd bullet point, describing the 3 points of focus for Phase I outlines in #2 that a functioning prototype of a technology product in early intervention or special education programs…

Is this Fast Track mechanism only targeted to products that provide for early intervention or special education programs? This is not identified in the Priority Areas and is a very important point to differentiate. Are Fast Track applications limited to those that apply to children in early intervention programs or special education programs? Priority 1 seems to suggest that the technology product could be for any student or teacher.

Response: The Fast-Track proposal can be for the development of a product under

Priority 1 or Priority 2.

(5) Just checking to see if North Carolina is eligible for the SBIR program.

Response: Yes.

(6) The guideline states that 1/3 of the budget can go to sub-contractors. Should costs for other consultants (such as teachers and researchers) be included in this limit of 1/3 of total budget?

Response: Any individual who is not employed by the offeror would be considered a sub-contractor.

(7) Offeror asks whether a previous Phase II award with the U.S. Department of Education related to [REDACTED] impacts the offeror’s ability to apply for the current SBIR Fast

Track program.

Response: No.

(8) My company provides [REDACTED] for [REDACTED] to provide better care, including children with special needs. The classes are blended and require that students meet online or face to face with our instructors.

Would we fit into priority 2?

Response: From the information provided, it is possible that this could fit within Priority

2.

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(9) Various sections of the solicitation refer to a maximum page length for the Project

Narrative, of 15 pages. Others refer to a 25-page maximum. Can you tell us which is correct?

Response: The Phase I technical narrative is a maximum of 15 pages. The Fast-Track technical narrative is a maximum of 25 pages.

(10) On page 39 of the RFP, under letter “K”, it states that ED expects to award (only) 2 fixed price contracts. Is this correct, or are we reading it wrongly.

Response: ED anticipates 2 fixed priced contracts. There could be more or less.

(11) Is Hawaii one of the eligible states for this solicitation according to the criteria on page

7?

Response: Yes.

(12) Is there no requirement to be registered or submit on Grants.gov

Response: That is correct, there is no requirement.

(13) Our team is filing out its SAM registry. As part of the process we are required to respond to whether or not the grants we intend to bid on include a 52.209-7 Provision.

Would you be able to please clarify if Appendix G.11 in the grant is an outline of the same FAR 52.209 or if this part of the SAM registry is referring to something different?

Response: G.11 on the ED-IES-14-R-0003 solicitation refers to FAR Clause 52.204-10.

G.13 refers to FAR Clause 52.209-7. Please be sure that you are referencing the SBIR

Fast Track solicitation. The clause contained in G.13 is the full text of FAR Clause

52.209-7. The Department cannot provide guidance regarding SAM registration or the completion of required forms related to SAM registration and certification. Please contact the appropriate party at SAM.

(14) In reading through the SBIR Phase I and Fast Track proposals, there are two different start dates listed for Phase I. The Phase I proposal lists the start date as 7/7/2014 (see page 3), and the Fast Track proposal lists 7/5/2014 as the start date for Phase I (see page

5). Can you please clarify which is the correct Phase I start date?

Response: Offerors can use 7/7/2014

(15) We are in the process of reviewing Appendix F and Appendix G certifications. Would you be able to share the process for red-lining these areas of the grant based on our legal review?

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Response: This is a federal contracting opportunity. The Department does not “red-line” any portion of proposals.

Also we would like to confirm that since this is our first proposal we will only need to submit the following appendices: Appendix B, C, E, F, G & H.

Response: Please refer to the RFP for information on the Appendices.

(16) Good morning. I am writing to inquire if a firm can turn in the exact same proposal with

Phase 1 requirements to the Phase 1 solicitation and Phase 1 and 2 requirements through the fast track process?

Response: There are slight variations between the Phase I Technical Narrative section and the Fast-Track’s Phase I Technical Narrative section, so the Phase I section will likely reflect this variation.

(17) I could not figure out the difference between Fast Track and the regular solicitation.

Response: The ED-IES-14-R-0003 Fast Track solicitation requires offerors to submit both Phase I and Phase II proposals for evaluation. If by “regular solicitation” the offeror is referring to the ED-IES-14-R-0009 SBIR Phase I solicitation, please note that the

Phase I solicitation does not require offerors to submit a Phase II proposal.

(18) I am from the academia and the company that I intend to submit with is going to file for the Women Owned company. Do you need some paperwork for that when we submit the proposal?

Response: All mandatory elements that offerors are required to submit with their proposals are expressly stated in the solicitation. Please review the solicitation document for all required information.

(19) Is there a penalty if the proposal is shorter (no. of pages) than what is suggested?

Response: There is no penalty if your proposal is shorter than the maximum page specification.

(20) We were initially thinking that a portion of the Phase II grant could go to the actual development of technology by our tech team, but upon reading the fine print it appears all funds must be used for research on the technology. Please confirm that.

Response: The solicitation provides information on what is required in the Phase I and

Phase II portions of the proposal.

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(21) Can we expect that reviewers who read a Phase I + Phase II Fast Track proposal will have previously read the separate Phase I proposal?

Response: No.

(22) I'm working on Appendix G - G.2 310-10 (E) and have the following question: How do I find the Cognizant Government Audit Agency, Address, and Auditor's Name? Or, what information do I enter as I have no history with this?

Response: Offerors should include the name of a Government Audit Agency (e.g.

Defense Contract Audit Agency) if the offeror has a Cognizant Government Audit

Agency audit its financial systems. If the offeror does not, simply put “Not Applicable” where appropriate.

(23) I'm not clear how the SBA certification should be included, should it be appended to

Appendix E: Phase I and II Budgets? Or should it be submitted as a separate file?

Response: The Request for Proposals does not specify. Offerors may append the certifications to Appendix E or offerors may incorporate the certifications into the body of their Technical Proposal. Offerors may not submit the certifications as a separate file.

Please review the Request for Proposals for information regarding the formatting of proposals prior to submission.

(24) Secondly, I wanted to verify that a registration on http://www.grants.gov/ is NOT required for this grant (didn’t see anything mentioned about it in the call).

Response: Registration on grants.gov is not required. This is not a grant competition.

(25) One specific question - I did notice that development funded under this grant must be done in the US. Is that only for R&D funded by the grant or does that assume all development including testing must be done in the US even if this part is self funded?

Response: The offeror is advised to adhere to the guidelines as set forth in the Request for

Proposals. The Request for Proposals expressly states on Page 4 that R&D funds must be used in the United States. Foreign involvement will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must be thoroughly justified in the proposal. In rare and unique circumstances, for example, if a hardware component or some element for use in the research is not available in the United States, ED may allow a small portion of the R&D to be performed by a foreign organization. However, foreign investigators must come to the United States to perform the work.

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