REL_-_RFI_Addendum_4_-_01.27.16.docx

Version Date: January 27, 2016

REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY

FY16/FY17 ACQUISITION

Solicitation No.: ED-IES-15-R-0016

RFI Addendum 4: Response Feedback & Additional Information

Facilitated by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Contracts and Acquisitions Management Office

Table of Contents

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to address additional competition questions and to provide information for prospective offerors and States that wish to collaborate for the purpose of preparing a proposal. Please consider the following important notes:

(1) Several States have requested information and guidance about communicating with the prospective offerors – including a request to see a list of offerors in a specific region. We are unable to provide this information because we consider it Source Selection Information that is confidential and not subject to disclosure.

The Department has drafted a letter that will be sent via email to all Chief State School Officers. We are also publishing the letter in this posting on FBO so that all offerors understand that States are aware of the competition.

(2) In addition to general questions about the procurement this addendum also addresses concerns that some offerors have raised regarding information security and privacy.

Please be advised that the terms and conditions of the final solicitation control.

Vendor Questions and Responses

Comment: Are the source selection criteria published with the August 7 RFI still applicable?

Response: Yes, the source selection criteria posted with the August 7 RFI are still the planned criteria for the competition with the understanding that the Department will continue to revise the criteria leading up to publication of the solicitation. We did not include the criteria in our follow-up addenda because we were not seeking additional feedback. This is the only reason the criteria were omitted from the earlier publications.

Comment: Can a firm or entity submit both a prime proposal and/or partner with another firm(s) for the same or different REL?

Response: A firm or entity may submit a prime proposal and partner with other firms for the same or a different region. This is a business decision exclusively within the control of each offeror.

Comment: Can a firm or entity submit a prime proposal for one or more RELs.

Response: Yes. A firm or entity may submit proposals for as many regions as it desires.

Comment: Federal Information Security Management Act & Personally Identifiable Information

Several prospective offerors have raised questions regarding the treatment of PII and Federal information security generally. The Department is not planning to provide funding for each REL to undertake the Certification and Accreditation (C&A) process for servers. Rather, the Department will host REL data on a secure server that is owned and operated by the Department. Each REL will be responsible for creating its own portal to upload, access, and manipulate the data, but the RELs will not bear the cost of hosting data on its own servers.

The FY17/22 REL cohort will not be allowed to host data (including any PII) on a contractor’s own server even if the contractor has a server that has undergone the C&A process.

IES does not encourage the collection of PII but recognizes that, in some instances, PII is necessary for certain research. PII may come from individual schools, districts, or other regional sources, but it will not come from the Department.

At this point, IES expects that data management plans will be required for causal inference studies only. A REL conducting such a study will prepare a plan after award that outlines how the REL will treat data collected for their research project and how other researchers can access the data. REL contractors are expected to share de-identified data under full or restricted access in a manner similar to what is required of IES grantees: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/datasharing_policy.asp.

Additionally, the Performance Work Statement (PWS) notes that each REL will design a website to be hosted by the Department on its own systems. A REL may create other digital material or services (online courses or other applications), but if specific projects are proposed they must be hosted by IES.

Dear Colleague Letter

Dear Colleague, Every five years, the U.S. Department of Education holds a competition for each of the ten Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs). The REL program is administered by the Institute of Education Sciences, which is the independent, non-partisan research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the Department. Through the REL program, the Department offers state and local education agencies support for using high-quality research to improve student outcomes.

The purpose of this letter is to alert you that a new REL competition is about to begin and to provide contact information for Department staff who can answer any questions that you may have about the competition. I also want to address questions that have arisen about whether and how state and local education agency personnel may engage with organizations that are planning to submit proposals for the new REL contracts.

On or about February 1, 2016, the Department will release a REL solicitation through a public portal called FedBizOpps (www.FBO.gov). All information associated with the REL procurement is linked to solicitation number ED-IES-15-R-0016, and you may access related procurement information by clicking here or by searching in the appropriate field using the solicitation number. FedBizOpps is the only official portal for REL competition information, and there is already a large amount of information (including a draft Performance Work Statement) available for you to review if you so choose. As the competition proceeds, additional information will be posted at this site, culminating with public notification of awards. The Department anticipates that the new 60-month contracts for nine RELs will become effective in January 2017; the tenth contract, for the Southwest region, is anticipated to become effective in November 2017.

The law requires that the Department operate the RELs as contracts rather than as grants or cooperative agreements. Many of you have state procurement policies that mirror Federal policies, and you may know that the rules about communication of information are strict. However, there are no Federal procurement rules that prohibit you from freely meeting, talking, or sharing ideas or information with any firm, educational institution, or other entity that is planning to submit a proposal as long as your actions are consistent with your own State laws and regulations. This also applies to any other members of your staff; district or school leaders; members of state or local boards of education; or any other education stakeholders in your state. This opportunity for exchange may enable you to better explain to potential offerors what your State needs and expects from an eventual REL contractor.

Please note that while I and members of the REL team at the Institute of Education Sciences are always interested in your feedback on the current REL contracts, we are not authorized to answer any questions about this procurement. However, if you have additional questions about any aspect of this upcoming competition, I encourage you to contact the Department’s contracting personnel for this procurement: Jonathan Bettis (Contract Specialist) and Heather Watroba (Contracting Officer). They can be reached by email at Jonathan.Bettis@ed.gov and Heather.Watroba@ed.gov, respectively.

Sincerely, Ruth C. Neild Deputy Director for Policy and Research Delegated Duties of the Director

Comment Regarding Vendor Engagement

The Department does not dictate when or how States may interact with offerors, and States may take whatever actions necessary to convey their needs to the vendor community. For example, States may provide general summaries of research priorities to interested parties. States may publicize and organize vendor engagement sessions where parties have an opportunity to exchange information. States may provide information on existing partnerships or other activities that it would like a REL to conduct. States in a region may even work together to provide information to vendors.

The Department may not, however, provide information on offerors that have expressed interest in submitting a proposal for any particular region. We consider this information to be Source Selection Information and prohibited from disclosure, so we will not release this information to any party.

The Department does not express a preference or preferred course of action for interactions between a State and an offeror nor may the Department facilitate these interactions. Please consult with your individual State authorities to ensure that your interactions comply with all State rules, regulations, and guidance.

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