REL_-_Solicitation_Supplement.docx

REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY

FY16/FY17 ACQUISITION

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

Supplemental Solicitation 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 provide clarifying information on additional Information Technology (IT) requirements and to provide evidence to support the randomization of Concept Paper topic assignments. We are unable to answer every IT question received thus far but will address all remaining questions during the formal question/answer (Q&A) period identified in the solicitation. If you have an IT concern that you have raised previously that has not yet been addressed please be sure to submit that question again during the Q&A period in addition to any and all other questions associated with the requirement.

Please note that the final solicitation posted simultaneously with this document controls.

Information Technology Information

Comment: RELs use many analytical software packages to conduct research (SAS, SPSS, STATA, R, m-Plus, AtlasTi, Excel, and others). How will RELs access the secure data portal and the software simultaneously to conduct the analyses? Will these products be enabled on the secure server with appropriate licensing arrangements for REL contractors?

Response: Successful offerors should store data that the REL collects in the IES Data Center, but should run analyses using statistical applications on the offerors’ local machines that are licensed by the contractor. This will enable contractors to run necessary analyses using the software package they deem most appropriate.

Comment: What control does the contractor have over the choice of hardware and operating system of the Department's REL servers? Is there a limit on the number of servers and/or disk space utilized?

Response: The contractor may only use software and hardware previously approved by the Department. Offerors should plan for all work to be done using ASP.NET (.NET Framework 2.0 - 4.5 supported) and SQL Server 2012 on a Windows 2012 Server. Other platforms and databases that are not approved to run in the IES Data Center are not authorized to be used.

IES utilizes a cloud-based server and there is not currently a limitation of space.

Comment: Does the Department support or allow the use of a virtualization layer?

Response: The Department will provide additional clarification during formal Q&A.

Comment: Does the Department intend to manage data backup on behalf of contractors?

Response: IES is responsible for data backup.

Comment: How will contractors be able to interact with REL servers during development? Will they receive administrative access? If not, what is the deployment and maintenance procedure?

Response: Contractors will have access to a development server. The Department will provide additional clarification during formal Q&A.

Comment: How will contractors be able to interact with REL servers for data curation and management? Will they be able to gain remote access or is the "portal" restricted to web protocols (http/https)?

Response: The Department will provide additional clarification during formal Q&A.

Comment: Are there constraints on the software that can be installed on REL servers?

Response: The contractor may only use software and hardware previously approved by the Department. Offerors should plan for all work to be done using ASP.NET (.NET Framework 2.0 - 4.5 supported) and SQL Server 2012 on a Windows 2012 Servers. Other platforms and databases that are not approved to run in the IES Data Center are not authorized to be used. The Department will provide additional clarification during formal Q&A.

Comment: The requirements on data hosting within the Department add a new software development component to the proposal ("Each REL will be responsible for creating its own portal to upload, access, and manipulate the data ..."). How and where should this new deliverable be reflected in the budget and proposal?

Response: Offerors should associate this information with Task 6.

Comment: How can data collected by the REL itself comply with the data hosting requirements?

Response: The REL can facilitate data collection through the IES servers. The exact process will be determined by the nature of the data collection.

Concept Paper Assignment Information

Background: As a way to determine capacity of offerors to perform key tasks in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) contracts, the solicitation (ED-IES-15-R-0016) calls for offerors to write three concept papers on a topic assigned by IES. Offerors must plan on conducting the work proposed in the concept papers in the first year of the contract.

Nine preliminary topics were identified in the sources sought notice posted on August 7, 2015. IES received feedback from the vendor community that expressed concerns that certain topics favored some regions more than others. IES responded to this feedback in two ways: IES revised the topics based on the feedback received and IES clarified that topics would be randomly assigned in order to eliminate any potential bias.

Final topics: The final topics were selected by IES to reflect the perceived needs in multiple regions around the country and the level of specificity to be actionable within the first year of the contract. The final topics, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

A. Improving adolescent literacy outcomes B. Improving beginning reading outcomes C. Improving education outcomes for English learner students D. Improving high school mathematics outcomes E. Improving mathematics outcomes in the middle grades F. Increasing high school graduation rates G. Kindergarten readiness H. Postsecondary access, persistence, and/or completion I. Transition to college and career for rural students

Approach to assigning topics: Using the Stata 10 statistical software program, topics were randomly assigned to regions according to the following procedures:

1) The regions and topics were placed in alphabetical order.

2) A random number was generated to set a seed. The seed was set according to the first random number.

3) A second random number was assigned to each number based on the seed set.

4) The topics were sorted according to the random number and assigned to regions based on alphabetical order.

The log file from the random assignment procedure is below:

. edit (1 var, 9 obs pasted into editor)

. rename var1 topic

. generate double x=runiform()

. list topic x

| topic x |

1. | Improving adolescent literacy outcomes .99537408 |

2. | Improving beginning reading outcomes .66116504 |

3. | Improving education outcomes for English learner students .31174914 |

4. | Improving high school mathematics outcomes .292503 |

5. | Improving mathematics outcomes in the middle grades .08471731 |

6. | Increasing high school graduation rates .72013957 |

7. | Kindergarten readiness .68705998 |

8. | Postsecondary access, persistence, and/or completion .30555944 |

9. | Transition to college and career for rural students .07380182 |

. set seed 99537408

. generate double u=runiform()

. sort u

. list topic u

| topic u |

1. | Increasing high school graduation rates .58386324 |

2. | Improving mathematics outcomes in the middle grades .62424338 |

3. | Improving adolescent literacy outcomes .70953389 |

4. | Improving education outcomes for English learner students .73238314 |

5. | Postsecondary access, persistence, and/or completion .77657241 |

6. | Improving high school mathematics outcomes .79426446 |

7. | Improving beginning reading outcomes .83850339 |

8. | Kindergarten readiness .86567137 |

9. | Transition to college and career for rural students .89985784 |

. edit

- preserve (1 var, 9 obs pasted into editor)

. rename var4 region

. list region topic | region topic |

1. | Appalachia Increasing high school graduation rates |

2. | Central Improving mathematics outcomes in the middle grades |

3. | Mid-Atlantic Improving adolescent literacy outcomes |

4. | Midwest Improving education outcomes for English learner students |

5. | Northeast and Islands Postsecondary access, persistence, and/or completion |

6. | Northwest Improving high school mathematics outcomes |

7. | Pacific Improving beginning reading outcomes |

8. | Southeast Kindergarten readiness |

9. | West Transition to college and career for rural students |

Results:

The following topics are assigned to each region as indicated in the Solicitation:

· Appalachia: Increasing high school graduation rates

· Central: Improving mathematics outcomes in the middle grades

· Mid-Atlantic: Improving adolescent literacy outcomes

· Midwest: Improving education outcomes for English learner students

· Northeast and Islands: Postsecondary access, persistence, and/or completion

· Northwest: Improving high school mathematics outcomes

· Pacific: Improving beginning reading outcomes

· Southeast: Kindergarten readiness

· West: Transition to college and career for rural students image1.png