NEARFP_16-09_Design_and_perform_a_rapid_feasibility-and-planning_study.pdf

March 8, 2016

Reference: Design and perform a rapid feasibility-and-planning study to help the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) identify parameters and resource needs for catalyzing a state-by-state data collection-and-reporting effort in the field of arts education

Subject: Request for Proposal

Solicitation Number RFP 16-09

Dear Offeror:

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) invites contractors to submit proposals for the services described in the attached statement of work, under the authority of Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition

Regulation.

Enclosed you will find a Statement of Work to design and perform a rapid feasibility-and-planning study to help the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) identify parameters and resource needs for catalyzing a state-by-state data collection-and-reporting effort in the field of arts education.

Questions concerning this proposal shall be submitted via email to HARRISL@ARTS.GOV by 5:00 p.m.

(EST) March 14, 2016. Please submit your proposals by March 28, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. (EST). This RFP in no way obligates the U.S. Government to award a contract, nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay any cost incurred in preparing and submitting your proposal.

The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforms to the solicitation and is most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. In order to select the winning offeror, NEA will rank offerors from best to worst. In addition to the narrative assessments prepared by the Evaluation Team for each evaluation factor, a point scoring system will be used to rank all technical proposals. The point scoring system uses a rating scale of 100%.

NEA, however, will not select an offeror for award on the basis of a superior capability without consideration of price. NEA intends to make one award under this solicitation.

This procurement is a small business set-aside. The North American Industry Classification Systems

(NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541910 with a small business size standard of $15.0M. The actual period of performance will be determined at the time of award through a one year contract.

Proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be delivered via email.

Proposals that are mailed, hand-carried, or faxed will not be accepted. Proposals must be received by the closing date and time stated above. Please refer any questions concerning this request to Latonca M.

Harris at (202) 682-5476 or by email at HARRISL@ARTS.GOV.

Sincerely, Latonca M. Harris

Latonca M. Harris

Contracting Officer

Grants & Contracts Office mailto:harrisl@arts.gov mailto:harrisl@arts.gov

Enclosures:

Section B, Supplies/Service and Prices

Section C, Description/Specifications/Statement of Work

Section D, Preservation, Packaging and Marking

Section E, Inspection and Acceptance

Section F, Deliveries or Performance

Section G, Contract Administration Data

Section H, Special Contract Requirements

Section I, Contract Clauses

Section J, List of Attachments

Section K, Representations, Certifications and Other Statements of Offerors

Section L, Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors

Section M, Evaluation Factors for Award

SECTION B

SUPPLIES/SERVICES AND PRICES

B.1 General

The contractor will design and perform a rapid feasibility and planning study to help the National

Endowment for the Arts (NEA) identify parameters and resource needs for potentially supporting a state-by-state data collection effort in the field of arts education.

Specifically, the NEA is exploring strategies to support using state longitudinal data systems (SLDS) and other extant data sources, as needed, to cull and report timely and reliable statistics about arts education at the K-12 public school level for individual states. Such activities may include creation and/or enhancement of local and/or state data infrastructure to allow for public interaction with online dashboards, data visualizations, and other tools for analyzing and reporting student engagement with arts education in K-12 public schools.

Following expert interviews and an environmental scan of different states’ SLDS status, their arts education policies, and any exemplary data tools or resources used to share state-wide information about K-12 educational practices, the contractor will report to the NEA on the following key research questions:

a) What kinds of nonprofit organizations or government entities are best equipped to enable K-12 arts education data aggregation and reporting at the state level;

b) What types of strategic partnerships are desirable for these projects to be pursued at the state level;

c) What specific sets of activities are most in need of financial support, based on current and future needs of organizations aggregating and reporting such data at the state level;

d) What technical and logistical barriers must be surmounted by organizations in achieving their goals for such projects;

e) What is the range of total annual costs associated with such projects;

f) What is an appropriate level of funding to leverage ongoing support for these projects on an annual basis (e.g., for ongoing data import and maintenance);

g) What are appropriate metrics to ascertain whether nonprofit organizations or government entities within a state have the ability to execute such a project; and

h) What information is needed to evaluate the success of such projects over time?

B.2 Contract Term

Period of Performance: Date of award up to one year with the option to extend the services (52.217-8).

*The contractor must have all major deliverables finished and submitted (report presented) in accordance with the delivery schedule.

B.3 Pricing

(a) All unit prices are firm fixed prices that include all costs, including but not limited to labor, fringe benefits, overhead, G&A, and profit necessary to provide the planning phase and pilot study required in the solicitation.

(b) The following pricing tables and CLINs are organized by components.

file:///C:/Users/granthame/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/CFQ8NC4B/arts.gov file:///C:/Users/granthame/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/CFQ8NC4B/arts.gov

ITEM

No.

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES QTY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0001 Terrain Check and Gap

Analysis 1 Lot

FIRM FIXED PRICE

GRAND TOTAL

AMOUNT FOR

PROJECT:

NTE $

ITEM

No.

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES QTY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0002 Report on Catalyzing

State-Level Data

Collection-and-Reporting

Efforts in the Field of Arts

Education

1 Lot

FIRM FIXED PRICE

GRAND TOTAL

AMOUNT FOR

PROJECT:

NTE $

*NEA agrees to release some payments to the contractor consistent with the submission of deliverables during the task order period. The contractor may invoice according to the following schedule:

Task Cost Quantity Total

Completion and Approval of Phase I: Research within

4.5 months of the contract.

$ 1 Lump

Sum

Completion and Approval of Phase II: Consultation 12 months after award. Present final report based on recommendations from the NEA Project Director.

$ 1 Lump

Sum

GRAND TOTAL: $

SECTION C

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 BACKGROUND

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. The NEA is guided by its vision of a nation in which every American benefits from arts engagement, and every community recognizes and celebrates its aspirations and achievements through the arts. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $5 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.

The NEA’s vision for or Arts Education is that every student is engaged and empowered through an excellent arts education. This vision is achieved through a strategic plan that is guiding the agency’s annual priority-setting process for pre-K through 12th-grade arts education. The four goals of the plan are: Provide http://www.arts.gov/ https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/eli-summit-report-rev_0.pdf leadership for the field of arts education; Collaborate with national, state and local leaders for collective impact; Leverage investments for deeper impact; and Drive a national arts education data and research agenda.

Fulfillment of the strategies in this plan will further deepen the agency’s leadership and contributions to arts learning across the country. For example, in addition to funding in support of Direct Learning for children and youth, and Professional Development for educators and leaders, in 2014 the agency added a third project type, Collective Impact Grants. These awards impact entire systems that serve students— neighborhoods, schools, school districts, states—in rural, suburban, or urban areas.

While NEA Collective Impact grants help local communities determine the status of arts education and move arts education forward, the NEA has identified the need to help states access timely, reliable data about arts education in order to understand how much and to whom pre-K through 12th-grade arts education is being delivered at the local and state levels. This also furthers the agency’s general strategic plan, which has as a goal “To promote public knowledge and understanding about the contributions of the arts.”

State-level education data is collected annually by state departments of education primarily through statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS). While states are at varying levels of SLDS development, states are now collecting data on arts education given the arts are a core academic subject across the nation.

In many cases, the arts education data have not been assessed by researchers and policy-makers for the purposes of drawing conclusions or making local, multi-state, or regional comparisons.

Now, with support from the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis, the NEA’s Arts Education office is exploring development of strategies that would help to address some of these data needs. Specifically, the

NEA intends to understand what financial and technical resources are required to build capacity for nonprofit organizations and their partners—at the state level—to extract and report periodic data, from statewide longitudinal data systems and other extant data sources as needed, on the following variables for each K-12 public school in the state:

a) List of arts courses taught

b) Instructional hours in the arts, by grade

c) Number of students enrolled in those courses

d) Number of teachers assigned to those courses and their credentials, if available;

e) Out-of-School Time arts activities and number of students participating in these activities, if available;

and

f) General characteristics of the school, including whether elementary, middle, or high school; and, to the extent available, demographic, behavioral, and socio-economic characteristics of the student population.

Prior to deciding what if any actions are merited, the NEA needs to identify the tactical, technical, and financial challenges and opportunities that organizations would encounter in producing such information.

Key research questions for the contractor are listed in Section B1 of this announcement; below are critical related questions:

What is the gamut of research and analysis activities (in terms of data collection, extraction, management, analysis, and reporting) that would be involved in producing such information?

What kinds of strategic partners are necessary in assisting with producing such information, and what would be their optimal roles?

How much are these projects likely to cost, how are the costs associated with the projects best itemized, and how can such costs be estimated on a state level?

https://www.arts.gov/artistic-fields/research-analysis https://www.arts.gov/artistic-fields/arts-education

Which states are further along in SLDS development, and what are additional and/or alternative data sources for such states in compiling information about K-12 public school profiles regarding arts education?

C2. SCOPE OF WORK

To answer these questions, the contractor will conduct a feasibility and planning study. The study will involve two distinct phases of work. While both Phase I and II are within the scope of this RFP, only

Phase I shall be awarded at the time of award. The funding and implementation of Phase II will be at agency discretion and will be decided during the life of the contract (i.e., at a time later than award). It is anticipated that if Phase II is implemented, it shall be implemented approximately at the time that Phase I has concluded or shortly thereafter. The implementation of Phase II shall be clearly communicated to the contractor at the appropriate time. It is further possible that Phase II will not be implemented/funded at all.

Phase I: Research

The contractor shall perform a rapid environmental scan (4 months) of databases, of reports by nonprofit organizations and public and private funders of education and/or the arts, of peer-reviewed literature, of news articles, and of state governmental agency websites, among other sources. The purpose of this task is to identify the tactical, technical, and financial challenges and opportunities that nonprofit organizations and government entities face in designing and implementing the data-collection-and-reporting efforts described above. During this time the contractor should also become familiar with the NEA/Arts Education grant-making program and other funders’ processes, procedures, and guidelines. For more information about

NEA grant-making, please visit: https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations.

The scan will be supplemented by interviews of up to 20 field experts from relevant stakeholders (arts organizations, arts educational organizations, local, state and federal managers of education data, nonprofit or for-profit entities with expertise in the collection and reporting of education data), while being mindful of the Paperwork Reduction Act and limiting asking the same standardized questions to nine individuals or less.

Upon conclusion of this 4-month period, the contractor will produce a feasibility and planning report (50-70 pages, with technical appendices) and will present to NEA staff on the optimal specifications for strategies to support ongoing state-level extraction and reporting of K-12 public school profiles regarding arts education. This task (C2.4) represents the conclusion of Phase I of this contract.

Working closely with the NEA staff, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

C2.1. Attend kick-off meeting with the NEA Project Director and the NEA team (comprised of staff from the Arts Education division and the Office of Research & Analysis) to discuss the project’s background and goals; current grant programs administered by the NEA’s Arts Education division as well as other funders;

and policies and programs affecting educational data collection at the national and state-level, especially with respect to arts education; and logistical and technical issues regarding the contract. At this meeting, the

NEA will present to the contractor:

- Internal planning documents about the NEA Arts Education office, including the office’s Strategic

Plan;

- NEA grant application guideline documents (https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations), grant application form (GAF), and final descriptive report (FDR) templates

(https://www.arts.gov/grants/manage-your-award); and https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations https://www.arts.gov/grants/apply-grant/grants-organizations https://www.arts.gov/grants/manage-your-award

- Characteristics by which interview candidates should be identified and stratified, including names, bios, and contact information of some potential interviewees.

Within one week of the kick-off meeting, the contractor will prepare and submit a memorandum summarizing the discussion, any decisions reached, and action items.

C2.2. Submit a detailed timeline and workplan for conducting, and analyzing the results of, the expert interviews and environmental scan, incorporating input from the kick-off meeting. The workplan shall include the final list of interview candidates, strategy for recruiting interview candidates, copies of proposed interview protocols, complete list of resources to be consulted for the environmental scan, and analytical strategy. The workplan should include biweekly teleconferences or web conferences with the NEA Project

Director and/or the NEA team, as well as monthly progress reports (not to exceed two pages) outlining all the work accomplished during the previous month. The contractor shall submit a draft timeline and workplan. Following the receipt of feedback from the NEA Project Director and/or the NEA team, the contractor shall submit a final timeline and workplan.

C2.3. Collect and analyze data, specifically a rapid environmental scan (4 months) of databases, of reports by nonprofit organizations and public and private funders of education and/or the arts, of peer-reviewed literature, of news articles, and of state governmental agency websites, among other sources; and interviews with up to 20 field experts from relevant stakeholders (arts organizations, arts educational organizations, local, state and federal managers of education data, nonprofit or for-profit entities with expertise in the collection and reporting of education data). The purpose of the task is to identify the tactical, technical, and financial challenges and opportunities that organizations would encounter in achieving the data collection-and-reporting efforts described above. The contractor shall be responsible for contacting interviewees and for scheduling and coordinating the interviews following the NEA Project Director’s approval of the interviewee list. The NEA shall provide an introductory letter to interviewees that the contractor shall use to introduce the purpose of, and establish the legitimacy of, the data collection. The NEA reserves the right to observe selected interviews as part of its monitoring of this contract, with the explicit permission of the interviewee. The contractor shall collect data in compliance with applicable Federal regulations, including the Paperwork Reduction Act. Copies of all resources reviewed by the contractor and interview transcripts shall be transferred in electronic format to the NEA at the conclusion of this task.

C2.4. Produce and present to the NEA a feasibility and planning report (50-70 pages, with technical appendices) on the optimal specifications for strategies to support ongoing state-level extraction and reporting of K-12 public school profiles regarding arts education. The optimal specifications should address the key research questions listed in Section B.1 and the critical related questions listed in Section C.1

Background. The contractor shall submit a draft report to the NEA. Following the receipt of feedback from the project director and/or the NEA team, the contractor shall submit a final feasibility and planning report.

The contractor shall anticipate at least two rounds of NEA feedback on the draft report. The contractor shall make an informal presentation of findings to NEA staff and/or selected stakeholders in Washington, DC, immediately preceding the preparation of the final version of the feasibility and planning report. The contractor shall make a formal presentation to the NEA staff and/or selected stakeholders in Washington, DC, or through a video-conferencing tool following the submission of the final version of the report.

Phase II: Consultation

The contractor shall be available for consultation with the NEA about potential development by NEA Arts

Education staff of any strategies subsequent to Phase I. As noted earlier in this document, the implementation of Phase II is at agency discretion and will be decided during the life of the contract (at a time later than award). It is anticipated that the decision as to whether to implement Phase II will take place at or immediately preceding the conclusion of task C2.4.

C2.5. Review and provide feedback on any subsequent strategies under development by NEA Arts

Education staff. The contractor shall review draft documents and provide written feedback within a timeframe specified by NEA staff and/or the NEA Project Director, not shorter than one week. The contractor should expect to provide at least two rounds of feedback on the draft documents provided by the

NEA. The contractor shall be responsive to meeting requests to discuss feedback.

C3. POST AWARD GRANT APPLICATION

The successful awardee will be ineligible to apply for funding to any NEA grant program that may be developed as a result of this contract.

SECTION D

PRESERVATION, PACKAGING AND MARKING

PACKAGING AND MARKING

Not Applicable.

SECTION E

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

E.1 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated by Reference (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this address: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/

(End of clause)

E.2 52.246-4 Inspection of Services—Fixed-Price (AUG 1996)

E.3 Inspection and Acceptance

FAR Clause 52.246-4 Inspection of Services – Fixed Price, will govern inspection and acceptance of all services performed by the Contractor. The Contractor is responsible for carrying out its obligations under this contract by controlling the quality of all services rendered and ensuring performance of all contract requirements.

SECTION F

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

F.1 Timeline for Performing Contract Requirements

Delivery Schedule https://www.acquisition.gov/far/

Project

Task/Phase

Deliverable Due Date

(weeks after award)

Phase I

Project kick-off Attendance at kickoff meeting 1 week

Memo summarizing discussion & decisions 1.5 weeks

Draft of timeline & work plan 2 weeks

Final timeline & work plan 3 weeks

Teleconferences or web conferences Every 2 weeks

Monthly progress reports (through end of project) 15th of each month

Environmental scan and expert interviews

Electronic copies of all resources reviewed by the contractor and interview transcripts

10 weeks

Report

Draft of final feasibility and planning report (min. 2 rounds of NEA feedback)

13 weeks

Formal presentation of findings 15 weeks

Final feasibility and planning report 18 weeks

Phase II

Feedback on potential NEA strategies subsequent to

Phase I

Written and verbal feedback on documents provided by

NEA staff

52 weeks

F.2 Term of Contract

The contract term is for 12 months from the date of award as shown in Section B. All work is expected to be completed within 12 months of award.

F.3 Notice to the Government of Delays

Required services shall begin at time of award in accordance with the Statement of Work. The Contractor is responsible for carrying out its obligations under this contract by controlling the quality of all services rendered and ensuring performance of all contract requirements. To this end, the Contractor shall establish, maintain, and manage quality control throughout the life of this contract. In the event the Contractor encounters difficulty in meeting performance requirements, or when the contractor anticipates difficulty in complying with the contract delivery schedule or completion date, or whenever the Contractor has knowledge that any actual or potential situation is delaying or threatens to delay the timely performance of this contract, the Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer and the Project Director, via telephone and follow-up in writing, giving pertinent details. The contractor shall provide these services within 24 hours of written notification. However, this data shall be informational only in character, and this provision shall not be construed as a waiver by the Government of any delivery schedule or date, or any rights or remedies provided by law or under this contract.

F.4 Deliverables

The contractor shall provide information regarding the content and format for each deliverable. Acceptance of all written documents and receipt of the data tabulations will be based upon the NEA Project Director’s review and approval. The Contractor shall provide any additional reports that may be requested by the

NEA Project Director.

SECTION G

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

G.1 NEA Project Director

G.1.1 Upon award, an NEA Project Director will be designated to coordinate the technical aspects of this contract and inspect items/services furnished hereunder; however, he/she shall not be authorized to change any terms and conditions of the resultant contract, including price.

G.1.2 The NEA Project Director is authorized to certify (but not to reject or deny) invoices for payment in accordance with enclosed payment terms. The authority to reject or deny performance and associated invoice payment is expressly reserved for the Contracting Officer.

G.1.3 The NEA Project Director for this contract is:

To be determined at time of award

National Endowment for the Arts

400 7th Street, SW

Washington, DC 20506

(202) 682-XXXX

G.1.4 The Contracting Officer for this contract is:

Latonca M. Harris

400 7th Street, SW

(202) 682-5476

Written communications shall make reference to the award contract number and shall be mailed to the above address.

G.2 Invoice Requirements

G.2.1 Written communications shall reference the contract number and shall be e-mailed to the Contracting

Officer/Project Director as necessary. Project-related questions may be directed to the Project Director while contract/cost related questions must be directed to the Contracting Officer. Questions regarding any changes to the contract whatsoever must be directed to the Contracting Officer.

G.2.2 Payment for actual work and services rendered under this contract will be made by the National

Endowment for the Arts via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and in accordance with the contract clause

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (SEPT 2013), and 52.232-33 Payment by

Electronic Funds Transfer— System For Award Management (JUL 2013), upon submission of commercial invoices to the Endowment Finance Office, Second Floor.

The office that will make the payments due under this contract (i.e., the designated payment office) is shown below. Invoices shall be emailed to the email address below:

NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV

Finance Office

400 7th Street, SW

To constitute a proper invoice, the following information and/or attached documentation shall be included with the invoice.

(1) Name and address of the Contractor.

(2) Invoice date.

(3) Contract number.

(4) Period covered by the invoice.

(5) Number and description, quantity, unit price and extended total for the period covered applicable to Section B, Supplies/Services and Prices.

(6) Cumulative amounts billed by to date.

(7) Name and address of Contractor official to whom payment is to be sent (must be the same as that in the contract or in a proper notice of assignment).

(8) Taxpayer Identification Number.

(9) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number.

Please note:

The successful contractor is required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at:

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. (This was previously known as CCR - the Central Contractor

Registration.)

Assistance with creating/registering a SAM account may be found here:

https://www.fsd.gov/app/answers/list.

SECTION H

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

H.1 Contract Type

This is a Firm Fixed Price Commercial Item Contract.

H.2 Special Contract Requirements

Private Use of Contract Information and Data

Except as specifically authorized by this contract, or as otherwise approved by the Contracting Officer, information and other data developed or acquired by or furnished by the Contractor in the performance of this contract, shall be used by the Contractor only in connection with the work under this contract. The contractor must obtain permission through a written request to the Contracting Officer and approval from the NEA’s General Counsel Office prior to releasing any data for use outside of the performance of this

NEA contract.

In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.227-14(b) Rights in Data-General, the

Contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information and data that is provided by the

Government during the performance of the contract. The Government has determined that some of the mailto:NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ https://www.fsd.gov/app/answers/list information and data that the Contractor will be providing during the performance of the contract is of a sensitive nature and cannot be disclosed in any manner.

H.3 Prohibition against Soliciting and Performing Personal Services

1. The performance of personal services under this contract is strictly prohibited.

2. Personal service contracting is described in Section 37.104 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR). There are a number of factors, when taken individually or collectively, which may constitute personal services. Each contract arrangement must be judged in light of its own facts and circumstances, but the question relative to personal services is: Will the Government exercise relatively continuous supervision and control over the contractor personnel performing this contract?

3. The government and the Contractor understand and agree that the support services to be delivered under this contract are nonpersonal services in nature; that is, no employer-employee relationships exist or will exist under the contract between the government and the contractor or between the Government and the contractor’s employees.

4. Contractor personnel under this contract shall not:

1. Be placed in a position where they are appointed or employed by a Federal employee, or are under the supervision, direction, or evaluation of a Federal employee.

2. Be placed in a Federal staff or policy making position.

3. Be placed in a position of supervision, direction, or evaluation over NEA personnel, or personnel of other contractors, or become a part of a government organization.

Employee Relationship

1. The services to be performed under this contract do not require the contractor or its employees to exercise personal judgment and discretion on behalf of the government.

2. Rules, regulations, direction, and requirements which are issued by NEA management under their responsibility for good order, administration, and security are applicable to all personnel who enter a Government installation. This is not to be construed or interpreted to establish any degree of Government control which is inconsistent with a non-personal services contract.

3. The Contractor shall immediately advise the Contracting Officer if the contractor or its employees are directed by any Government employee to perform work that the Contractor believes constitutes personal services.

SECTION I

CONTRACT CLAUSES

52.204-9 Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel.

As prescribed in 4.1303, insert the following clause:

PERSONAL IDENTITY VERIFICATION OF CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL (JAN 2011)

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/Subpart%204_13.html#wp1074728

(a) The Contractor shall comply with agency personal identity verification procedures identified in the contract that implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance M-05-24 and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS

PUB) Number 201.

(b) The Contractor shall account for all forms of Government-provided identification issued to the

Contractor employees in connection with performance under this contract. The Contractor shall return such identification to the issuing agency at the earliest of any of the following, unless otherwise determined by the Government:

(1) When no longer needed for contract performance.

(2) Upon completion of the Contractor employee’s employment.

(3) Upon contract completion or termination.

(c) The Contracting Officer may delay final payment under a contract if the Contractor fails to comply with these requirements.

(d) The Contractor shall insert the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in all subcontracts when the subcontractor’s employees are required to have routine physical access to a

Federally-controlled facility and/or routine access to a Federally-controlled information system. It shall be the responsibility of the prime Contractor to return such identification to the issuing agency in accordance with the terms set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, unless otherwise approved in writing by the

Contracting Officer. (End of clause)

52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated By Reference (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text may be accessed electronically at this Internet address: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/.

(End of clause)

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items. (MAY 2015)

(Incorporated By Reference)

52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive

Orders- Commercial Items. (FEB 2016)

(a) The Contractor shall comply with the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses, which are incorporated in this contract by reference, to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

(1) 52.209-10, Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations (Dec 2014)

(2) 52.233-3, Protest After Award (AUG 1996) (31 U.S.C. 3553).

(3) 52.233-4, Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim (OCT 2004) (Public Laws 108-77, 108-78

(19 U.S.C. 3805 note)).

(b) The Contractor shall comply with the FAR clauses in this paragraph (b) that the Contracting Officer has indicated as being incorporated in this contract by reference to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

[Contracting Officer check as appropriate.]

X (25) 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003) (E.O. 11755).

X (50) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer— System for Award Management

(JUL 2013) (31 U.S.C. 3332).

(End of Clause)

52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (NOV 1999)

The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days.

(End of Clause)

52.227-14 Rights in Data-General. (MAY 2014) (Incorporated By Reference)

52.246-4 Inspection of Services -- Fixed-Price (AUG 1996) (Incorporated By Reference)

SECTION J

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

Wage Determinations Online - www.wdol.gov. Department of Labor Wage Determination Number: 2015-

4281 REV (2) Date of Revision: 12/29/2015 Area: Washington, DC Click on the following hyperlink.

http://www.wdol.gov/wdol/scafiles/std/15-4281.txt?v=2

SECTION K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Items. (NOV 2015)

The Offeror shall complete only paragraph (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certifications electronically (filed online) via the System for Award Management

(SAM) website accessed through http://www.acquisition.gov. If the Offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the Offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (p) of this provision. If an offeror is experiencing technical difficulties during this process and is not registered at the time of proposal submission, a manually filled copy of the clause 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (MAR 2015) must be turned in along with the proposal. This shall not count towards any stated page limits for the proposal.

Registering an active account in SAM is REQUIRED for contract award. For assistance with creating a SAM account, please visit https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1#1 http://www.wdol.gov/wdol/scafiles/std/15-4281.txt?v=2 http://www.acquisition.gov/

SECTION L

52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2015)

(a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541910 with a small business size standard of $15.0M.

(b) The proposal should be no more than 15 pages, single spaced, in 12-point font and submissions shall include at a minimum:

Understanding of the Project

The contractor provides evidence of a clear understanding of 1) the statement of work, specific tasks, and key research questions; and 2) the NEA’s arts education grant-making programs, state longitudinal data systems (SLDS), and other arts education extant data sources.

Technical Approach

The offeror’s methodology and procedures to 1) accomplish the activities required in the statement of work; 2) develop and adhere to a quality control plan; and 3) handle sensitive data to avoid the appearance of an organizational conflict of interest and meet the government’s requirements and concerns.

Management Plan

The offeror’s management plan, including:

o Organization chart of proposed project team, including identification of lead staff for each task;

o Illustration of staff assignments by task and distribution of person hours spent on each task;

o Other existing commitments for each proposed staff member; and o Work schedule by task including timeline for deliverables.

Provide sufficient detail to demonstrate experience managing projects of comparable focus, scale, and complexity.

Personnel Qualifications

Discuss past performance and qualifications of your firm and proposed key personnel, including the lead project manager(s). Identify any subcontractors that will be part of the project team. Resumes for all key personnel must be submitted.

Proposed Pricing Data (Section B)

Offerors shall fill out the pricing table in Section B. Pricing must be all-inclusive (travel, overhead, etc.). Offerors should provide a reasonable breakdown of their costs presented in the pricing table to allow the Government to make an assessment of the various components of the overall price.

Past Performance References

Provide name and telephone number of points of contact for at least three (3) contracts successfully performed by the Contractor in a Federal setting (similar efforts).

Post-Award Grant Application

The successful awardee will be ineligible to apply for funding to any NEA grant program that may be developed as a result of this contract.

(c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

(d) NA

(e) NA

(f) NA

(g) Contract award (not applicable to Invitation for Bids). The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror's initial offer should contain the offeror's best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government, however, reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

(h) NA

(i) NA

(j) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number. The offeror shall enter, on the cover page of its offer with its name and address, the annotation “DUNS” followed by the DUNS number that identifies the offeror’s name and address. If the offeror does not have a DUNS number, it should contact Dun and

Bradstreet directly to obtain one. An offeror within the United States may contact Dun and Bradstreet by calling 1-866-705-5711 or via the Internet at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform. The offeror should indicate that it is an offeror for a Government contract when contacting the local Dun and Bradstreet office. Also, enter your General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service Schedule Number.

(k) System for Award Management. Unless exempted by an addendum to this solicitation, by submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered in the

SAM database prior to award, during performance and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. If the Offeror does not become registered in the SAM database in the time prescribed by the Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer will proceed to award to the next otherwise successful registered Offeror. Offerors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the SAM database accessed through https://www.acquisition.gov.

(l) Debriefing. If a post-award debriefing is given to requesting offerors, the government will do so in accordance with this provision. (End of provision) http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform https://www.acquisition.gov/

SECTION M

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation--Commercial Items (OCT 2014)

The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price (Contractor’s Firm Fixed

GSA Schedule Pricing) and other factors considered. In order to select the winning offeror, NEA will rank offerors from best to worst. In addition to the narrative assessments prepared by the Evaluation Team for each evaluation factor, a point scoring system will be used to rank all technical proposals. The point scoring system uses a rating scale of 100%. The evaluation will include five major areas: Understanding of the Project (25 points) Technical Approach (25 points); Management Plan (15 points); Personnel

Qualifications (20 points); and Pricing Data (15 points).

A written notice of award, emailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party.

1. Understanding of the Project (25 points)

The contractor demonstrates a thorough understanding of the policy and programmatic context for the study, as shown through discussion of the rationale and purpose for the project. The contractor provides evidence of a clear understanding of NEA’s arts education grant-making programs, state longitudinal data systems (SLDS), and other arts education extant data sources. The contractor demonstrates knowledge of existing research and data on the topic, including how existing data and/or previous studies may provide insights into the current project. The contractor demonstrates understanding of the key research questions

(Section B.1) identified for this project. Priority will be given to submissions that do not simply repeat the statement of work, but show an independent understanding of the issues and context.

2. Technical Approach (25 points)

The contractor’s approach is succinct and logical in format, consistent with the tasks to be accomplished, and addresses the purposes described in the statement of work. The proposed technical approach clearly specifies and describes the intended work under each task. The proposal presents clear and cost-effective plans for gathering the information needed to address the research questions, identifying relevant individuals to contact, analyzing and synthesizing data from all sources, and communicating findings to the

NEA project director and team. The proposal discusses the contractor’s proposed approach to all deliverables, including the structure and contents of the final evaluation report. The contractor identifies potential challenges to the project’s success and presents strategies for addressing them. The contractor demonstrates past success conducting feasibility and planning studies and/or process evaluations. Overall, the technical approach is of high quality, and demonstrates broad knowledge of the availability of reliable statistics about arts education at the K-12 public school level for individual states.

3. Management Plan (15 points)

The management plan includes the following: an organization chart of the proposed project team; an indication of lead staff for each task; an illustration of staff assignments by task and distribution of person hours to be spent on each task; other existing commitments for each proposed staff member; and a work schedule by task that includes a timetable for deliverables. The proposed project director should have demonstrated experience in managing projects of comparable focus, scale, and complexity. If subcontractors or consultants are to be used for any portion of the work, the management plan should describe their roles, responsibilities, and time commitments. The management plan should also contain a clear description of the contractor’s plans for managing subcontractors and consultants.

4. Personnel Qualifications (20 points)

The contractor demonstrates that the proposed personnel, including subcontractors and consultants, possess experience in conducting feasibility and planning studies, and provides evidence of having conducted tasks similar to the work outlined in the RFP (with specific examples cited). The proposal provides evidence of the overall competency of the proposed study team in the methodologies required, including relevant experience of the proposed project director and other key staff in understanding policy and programmatic issues in arts education, identification and analysis of longitudinal data, interviewing a variety of experts in the field, and communicating research findings through quality project reports.

5. Pricing Data (15 points)

The proposed budget is appropriate to the administration of the project. The Government will evaluate the contractor’s proposed prices to make a determination that the costs are fair and reasonable in relation to the services provided. The contractor shall provide a reasonable breakdown of their costs to allow the

Government to make an assessment of the various components of the overall price.