Online Research Justification.pdf

JUSTIFICATION

Bureau Enhanced Acquisition Management System

Source Selec�on Sensi�ve in accordance with FAR 2.101 and FAR 3.104.

Procurement ID: ePRO-2024- 15381

BEAMS User Guide BEAMS Feedback

Intake Acq Plan Biz Incl Tech QA Jus�fica�on Local Clauses Evalua�on Review Contract Admin

SUMMARY

Procurement Title:

Online Research Platform (Sole Source) Program Office:

RMR: Research

Contracting Officer:

Wright, Peggy (CFPB)

Contract Specialist:

McKay, Crystal (CFPB)

Acquisition Strategy:

Sole Source - SAT or over

Anticipated Award Date:

Base and All Options Value:

$370,000.00 (Total Contract Value)

BR Total Amount:

$0.00

Type Of Action:

New Contract/Agreement

Bureau:

CFPB

Contract Type:

Other

Contract Number:

Is it Sole Source?

Yes No

FAR Reference:

6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

Base Period (Months):

Number of Op�on Periods:

COSTS Note: the Base Amount(s) do not update from the Buy Request a�er the first �me they are copied.

If the Base Amount in the BR changes, you may need to manually update it here.

Life-Cycle Es�mated Total:

$370,000.00

Base (From Buy Request 1):

$70,000 Note: You may over-ride the base amount(s).

Base (From Buy Request 2):

$300,000 If the background color is yellow, the amount does not match the Buy Request.

FAR 6.3

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(FAR) 6.302

Date Needed:

Nature/Description of Action, Supplies, and Services [FAR 6.303-2(b)(2] and (3):

Display Acq Plan Statement of Need Under this contract, a Contractor will provide a self-service research platform to CFPB researchers to execute social science experiments and studies via the internet. CFPB will design the study and determine the recruitment requirements for each study. The CFPB will use the Contractor's platform to select recruiting and screening criteria for high-quality participants for the study. When the study is run, the platform will recruit, screen, and connect participants to CFPB's study link. The platform will then pay participants after study completion. It might also be possibel for the platform to provide CFPB with deidentified administrative data it already contains to match to the study data that CFPB collects. Note:

The Contractor and platform will NOT have access to the CFPB data collected via the study link. The platform is merely a tool to connect volunteering participants to the study and to pay them afterwards.

Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition [FAR 6.303-2(b)(4)]:

6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements

Description of Market Research and Results [FAR 6.303-2(b)(6), (8) and (10)]:

Display Acq Plan Market Research

Online research platform will be used to carry out online surveys and experimental studies by CFPB researchers. The platform functions required include recruitment and screening of study participants, directing participants to a CFPB study, and payment of participants after completion of a study. For each of these required platform features, the platform must be able to meet additional requirements. This includes, though is not limited to:

• Recruitment: The platform must be able to recruit high-quality participants, both of convenience samples and based on targeted demographics or participant characteristics.

• Screening: In addition to screening participants based on qualifications for a study, the platform must be able to screen out non-human respondents (e.g., bots) and low-quality participants (e.g., un-attentive or dishonest in answering online surveys).

• Payment: The platform must be able to pay participants quickly after completion of a study and offer both fixed and variable payment options. The platform must be able to pay participants amounts according to the needs of each study. For example, participants may be paid a fixed amount, or they may be paid an amount that depends on their choices and/or the choices of other participants in the study (variable/flexible amount).

https://sharepoint.cfpb.local/promgt/procure/eProcurement/Documents/Docs%20Posted%20in%20BEAMS%20Form%20for%20Client%20Use/BEAMS_Client_User_Guide.pdf https://sharepoint.cfpb.local/promgt/procure/eProcurement/Lists/BEAMS%20Feedback%20Tracker/Issue/newifs.aspx?List=d2403db3%2D56d3%2D4191%2Dbfab%2Dc88f7272ab4a&Source=https%3A%2F%2Fsharepoint%2Ecfpb%2Elocal%2Fpromgt%2Fprocure%2FeProcurement%2FLists%2FBEAMS%2520Feedback%2520Tracker%2FAllItems%2Easpx&RootFolder=&Web=c7d7e3f5%2D98d7%2D4224%2Da3d7%2D4365e09d6c7e

Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost/Price [FAR 6.303-2(b)(7)]: The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on the following information:

Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other than Full and Open Competition [FAR 6.303-2(b)(9)]:

Actions Taken to Remove or Overcome Barriers to Competition [FAR 6.303-2(b)(11)]:

CERTIFICATION

Technical/Requirements Official [FAR 6.303-2(c):

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification and which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate.

Contracting Officer [FAR 6.303-2(b)(12):By signing below, I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

SIGNATURES Contract and Legal Reviews Policy

Person Decision Approved Date and Time

Senior Program Official (Only applicable under FAR 8.4)

Approve

Technical/Requirements Official Clear

Davies, Misha (CFPB)(she/her);

Contracting Officer Clear Approve

The team conducting the market research took the following steps, in chronological order:

1. Compiled a list of 22 possible vendors. This list was compiled based on market research from a previous (still active) contract that offers managed research services for carrying out similar online research. The team also used lessons learned from the prior market research effort in 2020-2021 and decided to conduct an internet search of possible vendors that could run online studies. This included looking at lists of recommended vendors that were compiled by other research organizations.

2. After compiling the vendors list, the team used prior market research responses and looked into the websites of all 22 vendors to narrow down the list to vendors who were believed to have an online research platform. A set of market research questions was sent to the 8 vendors.

3. Of the 8 vendors who received the first set of market resaerch questions, only 4 confirmed they had an online research platform. However, it was discovered early on that two of the vendors could not meet minimum requirements (one did not have ability to push links to surveys/studies from multiple platform; another did not have a US citizen on staff).

4. Of the two vendors who were left, it was discovered through market research discussions and demos that one of the vendors’ platforms could not offer variable payments to participants through their platform; they could only offer this feature via their managed research services. By variable payments, we mean that a study requires that participants be paid a variable amount based on the participants’ choices in a study, or based on choices of other participants in the study.

5. Given the market research, the team concluded that only one vendor (CloudResearch aka Prime Research Solutions LLC) could meet all requirements for the online research platform. The team talked to the researchers who will be the primary users of the contract to re-confirm if variable payments was a required feature or if it could be an added-value option. The researchers confirmed that variable payments is a required feature of the platform. The team then talked to Procurement to confirm if the contract should remain full-and-open competition or be changed to a sole-source justification. After a couple discussions, it was determined that it would be best to pursue sole-source justification for this procurement.

See description of market research process. After narrowing down a list of 22 vendors to 4 with an online platform, only one vendor can meet all required features the CFPB is seeking for an online research platform.

CloudResearch’s online platform (available via https://www.cloudresearch.com/) provides pricing for all panel options. These prices apply to all users and are publicly available to anyone who creates an online account. It is free to create an account to see the pricing.

N/A

The team drafting the procurement documents checked with the researchers (primary users) of the contract to re-confirm if the variable payment was a requirement or if it would be okay as an added-value. The researchers confirmed that they required the platform to allow for variable payments between participants, as this option is critical to carry out certain economic experiments.

The team commits to reviewing the market research for future contracts to confirm if new vendors can provide the features the CFPB requires for its online research platform. The team will also check in with the primary users for future contracts to confirm if there are any changes in required features.

11/21/2023 9:45:38 AM

11/21/2023 9:49:41 AM

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Wright, Peggy (CFPB)

Competition Advocate

Head of Contracting Activity

Senior Procurement Executive

Jus�fica�on Signature History Stamp

Source Selec�on Sensi�ve in accordance with FAR 2.101 and FAR 3.104.

STATUS

Pre-Solicita�on Documents in Dra�

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HISTORY

Created By:

Davies, Misha (CFPB) (she/her)

Creation Date:

5/26/2023

Creation Time:

11:24:07 AM

Last Modified By:

Burley, Nikki (CFPB)

Last Modified Date:

11/22/2023

Last Modified Time:

7:51:13 AM

Office of the Chief Procurement Officer Operations Division

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

||CO Wright, Peggy (CFPB)has Approved 2023-11-21T09:49:41 ||Technical Requirements Offical Davies, Misha (CFPB)(she/her)has Approved 2023-11-21T09:45:38 ||||

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