Request for Information - USCG Barrier Analysis.pdf

Request for Information

Advanced Research and Analysis for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (Barrier Analysis)

Closing Date: April 3, 2023.

1.0 DESCRIPTION

The United States Coast Guard (USCG), Civil Right Directorate (CRD) is seeking information from industry regarding industry capabilities for Barrier Analysis in Equal Employment Opportunity. The USCG intends to execute a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with a base year plus four (4) option periods, for a total of five (5) years.

This request for information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning and does not constitute a request for quote (RFQ), request for proposal (RFP), or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future.

The government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; i.e., all costs associated with responding to this RFI are solely the responder’s responsibility.

Not responding to the RFI does not preclude a contractor from responding to a future RFQ/RFP. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the SAM.gov website. Potential responders are responsible to monitor the relevant site for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

1.1 Introduction: Background and Scope

The mission of the Civil Rights Directorate (CRD) is to lead programs and facilitate practices which foster a discrimination-free workplace. The Barrier Analysis function analyzes quantitative and qualitative data to identify lawful, data-driven, and concrete action opportunity to enhance equality of opportunity with respect to CRD policies, procedures, practices, or conditions for members of demographic groups.

One of the missions of the Civil Rights Directorate (CG-00H) is to help build a positive and respectful work environment for all personnel, regardless of their similarities or differences, to enhance our mission capabilities.

CG-00H as the Civil Rights Directorate (CRD) charge is to maximize Coast Guard's overall mission effectiveness by leading programs and facilitating practices which foster a discrimination-free workplace, in accordance with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) governance and the Coast Guard Civil Rights Strategic Plan.

The EEOC’s Management Directive 715 (MD-715) provides guidance on creating and maintaining a model Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program. To comply with MD-715 and 29 CFR 1614.102(a)(3), the CG is obligated to conduct a continuing campaign to eradicate every form of prejudice or discrimination from personnel policies, practices, and working conditions, identify areas where barriers may operate to exclude certain groups, and develop plans to eliminate identified impediments to equal opportunity through conducting barrier analyses. These results will reflect a collaborative effort undertaken by the CRD and CG-12. The primary purpose of the final reports will be the identification and analysis of potential barriers to equal employment opportunities within the CG applicant, hiring and (where applicable) retention processes, and to obtain cogent solutions for resolving any found to exist.

The MD-715 requires federal agencies to identify barriers which may inhibit free and open workplace competition and develop meaningful plans to eliminate those barriers. The barrier analysis process requires examination of agency policies, procedures, and practices to uncover barriers to equal employment opportunity. Once the barriers have been identified, agencies are required to eliminate the barriers or mitigate the impact.

1.2 SCOPE

The work conducted under this procurement will cover the USCG permanent civilian workforce to include appropriated fund personnel, Community Services Command (CSC) non-appropriated employees, and Coast Guard Academy staff, in addition to a range of EEO Barrier Analysis services related to a prioritized list of identified triggers. The triggers are grade level participation/promotions, separations, and awards and recognition. The tasks will include drafting, developing, deploying, and analyzing a range of EEO data relevant to barrier analysis.

1.3 OBJECTIVE

The USCG intends to procure the services of a qualified contractor who can assist in carrying out and reporting on all aspects of the barrier analysis research process, as specified in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s Management Directive 715 (MD-715) and accompanying instructions (as updated) and all related or relevant EEOC and legal guidance, as well as other related tasks specified in the Task Areas section.

The USCG’s approach to Equal Employment Opportunity is that it is a shared responsibility among all Divisions, Offices, and personnel. The barrier analysis, reporting, and ad-hoc analytic consultation must be rigorous enough to withstand critique from highly informed subject matter experts and executives. Our program goes beyond simple trigger analysis of proportions that drive the MD- 715 Report to using social science research methods that give our conclusions a high level of credibility and give our organization the confidence that our recommendations are going to work. To that end, the USCG seeks to procure contract talent on barrier analysis that is highly skilled and has the potential to be industry leading. We intend to procure significant expertise in both social science and in personnel management, which are critical to securing the coordination we need across the agency and support for our recommendations from upper management.

The barrier analyses must establish the connection between the statistical outcomes observed in employment phases and specific causes in practice and procedure, as well the connection between those causes and recommendations.

Procuring teams that have the proper training, experience, and a high level of availability among key personnel is our priority to ensure these outcomes are achieved effectively.

1.5 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS.

The anticipated BPA will include Performance Requirements and Standards (PRS) at PWS 9.0 and PWS 10.0. The PRS plays an integral role in the administration of the contract. In addition to any applicable inspection clauses or other related terms and conditions contained in the contract, the PRS must serve as a primary tool for inspection and acceptance of services as facilitated by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). Evaluation of the Contractor’s overall performance must be in accordance with the performance standards set forth in the PRS, and will be conducted by the COR. The PRS constitutes a material aspect of the contract and will not be changed or otherwise modified without prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

2.0 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS/TASKS

Each task will define the required services to be performed. The services to support the USCG’s barrier analysis efforts encompass, but are not limited to, the following:

2.1 TASK ONE. Develop and Execute the Research Design to Investigate Potential Barriers

Provided with a prioritized list of triggers and relevant datasets, the Contractor shall work with the USCG to design one or more in-depth research project that pinpoint root causes of observed effects and assess the effectiveness of potential solutions of the triggers. Research projects require advanced inferential statistical analysis, developing requests for information; reviewing pertinent documents; program evaluation; designing, preparing surveys or questions for interviewing knowledgeable individuals at the agency; survey development, deployment, and analysis;

and/or engaging in other investigative methods specified in MD-715 and accompanying instructions (as updated).

The first study will be the quantitative component of a study of the IT Management Occupation (series 2210), grade level participation/promotions, separations, and awards and recognition.

2.1.1 Literature Review

The Contractor will review and apply the current, relevant scientific research literature to inform research design and identify topics, research questions, and sub questions for investigation.

Literature reviews will draw from a variety of information sources and multidisciplinary investigations relevant to the particular employment processes and demographic groups of exploration.

2.1.2 Research Design

The Contractor must design the research plan, developing research protocols, operationally defining variables of interest, developing data collection methods and protocols, creating and assessing methods of sampling, establishing the analysis plan, performing a variety of statistical analyses, running diagnostics, assessing statistical power, statistical bias, and validity, and summarizing results.

The Contractor shall periodically revisit and adjust research plans in line with project management principles and in consultation with the USCG. Research plans must include regular progress status updates and interim deliverables.

Progress status updates involve developing and presenting interim and milestone results for approval to proceed.

The timing and format of progress status updates will be established in each task order in line with the timelines in Part E below.

2.1.3 Data Collection and Data Preparation

The Contractor shall collect CSC and Coast Guard Academy workforce data and convert to the General Schedule pay plan in accordance with EEOC MD-715 requirements and combine with initial data set furnished by USCG. The Contractor shall also implement the research plan and collect additional relevant data for analysis. In so doing, the Contractor shall gather data through individual and group interviews; conduct surveys of targeted populations; access and provide data from available USCG, government-wide, and/or industry sources; combine data into a form suitable for analysis to include preparing, organizing, and ensuring data quality; and follow established or refined protocols for handling information security, storage, and retrieval.

The Contractor shall, as needed, update standard operating procedures and protocols that describe methods used in data collection and preparation. Standard operating procedures and instructions shall be reviewed for technical accuracy and subject to scientific standards supporting replication and extension.

2.1.4 Data Analysis and Interpretation

The Contractor must be able to provide expert services to advise, define, and conduct statistical analyses that provide for high quality (i.e., reliable and valid) conclusions in support of the analysis plan. Such analyses must include, but are not limited to: (a) parametric and nonparametric statistics using simple and multiple linear and non-linear regression analyses; (b) benchmarking and other comparative analyses to available data from other organizations; (c) personnel survey data (e.g. Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Data and Defense Organizational Climate Survey (DEOCS)); and may include (d) scale psychometric; (d) data reduction analyses (e.g., factor or cluster analyses); or (e) linkage research to relate employee evaluation data with other key human capital and performance metrics.

The Contractor must be able to apply and interpret statistical information to complete standard, EEOC-prescribed analyses, including “glass ceiling,” “blocked pipeline,” “glass wall,” and “low entry-high exit” analyses, as detailed in Barrier Analysis training. The Contractor must include EEOC-created barrier analysis tools (including the EEOC’s “Barrier Analysis: Questions to Guide the Process” guidance) as part of the analysis plan to conduct barrier analysis studies and may include the EEOC’s root cause analysis tools.

Typical barrier analyses use as primary methods, logistic regression, Poisson regression, Chi-Square Analysis, focus groups, interviews, and occasionally social network analysis, and use as primary datasets, FedHR, Direct Access, or other relevant personnel data, USA Staffing Applicant Flow Data, and FEVS survey data.

The Contractor will provide benchmarks to measure the USCG against including the national economy and other similarly sized federal agency programs to identify comparative information and best practices related to EEO, assess the applicability of best practices to the USCG, and prepare summary results for presentation to the USCG as needed.

The Contractor shall summarize qualitative data gathered from employee commentary, interviews, focus groups, and other methods. Where appropriate and applicable, qualitative data shall be translated and presented numerically with appropriate assessment of reliability, statistical power, and validity.

Combining data from the research efforts listed above, the Contractor shall synthesize the summary findings for simple interpretation and as the basis for communication. The Contractor shall provide expert technical advice on the appropriate interpretation of current results, any limits on that interpretation, and an assessment of the power and reliability for the conclusions suggested. The Contractor shall present, to the extent practicable, a neutral and independent review of research findings.

2.2 TASK TWO. Develop Reports and Communications in Support of Data Driven Decision Making

2.2.1 Briefings and Discussion

Based on the research executed in Task Area 1, the Contractor shall summarize and present reports, briefings, or presentations as project deliverables. Communications must support data driven decisions from research results. The Contractor shall develop data visualizations and data summaries along with related explanatory text, reports, tools and processes using data visualization tools. These materials shall enable USCG CRD leadership to engage in collaborative discussion with various stakeholders including agency management, as needed.

2.2.2 Technical Documentation

In addition to real time briefings or interactive presentations of data, the Contractor shall deliver a full and complete technical documentation of the research effort within 12 weeks after project close unless otherwise agreed upon.

This technical documentation may emulate an adjusted model of the technical guidance embedded in the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures Section 15 or standard technical documentation within a social science.

The resulting reports and documents will be subject to review by the USCG. The audience for such communication varies in technical concentration and familiarity with the research techniques employed. As such, communications will be evaluated against standards for both comprehension by a varied audience and technical quality. In all cases, the Contractor’s timelines and plans must provide for review, revision, and approval by the government of each communication deliverable.

2.3 TASK THREE. Barrier Analysis Reference Guide Development

The Contractor shall provide services to develop a guide that defines and documents processes and procedures for use by USCG when conducting research and communicating research results in the context of shorter-term proactive consultations and longer-term workforce studies. Deliverables in this Task Area include development of a reference guide to reflect current or emerging frameworks, processes, and tools that the USCG may use to conduct research and communicate research results. The reference guide documents the analytical process to produce high-quality, unbiased results on which USCG management can practicably and lawfully rely to enhance equality of opportunity for protected demographic groups pursuant to EEOC Management Directive 715 (MD-715).

Consistent with the analytical and operational contexts, content of the reference guide that may be updated and/or enhanced under this Task Area include, but are not limited to:

• Scientific Process Matters o Scientific ethics, including principles to reduce bias and ensure objectivity, and codes or regulatory standards for conducting research with human subjects;

o Scientific conduct/norms;

o Questionable Research Practices (QRPs); and/or o Peer review

• Establishing the Research Agenda:

o Standard Operating Procedures for trigger analysis;

o Stakeholder outreach to various constituencies; and/or o Consideration of organizational and/or federal government goals and activity

• Methods of Data Collection:

o Sources of information;

Identify primary sources of data, where they are maintained, and how to obtain

• Civilian Labor Force in the EEO Tabulation published by the Census

Bureau and/or the Public Use Microdata Sample available through iPUMS

• Civilian Personnel Data File (CPDF) data form OPM’s FedScope

• Annual reporting on the federal workforce by the EEOC

• Securities and financial industry employment data, including participation rates by protected demographic category

• EEO-1 data from the EEOC

• Federal financial regulatory agency employment data, including participation rates by protected demographic category Appropriate benchmarks

• Applicant flow data

• Civilian Labor Force, Occupational Civilian Labor Force, Relevant Civilian

Labor Force with and without regard to participation rates of protected demographic groups at different compensation levels and/or by occupation and/or industry or sector

• Feeder pools for career development and internal competitive promotions

• Separations o Standard Operating Procedures for analysis of historical organizational/ personnel records;

o Decision Aid for Sampling research participation and coverage:

Subject matter experts;

• Internal to USCG

• External to USCG Survey participants;

Methods of stratification; and/or Time periods of study o Research practice and methods of designing standardized protocols:

Review of the relevant research literature (including, academic and legal research, and best practices);

Review of relevant studies, surveys, and/or reports conducted/prepared by federal government agencies (GAO, OIG, OPM, etc.), academia, and/or industry leaders;

Review of the agency’s policy, practices, and procedures for targeted federal employment processes;

Survey items;

• Including sources from FEVS, USCG’s Organizational Assessment

Survey (OAS), USCG’s exit survey, and other related survey instrument results.

Interview and focus group protocols;

Small group exercises, e.g., with process or content experts;

Data coding and processing of qualitative data;

Root Cause Analysis;

Guidance from the EEOC on barrier analysis tools and methods; and/or Incorporating project management methodology and/or principles in designing research methods/protocols and fostering collaboration among a multi-disciplinary team o Data privacy protocols for the collection, analysis, storage, and retrieval of data that may include personally identifiable information

• Statistical Analysis Methods and Data Preparation:

o Data cleaning, verification, and preparation;

o Operational definitions;

o Measurement issues such as levels of data (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio), reliability, validity, and generalizability; and/or o Decision Guide for Statistical Analysis

Define the various statistical tests that are appropriate for use based on sample size and other considerations

Considerations when deciding which test(s) to use

• Protecting Confidential, Sensitive, and Privileged Data, Analyses, and Work Product o Available Privileges o Available FOIA Exemptions o Properly labeling documents and work product

• Research Communications Strategy:

o Engagement with relevant organizational stakeholders about one or more studies;

o Principles for collaboration and decision-making at different stages of research and/or based on stakeholder audience (e.g., management vice union);

o Periodic research updates and reviews;

o Data summaries and visualization;

o Effectively communicating research results and actions to varied stakeholders; and/or o Technical documentation of the research process and methods.

• Project management including insights from methodologies and tools

• Incorporation of Framework for Transition from Analysis to Management Action

• Monitoring results/outcomes of research or study o Did the analysis identify the correct impediment or potential barrier(s)?

o Did the analysis identify the correct action opportunity or opportunities?

o Did the analysis identify the appropriate metric(s)/measure(s)?

3.0 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL

3.1 Qualified Personnel

The Contractor must provide qualified personnel to perform all requirements specified in this PWS. Key personnel and the relevant qualifications are outlined below.

3.2 Key Personnel

The contractor shall provide, at a minimum, a Project Manager, a Senior Social Scientist (Quantitative), a Senior Social Scientist (Qualitative), and a Human Capital Analyst. If any proposed key personnel is/are not a current employee of the Contractor, the Contractor shall include a signed commitment letter from the employee that reflects their intention and willingness to perform in the event the Contractor is awarded the contract.

It is expected that at least 50% of work product submitted within an invoice period (including management) is performed by Key Personnel. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the agency receives the full benefit of the contractor staff expertise allocated toward this contract, and to minimize context-switching so that contractor staff may focus on in-depth work. If contractor elects to use non-Key Personnel for any portion of any task, 100% of interim and final work product must be reviewed by Key Personnel.

Before replacing any individual designated as Key by the Government, the Contractor must notify the Contracting Officer no less than 15 business days in advance, submit written justification for replacement, and provide the name and qualifications of any proposed substitute(s). All proposed substitutes must possess qualifications equal to or superior to those of the Key person being replaced, unless otherwise approved by the Contracting Officer. The Contractor must not replace Key Contractor personnel without approval from the Contracting Officer. Any modification or addition to personnel performing work under this contract must be approved by the Agency. The following Contractor personnel are designated as Key for this requirement. Note: The Government may designate additional Contractor personnel as Key at the time of award.

3.3 Project Manager

The Contractor must provide a Project Manager who must be responsible for all Contractor work performed under this PWS. The Project Manager must be a single point of contact for the Contracting Officer and the COR. The name of the Project Manager, and the name(s) of any alternate(s) who must act for the Contractor in the absence of the Project Manager, must be provided to the Government as part of the Contractor's proposal. The Project Manager is further designated as Key by the Government. During any absence of the Project Manager, only one alternate must have full authority to act for the Contractor on all matters relating to work performed under this contract. The Project Manager and all designated alternates must be able to read, write, speak and understand English.

Additionally, the Contractor must not replace the Project Manager without prior approval from the Contracting Officer.

3.3.1 Project Manager Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a social science (preferred) or other terminal degree in business, public policy, statistics, or a social science (e.g. MBA, MEcon)

• Minimum of six (6) years of experience in social science research projects that require statistical analysis and data analytic reporting

• At least three (3) years conducting workforce analytic projects:

• Minimum of four (4) years of professional experience leading research teams to include:

o Managing and supervising research teams of at least three (3) team members with varying levels of knowledge or experience (e.g., combining research assistant, subject matter expert, statistician) in an area of social science o Developing and executing on a research agenda, with related research designs and analysis plans, in an area of investigation o Delivering presentations and leading client meetings

• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and provide analytic support for simultaneous research projects at different stages of completion and to support client contact for more than one project and/or USCG staff member at a time.

• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to build strong relationships with clients and analyst staff, effective communication skills, and flexibility to adapt methods and work practices to USCG CRD’s standard procedure and norms

• Minimum of four years of experience with one or more advanced statistical software programs (i.e. STATA, SAS, R) sufficient to independently design, accurately code, and perform statistical analyses

3.3.2 Availability the Project Manager must be available between 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons. The Project Manager must respond to a request for discussion or resolution of technical problems within 24 hours of notification.

Availability for this contract must be no less than 10 hours per week. The team’s routine must be such that the project manager is the go-to source of guidance for contract staff week-to-week, and the primary interface with the agency.

3.4 Senior Social Scientist (Quantitative)

3.4.1 Senior Social Scientist (Quantitative) Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a social science (i.e., IO psychology, economics, sociology), or statistics.

• Minimum of 4 year’s experience as principal investigator or lead author on mid-size or larger quantitative research projects conducted outside of the requirements of an academic degree program OR 5 year’s experience as a co-author on mid-size or larger quantitative research projects counted outside of the requirements of an academic degree program.

• Minimum of two (2) years independently conducting such statistical analysis and data analytic reporting, including:

• Demonstrated experience in data analysis sufficient to design and perform analyses independently.

• Demonstrated experience in data preparation sufficient to extract, clean (i.e., wrangle), verify and summarize data sets using systematic processes.

• Experience using Excel or a similar data processing package to extract, merge, and transform data from standard reports of data from personnel processing systems (e.g., USA Staffing, federal Civilian Personnel Data File, IBC Datamart, National Finance Center; FEDScope CPDF reporting, or similar) o Demonstrated experience conducting research on personnel, with emphasis on workforce demographic analysis based on human resource information systems or personnel processing data (e.g., USA Staffing, federal Civilian Personnel Data File, National Finance Center FEDScope CPDF reporting, IBC Datamart, or similar).

o Experience using standard data from personnel processing systems (e.g., USA Staffing, federal Civilian Personnel Data File, FEDScope CPDF reporting, IBC Datamart, or similar) o Experience accessing and reporting on data on characteristics of the civilian labor force or employee perceptions from the Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, or Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

o Significant role in one or more statistical or qualitative projects related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; personnel policies, procedures, or practices; or workplace barrier analysis related to EEOC’s Management Directive-715.Minimum of four years of experience with one or more advanced statistical software programs (i.e., STATA, SAS, R) sufficient to independently design, accurately code, and perform statistical analyses.

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience supporting research on personnel policies, procedures, or practices;

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; or workplace barrier analysis related to EEOC’s Management Directive-715.

• Experience in defining measures for analysis, assessing reliability and validity of research conclusions, developing research protocols for data collection, interpreting research results, including any limits on the generalizability of the research conclusions, and for quantitative projects, conducting statistical tests appropriate to the research question.

• Significant experience with logistic regression analysis

• Flexibility to adapt methods and work practices to USCG’s standard procedures and norms.

• Demonstrated ability to multi-task or support several projects at different stages of completion.

• Sufficient experience to support the Project Manager on developing and executing research designs.

3.5 Senior Social Scientist (Qualitative)

3.5.1 Senior Social Scientist (Qualitative) Qualifications

• Lead researcher in three or more research projects conducted outside of the degree requirements of an academic program, in which the primary research methods were qualitative (e.g., interviews, focus groups, survey development, participant-observation, informants), OR 2. a supporting researcher in four or more qualitative research projects with 6 years of such experience, outside of the degree requirements of an academic program.

• Part of a team receiving formal institutional review board (IRB) approval for a research study.

• PhD in a social science discipline with an emphasis on qualitative methods OR 2. Ph.D. candidate in

All But Dissertation (ABD) status in a social science discipline with an emphasis on qualitative methods and 5 years of experience in human resources or research on human resources conducted outside the requirements of an academic program, OR 3. Master’s degree with 10 or more years of experience as lead or co-author on research projects in which the primary research methods were qualitative.

3.6 Human Capital Analyst

3.6.1 Human Capital Analyst Qualifications

• Senior to expert level knowledge of personnel policies, procedure, and the employment lifecycle, OR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

• Master’s degree in business, a social science, or human resources related field. Five (5) years progressive work experience managing human resources in the Federal sector or a combination including both Federal sector and private sector organizations of 1,000 employees or more; OR 2.

Bachelor’s degree in business, human resources management, or social science. Four years work experience in human resources management. Four years work experience in at least one of the occupations under study in a specific task order(s) or five years of experience conducting significant research to advise clients on human resources in the Federal sector or a combination including both Federal sector and private sector organizations of 1,000 employees or more.

3.7 Statistician

3.7.1 Statistician Qualifications

• Senior to expert level knowledge of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing, and tests of significance.

• A degree that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc. At least Three (3) years of progressive work experience in statistics, as it relates to barrier analysis.

3.7.2 Anticipated Period of Performance: December 2023 to December 2028

4.0 Responses

Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI using Microsoft Word or a compatible format. Your response shall include the following information:

1) Administration & Subcontracting

a) Company name, DBA name (if applicable), mailing address, UEI, and CAGE code

b) Company’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes

c) Designated point of contact name, title, phone number and email address.

d) Business type based upon the NAICS codes your business typically uses to provide the requested services, i.e., large business, small business, small, disadvantaged business, 8(A)-certified, HUBZone, woman-owned, veteran-owned small businesses, etc. (See FAR 19 for additional information on size standards).

2) Capability: Briefly describe your organization’s capability to provide the required services.

3) Approach: Describe your approach to addressing CRD needs to include estimated time commitments of your team. Note: We fully realize that you will be able to give a much more refined answer once the solicitation is released, but we hope you can provide some general information in this regard based on your experience.

4) Pricing: Please provide a non-binding price estimate or estimated range- that will be kept confidential for the following: Program Manager, Social Scientist (Quantitative), Social Scientist (Qualitative), Statistician and Payroll Analyst. Please include Other direct cost and travel for all four base years and four option periods.

5) Please identify any federal agencies and their workforce size for whom you have conducted and completed barrier analysis studies using EEOC methodologies outlined in MD-715.

6) What capabilities do you currently have on your team to conduct barrier analysis, and what capabilities do you need to onboard for specific engagements to conduct barrier analysis studies?

7) What is the capacity at the Project Manager level? How many labor hours can be reasonably expected at this level?

8) What statistical methodologies are companies using to conduct barrier analysis of workforce demographic data by gender, race, national origin, grade, and disability status?

9) What are the typical team sizes and expected labor hours per month on contracts related to barrier analysis?

10) How long does it take to recruit and onboard a statistician?

11) What size contract is needed to prioritize one contract in the DEIA space and the associated work?

12) Has there been a significant change in labor rates since fiscal year 2020, over and above the typical trend? If so, to what effect?

13) How often and how closely do you assess the quality and quantity of the work being performed by your team on an engagement? What quality-control processes do you have in place to ensure that the team is delivering to expectations established in a contractual agreement?

14) What systems do you currently use related to applicant flow data? How many years of experience do you have with pulling and manipulating the data from the personnel system?

16) How mature is your company related to barrier analysis or investigation of systemic problems in DEIA?

5.0 Industry discussions

USCG-CRD representatives may or may not choose to speak with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification on such things as potential capability to meet the requirements.

6.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by email to the Contract Specialist, Joel Gibney at joel.m.gibney@uscg.mil, and Contracting Officer, Melony Suber at melony.y.suber@uscg.mil respectively.

7.0 Summary

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning and does not constitute an RFQ/RFP. The information herein is subject to change and not binding on the Government. Release of this information is not a commitment that USCG-CRD will issue an RFQ/RFP in the future or that it authorizes costs to be incurred for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and must be clearly marked. Please segregate the proprietary information. Note: All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. The anticipated Period of Performance is December 2023 – December 2028.

Please submit your RFI response no later than April 3, 2023 by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Email your responses to the Contract Specialist, Joel Gibney at joel.m.gibney@uscg.mil and the Contracting Officer, Melony Suber at melony.y.suber@uscg.mil.

mailto:joel.m.gibney@uscg.mil mailto:melony.y.suber@uscg.mil

3.0 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL