RFI_FRNA Economic and Social Impact Study.docx

Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice First Responder Network Authority Economic and Social Impact Study

1.0 ACQUISITION BACKGROUND

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 established the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) and charged it with the responsibility to ensure the building, deployment, and operation of a nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN) designed to meet the information and communications technology needs of first responders and public safety users. The FirstNet Authority is an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the Department of Commerce.

This Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Notice by the FirstNet Authority seeks qualified contractors that can provide data collection activities, develop methodologies, and analyze impacts. The proposed acquisition classified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541910 - Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (Size Standard of $15 Million).

The selected vendor(s) shall provide professional assistance to the FirstNet Authority in the collection of quality data to understand and quantify the estimated impacts of the FirstNet network and the FirstNet Authority and complete the following tasks:

· Identify and measure the economic and social impacts resulting from the FirstNet network and FirstNet Authority,

· Assess and quantify direct and indirect impacts to user groups, communities, geographies, and public/private institutions, and

· Develop a methodology and determine metrics for future use to improve future outcomes of the FirstNet Authority.

The anticipated period of performance is one twelve-month base and one twelve-month option period.

DISCLAIMER:

This RFI/Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice.

The FirstNet Authority is the federal entity charged with overseeing the creation and delivery of the FirstNet network. The FirstNet network is a nationwide wireless broadband network for first responders being built and deployed through a first of its kind public-private arrangement between the federal government and AT&T. AT&T, however, is not a party to this study. Thus, any communication regarding this RFI/Sources Sought Notice should only be through the Government’s Contracting Officer (CO), Alejandra.Loyet@firstnet.gov.

2.0 PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Replies to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice must be self-contained (i.e., no web links to additional documents), be submitted electronically, follow the outlines and/or instructions as indicated below, and completely respond to the RFI/Sources Sought Notice objectives and associated attachments.

1. Please review the below overview of the requirements and respond if you are an interested party.

1. Include both a capabilities statement and complete all sections of the Market Research Questionnaire, Attachment 1.

1. Both large and small businesses are encouraged to participate in this market research. Joint ventures or teaming arrangements are encouraged and are up to each industry partner. Multiple teaming arrangements are acceptable. Please express your intentions in the questionnaire and capabilities package. If applicable, please specify your small business classification in any response.

1. If, after reviewing this document, you desire to participate in this market research request for information, you should reply via email with the corresponding questionnaire responses and your capabilities statement to Alejandra.Loyet@firstnet.gov no later than 5:00 pm EST Friday, 6/18/21. Proprietary information should be clearly marked. All submissions shall be sent via e-mail. The electronic format may be in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) or compatible with the Microsoft Office suite of software.

1. Any proprietary materials submitted in response to this announcement must be marked accordingly. The Government will not reimburse industry for any expenses incurred in reviewing and responding to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice and corresponding documents. The responses to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice will be used for informational purposes only. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Quote (RFQ). The Government is neither seeking nor accepting proposals at this time.

Format and Structure

· Page count – 20 pages, Cover and Table of Contents pages are not counted

· Paper Size – 8.5” x 11” paper

· Margins – no less than 1 inch

· Spacing – single-spaced

· Font – Times New Roman, 12 point. Text embedded within graphics, diagrams, or tables may not be smaller than 10 point.

· The response must be signed by a company employee who is authorized to speak on behalf of the company.

3.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND TASK SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL CONTRACT

3.1 General Requirements

All contractors responding to this announcement must demonstrate their experience in the tasks outlined in Section 3.2, Tasks. Responses must be specific to each of the qualifications and listed tasks to demonstrate that the respondent has the requisite skills and experience. Pertinent factors for consideration of qualifications are the primary contractor’s demonstrated experience with the following:

· Assessing public safety operational impacts

· Conducting economic impact studies

· Conducting social impact studies

· Collecting data from establishments

· Identifying metrics and using an open methodology that can be used in the future

· Developing case studies to be used in qualitative profiles/efforts

· Ability to meet a tight production schedule

3.2 Tasks

Economic and Social Impact Support The Contractor shall work with the FirstNet Authority to develop measurements and metrics which can be used in this study and replicated for future evaluations to measure direct and indirect impacts. The following is a representative list, but is not prescribed or exhaustive.

· Analysis of user groups by various groups, organizations, demographic types (e.g., rural, hospitals, urban police, suburban fire, forest rangers).

· Representative case studies of FirstNet users by various demographic, user, community, and service types.

· Primary focus on regular service usage, but also include ad hoc deployment for both planned major events (e.g., large sporting events such as the Super Bowl) and emergencies (e.g., natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornados).

· Analysis of qualitative and quantitative findings for the FirstNet Authority and network impact overall, by public safety discipline and stakeholder groups. This is not to be used as an additional contract evaluation of AT&T deployment of the FirstNet network, but to estimate social and economic impact measures.

· Identification and analysis of data and metrics shared across cases and/or within case groupings (e.g., rural, police, hospital) that could be used to develop ongoing evaluation programs of the FirstNet Authority.

· Recommendations for further research into usage, impact, etc. to inform the development of long-term methodology for the evaluation of the FirstNet Authority.

· Economic impact such as jobs and private investment. Social impacts/performance measurements such as sector performance, and potentially items such as response time.

· Impact to the broadband/telecommunications sector (including public safety communications capabilities) as a result of the FirstNet Authority’s efforts and the FirstNet network.

· Samples of federal, state, and local agencies that choose not to use the FirstNet network or other LTE options to understand barriers to adoption upon completion of network buildout.

4.0 SUMMARY

This information will be used for market research purposes only and will not be used as a part of the source selection evaluation. All information received will be protected and safeguarded as ACQUISITION/SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE in accordance with FAR Part 2.101 and 3.104, Procurement Integrity.

Submissions will be accepted via e-mail to Alejandra.Loyet@firstnet.gov no later than 5:00 pm EST Friday, 6/18/21. Please be advised that telephone inquiries will not be accepted. Please note, this is not a request for proposal.

Questions regarding this RFI shall be submitted via e-mail to Alejandra.Loyet@firstnet.gov no later than 12:00 p.m. EST Tuesday, 6/8/21. If any questions are received, an amendment to this RFI/Sources Sought Notice may be posted prior to the submission date on BETA SAM.

Attachment 1: Market Research Questionnaire:

Please review and respond to the following questions regarding business size.

· Please indicate your business classification for NAICS code 541910 (Size Standard of $15 Million) below:

|_| Small Business |_| Other Than Small Business

· If your business classification is Small Business, do you anticipate remaining under the size standard of $15 Million for the next two years?

|_| Yes |_| No

· If your business classification is Small Business, do you qualify under any of the following certification programs and socio-economic categories?

|_| HUBZone |_| Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) |_| Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) |_| 8(a)

· Please indicate which of the requested tasks outlined in Section 3 you can complete in their entirety. Note: The FirstNet Authority is not interested in a vendor’s abilities to complete only some aspects of a specified task.

· Please indicate any organizational conflicts of interest, if applicable.

Market Research Questions:

1. Has your Company performed large scale economic and social impact studies or similar type efforts (to include size and complexity) within the last five years? If so, provide Contract Number, Point of Contact (POC), e-mail address, phone number, and a brief description of your direct support of the effort.

2. Are you able to perform all objectives and tasks as described in the RFI? Please describe your experience and include the following details:

a. Have you conducted studies in collaboration with industry membership associations and/or stakeholder corporations/industry partners?

b. Have you conducted customer satisfaction research, surveys, or other evaluations?

c. Have you measured the impact of nationwide government programs/initiatives before?

d. Have you measured the impact on public safety operations from previous Federal Government efforts to improve communications?

e. What methodology/methodologies have you used to accomplish similar studies?

f. What key data points were measured, and what would you anticipate measuring for this work?

g. What public safety response-related data did you use, and was it publicly available?

h. Have you assessed public safety metrics and impacts?

i. Have you assessed telecommunications impacts?

j. Is there a preferred or industry standard data model used to assess economic impact?

3. What labor categories would you recommend to complete each of the tasks? Please include a description of each labor category. Is there any additional information needed that would assist in determining the labor categories? If yes, please describe.

4. What would you suggest for contract type based on the above requirements (Firm-Fixed-Priced, Time and Material, or Labor-hour)? Please explain/justify.

5. Please provide details regarding potential joint ventures, teaming arrangements, strategic alliances, or other business arrangements to satisfy requirements. Offerors are encouraged to identify teams and indicate each team member’s size based upon the NAICS code of the work that the team member may be doing.

6. Is your company anticipating subcontracting to satisfy requirements? If so, identify the anticipated subcontracting efforts and the percentage of the work the subcontractor would be performing? If your company is a large business, how successful have you been in meeting small business subcontracting goals?

7. If these services are offered by your company on a contract with the General Services Administration (GSA), please provide the GSA contract information along with a copy of the contract.

8. Are there any other NAICS that would be appropriate for this type of work? If suggesting another NAICS, please answer the bullets in the questionnaire above using alternate NAICS.

9. Please provide details on any additional initiatives/tasks that you believe should be included as part of this study or any following study?

10. Provide the following Point of Contact information:

Company Name:

DUNS Number:

Address:

Point of Contact:

Point of Contact position:

Phone Number:

Email Address: