Performance_Work_Statement-_SB1341-15-RQ-0817.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

SUPPORT FOR NIST TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP OFFICE AND MANUFACTURING EXTENSION

PARTNERSHIP – ADVANCED MANUFACTURING NETWORK AND TECHNOLOGY

COLLABORATIVES FORMATION SUPPORT

A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, codified at 15 U.S.C. 273a, created the position of Undersecretary for Standards and Technology that included Federal government-wide responsibilities for technology transfer. These include analysis, planning, coordination, reporting and general oversight of technology transfer responsibilities under Section 5 of the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, the

Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, and Executive Orders 12591 and 10096. These duties include coordinating

Federal agency activities for the commercialization of technology developed at Federal laboratories, monitoring of agency use of cooperative agreements as a means of increasing the efficiency of transferring federally funded technology to the private sector, and the preparation of related reports. In

October of 2011, the President issued the Presidential Memorandum -- Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Federal Research in Support of High-Growth Businesses that directed agencies to establish goals, measure performance, streamline administrative processes, and facilitate local and regional partnerships to facilitate R&D commercialization. NIST coordinates Federal technology transfer policy development activities and provides reporting and analysis, including economic analysis, on performance and outcomes related to technology transfer. Pursuant to this Presidential Memorandum, NIST (in accordance with functions delegated by the Secretary of Commerce) has assumed a leadership role in collecting, analyzing and reporting the performance of Federal agencies in implementing the directions articulated in the memorandum. Accelerating technology transfer and commercialization from

Federal laboratories and from federally-sponsored research is a priority for the Department of Commerce and the Administration. Leveraging our national investment in Federal research and development is essential to U.S. leadership in global innovation, business development, and job creation in cutting-edge industries.

In FY 2015, NIST’s Technology Partnerships Office (TPO) was funded to begin a Laboratory-to-Market effort that includes an element to empower effective collaborations. NIST will lead cross agency efforts to develop and implement new policies that further streamline and promote technology transfer collaborations between Federal agencies and from Federal agencies to the private sector. These activities include developing strategies to promote an increased priority level of R&D commercialization activities and outcomes at Federal laboratories, consistent with agency mission and commercialization strategy. NIST will lead efforts to optimize technology transfer authorities and best practices across

Federal laboratories in order to remove barriers to collaboration with external entities including streamlining wherever possible Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA) authorities, updating intellectual property (IP) policies, and identifying ways to increase the impact of technology transfer activities by fully utilizing existing authority for all research agencies to co-fund joint projects between agencies. NIST will utilize a number of mechanisms including efforts through the

Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program to work with external partners and will participate in regional technology innovation clusters. Specific actions include but are not limited to collecting industry needs (market and technology), identifying and qualifying technology sources able to meet those needs, validating market and technology demand and facilitating the creation of the collaborations needed to meet those needs.

NIST’s MEP contributes funding and assistance to a nationwide network of nearly 400 Centers and field offices throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The Centers’ principal purpose is to provide services and solutions to improve U.S. SME productivity and competitiveness.

U.S. SMEs require technical and business solutions tailored to their unique needs, but large consulting firms, hardware vendors and software vendors that typically develop and market such solutions traditionally underserve this segment of the economy. Therefore, U.S. SMEs benefit greatly from the assistance they receive from the NIST MEP Centers. This assistance includes access to operational assessments, benchmarking, business and technical advice, performance improvement tools, and methodologies to improve their operations.

MEP products and services are delivered to small and medium-sized manufacturers by a professional staff of approximately 1,400 MEP Center practitioners who are employed by the independent MEP

Centers in all 50 States and Puerto Rico. Their goal is to help their customers, the small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses, improve by delivering hands-on technical and business assistance.

Included in MEP’s fundamental strategic thrusts is the development of business growth services for our clients. A key component of this thrust is the development and deployment of processes and tools to help customers “pull” technologies from government, university, and private sector labs in place of the more traditional “push” method of bringing technology to the market as well as identifying benefits of technology assets that a company has which might be deployed in different markets.

MEP has previously developed an approach to creating technology-based collaboratives and advanced manufacturing networks using technology-driven market intelligence methodology. The approach is based on the experiences in creating the California Network for Manufacturing Innovation (CNMI) and tested in a second effort in Nevada on unmanned autonomous vehicles. Both efforts brought together

MEP Centers, universities, community colleges, federal laboratories and facilities, state economic development agencies and all levels of industry (end users, service providers and large, medium and small manufacturers) to identify common goals and objectives related to advancement of the technologies and industries and determine the path forward for capturing related technology-based economic development opportunities. As part of the effort, NIST MEP developed a guide to facilitate the creations of advanced manufacturing networks/collaboratives: Building Regional Collaboratives for Advanced

Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions.

B. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROCUREMENT

The objective of this purchase order is to assist NIST TPO and MEP’s Program Development Office with program support in the performance of their mission to develop regional advanced manufacturing networks and technology-based collaboratives. It is envisioned that these networks and collaboratives will provide a responsive community ready to identify, assess and adopt appropriate technologies resulting from federal R&D investments in the context of the collaboratives’ defined needs and opportunities.

Collaboratives planning should include appropriate regional representatives of the Federal Laboratory

Consortium. The support required includes helping NIST understand regional technology and advanced manufacturing assets through primary and secondary research, analysis of the full range of assets

(economic development, technology sources, industry, education and local/state government agencies) located in any particular region and convening meetings and/or events with key regional stakeholders identified throughout the research and analysis for the purpose of helping NIST and the stakeholders understand what is available, as well as what is missing in the region, and how it can be used to foster technology-based economic growth in the region.

C. SCOPE OF WORK

The scope of work for this performance work statement (PWS) is for the Contractor to design, develop, and test advanced manufacturing networks and regional technology-based collaboratives:

1. Advanced Manufacturing Networks Support

2. Regional Technology Collaboratives Support

3. Biweekly meetings and reviews

D. REQUIREMENTS

General Requirements:

The Contractor shall assist in the creation and development of advanced manufacturing networks and regional technology-based collaboratives using NIST MEP’s Building Regional Collaboratives for

Advanced Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions. In addition to facilitating the creation of the networks and collaboratives, the Contractor shall create and deploy case studies, success stories, webinars and videos related to such networks and collaboratives.

The Contractor shall maintain regular, frequent and responsive contact with the Contracting Officer’s

Representative (COR) and Technical Point of Contact (Technical POC) at all times during the execution of tasks to ensure that TPO and MEP’s needs are met within the established time schedule and budget.

Specific Tasks:

TASK 1 – ADVANCED MANUFACTURING NETWORKS SUPPORT

Pulling together an advanced manufacturing network requires a number of steps as detailed in Building Regional Collaboratives for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions. The Contractor, in consultation with NIST’s MEP and TPO, shall identify no more than two (2) potential regions for establishment of an advanced manufacturing network. The Contractor shall support the process of creating the networks in the identified region, following the steps outlined in the Guide. The Contractor shall provide an interim report describing the results in each of the identified regions within 30 days of completion of a project. Each interim report shall include, but not be limited to, a description of the region, the advanced manufacturing industries and/or networks included, key stakeholders and the results of the research and analysis of economic opportunities in the region discovered as a result of the project.

TASK 2 – REGIONAL TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATIVES SUPPORT

Pulling together a regional technology collaborative requires a number of steps as detailed in Building Regional Collaboratives for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions. The Contractor, in consultation with NIST’s MEP and TPO, shall identify no more than three (3) potential regions for establishment of a regional technology collaborative, The Contractor shall support the process of creating the collaboratives in the identified region, following the steps outlined in the Guide. The Contractor shall provide an interim report describing the results in each of the identified regions within 30 days of completion of a project. Each interim report shall include, but not be limited to, a description of the region, the technologies included, key stakeholders and the results of the research and analysis of economic opportunities in the region discovered as a result of the project.

TASK 3: BIWEEKLY MEETINGS AND REVIEWS

Subtask 3.1: Kick-Off Meeting

The Contractor shall attend a kick-off meeting via conference call, not later than ten business days after award of the contract. The COR and other authorized NIST personnel will be in attendance. The kick-off meeting shall be utilized to review all contract requirements and deliverables and establish a schedule for bi-weekly status meetings.

Subtask 3.2: Bi-Weekly Status Meetings

The Contractor shall participate in status meetings on a bi-weekly basis to review the work completed within the two week period, any problems encountered and steps taken to resolve the problems. Status meetings shall be conducted via conference call unless Contractor personnel are on-site at NIST. The Contractor and the COR shall establish a mutually agreeable meeting schedule.

Subtask 3.3: Quarterly Review Meetings

On a quarterly basis, the Contractor shall conduct a review of all activities during the quarter at

NIST or the Contractor’s facility at a time to be coordinated with NIST TPO and MEP. The

Contractor shall submit documentation of activities and results as part of each review.

E. DELIVERABLES

Deliverable Due Date

Task 1

Subtask 1.1 Identification of Regions 45 days after award

Subtask 1.2 Interim Reports- shall describe each individual network as it completes.

To be scheduled IAW SOW, but within 30 days of completion of a project.

Subtask 1.3 Final Report- shall encompass results from all interim reports plus any cross-comparisons.

360 days after award

Task 2

Subtask 2.1 Identification of Regions 45 days after award

Subtask 2.2 Interim Reports- shall describe each individual collaborative as it completes.

To be scheduled IAW SOW, but within 30 days of completion of a project.

Subtask 2.3 Final Report- shall encompass results from all the interim reports plus any cross-comparisons.

360 days after award

Task 3

Kick-off Meeting 10 business days after award

Bi-Weekly Status Meeting Bi-weekly

Quarterly Review Meeting Documentation

(Documentation of activities and results)

To be scheduled IAW SOW

F. PERIOD AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is for 12 months from contract award. The primary place of performance is at the Contractor’s facilities.

G. TRAVEL

Contractor shall be expected to travel to key sites identified as central to the formation for two (2) technology collaboratives and three (3) advanced manufacturing networks. Additionally, the Contractor shall travel to NIST for the quarterly review meetings (Task 3).

H. GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

The Government will provide the following:

Building Regional Collaboratives for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions.

The Government shall review all deliverables within 10 days of submission by the Contractor and either approve as submitted or request changes in the deliverable by the Contractor.

I. KEY PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS:

It is estimated that it will require at least one (1) contractor key personnel to successfully perform these tasks. Contractor key personnel must have at least ten years of experience in global and national manufacturing supply chain strategies around the sourcing of innovation, commercialization of new technologies, processes for documenting technology needs, effective mechanisms for scouting for solutions to technology needs, and others.

J. ATTACHMENTS

Building Regional Collaboratives for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation: A Guide for Regions.