Statement of Work.docx

CIO-SP2i – NITAAC SBA Business.gov Program Statement of Work (SOW)

Research: Women Entrepreneurs, Self-Limiting Perceptions, and Segmentation National Women’s Business Council

SBAHQ-12-Q-0035

Purpose This Statement of Work is to acquire a research company to conduct in-depth analysis of different segments of women entrepreneurs and how their expectations and motivations differ in order to provide insight into what messaging can best be used to help these different segments overcome their self-limiting perceptions and grow their businesses. The analysis shall consist of qualitative research to answer a number of important questions.

Background The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is a non-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. Members of the Council are prominent women business owners and leaders of women’s business organizations.

The Council’s mission is to promote bold initiatives, policies and programs designed to support women’s business enterprises at all stages of development in the public and private sector marketplaces- from start-up to success to significance.

One of the NWBC’s priorities this year is to begin to segment the population of women entrepreneurs to better understand how to best divide the population based upon differing motivations and expectations. At the same time we would like to understand how best to help each group move beyond their existing self-limiting perceptions, as researched in two previous studies, so that they can successfully grow their businesses.

This Statement of Work is intended to obtain a research firm to explore these questions in-depth.

Objectives

· Conduct focus groups with different segments of women entrepreneurs and provide insight into the best ways to segment this population based upon motivations, expectations, and needs for growth.

· Analyze these different segments and suggest future ways to continue efforts at segmentation.

· Develop messaging to help the various segments of women entrepreneurs to overcome their self-limiting perspectives.

· Through the focus groups, work to probe and answer the questions the NWBC brings up below.

Scope The contractor shall be responsible for all aspects of conducting the focus groups and analyzing the results. The contractor shall be responsible for presenting a clear and complete view of this topic in a comprehensive written report and a PowerPoint deck.

The NWBC will work closely with the vendor throughout the project, and reserves the right to tailor or amend the research throughout the process, without change to the scope. The National Women’s Business Council will also own this project upon completion. The contractor shall complete the research on behalf of the NWBC and cannot share or distribute the report in any way without the express written permission of the Council. The contractor shall list the NWBC as a client and will receive full credit for the report, but the contractor’s name and logo possibly shall not appear on the cover.

This Scope of Work is for a single project, but based on the results the NWBC may wish to conduct additional research on this topic in the future. The vendor shall identify interesting further questions and areas of research in the final report. The NWBC reserves the right to conduct future projects on this topic with a different contractor.

Specific Tasks Project Management. The Contractor shall:

· Prepare and maintain a Project Management Plan including master project schedule, milestones, and performance measures.

· Work with the NWBC at the outset to fully understand the project and ask any questions that need answering.

Determine Segments. The Contractor shall:

· Work with the NWBC and utilize existing research to help define the segments of women entrepreneurs that should participate in the focus groups.

· Final determination of groups will be made by the NWBC, but input and insight into the make-up is encouraged.

· Possible groups could include but are not limited to: age of business, age of business owner, geography of business (rural or urban), size of business (receipts or employees), key industry groups, growth rate of business, and ethnicity/race of business owner.

· The Census’ Survey of Business Owners is an excellent place to begin to understand women entrepreneurs.

Qualitative Research. The Contractor shall:

· Conduct focus groups. Two existing studies (found at http://archive.sba.gov/advo/research/rs309tot.pdf and http://www.psed.isr.umich.edu/psed/download_document/25) found that while gender does not affect new venture performance on its own, motivations and expectations do. They determined that there are statistically significant differences between men and women when examining reasons for starting a business (men for wealth creation and women for more flexibility and independence), risk (women are more risk averse), research (men are more likely to research opportunities), expectations (men have higher expectations for their businesses’ successes), geographical reach (men are more likely to have a geographically expansive and diverse customer base), and more. The NWBC would like to take this existing research but build upon it further. Knowing that men and women approach entrepreneurship with very different mindsets, how can we change our messaging to overcome women’s self-limiting perspectives? The focus groups should:

· Evaluate the effectiveness of any relevant current messaging and packaging of business development programs offered by the government and private industry

· Develop new messaging focused on illustrating that independence and wealth creation are not necessarily mutually exclusive and helping women overcome their self-limiting perceptions in order to grow their businesses.

· Analyze differences among the different segments tested within the population of women entrepreneurs and tailor messaging appropriately.

· The NWBC suggests a total of 10-12 focus groups, with 2 focus groups conducted with each segment to ensure we do not have an outlier. The researcher is responsible for all aspects of conducting the focus groups, which should include but is not limited to:

· Determining location and format of the groups, with input from the NWBC.

· Working with a focus group facility (if appropriate) and developing a screener or specifications to recruit participants.

· Develop a focus group outline and moderate the groups.

· Analyze the results and prepare the analysis in the format described in this SOW.

· Transcripts should be provided to the NWBC of each focus group.

· The NWBC expects there to be a mix of phone focus groups and in-person focus groups as needed.

· If other outside relevant research is found during this study and the researcher wishes to use it as part of the project they must first obtain written approval from the NWBC. The two reports cited above on self-limiting perceptions may be used without other approval.

· Please note: the Contractor will also need to work with the NWBC to obtain OMB approval for these focus groups. Although the proposal must be formally submitted by the NWBC, the Contractor shall complete the necessary forms and provide them to the NWBC to submit. The Contractor should shepherd the project through the process as much as regulations allow.

Analysis and Report. The Contractor shall provide a full analysis along with a written report:

· Analyze the results of the focus groups and any other sources used and compile the analysis in a comprehensive written report, detailing the results. The report shall include graphical analysis if there is any relevant quantitative data in addition to written analysis. The report shall:

· Include an approved executive summary (executive summary summited up to three days prior for review) which shall be delivered at least 1 week prior to the full report, so the NWBC can begin to release preliminary results, if it so chooses.

· Include a full methodology.

· The written analysis shall identify still unanswered questions and future interesting areas of study based on the findings.

· Be available for at least two rounds of revision based upon feedback from the NWBC.

· Shall meet with 508 compliance standards.

· Be provided in print-ready electronic form; word, excel, etc., to be discussed at initial consultation.

· Develop and provide a complete and comprehensive PowerPoint deck that presents the analysis in presentation rather than written report form.

Status Reports. The Contractor shall submit regular status reports to the NWBC on a bi-weekly basis. The reports shall briefly update the Council on the status and progress of all project elements including but not limited to the project timeline, methodology, interesting findings, outlines for draft reports, and any other problems encountered. The contractor shall be expected to provide proposed solutions for any challenges that emerge throughout the duration of the project. A timeline and checklist of tasks for project completion shall be provided and discussed at the project’s initial meeting.

Preliminary Results Report. As the analysis of the data takes place, the contractor shall submit one preliminary results report that shall include preliminary results that can be released to the press. This shall be brief with informative bits of information and not in-depth results. Interim results shall be geared towards building interest in our final release. This preliminary results report shall be noted in the timeline provided at the start of the project.

Contract Type Firm Fixed Price.

Place of Performance Work will be performed primarily at the Contractor’s offices.

Period of Performance A general timeline shall be included in the proposal. This project shall be completed no later than 12 months after the award date.

Deliverables/Delivery Requirements

Focus Group Outline

Focus Group Transcripts

All deliverables shall be completed as described above.

PowerPoint presentation

Security Confidential Treatment of Sensitive Information The Contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information/data that is provided by the Government during the performance of the task order. The Government has determined that the information/data that the Contractor will be provided during the performance of the task order is of a sensitive nature.

Disclosure of the information/data, in whole or in part, by the Contractor shall not be made without prior written approval from the Contracting Officer. Whenever the Contractor is uncertain with regard to the proper handling of information/data under the contract, the Contractor shall obtain a written determination from the Contracting Officer.

Packaging, Packing, and Shipping Instructions The contractor shall ensure that all items are preserved, packaged, packed and marked in accordance with best commercial practices to meet the packing requirements of the carrier and to ensure safe and timely delivery at the intended destination. All data and correspondence submitted shall reference:

1. National Women’s Business Council

2. Director of Research and Policy

Containers shall be clearly marked as follows:

1. Contract Number

2. Name of contractor

3. Description of items contained therein

4. National Women’s Business Council

Inspection and Acceptance Criteria Final inspection and acceptance of all work performed, reports, and other deliverables will be performed at the place of delivery by the government.

Other Pertinent Information or Special Considerations

Technical Factors:

The following rating method shall be used in the evaluation of the technical approach information:

Excellent - Based on the offeror's technical approach, no doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. The technical approach shows a complete understanding and methodology for completing the work within the standards and workload specified.

Good - Based on the offeror's technical approach, little doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. The technical approach shows an acceptable understanding and methodology for completing the work within the standards and workload specified.

Marginal - Based on the offeror's technical approach, some doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. The technical approach shows a marginal understanding and methodology for completing the work within the standards and workload specified.

Poor - Based on the offeror's technical approach, serious doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. The technical approach demonstrates significant deficiencies in understanding and implementing performance of the work within the standards and workload specified.

1. Quality of the technical proposal and turnaround time; its clarity and demonstrated ability to perform the research in a timely manner.

Evaluation will assess the detailed technical description of how all the required work will be accomplished. This will include evaluation of the literature review, data sources, and methodologies proposed for analysis and their appropriateness to the overall research being conducted relevant to the work to be performed. In addition, the project timeline will be assessed to assure that the research report is completed in a timely manner and consistent with the methodologies prescribed in the proposal.

2. Past Performance The proposal shall include: 3 references, with email and phone contact information, short statements on relevant past projects, a summary of the firm’s capabilities, and biographies for the key researchers.

3. Experience

The offeror shall provide specific information of recent relevant contracts, which support experience in the past five years. For each relevant contract, the offeror shall provide the following: 1. Agency/company and contact point 2. Period of performance 3. Dollar value of contract 4. Contract number and type 5. Description of the project, relevancy to the current project and schedule compliance.

4. Price/Cost

All technical factors when combined are more important than cost/price.

5. Small business, Woman-owned small business will receive additional consideration.

AWARD DETERMINATION

Award shall be based on best value, or the determination of whether the difference in the non-price factors is worth the difference in price. Award shall be made to that offeror whose technical/cost relationship is the most advantageous to the government. Award may be made without further discussions. Offers should be submitted initially on the most favorable terms, from a price and technical standpoint, which the contractor can offer to the government.

SUBMISSION

Questions shall be submitted via email only to the contracting officer below.

Responses to this combined synopsis/solicitation shall be submitted via email only to the contracting officer below by Monday, August 6, 2012, 1:00 p.m., Mountain Time.

Quotes should be no longer than 15 pages in length.

Contracting Officer: Susan Smerdel, susan.smerdel@sba.gov Post-Award Administration Overall performance is determined by prompt completion of activities in accordance with the project plan. In addition, the Contractor shall complete the bi-weekly status reports described above and otherwise maintain close contact with the NWBC.

The Contractor shall immediately alert the Program Manager or other designated program staff, and provide viable solutions, to any problems that would adversely affect the research, delay it, or have budget implications. All deliverables shall be submitted in a timely fashion. Due dates may be extended only upon the request to and concurrence of the contracting agency. All written documents shall contain all necessary information and data and be understandable and concise.

7/17/2012 Page 1

As of 4/24/2012