Answers_Solicitation_SBAHQ-15-Q-0052.pdf

Questions on Solicitation: SBAHQ-15-Q-0052

Research on Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Their Service of High Growth Women Entrepreneurs

1. What is the anticipated budget for this project?

This information cannot be disclosed.

2. Should the price proposal include items such as travel expenses, reservations for meeting space for town hall meetings, and event marketing for town hall meetings? Should these be separate line items in the cost proposal?

Yes, and they should be a separate CLIN (Please consolidate travel expenses into one CLIN)

3. How many members of the contracting team do you anticipate attending each town hall event?

As many as the contractor feels is necessary to carry out the event. At least two members of NWBC staff will attend each event; NWBC will pay these costs separately and shall not be included in the offeror’s cost estimate.

4. Please indicate whether the contractor is solely responsible for securing town hall locations and all the costs associated with conducting each town hall (i.e., the contractor would need to include its estimate of these costs in the cost proposal)?

Yes, the contractor is solely responsible for securing town hall locations and all the costs associated with conducting each town hall. The contractor will need to include its estimate of these costs in the cost proposal.

5. The Statement of Work indicates that the NWBC desires to have 6-10 town hall meetings starting at one per month in January 2016, skipping March and July 2016. This is an ambitious timeline as it only leaves 6 months before September 2016, the purported end of the 12 month contract. Please provide clarification on desired and acceptable scheduling for the town hall events such that there is sufficient time to incorporate the results of all such events into a white paper.

We are flexible as to timing. Our sole requirement is that the white paper is finalized in time to include in the NWBC 2016 Annual Report, which is October.

6. Does the NWBC intend for all town hall meetings to be in person (i.e., all individuals speaking face to face)? Would the Council be amenable to virtual meetings or webinars as a potentially cost-effective alternative given potential scheduling constraints given the desire to have 20-40 participants at each meeting? If so, should the cost to promote and host the webinars be included in the price proposal?

All town hall meetings shall be in person. The Council is not amenable to virtual meetings.

7. Does the NWBC anticipate assisting the selected contractor in obtaining the 20 to 40 individuals in each selected location to participate in the town hall meetings?

Yes, the NWBC will, to the extent possible, assist the selected contractor in obtaining the 20-40 individuals through its networks.

8. The number of discussions happening at each World Café format town hall meeting will require professional note taking or transcription services. Is this a service that the NWBC would perform or coordinate, or should the price proposal include this item? Does the NWBC envision another method of information collection and transcription? Given the requested 10 day turnaround and transcription time, does the NWBC have another method of data collection in mind? If so, please describe.

The price proposal should include professional note taking or transcription services.

We are not committed to either of these methods, but your proposal should outline whatever method you think will be sufficient to collect the data.

9. Do you already have in place an ecosystem model that is being sued from previous years as a baseline?

Please see the Council’s 2014 Annual Report for our current understanding of entrepreneurship ecosystems. We are open to additions.

10. Is there a historical budget in place for this project or similar project?

Budget information cannot be disclosed.

11. Has this type of contract been performed in the past 10 years?

No.

a. What were the results – is there a report / whitepaper that is available for review?

n/a

12. Are the town-halls events locations already selected or will be selected by the contractor once their research is complete? Is there a pre-selected list in place?

The contractor is responsible for selection of cities via data analysis; NWBC will then select the final 6-8 cities for the town halls. This is outlined in the Scope section of the performance work statement.

a. Do you envision these events to take place over, 1 day, 3 days or 1 week?

Events will be completed in one day.

13. Can the contractor suggest an alternative time-line for the milestones?

Yes.

a. Do the town-hall events need to start in Jan 2016?

No. Restrictions on March and July stand.