68_inst_Incubators_and_Accelerators.pdf

Solicitation Notification Research on Women’s Participation in Incubators and Accelerators

SBAHQ-16-Q-0006

The Small Business Administration, National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) intends to procure a fixed price order for research on women’s participation in Incubators and Accelerators. Please see the attached Statement of Work (SOW) description of our requirements.

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

Submission of Quotes. Please submit your technical and price quote as described below. If you have any questions, please contact John Babcock, Contract Specialist, by e-mail – john.babcock@sba.gov.

Offers that do not contain all applicable labor categories, technical approach, past performance information, and price will be considered non responsive.

Quotes shall be received via e-mail at john.babcock@sba.gov by 08:30 AM, Mountain, December 4, 2015. PLEASE BE SURE THE SOLICITATION NUMBER (SBAHQ-16-Q- 0006) AND SUBJECT TITLE (Research on Women’s Participation in Incubators and Accelerators) ARE CLEARLY MARKED ON THE E-MAIL SUBJECT LINE AND

SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS.

Questions shall be submitted not later than 08:30 AM, Mountain, November 27, 2015 via e-mail to john.babcock@sba.gov.

To facilitate processing please include the following as separate files and in Adobe PDF format in your response and labeled as such:

- Technical

- Past Performance

- Price

FAX AND OR PHONE REQUESTS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED AND WILL NOT BE

ACCEPTED. Requests and responses shall include complete company name, address, DUNS, telephone and fax number.

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE DELINEATED SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS WILL

RESULT IN REJCTION OF YOUR QUOTE.

*If you experience difficulty or problems when emailing your quote’s please contact me (John Babcock) via e-mail at john.babcock@sba.gov or phone at 303-844-7253 as soon as practicable.

mailto:john.babcock@sba.gov

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Technical Approach: The contractor shall submit a technical response defining the scope of work and resources necessary to execute the work to be performed under this contract including your applicable GSA labor category descriptions.

• Research proposals should establish a method for acquiring additional survey responses and IDI participants and analysis methodology. List a timeline and provide cost information.

• Previously completed research funded by the National Women’s Business Council can give researchers perspective when creating bids. See http://www.nwbc.gov/issues-and-research

• Other bid details are listed in the bid package.

Past Performance: Provide documentation and references for past performance on previous comparable projects in the past three years. Whereas experience describes the work performed, past performance describes the knowledge and/or skills you gained from the work performed.

Provide “lessons learned” from your past performance. For those contracts with less than positive performance, provide a description of the problems and the efforts made to correct and prevent future occurrences.

Page Limits: Technical Approach, and past performance information, when combined is limited to no more than 10 pages, not including cover page, table of contents, company credentials and references. Any materials submitted that exceed the 10 page limit shall not be provided for review by the Technical Evaluation Panel.

Price Quote. Price must be contained in a separate document excluded from technical and past performance information.

Line item 0001 – Research on Women’s Participation in Incubators and Accelerators. Please provide your labor categories applicable to this award with your proposed, fully burdened rates including G & A costs for the entire term of the contract in a spreadsheet format similar to the sample schedule of items shown below.

http://www.nwbc.gov/issues-and-research

Evaluation Factors

The Government reserves the right to award the contract to other than the lowest priced offeror whose offer conforms to the solicitation and represents the best value to the government. The government will consider three factors: Technical Approach, Past Performance, and Cost/Price.

Technical Approach and Past Performance, when combined, is more important than cost or price.

Only offerors who receive a marginal rating or higher on their Technical Approach will be evaluated on Past Performance and Cost/Price.

FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL APPROACH

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

Evaluation shall 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 Statement of Work. 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. Evaluation will assess performance risk in the proposed technical approach and the likelihood that the proposed timeline will be achieved.

The following rating method shall be used in the evaluation of the technical approach Factor 1a (Quality of Technical Approach):

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 Statement of Work within the standards and workload specified.

Good - Based on the offeror's technical approach, little doubt exists that the shows an acceptable understanding and methodology for completing the Statement of 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 Statement of Work within the standards and workload specified.

Poor - Based on the offeror's technical approach, serious doubt exists that the demonstrates significant deficiencies in understanding and implementing performance of the Statement of Work within the standards and workload specified.

b. Researcher qualifications and knowledge of current media in this field.

The evaluation will be based on the information obtained in the proposal and, when necessary, from other references provided by the offeror. It will also look at other relevant past performance information. The evaluation will consider: (1) the qualifications of the researcher(s) relevant to the analysis being performed in the proposal and (2) knowledge and previous experience in researching the topic as stated in the Statement of Work.

Factor 1b (Researcher Qualifications):

Excellent - Based on the offeror's researcher qualifications and knowledge of the field, no doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Good - Based on the offeror's researcher qualifications and knowledge of the field, little doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Marginal - Based on the researcher qualifications and knowledge of the field, some doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Poor - Based on the researcher qualifications and knowledge of the field, serious doubts exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

c. Probability that this research will make a fundamental contribution to the literature, produce an innovative concept or idea, offer policy relevant results, or develop new ground that has previously not been fully mined or understood.

The evaluation will assess the quality of the proposal based on its overall potential contribution to the literature in terms of innovativeness, policy relevance, or furthering of the debate on these issues.

Factor 1c (Likelihood of Proposal’s Contribution):

Excellent - Based on the offeror's proposal, no doubt exists that the offeror’s proposal will make a fundamental contribution to the literature, produce an innovative concept or idea, or develop new ground that has previously not been fully mined or understood.

Good - Based on the offeror's proposal, little doubt exists that the offeror’s

Marginal - Based on the offeror's proposal, some doubt exists that the offeror’s proposal will make a fundamental contribution to the literature, produce an innovative concept or idea, or develop new ground that has previously not been fully mined or understood.

Poor - Based on the offeror's proposal, serious doubt exist that the offeror’s

FACTOR 2: PAST PERFORMANCE

The evaluation will be based on the information obtained in the quote and, when necessary, from other references provided by the offeror. It will also look at other relevant past performance information that may not have been provided by the offeror.

The Government will assess the relative risks associated with each offeror. Performance risks are those associated with an offeror's likelihood of success in performing the acquisition requirements as indicated by that offeror's record of past performance. The assessment of

SBAHQ-16-Q-0006

performance risk is not intended to be the product of a mechanical or mathematical analysis of an offeror's performance on a list of contracts but rather the product of subjective judgment by the Government after it considers all available and relevant information.

When assessing performance risks, the Government will focus on the past performance of the offeror as it relates to all acquisition requirements, such as the offeror's record of performing according to specifications, including standards of good workmanship; the offeror's adherence to contract schedules, including the administrative aspects of performance; the offeror's reputation for reasonable and cooperative behavior and commitment to customer satisfaction; and generally, the offeror's business-like concern for the interest of the customer.

The Government will consider the currency (within past three years) and relevance (projects of similar size and nature) of the information, source of the information, context of the data, and general trends in the offeror's performance.

The following rating method shall be used in the evaluation of past performance information:

Excellent - Based on the offeror's past performance record and/or qualifications and knowledge of the field, no doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Good - Based on the offeror's past performance record and/or qualifications and knowledge of the field, little doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Marginal - Based on the offeror's past performance record and/or qualifications and knowledge of the field, some doubt exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Poor - Based on the offeror's past performance record and/or qualifications and knowledge of the field, serious doubts exists that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort of the Statement of Work.

Neutral – In the case of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance, and will receive a neutral rating regarding past performance.

FACTOR 3: COST / PRICE

Line Item 0001: Research on Women’s Participation in Incubators and Accelerators

The government will evaluate the proposed rates for the labor categories in the Pricing Schedule of the solicitation for best value and completeness. The Government will also evaluate cost and price realism with regard to the ability of the offeror to meet requirements in terms of skills required, complexity of disciplines and job difficulty, if the Government deems such analysis necessary.

Award Determination:

The SBA reserves the right to award this agreement based on initial quotes received, without discussions or negotiations; therefore, it is critically important that each quote be fully responsive to the solicitation without exception to any provision. The SBA anticipates awarding to the offeror whose response is the “best value” to the SBA, proposed price and other factors considered. The Contracting Officer may consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror when in the best interest of the Government. The SBA reserves the right to make no award pursuant to this solicitation. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of quotes that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of responses in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated quotes. The importance of price will increase as the technical merit of the responses becomes more equal. Among quotes that are substantially equal in technical merit, price may become the determinative factor for award; thus, the responses offering the SBA the best value, technical and price factors considered, shall be considered for award. The award may be made to other than the offeror with the lowest price or the highest technical rating. A written notice of award or acceptance of a quote, as specified in the solicitation, may result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the solicitation’s specified expiration time, the government may accept a quote unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

SCHEDULE OF ITEMS

Labor Category

Estimated Qty of hours

Unit Price

Total Price

Base Period

001 __________________ ______ ______ ______ 002 __________________ ______ ______ ______ 003 __________________ ------------ ----------- ----------- 004 __________________ ______ ______ ______ 005 __________________ ______

Total Base Period Costs

Option Period 1

001 __________________ ______ ______ ______

002 __________________ ______ ______ ______ 003 __________________ ------------ ----------- ----------- 004 __________________ ______ ______ ______ 005 __________________ ______

Total Option Period 1 Costs

Total Costs

*Offeror’s may add additional labor category lines if necessary