6213001EQ0019_Miscellaneous_PWS_Rev1.pdf

Solicitation: SBAHQ-16-Q-0050

RESEARCH ON:

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS RELEVANT TO WOMEN AND BUSINESS

Performance Work Statement

Location of Work: To be completed by the contractor off-site (not at SBA headquarters)

Time to Complete the Work: Not more than twelve months from the date of award

Clearance Required: None

1. Introduction The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is a nonpartisan 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. The NWBC was established via the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 (HR.

5050), a landmark piece of legislation that eliminated individual state laws that required women to have a male relative cosign a business loan. Members of the Council are prominent women business owners and leaders of women’s business organizations. For more information on NWBC, see www.nwbc.gov.

The Council is committed to sustaining the potential that women entrepreneurs present. The policy recommendations made by the Council are grounded in a data-driven understanding of the needs of women in or in pursuit of business ventures. As the government’s only independent voice for women entrepreneurs, our mission is two-fold: to support and conduct groundbreaking research that provides insight into women’s business enterprises from startup to success, and to share the findings to ultimately incite constructive action and policies.

2. Background In order to offer policy recommendations to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Council conducts research on issues of impact and importance to women in business, specifically focusing on the role of women’s entrepreneurship in the economy and the examination of various issues of relevance to women as business owners and leaders.

Research should illuminate new or innovative data or conclusions related to economic or social issues of interest and impact to women business owners, entrepreneurs, or leaders. The research interests of the Council typically fall into one or more of the following categories: (1) Data collection and expansion; (2) Access to capital; (3) Access to markets; and (4) Job creation and growth. Contracted research also reflects the recommendations and interests of the sitting Council, many of which may be found in the most current Council annual report, entitled “10 Million Strong: The Tipping Point for Women’s Entrepreneurship,” available at https://www.nwbc.gov/sites/default/files/NWBC_2015AnnualReportedited.pdf.

http://www.nwbc.gov/ https://www.nwbc.gov/sites/default/files/NWBC_2015AnnualReportedited.pdf

Ideal research projects will offer insights meaningful to the President, Congress, and the U.S.

Small Business Administration, as well as actionable policy recommendations specific to key features of the entrepreneurial ecosystem: finance, policy, markets, human capital, community, culture, innovation, and resources. For current NWBC research, see:

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

3. Scope The Council encourages interested parties to propose projects of relevance to women, policymakers, influencers, and other stakeholders. Possible areas for research are wide-ranging, and include, but are not limited to: women’s participation in the craft, maker, and sharing economies; tax and investment incentives that support women-owned and women-led businesses; effects of benefits policies, such as paid family leave or affordable health care, on the launch or growth of women-owned or led businesses; women-owned small business certification; women as investors of human, social, and financial capital in women-owned and led businesses; and the economic impact of women’s business ownership and leadership.

The Council particularly seeks to fund innovative and groundbreaking research. The Council recognizes that final products may include synthesized databases; conceptual schemes; literature reviews or environmental scans; original empirical research; or others not listed here.

In addition to complete Performance Work Statement (SOW) and other documents incorporated into the contract, the contractor’s complete research proposal will be incorporated by reference into the research contract.

This is a non-personal services contract to provide services as detailed herein and in the contractor’s complete research proposal. The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform this service as defined in this SOW. The Contractor shall perform to the standards identified in this contract.

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 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.

The NWBC will retain the exclusive ownership of all intellectual property, materials, including without limitation, methodological ideas, concepts, diagrams, text, or that are otherwise developed by or for such purposes of the Performance Work Statement. The NWBC can use this methodology/report for internal research or future contracts. The NWBC reserves the right to conduct future projects on this topic with a different contractor.

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

Other information of relevance:

• Special Access Data and Data Rights. Some data sources require special access due to privacy concerns or for other reasons. Offers must document the proposed process for acquiring access to any data proposed for use under this award. All costs associated with the contractor’s acquisition of this data shall be inclusive of the offered fixed price for the service. Rights in Data under FAR 52.227-14-15 shall apply, see also detailed Performance Requirements.

4. Performance Requirements Factors that will favorably impact the ratings of a proposal include: Soundness of recommended avenues for research or initial hypotheses, demonstrated preliminary knowledge of the relevant literature, familiarity with small business research and relevant data sources, novelty of the ideas put forth, and quality and use of data. See the “Background” and “Scope” sections above for further expectations for this research.

For other details on the final products, see the “Deliverables” and “Performance Requirement Summary” sections that follow.

5. Deliverables Specific deliverables and a deliverable schedule shall be finalized following the award of the contract and shall be mutually agreed upon by the Contractor, Contracting Officer, and Contracting Officer Representative at the Kick-off meeting for the contract. The deliverables and deliverable schedule shall be based on the milestones identified in this section, the accepted proposal, and the specific term of the contract upon award, including specific due dates within the contract term. The final deliverable schedule shall be formally amended to the contract through a modification.

Deliverables and Meetings

Due Date Format For Written Submissions

Transition Method

Transmitted to Whom

Post Award Conference Meeting

Within 10 business days after award

N/A – Phone Conference

NA CO and COR

Bi-weekly Progress Report

3rd business day of the month and 13th business day the month following initial award and each month thereafter

Microsoft Word document template provided by

NWBC

Via Email COR

Quarterly Report and Presentation

Once per quarter Microsoft Word or Power-point

Documents shared via email, presentation conducted via webinar or

COR, NWBC

team, and NWBC Council teleconference Draft of Literature Review, Data Analysis, or Environmental Scan, as applicable

Month 3 of the contract term

Microsoft Word documents (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files)

Via Email COR

Summary of Preliminary Results

5 – 6 months from initial award

Microsoft Word document (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files)

Via Email COR

Draft of Research Project

10-11 months from initial award

Microsoft Word document (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files)

Via Email COR

Peer Review (Two)

11 months from initial award

Microsoft Word document (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files)

Via Email COR

Final version of the research product

12 months from initial award

Microsoft Word document (no Adobe Acrobat PDF files)

Via Email COR

Final version of a PowerPoint summary deck

12 months from initial award

Microsoft PowerPoint

Via Email COR

*All deliverables are subject to the minimum acceptable quality level (AQL) of “good” or “excellent.” Items subject or review are: spelling/typographical, organization, and content.

Additional quality level will be determined based off of response and incorporation of feedback, innovation, and deadlines/timeliness. Final products must meet “excellent” criteria of little to no error.

The Contractor is expected to work with the NWBC on line and draft edits of report as deemed necessary by the NWBC.

Deliverables that do not meet the AQL of “good” or “excellent” are subject to rejection and must be revised and resubmitted to the NWBC within two business weeks. This could result in delays of the deliverable timeline which is the responsibility of the contractor to rectify.

6. Performance Requirement Summary Contractors must adhere to the following when submitting drafts and the final report, with the final version completed not more than one year from the date of award:

• Adherence to Contract Terms. All submissions will be presented by the prescribed timelines; presented under the prescribed methodology; in the prescribed format to the contracting officer’s representative (COR). Documents shall be clearly annotated and/or identified as either a draft or a final document.

• Deliverables. The contractor will provide the National Women’s Business Council with an electronic version of the final report within twelve months from the contract start date. The research is expected to progress along the timeline and benchmarks as noted in the Deliverables section.

• Changes in Contract Team. Contractors must seek prior written approval from the contracting officer and COR before any changes are implemented among the key personnel and other staff listed in the proposal. Individuals that the contractor proposes to use as replacements for those listed in the proposal shall satisfy the personnel experience requirements contained in the solicitation and the contractor must provide resumes for each proposed replacement as part of its request for prior written approval.

• Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements. When surveys or new information collections are necessary, contractors must meet the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act where applicable. In order to do so, the contractor will need to anticipate within the performance term the required public notice and OMB review for information collections under the PRA. The creation of a new information collection will require the contractor to develop survey procedures; identify appropriate respondents; provide clarification of the collection process; provide realistic estimates of the response rates; and work to develop an appropriate survey instrument (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_infocoll). It is the contractor’s responsibility to prepare any materials necessary to obtain PRA clearances associated with the work to be performed.

• Data Quality and Transparency Requirements. All research and data projects are subject to the Office of Management and Budget Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/fedreg/reproducible2.pdf).

Per these guidelines, data source disclosure and robustness checks will be required for any research or data project, including all data coding necessary to replicate findings and datasets derived through coding and query and used in support of analysis, unless otherwise limited by special access agreements. Peer review may range from internal National Women’s Business Council staff review to that of external reviewers in relevant fields such as academics or technical experts. Feedback from this process will be incorporated into subsequent drafts before the report can be finalized for release.

• Data Rights. Rights in Data under FAR 52.227-14-15 shall apply.

• Editing and Proofreading Requirements. The documented submissions related to the post award service, including the final report and all intervening deliverables, must be thoroughly edited and of high professional quality before submission to the COR. These high professional quality drafts and reports should include professional language, presentation, and citations commensurate with published research in academic journals in the relevant subject matter field and should be free of typographical and grammatical errors.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg_infocoll http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/fedreg/reproducible2.pdf

• Style Requirements. The final report must contain an executive summary and table of contents. It must conform to the current version of one of the major style guides, such as the University of Chicago Manual of Style or the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual, in terms of grammar, style, and organization. In particular, each table and figure must have a source specified on the page; references, footnotes and bibliographies shall be formatted consistent with a major style guide; and all pages shall have page numbers, including tables and figures.

• ADA Section 508 Requirements. All government agency electronic and information technology (EIT) is required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Section 508 of the ADA’s 1998 amendments requires the electronic documents posted by Federal agencies to be accessible to employees and members of the public with disabilities to the extent that it does not pose an “undue burden.” To comply with this mandate, the final report must be formatted in accordance with Section 508 requirements.

The National Women’s Business Council will provide guidance to achieve 508 compatibility at the time of award; however, it is ultimately the contractor’s responsibility to provide all deliverables in accordance with the legal requirements for section 508 compliance. Per the guidelines, written descriptions of all figures and charts in the final report must be provided in a separate document. More information may be found at http://www.section508.gov/.

• Formatting Requirements. Final reports must be double-spaced. The format of the electronic version must be a native word processing software format. An Acrobat (PDF) file is not acceptable. All tables, graphics, and charts must be supplied in an editable software format. The font size used in the document will be no smaller than 12 point for manuscript text; 10 point for tables, graphics and charts; and 9 point for footnotes.

• Disclaimer. The National Women’s Business Council will prepare a cover page carrying the following disclaimer, "The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations found in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Women’s Business Council, the United States Small Business Administration, or the United States Government.”

• Product Release. If the contracted product is a complete publishable report, following approval and acceptance of the final report, the National Women’s Business Council will assign a date for public release of the report. Upon release, an electronic final report, along with a National Women’s Business Council-prepared research summary, will be posted on the NWBC's web site, http://www.nwbc.gov.

• Definition of Small Business. The definition of small businesses should be the same as that of the proposal and should be consistent with definition of small business established by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Size Standards.

• Future Publication and Attribution. The National Women’s Business Council encourages contractors to publish their findings in professional journals, if possible, but they can do so only after completing the contract. Prior to publication the Contractor must approach the http://www.section508.gov/ http://www.nwbc.gov/

Contracting Officer Representative regarding attribution to the National Women’s Business Council.

7. Invoicing

INVOICING INSTRUCTIONS:

When submitting invoice(s), the following information is required on every invoice:

-Business Name and Address -Business DUNS -Invoice Date -Invoice Number -Contract/Purchase Order Number

- Requisition Number -Amount Billed for Specified Work Accomplished

- Total Contract Value

- Cumulative Billed

- Narrative of Performance Sufficient to Justify the Invoice

FAILURE TO CITE THIS INFORMATION WILL RESULT IN NON-PAYMENT OF

INVOICE.

Partial Payments are permitted and invoices shall not be submitted more than monthly. Payments on invoices shall be based on deliverables provided in accordance with the attached Performance Work Statement (SOW).

The final invoice for this contract/order (base and any options), shall be distinctly marked on its face as “FINAL INVOICE” and signed by the contractor. This final signed invoice will serve as a Release of Claims. An extra signature field for the signature of the Contractor Officer will also be required.