SFOP0007975 Q&A - May 21.pdf

Department of State

Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP)

SFOP0007975

May 21, 2021

Development of Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity Fundamentals Course Curriculum:

Question and Answers #1

Q: [Organization] is a private profit-based organization based out of India, with offices in US and other countries. Could you kindly let us know whether [organization] would be eligible for bidding for this

RFP in accordance with the ‘Clause C.1 Eligible Applicants’ of the RFP?

A: As stated in Section C.1. of the NOFO, for-profit and commercial firms are not eligible to apply in response to this NOFO.

Q: Page 3 bottom paragraph and page 4 bottom paragraph of the solicitation pdf describes regional partners. We would like to know the scope of the work with regional partners. For instance, do we contact the regional collaborators separately before or during the project? Or do we contact them after they respond to public announcements about the curriculum/courses?

A: Once the project officially begins, the applicant organization or university will be asked to engage with regional partners, which includes government officials, private sector personnel, academia, when developing the curriculum for the course. The applicant will be expected to engage regional partner countries to identify specific cyber workforce development skills/needs that they are currently lacking in their workforce. Engagement with regional partners will be done in coordination with U.S. embassies abroad and with the program officer listed in the NOFO announcement. The applicant should not reach out to regional partners before the project officially begins and without prior consultation with the program officer list in the NOFO.

Q: We are thinking about two countries in the Indo-Pacific region, e.g., India and Vietnam, as our partners. Would you be able to advise the number of partner countries? Do we need to have more partner countries?

A: The Department of State does not have a specific number of partner countries that we would like to partner with on this project, but would like this curriculum/training to be implemented in as many countries as possible within the period of performance and as described in section D.5 Funding

Restriction. The Department of State would defer to the applicant on which partner countries are most suitable given your expertise. However, the Department of State would like this curriculum to be implemented widely to other countries within the Indo-Pacific region. Additionally, as described in the last paragraph of Section 1.A. (Page 4), applicants should include in their proposal at least one country from the ASEAN region and one Pacific Island country.

Q: The Call for Proposal describes that the grant recipient will develop a curriculum. However, it also described an 8 - 16-week course and a 1 - 2-week course. We interpreted that a curriculum development includes a stack of courses in the curriculum. Will the grant recipient need to develop a curriculum with courses in the curriculum? Or is it only two courses (8 - 16-week course, plus 1 - 2-week course) development?

A: The applicant will develop a curriculum for one information technology and cybersecurity fundamental course (101 level) that should be approximately 8-16 weeks long. The course should include lectures on different fundamental IT/cybersecurity-related concepts that every “student” should know to effectively work in an increasingly digital, cyber-oriented world. The Department of State will defer to the applicant organization on the content of these lectures, but would emphasize that students should have a general understanding of cyber hygiene practices and cybersecurity concepts. The 1-2 week course would be an abbreviated version of the 8-16 week course, which would be given as a regional or bilateral ad hoc training, primarily targeted for early career professionals who are unable to commit to taking a 8-16 week course. The content of the 1-2 week course should be the same as the content of the 8-16 week course.