Simplified Sole Source.pdf

SOLE SOURCE - SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITIONS

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

RECOMMENDATION AND DETERMINATION TO SOLICIT FROM ONE SOURCE

I recommend that NSF negotiate with KnowInnovation only for the Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing events.

I have reviewed other products/services to identify other vendors which might meet NSF’s requirements through one of the following methods:

� GSA Schedule � Open Market Price Lists X Previous requirements X Other __Market Research____________________

FAR 19.502-2 requires award to Small Business for supplies or services with an anticipated dollar value exceeding $3,000. If applicable specify why award is being recommended to other than a Small Business.

� No other Small Company can supply the equipment or service � The Company does not have a small business distributor that can supply the equipment or service � GSA schedule does not provide the equipment or service from small business � Other ______________________________________

The total estimated cost, including shipping and handling (if applicable), of phase one is $249,750, and the period of performance is 7 months to ensure adequate preparation time of this the first phase of this multi-phase process and completion of tasks.

This recommendation is made pursuant to FAR 13.106, for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source. Competition is impractical for the following reasons:

Justification

Recognizing that the world is on the cusp of an industrial revolution fueled by biotechnology and biomanufacturing, in September 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy. The EO laid out a vision for a whole-of-government approach to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing by creating a research agenda outlining foundational and use-inspired R&D needs for innovations in areas such as climate change, food and agriculture, supply chain resilience, and human health, as well as the cross-cutting advances to enable all these areas. Practically speaking, the vision laid out in the EO outstrips currently available resources and the capabilities of any single organization.

Rather, achieving any of what has been envisioned in the EO will require significant prioritization and staging of R&D investments across the US Government, as well as actions from the private sector; state, local, and tribal governments; and international partners. Through a series of events, NSF will bring together a diverse group of funders to co-create a Call to Action for the community. In October 2023, NSF

The selected business is a small businessX will hold a series of town hall meetings to engage the community and allow them to respond to the Call to Action by proposing Priority Research Areas. Following the townhalls, a virtual meeting will be held for funders to review the results of the town halls and decide on priority areas. Phase two of this event will be a series of jumpstarts that focus on the priority areas and will produce detailed reports that the funders can use for planning future collaborative initiatives.

The design of these events will borrow from the highly successful structure of the facilitated activities previously used to develop new solutions to challenging research problems such as Reintegrating Biology (funded by NSF Award # 1940791; https://reintegratingbiology.org)

1. Knowinnovation provides a unique combination of trusted expert personnel and proven mechanisms to facilitate productive engagement and cross-disciplinary scientific brainstorming and collaboration. No other comparable contractor has been identified through market research that is able to provide the type of facilitation of the required activities outlined above.

Specifically, Knowinnovation specializes in facilitating workshops for two segments of the research community: leadership and program officers in funding agencies and research development professionals in academic institutions. Other organizations--spawned by Knowinnovation--provide similar services, but for different communities, e.g., Inclusive Innovations serves science communities in developing countries and Innovation Bound provides services for the corporate world. Thus, for the purposes required by NSF, Knowinnovation is uniquely suited.

2. Several compatibility reasons (quality) have also been identified. The need to catalyze novel ideas and new productive relationships between researchers who previously have not worked together is a great challenge and requires careful social engagement management.

KnowInnovation has developed tested methods, software, and has exclusive rights to web-based tools such as KIStorm that enables NSF to maximize effective communication and collaboration both during and after the workshops.

3. Through market research, KI has also shown to provide the services needed at the best price available to the government.

4. These town halls will help identify priority areas that will serve as main topic areas for phase two of this event. The activities conducted by this vendor will be essential to produce concrete scientific outcomes, including white papers or position papers, and they will be critical to collaboratively addressing the EO. These kinds of tangible outcomes are a unique capability of Knowinnovation, demonstrated by past performance. For example, several white papers were produced during the Reintegrating Biology process conducted by Knowinnovation. This work will also bring federal, industry, and non-profit funding organizations together to align, and engage their respective communities to create a promising way forward.

Alexis Patullo Simon Malcomber Management and Program Analyst Deputy Assistant Director Directorate for Biological Sciences Directorate for Biological Sciences

ALEXIS M

PATULLO

Digitally signed by

ALEXIS M PATULLO

Date: 2023.07.19 15:29:15 -04'00'

SIMON T

MALCOMBER

Digitally signed by SIMON

T MALCOMBER

Date: 2023.07.19 16:09:02 -04'00'

Pursuant to FAR 5.201, this proposed contract action will be synopsized in the Governmentwide point of entry (GPE). The results received in writing will be added to this document by addendum.

I hereby accept the above stated recommendation and determine that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

Contracting Officer Date