Simplified Sole Source ENG CAREER 011221docx.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 FY21 ENG CAREER Workshop Contract________________.

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

� GSA Schedule � Open Market Price Lists � Previous requirements X Other _RFI,_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 ______Not applicable—Knowinnovation is a small business ______

The total estimated cost, including shipping and handling (if applicable), of this effort is $98,900 and the period of performance or lead-time for delivery or start date is eleven weeks before the start of the workshop on April 1, 2021. This lead time is critical for adequate planning and implementation of the workshop.

The ENG CAREER Workshop is scheduled to occur on April 1-2, 2021. We need the vendor to come up to speed very quickly after award since they will put together the mechanism to collect the workshop participant applications

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:

Background:

The purpose of the contract with the Workshop Vendor is to provide virtual meeting planning, logistical, and administrative support, an interactive virtual meeting platform, facilitation support, and real-time meeting participant networking and conversation facilitation for: (1) the FY 2021 Virtual ENG CAREER Proposal Workshop, which is scheduled to take place via a virtual platform in the Spring 2021 (tentatively scheduled for April 1 and 2, 2021); and (2) associated pre-and post-conference virtual workshops.

Similar future meetings may be requested for future years of the contract. Future workshop capabilities will include in person and virtual workshops as determined in consultation with NSF.

The objective of the NSF ENG Directorate CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop is to introduce junior faculty, who may submit proposals to the Directorate for Engineering, to the CAREER Program and to the proposal writing and merit review processes. The annual workshop will target junior faculty participants interested in applying to the CAREER program in the participating core programs of ENG from the CBET, CMMI, ECCS, and EEC Divisions. It is estimated that a minimum of 300 participants will be invited. The NSF Engineering Directorate especially seeks to provide support for non-R1 institutions and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and encourages the participation of women and underrepresented minority faculty and faculty with disabilities.

The objective of the contractor’s role for the FY 2021 workshop activity is to provide an online platform to facilitate networking and interactive exchanges between workshop participants, workshop speakers, and NSF program directors. The intent is for the contractor’s resources and past experience to be used to facilitate such collaborative and interactive exchanges of ideas and information. The contractor should have the specific expertise and resources to plan and execute a virtual meeting environment that allows for an immersive experience for all participants to engage in mock proposal review panels and interactive discussions on proposal writing, formulating research ideas, and early career issues. Since the FY 2021 workshop will be held virtually, it is critical that the contractor have the experience in conducting immersive, engaging and interactive training themed workshops with participant pools comprised of academic STEM faculty, national laboratory or government basic science researchers, and federal research program managers.

Justification:

A request for information (RFI) was conducted with a draft statement of work to identify firms that have the minimum capability to carry out the workshop. Six firms responded.

Drs. Carole Read and Timothy Patten evaluated the response documents and determined that three firms met the minimum requirements to be able to conduct the workshop. The analyses and emails and the company response materials are included in Appendix B.

The three firms that met the minimum requirements were, in alphabetical order: FMP Consulting, Knowinnovation Inc., and Lux Consulting Group, Inc. A subsequent market research exercise was done with the two firms that, based upon the responses received in the RFI, displayed the greatest potential to fulfil the technical requirements for conducting a successful workshop: FMP Consulting and Knowinnovation. The materials received from the market research exercise are included in Appendix A. Both firms were asked to provide capability statements on the unique aspects that the firm could provide to plan and execute a workshop (as described in the SOW). Based upon an analysis of the RFI and Market Research responses, we find that Knowinnovation can provide distinct capabilities that the other vendors cannot provide. The following are the key findings justifying sole source for this financial action:

• Knowinnovation designed, built, and maintains the KIStorm virtual collaboration platform. KIStorm was designed specifically to facilitate brainstorming activities in real time, which are typically done in person and are much more difficult to enable in a virtual setting. Consequently, the platform has added function above and beyond what is typically found in off-the-shelf products. We find that KIStorm offers the highest level of flexibility to build virtual meeting environments that meet the workshop’s objectives rather than fitting the workshop’s activities to the capabilities of an off-the-shelf platform. KIStorm can be reconfigured in real time to respond to the natural ebb and flow of a meeting and can accommodate a range of networking activities, such as back channeling and impromptu coffee break groups. FMP Consulting uses Virtual Expo, a commercial product, to set up the logistics of a meeting, and then it uses WebEx Training to conduct the event. A significant limitation of WebEx Training, relative to KIStorm, involves only being able to deploy break-out rooms to facilitate informal interactions. As mentioned above, KIStorm has a broader range of features to facilitate informal participant-to-participant interactions and networking.

• Knowinnovation has conducted over 140 events using KIStorm and close to 10,000 participants have collaborated using this platform. We find that Knowinnovation’s superior expertise in facilitating creativity and ideation experiences would be instrumental in creating a highly interactive ENG CAREER workshop environment. Because the ENG workshop is a virtual event, facilitating and encouraging participant-to-participant interactions, networking, and learning are absolutely critical to helping the participants learn and retain the elements of writing a successful proposal.

• We find that Knowinnovation’s prior experience with facilitating the FY20 ENG CAREER workshop, the NSF Spectrum Innovation Workshop (2020), and the DSI Africa NIH events demonstrate top level proficiency in delivering an immersive and collaborative virtual environment to participants. Such a resume of past experiences will greatly accelerate planning and execution of the FY21 ENG CAREER workshop.

Pursuant to FAR 5.201, this proposed contract action will be synopsized in FedBizOps.

The results received in writing will be added to this document by addendum.

Timothy Patten Date Deputy Division Director Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

Pursuant to FAR 5.201, the proposed contract action was synopsized. No other firms requested consideration under this procurement.

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