Sole_Source_Justification__1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF INDIAN EDUCATION

Division of Acquisition 1011 Indian School Rd NW

Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901

CONTROL #__________________

PR/SOL/CONTRACT # 140A2321P0744

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Sole Source Justification.”

This sole source justification is to provide 21 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools in the BIE Operated Schools Region with a comprehensive curriculum review in English

Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and local/Native American Curriculums or Social

Science.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This action is a new requirement. The vendor considered is WestEd. This purchase would allow

Bureau Operated Schools to make the most informed decisions regarding future curriculum and associated professional learning, WestEd’s curriculum review services are designed to help BIE leadership conduct a review of existing curricula in ELA, Mathematics, and local Native American

Curriculums or Social Science to determine how well each:

1) is aligned to standards,

2) provides teachers with a robust set of resources that are consistently used across classrooms to inform instruction and assessment,

3) engages students in compelling and rigorous learning experiences, and

4) results in high levels of learning and achievement for all students.

3. A description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

Key elements of this support will include the following:

• A virtual or live kickoff meeting will take place to familiarize BIE staff with the survey, guiding questions, data, rubrics, and other measures that will be used for collecting data and reviewing curricula and resources.

• A survey will be administered to all schools to gather data around “Intended, Lived, and

Learned/Measured” curricula and to determine what additional evidence will be gathered.

• Curricular materials, e.g., scope and sequence, curriculum maps, course descriptions, assessment calendars, and units of instruction will be gathered from each school.

• Lessons and Student Work will be submitted by each school to gather evidence around the curriculum.

• Focus groups will be conducted via Zoom or virtual platform with each school’s leadership team and principal

• A review of evidence, aligned to “Intended, Lived, and Learned” curriculum, will be conducted for each school.

• A Report of Findings across all schools and for each school will be provided.

• A virtual summary meeting will take place with BIE staff to review findings and plan next steps.

Assumptions of Responsibilities:

• Contractor will provide BIE a list of evidence to be collected from each school (curricular materials, e.g., scope and sequence, curriculum maps, course descriptions, units of instruction).

• Contractor will provide BIE with sample emails to send to schools regarding the purpose of the project, the importance of the survey, and the data that will be collected.

• BIE will request each school to collect materials and submit to Contractor for review, and will send reminder emails as necessary.

• Focus groups for each school will be 60-90 minutes in length.

Estimated Pricing:

$305,000. The dates of service for this contract shall be September 2021 to August 2022. End date will be extended accordingly if the start date is delayed.

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting sole source acquisition.

FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C.1901

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

WestEd has a large amount of familiarity working and assessing curricula with the Bureau of

Indian Education and also with Bureau Operated Schools. Their expertise in working with Native language and standards will allow them to continue working with BIE schools with a greater understanding of school’s curricula. WestEd has worked with different Native American cultures in many different Native communities. They worked with Tribal Colleges with Carnegie Math

Pathways and understand the traditions deeply rooted in Native teachings such as wisdom, love, respect, honesty, humility and truth that are principals for living a good life and having greater success within the tribe. BIE requires consistency in the evaluations across Indian education.

Since WestEd recently completed curriculum evaluations for 32 BIE schools under PO

140A2321P0406, the only way to achieve this consistency is to utilize WestEd to fulfill the requirement. Notice of Intent DOIAFBO210112 was posted to SAM.gov and no inquiries were received.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

Notice of intent to sole source DOIAFBO210112 was posted to SAM.gov and no inquiries were received. A recent solicitation 140A2321Q0216 was posted to SAM.gov. WestEd submitted the only acceptable proposal in response to the solicitation and is the sole source able to fulfill this requirement.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the

Government will be fair and reasonable.

The proposed price is fair and reasonable based on previous purchase under 140A2321P0406 for similar services.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Additional market research was not conducted because WestEd is the sole source to fulfill the requirement. See 6 and 7 above.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

N/A

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

12. Contracting officer certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief.

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Darren Nutter, Lead Contracting Officer Date

13. Requirements personnel certification.

I certify that the technical data which forms a basis for this justification is complete and accurate and meets the Government’s minimum needs.

Title (Program Office) Date

Title (COR) Date