Solicitation OAM23021S.pdf

Solicitation, Offer and Award Form (10-28-2014 Revision)

SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD 1. Type of Solicitation: Informational (RFI) Negotiated (RFP) Page 1

2. Solicitation Number 3. Solicitation Title 4. Date Issued

5a. Issued By For Information, Contact:

5b. Name 5c. Phone

5d. Email

SOLICITATION

6. Offers must be received ON OR BEFORE EASTERN TIME at:

the office address in Block 5a with ___ copies another location (see Section L)

7. Delivery Arrangement FOB Destination

FOB Origin

8. Table of Contents

Sec. Description Page(s) Sec. Description Page(s) Part I – The Schedule Part II – Contract Clauses

A Solicitation, Offer and Award Form I Contract Clauses B Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs Part III – List of Documents, Exhibits and Other Attachments C Description/Specifications/Work Statement J List of Attachments D Packaging and Marking Part IV – Representations and Instructions (Removed at Award) E Inspection and Acceptance K Representations, Certifications, and

Other Statements of Offerors F Deliveries and Performance G Contract Administration Data L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors H Special Contract Requirements M Evaluation Factors for Award

OFFER (must be fully completed by offeror)

9. The undersigned agrees to perform in compliance with the terms and conditions in the following pages if this offer is accepted within 120 calendar days from the date for receipt of offers specified in Block 6.

10. Acknowledgement of Amendments (the offeror acknowledges receipt of amendments to the Solicitation for offerors and related documents numbered and dated):

Amendment No. Date Amendment No. Date Amendment No. Date Amendment No. Date Amendment No. Date

11. Prompt Payment Discount (Calendar Days)

12. Authorized Signature 13. Date Signed

No. of Days %

14. Name and Address of Offeror 15. Signer Information (type or print):

a. Name b. Phone

c. Title

d. Email

AWARD (to be completed by Government)

16. Contract No. (Solicitation No. + Suffix if applicable) 17a. Name of Contracting Officer

The signature of the Contracting Officer in Block 17 constitutes acceptance of the Offeror’s proposal dated ________________________ and consummates the contract, which consists of this Solicitation, Offer and Award Form and the referenced proposal.

17b. U.S. House of Representatives Signature 17c. Date Signed

Request for Quote (RFQ)

Solicitation Document No.: OAM23021S

Document Title: 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study & 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis

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SECTION B – PRICING SCHEDULE

See Section L - File1 item number 2 for instructions.

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STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

C. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES:

C.1 Background

Pursuant to House Resolution 6, the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion (“ODI”) was established during the 116th Congress to support House offices in creating and cultivating a diverse and inclusive congressional workforce within the U.S. House of Representatives that is reflective of the American people. The vision of the office is to serve as an essential resource in the advancement of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by delivering optimal services to the House community. In support of this mission and vision, ODI offerings four (4) key service offerings, to include candidate services, research and data analytics, training, and programming.

• Candidate Services: Providing candidate services to connect candidates to career opportunities on

Capitol Hill, to include mock interviews, resume reviews, and profile reviews to House offices interested in identifying a pipeline of diverse talent.

• Research and Data Analytics: Conducting research and data analytics, to include a series of reoccurring studies designed to examine the state of representation across the House workforce.

• Training: Delivering training to help educate the congressional workforce on topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, to include a series of in-person and virtual sessions.

• Programming: Hosting programming, to include monthly events designed to highlight available employee resources, as well as special observances and heritage months.

C.1.1 House Compensation and Diversity Study

In 2019, ODI launched the House Compensation and Diversity Study, a survey-driven study of the compensation, benefits, and demographic composition of the House workforce. The study is conducted every two years, in odd-numbered years ODI has used a contractor to conduct the study. A survey was administered to 10,356 and 10,995 employees in 2019 and 2021, respectively. In 2019, 5,290 employees responded (51.1% response rate); in 2021, 5,777 employees responded (52.5% rate). The study results show the demographic composition of the House by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, military status, age, education etc. The study also presents data on compensation, benefits, and employees' perceptions by office type, job title, duty location, and tenure. Further, it compares the House workforce with external benchmarks like the civilian labor force and the federal workforce. These data are available to the public through the ODI website.

C.1.2 House DEIA Barrier Analysis

To understand extant barriers to a diverse and inclusive workforce, ODI conducts a biennial House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study in even-numbered years; the first iteration was in 2020. ODI used a contractor to perform a quantitative analysis of data from the House Compensation and Diversity Study and qualitative analysis of data from 20 focus groups comprising House employees. This study explores the landscape of barriers to hiring and recruitment, training and career development, and promotion and retention opportunities for the House workforce. Study findings provide recommendations that encourage an inclusive culture, enhance leadership awareness, and support the House’s current efforts in eliminating workforce barriers for all House staffers. The briefings and the final report are shared with key House stakeholders.

C.1.3 House Witness Diversity Study

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Since 2021, ODI has conducted the House Witness Diversity Study in-house annually. This study tracks and reports anonymous data, collected on a voluntary basis, from non-governmental witnesses who testify before the House Committees (including subcommittees and select committees) in a calendar year. Data are collected on topics such as witness demographics, whether testimony was virtual or in-person, testimony location, and expenses incurred. ODI delivers one semi-annual update of this study to the Committee on House Administration. The final report, which covers a given calendar year, is shared with key House stakeholders;

the executive summary is available to the public on the ODI website.

C.1.4 ODI Annual Report

The ODI Annual Report documents the office’s key functions and accomplishments in support of its mission and vision. It presents a performance summary of the four service offerings and offers insights into key office metrics, such as number of candidates vetted and referred to House offices, events and trainings held to educate House employees, status of ongoing research projects, and number of social media campaigns and public outreach completed to reach a wider audience to engage them with the opportunities at the House. This report is delivered to key House stakeholders at the end of each calendar year.

C.2 OBJECTIVE:

ODI is seeking contractor assistance to develop and produce the 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study and 2024 House Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (“DEIA”) Barrier Analysis Study. The House Compensation and Diversity Study is conducted every two years, in the odd-numbered years, and the next iteration of this study will be conducted in 2023 as an adaptation and enhancement of 2019 and 2021 House Compensation and Diversity Studies. The House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study is conducted every two years, in the even-numbered years, and the next iteration of this study will be conducted in 2024 as an adaptation and enhancement of 2020 and 2023 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Studies.

C.2.1 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study

This Statement of Objectives (“SOO”) describes the contractor support required for this multi-focused quantitative study of the compensation and diversity of the workforce for approximately 10,000 employees across the U.S. House of Representatives (“House”). Objectives shall include:

• Collect and examine data on the demographic diversity of House offices, to include Member offices, committee offices, and support offices, in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, veteran status, age, educational attainment, caregiving responsibilities, and other demographic characteristics. The aggregated data will help the House and ODI to better understand whether and how:

o the demographic composition of employees in the House reveals underrepresentation of historically underrepresented identities by job levels and job types when compared to benchmarks.

• Collect and examine data on compensation, benefits, and workforce development in House offices to evaluate in the aggregate whether and how:

o House employees differ by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion disability status, veteran status, age, educational attachment, caregiving responsibilities, and other historically underrepresented identities based on job responsibilities, experiences, qualifications, compensation, and benefits for similar work; and o the MRA (“Members’ Representational Allowance”) increases, minimum and maximum salary requirements, unionization, paid internship, post-pandemic work adaptations, and other related developments in the House impact its workforce.

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• Collect and examine quantitative data on perceptions and experiences of staffers in House offices on the following:

o recruitment, hiring, retention, professional development, promotion, attrition, separation, benefits, compensation, organizational climate, and other DEIA-related topics; and o whether and how these perceptions differ by demographic groups.

C.2.2 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis – The award of the Barrier Analysis will be optional to be exercised at the discretion of the of the House during FY24.

This SOO describes the contractor support required for this multi-focused mixed methods study of compensation and diversity, along with barriers that hinder progress toward DEIA culture and practices for approximately 10,000 employees across the U.S. House of Representatives (“House”). Objectives shall include:

• Review the extant data (collected in the 2019, 2021, and 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies) on salaries and benefits of House offices to evaluate in the aggregate whether and how:

o House employees differ by race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, veteran status, age, educational attainment, caregiving responsibilities, and other demographic characteristics for similar work;

o the demographic composition of employees at the House reveals underrepresentation of historically underrepresented identities by job levels and job types when compared to benchmarks;

o the MRA increases, minimum and maximum salary requirements, unionization, paid internship, post-pandemic work adaptations, and other related developments in the House impact its workforce; and o the quantitative data on perceptions and experiences of House employees compare with the qualitative data collected in the House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study

• Collect and explore qualitative perceptions and experiences of employees in the House on the following:

o recruitment, hiring, retention, professional development, promotion, attrition, separation, benefits, compensation, organizational climate, and other DEIA-related topics along with the themes derived from the 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study (e.g., overworked staffers, advancement ceilings, exclusionary practices, and DEIA office cultures); and o whether and how these perceptions and experiences differ by demographic groups

• Provide recommendations and specific strategies to the House and ODI based on research findings to plan and implement strategies to improve representation of and remove barriers for the American people to work in the House.

C.3 SCOPE

C.3.1 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study

The House Compensation and Diversity Study is designed to provide insights into the compensation and diversity across the House workforce. The Contractor will conduct background research, collect and analyze relevant survey data, address limitations in previous House Compensation and Diversity Studies to the extent possible, develop and produce the 2023 house Compensation and Diversity Study, analyze the results, distribute it to the House workforce (in report and briefing formats), and update existing interactive and static data visualization Tableau dashboards.

All activities and deliverables will be completed at the direction of the ODI Director and in coordination with the ODI team. The scope of this project entails but is not limited to the following key activities:

• Summary of background research related to the subject matter of this SOO

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• Review of House policies and House offices’ procedures, programs, and practices (e.g., recruiting, hiring, promotion, rewards, etc.) where available

• Review and comparison of 2019 and 2021 House Compensation and Diversity Studies to develop the 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study

• Examination of relevant public and private sector benchmarks

• Review of themes and recommendations in the 2022 DEIA Barrier Analysis Study to inform survey questions where applicable

• Incorporations of lessons learned by House stakeholders to advance the 2023 House Compensation and

Diversity Study to the extent possible

• Development of survey instrument to collect data from approximately 10,000 House employees

• Data collection, analyses, presentation, dashboard visualization, and reporting of the survey data

• Trend analysis of 2019, 2021, and 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies

C.3.2 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study - The award of the Barrier Analysis is optional, to be exercised at the discretion of the of the House during FY24.

The House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study is designed to provide insights into potential barriers to the advancement of DEIA across the House. The Awardee shall review and analyze, utilizing mixed methods research, the existing data from the 2019, 2021, and the 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies and the 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study (with the efforts to address limitations). The Awardee shall examine the state of the science and best practices across the public and private sectors on the topics related to workforce DEIA. The Awardee shall conduct 15 to 20 focus groups to collect and analyze codes and themes on emergent topics. The Awardee shall deliver multiple briefings presenting the outcomes of the research to House stakeholders. The Awardee shall prepare a final report for ODI that includes, but is not limited to, an introduction, overview, summary, background, methodology, results, findings, recommendations, future implications, and a conclusion.

All activities and deliverables will be completed at the direction of the ODI Director and in coordination with the ODI team. The scope of this project entails but is not limited to the following key activities:

• Summary of empirical research and grey literature on advancement and retention of various demographic groups and their representation or lack thereof in public and private sectors workforce

• Summary of DEIA best practices from public and private sector organizations (e.g., breaking the glass ceiling, promoting equity in the workplace, mentoring and leadership development, and promotion and retention of historically underrepresented groups, women, and people with disabilities)

• Review of House policies and House offices’ procedures, programs, and practices (e.g., recruiting, hiring, promotion, rewards, etc.) where available

• Comparison and trend analysis of data from 2019, 2021, and 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies (e.g., House demographics by office type, underrepresentation by job levels, and comparison of the House workforce with external benchmarks)

• Review of themes in the 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study to formulate data-driven focus group questions for the 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study (e.g., overworked staffers, advancement ceilings, exclusionary practices, and DEIA office cultures)

• Review of recommendations from the 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis to provide a status update on the efforts made in the House, and those specifically by ODI (e.g., promotion of DEIA best practices, availability of career development resources, and improvements in the hiring processes)

• Incorporation of lessons learned by the House stakeholders to advance the 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study to the extent possible

• Data collection, analyses, presentation, and reporting of 15 to 20 focus groups

• Compilation of new recommendations for the House and ODI based on the findings of the 2024 House

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DEIA Barrier Analysis Study

C.4 DESCRIPTION OF WORK:

C.4.1 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study

Task 1: Project Management and Ongoing Communications The Awardee will conduct a kick-off meeting and weekly project status calls with ODI team members throughout the period of performance (POP). The Awardee will also conduct weekly virtual project status calls.

Task 1 Deliverables

• Project management plan with regular updates

• Communications plan with draft messages

Task 2: Survey Design and Deployment During this phase, the Awardee will develop and implement a plan for soliciting specific survey responses from the House community. The objective is to gain an understanding of the compensation and diversity landscapes in the House workforce. The Awardee will:

o Incorporate the forthcoming Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) demographic questions available via

MyPayLinks and any other House locations (e.g., internal payment information system for House employees) o Adapt the 2019 and 2021 house Compensation and Benefits Study surveys to create the 2023 House Compensation and Benefits Study survey as needed o Address limitations in the previous studies (e.g., improving response rate, more accurately validating Members’ race or ethnicity) o Incorporate lessons learned by House stakeholders to the extent possible o Program the 2023 House Compensation and Benefits Study survey into an approved survey software, which will be used to securely collect survey data o Administer the 2023 House Compensation and Benefits Study survey to all House staff via email campaign.

Task 2 Deliverables

• 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study survey instrument

• 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study deidentified data (survey responses)

Task 3: Study Analysis and Reporting Awardee will conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analyses similar to the analyses performed in the 2021 House Compensation and Diversity Study. ODI will have final approval of all instruments used to gather information within the House community. This approval will extend to survey design, strategy, and methodology, instruments distributed to the House community, data collection methodologies, implementation plans, and communications related to this SOO.

Awardee will perform analyses on the following, including but not limited to:

• Demographic characteristics (including intersectional identities)

• Analyses for overall House workforce and by job type

• Job levels

• Recruitment

• Hiring

• Professional Development

• Promotions

• Compensation

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• Attrition

• Retention

• Separation

• Post-pandemic work environment

• Impact of MRA increases

• Impact of minimum and maximum salary requirements

• Paid, underpaid, unpaid internships

• Unionization

• Benchmarking (e.g., workforce profile comparisons using labor force statistics and other comparators by job type (i.e., SOC codes) and job level where available)

• Trend analysis of data from the 2019, 2021, and 2023 iterations of the House Compensation and Diversity

Study

Awardee will develop a detailed summary with an introduction, background, methodology, results, findings, limitations, recommendations, future implications, and a conclusion. Reporting will include an infographic-based executive summary, full report, updates to the existing Tableau dashboards (see Task 4 in C.4.4), and briefing presentation (see Task 5 in C.4.5), as necessary. Once the executive summary has been reviewed and approved by ODI, a final full report and executive summary will be prepared. The Awardee will provide a executive briefings to the Director of ODI and additional House stakeholders as designated.

The Awardee is responsible for providing ODI with electronic and printed copies of all related deidentified data and deliverables where applicable. The Awardee is also responsible for providing ODI with the following:

(1) the materials used to create dashboards (e.g., codes and graphics); (2) the process it used to operationalize variables (e.g., job types, job levels, underrepresentation); (3) insight into the statistical software used to conduct data analysis; (4) data coding steps, including the codebook, and statistical analysis/testing; and (5) a spreadsheet with additional data breakouts. In addition, the executive summary and full final report will be provided in a format approved by the Contracting Officer and conducive to further production, if necessary, by the CAO and to posting on the House’s intranet.

Task 3 Deliverables:

• Draft executive summaries for review

• Final executive summaries dissemination

• Draft full report for review

• Final full report for dissemination

• Infographics and interactive dashboards

• Draft briefing slide deck for review

• Final briefing slide deck for dissemination

• Deidentified data, codebooks, back-end materials

• Additional data breakouts as requested by ODI

Task 4: Dashboard Development Awardee will update the existing seven (7) interactive Tableau dashboards and two (2) static, read-only Tableau dashboards to display the compensation, benefits, and diversity data of House staff. Filters will be used to allow users to break down data by various House characteristics, such as office type and job type.

Awardee will ensure all dashboards remain mobile responsive (i.e., function well on mobile devices, such as phones or tablets). Awardee will deliver a standalone deliverable that does not require web design unless the webpage optional task is funded. Awardee will develop the code base, scripts, and dashboards in their own environment prior to House review and then will transition the iterative prototypes and final deliverables including visualizations, user guides, and manuals to House environment for feedback.

Awardee will follow a ‘design-to-budget’ approach while executing this project. This approach includes

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Deliverable will include updates to seven (7) existing interactive visualizations and two (2) static, read-only dashboards. All dashboards will be hosted on an open-source platform, such as Tableau Public.

Task 4 Deliverables:

• Updated interactive and static dashboards

• Code base, scripts, visualizations, user guides, and manuals

Task 5: Briefing Development and Delivery Awardee will conduct up to five (5) briefings summarizing the 2023 House Compensation and Diversity study results. The final briefings will be held at the U.S. House headquarters in Washington, DC. A minimum of two

(2) Contractor team members, but no more than three (3), will attend the final briefing in person; the remainder of the Contractor team will join via conference call. A maximum of five (5) separate briefings will be delivered;

all briefings will be identical in content. All final briefings will occur in a single business week and last one (1) hour each.

Task 5 Deliverable:

• Briefing slide deck

C.4.2 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study

Task 1: Analysis of Existing Data Sources The Awardee will be expected to review relevant literature and conduct an analysis of the House, Congressional, governmental, and civilian labor workforce, along with the Census data. The Awardee shall conduct additional analyses of data derived from the 2019, 2021, and 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies. The Awardee will be expected to review and integrate relevant data, recommendations, and lessons learned from the 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study while addressing its limitations, to the extent possible. This task includes:

• Analyses of House, congressional, governmental, and civilian labor workforce along with the Census data

• Analyses of any additional data sources received from House offices as available

• Analysis of relevant governmental data as available

• Analyses of the 2019, 2021, and 2023 House Compensation and Diversity Studies

• Analyses of House overall and by Member characteristics (e.g., race, gender, tenure), office type (e.g., Member, Committee, Support), job levels (e.g., senior, mid, and junior), and job types (e.g., administrative, legislative, communication)

• Analyses of the intersectional demographic characteristics (e.g., women of color and Blacks or African Americans with disabilities)

• Analyses of salaries and benefits, promotions, turnover, retention, DEIA practices, mentorship, professional development, and career growth, post-pandemic work environment, impact of MRA increases, minimum and maximum salary requirements, paid, underpaid, unpaid internships, unionization and bargaining powers and other related topics

• Review of 2022 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study data, recommendations, and lessons learned, with the goal of formulating data-driven focus group questions and addressing the study limitations, insofar as possible.

• Update and maintain adaptive and static data-visualization dashboards with demographic filters (e.g., to examine compensation by demographic characteristics).

Task 1 Deliverables

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• Project management plan with regular updates

• Communications plan with draft messages

• Adaptive and static dashboards

Task 2: Development and Execution of Focus Groups During this phase, the Awardee will develop and implement a plan for soliciting specific feedback and participation from the House workforce community. The goal of this task is to further identify and qualitatively understand barriers to DEIA across the House, by executing a series of 15-20 focus groups representing various cross-sections of House staffers (e.g., early-career staffers and LGBTQIA+ staffers). Focus group questions (inspired from literature, adapted from the 2022 Barrier Analysis, and formulated in consultation with House stakeholders) will address barriers to advancement and improvements to aid in retention of diverse staffers.

Task 2 Deliverables

• Methodology and framework report for series of 15 to 20 focus groups across staff demographics and levels

• Execution of focus groups based on approved methodology and framework

• Deidentified data and themes

• Report outlining findings from focus groups, with specific emphasis on identified barriers and recommendations for remediation

Task 3: Study Analysis and Reporting The Awardee will develop a detailed report that includes an introduction/overview/summary, background, methodology, results, findings, recommendations, future implications, and a conclusion to address barriers and improve DEIA within the U.S. House of Representatives. The reporting deliverables will include an infographic-based executive summary, interactive data visualization dashboards, briefings, and a final report as necessary.

ODI will have final approval on all instruments used to gather information within the House community. That approval will be extended to focus group strategy or methodology, all instruments distributed to the House community, all data collection methodologies, implementation plans, and all communications related to this

SOO.

Once the executive summary has been reviewed and approved by ODI, a final full report and executive summary will be prepared. The Awardee will provide executive briefings to the ODI Director and additional stakeholders, as designated.

The Awardee is responsible for providing ODI with electronic and printed (where applicable) copies of all related deidentified data and deliverables where applicable. In addition, the executive summary and full final report will be provided in a format approved by the Contracting Officer and conducive to further production, if necessary, by the CAO and to posting on the House’s intranet.

Task 3 Deliverables

• Draft executive summary for review

• Final executive summary for dissemination

• Draft report (by section and in entirety) for review

• Final full report for dissemination

• Draft briefing slide deck for review

• Final briefing slide deck for dissemination

• Infographics and interactive dashboards

• Deidentified data, codebooks, back-end materials

• Additional data breakouts as requested by ODI

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D. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

2023 House Compensation and Diversity Study

The estimated period of performance is approximately six (6) months from date of award with an option for a no-cost extension. However, this is an estimate only, and the actual period of performance will be based on the Offeror’s proposed delivery schedule for completing each of the above tasks. All final deliverables are due no later than November 1, 2023.

2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study

The estimated period of performance is approximately six (6) months from date of award. However, this is an estimate only, and the actual period of performance will be based on the Offeror’s proposed delivery schedule for completing each of the above tasks. All final deliverables are due no later than September 20, 2024.

E. AWARD TYPE:

• This award is firm fixed price award.

• If the proposed price for the service(s) to be acquired are to be listed on either a U.S. General Services

Administration (“GSA”) Multiple Award Schedule (“MAS”) Contract or another type of Government Wide Acquisition Contract (“GWAC”), the Offeror is to identify below the GSA Contract or GWAC contract in box 15 on page 1 and provide the following information:

Contract Period of Performance: ______________________________________________ Contracting Officer Name: ______________________________________________ Contracting Officer Telephone Number: ______________________________________________ Name of GSA MAS Contract or GWAC Contract Holder:

F. TERMS:

US House of Representatives Purchase Order Terms & Conditions are incorporated into this Purchase Order by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text.

o Purchase Order Terms & Conditions can be located and downloaded at www.house.gov under Doing Business with the House. Click on Additional Resources and then on Purchase Order Terms and Conditions.

o Acceptance of the award constitutes acknowledgement and acceptance of all Terms & Conditions.

G. INVOICING AND PAYMENT:

a. Invoice Information. One invoice will be paid once the final deliverable has been accepted

A proper invoice shall minimally include:

Contractor Name, Address and Phone Number, Name of Contractor Point of Contact House Contract Number Work/Delivery Order Number (as appropriate) Invoice Number, Invoice Date, Invoice Page Number (each page of an invoice shall minimally also contain the Contractor name, invoice number and invoice date)

b. Deliverables. For each deliverable included on the invoice, the invoice shall include, as applicable:

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Contract Line-Item Number Period of Performance Brief Description of Item, Quantity Delivered, Unit Price, Extended Price, Total Price of all deliverables contained on Invoice

c. Submissions. Invoices for goods, equipment and services shall be submitted by e-mail to the point of contact specified.

d. Discounts. For services and goods (other than equipment), any cash discount period will be computed from the date the invoice is received. For equipment, any cash discount period will be computed from the date/time stamped on the EIN form.

e. Follow-up Invoices. All follow-up invoices shall be marked “Duplicate of Original” on all pages. Any questions from the Contractor regarding payment information or check identification should be directed to the COR/POC for follow-up with appropriate financial personnel.

f. Taxes. The House is exempt from all direct taxes, including any sales and use taxes.

g. Freight. In general, all freight, shipping and handling charges are the responsibility of the Contractor. Unless expressly included and itemized in the Contract, no charge for delivery, drayage, express, parcel post, packing, cartage, insurance, license fee, permits, cost of bonds or for any other purpose will be paid by the House.

h. Equipment Installation Notice. No payment for equipment (i.e., goods/items with a serial number) will be made unless an EIN form, complete with serial numbers, or other commonly used Product Identification Numbers of delivered equipment, maintenance information and signature of the Member, Chairperson or Officer in the office receiving the equipment, is provided to the CAO Central Receiving. The installation date, warranty period and maintenance start date, if applicable, will commence on the CAO time stamp date which appears on the EIN form, regardless of the actual installation date.

H. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

The place of performance will be located in Washington D.C. Additionally, some work may be performed off-site with approval and at the discretion of the ODI Director.

H.1 US Federal Government Holiday Schedule

The House only recognizes U.S. Federal government-mandated or designated holidays as eligible for Non- Standard labor classification. These holidays include, but are not limited to:

a. New Year's Day

b. Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

c. Washington’s Birthday

d. Memorial Day

e. Juneteenth National Independence Day

f. Independence Day

g. Labor Day

h. Columbus Day

i. Veterans Day

j. Thanksgiving Day

k. Christmas Day

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Contractor personnel assigned to this Purchase Order shall not be granted access to the United States Capitol Campus or conduct tele-work activities during the holidays listed above, except as follows: the Contractor shall provide sufficient contractor support to perform round-the-clock requirements of critical work already in process, as instructed by the Government Point of Contact, the Contracting Officer or authorized representative. No form of holiday or other premium compensation shall be reimbursed as either a direct or indirect cost. The Contractor shall place identical requirements, including this paragraph, in all subcontracts that require performance of work on-site or remote, unless otherwise instructed by the Government Point of Contact, the Contracting Officer or authorized representative.

The federal holiday schedule may be found on the following Web site -- http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays

I. KEY PERSONNEL:

I.1 General. All Contractor personnel identified as key personnel in the proposal shall be considered “Key Personnel” in this Contract. Any changes to Key Personnel shall be documented in a modification to this Contract. No term or provision in this purchase order shall be construed to create an employer-employee relationship between the parties or any of their representatives or employees.

I.2 Substitutions. The Contractor shall make no substitutions of Key Personnel unless the substitution is (i) necessitated by illness, death or termination of employment, (ii) requested by the COR/POC, or (iii) requested by the Contractor and approved by the COR/POC. The House reserves the right to request that a given resource be substituted for any reason. Approvals of Contractor requests to substitute Key Personnel for reasons other than illness, death or termination of employment shall be granted sparingly and in all instances predate the actual substitution by no fewer than fourteen (14) calendar days. In the event of a substitution, the Contractor is solely responsible for ensuring that there is a sufficient knowledge transfer to minimize delays in continuing the work being performed by the resource. Substitutions to Key Personnel shall have qualifications equal to or superior to those of the approved resource.

I.3 Training and Orientation. If the House is paying the Contractor on a time-and-materials or labor-hour basis for Key Personnel, the following shall apply: for a period of time determined by the COR/POC, but in no event more than ten (10) business days, the Contractor shall bear the cost of training and orientation of a replacement resource by the House so that the replacement resource can resume the services performed for the House at the same point and with the same efficiency as the resource being substituted (at which time the Contractor may commence billing the House for the services of the substituted resource).

J. QUESTIONS:

Questions regarding this solicitation must be submitted via e-mail to Toinetta.Gordon@mail.house.gov by 12:00 PM ET December 12, 2022. Responses to vendor questions will be released as an amendment to this solicitation.

K. SUBMISSION AND REVISION OF PROPOSALS:

• Proposals shall be submitted as stated in block 5 on page 1.

• Any submission or revision to a submission received by the CO after the time for receipt specified may be rejected and may not be considered unless the cause for non-receipt of was due solely to the actions of the House.

• The Offeror is solely responsible for the timely delivery of proposals submitted via e-mail. The House is not responsible for misaddressed, misrouted, or rejected e-mail messages.

• Proposals may be withdrawn by e-mail if received by the Contracting Officer at any time before award.

L. PROPOSAL:

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays mailto:Toinetta.Gordon@mail.house.gov

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Each proposal shall be divided into two (2) separate files and be sufficiently complete and organized to ensure that evaluation can be made on the basis of its content.

File 1 - Administrative and Price Proposal.

1. Solicitation and Offer Form (Cover Sheet of this solicitation). The Offeror shall insert the Solicitation and

Offer form, page one, of this Solicitation, with all required/applicable blocks completed.

2. Proposed Pricing. Offeror shall provide a proposed pricing which will address all requirements. Offeror shall breakdown the pricing based on each Task outlined/listed in Section C.4.

File 2 - Technical Proposal.

1. Technical Approach: The Offeror should provide a technical response including tasks detailed in Section C.

The technical approach response must comply with and follow the sequencing of requirements as listed in Section C.

2. Management Approach: The Offeror shall describe the overall approach to providing services in accordance with specifications herein. The proposal should discuss planned approaches to meet the requirements called for in the Statement of Objectives. As a guide, the approach shall include, as a minimum, the following:

a. Demonstrated methodology for performing the tasks as outlined in Section C.

b. Management approach to track the delivery of products and services related to this award and to work with the POC and staff.

c. Method of reporting of work performance on an accurate and objective basis and identification of problems or issues as early as possible.

d. Work breakdown structure and timeline for completion.

e. Demonstrated understanding of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressional environment

(preferred).

3. Corporate Capabilities: The Offeror is to provide a narrative regarding the competencies of their company and experience in performing similar contract services, to include:

• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). This will be evaluated based on the organization’s DEIA statement and meaningful implementation to support DEIA practices within its culture, which includes:

o DEIA statement/policy o Measurable DEIA outcomes at all levels of the organizational structure o Demonstrated plan to recruit, and retain employees with mental and physical disabilities with generally accepted industry standards and applicable laws

• Demonstrated proficiency in DEIA subject matter. This will be evaluated based on the Offeror’s demonstrated past experience or performance in studying historic and/or current barriers in workplaces and underrepresentation of diverse subpopulations.

• Background knowledge and skills in investigating organizational culture, employee life cycle, and other workforce related topics. This includes:

o Demonstrated past experience or performance designing and administering comprehensive studies that analyze and compare salary and benefit data from a large, geographically dispersed workforce.

o Demonstrated past experience or performance researching, analyzing, and reporting data on employees’ salaries, benefits, demographics, perceptions, and experiences, etc. in public and private organizations.

• Demonstrated expertise in social science research methodologies including, but not limited to descriptive, inferential, predictive, and causal statistical analysis and qualitative thematic analysis based on focus-group data.

• Provide three customer references, preferably in another government agency in which the Offeror did similar work. List the agency name and address, as well as name, title, and telephone number of the client contact.

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• Provide three customer references, preferably in another government agency in which the Offeror did similar work. List the agency name and address, as well as name, title, and telephone number of the client contact.

M. EVALUATION FACTORS/BASIS FOR AWARD:

M.1 The merits of each offer are determined on the basis of:

• Technical approach;

• Management approach;

• Corporate capabilities;

• Pricing

The House will evaluate proposals (or quotations) and determine which are the most highly rated and eligible for inclusion in a competitive range, relying on the merits of each offer. The House may further reduce the range for purposes of efficiency. We may, at our discretion, request Offeror(s) to come in for discussions.

M.2 Best Value. Award is based on the proposal which is determined to be most advantageous to the House.

Non-price factors, when combined, may be more important than price.

M.3 No assumptions or deviations from the House Terms and Conditions or the Clauses found within the solicitation will be accepted. Any proposal with assumptions and/or deviations to the terms and conditions is deemed non-responsive to the solicitation and will receive no further consideration.

Issued By: U.S. House of Representatives CAO Office of Acquisitions Management 5110 O'Neill House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Office Phone: 202-225-2921