WWC RFI FY25 5-13-24.docx

U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences

Request for Information (RFI) What Works Clearinghouse Contracts for:

Supporting and Analyzing Grantee Evaluations (WWC-SAGE) Reviews of Individual Citations of Evidence (WWC-RICE) WWC Hubs of Evidence to Assist Teachers (WHEAT) Notice ID: IES-NCEE-WWC-2025 May 8, 2024

PLEASE NOTE: All information contained in this notice is preliminary in nature and subject to change. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP), Request for Quotations (RFQ), Invitation for Bids (IFB), or a commitment on the part of the Government to conduct a solicitation in the future. All information provided is strictly voluntary and no reimbursement will be made by the Government for any costs associated with providing a response to this notice or otherwise participating in market research activities. Further, the U.S. Department of Education offers no assurance that a solicitation will result from this notice.

Overview of the What Works Clearinghouse The What Works ClearinghouseTM (WWC) is an initiative of the United States Department of Education (the Department), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE). The WWC reviews, reports, and synthesizes findings from publicly available research to inform assessments of “what works” to improve student outcomes or other outcomes relevant to preschool, elementary, secondary, postsecondary, or adult education.

The WWC achieves its mission through a series of contracts. As of April 2024, there are eight active WWC contracts:

· Task Order 01 of blanket purchase agreement 91990021A0003, contract 91990021F0370 (with Abt Global): What Works Clearinghouse Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC-PESTO): Task Order 01 is focused on creating WWC practice guides and related products on behavioral interventions in grades K through 12.

· Task Order 02 of blanket purchase agreement 91990021A0022, contract 91990022F0342 (with Mathematica): What Works Clearinghouse Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC-PESTO): Task Order 02 is focused on creating WWC practice guides and related products on college and career readiness for students in grades 6 through 12.

· Task Order 03 of blanket purchase agreement 91990021A0004, contract 91990023F0325 (with the American Institutes for Research): What Works Clearinghouse Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC-PESTO) will be focused on creating WWC practice guides and related products on organizing and differentiating instruction in STEM in Grades K-8.

· Task Order 04 of blanket purchase agreement 91990021A0022, contract 91990023F0336 (with Abt Global): What Works Clearinghouse Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC-PESTO) will be focused on creating WWC practice guides and related products on English language and literacy interventions in Kindergarten to Grade 3.

· Task Order 05 of blanket purchase agreement 91990021A0022, contract 91990023F0072 (with the American Institutes for Research): What Works Clearinghouse Preschool-to-Postsecondary Evidence Synthesis Task Orders (WWC-PESTO) will be focused on creating WWC practice guides, evidence guides, and related products on supporting student success in Grades 9 through 12.

· Ad-Hoc Reviews of Individual Studies in Education (WWC-ARISE), contract 1990020F0371 (with Development Services Group) reviews impact studies. This support will include characterizing the quality and findings of studies or WWC publications cited as evidence for the Department’s grant competitions, reviewing individual studies at the request of the Department, and developing new or updated syntheses of evidence on education interventions.

· Tools, Online Assistance, Standards, and Training (WWC-TOAST), contract 9199023 (with Mathematica), is a coordination contract that 1) develops statistical standards and procedures about how studies should be reviewed, 2) trains users on the standards to become certified reviewers for the WWC, 3) builds and maintain the WWC Online Study Review Guide (OSRG) application, 4) provides peer review and quality control, 5) publish study reviews and reports on the WWC website, and 6) conduct reviews and produce products.

· What Works Clearinghouse Technical Assistance for Studies of Effectiveness (WWC-TASTE), contract 91990023D0031 (with Mathematica), provides technical assistance to the external evaluators of the projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Postsecondary Student Success Grant Program. The contractor works with grantees to ensure the evaluations associated with each project are designed to meet the WWC’s standards.

The Department expects to award two additional WWC PESTO task orders in FY 2024 and another in FY 2025, through blanket purchase agreements awarded in FY 2021. WWC-PESTO Task Order 6 will focus on supporting young children with disabilities or developmental delays. WWC-PESTO Task Order 7 will focus on promoting student attendance in kindergarten through Grade 12. WWC-PESTO Task Order 8 will focus on improving educator recruitment, retention, performance, and well-being.

Description of New WWC Requirements In addition to the contracts described above, there are three new contracts the Department plans to award in FY 2025 to support the work of the WWC:

What Works Clearinghouse Supporting and Analyzing Grantee Evaluations (WWC-SAGE). The WWC-SAGE contract will support technical assistance (TA) to evaluators of projects funded in the future through U.S. Department of Education “evidence-building” grant programs, such as the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program and the Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) Program. One requirement of these grants is that projects evaluations be designed to meet the WWC’s standards for experimental and quasi-experimental research in education. This contract, expected to be awarded by November 1, 2024, will have a period of performance of 60 months. While the initial focus of the TA will be providing 5 years of TA to the FY 2024 cohort of EIR grantees, there will be option periods to support TA to additional cohorts of grantees from the EIR, PSSG, or similar programs. This contract will not replace the WWC-focused TA provided through existing contracts supporting EIR or PSSG grantees, but may utilize TA products prepared under those contracts, as well as create new TA products for the WWC and conduct WWC reviews of related studies.

What Works Clearinghouse Reviews of Individual Citations of Evidence (WWC-RICE). The WWC-RICE contract will conduct WWC reviews of individual studies at the request of the Department. These reviews may be needed for the Department’s “evidence-based” grant competitions such as EIR. The Department may also request reviews of studies in combination with a systematic screening of manuscripts submitted to the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) to assess their eligibility and priority for WWC review. This contract, expected to be awarded by May 1, 2025, will have a base period of performance of 24 months, with option periods extending the period of performance to 60 months.

What Works Clearinghouse Hub of Evidence to Assist Teachers of English Language Arts and Literacy (WHEAT-ELAL). The WHEAT-ELAL contract will support ongoing engagement with an advisory panel of researchers and educators, systematic WWC reviews of relevant research on high-priority topics, and the preparation of up to 3 practice guides and complementary products for educators on topics in K-12 English Language Arts and literacy instruction and intervention. Informed by the needs of the field, this evidence hub will identify or create useful resources focused on English Learners, reading and writing instruction, social studies instruction, reading intervention, and supporting students with learning disabilities in reading or writing. This contract, expected to be awarded by August 1, 2025, will have a base period of performance of 24 months, with option periods extending the period of performance to 60 months.

IES aims to launch five additional WHEAT “evidence hub” contracts between FY 2026 and FY 2028, on topics including: supporting K-12 student success and well-being; K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; postsecondary and adult education; preschool and pre-kindergarten education; and teacher policies and school systems.

SAGE Contract Type The WWC expects that SAGE will be a hybrid contract with firm fixed price tasks and time and materials tasks. The firm fixed price tasks will cover: regular meetings with the Department; periodic meetings with other WWC contractors; monthly project management; technical assistance planning and reporting; and transition activities. The time and materials tasks will cover: the provision of TA activities; developing new TA products; reviewer training and certification in WWC standards; conducting study reviews for the WWC; and responding to issues identified through the peer review or audit of previously reviewed studies or to questions from the WWC Help Desk.

RICE Contract Type The WWC expects that RICE will be a hybrid contract with firm fixed price tasks and time and materials tasks. The firm fixed price tasks will cover: meetings with the Department; periodic meetings with other WWC contractors; and monthly project management. The time and materials tasks will cover: reviewer training and certification in WWC standards; screening and prioritizing manuscripts in ERIC for WWC review; conducting study reviews at the request of the Department; reviewing and reporting on the studies cited as evidence for grant competitions of the Department; and responding to issues identified through the peer review or audit of previously reviewed studies or to questions from the WWC Help Desk.

WHEAT Contract Type The WWC expects that WHEAT will be a hybrid contract with firm fixed price tasks and time and materials tasks. Firm fixed price tasks will cover: regular meetings with the Department; periodic meetings with other WWC contractors; monthly project management; the formation, online convening, and summary of panels of researchers and educators advising the contractor’s work or developing practice recommendations; systematic review protocol development; practice guide preparation and production (including the preparation of summaries for new guides); and the preparation of plans for stakeholder engagement or the dissemination of practice guides or other resources. Time and materials tasks will cover: reviewer training and certification in WWC standards; literature searches and eligibility screening of studies; reviews and meta-analytic syntheses of study findings; responses to relevant inquiries from the WWC Help Desk or from the peer review or audit of reviews of studies; stakeholder engagement activities; technical assistance to project evaluators; the preparation of publications summarizing recent research not included in practice guides; the preparation of complementary products for new or existing practice guides or for technical assistance to study authors; and responding to issues identified through the peer review or audit of previously reviewed studies or to questions from the WWC Help Desk.

Focus Questions

1. Please state your business/company name, address, email address, and website.

2. Please state your business size status (i.e. large or small) in the stated NAICS code of 541720, as well as all socioeconomic categories and the corresponding NAICS codes.

3. Please identify whether you are a part of any multiple-award contract that IES may use for ordering. Examples include PRESTO, EDGMSS, GSA Schedule Contracts, or other multiple award contracts with another agency against which IES may issue a task order or BPA Call.

4. Describe which of the proposed WWC contracts (WWC-SAGE, WWC-RICE, WHEAT-ELAL, or other WHEAT contracts described above) are of interest to your firm.

5. For each contract of interest, state whether 541720 is the most appropriate NAICS code for the contract. Why or why not?

6. For each contract of interest, state if the requirement should be set-aside for a small business, and why or why not? IES intends to use the results of this market research effort to make set-aside determinations for the contracts described above and future WWC contracts in later fiscal years.

7. For each contract of interest, describe your proposed team’s relevant technical expertise, content knowledge, and successful experience in similar roles on similar projects, describing the qualifications of proposed key staff as well as past projects—including all relevant WWC or WWC-related projects--where they have played similar roles. Resumes do not need to be provided at this time, but letters of commitment from any proposed subcontractors or consultants would be helpful. Qualifications should include, for the specific FY25 requirements:

a. (SAGE) The expertise of proposed team members in PK–12 or postsecondary education, as demonstrated by prior research publications or reports, and their experience leading and providing TA to researchers in designing high-quality experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations, as evidenced by sample TA resources and documented feedback on that TA.

b. (RICE) The experience of proposed team members leading quick-turnaround evidence reviews as well as systematic reviews of evidence.

c. (WHEAT) The relevant content expertise of proposed team members and their experience in convening and leading in convening and leading diverse researcher and practitioner panels, developing products that effectively communicate education research to practitioners, and developing and disseminating engaging products to non-researchers.

Note: “team” in the context of question 7 and 8 means your experience, staff, and infrastructure as a prime contractor and any experience, staff, and infrastructure of potential subcontractors. If possible, please provide letters of commitment of potential subcontractors if those subcontractors are filling significant capability gaps within your prime team.

8. For each contract of interest, describe your proposed team’s capability, by October 1, 2024, to conduct reviews of studies using WWC standards, as evidenced by listing at least 15 named team members certified in the WWC’s group design standards (v4.1 or v5.0), at least 3 named team members certified in the WWC’s v4.1 regression discontinuity design (RDD) or v5.0 advanced group design standards, and at least 3 named team members certified in the WWC’s v4.1 or v5.0 single-case design (SCD) standards, and at least 10 named team members having experience using the Online Study Review Guide in the IES Data Center. If you do not have sufficient WWC-certified staff but are preparing to train and certify those staff, please provide evidence of progress towards the October 1, 2024 goal.

9. Assessment of Scope, Commerciality, and Fair Competition: Please include any specific pricing data or information on pricing structure to inform the contract type overall (FFP and T&M) or for any specific tasks described in this RFI. If possible, please also identify whether you could accurately price work currently designated to be T&M or what additional information you would need to accurately price this work.

10. Assessment of Scope, Commerciality, and Fair Competition: What additional requirements, if any, besides the corresponding PWS, would be needed for the planning or implementation of this work, and would need to be included with the Instructions to Offerors for each contract of interest?

Submission Instructions RFI Response Submission Instructions – PDF All interested parties are invited to submit formal responses in a PDF and submit as an attachment via e-mail to Katie.Opper@ed.gov. Responses are due no later than 10:00AM Eastern Time on June 14, 2024.

Formatting and Content:

There are no limitations to the form and type of content you submit other than any textual files must be submitted in PDF format. You may include PowerPoint (or related) presentation materials, video links, tables, charts, and/or graphics. You have the freedom to describe your capability as you best determine. Similarly, there are no page restrictions or minimum quantity of information required.

General Matters:

Responding to this RFI is not a requirement to respond to any future Request for Quotations or Requests for Proposals that ED may issue. You are not required to respond to all questions or address all potential contracts.

Contact Information What Works Clearinghouse National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance 550 12TH ST, SW, 4th Floor, WASHINGTON, DC 20002

Points of Contact

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