Department of Education National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Request for Information (RFI)

Overview

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit feedback on the various “DRAFT” Statements of Objectives (SOOs) and query industry for information regarding different approaches and methodologies for meeting the procurement objectives of NAEP. The Department of Education (DoED) is seeking feedback under three general areas (SOOs, overall requirement performance structure and proposal techniques, and contracting practices) broken into multiple topics. However, contractor responses are not limited to these topics and the DoED requests and encourages all responses that will enhance the feasibility and success of this requirement. DoED does not plan to respond to questions during this RFI phase and the feedback received is intended to be considered for the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) scheduled to be released in late March 2024.

A. Task Requirements – Ten (10) Statements of Objectives (SOOs)

The SOOs represent the ten (10) overall tasks that will be performed under this requirement.  Please refer to the Attachment B: Procurement Overview and SOOs attachment as well as the multiple SOOs (separated and grouped by team for convenience) attached to this RFI for specific task content. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Technical feedback content regarding SOOs
• Comments on task groupings and functional teams and the activities placed or grouped within each task
• Suggestions for cost saving and techniques for overall deliverable efficiencies
• Other comments and concerns regarding tasks and deliverables

B. Performance Structure – NAEP Coalition of Teams Schema

The ten (10) required tasks are grouped into three (3) NAEP Functional Teams with two (2) of the tasks residing outside of the Functional Teams as standalone contracts. Although they are still part of the overall NAEP requirement, they will be solicited as separate RFPs. Please refer to Attachment A: NAEP Coalition Structure attachment to this RFI for details. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Feedback regarding the Coalition of Teams schema and how tasks are assigned under each team
• Recommendations for preferred proposal methods under this structure (i.e., would a company prefer to submit a proposal for individual team or “satellite” tasks, or would they want to submit a proposal as part of a pre-formed team that will propose on all tasks listed within a specific Functional Team?)
• Overall structure comments and concerns

C. Contract Types, Contracting Practices and Requirements

One of DoED’s main contracting objectives is to increase the number of firm-fixed price contracts issued for this requirement. Additional objectives include increasing small business participation and overall subcontracting opportunities. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Feedback regarding the feasibility of increasing the number of firm-fixed price contracts for main task and/or subtask requirements
• Comments on anticipated NAICS codes (541720- Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities), (541511- Custom Computer Programming Services) and (541611- Administrative Management and Consulting Services) and their applicability
• Suggestions for increasing small business participation or removing unrealized barriers

Response Format Requirements

The response to this RFI shall be structured to match the three general areas of inquiry above (i.e., A, B, C). The overall response shall be in either MSWord or PDF format. Each overall submission is permitted to contain a total of five (5) pages, excluding a cover page and table of contents. Anything over the 5 pages is not guaranteed to be reviewed by the Department. All pages shall have a font size no smaller than 12-point (single spacing permitted) and one-inch margins. The font size restriction does not apply to charts or tables. Please include the following information within the cover page of each response document.

• Company name
• Company website address
• Company point of contact (name, phone number, email address) available to answer any questions that DoED may have
• The company’s 12-digit Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
• SAM status
• Small business status for NAICS codes
• A listing of the tasks the company may pursue based on the SOOs
• Small Businesses ONLY: You may submit an additional capability statement (max 3 pages) as a separate attachment in the email response; this will be used for market research purposes only and will not have any bearing on the selection process in the event of a release of a solicitation.

Submission Requirements

Unless you are a small business submitting a capability statement, the responses shall be emailed as one document with a table of contents addressing the sections A-C above to Kristi.Rhodes@ed.gov, with a Cc: to David.Geary@ed.gov. If applicable, the capability statement should be a separate document attached within the same email. The subject line of the email shall be “Response to Request for Information-NAEP Coalition of Teams.”

Deadline

Responses are due by February 21, 2024, 4:00pm EST, however, the DoED reserves the right to accept late submissions at its discretion.

RFI List of Attachments

Attachment A - NAEP Coalition Structure

Attachment B - Procurement Overview and SOOs (All)

Attachment C - Assessment Content Team SOOs (4-6)

Attachment D - Design and Coordination Team SOOs (1-3)

Attachment E - Data Collection Team SOOs (7-8)

Attachment F - Standalone Contract SOOs (9-10)

Attachment G - General Activities SOO (11)

Attachment H - eNAEP Overview

Attachment I - AMS Overview

Attachment J - NAEP Private Sites

Overview

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit feedback on the various “DRAFT” Statements of Objectives (SOOs) and query industry for information regarding different approaches and methodologies for meeting the procurement objectives of NAEP. The Department of Education (DoED) is seeking feedback under three general areas (SOOs, overall requirement performance structure and proposal techniques, and contracting practices) broken into multiple topics. However, contractor responses are not limited to these topics and the DoED requests and encourages all responses that will enhance the feasibility and success of this requirement. DoED does not plan to respond to questions during this RFI phase and the feedback received is intended to be considered for the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) scheduled to be released in late March 2024.

A. Task Requirements – Ten (10) Statements of Objectives (SOOs)

The SOOs represent the ten (10) overall tasks that will be performed under this requirement.  Please refer to the Attachment B: Procurement Overview and SOOs attachment as well as the multiple SOOs (separated and grouped by team for convenience) attached to this RFI for specific task content. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Technical feedback content regarding SOOs
• Comments on task groupings and functional teams and the activities placed or grouped within each task
• Suggestions for cost saving and techniques for overall deliverable efficiencies
• Other comments and concerns regarding tasks and deliverables

B. Performance Structure – NAEP Coalition of Teams Schema

The ten (10) required tasks are grouped into three (3) NAEP Functional Teams with two (2) of the tasks residing outside of the Functional Teams as standalone contracts. Although they are still part of the overall NAEP requirement, they will be solicited as separate RFPs. Please refer to Attachment A: NAEP Coalition Structure attachment to this RFI for details. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Feedback regarding the Coalition of Teams schema and how tasks are assigned under each team
• Recommendations for preferred proposal methods under this structure (i.e., would a company prefer to submit a proposal for individual team or “satellite” tasks, or would they want to submit a proposal as part of a pre-formed team that will propose on all tasks listed within a specific Functional Team?)
• Overall structure comments and concerns

C. Contract Types, Contracting Practices and Requirements

One of DoED’s main contracting objectives is to increase the number of firm-fixed price contracts issued for this requirement. Additional objectives include increasing small business participation and overall subcontracting opportunities. Responses are requested for, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Feedback regarding the feasibility of increasing the number of firm-fixed price contracts for main task and/or subtask requirements
• Comments on anticipated NAICS codes (541720- Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities), (541511- Custom Computer Programming Services) and (541611- Administrative Management and Consulting Services) and their applicability
• Suggestions for increasing small business participation or removing unrealized barriers

Response Format Requirements

The response to this RFI shall be structured to match the three general areas of inquiry above (i.e., A, B, C). The overall response shall be in either MSWord or PDF format. Each submission is permitted to contain a total of five (5) pages, excluding a cover page and table of contents. All pages shall have a font size no smaller than 12-point (single spacing permitted) and one-inch margins. The font size restriction does not apply to charts or tables. Please include the following information within the cover page of each response document.

• Company name
• Company website address
• Company point of contact (name, phone number, email address) available to answer any questions that DoED may have
• The company’s 12-digit Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
• SAM status
• Small business status for NAICS codes
• A listing of the tasks the company may pursue based on the SOOs
• Small Businesses ONLY: You may submit an additional capability statement (max 3 pages) as a separate attachment in the email response; this will be used for market research purposes only and will not have any bearing on the selection process in the event of a release of a solicitation.

Submission Requirements

Unless you are a small business submitting a capability statement, the responses shall be emailed as one document with a table of contents addressing the sections A-C above to Kristi.Rhodes@ed.gov, with a Cc: to David.Geary@ed.gov. If applicable, the capability statement should be a separate document attached within the same email. The subject line of the email shall be “Response to Request for Information-NAEP Coalition of Teams.”

Deadline

Responses are due by February 21, 2024, 4:00pm EST, however, the DoED reserves the right to accept late submissions at its discretion.

RFI List of Attachments

Attachment A - NAEP Coalition Structure

Attachment B - Procurement Overview and SOOs (All)

Attachment C - Assessment Content Team SOOs (4-6)

Attachment D - Design and Coordination Team SOOs (1-3)

Attachment E - Data Collection Team SOOs (7-8)

Attachment F - Standalone Contract SOOs (9-10)

Attachment G - General Activities SOO (11)