Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

The Department of Education's Contracts and Acquisition Management office is preparing to solicit a contract to implement the 2029 cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), with a Request for Information due May 21, 2026. The contract will be Firm Fixed Price with no set-aside. The period of performance consists of one 12-month base period and three optional 12-month periods, with the main study data collection occurring in Spring 2029.

Work is performed at domestic locations across approximately 170 schools for the main study and 60 schools for the field test. The contractor shall benchmark U.S. student performance in Mathematics, Reading, and Science against other nations, plus assess the innovative domain of Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy. Optional tasks include Financial Literacy assessment and Teacher Questionnaire data collection. The field trial involves approximately 1,100 students and occurs in Spring 2028.

Extensive data security and IT security compliance is mandated, including FISMA, Privacy Act, Education Sciences Reform Act, OMB standards, NIST guidance, Department of Education cybersecurity policies, encryption to FIPS 140-2 standards, affidavits of nondisclosure, background checks, and continuous monitoring capabilities. All data, publications, and products become the sole property of the U.S. government.

The RFI requests capability statements no longer than 10 pages addressing entity identification and UEI, entity size and socioeconomic status under NAICS 541720, unduly restrictive PWS language, questions on the draft PWS, small business subcontracting opportunities, Firm Fixed Price contracting specifics, and applicable Government-wide contracts. Responses should be emailed to Alyson Allman at Alyson.allman@ed.gov by May 21, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. ET.