R - Professional Facilitation Services to Support Negotiated Rulemaking (Title IV)

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education is seeking professional facilitation services to support negotiated rulemaking processes for Title IV student aid policy development. The contract requires two professional facilitators per meeting to manage collaborative discussions, facilitate meetings, support consensus building, and assist with meeting preparation and documentation across virtual, in-person, and hybrid formats. Key requirements include conducting interviews with negotiating committee members, developing meeting agendas, managing document communications, and ensuring all deliverables comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements. The evaluation will be comparative, with technical and past performance factors being significantly more important than price. Questions were due by July 15, 2025, and quotes are due by July 29, 2025, at 10:00 AM EDT, with all submissions remaining valid for 60 days.

This procurement is designated as a 100% small business set-aside under NAICS code 541990 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services) with a small business size standard of $19.5 million. The Department seeks quotes totaling less than $2.3 million across all option periods, with a total contract value of $59,775 comprised of three identical annual allocations of $19,925 each. The contract structure includes a 12-month base period with two additional one-year ordering periods from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2028, encompassing 130 hours per year for contract management services and 2,670 hours per year for facilitation services. The contract anticipates three negotiated rulemaking sessions annually, each comprising up to three 5-day meetings with associated preparation time up to 350 hours and subcommittee meetings up to 100 hours. Work will be performed virtually, hybrid, or in-person in Washington, DC, with optional travel arrangements including provisions for up to six round-trip airfares and 48 days of hotel accommodations per performance period.