THIS IS A NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY The United States Department of Education (Department), The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is issuing this RFI in an effort to identify potential small businesses that may have the technical and management capability to conduct validity research and studies for large scale assessment programs. Responses to this RFI will help shape the government's strategy for this acquisition, as well as any subsequent formalized solicitation. In response to this Performance Work Statement (PWS), the Department hereby solicits capability statements from eligible small business contractors. The capability statements shall be no longer than ten pages. Statements shall include no more than six resumes for key participants and should explicitly state the role(s) for each individual, whose resume is included. Resumes will not count towards the ten page limit of the capability statement. Small Businesses are requested to provide capability statements that address the requested information below. Interested contractors must have experience with conducting validity research and studies for large scale assessment programs. The capability statement should address the following areas of expertise (i.e., qualifications and experience) of key staff: • Time commitment, relevant experience, knowledge, and education or training of the Project Director with assessment programs of a similar size and complexity of a large scale assessment program and with coordinating quality assurance activities across multiple contractors. • Breadth and depth of relevant experience, knowledge, and education or training of team leaders, other key staff, and project consultants or subcontractors. • Experience and capacity to hire and train additional technical and quality assurance staff as needed, especially for expanded size, complexity, and uses of the large scale assessment data. • Appropriateness of the proposed staff for the proposal requirements. a) Company name b) Business size and designations c) Address d) Point of contact e) Number of employees f) Gross annual receipts g) Previous contract(s) performing same or similar services as identified in this notice, to include contract type (FFP,T&M,etc.); overall contract value; Agency/Business Entity contracted with; and a brief overview of services performed h) Capability statement that addresses the organizations' qualifications and ability to perform as a prime contractor for the work described in the attached PWS'. i) GSA Holder? If yes, GSA Contract number:_________________________ The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541618. If there is a more appropriate NAICS code provide that information in your response. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Furthermore, the U.S. Government is not seeking proposals and it will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this RFI. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be borne solely at the interested party's expense. All submissions become U.S. Government property and will not be returned. Do not provide proprietary information. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if issued. In addition, provide any questions/suggestions to the Government's draft PWS. The Department does not intend to post questions and answer amendment to this notice. Instead, the Department intends to take those questions as items that will be utilized to strengthen the Department's RFP/Solicitation documents. Electronic responses are due @ 1:00 pm on December 14, 2012, to
[email protected].