SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Capital Measures
- Notice Date
- 4/6/2004
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 519190
— All Other Information Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Procurement and Property Management, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 1830, Washington, DC, 20212
- ZIP Code
- 20212
- Solicitation Number
- BLS-04-16
- Response Due
- 6/15/2004
- Archive Date
- 6/16/2004
- Point of Contact
- Joe Rudolph, Purchasing Agent, Phone 202-691-6033, Fax 202-691-6026,
- E-Mail Address
-
Rudolph_J@bls.gov
- Description
- This is a solicitation for services. The announcement constitutes the only solicitation; and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation BLS-04-16, is being issued as a Request For Quotation (RFQ) in accordance to FAR Part 13. DESCRIPTION: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) requires additional empirical evidence to improve the measures of capital used in measuring ?multifactor productivity? (MFP). BLS is seeking to fund several proposals for small research projects that would identify and exploit new data sources to improve the assumptions made in the measurement process. The projects will be presented as research papers at a conference in Washington, DC, tentatively scheduled for September 16, 2005. After the conference, the Journal of Productivity Analysis anticipates a special issue that will independently review and select for publication some papers from this conference as well as other submissions that are not funded by BLS. Improvements in the design of new capital goods, and the sheer accumulation of capital goods, can raise productivity. To understand economic growth it is important to have good measures of capital. BLS measures MFP using a neoclassical productivity model, in the tradition of work by Solow, Jorgenson, and many others. As with any economic measure, many assumptions must be made in capital measurement. However, the role of capital in production is particularly complex. There is uncertainty, at the time assets are produced, about the pattern of returns they will provide in the future. For most types of assets, rigid assumptions are typically made about the patterns of services and returns to assets. These assumptions are often based on a few parameters derived from evidence that is either out of date or that relates to other types of assets. II. Scope of research projects that will be considered. There are a number of specific areas where BLS requires better information: - Service lives, i.e., the length of the period that assets spend in the service of businesses or households. - Patterns of utilization of assets during their lifetimes, e.g., data on the intensity with which they are used, such as number of hours they are in service and the amount of output they generate. There are issues of how these variables behave during the business cycle as well as with the age of the asset. - The behavior of asset rental prices (revenues less cost associated with particular assets) with age and/or over the business cycle. - The behavior of asset purchase prices. - Changes in the characteristics or ?quality? of new capital goods. Little effort has been made to base quality adjustments on rental prices, the basis suggested in capital theory, instead of on asset prices. - The factors that influence service lives, utilization, and depreciation, such as physical decay (which may cause down-time or increased maintenance cost), obsolescence, the business cycle, or the growth rate of the industry employing the assets. - Land values. Present land value measures rest on heroic assumptions. Evidence on the value of land relative to the value of structures would be useful. Time series data that differentiated by industry or otherwise by type of land-use would be most useful. (Data might be based on hedonic studies conducted by the authors. Alternatively, good estimates may be available from tax assessment databases, provided the assessments are based on sophisticated methods.) - Inventory depreciation or other price changes. - Assets that are used in specific industries as well as assets that are found throughout the economy. Although the primary focus will be on new data sources for tangible business assets, other topics that improve the empirical basis for capital measurement would be of interest. For example, new evidence on the role of intangible capital, human capital, or consumer durables would be of interest, as would be studies that use micro data to help identify how company-based capital data might be used in developing capital time series for establishment-based industry productivity studies. The use of data sources that have not been used previously in capital measurement work is paramount. The data may be obtained from private sources or they may be tabulated from public notices, such as advertised prices. The selection and use of advanced econometric techniques will be important to extracting information on relationships and parameters that are useful to the BLS capital and multifactor productivity measures. If there are issues relating to protecting the confidentiality of the data provider, the contractor must raise these issues in the proposal so that the BLS and the contractor can evaluate potential legal issues and potential limitations to the study before the contract is awarded. III. Work Plan The proposal shall specify the types of assets, industries, and/or types of issues (see Section II for the scope of issues) that will be examined. The proposal shall also describe which data source(s) will be developed and how it will be used. A successful proposal shall describe a project that would significantly benefit the goals of improving the BLS MFP measures and that would represent a significant and novel contribution to the literature on the subject of capital measurement. The proposal shall include the curriculum vita of the principal investigator. Each contractor shall obtain the data, analyze the data, and write up the results in a format suitable for sharing with academic peers. It is the sole responsibility of the contractor to obtain the data for the proposed project. The preliminary report shall be submitted to BLS no later than April, 2005. This report shall present tabulations demonstrating that the contractor has the data and has control of the data in an analytic software package and it shall clarify the directions of the project. After receiving this report, BLS will provide feedback on the most useful directions for the analysis. A research paper shall be submitted to the BLS no later than August 19, 2005 so that BLS officials, conference participants, and a discussant will have an opportunity to read it before the conference. Either the contractor or the contractor?s representative shall attend the conference and make an oral presentation about the findings. The BLS, at its discretion, may ask for additional analysis or revisions to the paper. These revisions may be to address any of several possible issues, such as improving the usefulness of the results to the BLS, addressing econometric issues raised by the discussant or other specialists who attend the conference, or acknowledging editorial comments. The revised paper, along with an executive summary of approximately two pages, will constitute the final report. This will be due no later than September 30, 2005. IV. Period of Performance The contract period shall be one year from the date of award. The projected date of the award is September 15, 2004. V. Deliverables The following deliverables shall be completed within the timeframe stated below: Deliverables: Delivery Dates: Preliminary report April 30, 2005 Research paper August 19, 2005 Presentation at Conference September 16, 2005 Final report September 30, 2005 VI. Funding BLS intends to make multiple awards under $25,000. The contractor shall submit a cost breakdown for all costs, such as travel, costs for data, etc. VII. Selection Criteria Proposals shall be evaluated in accordance with the following criteria: 1) The relevance of the data source to U.S. business sector capital. The Bureau will consider questions such as: How significant are the assets being evaluated? How representative are the observations available from the data source of the general population of assets? How many variables are there upon which to gauge the physical use and value of assets as they age? Are there panel qualities to the data as well as cross section? What is the quality of the data to be used in the study? (20 points) 2) The quality of the analytic framework. For example: Are the econometric tests or statistics that are proposed appropriate? Will the study likely be viewed as a contribution to the literature on economic measurement? Will the study be likely to identify variables in a way that will be useful in estimating U.S. business sector capital. (20 points) 3) The number of issues are addressed by the full set of proposals. The Bureau prefers that each study encompass a different topic. If multiple proposals are on very similar topics then the best one will be given preference and the others will be less likely to be selected relative to proposals on different topics. (10 points) 4) The feasibility of the plan of study described in the proposal. The Bureau will judge whether the proposal describes an area of study that can be completed in the time frame allowed and with the funds available. (10 points) 5) Experience of the contractor. The Bureau will review the contractor?s past publications of studies using econometric tools to do empirical analysis. (20 points) 6) Cost of project. The cost of the project will be assessed relative to the scope and difficulty of the proposed project. A less difficult project may be funded if it is of value and if its cost is in line with its difficulty. (20 POINTS) Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond, up to the requirement by submitting quotations. All quotes received until June 15, 2004 will be considered by the Government. The purchasing activity is not responsible for locating or securing any information which is not identified in the quotation and reasonably available to the purchasing activity. Delivery shall as outlined in descriptions. All Quotes shall be submitted to BLS, Room 1830, 2 MASS. AVE. NE, Washington, DC 20212 no later 3:00pm EDT, --June 15,2004, and be clearly marked with RFQ# BLS-04-016. The point of contact for all information is Joe Rudolph/Karen Barton , Purchasing Agents, at the address and phone number listed above. If your response is not received by the date/time and at the location specified in the announcement, it will not be considered. No hand carried quotes will be accepted. Offerors may download the RFQ by accessing the FedBizopps website at //www.fedbizopps.gov All future information about this acquisition, including solicitation amendments, will also be distributed through the FBO site. Interested parties are responsible for monitoring the FBO site to ensure that they have the most up-to-date information about this acquisition. Fax (202-691-6026) proposals are encouraged and must state name, address and solicitation number. An original copy of the proposal shall follow by mail. Quotations may also be submitted electronically provided that all the necessary documentation requested in this RFQ is included.
- Place of Performance
- Address: 2 Mass Ave Suite 1830, Wahsington D.C.
- Zip Code: 20212
- Zip Code: 20212
- Record
- SN00560754-W 20040408/040406211854 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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