SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Developing a More Strategic Approach to Federal Student Financial Aid for Higher Education
- Notice Date
- 2/5/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Education, Contracts & Acquisitions Management, Contracts (All ED Components), 550 12th Street, SW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC, 20202, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-EDOOOS-07-000021
- Response Due
- 2/12/2007
- Description
- This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Federal student financial aid falls generally into three categories: grants, loans, and tax benefits. Statutes and regulations have created more than twenty federal student aid programs that do not harmonize to meet a comprehensive national policy goal. The Spellings Commission on the Future of Education describes the current system in its final report, A Test of Leadership: 'We found that that our federal financial aid system is confusing, complex, inefficient, duplicative, and frequently does not direct aid to students who truly need it. We propose replacing the current maze of financial aid programs, rules, and regulations with a system more in line with student needs and national priorities. That effort would require a significant increase in need-based financial aid and a complete restructuring of the current federal financial aid system. Our recommendations call for consolidating programs, streamlining processes, and replacing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) with a much shorter and simpler application.' For reference, please see the attached Issue Paper written for the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. This is a link to the Issue Paper http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/burgdorf-kostka.pdf. A new federal financial aid system should achieve the policy objectives described above and address (at least) the following key issues: *Complexity and confusion among users, leading to underutilization and yielding little data to understand their impact on access and retention; *Countervailing incentives and disincentives for buyers of higher education, and *Overlapping and redundant programs. Outcomes Desired from a Two-Stage Approach: 1. Phase 1: Vision Facilitation & Creation: The Department of Education (ED) is in the process of selecting a firm to facilitate a one-day meeting of financial aid experts in February 2007. The meeting will consist of common time for participants, and breakouts of simultaneously-facilitated visioning by equal-sized groups of experts. The purpose of the meeting is to obtain experts' individual thoughts and perspective on this important issue. The session will be an opportunity for a robust exchange of information between the experts and the contracted facilitator. ED seeks an additional contractor to collaborate with this firm, participate in the meeting, and produce multiple strategic-level simulation models on options for a new federal financial aid system, derived from this meeting. The models shall quantify trade-offs associated with options for a new federal financial aid system. The simulation models shall help policymakers evaluate options and select a preferred one before initiating Phase II. Modeling and simulations of alternative solutions should include the input of experts and be able to compare the extent to which different options: *Focus Federal resources to students with greatest need; *Make the student aid programs more understandable and predictable for students and families; *Address real and perceived concerns about the financial burden on students and families of college; *Refocus Federal, state, and institutional partnerships in support of the policy objectives; *Recognize cause and effect links that interconnect the relevant entities of the system *Minimize or eliminate the relationship between Federal subsidies, tuition and institutional cost increases; *Minimize the extent to which Federal laws and rules encourage a substitution of state and institutional expenditures for higher education; *Reduce the expensive, burdensome and intrusive role of higher education institutions in validating family income data for aid eligibility; *Reduce the potential for identity theft among aid applicants; and *Make the programs easier to administer and more accountable to the taxpayer. *Identify new products, services, processes, and partnerships that could deliver a higher volume of financial aid to eligible recipients Deliverables: The contractor is to provide technically competent staff to: *Attend the one-day meeting, which includes two concurrent breakouts, to be held in Washington, DC in February 2007 (date to be determined before awarding of contract); contractor will be responsible for it's own equipment (i.e. laptop, software) at the meetings; *Work with ED to develop multiple strategic-level simulation; and *Participate in a debriefing with ED leadership and staff within 7 days of the one-day meeting; and *Summarize the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the multiple strategic-level simulation models in a report to ED not to exceed 20 pages. *Report is due within 14 calendar days after the one-day meeting. *Provide the Department with 12 hard copies and one-electronic version of the report. Goal and Scope of the Effort: 1. Overall goal: Create a vision for federal student financial aid that is aligned with strategic access and retention goals, develop the associated design, and perform a cost/benefit analysis for the implementation plan. 2. Scope of effort: A two-stage review of the federal student aid system with recommendations for the optimal design and implementation of a system that achieves the following policy objectives: 1) increased enrollment in college by those students who would not have been able to attend; 2) increased retention and graduation by students who might not have been to complete college due to cost, and 3) decreased debt burden. 3. Phase 2: Solution Design and Implementation Planning: Using the preferred option derived from Phase 1, the second phase will focus on solution design feasibility testing. This Phase will include development of implementation plans, a cost/benefit analysis, and additional analysis and recommendations necessary to make specific changes to existing policies, programs, technology, and any other elements to implement the preferred option for a new federal financial aid system. Phase 2 will not be a part of this award. For Phase 2, the Department of Education will issue a Request for Proposals no later than March 2007. Award: This shall be a firm fixed price award. The government will make award to the offeror whose quote represents the best value to the Government, where technical merit is more important than price. The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations: 1. The contractor's understanding of the requirement including working with staff to develop multiple strategic-level simulation, as well as the ability to meet established timelines as outlined in the deliverables; 2. Past performance, as defined by: experience performing comparable work; quality and timeliness and customer satisfaction of previous work; 3. Experience of proposed personnel; and 4. Price. Contact Point: Brenda Long, Administrative Officer; U.S. Department of Education; 400 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20202; (202) 205-3697. Quotes are Due on February 12, 2007; 5:00PM. Submit quotes to brenda.long@ed.gov.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Washington, DC
- Zip Code: 20202
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20202
- Record
- SN01225725-W 20070207/070205220158 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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