SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- AAAS P3 Judging
- Notice Date
- 11/10/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- Contracting Office
- Environmental Protection Agency, National Procurement Contract Service Center, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw 3803r, Washington, DC 20460
- ZIP Code
- 20460
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ-DC-10-00031
- Response Due
- 11/24/2009
- Archive Date
- 12/24/2009
- Point of Contact
- Point of Contact, Harold Honegger, Purchasing Agent, Phone (202) 564-6234
- E-Mail Address
-
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(Honegger.Harold@epamail.epa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NAICS Code: 813920 The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of Acquisition Management, intends to issue a sole source firm-fixed price purchase order under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, to AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to support the People, Prosperity, and the Plant (P3) Program design judging competition. In 1993, AAAS, with support from the NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), initiated a project to examine the concept of "competitiveness" as it pertains to research institutions in order to identify strategies and enhance metrics to assess progress towards achieving competitiveness. Following the success of that effort, AAAS developed plans for a larger project that would go beyond studying the concept of competitiveness and use the resources of the AAAS to offer practical assistance to state EPSCoR programs and their participating institutions and researchers. In late 1996, AAAS established the Research Competitiveness Program (RCP) to house the expanded project and future related activities. The AAAS Research Competitiveness Program draws upon the resources of the American science and engineering community to assist institutions in planning, reviewing or evaluating programs and initiatives in research, development, and innovation. Due to the established mission of the Research Competitiveness Program, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the only institution which can offer such extensive experience in conducting independent peer reviews. As stated above, EPA intends to award this procurement on a sole source basis. Notwithstanding, any vendor that believes they are capable of meeting EPA's requirements as stated herein may submit evidence of such capability within 15 days of this posting. A determination not to compete the proposed purchase order based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All questions or comments regarding this procurement shall be addressed in writing to the Contract Specialist, Harold Honegger, at honegger.harold@epa.gov BACKGROUND: Achieving sustainability in the developed and developing worlds requires creative designs for scientific and technical innovations. Five years ago, EPA launched its P3 competition, a grant program for multidisciplinary teams of college and university students to design solutions to sustainability challenges and for their faculty advisors to use the grant opportunity to infuse sustainability principals into curricula. EPA's P3 Award competition begins with the receipt of Phase I grants at the start of the academic year. In April, all teams must submit their final reports from Phase I activities as well as their proposals for a Phase II grant i.e., what they would do with additional funding to take the project to testing and implementation. The teams bring their designs, prototypes, and other exhibition materials to the National Sustainable Design Expo (the Expo) on the National Mall in Washington, DC. A panel of judges convened by an external scientific professional organization evaluates the team's reports, exhibit and presentation, and proposal for the Phase II award. Based on their evaluations, the panel recommends to EPA at least 12 projects for receipt of the P3 Award (assuming the panel identifies that many projects that merit the P3 Award and additional funding) and Phase II grant funding. In this pool of recommended projects, to the extent possible, the judges are asked to ensure a distribution of projects across at least four of the six challenge areas and a distribution of projects between those proposed for the developed and developing world. This statement of work requests contractor support for the judging of EPA's P3 Phase I grantees for the next three years (2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012) for the purpose of recommending twelve teams from which the NCER Center Director will select the P3 Award winners who will also receive Phase II grant awards. TASK DESCRIPTION: The contractor shall provide the qualified personnel and staff support necessary to evaluate all the Phase I P3 projects, recommending Phase I P3 projects as P3 Award winners, and providing consolidated judges evaluations for each team. To provide this support, the contractor will perform the following sub tasks: 1. Identify a panel of judges who are leaders in the fields of engineering, water science, green chemistry, agriculture, green building design, waste issues, energy issues and/or sustainability to serve on the P3 Award evaluation panel, including providing on-site evaluations, at the Annual National Sustainable Design Expo in the Spring of each year on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The expertise of the selected judges should be based on the Phase I projects to be evaluated. 2. Once an individual agrees to serve as a judge, AAAS will forward their contact information to the EPA Project Officer so EPA can establish contracts with each individual through which the individual can be reimbursed for their review time, travel and expenses associated with serving as a judge on-site at the Expo. 3. The judges convened will be responsible for evaluation of the scientific quality and technical merit of the applications assigned to them and to provide the Agency with their critiques. Each judge must provide an independent score reflecting his or her assessment of each application. The highest score is excellent (E). Scores range downward as very good (VG), good (G), fair (F), and poor (P). The scores are defined as follows: Excellent: A truly outstanding proposal with numerous exceptional attributes.Very Good: A very strong proposal with many noteworthy merits.Good: A solid proposal but not among the best, may have some deficiencies.Fair: Not a strong proposal.Poor: A proposal with serious deficiencies. In addition to scoring the proposals, the judges are requested to indicate strengths and weaknesses of each proposal relative to the evaluation criteria provided in their individual critiques and in the summary evaluation. Particular attention should be paid to the research plan. 4. Deliver the Phase 1 P3 final reports and Phase 2 P3 proposals (a combined document for each team), to the judges three (3) weeks prior to the National Sustainable Design Expo. For 2010, the panel will receive the reports no later than March 30, 2010. The EPA Project Officer will manage delivery of these documents from the P3 teams. 5. Assign judges to each proposal such that each written proposal is read by a minimum of three judges and each team is visited by a minimum of four judges at the Expo. Among the judges that evaluate each proposal, assign a rapportuer to prepare the final written summary evaluation for each proposal. Each judge will be assigned 16-20 projects to review. Each judge will provide written evaluations for each proposal they review and each team they visit at the Expo. These written evaluations will be available at the judges' decision meeting and for consultation by the selected rapporteur when he/she prepares the summary evaluation for each team. 6. On the days of the competition (1) make local transportation arrangements for the judges so they can get where they need to be when they need to be there and (2) manage the process for obtaining and collating written records of the onsite interviews with the student teams, discussions and decision meeting following the interviews, and the preparation of a consolidated evaluation for each team. A written summary evaluation will be prepared for each team incorporating comments from the review of both the written project report and the team presentation at the Expo that summarizes the individual critiques and the discussion of the application that takes place at the panel meeting. 7. On the final day of the competition, manage the judge's decision meeting such that 12 teams are recommended to EPA to receive a P3 Award and additional funding, assuming there are twelve teams that the judges feel merit additional funding. Among these 12 teams, to the extent possible, at least 4 of the 6 challenge areas should be represented and there should be a distribution of projects between those proposed for the developed world and those proposed for the developing world between 40/60 and 60/40. A numerical ranking of all the teams shall be provided to the EPA Project Officer by 3:00 PM on the last day of the Expo event (for 2010, that will be April 27, 2010). ORD's National Center for Environmental Research will use this ranking, along with information on available resources, balance of the research portfolio, overall program goals and directions and other criteria or considerations deemed appropriate, to determine which teams will receive the P3 Awards and which teams will receive Honorable Mentions. Final funding decisions will be made by the NCER Director. 8. Deliver a written document summarizing the feedback received from the judges and AAAS staff on the judging activities and providing recommendations for improvement of the process and the evaluation criteria. This will be called the "Feedback Report." 9. Following delivery of "Feedback Report" described in Task 8, meet with EPA principals to share the AAAS feedback provided on the judging activities and recommendations provided for continued improvements. 10. Prior to exercising each Option Year, the contractor will work with the Project Officer to develop an appropriate deliverable schedule. MANAGEMENT CONTROLS The contractor shall provide status reports to the EPA project officer via email and teleconference as requested/needed.
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