Immigration & Naturalization Service, Procurement Division, 425 I St., NW, Room 2208, Washington, DC 20536

99 -- ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS (TESTS) SOL COW-0-R-0022 DUE 030300 POC Mary Rouse 202/353-7621; Andrea Grimsley 202/514-3420; Kethy Kallinikos 202/514-0017 E-MAIL: click here to contact the contract specialist via, Mary.C.Rouse@usdoj.gov. (i)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. (ii) Solicitation number COW-0-R-0022 is issued as a request for proposal (RFP). (iii) The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 97-13. (iv -- Not applicable). (v) The contract line item is: Assessment Instrument; quantity of two. (vi) Description/ Statement of Work: Assessment instruments for entry level selection Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) law enforcement occupations. BACKGROUND: The INS uses test batteries to select qualified applicants for employment in law enforcement positions. Fifteen to thirty thousand applicants are assessed annually. PURPOSE: INS is interested in expanding its assessment strategy to include construct areas not covered by the current test batteries. INS is interested in purchasing the right to use existing, validated assessment instruments in one or more validation studies. The Government intends to acquire two assessment instruments. INS may be interested in purchasing the right to use the assessment instruments as part of a selection battery in a nationwide testing program. INS will only consider existing machine-scorable assessment instruments that have a track record of reliability, validity, and low adverse impact (effect size < .70). Preference will be given to assessment instruments which have criterion-related validity evidence in the context of one or more Federal law enforcement occupations. INS is particularly interested in receiving offers with respect to assessments of personal characteristics that have been identified in INS studies as being important for success in INS law enforcement positions. These characteristics are: conscientiousness, cooperativeness, sensitivity to the needs of others, emotional maturity, initiative, and integrity/honesty. INS is also interested in receiving offers with respect to biodata assessments and assessments of cognitive skills (reasoning and decision-making). SCOPE OF WORK/TASKS: INS will print the assessment instruments, distribute the assessment instruments to the field sites, provide answer sheets, score the assessment instruments, and produce the score reports. The contractor shall provide the following. Task 1: Provide Assessment Instruments. The Contractor shall provide a personality, biodata, and/or cognitive assessment instruments that have been validated on job performance criteria that are relevant to law enforcement occupations. The assessment instruments shall measure any or all of the following constructs: conscientiousness, cooperativeness, sensitivity to the needs of others, emotional maturity, initiative, integrity/honesty, work competency, leadership, and cognitive skills (reasoning and decision-making).The assessment instruments shall comply with the following minimum design specifications. (a)VALIDITY: Each assessment instrument shall show significant validity for predicting a criterion of job performance in one or more samples of law enforcement officers. The documentation of validity shall include sample size, examinee characteristics (including incumbent occupation), type of criterion, and type of statistical correction. Preference will be given to assessments that have validity evidence for a U.S. Federal Government law enforcement occupation. (b) CONSTRUCTS: The documentation of each assessment instrument shall include the title and definition of constructs measured. (c) RELIABILITY: Each assessment instrument shall show good reliability evidence. The documentation of reliability shall include sample size, examinee characteristics (applicant/incumbent), and type of reliability. (d) AVERAGE DIFFERENCES: Each assessment instrument shall minimize the average differences in scores (effect size) between race and national origin subgroups and between males and females. The documentation shall include sample size and examinee characteristics (race and national origin, and gender). Instruments that do not have data for African American and Hispanic test-takers will not be considered. (e) NON-OFFENSIVE/INTRUSION: The assessment instruments must not include any items that would be offensive to any group or be regarded as intrusive. In addition, self-report instruments should identify events under the control of the individual and should be perceived as job-relevant. Biodata items should lend themselves to independent verification. (f) HISTORICAL USAGE: Each assessment instrument should have a history of prior usage for selection into law enforcement positions. The documentation shall include usage history (includes a-c above). (g) DURATION: The assessment instruments must not be lengthy. Assessment instruments administered in 60 minutes or less are preferred. The documentation shall include the number of items andadministrative time required. Task 2: Provide Scoring Keys. A complete, detailed description of the scoring key, formula, or program must be provided. INS will have responsibility for scoring the assessment instruments and producing the score reports. Task 3: Provide Security. The Contractor shall take all necessary steps to safeguard the security of the assessment instrument materials. The Contractor shall have a stated policy that precludes the disclosure of the contents of the assessment instrument by the Contractor and by any other user of the assessment instrument. The Contractor shall provide INS with a copy of such policy and notify INS of any possible compromise of the assessment instrument's content by the Contractor or by any other user. The Contractor must have a successful past performance record of dealing effectively with any test compromise that might have occurred. The Contractor shall detail the procedures that are followed to control the security of the assessment materials. The Contractor shall describe the type and number of test compromise incidents, if any, in the preceding 5 year period and the corrective actions taken to mitigate those circumstances. DELIVERABLES: The Contractor shall deliver a camera ready copy of the assessment instrument, grant a reproduction license, provide scoring programs and keys, and provide the administration protocol to INS. These deliverables shall be provided in hard copy as well as on computer-readable diskette. Text documents should be in Microsoft Word. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED RESOURCES: None. TRAVEL: No travel is expected or approved. SITE: 100% at Contractor-furnished offices. CONTRACT: The Government may award one contract for the two required assessment instruments or two contracts for one assessment instrument each. It is anticipated that INS will award an indefinite delivery contract with firm-fixed pricing. The minimum quantity will be 1,000 user rights for each of the two assessment instruments required. The maximum quantity will be 30,000 user rightsfor each assessment instrument per year. The(Each) contract will be written for one year with four option years. The total duration of any contract shall not exceed 60 months. Therefore, the contract cumulative maximum quantity will be 150,000 user rights for each assessment instrument. PROPOSAL PRICING: Proposal pricing should be submitted for a lot of 1,000 users and for 10,000 users of each assessment instrument. Discounts for volume purchases may also be noted. CONTRACT AWARD: The Government anticipates award by April 1, 2000. (vii) Within 10 days after contract award, delivery will be made to INS, 425 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20536. (viii) FAR 52.212-1, "Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items", is incorporated by reference. The Contractor's proposal must include two parts; technical (including the assessment instrument) with past performance information (to include a minimum of two references and the number of user licenses acquired) and pricing. Failure to provide all of the information requested may render the Contractor technically unacceptable and, therefore, ineligible for contract award. (ix) FAR 52-212-2, "Evaluation-Commercial Items", is incorporated by reference. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Technical scoring will be compiled from compliance with each Task described in the Statement of Work as follows. Task 1, assessment instruments, will be evaluated in terms of conformance to the design specifications. The offeror must thoroughly describe how each assessment instrument meets and/or exceeds these design specifications. Task 2, scoring keys, will be evaluated in terms of completeness and appropriateness for Federal Government merit system selection. Task 3, security, will be evaluated on comprehensive effectiveness and past performance record. The technical evaluation factors and subfactors, in descending order of importance are: [1] Task 1: Design Specifications (b), (c), and (d) are equally important, but slightly less important than (a). Design Specifications (e), (f), and (g) are slightly less important than (b), (c) and (d). [2] Task 3. [3] Task 2. Technical and past performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price. The more equal the technical and past performance scoring, the greater importance is price. (x) Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, "Offeror, Representations and Certification-Commercial Items", with their proposal. (xi) FAR 52-212-3, "Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items", is incorporated by reference. (xii) FAR 52-212-4, "Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items", is incorporated by reference. The following additional FAR clause cited in 52.212-5 applies: 52.239-1, "Privacy or Security Safeguards." (xiii, xiv and xv -- Not applicable.) (xvi) All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by INS. Four copies of the proposal are requested and due Friday, March 3, 2000 in sealed envelopes/packages nolater than 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Proposals shall be clearly marked as "Open by addressee only, RFP #COW-0-R-0022," and addressed as follows: "INS, Attn: Mary C. Rouse, HQ-PRO Room 2208, 425 I Street, NW, Washington DC 20536". (xvii) For information, fax questions to Mary C. Rouse at (202) 514-3353. Interested parties are encouraged to review the CBD for amendments to the solicitation in the interim time until award of this requirement. Posted 02/11/00 (W-SN424468). (0042)

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