NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) intends to issue a sole source firm fixed price contract to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) for agency membership. The contract is anticipated to be awarded on or about 31 June 2019 and will have 1-year base period and four 1-year option periods. This contract action is for items for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(2) and 13.501(a). DoDEA serves the educational needs of the dependents of military and civilian employees by providing PK-12 instruction to about 71,000 students in 163 brick-and-mortar schools and one virtual high school. Student enrollment varies based primarily on the deployment of military troops worldwide. DoDEA's curriculum, resources, and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems. In North America DoDEA runs 51 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoDEA operates 65 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Bahrain. In the Pacific, DoDEA has 47 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoDEA also operates a fully accredited Virtual High School with teaching hubs in the US, Europe, and the Pacific The average military-connected child moves 5-7 times during his or her PK-12 experience. DoDEA receives students from virtually every state and territory and sends students to virtually every state and territory. Because DoDEA tailors its curriculum and instruction to national standards and practices, membership in a national educational organization is essential. DoDEA is both a state educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA). Consequently, it benefits greatly from membership and participation in a national organization focused on elementary and secondary education, where chief state school officers and their senior staff meet to discuss and help formulate best practices in almost every curricular area. Often these best practices become national standards that all school systems, especially DoDEA, need to adopt. DoDEA requires both agency membership and participation in collaborative offering such as the ones listed below: - Mathematics State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) - Education Information Management Advisory Collaborative - Accountability Systems & Reporting SCASS - Social Studies SCASS - School and District Improvement SCASS - Early Childhood Education SCASS - English Language Arts SCASS - Technical Issues in Large Scale Assessment - Assessing Special Education Students SCASS - Teaching, Leading, & Learning Collaborative - English Language Learners SCASS - Career Readiness Collaborative - Science SCASS - Student-Centered Learning Collaborative The number and type of groups required by DoDEA may vary each year due to the fact that DoDEA's requirements for building-capacity support and the availability of groups being offered may vary. Only one source, CCSSO is capable of providing the services required at the level of quality required because they are unique/highly specialized. CCSSO is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, District of Columbia, Bureau of Indian Education, and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions including DoDEA. Because of its unique membership, CCSSO serves as a "voice" for states with the federal government and as an independent advocate for state and local authorities. Around the globe nations are struggling to find the best mix of centralized and decentralized power to assure the most effective performance of their students gauged by international benchmarks. In the United States, CCSSO is uniquely placed to help fashion the best balance between those forces/goals. For many years DoDEA has participated in CCSSO meetings. Since 2014, DoDEA has contracted with CCSSO primarily to provide capacity-building support for the implementation of the College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (HE1254-14-P-0012) across DoDEA's schools. The 3-year K-12 CCRS mathematics implementation has been successfully completed. The 3-year K-12 English language arts/literacy implementation is in its second year and is also successful. CCSSO is the only nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education. Members include almost every state, District of Columbia, DoDEA, Bureau of Indian Education and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO has a national influence on education legislation because it brings together dedicated leaders with the goal of gathering/harnessing exceptional ideas to achieve measurable progress for every student. No other entity has such extensive, high level membership and national influence. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations. Interested parties who believe they can meet this requirement shall submit information regarding their capabilities on or before the response date for this notice. All information shall be furnished at no cost or obligation to the Government. No solicitation will be made available. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. All questions and responses concerning this notice shall be emailed to Ms. Shiran Zerach at
[email protected] and Mr. Alim Koroma at
[email protected] no later than 4:00 PM EST, 25 April 2019.