National Center for Education Statistics State Partnership System

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) has a requirement for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect and report statistical data on the condition of education in the United States. To this end, NCES must work closely with State Education Agencies (SEAs) to ensure that the education data supplied to NCES are uniform, timely, and comparable. The primary purpose of this requirement is to establish a cooperative partnership that allows for NCES to work in support of states efforts to provide NCES with the educational data and information necessary to meet the Departments goal to make informed decisions and improve instruction through the use of data. This requirement has been developed to meet the goals set for the Partnership Program by establishing a contract mechanism through which NCES will support SEA participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) State Coordinator Program and related efforts to improve the implementation of NAEP in the states and other activities requiring involvement of the SEA's and NCES. NCES is providing funding for states to hire a full-time NAEP State Coordinator who serves as the liaison between the SEA and NCES. The Coordinator's duties include implementing and coordinating the NAEP administration in the state, promoting understanding and use of NAEP, and analyzing and reporting NAEP results. This requirement also supports participation in the Cooperative System and related projects designed to ensure uniform, comparable, and timely data. NCES anticipates that SEAs will work with the Center in the spirit of cooperation and mutual support that have characterized previous efforts to improve the quality of national education statistics. The Department seeks to negotiate and award sole-source firm-fixed-price contracts to 50 or how many SEAs in support of Public Law 107-279 Education Science Reform Act of 2002 and Public Law 107-110 No Child Left Behind, the Department will contract with SEAs to support participation in the NCES State Partnership System. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS and a solicitation will not be issued.