Special Notice - Request for Information and Sources Sought Notice Number: RFI 61677 Key Dates:Issue Date: 5/21/10Response Due Date: 5/28/10 by 2:00 pm Eastern Standard TimePlease ensure your e-mail response has "RFI # 61677" in the subject line. Issued by:The Department of Interior's NBC Acquisition Services Directorate - Herndon on behalf of the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa RFI Objective: In accordance with FAR 15.201 - Exchanges With Industry Before Receipt of Proposals and FAR 5.205(c) - Special Notices, the Government is seeking market research, sources sought, and general industry information to aid in finalizing a statement of work or objectives requirements document which will be included in an upcoming solicitation. The projected RFQ/RFP will solicit submissions leading to an award to study and report on the short and long-term economic impact and social benefits arising from the FY09 and FY10 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115, 512-13 (2009) (Recovery Act).) BTOP grant awards. If and when a future study analysis requirement is issued, it will be advertised in accordance with Recovery Act requirements and posted to the Federal Business Opportunities web site at FedBizOpps.gov (FBO.gov). The Government is asking for interested qualified firms to review this notice and respond as stated under the "How to Respond" section of this document. Purpose and Requirement Information: The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) of the NTIA is planning to conduct an evaluation study that will qualitatively and quantitatively assess BTOP's benefits and overall impact. Given the purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act or ARRA) to stimulate the economy in the near-term and provide long-term economic growth, NTIA is interested in conducting a thorough assessment of the benefits that BTOP grant awards are having on broadband availability and adoption, and in achieving economic and social benefits in areas served by the grantees. The assessment should also seek to inform the Federal Government on its consideration of the return on investment from BTOP grant funding, as well as identifying factors influencing performance and impact that can be used to inform future private and/or public sector investments. More specifically, NTIA seeks to measure and assess the benefits of BTOP investments in the areas where they serve; it is not the purpose of this study to measure nationwide changes in broadband adoption, availability, or other macroeconomic outcomes. Accordingly, the BTOP is soliciting input from those who undertake economic impact analyses, including stakeholders from research institutions, academia, the broadband community, and others, about the scope of evaluation studies regarding BTOP's impact on broadband availability and adoption as well as its economic and social benefits. Background: The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is the President's principal adviser on telecommunications and information policy issues and in this role frequently works with other Executive Branch agencies to develop and present the Administration's positions on these issues. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided NTIA with $4.7 billion to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service, and develop and maintain a nationwide public map of broadband service capability and availability. The Recovery Act instructed NTIA to implement the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to promote five core purposes:a. To provide access to broadband service to consumers residing in unserved areas of the country;b. To provide improved access to broadband service to consumers residing in underserved areas of the country;c. To provide broadband education, awareness, training, access, equipment, and support to: (i) schools, libraries, medical and healthcare providers, community colleges and other institutions of higher learning, and other community support organizations; (ii) organizations and agencies that provide outreach, access, equipment, and support services to facilitate greater use of broadband services by vulnerable populations (e.g., low-income, unemployed, aged); or (iii) job-creating strategic facilities located in state- or federally-designated economic development zones;d. To improve access to, and use of, broadband service by public safety agencies; ande. To stimulate the demand for broadband, economic growth, and job creation. In facilitating the expansion of broadband infrastructure and adoption of broadband services, NTIA aims to advance the objectives of the Recovery Act to spur job creation and stimulate economic growth and opportunity. Additionally, NTIA seeks to fund projects that will provide long-term economic and social benefits, including improvements to healthcare delivery, education, innovation, and the Nation's global competitive position. NTIA has issued two Notices of Funds Availability (NOFAs), copies of which are available at www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa, outlining the objectives, rules, and processes that will govern the award and administration of BTOP grants. As described in these documents in greater detail, BTOP has three types of awards for broadband investment: - Infrastructure [including Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI)]: Projects to deploy new or improved broadband Internet facilities (e.g., laying new fiber-optic cables, upgrading wireless towers) to connect households, businesses and "community anchor institutions" such as schools, libraries, hospitals, and public safety facilities. Infrastructure projects funded by BTOP include middle mile or last mile projects. CCI projects are middle mile broadband infrastructure projects that offer new or substantially-upgraded service to community anchor institutions and can include a last mile infrastructure component. - Public Computer Centers (PCC): Projects to establish new public computer facilities or upgrade existing ones that provide broadband access to the general public or to specific vulnerable populations, such as low-income individuals, the unemployed, seniors, children, minorities, and people with disabilities. - Sustainable Broadband Adoption (SBA): Projects to provide a focus on increasing broadband Internet usage and adoption, including projects among vulnerable populations where broadband technology traditionally has been underutilized. Many projects include digital literacy training and outreach campaigns to increase the relevance of broadband in the public's everyday lives. As of May 2010, NTIA has awarded 82 BTOP grants totaling $1.2 billion, with nearly half of the awards applied to Infrastructure projects (predominantly middle mile). NTIA's priority has been to fund projects that enhance broadband connections to anchor institutions such as schools, libraries, health care facilities, and other entities. NTIA's Round Two of funding, launched on January 22, 2010, allocated approximately $2.6 billion for grants across PCC, SBA, and CCI project categories. The Recovery Act requires that all BTOP grants be obligated by September 30, 2010 and that BTOP projects be substantially complete within two years of the award date. The Program's rules require projects to be fully complete within three years of the award date. Data about the grantees' performance will be made available through quarterly and annual Progress Reports that will be published via www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa. These reports will include, among other things, detailed progress in achieving broadband infrastructure deployment milestones, connections to community anchor institutions, homes, and businesses, public computer workstations made available to the public, and the number of broadband subscribers generated by BTOP's sustainable broadband adoption projects. In addition, grantees will report information about their use of funds and jobs created, among other requirements, via www.recovery.gov. These data and performance measures will be among the inputs useful in conducting the assessment. Request for Information and Market Research: I. Program Information: 1. Briefly describe the types of research study designs and economic impact analytic approaches that would be useful for evaluating the BTOP program's effectiveness. 2. As described previously, NTIA must award all BTOP grants by September 30, 2010. Projects must be substantially complete within two years of the award date and fully complete within three years of the award. Considering these timeframes, briefly describe evaluation approaches that will help to measure the near-term as well as the long-term benefits of BTOP investments. Based on your firm's experience, what approach, method, and program areas would be beneficial to study for program evaluation? What types of benefits are reasonable to expect in the near-term (1-2 years from the award date), and what benefits should be expected long-term (2-5 years from award date or beyond)? 3. NTIA expects to award more than 200 grants by September 30, 2010. Given that number, would you propose to evaluate every grant or a sample of total grants? If the latter (other than evaluating 100% of the recipients), describe a sampling methodology and approach to yield a representative sample of awards to be used for an assessment which takes into account geographic location, type of award, and other relevant factors. Explain how the assessment should incorporate case studies of BTOP projects and the areas they benefit and or impact. 4. List potential approaches you would recommend to incorporating both quantitative as well as qualitative approaches to measuring BTOP benefit and or impact in the study. 5. Given NTIA's priority of awarding infrastructure grants that enhance broadband capabilities for anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals, libraries and other entities, please indicate approaches that would measure both the economic impacts of BTOP projects as well as the social benefits of BTOP projects, such as on healthcare, education, innovation, and public safety, as well as other appropriate objectives that have been identified in the Recovery Act. Describe an approach to gathering relevant data from anchor institutions benefitting from BTOP investments. 6. Identify your recommended methods of measuring the benefit and or impact in communities that have received BTOP investments against baseline communities that did not receive BTOP funds. 7. Describe the skills, qualifications, and experiences that NTIA should consider in evaluating proposals for undertaking such a study. The following items (8-11) will not count against the 10 page limitation for your firm's response to this RFI: 8. List what data collection instruments exist to measure relevant factors at various levels. If possible, please cite specific instruments and their sources. Also identify any possibly new data collection instruments that might help inform such an assessment. 9. Identify strategies that could be used to assure that government-funded research conducted here can create tools, data sets and methodologies that can be used by other researchers in the field on an open-access basis. 10. Provide input on the deliverables NTIA should expect at the conclusion of the assessment (approximately four years from start date), as well as interim milestones and deliverables that should be expected from the study. 11. Describe any other information you feel would be helpful in designing this study. The following items under the Business and Acquisition Information section will not count against the 10 page limitation for your firm's response to this RFI: II. Business and Acquisition Information: 1. Does your firm specialize in preparing research studies similar to this project's scope? Briefly explain. 2. Does your firm have broadband technology experience? 3. Does your firm have economic analysis experience? 4. Does your firm currently hold a GSA Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) Schedule 874-1? Also, if you have another GSA schedule that can be utilized for this requirement, please identify it. 5. Is your firm a small business? If so, what socio-economic category is the firm registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) web site (CCR.gov or https://www.bpn.gov/ccr/)? 6. As the total benefit will not be received by the Government until a final report or deliverable has been accepted, the Government is planning to execute this requirement as a non-severable project. Please identify the most advisable payment schedule and or structure for such an assessment. Given a projected level of effort, would your firm be interested in performing this study as a fixed-priced, fixed-price level of effort, time and materials or a hybrid award type. What experience does your firm have with your proposed structure and why do you believe it to be the most advisable? Among the resources that are available to provide additional detail regarding BTOP's objectives, purposes, and implementation progress are the Notices of Funds Availability, Congressional testimony, Project Descriptions, Quarterly BTOP Reports to Congress, and Applications Database, available at www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandusa. Additional background regarding the purposes, objectives, and requirements of BTOP are contained in Section 6001 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. DISCLAIMER This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or obligation on the part of the Government. The Government does not plan to issue an award on the basis of the responses to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government's use of such information. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of the Government's evaluation of responses. No basis for claims against the government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or the Government's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent announcement. Any proprietary information should be so marked. HOW TO RESPOND Responses in any of these areas are welcome. Respondents should not feel compelled to address all items. Please limit your response to no more than ten (10) pages total (excluding Section I's Program Information - Items 8-11) and Section II's Business and Acquisition Information.). Responses should be identified with this Notice Identifier "RFI # 61677" and are due by 5/28 /10 at 2:00PM EST. Please submit your responses to this announcement via email to Gregory Ruderman at
[email protected] and to Brian Baker at
[email protected]. The due date for responses to this RFI # 61677 is on or before 5/28 /10 by 2:00 pm EST. Please ensure your e-mail response has "RFI # 61677" in the subject line.