Workforce Data System (WDS) Development

***THIS IS A COMBINED SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE***

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking information from sources that may be capable of providing Workforce Data System (WDS) Development. If no alternate sources are identified, the Government intends to issue a Sole Source Award to Boston Consulting Group 200 Pier 4 Blvd, Boston, Ma 02210 under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541512. 

The Department of Commerce (DOC) CHIPS Program Office (CPO) has committed roughly $300 million to recipient-companies to ensure they will have the workers they need to meet their production obligations. While workforce funding mitigates the risk that investments will fail for a lack of workers, it introduces a different risk element to the CHIPS program – waste, fraud and mismanagement. To succeed, workforce funds will need to reach into regional training ecosystems. This means many more organizations using federal funds under a wide variety of circumstances. Without the Workforce Data System (WDS) to establish the intended purpose of each disbursement of workforce funds (via the Workforce Solution Funding Order), and then to provide a practical means to collect performance data to verify intended purposes are carried out, it is not possible to responsibly ensure CHIPS workforce funding is meeting recipient-company needs (i.e. money is not being wasted or mismanaged or, worse, is not being used fraudulently).

The WDS is a secure, Salesforce-based cloud application that is necessary for CPO to administer the Annex G workforce awards as advances and minimize fraud risk. This system is needed because CPO Workforce Funding disbursements differ from milestone disbursements: they are paid in advances via Workforce Solution Funding Orders, which establish the intended purpose of each disbursement of CHIPS workforce funds and details the performance data that will be collected to verify the intended purposes are being carried out.

Approximately 88% of the WDS has been completed. With the support of the Secretary’s Office, CPO has obtained the mostly built WDS. BCG developed the majority of WDS. This sole source procurement is to have BCG complete the remaining 12% of the WDS, within 60 days of award. The application’s architecture, source code, and proprietary components are owned and maintained by BCG. Therefore, no other source can complete the development of the WDS other than BCG within the 60-days required for WDS to be completed and delivered.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

• Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

• Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements.

• Whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization.

• Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

• For the NAICS code

• Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.
• If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement. 

• If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.
• Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.
• Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request!