B--SYNOPSIS ONLY: Small Business Voucher and Lab-Corps Pilots

THIS IS A SYNOPSIS OF PROPOSED CONTRACT ACTION FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 5.203. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ). The Department of Energy (DOE), Golden Field Office (GFO) anticipates the issuance of a solicitation under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 12 - Acquisition of Commercial Items, and FAR Subpart 13.5 - Test Program for Certain Commercial Items. The U.S. Department of Energy?s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is commissioning impact and process evaluations for two national laboratory pilots aimed at supporting EERE?s national mission of producing high-impact research, development, and demonstration to make clean energy as affordable and convenient and breaking down barriers to market entry. This solicitation will result in a firm-fixed price (FFP) service type contract to engage the services of a contractor to conduct a rigorous evaluation of these pilots. The two laboratory pilots are: (1) Small Business Vouchers Pilot ? This pilot aims to, (a) Leverage national laboratory capabilities for economic development by establishing a laboratory voucher program for small business (b) Provide access to expertise, competencies, and equipment at all DOE national laboratories (2) Lab-Corps Pilot ? Announcements of this pilot are found at: (a) http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-announces-new-lab-program-accelerate-commercialization-clean-energy (b) http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/10/29/empowering-entrepreneurial-labs-new-lab-corps-program-accelerates-energy-technologie The purpose of the evaluation is to develop independent, quantitative estimates of the impacts as well as capture implementation lessons learned and make recommendations to DOE on ways to further improve the Lab-Corps and Small Business Vouchers investments if DOE wishes to scale up the investment after the pilot has ended. Refer to Attachment 1 and Attachment 2 draft Statements of Work (SOW) for each of the pilots. The pilots (Phase 1 and Phase 2) are expected to be completed within 61 months after the start of the project (assuming Phase 2 will be required). The estimated total magnitude for Phase 1 and Phase 2 is $550,000.00. The NAICS code for this requirement is 541618 with a size standard of $15.0. This requirement is not being set-aside for any small business concerns. DOE anticipates issuing a RFQ to award a contract to perform both impact and process evaluation of the two national laboratory pilots on or about January 5, 2015. The awardee will be expected to start up the project in early February. The RFQ will be posted on FedConnect (www.Fedconnect.net) and FedBizOps (www.fbo.gov). Copies of the RFQ will only be available on these systems. All future information about this RFQ, including any amendments, will also be available through FedConnect and FedBizOps. Interested parties are responsible for continuously monitoring these websites to ensure that they have the most recent information about this proposed contract action. The anticipated award date for this contract is February 9, 2015.