SOURCES SOUGHT
U -- Validity Study and Evaluation Reports of Current and Proposed Speaking and Reading Proficiency Tests - PWS
- Notice Date
- 11/4/2013
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541618
— Other Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of State, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Institute, Office of Acquisitions, FSI/EX/ACQ, 4000 Arlington Boulevard, SA-42 Room F2130, Arlington, Virginia, 22204, United States
- ZIP Code
- 22204
- Solicitation Number
- 10314500003
- Archive Date
- 11/27/2013
- Point of Contact
- Nadia Shokry, Phone: (703) 302-6804
- E-Mail Address
-
ShokryNO@state.gov
(ShokryNO@state.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Performance Work Statement and RFI Requirements Validity Study and Evaluation Reports of Current and Proposed Speaking and Reading Proficiency Tests for the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) 1.Introduction 1.1.Summary of Project (FSI reserves the right to split the award by line items): The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) requires validation studies and evaluations of its current and proposed Speaking and Reading language proficiency tests: Line Item 1: Contractor shall produce a validation study of the existing FSI Speaking & Reading tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Line Item 2: The contractor shall provide an evaluation report of the proposed FSI Speaking tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Line Item 3: Contractor shall provide a, evaluation report of 3 proposed FSI language Reading test choices. The report shall include a recommendation for which of the 3 choices would be most appropriate for FSI based on FSI existing resources and FSI's needs assessment. 1.2.Background: Created in the 1980s, FSI's Speaking and Reading tests were based on existing research at the time, a survey of Foreign Service needs and the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) language proficiency scale, available on the www.govtilr.org site. Tasks that Foreign Service Officers performed at post were the basis for the Speaking test. Printed text was the basis for the Reading test. A changing world prompted the Foreign Service Institute's leadership to test the validity of the FSI Speaking and Reading test in its current and proposed formats. 1.3.The Foreign Service Institute (FSI): FSI provides language testing services in 71 languages for Department of State personnel and in over 100 languages for client agencies. The U.S. presence abroad is different now than it was in the 1980s. Spoken language routines have changed in the last 30 years. Reading media have changed as well, and printed newspapers are no longer the main source of local information. Foreign Service personnel are all "ambassadors" of U.S. policy abroad. They browse the Internet, adjust fonts according to reading preferences, access social media and collect information using many different platforms and formats. The Department of State's direction to increase our Foreign Service presence abroad and improve its language capacity, together with two review studies of the FSI Reading test, as well as discussions with Foreign Service Officers, point to the need to evaluate the validity of both FSI tests. 2.Contractor's Responsibilities 2.1.Deliverable Products and Services: The contractor will present progress reports for consideration by FSI followed by a meeting at FSI to discuss outcomes. FSI can request progress report revisions and suggest changes after each meeting. This progress report is due on the last business day of each month of the project period of performance; Line Item 1: The contractor shall produce a validation study of the existing FSI Speaking & Reading tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The validation study shall relate to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) levels 1, 2, 3, & 4. Validation study shall also reference ASTM International standards as appropriate. Line Item 2: The contractor shall provide an evaluation report according to the ILR scale and ASTM International standards of practice, as appropriate, of the proposed FSI Speaking tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese for the ILR levels 1, 2, 3, & 4. FSI will provide a description of the proposed Speaking test; see 8. Appendices. Line Item 3: Contractor shall provide an evaluation report of 3 proposed FSI language Reading test choices. The report shall include a recommendation for which of the 3 choices would be most appropriate for FSI based on FSI's existing resources and FSI's needs assessment. FSI will supply a description of the 3 choices for a proposed FSI language Reading test, FSI's guidance on resources, and FSI's needs assessment. 2.2.Completion Criteria: The contractor shall furnish one written and one electronic version of each study/report. The documents shall be in Microsoft Word format. 2.3.Meetings and Correspondence: The contractor will supply names of all individuals attending FSI meetings and visits at least three (3) business days prior to the agreed upon date and time. 3.FSI's Responsibilities 3.1.Decision Making Authority: Only a Contracting Officer (CO) may enter into agreement with the contractor. Only a CO can make modifications to the contract through a modification. No performance on a requested change order shall be performed until the contractor has received a contract modification signed by the CO. The performance of services, which are outside the scope of work described within this document, requires the written approval of the CO prior to implementation. The government will not pay the contractor for services considered to be outside the scope of work or performed without the CO's approval. Prior approval by the CO for subcontracting is required and must be documented. 3.2.Technical Direction: The Contracting Officer Representative (COR), Alternation Contracting Officer Representative (ACOR), or Government Technical Monitor (GTM) shall provide guidance regarding the interpretation of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and the implementation of services. The contractor is expected to carry out responsibilities in a professional and timely manner as defined in the PWS. The Government will not provide continuous step-by-step instruction to the contractor on their performance; the Government will provide the requirement and necessary information and the contractor will be responsible for fulfilling the requirement without direct supervision. The COR does not have the authority to make changes in this PWS or in the terms and conditions of this contract; any necessary changes are only made by the CO in the form of a modification. The contractor is forewarned that the Government will not compensate any additional work by the contractor if it is not authorized in the contract. 3.3.FSI-Furnished Items: FSI will make available to the contractor at the post award orientation: The FSI Test Manual 2012 edition, containing detailed descriptions of testing protocol and materials; A detailed description of the structure of the proposed FSI Speaking test (currently in development); Results of FSI survey on language needs at post; Report on proposed Reading test development models. After the post award orientation, the contractor may arrange To view, only at FSI, Speaking and Reading samples of the current test in the languages listed above, at all required ILR levels. FSI will provide a room the contractor can use when viewing the Speaking and Reading samples; To consult with one or more members of FSI's testing staff. 4.Schedule Line Item 1: Within six months from the award, contractor shall produce a validation study of the existing FSI Speaking & Reading tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The validation study shall relate to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) levels 1, 2, 3, & 4. Validation study shall also reference ASTM International standards as appropriate. Line Item 2: Within six months of the completed validation study in Line Item 1, contractor shall provide an evaluation report based on the ILR scale and according to ASTM International standards of practice, as appropriate, of the proposed FSI Speaking tests in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Line Item 3: Within three months from the completed validation study in Line Item 1, the contractor shall provide an evaluation report of 3 proposed FSI language Reading test choices. The report shall include a recommendation for which of the 3 choices would be most appropriate based on FSI existing resources and FSI's needs assessment. 5.Pricing and Payment The contractor will paid a fully loaded firm-fixed price for each line item below, if all reports and services are inspected and accepted by the Government. CLIN 1_ $ CLIN 2_ $ CLIN 3_ $ 6.Additional Terms and Conditions Data Rights: All materials developed by the contractor become the property of the Government, and the contractor may not copy or reproduce them in any way except internally by the contractor when necessary to perform the contracted tasks, share them by any means outside of FSI, or publish them in any fashion without the express permission of the FSI Division Director of language testing. 7.Contractor Personnel The contractor shall document all educational background and extensive knowledge of establishing testing protocols for second language speaking and reading skills of all key individuals proposed to fulfill this requirement. The contractor's proposed personnel are expected to perform the work that FSI requires. The contractor shall not make any changes to the key personnel indicated in the proposal without the prior review and approval by the COR. 8.Appendices Current FSI Test: Instructions to FSI Language Test Takers (Current Test) The Speaking Test has three sections. The tasks examinees will be asked to perform are: PART I_ The examinee will have a conversation in the language with the Tester on social, personal, and current event topics. PART II_ The examinee will give an oral report on a topic which you select from choices provided by the testing team. These topics have bullets with suggestions that the examinee may use in the report. The examinee may use these suggestions or may draw on his/her own knowledge and experience about the topic. The examinee is requested to stay within the topic and concentrate on America in the report. Afterward, the examinee is expected to respond to follow-up discussion questions. PART III_ The examinee will obtain information, facts, and opinions from the Tester on his/her country of origin in the language of the test on a topic that the examinee selects from several choices. Once the examinee has gathered enough information, the examinee will stop the Tester and report in English to the Examiner what s/he learned. The examinee will be expected to ask a new question after each report in English. This demonstrates the examinee's understanding and ability to manage an interaction in accomplishing a specific task. The Reading Test has two sections. The tasks examinees will be asked to perform are: PART I_ The examinee will have 6 minutes to read through six short texts in the language of the test and then tell the testing team about the general meaning and subject matter of the text you read. The texts in this section vary widely in subject matter and difficulty. Reporting on texts is done in English. PART II_ The examinee will have 7 minutes to read in detail two longer texts selected from several choices. The examinee will provide the main idea and as many supporting details as s/he you can in their own words. Following the examinee's initial report, the examinee may be asked to re-read portions of the text, elaborate on what s/he already reported on, or provide more details. Reporting on texts is done in English. Other Information about FSI Language Tests During the Speaking exam, the Tester interacts with examinees only in the tested language. All interaction between examinees and the testing team during the Reading Exam is in English. Because the testing team is only interested in examinees' language proficiency, they need not divulge personal information, and may answer questions any way they like. Examinees are invited to answer all questions regardless of their point of view. Points of view and opinions that examinees express during the test do not affect the rating. The whole FSI test, Speaking, Reading, and evaluation takes approximately 2.5 hours. In most cases, examinees receive the results and feedback on their performance within 30 minutes of the end of the test. Evaluating examinees' performance The testing team considers several dimensions in evaluating test performance. For the Speaking Exam, examinees are evaluated on their ability to: Understand face-to-face interaction (comprehension); Ability to organize their language and present ideas appropriately, effectively, and logically both in interaction and in extended speech (discourse); Ability to use the grammatical and vocabulary features of the language in an accurate and appropriate manner (structure and lexicalization); Ability and ease with which they speak the tested language (fluency). For the Reading Test, examinees are evaluated on their ability to: Derive overall meaning from a text (overall comprehension); Understand the words used in the text (lexical comprehension) and of any contextual and implied meaning (discourse comprehension); Ability to navigate through grammar (structural comprehension); Ability and ease with which they read and process the texts (fluency). The testing team compares examinees' test performance with specific performance level descriptions for each of these factors. They put together a profile of examinees' performance based on these descriptions, which is then matched to the description of the proficiency level that fits. Examinees are given an 'S' (speaking) and 'R' (reading) score (e.g., S 1 R 1). The proficiency levels are those described in the ILR Skill Level Descriptions. There are six base levels, 0 through 5. Level 5 represents language ability equivalent to that of a highly articulate well-educated native speaker, whereas level 0 represents no usable proficiency. In instances where examinees' performance show characteristics of a higher proficiency level, but not consistently at the higher level, a '+' is added. Proposed FSI Speaking Test: Instructions to FSI Language Test Takers (Current Test) The Speaking Test has three sections. The tasks examinees will be asked to perform are: PART I_ Examinees will be invited to provide some information about themselves. The tester will draw a daily life topic from that data set and follow up with a conversation in the language on social, personal, and current event topics. PART II_ The examinee will receive a set of 6 topics illustrative of State Department and USAID career tracks. Some of these topics are of general interest to accommodate new hires and examinees from client agencies. The examinee and the tester will have a discussion about the selected topic. The examinee is requested to stay within the topic and concentrate on American standards. PART III_ Remains the same as in the current Speaking test. 9.Evaluation Factors for Award: All proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria. The first three technical factors: Understanding of Work, Proposed Resources and Approach, and Personnel Qualifications are of equal importance and when combined with Past Performance are more important than Price. Sub-factors listed under each factor are of equal importance to each other. A proposal that has no weaknesses and no particular strengths above and beyond meeting the basic requirements defined for a particular evaluation criteria element, will receive less than the full credit available on that element. To achieve the full credit for an element, the proposal must go well beyond the requirement. The most highly rated proposals will offer exceptionally innovative or particularly well thought out or insightful methods, procedures, solutions or new opportunities for major improvements. Quality Understanding of Work: _ Capabilities Statement _ Demonstrated ability to work effectively in cooperation and collaboration with client representative(s), with minimal direct guidance, to accomplish a common goal. Proposed Resources and Approach: This criterion will be scored on the strength of the proposed resources and approach that the Offeror will commit to the contract to address the requirements. The Government will evaluate the Offeror on their entire proposed technical approach for meeting the scope of work and General requirements and performance standards. The Offeror's proposal will be evaluated on evidence of specific methods, techniques, and approaches that demonstrate the ability to meet the requirements of the Language Testing Unit. Proposed methods and techniques will include, but are not limited to: Proficiency testing evaluation Organizational structure Staffing Plan Quality Assurance Implementation plan as applicable Personnel Qualifications: Formal academic training or education in foreign or second language testing. The Government will evaluate, at minimum, information contained in the resumes submitted with the proposal, of the proposed Key Personnel and staff. Evaluation will be based on the extent to which personnel submitted by the Offeror meet, or exceed skills, experience and education required in performing the work. The proposal must include resumes of the following: * Key personnel * Alternate key personnel * All other proposed personnel available to fulfill the requirement Past performance: This criterion will be scored on the degree of relevancy and success in past performance efforts of a similar scope, size, complexity, and subject matter. The evaluation will focus on the Offeror's technical understanding and technical capability as demonstrated by the size, scope, complexity, and results achieved in the completion of actual contracts/task orders similar to those expected under this contract. Technically complex tasks will be rated more highly than tasks of lesser size, scope, and complexity. The evaluation will also focus on innovative approaches taken and results achieved by the Offeror in prior complex engagements. The Offeror shall identify three (3) contracts/task orders with the Federal Government and/or commercial customers that demonstrate recent and relevant past performance in the field of foreign language proficiency testing. Recent is defined as within the last three years. Relevant is defined as work similar in complexity and magnitude of the work described in this Performance Work Statement. In addition the Offeror shall specifically address the following; Successful past performance with conducting validity studies in the area of communicative, proficiency-oriented foreign language testing; Past performance evaluating successful testing instruments built for adult foreign language proficiency testing and demonstrated knowledge and understanding of adult learning principles; Successful experience applicable to applying research and development tools in support of communicative, proficiency-oriented foreign language testing. Price Price will be evaluated by the acquisitions office aside from the technical and past performance evaluation. A contract may be awarded to other than the lowest priced proposal. FSI seeks the best overall value. However, in cases where proposals are technically equivalent or substantially similar, cost and price may become the determining selection factor. RFI Summary and Instructions: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Please note this is market research only. This inquiry is not implying intent to buy and is in no way committing Government funds or intention to commit funds. Furthermore, this RFI does not obligate the Government to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). All costs incurred through your response are the vendor's responsibility. 1.The RFI closing date is November 12, 2013 at 13:00 ET; 2.Submit all questions or responses to Nadia Shokry at ShokryNO@state.gov; 3.Please include "Validity Studies of and Evaluation Studies of Current and Proposed Speaking and Reading Proficiency Tests" in the e-mail subject line; 4.Responses should include: i.Primary point of contact information: Name; Academic faculty or business title; Institution or organization affiliation; Email address; Phone; ii.A brief summary of all experience in foreign language validity testing; 5.Capabilities statement 6.Description of past performance on similar projects 7.References 8.Recommendations to improve the current Statement of Work 9.Estimate the fully loaded firm-fixed price for the requirements stated above corresponding to each CLIN: Validation study of the FSI Speaking and Reading test; evaluation report of the proposed Speaking test; evaluation report of 3 proposed FSI language Reading test choices. 10.List all questions and concerns about this requirement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/State/FSI/GSACQ/10314500003/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 4000 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, Virginia, 22204, United States
- Zip Code: 22204
- Zip Code: 22204
- Record
- SN03227196-W 20131106/131104235816-22dda063e2e6ad0063fadb29061fec8f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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