SAM #HE125427SIRFI

DoWEA market research for an SI-enabled education solution and licenses for grades 3–8

DoWEA is conducting market research for an enterprise SI-enabled education solution for grades 3–8, serving students and educators across its schools. - Government buyer: Department of War (DoW), Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA), within the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). - Opportunity: Sources Sought market research for a configurable commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution; no specific solution OEM or vendor is named. - Scale and licensing: Approximately 30,200 student licenses and 6,000 teacher licenses. The ROM workbook requests pricing for a base year, four option years, and a six-month extension; prices are blank. - Solution scope: Student tutoring and learning support; teacher instructional, assessment, planning, and oversight tools; family and community engagement; implementation, maintenance, and technical support; professional learning; and efficacy evaluation with continuous improvement. - Named systems for integration: Schoology (LMS), Aspen (SIS), and ClassLink (single sign-on). These are identified as integration systems, not as OEMs for the requested solution. - Training and related services: 16 initial one-hour webinars across the Americas, Europe, Pacific, and headquarters; at least one hour of teacher learning quarterly; at least one hour of annual learning for headquarters and region/district staff; and support for up to two DoWEA-sponsored conferences annually. - Notable requirements: Curriculum and standards alignment; age-appropriate safeguards against harmful content and answer generation; teacher control of student access and approval of grade or feedback releases; multilingual support; and WCAG 2.2 Level AA and Section 508 accessibility. - Privacy and security: FedRAMP Level 2 equivalency; FERPA, COPPA, applicable NIST standards, and DoWEA AI 6600.01 compliance; U.S.-based database hosting; TLS and AES-256 encryption; and U.S. citizenship or person status for personnel who may access protected information. - Evaluation and support: Measure learning indicators, engagement, teacher time use, and satisfaction; provide de-identified data for independent evaluation and semiannual improvement reports. Acknowledge support requests within 15 minutes, resolve 90% within one business day and the remainder within five business days, and provide a resolution plan for issues not resolved within one business day. - Vendor participation: DoWEA is especially interested in small businesses, including 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, and WOSB concerns. Vendors are asked for a capability statement of no more than 10 pages and a non-binding rough-order-of-magnitude estimate. - Attachments: The latest notice includes a draft Performance Work Statement, ROM pricing workbook, and Technical Acceptability Checklist. No specific contract duration beyond the pricing periods is established.

Description

1.Disclaimer 

The Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) issuing this Sources Sought in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 to conduct market research. This Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes. This is not a solicitation or Request for Proposal (RFP). This notice does not commit the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. The Government will not pay for any information submitted in response to this notice. 

The purpose of this notice is to determine the availability and capability of qualified small business concerns to provide a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Super Intelligence (SI)-enabled educational support solution supporting DoWEA operations in Continental United States (CONUS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) locations. 

Please note that vendors are required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at the time an offer/quotation/proposal is due to comply with the annual representations and certifications requirements.  Therefore, only businesses with an active SAM registration will be eligible to receive any resultant contract(s) with the Department of War Education Activity.   

2.Background 

DoWEA requires an enterprise-scale, COTS Super Intelligence (SI)-enabled educational support solution for grades 3-8—covering approximately 30,200 students and 6,000 educators—to measurably improve student learning outcomes and engagement while significantly reducing teacher preparation and administrative workloads. 

3. Scope (Draft) 

The contractor shall provide a highly configurable, standards-aligned SI educational support solution across the following core functional areas: 

Task 1: Student-Facing SI Learning Assistant (Student Assistant) 

Pedagogical Design: Evidence-based SI tutoring utilizing scaffolded learning supports to guide students toward answers without direct generation of solutions. 

Feedback: Adaptive, real-time feedback dynamically linked to individual student mastery criteria. 

Overreliance Safeguards: Configurable session limits and system guardrails preventing wholesale answer generation for graded assignments. 

Standards Alignment: Real-time, dynamic alignment with DoWEA's Curriculum Standards. 

Safety & Persona Rules: Enforced age-appropriate content controls. The system shall not adopt names, conversational personas, romantic/companion behaviors, or humanlike characteristics. 

Accessibility: Full compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA and Section 508. 

Access Control: Teacher-gated/assignment-gated usage control modes. 

Task 2: Teacher-Facing SI Instructional Assistant (Teacher Assistant) 

Approval-Gated Feedback: Grade and score releases are strictly restricted to manual, explicit teacher verification (digital signature, click, or toggle). 

Oversight Dashboard: Real-time visibility (≤ 5s latency) of student usage patterns, misconceptions, overreliance flags, and student safety alerts. 

Instructional & Assessment Drafts: Dynamic generation of editable standards-aligned lesson plans, rubrics, quizzes, and parent newsletters. 

Content Library & Uploads: Curated repositories of prompt templates alongside frictionless, active-tab upload functionality. 

Interactive Student View: Built-in simulation toggle allowing teachers to model the interface to students. 

Task 3: Student, Parent, and Community Engagement Features 

Plain-language transparency notices detailing system strengths, limitations, and the role of human oversight. 

Staff- and family-facing privacy protection guides addressing student data storage and explicit prohibitions on the commercial use of student data. 

Orientation resources customized for digital citizenship, ethical use, and responsible learning support at home. 

Task 4: Professional Learning (PL) 

Delivery of regional role-based training (including four 1-hour synchronous webinars across Americas, Europe, and Pacific within the first 90 days). 

Train-the-trainer self-directed and facilitator-led micro-learning libraries (slides, handouts, guides). 

Virtual conference support for up to two annual DoWEA-sponsored conferences. 

Task 5: Efficacy Evaluation and Continuous Improvement 

Periodic measurements of student learning indicators, engagement, and teacher time savings.  Collaboration with independent evaluators, including secure delivery of fully de-identified data extracts. 

Submission of Semiannual Improvement Reports (due every January and July). 

4. System Integration & Compliance Constraints 

Security & Cloud Vetting: Solution must satisfy FedRAMP Level 2 standard equivalency. 

Data & SSO Integrations: Seamless interoperability with Schoology (LMS), Aspen (SIS), and Single Sign-On via ClassLink using industry standards (OAuth 2.0, SAML, LTI, OneRoster, and RESTful APIs). 

Strict Security & Privacy Policies: Full compliance with FERPA, COPPA, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-122, and DoWEA AI 6600.01. 

Personnel Citizenship: 100% of personnel (including third-party PEN and security testers) with access or potential access to DoWEA PII or CUI must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Persons. 

Encryption Standards: All data secured with TLS encryption in transit and AES-256 at rest. Secure database hosting strictly in United States data centers. 

5. Potential NAICS Code 

The Government is considering the following NAICS codes: 

513210 – Software Publishers (formerly 511210) 

6. Contract Characteristics (Estimated) 

Enterprise-Scale Solution: Globally dispersed user base. 

Strict Performance Metrics: High-stakes AQLs (e.g., zero unauthorized grading/feedback releases, zero guardrail bypasses). 

Potential Contract Type: TBD (e.g., FFP, hybrid, or task order) evaluated under Best Value Trade-Off factors (Technical, Past Performance, Price). 

7. Small Business Participation 

The Government is particularly interested in responses from: 

Small Business concerns 

8(a) Small Business 

HUBZone Small Business 

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) 

Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) 

8. Requested Information 

Interested vendors should submit a capability statement (maximum 10 pages) addressing the following: 

Company Information: Company name, address, UEI number, CAGE code, and socioeconomic size status.  Relevant Experience: Experience deploying enterprise educational or SI software, supporting K-12 school systems, or collaborating with federal agencies (DoWEA).  Technical Capabilities: System functionality overview, integration capability, and hosting/cybersecurity compliance.  Staffing and Security: Personnel vetting approach, liaison qualifications, and global time-zone support capabilities.  Contract Vehicles: Existing GWACs, GSA schedules, or other IDIQs. 

9.Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) 

Please submit a non-binding ROM cost estimate based on the draft scope. This estimate is for planning purposes only and will not be considered a formal quote. Please see the RFI-Sources Sought Notice for more details. 

10.Submission Instructions 

Submissions and inquiries pertaining to this RFI must be sent electronically to Jiabao.Peng@dodea.edu  and Karin.Werner@dodea.edu no later than 11:00AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 03 November 2026. Vendor’s email message shall state “HE125427SI” in the subject line. Telephone calls regarding this RFI will not be accepted.  

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