Curriculum review, academic quality assurance, and college credit evaluation services

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) / National Disaster and Emergency Management University (NDEMU) intends to negotiate on a sole source basis (IAW RFO FAR 12) with American Council on Education (ACE), One Dupont Circle NW, Washington, DC 20036, as the only responsible source that capable of providing comprehensive higher-education curriculum review, academic quality assurance, and college credit evaluation services for NDEMU’s residential, virtual, and distance-learning course offerings. Market evaluation confirmed that American Council on Education (ACE) Learning Evaluations remains uniquely positioned as the sole established industry standard for evaluating non-formal workplace training and assigning standardized college credit recommendations. ACE recommendations are recognized and integrated across both federal agencies and post-secondary higher education institutions. Furthermore, ACE provides an integrated ecosystem including entry in the ACE National Guide, direct learner transcript advocacy, and automated digital badge issuance via Credly, which independent regional or institutional accreditors do not offer for non-collegiate course providers. Therefore, ACE is the only source that can provide comprehensive higher-education curriculum review, academic quality assurance, and college credit evaluation services for NDEMU’s residential, virtual, and distance-learning course offerings. This acquisition is being conducted under simplified acquisition procedures (IAW RFO FAR 12). The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 611710-Educational Support Services with a Small Business Size Standard of $24M. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation document exists for this requirement. However, parties interested in responding to this notice will need to submit technical data, sufficient to determine capability in pr