National Defense Education Program (NDEP) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Consortia Request for Information (RFI) for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering)

Request for Information Request for Information: R&ENDEPSTEMFY22RFI Agency/Office: Washington Headquarters Services/Acquisition Directorate (WHS/AD) on behalf of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering) Title: National Defense Education Program (NDEP) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Consortia Request for Information (RFI) for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Research & Engineering) Disclaimer: The Department of Defense (DoD) may use responses to this request for information (RFI) to inform future solicitation / funding opportunity announcement. The purpose of this RFI is to survey industry (to include non-profits, academia, large, and small businesses (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled Veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, Veteran-owned small business, and woman-owned small business)) for relevant information. Hence, submitted responses should not be worded as proposals. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with submissions of the RFI being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses. Background/Overview: This RFI consists of two focuses, which are outlined below: (1) Transitioning students from 2-year Community College science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs to a STEM degree at a 4-year institution through a consortium based approach (2) Preparing an agile and diverse workforce through technical training and certificate programs and supporting these programs through collaborative partnerships and consortia The Department of Defense (DoD) STEM mission is to inspire, cultivate, and develop exceptional STEM talent through a continuum of opportunities to enrich the current and future DoD workforce poised to tackle evolving defense technological challenges. Towards this end, DoD invests in the future and current STEM talent pools by fostering pathways that connect to a continuum of enriching DoD programs to meet the unique mission needs of the Department. In accordance with 10 USC §2192, Improvement of education in technical fields: general authority regarding education in science, technology, engineering, and...

N/A - Request for Information

Criteria for the review and selection of proposals will be published in the funding opportunity announcement.

Fiscal year 2021: NDEP STEM Grant Recipient Project Abstracts can be found on DoD STEM website: https://www.dodstem.us/meet/blog/entries/national-defense-education-program-stem-awardees/. Funded projects range from providing educational opportunities to students across the K-20 education continuum, to providing teacher professional development at the K-12. Sample activities include web-based portal where students can interact for free with virtual STEM professionals in DoD priority areas; transforming early childhood science teaching based upon DoDEA College and Career Ready Standards for Science to measurably increase student science, literacy, and math achievement through high-impact STEM educational experiences for students and teachers; introducing undergraduates to restricted research initiative; build-up the effectiveness of teachers while providing innovative student engagement as levers of change in the STARward STEM program that is purposefully designed to ignite students� passion for STEM while illuminating new and exciting STEM career paths by starting early, incorporating technology, and using innovative partnerships to fuel this mission; and leveraging existing...