Office of the Under Secretary of Education Event Planning Services: 2024 National Education Summit

Background
The Smithsonian Institution, through its Office of the Under Secretary of Education (“OUSE”), has a requirement for a variety of professional, non-personal event planning services in support of its 2024 Smithsonian National Education Summit, a three-day program being organized by OUSE and held online and in-person in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, July 16, Wednesday, July 17, and Thursday, July 18, 2024 (the “Summit”). The Smithsonian hereby intends to award one Contract to the Offeror best able to work with multiple SI units and vendors and manage specific logistical elements of the Summit. In addition to the preparatory work conducted from the beginning of January 2024 and into July 2024, the selected vendor is expected to be on-site at Smithsonian for preliminary site visits and/or walkthroughs including the week before the Summit for preparation and conduct several post-Summit deliverables in August 2024. The selected vendor will also be asked to secure a mutually agreed upon web conferencing platform to facilitate the registration, speaker management, and online streaming portion of the summit.

Work Details
The selected Contractor shall hire the listed vendors below as its subcontractors, facilitate the work of both said vendors and vendors secured directly by the OUSE, manage and/or liaise with vendors, and manage specific logistical elements of OUSE’s forthcoming Summit and certain events related thereto. As mentioned above, in addition to the preparatory work conducted throughout 2023 and 2024, the selected vendor is expected to be on-site at the Smithsonian to work on specific dates: Tuesday, July 16, 2024; Wednesday, July 17, 2024; and Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Services required by the Contractor include but are not limited to collaboration on concept development and keynote speaker identification, planning and project management, online and in-person event production, overall event management coordination of multiple vendors. The Contractor will also provide day-of-event coordination. The Contractor shall provide services pertaining to conference and event planning including project management, communications, speaker logistics and management, and production services for approximately 20 breakout sessions 4 keynote addresses and one evening reception.

Period of Performance
The period of performance for this contract includes preparatory work conducted from January 2024 into July 2024. Additionally, on-site presence is required for preliminary site visits and/or walkthroughs including the week before the Summit for preparation. Several post-Summit deliverables are expected in August 2024.

Place of Performance
The geographic location(s) where the contract will be performed is at Smithsonian for preliminary site visits and/or walkthroughs including the week before the Summit for preparation.