Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Background
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the U.S. Department of Education, is responsible for collecting and analyzing education information and statistics. The agency's mission includes providing timely reports that are objective and free from bias, which are essential for informing policymakers and practitioners.

NCES participates in international assessments like the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to benchmark U.S. student performance against other countries. This contract aims to gather data for the 2029 PISA cycle, ensuring compliance with international standards and providing high-quality comparative data.

Work Details
The contractor will perform various tasks including:
1. Project Management: Establishing the PISA 2029 US National Center, ongoing project management, and ensuring data security.
2. Obtaining OMB Clearances: Preparing clearance packages for field trials and main study data collection.
3. International Meetings: Maintaining communication with international contractors and participating in NPM meetings.
4. Adapting Instruments: Modifying international study instruments for U.S. use, including national options.
5. Sampling: Managing sampling activities for both field tests and main studies, ensuring representation across diverse student populations.
6. Data Collection: Recruiting School Coordinators and Test Administrators to implement data collection using school devices.
7. Human Scoring: Recruiting scorers to evaluate open-ended cognitive items that cannot be computer-scored.
8. Teacher Questionnaires (Optional): Conducting sampling and data collection activities for teacher questionnaires.
9. Data Files Preparation: Preparing electronic packages with datasets and user guides for dissemination.
10. Teacher Questionnaire Data Files (Optional): Similar preparation as main study datasets.

Period of Performance
The total period of performance is anticipated to be 48 months, consisting of a base period of 12 months followed by three optional 12-month periods.

Place of Performance
The contract will be performed within the United States.

Incumbent Analysis (see Incumbents section for more detail)
This opportunity appears to have a confirmed incumbent based on the prior NCES international assessment contract awarded to Westat (GS00Q14OADU223-91990019F0025) valued at $67,616,195 for 06/27/19–12/31/26. The prior award covers consolidated national services for PISA (along with PIRLS and PIAAC), including work that aligns closely with the current scope such as adapting international instruments for U.S. use, managing sampling and data collection logistics, and preparing datasets for dissemination. Because PISA is explicitly included in the earlier contract and the current effort targets the next PISA cycle’s data collection and related national center functions, the work appears to be a continuation of the same international assessment program support.