Earlier this year, IES requested information related to a proposed Accelerate, Transform & Scale (ATS) – Ideas Challenge program. The now-archived ATS posting is located at https://sam.gov/opp/45a67b5d6f16414797f0d6e71893b61c/view. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) would like to refer ATS respondents and other Education contractors and interested parties to a recent Federal Register notice issued by the National Center for Education Research (NCER), a center within IES. NCER seeks insight to guide its efforts to fund quick-turnaround high-reward, scalable solutions intended to improve education outcomes for all students.

The Federal Register Request for Information (RFI) linked below is focused on a proposed new program within ATS called “From Seedlings to Scale” (S2S). IES is considering a three-phase investment strategy for S2S to support transformative ideas as they grow from seedlings to scalable solutions. As proposed, S2S would focus on high quality research, robust product development, and sustainability and scaling in the education marketplace.

Interested parties may refer to the original Federal Register notice posted at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/12/2023-22482/request-for-information-on-potential-new-program-from-seedlings-to-scale-s2s. NCER issued an amended posting at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/17/2023-22898/request-for-information-on-potential-new-program-from-seedlings-to-scale-s2s-correction to correct the docket identification number in the original posting. Instructions for responding to the Federal Register notice are included in the links above.

We are posting this special notice on SAM.gov to ensure IES reaches a broad audience of interested parties to provide feedback on the proposed S2S initiative. Please provide any feedback through the Federal Register notice rather than via email.

Please contact Erin Higgins (Erin.Higgins@ed.gov) if you have questions about the Federal Register notice.

Please direct any acquisition questions related to the original SAM.gov RFI to Chase Cooper (Stephen.Cooper@ed.gov).