In an invitation for bid (IFB) released July 21, “Data Literacy Training for the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board),” the State Water Resources Control Board requests bids from firms that are able to provide web-based data and statistical diagnostic assessment services. Among the takeaways:
- The Water Board’s Office of Information Management and Analysis in consultation with others at the board has identified data literacy — defined as “the ability for the entire organization to understand its data needs and capabilities” — as one of five core guiding principles for its organizational data management strategy during the next five years. In support of this principle, the Water Board is undertaking a data literacy initiative with multiple projects to improve the organization's relationship with data. “A few key, strategic projects that support the data literacy effort are training and/or educational products,” according to the IFB, which notes that while traditional training products remain, the Water Board has determined that “for some foundational data science knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs), it is much more efficient and effective to use web-based diagnostic and education delivery.” Doing so, it said, lets the board “assess and deliver data literacy (knowledge, skills and abilities)” to staffers and teams, in key areas or on projects “within the State Water Board’s data management ecosystem.”
- A cost sheet delineating tasks includes providing “data literacy diagnostic assessment access” to the Water Board; offering a “curated playlist of data literacy modules for participants to engage with after the data literacy diagnostic assessment”; a “dedicated subdomain to host the diagnostic assessment, data sets and the learning modules”; “individual and aggregate-level analytics to track performance and time spent exploring and engaging with the learning modules”; launching and maintaining a State Water Board data set portal for the general public to access data sets; and access and permissions for 1,500 to 2,000 Water Board staffers.
“Contractor shall offer robust analytics for stakeholders to track at the individual and at the aggregate level how the participants performed on the diagnostic assessment, and how much time they have spent exploring and engaging with the data literacy learning modules,” according to the IFB. Additional contractor responsibilities include software maintenance and support, along with enhancements, upgrades and bug fixes to provide users and the app the ability to accomplish everything in the scope of work. - Minimum qualifications for bidders include at least three years’ experience with online data literacy training. Bidders also need proof that their online systems can meet requirements including having data literacy diagnostic assessment modules that can be configured with Water Board samples, can support 1,500 to 2,000 Water Board users and can educate users on “their organizational strengths and areas of focus that they need to work on.” Modules must also cover data literacy competencies including “correlation versus causation,” data visualization, types of data, data quality, data security privacy and ethics, and data collection methods versus interpreting graphs and charts. A bidder’s system must also allow online public access to Water Board data.
- The likely contract term is about three years, through roughly June 30, 2024; the precise contract value is not stated. Questions are due by 3 p.m. Aug. 4; answer summaries will be posted Aug. 11. Bids are due by 3 p.m. Aug. 23 and will be opened at 11 a.m. Aug. 25. The anticipated start date will be pending final approval.
