How to Neutralize Effect of Cognitive Biases on Regulatory Safety Evaluation.

THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) is issuing this Sources Sought Synopsis as a means of conducting market research or as a market survey to determine the availability of potential qualified vendors with the technical capability to provide all management, supervision, administration, and labor for the following applied research project in the field of cognitive and behavioral sciences. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to the above project is 541715. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for sources and vendor information does not constitute a request for proposal; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. The purpose of this announcement is to provide potential sources the opportunity to submit information regarding their capabilities to perform work for the NRC free of conflict of interest (COI). For information on NRC COI regulations, visit NRC Acquisition Regulation Subpart 2009.5 (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting/48cfr-ch20.html). All interested parties, including all categories of small businesses (small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZone small businesses) are invited to submit a response. The capabilities package submitted by a vendor should demonstrate the firm's ability, capability, and responsibility to perform the principal components of work listed below. The package should also include past performance/experience regarding projects of similar scope listing the project title, general description, the dollar value of the contract, and name of the company, agency, or government entity for which the work was performed. Organizations responding to this market survey should keep in mind that only focused and pertinent information is requested. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. Submission of additional materials such as glossy brochures or videos is discouraged. TITLE: How to Neutralize Effect of Cognitive Biases on Regulatory Safety Evaluation. OBJECTIVE: Establish the technical basis to develop practical approaches (e.g., guidance, methods, or tools) for neutralizing the effect of cognitive biases on regulatory safety evaluation and build staff capability to implement the guidance. GENERAL SCOPE: Develop a plan of work that establishes the technical basis to develop practical approaches (e.g., guidance, methods, or tools) for neutralizing the effect of cognitive biases on regulatory safety evaluation and build staff capability to implement the guidance. Items 2-5 below provide examples of how these activities will be performed; identifying the scientific literature to be used; identifying the most promising mechanisms for elicitation and validation; the respective resources that will be applied, the timing; iterations needed). Extract knowledge from existing NRC documents[1], in consultation with NRC staff[2], e.g.: RG 1.174 (Jul 23, 2002) Draft Final Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide 1.174 and to Chapter 19 of the Standard Review Plan (RG 1.174 recommends rigorous uncertainty analyses.) NUREG/KM-0016 (Mar 2021) Be riskSMART: Guidance for Integrating Risk Insights into NRC Decisions SECY-98-244 (Feb 19, 1999) NRC Human Performance Plan ML19319C832 (Nov 18, 2019) Implementing Commission Direction on Applying Risk-Informed Principles in Regulatory Decision-Making, Esp. Section III Challenges in fully meeting the intent of the SRM ML20281A614 (Oct 14, 2020) NUREG/CR-7265, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 Phenomena Identification and Ranking Technique (PIRT) Exercise for Ranking Low-Power Shutdown Plant Operating States and Outage Types. LIC-504, R5 (Mar 09, 2020) Integrated Risk-Informed Decisionmaking Process for. Emergent Issues Documents referenced in the examples given above. Extract knowledge from scientific literature, relevant to the objective of this project. Select the appropriate mechanisms to elicit and validate (e.g., through consensus of a diverse group of experts) the knowledge needed, e.g.: Characterization and classification of the kinds of decisions made. The conditions under which these decisions are made that may influence the types of biases likely to affect those decisions. The influencing conditions include the current culture and processes. Techniques to avoid the biases or mitigate their effects. Examples of mechanisms to elicit and validate the knowledge needed: Individual interviews. Small group discussions. Contracted expert's observations of discussions of licensing reviews. Seminars. Workshops. Leveraging the NRC internal secure version of IdeaScale platform to engage agency experts further in a transparent self-documenting dialogue, e.g., in a virtual, asynchronous focus group, spread over several weeks. Elicit and validate the knowledge needed using the selected mechanisms, e.g.: Identify the dominant influencing factors. Identify known ways and means to avoid or mitigate the effects of these factors (i.e., eke more objective outcomes, based on reasoning, facts, and scientific knowledge). Create plan (it may include iterative evolutionary progression): Plan to organize the elicited, validated knowledge into the technical basis (e.g., a technical report) for guidance (including improvements in existing guidance, Methods, and tools) to reduce the potential for cognitive biases in regulatory decision making. Outline options to develop NRC's capability to neutralize the effect of cognitive biases on regulatory safety evaluation. Develop the technical basis (Activity 6.1) and develop the options (Activity 6.2). Capability Sought The vendor shall be able to demonstrate the following capabilities to assist NRC: The applying organization must have the capabilities to perform the activities identified above, including in-depth expertise with a preferred minimum 10 years of experience consulting on practical methods for the improvement of safety-critical decision making. Ability to understand the NRC's safety evaluation processes. HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE If your organization has the capability and capacity to perform, as a prime contractor, for the services described in this notice, then please respond to this notice and provide written responses to the following information. Please do not include any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information in the response, and do not submit a proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this notice will not be considered. Organization name, address, email address, Web site address and telephone number. What size is your organization with respect to NAICS code identified in this notice (i.e., "small" or "other than small")? If your organization is a small business under the aforementioned NAICS code, what type of small business (i.e., small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, 8(a), or HUBZone small business)? Specify all that apply. Although no geographic restriction is anticipated, if responding organizations are located outside the Washington Metropolitan area (Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia), indicate how the organization would coordinate with the NRC program office located in Rockville, Maryland to provide the support services. Separately and distinctly describe your organization's ability to meet the capabilities indicated in the above section, Capability Sought. Separately and distinctly describe your organizations past performance in the areas described above under the above section, Capability Sought. Please indicate your organization's role (prime contractor, first tier subcontractor, and/or supplier) in related contracts. Please also provide the contract number, contract type, customer name, address and point of contact phone number and email address, contract value, detailed description of supplies and services included in the scope of that contract, period of performance (for services) or delivery date (for products), and any other relevant information. Indicate whether your organization offers any of the required capabilities described in this notice on one or more of your company's own Federal Government contracts (i.e., GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract or Government wide Acquisition Contracts) that the NRC could order from and, if so, which services are offered. Also, provide the contract number(s) and indicate what is currently available for ordering from each of those contract(s). Is your organization currently performing or have in the past performed same or similar services as those listed above for any of the licensees regulated by the NRC? If so, which licensees? See http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing.html for more information on NRC licensing. Has your organization previously faced organizational conflict of interest issues with NRC? If so, what were they and how were they mitigated or resolved? Interested organizations responding to this Sources Sought Synopsis are encouraged to structure capability statements in the order of the area of consideration noted above. All capability statements sent in response to this notice must be submitted electronically, via e-mail, to Jeffrey R. Mitchell, at contact@example.gov , either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by Monday February 27, 2023 at 1:00 PM EST. DISCLAIMER AND NOTES: Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's potential capability and capacity to perform the subject work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Footnotes. [1] NUREG/KM-0016 and RG1.174 may be potential vehicles for including the actionable aspects of the knowledge resulting from this project. [2] For example, see Activity 4.1.