Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) seeks a contractor for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2029). The contractor will manage U.S. participation, collect and report high-quality, internationally comparable data, and adhere to NCES and OECD standards. Key tasks include project management, obtaining OMB clearances, international communication, adapting and testing assessment instruments, sampling for field and main studies, data collection, human scoring of items, processing data with disclosure risk review, and producing electronic data files and user guides. The contract is firm-fixed-price for 48 months, with a 12-month base and three 12-month option periods. The contractor must ensure data confidentiality, security, and compliance with all relevant federal laws and NCES standards.

The U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gauge market interest and capability for conducting the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2029 in the U.S. This RFI is not a solicitation for proposals but aims to gather information to strengthen the proposed requirement for a contract with a 12-month base period and three optional 12-month periods. PISA assesses 15-year-old students' literacy in reading, mathematics, and science. The RFI seeks feedback on the clarity, cost-reduction opportunities, pricing accuracy, and overall effectiveness of the draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). Interested parties are asked to submit capability statements, no longer than 10 pages, by May 21, 2026, including entity details, size status, feedback on restrictive language in the PWS, questions about the PWS or fixed-price contract nature, and information on small business subcontracting opportunities or existing Government-wide contracts.