SBA Sources Sought: Innovation Policy Experimentation and Research

Notice ID: 4504001EQ06661

The Ecosystem Development Division (EDD) in SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation (OII) has a need for program experimentation and research to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of its funding programs, specifically the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) and the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative. Program evaluation typically occurs after a program has been implemented while program experimentation is a real-time evaluation effort which increases the speed in which a program’s effectiveness can be studied. The use of both program evaluation and program experimentation will build a strong evidence base which EDD program staff can utilize to improve existing programs and design future programs.

Program evaluation and program experimentation are OII priority areas. EDD aims to strengthen its ability to evaluate in real-time the impact of its programs and generate evidence regarding the effectiveness of its programs, specifically GAFC and the RIC Initiative. By doing so, SBA will better incorporate best practices, make evidence-informed program changes, effectively manage program awardees, and contribute to the existing body of literature on technology-based economic development.

To achieve these goals, SBA requires the offeror to:

• Assist EDD with the development and implementation of real-time evaluation efforts (program experiments) done through randomized controlled trials, the real-time evaluation efforts will be focused on EDD policies and programs, mainly GAFC and the RIC Initiative;
• Report to EDD the outcomes from the real-time evaluation efforts done through randomized controlled trials and provide recommendations for program improvements;
• Disseminate outcomes to a network of subject matter experts for review, validation (or disagreement), and adaptation; and
• Provide access to a growing community of researchers that design and run these specific types of experiments to generate evidence related to specific policies and programs.

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