Expertise Changes

Relevant portions of the Statement of Work (SOW):
Change from Draft
p. 7 "The [Steering Committee] meetings will be scheduled in conjunction with the content expert meetings, required in paragraph 1.5.1 below, to facilitate joint or overlapping sessions as needed. ." Minimal changes to the methods of using outside expertise. The meetings of the various groups must now be at the same time and place, and the contractor has to provide a longer list of potential members, which presumably will give the Department more say in the final group.
p. 8 "The contractor shall provide a list of primary and alternate names for content experts,
p.9 "The contractor shall use in-person meetings, conference calls, electronic mail, and other efficient methods for communications between the contractor's curators and the content experts. The curators shall conduct a one-day meeting of content experts..." (Bold added to highlight changes.)The Draft did not specify a role for curators in this meeting structure, this at least assures us that the two groups will consult.

Expertise

Relevant portions of the Draft Statement of Work:
Issues raised
p. 8 "The contractor shall recruit three content experts in each of the topics specified ...[topics specified is essentially a list of the current Clearinghouse names] who also have expertise in research methodology." These provisions essentially put the responsibility for content expertise, currently spread thoughout the Clearinghouses, onto this much smaller group of people who will have very little day-to-day contact with the database. They are only required to meet once, in the initial year. Other communication is to be accomplished electronically.
p. 8 & 9 "The content experts shall recommend to the contractor: Specific journals ... Specific sources of non-journal materials...Specific conferences...as sources of papers ...Specific outreach and dissemination strategies, based on approved guidelines, for publicizing the database to individuals and organizations
p. 4 "The contractor shall provide the services of ...curators with expertise in the topics specified [topics specified is essentially a list of the current Clearinghouse names] ...and in research methodology..." These two spots are the only mention of the "curators" who will select materials for indexing.
p. 11 "The contractor shall index all articles in approved journals as well as materials selected by the contractor's content curators from other approved information sources...Content curators may also selectively acquire other materials that are directly related to education and meet the approved ERIC standards and criteria "

 


Return to ERIC Reauthorization News Main Page
or Statement of Work Analysis Page
July 4, 2003