SSN Additional Questions and Answers

Question: Is this primarily a validation effort?
Answer: The purpose is to update the construct definitions, how they are measured, and then conduct the necessary construct validation to support the changes. Question: Would adding new constructs be considered?
Answer: The existing constructs were identified by SMEs as consistent and important across related jobs, and cross-referenced with similar occupations on O*NET. The primary focus of this research is updating definitions, changing how they are measured, and demonstrating construct validity. Question: Should the proposal take the form of a grant or cooperative agreement? Answer: As stated in the Sources Sought Notice, the proposal will be a contract. Question: What are the specifications of the deployment platform? Answer: The application uses a flexible architecture built on Node.js, Angular.io, and MongoDB. The assessment will need to be uploaded to our research platform, preferably as a .NET DLL. The application cannot use ActiveX control, applets, or flash for scan and must work on Edge, Chrome, or Firefox. Question: Can a demonstration of the assessment be provided? Answer: Unfortunately, we cannot do a demonstration. The technical report (Adis et al., 2022) should provide an adequate overview of the assessment. Question: Why were personality traits were not part of this assessment? Answer: The Army already has personality assessments that were designed for selection and assignment. C^3 is meant to supplement those assessments by providing a measure of the potential to learn and succeed specifically in cyber jobs. Question: There is no direct assessment of social cognitive biases that can influence optimal decision making. Is there a reason for this? Answer: The C^3 is meant to assess the cognitive skills used in cyber work—things like decisions made about problems such as technological errors, rather than situations involving things like anchoring and adjustment, the availability heuristic, and similar decision biases. The constructs we have were identified by SMEs as important and consistent across related jobs, and cross-referenced with similar occupations on O*NET. Question: How much do you want to keep from the current C^3 assessment, and to what extent are you open to include new items and paradigms? Answer: The existing constructs were identified by SMEs as consistent and important across related jobs, and cross-referenced with similar occupations on O*NET. The primary focus of this research is updating definitions, changing how they are measured (including adding or changing items), and demonstrating construct validity. We are open to any modifications within those parameters.