The file's text, extracted by GovTribe without its formatting.
| Reference |
| Offeror’s Question |
| Answers |
| 1 |
| General |
| Who currently provides the services as the incumbent? |
| PTFS |
| 2 |
| General |
| What is the current team size providing service and support ? |
| System Administrators (2), Buildmaster / Software Quality Engineer (1), Application and System Security Engineer (1) |
| 3 |
| General |
| Are non US citizens allowed to work on this contract? |
| Personnel must be authorized to work in the United States and provide required documents for security suitability adjudication prior to onboarding. See also RFP section H. |
| 4 |
| General |
| Is this a new requirement or re-compete? |
| Re-compete |
| 5 |
| Section C.2.2 |
| Can you provide the current volumes of user issues per month? Requesting details such as number of Tier I & Tier II incidents, resolution times, etc., |
| Quarterly GovInfo production deployments include an average of 90 Requests for System Changes (RFC) that cover both development and support work for the entire GovInfo Program. |
| 6 |
| Section L.1.3 |
| Do we need to submit any resumes in our response? |
| Yes |
| 7 |
| General |
| What is the development methodology? |
| Agile |
| 8 |
| General |
| What are the Project Management and Quality Assurance tools that are currently being used? |
| We use Trello for project management and issue tracking. We use GitLab for issue tracking and SCM. We are evaluating possibly moving to Azure DevOps for SCM and issue tracking. |
| 9 |
| Section C.2.1 |
| Can you please provide details on how frequently the new changes/enhancements are deployed into production? |
| See RFP section C.1 page 16. |
“To implement key efforts, the Program release cycle typically includes four planned quarterly releases each fiscal year.”
“Interim deployments are performed on an as-needed basis, and the Program envisions moving to a more rapid release cycle. Operational support tasks to monitor the system and provide corrective and adaptive maintenance are performed each day.”
| 10 |
| General |
| Who developed the current system? |
| GPO with multiple vendors. Most recently, PTFS for system administration, shared services, and infrastructure. |
| Where is the current system deployed? On-Premise or Cloud. If cloud, please share details of the cloud platform (AWS, Azure, etc.,) |
| On-Premise |
| 12 |
| Section C.2.2 |
| What are the tools used for tracking trouble tickets and incidents? |
| We use Trello for project management and issue tracking. We use GitLab for issue tracking and SCM. We are evaluating possibly moving to Azure DevOps for SCM and issue tracking. |
| 13 |
| General |
| What is the current contract number and contract value with the incumbent Contractor? |
| 040ADV-19-C-7872 |
$4,441,198.20
| 14 |
| Section B.3 |
| Is there a pricing template that we need complete and submit? |
| See RFP section B.3 Pricing Schedule and Contract Line Numbers (CLINS) |
| 15 |
| Section L.1.3 |
| How many past performances are we supposed to submit? |
| See RFP section M.1.2 |
“The Offeror must submit their DUNS number and contact information for three references, relevant to this requirement.”
| 16 |
| Section L.1.3 |
| Are commercial past performances allowed? |
| Yes |
| 17 |
| General |
| Could you please provide a list of current challenges with the system |
| See RFP section C. |
| # |
| Reference |
| Offeror’s Question |
| Answers |
| 1 |
| RFP Section B.3.1 - Base Period |
| 1. Will the Government allow us to add CLINs for different surge conditions (e.g. weeknights versus holidays)? 2. For the 2 System Administrators in the Contract Line Item (FFP & LH Surge CLINS) Table, can we bid different prices for each one, or does the Government want a blended rate? |
| 1. Surge conditions are provided for emergency and/or off-hours for the purpose of maintaining support activities. The work being requested will not change between different types of non-standard working hours. |
2. The System Administration role does not require a breakdown of price per individual. The LH Surge CLINs should be a single rate for each role.
| 2 |
| RFP Section L.1.3 Proposal Content General Format Instructions, subparagraph entitled Price Proposal (Volume II). |
| 1. Is pricing for the CLINS in RFP Section B to be submitted as a spreadsheet (e.g., Microsoft Excel file) or a PDF Searchable file, with the supporting narrative text provided in Microsoft Word or in PDF format? 2. Does the Government require a signed copy of the 1449 to be submitted with the Price Proposal? |
| 1. A PDF searchable file will suffice |
2. Not necessary
| 3 |
| RFP Sections C.3 Labor Categories and Role Based Specifications, H.3 Key Personnel and M.1.2 Evaluation Factors and Ranking |
| Although there is a requirements for Key Persons, the RFP does not identify the Labor categories that are Key. Will the Government please identify the Labor Categories that are Key, where we recommend that all four Labor Categories be specified as Key? |
| All personnel on this contract are key personnel. |
All labor categories are listed in the RFP (i.e., System Administrator, Site Reliability Engineer, and Application and System Security Engineer), and they are key personnel.
| 4 |
| RFP Section M.1.2 Evaluation Factors and Ranking Sub-Factor 1A: Staffing Plan |
| Will the Government please consider requiring letters of commitment for all Key Persons that are not current employees? |
| The key personnel clause is intended to maintain personnel to the extent practicable and ensure the contract is fully staffed. The contractor is encouraged to maintain personnel with the goals of reducing turnover and reducing the effort expended on knowledge transfer. |
| 5 |
| RFP Section L.1.3 Proposal Content, 5th dot point |
| This section states, "Number of Pages – No more than 30 single-sided pages (not including the Cover Letter, Table of Contents, Resumes and Past Performance). If the proposal is longer than each individual page-count limitation, the excess pages of the proposal shall not be reviewed nor evaluated." However, the Table right above the text indicates that proposal is to have 45 pages. Will the Government please clarify the required number of pages? |
| This should read "no more than 45 single-sided pages" |
| 6 |
| RFP Section B.2 Required Services and B.3 Pricing Schedule & (CLINs) |
| RFP Section B.2 This section states that the contract is Firm Fixed Price (FFP); however section B.3 lists Not To Exceed (NTE) hours. If this is FFP, we interpret this to mean that the contractor will bill an FFP invoice monthly for the total effort, and not bill based on hours. Will the Government please confirm our interpretation, or if needed, please provide clarification? |
| All NTE hours are for Surge CLINs (Labor Hours) only. Surge CLINs will be based on hours. A normal monthly bill will always include the total FFP price for all roles, and it could include some Surge CLIN labor hours based on work approved and performed under Surge conditions. |
| 7 |
| RFP Section C.3.1 - System Administrator, Paragraph titled Responsibilities |
| This section has the requirement to "Perform Build Master / Software Quality Engineer tasks when staff are unavailable or as needed." Will the Government please provide details on the specific tasks that are required? |
| This should be “Site Reliability Engineer” instead of “Buildmaster / Software Quality Engineer.” See tasks for Site Reliability Engineer. |
| 8 |
| SF 1449 Item 8 |
| The specified due date is June 24 at 2:00 PM. Will the Government please provide an extension to at least June 28 to allow contractors the time to address the answers to their questions? |
| The Government will extend the proposal deadline to 10/26/2024. |
Government Publishing Office