Questions and Answers Part 2.docx

Development of Database Tools for US National Fungus Collections Question & Answers #2

Is this a new project or an existing one, if existing, is the incumbent allowed to bid? New project and no restrictions on who can bid There are no requirements for past performances to be submitted, would this be required for submission? It would be beneficial to the bidder to include as evidence of experience.

The solicitation implies Government clearance is required to work onsite. But is this an on-site contract, or remote? Are all contract staff required to obtain Government clearance and be badged? Government clearance and a government furnished computer will be needed for access to resources on the network (deployment of tools).

Is this work to be performed 100% on-Government site, or is this a remote contract? It is a remote contract; however, contractor may be required to meet with government personnel on-site at times.

Will the Government provide laptops for USDA network access? Yes, after appropriate clearance for network access is obtained and prior to any deployments.

Are there formatting and page limit restrictions for the proposal? No

Are offerors required to provide resumes and/or letters of intent for contract staff? If not, how should offerors show that they meet the "Technical Requirements for Contractor" and "Experience/Business Requirements" of the PWS? No requirement for resumes or letters of interest. It is up to the offeror as to how they demonstrate they meet the requirements.

Can the Government provide workload measures beyond the list of tasks so that offerors may be better able to estimate the effort? Less than one FTE is expected to be utilized

The Government has not provided any Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs) to be priced. Can the Government provide the Schedule B CLINs for this work? Or is there to be just one (1) CLIN per every one of the four (4) performance periods? Yes, one CLIN per year

Based on the tone and description it gives the impression that you already have some kind of tooling/website that serves a Database, please confirm. No tools for data cleanup are currently in place. Data searches and entry are the only activities currently ongoing.

Who is going to be providing the source of the data to load the Database? The technical contact will provide a copy of the current database.

Since we need to design the database it sounds like we will need to do transformations. Does an ETL process will be needed? Database design is not a part of this work. Tools to work with the existing database are the requirement.

Does the database will be ingesting/aggregating data? If so how often and what size of payload? Question is not clear; however, no mechanisms for aggregation or large uploads are in use.

Can this contract be done on Contractors facility? Yes, it can be remote.

This sounds like you need a database but regarding the website, what services does the website needs to provide? A database is not needed – one currently exists and is in use.

The tone makes think this is for data and analytics, If so why a OLTP and not OLAP? It is not for analytics but for relatively simple transactions and rapid querying. This is for legacy data cleanup and improved infrastructure.

Following the prev question, if there is not a platform/website already, why the use of those frameworks (Angular, NodeJS, etc)? There is a website platform in place for basic data entry utilizing those frameworks.

What is the main propose of this database and website? To provide data to the public on agriculturally important fungi.

Is this just maintenance to the platform/website or development from scratch? It is for integration of database cleanup tools into existing platform.

Are you all expecting us to bring in software to implement and develop in? Or will our developers be able to utilize your softwares. A platform and database server are already in place.

Is there availability for remote/hybrid work? Yes

What current tools and softwares are you all currently using? Answered in SOW

What current web-based tool are you using? None currently

Was the previous Development of Database Tools for US National Fungus Collections contract awarded to Penacity LLC in July 2024 cancelled?? This is a completely separate requirement

Is there an incumbent for this contract? No Experience / Business Requirements… Must have demonstrated experience in designing and maintaining information search systems for biological laboratories, specifically botanical/taxonomic information for plants and fungi. Can this requirement be changed or removed? Such as experience designing and maintaining information search systems for the federal government or commercial customers? No, this requirement is a fundamental aspect of the work.

Is this one full-time FTE? How many hours? No, it is not expected to require one full-time FTE to develop cleanup/data integrity tools on an as identified need basis.