B3 Feasibility Study Solicitation Questions and Answers.docx

Feasibility Study Solicitation Questions and Answers

1. I am writing to seek clarification regarding the competitive nature of the RFP. Specifically, I am interested in understanding whether this RFP is open to all qualified vendors or if there are any pre-identified preferred vendors involved in the process.

a. I first want to clarify that this is an RFQ (Request for Quote), not an RFP (Request for Proposal). The biggest difference between these two solicitation types are the FAR requirements/Parts that cover the process of solicitation and award. RFQ falls under FAR Part 13 whereas RFP falls under FAR Part 15. This is also considered a commercial service so FAR Part 12 also applies to this requirement.

b. This RFQ is a total small business set aside. This means that any small business with an active SAM registration can submit a quote and be considered for award.

2. To ensure that our proposal aligns with the USDA's expectations and constraints, could you please provide any guidance on the target budget or funding range for this project?

a. We are requesting that any interested contractor submit a performance work statement (PWS) detailing how they will accomplish the objectives laid out in the Statement of Objectives (SOO) along with their quoted pricing for that PWS.

b. Our budget for this effort is $100k per contractor for up to 2 contractors or a total project budget of $200k.

3. Is there a page limit for the PWS and the overall proposal?

a. No, your PWS, if selected for award, becomes part of the contract as it should fully describe what and how you will do to accomplish the objectives. While there is no limit, it should be concise and not filled with fluff that is not relevant to the work that will be performed to meet the objectives.

4. Does the USDA have a preference for cloud service providers, or should we propose our recommended solution?

a. Contractors must propose their own recommended solution.

5. Regarding the intention to award two contracts, could you clarify if these are for identical scopes of work, or if there are distinct goals for each contract?

a. The government, through market research, determined that it was in its best interest to award this requirement to two contractors. The contracts will be for the same requirement of achieving the objectives as laid out in the SOO, but the methods/PWS will be different as they will be submitted by two separate contractors. One contractor will not receive both contracts as this defeats the intention of the government to achieve its best interest.

6. We requests a 7-day extension.

a. The response are due by Friday July 5th so that we can make an award before the cattle show at the end of July. We want the 2 contractors that get an award to make it to this show and delaying the responses by 7 days will make this very difficult. I obviously won’t be in the office over the weekend so I could delay the response time to mid-day Monday the 8th, but I really cannot delay further than that unless it appears that we will not received at least 3 quotes by the original date.

7. We seek clarification on the page limit as it was not detailed in the provided solicitation.

a. There is no page limitation listed because there is no page limitation. We do ask that the PWS be separate from any capabilities, or technical pieces that are not specific to your technical approach to achieve the objectives. The PWS of the two awardees will be part of the contract as you are telling us what and how you will meet the objectives of the study. But we are not limiting you on page nor are we dictating a font or size or spacing. Present your PWS and quote in the manner that best describes how and what you will do if awarded the contract. You may also provided any additional information in the form of a capabilities statement either under a separate header or in a separate attachment to your response.

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