PDDM RFP Questions and Responses Round Two_8.12.pdf

QUESTION

NO. RFP REFERENCE OFFEROR COMMENT/QUESTION USPTO RESPONSE

1 RFP Amend 2, Questions and

Responses ‐

Question 18 and 20

In both the Base Period and any Option Period, will the initial assigned volume based pricing tier remain in effect throughout the entire year?

Yes, the assigned average volume's corresponding pricing tier will remain in effect throughout an entire year. The initial assigned percentage of volumes is an average (meaning the contractor will have received that percentage by year end).

For example, if a contractor's assigned volumes fluctuates (e.g., for ramp up or ramp down purposes) and were to fall into a different pricing tier, the inital assigned pricing tier remains in effect for the cost of the work.

2 RFP Amend 2, Questions and

Responses ‐

In the response to Question 20, the USPTO has stated that it will gradually ramp up volumes during an option period until the target award volume is achieved.

Since the processing volume for an individual vendor is likely to cross a pricing threshold (25%, 45%, 65%, 100%) during this process, how will the government manage this variability. For example, if Vendor 1 is assigned 25% of the volume, and in order to achieve that annual percentage ramps up from 10% to 40% over a 12 month period, which volume based pricing tier will be in effect throughout the year?

The pricing tier that corresponds with the yearlong assigned average volume percentage is the pricing tier that will remain in effect thourghout the year, even if a contractor were to cross a pricing threshold during the year.

In the example provided, the contractor would charge from the 25% pricing tier for the entire year.

3 RFP Amend 2, Questions and

Responses ‐

Question 18

Will the less than 100% volume pricing tiers be in effect from the start of the contract even if one Contractor has not yet achieved an ATO and demonstrated the ability to perform all SOW requirements during the Base Period?

Yes, in a two award scenario.

4 RFP Amend 2, Questions and

Responses

The response to Question 63 states that Base Period award volumes will be assigned at the time of award. In a two award scenario, can a contractor be awarded an initial "zero volume" award?

If an offeror is awarded a contract, it will be awarded at least 25% of the volumes.

5 RFP Amend 2, ATT

CLIN 0006A is allocated for all costs associated with the Initial A&A and ATO process. Note 1 states, "NOTE* The Offeror should price CLIN 0006A based on a frequency of monthly or annually. If monthly, the average unit price should be listed. If the monthly price varies, the Offeror should provide a separate spreadsheet showing the price by month. If annually, CLIN 0006A will be paid upon an ATO being issued." Contractors are asked to price the work for the 12 month period allowed for the ATO due to uncertainty associated with the amount of time for the USPTO to review. If the price is provided on an annual basis, and the ATO is granted in less time than 12 months, with the USPTO pay the full CLIN amount or will the amount be prorated to reflect the numer of months from the time of award to the issuance of the ATO?

The USPTO will pay the full CLIN amount.

6 RFP Amend 2, ATT

CLIN 0006B is designed to cover the costs associated with the annual reissuance of the required ATO. Note 2 states, "NOTE** CLIN 0006B will be paid annually upon successful completion of A&A and issuance of an ATO." Upon achieving the initial ATO, will CLIN 0006B also be paid in the Base Period in addition to the amount in CLIN 0006A or only beginning with Option Period 1?

CLIN 0006B is for the annual reissuance of the ATO. Accordingly, CLIN 0006B does not apply for the base year.

7 RFP Amend 2, ATT

Why is CLIN 0006B not applicable (N/A) for Option Period 2 through Option

Period 9? It represents the Annual A&A/ATO recertification throughout the entire contract Period of Performance.

A corrected Attachment 40 has been posted with RFP Amendment 0003.

8 RFP Amend 2, ATT

What requirement does the note with five asterisks at the bottom of Attachment

40 refer to? There is not a section in the pricing template that includes the 5 asterisks.

Please see Attachment 40 row 7 beginning in column E.

9 RFP Amend 2, ATT

Does the government desire CLIN 0006B in the Base Period and Option Period 1 to represent the annual costs associated with all personnel, hardware, software and other activities associated with the requirement to maintain the ATO throughout the year or is it intended to only include costs associated with the required third‐party assessment?

CLIN 0006B should include all expenses associated with the annual reissuance of the required ATO. This CLIN does not apply to the base year.

10 RFP, Amend 2, Att

39, page 5

For what period of time will a contractor need to process test volumes at the SLA requirements before being permitted to produce live volumes for publication and payment?

The Contactor will only process a single test batch for PGPub and Post Allowance.

11 RFP, Amend 2, Att

39, page 5

Will a contractor be required to demonstrate that they can perform the full awarded volume level across all CLINs for test batches before they can begin processing live publication volumes? If not the full awarded volume, what percentage of that volume will be considered sufficient to demonstrate proficiency?

The Contactor will only process a single test batch for PGPub and Post Allowance.

The purpose of the test batch is to confirm that the Contractor's systems and processes can produce deliverables that meet the requirements of the contract and not to establish the Contrator's volume capacity.

12 RFP, Amend 2, Questions and

Responses

In the Question 46 response, it states that contractor must be able be able to meet all SOW timelines following a catastophic event. To achieve that objective it appears that the contractor will be required to implement a hot COOP/DR site.

Is it the USPTO's goal for the contractor to maintain a hot/hot COOP environment?

The USPTO's goal it to have a reasonable reassurance of continuity of operation.

13 RFP, Amend 2, Questions and

Responses ‐

Question 46

If the contractor must implement a hot COOP/DR site, it will require the USPTO provide a second set of GFE for the alternate COOP location. Is it your intent to do so if requested by the Contractor?

Additional GFE will not be provided for COOP purposes.

14 RFP, Amend 2, B.3, There are numerous metrics associated with patent processing. For example, a front page can have 3,000 characters or it can have 10,000 characters or more, a specification can have 30,000 characters or it can have 300,000 or more characters etc. Though the USPTO has committed to assign files randomly, does the contractor have any recourse if the volume of the patent parts exceeds the historical averages on a recurring basis?

The USPTO believes this is an unlikely scenario.

15 RFP, Amend 2, C.3.2, In the Q & A, the USPTO states that they will provide laptops/desktops to the

Contractor(s) for access to USPTO systems. Our assumption is that the USPTO will provide systems for all personnel who are required to access USPTO systems regardless of their location. Is that assumption correct?

As long as the location is covered by the ATO and approved by the USPTO in advance.

16 RFP, Amend 2, C.6.3.8.1, page 44 Electronic Official Gazette Indices. The weekly eOG:P includes html files that are generated from the Red Book file for each patent. It also includes multiple indices which are built from information across the entire issue. How does the

USPTO envision the generation of these Official Gazette indexes in a multi‐award scenario? In a two award scenario, USPTO intends to have the capability to combine the eOG:P from multiple vendors to create a single, uniformed eOG:P.

17 RFP, Amend 2, C.6.4, In the event of a multi award with 2 Postscript files being generated for the

USPTO printer, will the Contractor continue to receive Grants from the printer in sequential number order for the Grant assembly process?

Once the USPTO awards the contract(s), the USPTO will establish a process by which patent numbers are assigned in a two award scenario.

18 RFP, Amend 2, E.3.2.2, pages 53‐54

Is it the intention of the USPTO to request a Certificate of Correction for all errors found during the inspection of the Grant Red Book whether the issue passes inspection or not? No, the standard for inspection of the Grant Red Book is not the same standard for requiring a Certificate of Correction (CoC). See Section F.2 for examples of errors that warrant requiring a CoC.

19 RFP, Amend 2, E.3.2.2, page 54

The RFP states “The USPTO may request Certificates of Correction for Contractor errors identified in the Grant inspection, and will impose liquidated damages as defined in Section F.2 Liquidated Damage Charges”. In that same section some of the errors are defined as punctuation missing, incorrect use of special characters, symbols printed as numbers. Does the USPTO intend to charge $158 for these types of errors?

No, the standard for inspection of the Grant Red Book is not the same standard for requiring a Certificate of Correction (CoC). See Section F.2 for examples of errors that warrant requiring a CoC.

20 RFP, Amend 2, E.3.2.2, page 54

The RFP states “The USPTO may request Certificates of Correction for Contractor errors identified in the Grant inspection, and will impose liquidated damages as defined in Section F.2 Liquidated Damage Charges”. Given that the USPTO will now be charging Liquidated Damages for any error, this is in effect a "zero error"

SLA. Will the USPTO be updating the error criteria to zero errors per 100,000 characters to reflect this policy? No, the USPTO does not intend to change the error criteria. The standard for inspection of the Grant Red Book is not the same standard for requiring a

Certificate of Correction (CoC). See Section F.2 for examples of errors that warrant requiring a CoC.

21 RFP, Amend 2, Section M, Factor F, Section M of the solicitation provides information on how the USPTO will analyze offers for price reasonableness. It also states that options will be included in the best‐value determination. The section neither addresses whether all CLINs will be included in the evaluation for the best‐value tradeoff decision nor describes how the volume levels/tiers that will be used in making the award decision.

What CLINs and volumes will the USPTO use for Factor F in the tradeoff decision?

If USPTO makes one award, the best value determination will consider the 100% pricing tier for all CLINs. If it is in the USPTO’s interests to make two awards, the best value determination will consider all CLINs at all pricing tiers.