Q_A_2_0001.docx

1. The Instructions to Offerors ask for an Accessibility Conformance Report on a VPAT 2.1 or later for "each commercially available ICT item offered," while the work here is software developed under the contract.

We'd plan to submit a full ACR covering the delivered system: its command-line interface, its configuration files, and its generated documentation and reports. Would you confirm that's what you expect, and whether you also want an ACR for the third-party open-source components it depends on?

A1. This plan appears to be consistent with the requirements. There is no need for ACR for third-party components.

1. For deployment on the USGS Advanced Research Computing environment, could you share the scheduler in use (Slurm, PBS or other), the container runtime available to users, whether compute nodes have outbound network access for retrieving imagery from the EROS STAC service, and the storage quota for this project?

We can design to any of these. Knowing them now means the delivered system runs on your cluster on the first attempt.

Many of these details are provided on USGS websites for the ARC. There are network access from ARC to the EROS STAC, which could be a satellite imagery data source. There should not be storage challenges for this project.

1. The Statement of Work calls for validation of shoreline positions against reference data. Would you name the coastal reaches you want used for that validation, and the reference datasets you consider authoritative?

It would also help to know when those data would be furnished relative to the start of performance.

These coastal reaches will be determined during early stages of the work. There are several publicly available shoreline databases available for US coasts from USGS, SIO, and USACE that are commonly used as authoritative reference data, and these sites are well used and described in the scientific literature on this topic of shoreline mapping.

1. The Statement of Work names CoastSeg and related open-source projects. Do you want the delivered system built as an extension of an existing upstream project, or as a standalone system that uses those projects as dependencies?

For the open-source release, does USGS want the repository hosted in a particular organization, such as USGS GitLab or a USGS GitHub organization, and under a particular license?

A4. The vendor can take either approach as either an extension or a standalone system with dependencies, there is no preference other than system functionality. Code development and publication must occur on an official USGS code repository such as USGS Gitlab or USGS GitHub.

1. For the quotation itself, what are the file format and total message size limits for an emailed submission?

Would you prefer a single combined PDF, or separate PDFs for the quotation, the Accessibility Conformance Report and the signed SF-18?

A5. You can submit one or multiple PDFs. There are no format or length limits.

1. On the SF-18 schedule, would you confirm that each of the six contract line items is to be priced as a single firm fixed price lump sum, with quantity of one and unit of "lot," rather than by hours?

A6. The proposal should have fixed prices for each of the six items.

1. Section I.C of the Statement of Work states that satellite imagery will be sourced from the USGS EROS SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC). Deliverable 4 (Validation of Code and Method) requires validation using both Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery. My understanding is that the USGS EROS STAC primarily provides Landsat collections.

A7. You are correct. The STAC only provides Landsat data, so the deliverables can be limited to STAC-based Landsat data.

1. Is Sentinel-2 imagery available through a USGS source that the Government intends the Contractor to use? If so, could you identify that source?

A8. There is not a Sentinel-2 data source from USGS, so it will not be required from the vendor.

1. If not, may the contractor obtain Sentinel-2 imagery from another public STAC provider (for example, AWS Earth Search or Microsoft Planetary Computer), subject to USGS approval during performance?

A9. Additional functionalities are not required from the vendor.

1. Will the contractor be permitted to download imagery from external (non-USGS) data providers while working on the USGS Advanced Research Computing (ARC) systems?

A10. The contractor can utilize existing data for product development, but delivered products will need to function with USGS data providers.

1. The schedule lists six numbered line items, 00010 through 00060. Does the Government want a separate firm-fixed price for each of the six, or a single price for the whole effort?

A11. Yes, one for each item.

1. Each line item also has a quantity and a unit column. Since the deliverables are not countable items, is a quantity of 1 and a unit of "lot" acceptable for each one?

A12. “One lot” is an adequate quantity.