Questions_and_Answers_Final_0001.docx

Request for Quote: 140L3921Q0093_001 Final Questions and Answers

1. Will the BLM consider extending the timeline for completion from 4-6 weeks (8 weeks max)? Offerors should include the estimated completion time in their technical proposals and detail the development plan (see page 18 of solicitation, Technical Approach item #3). The assumption is that a vendor has a canned application that can be customized with minimum development and the need for a full system development life cycle.

2. Is the data going to a central database/ CSV files? Do we get an API to get the data? Or do we need to scrape the data? This information is provided in the Statement of Work.

3. Is the data format consistent from all monitors? Yes

4. What kind of models are expected? See Statement of Work’s example for Air Quality Monitoring presentation.

5. What is the expected traffic to the site? (site load?) New requirement, Unknown.

6. How many queries would be run on a daily/ hourly basis (To understand database load)? Hourly. As this is a new application, this is unknown. Our expectation is at best we would average 50 hits daily probably more over the summer when people are out and about.

7. Any particular preference for technology in which you want to build the application? Include approach in Technical Submission.

8. What type of database do want to store the real-time information in? Per the SOW, vendor is to host the data and web site. Include approach in Technical Submission.

9. Preference for where to host the application/ DB? Are we free to use any hosting services? Include approach in Technical Submission.

10. Who bears the cost of the SIM cards/ network equipment? Vendor provided and installed.

11. Do you want to use any visualization tools like PowerBI to expose the data to the external world? Would the users be able to run queries or just view data? In another words, will we decide beforehand what type of charts are interesting, and have the ability to show those charts (Having a full-fledged visualization capability is much more expensive)? See SOW, and example web site for Hosting Air Quality Data.

12. How much GB or MB data is generated on per day basis? This is a new requirement, unknown. Past internal efforts for data collection provided approximately 20 kb files in excel for about 4 months’ worth of data. Not sure how accurate this is and if the files included all the data points.

13. How often the data is generated, so what is the expectation on within how many minutes the data should get updated on the website? Hourly.

14. How much historical data is already there? This is a new requirement, none. The monitors will have data which hasn’t been downloaded in a while. The data overwrites itself about every 90 days.

15. Page 1, bullet 5 requests "Allow customizable public information system for external users." Can you elaborate on exactly what this means? Customizable by whom? Ability of external users to check/choose which of the available info/data is displayed or downloaded. External users is referring to John Q. Public. The system is not just for BLM employees to access.

16. Page 1, bullet 6 requests "Allow for password protected internal user access (1-5 internal users) to ensure data dependability." Can you clarify what tasks these internal users will need to perform? Content management/Edit content (contact info and links that are presented), see internal metrics (views, donwloads ect..) view and download historical data, log analysis, serve as web content coordinators.

17. Page 1, bullet 8 requests "Ability to obtain raw data transmitted from monitors... must process this raw data and upload to web service." Does this mean the contractor will validate the data for BLM? Yes, the vendor will check the accuracy and quality of source data before using, importing or otherwise processing data.

18. Page 2, bullet 5 requests "Canned reports available for download should include designated parameters in intervals of hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis." Will the contractor be responsible for preparing these canned reports and can we assume a BLM representative will provide guidance in the design of the reports? Yes, contractor will develop canned reports, with design input and review from BLM POC.

19. Page 2, bullet 6 requests "Equipment to gather data is already on-site but requires a medium (SIM card) to transfer the information to be accessible via the internet." Can you specify what equipment (make/model) is on site and who the carrier is? Will the contractor be responsible for providing cell service (or other communications service) on a monthly basis? Contractor will provide Air Card and cellular service necessary gather data from Air Monitors. “Access real time data obtained from the assigned air quality monitors via static IP addresses. IP addresses used for 4 stations. Screen scraping data for the two satellite stations (hosted by the Desert Research Institute https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl ). Make/Model of air quality monitors: four are MetOne’s BAM 1020 and two are MetOne’s EBAMs with telemetry via cellular modem and GOES satellite.”

*See attachment for pictures.