Questions_and_Answers_Final_0001.pdf

Nevada Bureau of Land Management Range Records Digitization and Organization Request for Quote: 140L3921Q0100_001

Questions and Answers

1. Can you define “digitizing records” as intended for this project? What happens once the documents are converted into PDFs? Digitizing is the scanning and placement of the documents onto the portable hard drive. Does the data extracted from (in the body of) the documents need to be accessible in another business application? There will not be data extracted from in the body of documents. All documents will be scanned in their entirety in whatever format is required (pdfs, gifs, etc).

2. Task 2.2 states the contractor will adhere to NARA Bulletin 2018‐01 and NARA Bulletin 2020‐01 as applicable for the file format. NARA M19‐21 states that all paper records must be converted to an electronic format. To comply, do you intend to make all records electronically searchable even if they contain handwriting, low‐quality scans, image skews, etc.? To the maximum extent possible all records should be searchable pdfs.

3. Do we need to upload the scanned images to any Document Management software or application? No management software will be needed. There will be an electronic file organization system with naming protocols required for each type of file which the BLM will provide.

4. What is Indexing requirement? Will it be at file level or image level? See answer to question 3.

5. FILE ORGANIZING: Can you expand on what the “File Organizing” service will entail and what does the

500k represent? For File Organizing, see section 2.7.1 of the Statement of Work. 500K is the know need of having to file an aggregate of 500,000 files as an estimate of volume to help with pricing.

6. In lieu of re stapling and re‐clipping which is very time consuming would the Bureau consider authorizing the vendor to rubber band the entire file together in the order it was in before document preparation and in the same order it is scanned? No. Part of the requirement is to ensure that all files are re‐ organized to the proper indexing format. In fact there may be instances where the contractor may receive disorganized files that need to be properly organized after scanning. Look up SOW for reference.

7. Is the approximate volume at each location known? The amount that would be included for any given year would not exceed the estimation of 500k.

8. In reference to 2.8.4. ‐ Naming convention. Could the government provide an example of a naming convention to be used? In reference to 2.8.5. ‐ "digital file structure named in accordance with the file structure, description, and filing instructions provided by BLM." Could the government provide the filing instructions so offerors can estimate the level of effort?

NARA specific requirements for file names include:

1) File names should not include more than one period (.). Usually this period is generated by the application that creates a file and precedes the application defined 3‐ or 4‐ character extension;

2) File names should not contain spaces;

3) File names should include only combinations of the characters a‐z, the numbers 0‐9, and underscores (_) and hyphens (‐); and

4) File names should contribute to a file path that contains no more than 255 characters in total length.

How Electronic Operator Case Files Would Labeled.

File Naming Structure Table Individual Company

Structure [Permittee Last Name] _[Permitted First Name]_[Authorization Number].file extension

[Company Name] _[Authorization Number].file extension

Structure Layout [Permittee Last Name] _[Permitted First Name]_[Authorization Number].pdf [Company Name] _[Authorization Number].pdf

Example Smith_Harry_012345.pdf Big_Creek_Ranch_456789.pdf

9. What is the response time for file structure questions once vendors are on site? Will they be provided a local POC that will provide answers to process and file questions? As stated in “2.8.4. The contractor will title each scanned/digitized document based on the naming convention identified by BLM. In the instance where any document does not have a logical name per the convention, or has a name that is a duplicate, then the POC would be contacted to identify the path forward” There will be District POCs that would respond to the questions as soon as possible.

10. Section 2.4 requires that all digitization efforts must be performed on‐site. Would the government consider leveraging an out of state fully compliant facility to centrally digitize these documents? This would present significant cost savings rather than doing digitization at each individual location? No, the records need to stay on site, maybe taken down to mobile equipment that is located onsite.

11. Will the Government provide a desk and space for our team to work, How much physical space will be available, as two or more scanners may be required? Yes, as stated in the statement of work, 9.

Government Furnished Facilities (GFF).

12. Who will bring documents from storage place to workstation? The District POCs.

13. How many people you require for each location? This will be a firm fixed price service contract, and the vendor is responsible for submission of technical approach for meeting Statement of Work tasks.

14. Will customer allow us to bring our computers and scanners to perform work? Yes, vendors will be required to use their own computers and equipment to perform the tasks required to scan and organize files at each location.

15. Will customer allow us to install our software? Any computers or equipment to accomplish the tasks will be vendor owned and operated. Government computers or equipment for performing main tasks will not be provided, and contract personnel will not be authorized on any government networks.

16. If vendors must use their own computers and equipment, how will results be handed over to the government? Do we need to copy to an HDD and provide to customer or are we able to connect with their network to share directly with your computers? Vendors will need to store scanned data on vendor provided external hard drives as noted in Statement of Work Task 3.2 which states “The searchable documents will be stored on an encrypted portable USB external hard drive with 18 TB of storage supplied by the contractor.” The Hard Drive is a supply item that will become the property of the government at the project end.

17. If the vendors are sending the external drives to the BLM every two weeks, what is the turn around time to get them back for work to continue? Task 2, 2.6 The contractor must prepare, keep, and provide to

BLM upon request an inventory of all paper documents that have been organized scanned, and digitized.

The inventory document will be a searchable portable document file (pdf). This is what will be summarized in the bi‐weekly progress reports.” The external hard drive will only be used for final submittal of the files and documents. The reference to using the external hard drive for review at bi‐ weekly meetings will be removed as a requirement.

18. With bi‐weekly frequency, what is the purpose of a such high capacity (18TB)? The size of the hard drive reflects the need to continue to add digitized documents to the record by the BLM or through future contracting efforts.

19. For Quoting purposes can you provide us samples of the document naming conventions? See answer to question 8.

20. Do we need to scan B&W or Color? If color then what % of documents are color? As stated in Task Order

2, 2.8.1. The contractor will scan each document front side and reverse side (reverse side will be scanned/digitized as appropriate) in grayscale and at a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch). Transparent paper that is two sided will require special handling to ensure that the digitized version is readable. Any document that has color will be scanned and digitized to ensure that color is retained. The color of the paper should be preserved unless that color renders the digitized document unreadable.” The percentage of documents that are color are not known.

21. In reference to 2.8.2. "All text documents will be digitized as portable document files (pdf). Maps, photos, and other graphic files will be digitized as Gifs." If a document contains a picture, confirm the complete document would be scanned as a PDF? If a document contains a graphic image within the document or as an attachment than that graphic would be scanned in as part of the PDF to maintain the integrity of the document.

22. The bureau is requesting .GIF for image files such as maps and photos. Can vendors use .JPEG for these image files? As stated in Task order 2, 2.8.2. All text documents will be digitized as portable document files (pdf). Maps, photos, and other graphic files will be digitized as Gifs. See answer to question 22 for additional information about graphics that are within or attached to documents.

23. Would the government consider maps, photos and other graphic files be scanned as PDFs? No. See answer to question 23.

24. Can you please provide various sizes and its quantities for Large size documents? What is the size of the largest document? The quantity of large size documents is unknown but as stated in Task Order 2, 2.7.

“….8.5x11 printer paper will be the most common paper encountered.”

25. Do you want us to save document as .PDF file or .TIFF file? See answer to question 23.

26. How many keystrokes required per each index? The document and file naming system will be provided by the BLM and will indicate how many characters are allowed for each type of file for document. See answer to question 8 for more info.

27. What are the specific document types that make a Range Record? Does the government know the breakdown of each document type? The BLM will provide the file and document organization system to be used which includes guidelines from the appropriate sections of BLM Manual Handbook H‐4010‐1, Range Management Records.

28. What kind of prep work is expected? i.e. removing staples, removing from folder, cutting binders etc.?

As stated in Task Order 2, 2.7. The contractor must disassemble the physical files to include removing any item that will prevent scanning (e.g., paper clips, staples, binder clips, sticky notes, etc.) from the documents. There are a variety of sizes and types of paper, including but not limited to smaller than

8.5x11 or larger than 11x18, requiring some documents to be unfolded. In addition, there are varieties of paper thicknesses, with thin paper (carbon, mimeograph, onion skin) to construction type papers. 8.5x11 printer paper will be the most common paper encountered.

29. How much additional scanning should we anticipate? Unclear what is meant by additional scanning. All documents are required to be scanned as state in 2.8. “The contractor must process each paper document that BLM makes available for scanning/digitization, up to the limit of the cost associated with the contract.”

30. How much additional organizing should we anticipate? The amount of additional organizing can not be estimated. Each BLM office may have different amounts of unorganized files.

31. How are documents stored, are these documents stored in boxes or in file cabinets? See answer to 34 below.

32. Are the documents in file folders? The documents are in file folder, binders, etc., but there may be documents that are less organized that require being added to existing files or new files created. How are they tracked (are they numbered, Barcoded)? There is a file naming system that will be provided by the

BLM and a document naming protocol will also be provided by the BLM.

33. In reference to 3.2 Deliverables, Task 2, 2.7.1‐ Clarify the phrase "physical file structure"? Physical file structure is the type of folder (6 way is common), with types of documents are placed in each section.

The BLM will provide the reference that describes the file structure and types of documents that are contained with the files and how they are structured.

34. In reference to 3.2 Deliverables, Task 2, 2.8.1‐ If the reverse side is blank can we assume that the phrase

"as appropriate" means no scanning of the reverse side is necessary? Yes.

35. What is the estimated percentage of files not structured correctly that will need POC instructions for processing? That is not known. Each office may have a different percentage.

36. Does the digital file requirement under 3.2 Deliverables, Task 2, 2.8.5 satisfy the inventory requirement of 3.2 Deliverables, Task 2, 2.10? No As stated in 2.6. “The contractor must prepare, keep, and provide to

BLM upon request an inventory of all paper documents that have been organized scanned, and digitized.

The inventory document will be a searchable portable document file (pdf). This is what will be summarized in the bi‐weekly progress reports.”

37. In reference to Government Furnished Equipment...."electrical connections for equipment" does this include internet connectivity? We are unsure what the internet would be needed for, but if the contractor can demonstrate a need for internet connection than it would be provided.

38. SOW Section 3. Would the BLM allow the consolidation of records to a select number of locations to allow for more efficient delivery of the required services? No. These are active records utilized on a regular basis and can not be removed from the offices. In addition, there are records policies that prohibit the company from removing records from site.

39. SOW Section 3 ‐ Scanning 8X11 documents. Does the volume provided (1.6 million) represent documents or pages? If documents, please provide the estimated number of pages, and the estimated percentage of pages that are duplex? For this task there are BLM files that contain documents, which may be one page or multiple pages. The 1.6 million estimate is for the number of 8.5 X 11 pages.

40. SOW Section 3 ‐ Scanning oversized documents. Does the volume provided (25K) represent documents or pages? If documents, please provide the estimated number of pages, and the estimated percentage of pages that are duplex? Pages and that is the estimated number of pages.

41. SOW Section 3 – Scanning. What is the maximum size page anticipated? Most are 8.5 X 11 but it is unknown how large some pages would be. 11x17 will be frequently encountered also, and additional documents of irregular size will doubtless appear

42. SOW Section 3.2, Task 2.7. What percentage of documents are stapled or bound? This is not known.

43. SOW Section 3.2, Task 2.7. If bound documents are included, please describe the binding types present

(e.g. spiral bound, book binding, glue binding, etc.)? It is unknown what type of bindings, but it is rare for these types of files to be bound with permanent bindings. Most are is folders or binders that allow the individual documents to be removed and then returned to the file.

44. SOW Section 3.2, Task 2.7. What is the estimated percentage of pages that are not “standard printer paper”? That is unknown.

45. SOW Section 3.2, Task 2.8. What is the “limit of the cost” associated with this solicitation? This solicitation is for the setup of possible multiple Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA). BPAs contract structure have limits per each “BPA Call”, and a cap at the total amount of BPA calls over the life of each contact. As we do not have costing estimates, limits are not set as of yet.

46. SOW Section 7. Please confirm the timeline allowed for completion of the file organization and scanning? There was no timeline provided. The period of performance will be specified on each “BPA

Call”.

47. Specifications – Office Locations . Are all 21 locations identified in‐scope? Not all offices are in the SOW for the first year of this contract, future years would define this on a yearly basis.

48. Specifications – Office Locations . Where more than one office is identified at a physical address are the files consolidated by regional office or segregated? Most records are housed at the Field Office, and if

Field Offices are housed together then the records are often housed together.

49. Specifications – Office Locations. Please provide the file and document volume estimate or percentage of total volume by location? That is unknown. We know there are sufficient records to fulfill the page/file request for this SOW, but did not estimate the entire records amount.

50. Specifications – Office Locations. Please identify the space that will be available at each office (e.g.

estimated square feet, enclosed room or open/shared space, power and network/internet availability)?

The BLM offices will provide enough space for the contractor crew and their equipment.

51. Volumes listed by office? That is unknown. We know there are sufficient records to fulfill the page/file request for this SOW, but did not estimate the entire records amount.

52. Do the 500K files house the 1.6 million documents referenced? Yes but those numbers are estimates for an estimate of volume to help with pricing.

53. Do the files have to be organized prior to beginning the scanning process; i.e. are the files not in the order required to be scanned or are these files over and above the 1.6 million documents? Some files are organized into the proper folders, binders, etc. but there will be files that will need to be organized.

It may be easier to organize the documents before scanning but not absolutely necessary as long as the digital files and the physical files match each other when completed.

54. Are you expecting Vendor to perform long term archive capabilities including search engines or once the files are downloaded from the external hard drive will the office of BLM archive? All documents will be digitized onto the portable external hard drive which will be turned over to the BLM at completion of the contract.

55. How long will Vendor be expected to hold images after hard drive has been downloaded? Unclear what is meant by holding images. All documents will be digitized onto the portable external hard drive which will be turned over to the BLM at completion of the contract.

56. We recommend centralized software with each office remoting in to perform the daily capture task. Is this acceptable to BLM or does each office need on premise server and software? Each BLM office will be treated as a separate entity. Records will not leave the offices where they are located.

57. After completion of the current file organization request, what is the ongoing plans to keep current? Would vendor’s contact be renewed to keep current documents up to date and digitized? The scope of the BPA Set up is for services on call to digitalize and organize range records. The government users who will be accessing and using he range records is a small group who will maintain the file organization. “File Maintenance” is not part of the BPA setup scope.

58. Would it be acceptable to utilize our oversize capture equipment on a rotating basis to keep cost down for your organization? We would capture oversize documents in each office on a rotating basis to better utilize the equipment required for this specialized service? That would be a decision for the contractor to make. It is important to remember that records will not leave the office where they are located.

59. Do you have a fairly accurate estimate by office of the items required to be handled with our white glove service? These would be the fragile documents, onion skin etc. The amount of more fragile documents is not known. It is a relatively small percentage of the overall documents included.

60. Is the use of long term temporary labor acceptable or would Vendor be required to hire full time labor for this project? The awarded vendor is responsible for hiring practices to ensure the quality and quantity of services contracted is provided. The hiring and employment conditions of contracted employees is up to the awarded vendor. The Service Contracting Act, and the Department of Labor wage determination for each location is applicable.

61. Of all the locations, is there a priority location? The locations presented in this SOW are desired for this funding cycle.

62. Is there a sequence to the locations or a preference? No.

63. Is there a timeline to complete a certain location(s)? No, however only some of the offices are included in the work order for each year within the 5 year contract.

64. What is meant by file organizing; electronic files or physical files; what is the end result of “file organizing?” File organizing would be for both physical files and the digitized electronic files. The end result is physical and electronic files that match and are organized based on the filing and naming protocols supplied by the BLM.

65. Would you prefer to have someone with a records management background for file organizing task?

The BPA setup is for a “service” contract. It is up to the awarded vendor to provide the required quality and quantity of service to the government as stated in the Statement of Work.

66. Will the 8.5x11 documents need to be OCR'd? Yes

67. Will there be any metadata capture requirements, like the Data, To, From, Title and Subject? (These are important fields when needing to search triggered by FOIA’s and Administrative Records). Yes the format and naming protocols will be supplied by the BLM.

68. Will there be a need to produce in XML format? No

69. Will any documents need to be remediated for 508 compliance? No

70. Any reason to consider performing some of the project offsite at the contractor’s location? (COVID restrictions, for example). The records are not able to be taken off site. This includes all electronic records and copies of scanned documents. There is also the requirement that all records are purged from the contractors equipment prior to completion of the contract, so all physical and electronic records are retained solely by the BLM.

Contract Related Questions

1. Is there an incumbent vendor, if so, please provide the contract details (Vendor Name, Contract

Number, Award Date, Value)? No, this is a new requirement.

2. How many vendors does the BLM plan to award BPAs too? The BLM may award multiple BPAs. The purpose is to ensure that the entire state, all locations with files that need service, are covered.

3. 52.219‐8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns (Oct 2018) and 52.219‐28, Post Award Small Business

Program Representation (Nov 2020) are selected. However the SF1449 indicates this is Unrestricted.

Please clarify? There is no set‐aside for this solicitation, it is Unrestricted, full and open to all commercial business sizes. The noted FAR clauses are included as prescribed in FAR 19.708(a), and 19.309(c)(1).

4. Please confirm that all representations and certifications are to be completed through SAM and be current and that none are to be returned with the proposal. Yes, prior to award of a contract, all vendors must be registered in SAM, and have a current registration (as of the date of award).

5. If this is unrestricted, please provide for 52.219‐4, Notice of Price Evaluation Preference for HUBZone

Small Business Concerns (Mar 2020). The technical approach includes the "ability to reach across federal and nonfederal sectors to accomplish the project objectives." Are there non‐federal sectors involved in this project that vendors should be aware of? There is no set‐aside for this solicitation, it is Unrestricted, full and open to all commercial business sizes. There are no non‐federal sectors currently involved in this project.

6. Should the quote be submitted in a single volume or multiple volumes? As stated in the solicitation, quotes should be submitted in two parts. Part 1, the price quote. Part 2, the technical Approach. The technical approach should have no pricing information, and answer questions in Factors #1 and #2, and also include the past performance information.

7. Regards to: “‐ Provide quote for total Cost for Base Year of services In Accordance With the Statement of

Work.” “‐ Provide price list for digitalization and organization services.” Regards to interpretation of the above two bullet points, NVSO requires a quote for total cost for the base year of services, to encompass all services, including, but not limited to equipment, travel, personnel, administration, file organization, scanning, etc.. Whereas, the price list to illustrate just the costs of digitalization and organization, which these costs are embedded within the quote. Is this interpretation accurate? This is a BPA setup, so know total cost for the base year is appropriate for the quotes as specific RFQs have not been detailed yet. The price list is needed because we intend to award multiple BPA contracts to ensure availability when needed

(and funding is available) and state‐wide coverage. For each BPA Call, fair opportunity will be given to each vendor. A price list that lets us know the services your company provides, and the cost will help ensure we have the full funding available prior to sending out any RFQs. As every vendor may not provide the same services, and cover all the areas, we need to know who can do what, and what locations are serviced per vendor to know who to send the RFQs too.

8. As we need to follow associated Wage determination rate, can you pls. provide recommended

Occupational code? That is determined by the vendor. The NAICS for this solicitation is 518210 ‐ Optical scanning services.

9. Does this follow Service Contract Act Guideline? The Department of Labor Service Act applies and the

Wage Determinations for the applicable counties are attached to the solicitation.

10. Do we need to offer hired employee fringe amount and sick leave, holiday and vacation as identified in

WD? The Department of Labor Service Act applies and the Wage Determinations for the applicable counties are attached to the solicitation.

11. Will the award be a time and material contract or fixed price contract? This will be awarded as a Firm

Fixed Price Contract. Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) so we can make “Calls” on the BPA as funding is available and services are needed.

12. Does NVSO require the contractor to accomplish the services within the SOW, at each location, simultaneously? No. While there is a current need, and funding available, separate RFQs will go out to accomplish the work at each location in order of priority and availability. Not all locations will have to be worked at the same time. The BAP setup gives us a contract vehicle to do PBA Calls as funding is available and requirements are needed.