Responses_to_Questions_Version_2.pdf

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Health News Vendor to Provide News Stories of General Interest to Health Consumers Answers to Questions (Version 2)

Solicitation 14-233-SOL-00143

1. Who is the incumbent and may we contact them?

Answer: Yes you may contact the incumbent.

Health Day News Service (a.k.a. Scout News) Phone : 203-855-1400

2. If there is an incumbent are they eligible to re-compete on this contract?

Answer: Yes

3. What is the Government's Independent Cost Estimate?

Answer: The Government does not provide that information. It is at the discretion of the offeror to determine what the cost/price will be for this requirement based on the information provided in the Statement of Work/Solicitation. If additional information is required, please ask the necessary questions to obtain the information you need in order to accurately price this effort.

4. In the Technical Requirements list, it is indicated that the "Files shall be delivered to ODPHP via the Internet or available via FTP retrieval by ODPHP a minimum of three times per business day, twice on holidays or weekends.

This is an automated process and does not require overtime." Does it matter whether the files/articles (3) are delivered at the same time per day or is the three times per day a hard-set rule? This question also is for the weekly volume (50 articles). For example, will the government accept 50 articles in one day?

Articles do not have to be delivered at the same time per day, but for scheduling purposes it would be preferable to have a set schedule of daily delivery. We will not accept 50 articles in one day; the articles should be timely and news-related – a delivery of 50 articles in one day does not support the timely reporting of news.

5. In the Technical Requirements list, it is indicated that "The transfer method must be compatible with ODPHP’s high-security environment." What is the Government's high-security environment? The environment is not high-security. This was an error. ODPHP’s environment is Level 1 – NACI (non-sensitive position). This will be reflected on a subsequent award.

6. Is there an expectation that pictures will also be presented with the articles?

Yes, there should be an appropriate picture that accompanies the articles.

7. In the Content Requirements, it is indicated that "Stories shall be of substantial content. The majority of stories should be a minimum of 150+ words in length." What does the government mean by "substantial content?"

Substantial content means that, while brief, the articles should cover an article of interest, related to health and wellness, biomedical research results, new drug information, new disease treatments, etc.

8. In the Content Requirements, it is indicated that "News stories must cover health and medical stories of broad, national and/or international interest and shall include: health and wellness, biomedical research results, new drug information, new disease treatments. Stories shall include: Headline, byline, body and published-on date." Does the government expect to only accept stories in these specific categories or can there be coverage of other categories?

We will only accept health-related articles.

9. Is it a safe assumption that the Government expects stories to be linked from other sources based on language in Content Requirements?

Stories should features “sources” and “more information” at the end of every article. Stories should not be linked from other sources.

10. In the Currency of information under the Content Requirements section, it is indicated that "Information must be current. Published dates and times included as standard fields are required." Are the articles expected to be original and/or previously published material?

All articles are expected to be original – authors/editors must produce health news for consumers to be syndicated to the healthfinder.gov site.

11. Will the Government allocate a budget for travel, or should travel be approved for research needs related to the work by the COR?

There is no budget for travel.