Q_and_A_July_11_2016.pdf

16-233-SOL-00461 – Questions and Answers The solicitation states that the contract type will be FFP. A statement of work is provided as Attachment 1.

However, there appears to be a lack of specific information and our questions are presented for clarification:

This will be a Time and Materials Contract

1. What is the place or performance? See 5.1, Place of Performance

2. How many conferences are anticipated? One

3. How many participants will attend? 300+

4. Will the contractor be responsible for any attendee travel and per diem payments?

Highly unlikely; If at all, may be 1 or 2 persons

5. Will the contractor be responsible for providing any food or beverages? No

6. How should the proposal be submitted?

Electronically to Keith.Harding@psc.hhs.gov

7. Will the contractor be responsible for working with the hotel of choice and ensuring a room block?

Contractor is expected to identify a suitable venue in the D.C. metropolitan area, possibly a hotel. Contractor may be required to negotiate a special rate for attendees.

8. Is there a page limit to the proposal submission?

Technical 25 Pages (Not including Resumes) Past Performance 5 Pages

Price 5 Pages

9. Is there a requirement for past performance/references? If, yes, how many 3?

10. Is there a specific format that the proposal should be presented? PDF document, pricing proposal can be in excel or PDF

11. Is there a requirement for submission of resumes? Yes

12. Is there an incumbent? No 12a. If there is an incumbent, please provide the following information: name of firm, contract value, length of existing contract? Seamon Corporation, $973,658.45, Base + 4 options.

12b. If, yes, can the incumbent bid on this opportunity? Yes

13. What is the plan duration of each workshop/meeting such as: 1 day, 2 days and so forth)?1 day

14. What will be the frequency of providing support for: live broadcast, video recording, close captioning? Does your term "live broadcast" refer to webcast?" Yes, live webcast with close captioning for the whole day conference is expected.

15. What signage will be required? No

16. Will there be hand out materials? If yes, will these materials be distributed prior to the meetings, at the meetings? No

17. If there will be reference handout materials, will the contractor be responsible for printing such material? No

18. Will there be a requirement for special graphic representations? No

19. Please define the meaning of "Professional Transcripts?" Done by those with experience in healthcare policy arena to ensure a high level of accuracy

20. Please describe the meaning of the term "Editorial Services" as related to this opportunity? Editorial Services of what material and the estimated extent of such services? Removed from statement of work.

21. Please describe the meaning of "automation and telecommunications support?" Webcasting

22. Above we asked if there would be third party payments. You mention such requirement-please describe you intention/to whom would such payment would be made to? Most importantly, assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less. Another 3rd party could be the accreditation organization, see below.

23. Please describe the co-sponsoring institutions? Academic research institutions that co-sponsor events with

OHRP

24. Please describe the term "accreditation fees" and who are the intended recipients? Specifically, we have arranged CME accreditations with Virginia Commonwealth University for some of our educational programs.

The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees.

25. Above we mentioned the contract type to be a FFP. If this requirement remains, it is my assumption that such cost would only be for Labor, correct? And, not for the "Other Direct Costs" such as hotel meeting rooms and so forth? This will be a Time and Materials contract

26. Will there be a requirement for breakout rooms at various meetings? If yes, what is the frequency, how many breakout rooms per meeting? Unlikely but at most one breakout if at all

27. Is there an incumbent? If so, who is the incumbent? Seamon Corporation

28.The Task, as described on page 3 of the SOW, lists several tasks in the plural but the deliverable on describes one meeting, an unidentifed number of co-sponsorship payments, an unidentified number of accreditation fees and an unidentified number of transcripts. Please confirm that only these items should be included in our price proposal and please provide additional details on the exact number of each item needed. Most importantly, assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less. Also we have arranged CME accreditations with Virginia Commonwealth University for some of our educational programs. The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees to the amount of $950.

29. Section 8.4 of the solicitation indicates that the Service Contract Labor Standards are applicable to the proposed contract. Please provide the appropriate U.S. Department of Labor Wage Determination as an attachment to the solicitation, and indicate which service employee classifications are expected to perform under the contract. Wage Determination No.: 2015-4281 will be attached to revised solicitation.

30. Will printed materials be needed? If so, please provide an approximate type and number of items. No

31. Should we assume the conference will be held at a Government facility or a hotel? Preferably hotel/publicly accessible venue.

32. How many participants or speakers will be sponsored (airfare, lodging, per diem and ground transportation)? None

33. Will any speakers received honoraria? If so, what should we assume? None

34. How many participants are expected to participate via webcast? 1000+

35. Will onsite support be needed? Yes – for live webcast and registration

36. How many breakouts are expected? 1 or None

37. Would the Government provide a breakdown of anticipated A/V and IT needs for each type of event (conference, workshop, and webinar)? There is really only one main event: a one-day conference in D.C.

metropolitan that needs to be supported by live webcast.

38. Will a note taker be needed to create a meeting summary or a full meeting transcript? Yes

39. Section 5.1 currently indicates that the period of performance is for a single 1-year period. If these services are of a recurring nature, will the government consider including four (4) 1-year option periods to attract a higher level of industry interest and competition? No

40. What are the specifications for the registration website? Is this expected to be a lightweight module that covers only registration or a more robust and complex event portal with additional functionalities (abstract/presentation submission, user accounts, poster session submission and review, etc.)? Lightweight site to collect basic registration info (and may be to provide e-copies of conference slides)

41. How many co-sponsoring institutions will receive co-sponsorship payments? One or two but here are the details: assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less

42. How many accreditation fees should we assume will be paid? we have arranged CME accreditations with Virginia Commonwealth University for some of our educational programs. The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees to the amount of $950.

43. Will items other than the conference be transcribed? If so, what type of events and how many should we budget for in the price proposal? Possible up to around 3 one-hour webinars or video recordings

44. Could the Government provide an estimate of the volume of work to be conducted under this opportunity?

o For instance, how many workshops, conferences, and webinars are anticipated? Could this be broken down by conference, workshop, and webinar designation? We do note that one conference is anticipated and would appreciate confirmation that only one conference will be hosted. Only one conference anticipated

45. What is the expected level of effort for each event type? Will all of the task areas be required for each event to be hosted under this contract? No. Effort primarily includes identifying and securing suitable venue in the D.C. metro area. Helping with registration prior and on the day. Ensuring appropriate AV support on the day and for live webcast with captions. Providing a note-taker who will provide a transcript of the one-day event

46. Will they be held evenly throughout the year or at specific times? Once, possibly between December 2016 and early March 2017

47. Where are the events expected to be held? One event -D.C. metro

48. Where will attendees be traveling from? Should international travel be expected? No – do not expect need to assist with travels except for perhaps negotiation with hotel to offer a reasonable room rate

49. What editorial services are anticipated under this requirement? E.g., notetaking, report crafting, publishable quality summary reports, white papers, transcription, translation, etc.? note taking, transcription

50. Would the Government clarify what is meant by "automation and telecommunications support" and what services are expected under this category? Live webcast

51. Where is live broadcast support to be applied? Is this for the conference only or also for workshops? Are these same services also sought for webinars? Conference only

52. Would the Government please clarify what is meant by 508 compliance-related activities? What items are to be made 508 compliant? Any webinars, videos, documents that we post on our website must be 508-compliant.

For webinars and videos, its mean that we will need transcripts from the contractors so that our IT people can use them to add captioning before posting.

Since there’s also a likelihood that we will be asked to post the transcripts themselves on our website, the transcripts will need to be provided to us in 508-compliant PDFs as well.

53. Would the Government clarify what activities are envisioned under 3rd party engagement? Would the Government please identify the 3rd parties and detail the support they will need? Most importantly, assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less. Also we have arranged CME accreditations with Virginia Commonwealth University for some of our educational programs.

The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees to the amount of $950.

54. Would the Government please clarify the requirements for a contractor-maintained inspection system? None

55. How many total sleeping rooms are required both for supported and non-supported attendees? How many would require sleeping rooms for one night? Would some of the attendees require a 2nd night? The government will not be responsible for paying for these rooms. However, in the negotiation with the venue, it’s probably a good idea to try to also secure a certain number of rooms at a more reasonable conference rate for potential attendees. I would suggest 100 rooms for 2 nights as a ballpark figure. Again, contract with venue should not include any guarantee payment by the government for these rooms, taken or not.

56. How many co-sponsoring institutions will receive the payments? What is the total dollar amount of the payments to all institutions?

Most importantly, assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less. Also we have arranged CME accreditations with Virginia Commonwealth University for some of our educational programs. The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees to the amount of $950.

57. How many accreditation fees will be paid under this contract? What is the total dollar amount of all the accreditation fees?

58. How many webinars will be transcribed? How long are these webinars?

Possible up to around 3 one-hour webinars or video recordings

59. What is the turnaround time for the transcripts? 2 weeks?

60. How many total webinars will be conducted? What is the anticipated size of the audience for each webinar?

What is the length of these webinars? No need to provide support for usual webinar. Only support for the live webcast of the one-day conference expected

61. Is the contractor providing the webinar and conference call service? For the one-day conference only

62. What materials are required for each event? For example, for the one day conference, None expected

63. Total number of pages to be edited and copied such as, agenda, participant list, other meeting materials?

How many sets are to be provided? No extra editing expected. Only that which the note-taker will provide

64. What materials will be edited for the other events such as the webinars? None

65. What is the level of effort for the same period for previous programs? or does HHS consider this to be a full time effort? Not full time. Main effort will be to provide support for the one-day conference with live webcast

66. Is contractor responsible for procuring the conference location and associated support as part of the contract or will that be done by HHS with contractor liaison and coordination. Contractor

67. Confirm this is for support of one meeting and that the meeting will last one day? If not, how many meetings? Confirmed

68. Will the meeting be in government or commercial space? Preferably commercial

69. What is the set-up of the meeting (rounds, theater) Theatre

70. We will be support travel for speakers, etc? If so, how many? No

71. How many co-sponsorship payments of up to $12,000 will we need to make? For budgeting purposes to we assume $12,000 multiplied by the number of co-sponsorship payment? Assist with paying for logistics that co-sponsors of OHRP events may incur to the amount of $12,000 or less.

72. How many accreditation payments will we need to make? For budgeting purposes should we assume each will be for $950. If not, what assumptions should we make? The fees referred to are maintenance or set up fees to the amount of $950

73. Assume the contract pays for Audio Visual and webcast? For the one day conference, yes: AV and live webcast with captions

74. What kind of meeting materials are required? Meeting folder packets, program book, etc.? None

75. Will you need speaker tent carts in addition to name badges? If so, how many tent cards? Up to 10 tent cards?

76. Will we need to support webinars? If so, how many and how many people per webinar? What are the duration of the webinar? Do we use the contractor platform or the governments? No need to support other webinars except for obtaining transcripts; Possible up to around 3 one-hour webinars or video recordings

77. Can you confirm which Wage Determination this falls under: 2015-2104 or 2015-2103? This acquisition falls under Wage Determination No.: 2015-4281.

78. The PWS mentions a Management Coordinator; is this the title of the proposed key personnel? Yes

79. Is this a non-personal services contract where we have the responsibility to manage the employee? Yes

80. Should we include Reps and Certs? Yes

81. Statement of Work, Work Requirements, Page 2: Within the Statement of Work (SOW), the second sentence in the second paragraph under Work Requirements states that “The MC shall meet with the COR to get an overview of the activity objectives and purposes and to ascertain the types of personnel and equipment/material services needed and corresponding timeframes/deadlines and requirements for each needed service.”

It appears that determining the overall technical and staffing approach as well as formulating the budget for the work to be performed under the contract is expected to be a post-award activity that will be conducted in conjunction with the COR. Is that correct? If so, in response to the RFQ, is the government only requesting a price to provide a full-time Management Coordinator, and all other personnel requirements and costs will be addressed with the awardee through a future contract modification? This is a Time and Materials contract. Post award meeting will allow vendor and COR to clarify the work that will be done, the support needed and the funds proportioned for the different tasks.

82. Is this for one FTE? No

83. For the one day conference, in the plenary session, how would the government like the room set up?

Probably theatre style with podium, panel table in front.

84. How many speakers does the Government anticipate during the plenary session? All sessions are likely to be plenary. We don’t really anticipate any breakout sessions at this point. We expect that there should be space up front in the podium for one speaker plus seating for up to 5 panelists.

85. Does the Government anticipate the contractor to pay Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)/Speakers a stipend for participation in the event? If so, what is the amount of the stipend and how many SMEs/Speakers does the Government intend to pay? At this point, we do not anticipate inviting any SMEs that require payment. If we do decide to invite, then it’ll be the standard federal government rate for stipends and travels for no more than 2 SMEs.

86. Does the Government expect the contractor to post all meeting materials online? Not all meeting materials but may be some pre-meeting materials.

87. Please specify the stage set up for the event. Podium for one speaker and up to 5 panelists.

88. Does the Government expect the contractor to provide any food and beverage for this conference? No

89. In the SOW, there are 13 services (SOW Page 3) that are listed as work that has been required and will be required in the future. Will all of the 13 services be required for this contracted work? No, that was a list of what might be required

90. Is the contractor responsible for contracting with, and paying for, the venue? Yes – that’s the point of this contract.

91. Is there graphic branding for this meeting already, or would you like the contractor to create artwork and logos for use on the registration website and other materials? Minimal artwork expected, mainly home page of registration site. We will provide our logo.

92. Automation and Telecommunications: What kind of automation and telecommunications services are required? Only referring to live webcast on the day of the conference. No automation required.

93. Do you require the contractor to setup the webinar? For the live webcast on the conference day, yes. For the other webinars, no.

94. What additional support outside of transcripts for the OHRP webinars will be needed? None expected

95. Are we broadcasting video and PowerPoint? Only on the day of the conference where live webcast is expected. Otherwise, no

96. Would you like us to create login page for viewers? Not sure what this means. Viewing of our conference should be available to all but if logistics require registrations to view, then that’s fine. We will need the recording for the live webcast with captions for posting on OHRP website eventually.

97. Would you like Q&A feature between live viewers and hosting site? Yes – but probably will only accept write in questions.