V1_Questions_and_Responses_for_16PBGC19R0009_Enterprise_eDiscovery_Tool_Services.pdf

V.1 Questions and Responses for 16PBGC19R0009 Enterprise eDiscovery Tool Services

1) Instructions indicate that the offeror must provide Firm Fixed Pricing for All CLINS and that the government intends to award a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract. Reference: Pricing Schedule page 2.

Does the government intend to award a firm fixed total price to the winning bidder per year based on the assumed quantities and contractor rates?

Or does the government intend that prices for the unit and hourly CLINs listed in each year will be fixed in the schedule, but invoicing each month will be based on actual quantities for each

CLIN?

Response: A firm fixed priced contract will be awarded to the winning bidder. The quantities for the Base Year and each Option Year have been specified as per the schedule.

Note that the services consumed may be less than the quantities which were assumed in the schedule, but that this will not affect the price.

2) The table indicates that 2,000 GB will comprise the initial migration. How many repositories/databases does that include? Reference: Pricing Schedule page 5.

Response: Approximately 30 separate Relativity cases. Again note that the actual quantity may be less than the specified total quantity.

3) Regarding PBGC clause 52.204-7000 RECORDS MANAGEMENT - Paragraph 6 of the clause specifies that contractor shall only use government IT equipment for purposes specifically tied to the contract. If broadly applied, would seem to counter the general activities under this contract described on page 5 under Section 1 General Description. Can PBGC please clarify the discrepancy between the work under the contract and the clause requirement to only use government IT equipment? Reference: Supplies and Services or Price/Costs, Section 1 General Description, Page 5 PBGC 52.204-7000, Page 43

Response: Equipment which is part of a vendor’s FedRAMP approved solution are considered government IT equipment for purposes of this solicitation.

4) Under PBGC 52.209-7002 HANDLING PBGC DATA – subparagraph (i) requires CO approval before removal of any data. As data removal is implied as a normal, ongoing process in the SOW (presumably without CO approval), this would seem to be inconsistent with the SOW. Also data removal requiring approval of Head of Contracting Authority is specified under paragraph (4) of the PBGC 52-204-7000 clause (PDF page 43). Could PBGC please clarify whether CO and/or HCA approval will be needed under these clauses as part of the work required under the intended contract? Reference: PBGC 52.209-7002, Page 46 PBGC 52.204- 7000, Page 43

Response: The CO can and will be part of the sign-off process for case removal; e.g. a CO signature could be obtained as part of the case removal request process that originates within the agency and is sent over to the vendor as part of the original request.

5) Can font size and style within charts, graphics, and tables be smaller and different than 12-point Times New Roman? Reference: Proposal Format, Page 54

Response: Font size and style within charts and graphics can be smaller than 12 points and different from Times New Roman. Tables within the body of the proposal should follow the 12 pt Times New Roman requirement.

6) If an offeror or two were to submit their questions by, for example, next Monday (11/19) at noon, could PBGC provide the answers to those questions sometime that same week as its own batch rather than waiting for all questions to be submitted by 11/21 and answering all of them at the same time the following week?

Response: Responses to questions will be posted prior to the end of the question answer period. Responses will not be posted all at one time.

7) PBGC is requested to offer additional guidance on the intent for continued utilization of Relativity. As this CLIN is represented in the Pricing Tables for the entire five (5) years period of performance, it is assumed that PBGC desires that any alternative e-Discovery software product will run in parallel to Relativity throughout the whole term. Therefore, the proposed solution will need to incorporate a Relativity hosting component. Is this a correct assumption? If so, will the PBGC’s existing Relativity license (presumably an On Premise license) be deployed for ongoing use in the hosted environment (i.e., will the terms of PBGC’s current Relativity license permit PBGC to deploy Relativity within the selected vendor’s hosting facility or does PBGC require the solution provider to have a pre-existing Relativity license in place)?

Reference: Pricing Schedule (page 5-9) CLIN 0002:… ingestion into Relativity

Response: The solution will need to incorporate a Relativity hosting component, and any licensing costs for the user base should be part of the solution’s pricing. The existing Relativity licenses are similarly part of a hosted solution, and PBGC does not host any version of Relativity on premise.

8) Is PBGC prepared to consider a GovCloud hosting solution? E.g. Amazon Web Services https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/ which is FedRAMP certified? Clarification is requested in relation to PBGC’s intent to continue to use Relativity in parallel with a newly selected solution.

With an assumption that the selected solution meets the functional requirements as cited in the Statement of Work, please confirm whether the aim is to implement an alternative or a parallel optional product to run alongside Relativity throughout the term. To what extent does PBGC intend to transition to a replacement e-Discovery platform? Reference: Statement of Work, 2nd paragraph, page 12 This solution is fully FedRAMPed services that provides web-hosted versions of popular best-of-breed discovery review software such as Relativity…and This RFP seeks a full-and-open competition for a like solution that can perform the same functions as well as take in PBGC’s existing open case load for continued processing.

Response: The current hosted solution includes Relativity as a discovery review product option, and the current caseload for PBGC is hosted in Relativity cases. Therefore the new solution should also include Relativity as a discovery review product option, and the initial setup of the new solution should include migration/intake of all extant open cases. This does not preclude the new solution from a) offering additional discovery review product option(s) in its initial configuration; b) offering in-solution conversion options to alternate discovery review products, perhaps to the vendor’s benefit; or c) offering additional discovery review products at some point later in the period of performance, to move to a new best-of-breed or new industry standard product.

With that as clarification: There is no “parallel” use of solutions; the new solution will fully take over all cases in the extant solution (keeping them in Relativity to start), and any new casework will be introduced in the new solution (which could include both Relativity cases and cases in any other discovery review tool offered by the solution).

9) PBGC is requested to clarify the utilization of Relativity. Is it the intent to continue to use Relativity ONLY during the initial phase of data migration?

If yes, can the respondent assume that the PBGC is willing to consider an option to transition to a new eDiscovery software platform once all existing case files have been successfully migrated to the new platform, thereby abandoning future use of Relativity? Please confirm.

Response: Yes, Relativity must be used at the initial phase of the new solution. Yes, PBGC would consider using other discovery review tools for future cases, or even migrate existing Relativity cases to a new tool.

PBGC is requested to provide the solicitation in Word format for ease of responding to Section

2.3 Detailed Requirements Table. Reference: Statement of Work, Section 2.1 Objective (page

12) Specifically provide Relativity as the (or one of the) commercial case review tools in its initial configuration, allowing for the current caseload to be migrated in with minimal disruption to the users.

Response: The solicitation will not be provided in Word format https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/

10) On page 12 & 13, specifically, it looks like you want a hosted solution using Relativity, but also mention the ability to upload documents for processing. I can provide the environment and manage it with my team for the duration of the project(s), and that would include full time support as well as expert insight with the program itself (which it seems what you are looking for). Do you want to have the ability for your in-house team to process documents? Or do you just want them to upload to a secured transfer site, where we will the process the files for you?

Response: Relativity must be the or one of the available discovery review tools in the solution. PBGC is only expecting to use the solution/review tool(s) for the Processing / Review / Analysis and Production phases of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, so there also must be an entry point for documents (an ability to upload the documents which have come from the Preservation / Collection phase via agency-internal methods). The vendor would need to assist with case provisioning and document intake into a case, at which point the in-house team would need to perform review and analysis. It is optional whether or not the solution allows the in-house team to also “process documents” (by which we presume you mean perform the document intake for a case).

11) Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

Response: There is no specific requirement for the vendor to have any presence (ongoing or otherwise) on any PBGC site.

12) Can we submit the proposals via email?

Response: No. Proposals must be submitted using the Proposal Submission Instruction listed on page 51 of the Request for Proposal (RFP).

13) Does the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation posted as solicitation number 16PBGC19R0009 on FBO contain requirements similar to a existing contract or will this be a new requirement? If possible, please provide the current contract number.

Response: This is a follow-on requirement. The current contract number is PBGC01-CT- 14-0017 with Complete Discovery Source, Inc.