19-233-SOL-00019_000001.PDF

(x)

19-233-SOL-00019

x x

1 copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted ; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted , such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

DAM

Bethesda MD 20814 8th Floor 7700 Wisconsin Avenue

DHHS/PSC/AMS/DAM

12/28/2018000001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended , by one of the following methods: (a) By completing

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

12/18/2018

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return __________________ copies to the issuing office.

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

Head Start Information and Communication Center (HSICC) Support for HHS/ACF/Office of Head

Start - Amendment #000001

The purpose of this amendment is to update the attachments listed in Section J, post the answers to the questions received for Volume I, and remove the duplicate page limit stated in the header of Table 3, Volume II.

As a result of this amendment:

1) Section J - List of Attachments on page 71 is removed and replaced (See Attachment

Section J);

Continued ...

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

RYAN L. COLLINS

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9 A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect .

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

NAME OF OFFEROR OR CONTRACTOR

2 20

CONTINUATION SHEET

REFERENCE NO. OF DOCUMENT BEING CONTINUED PAGE OF

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

19-233-SOL-00019/000001

2) The answers to the questions received for

Volume I are attached (See Attachment J.11

Questions and Answers for Volume I); and

3) The page limit in the header of Table 3, Volume II on pages 88-90 in Section L.8.3, is removed and replaced (See Attachment Revised

Pages 88-90). Page limits are stated in Section

8.4.

All other terms and conditions remain the same.

NSN 7540-01-152-8067 OPTIONAL FORM 336 (4-86)

Sponsored by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.110

19-233-SOL-00019_000001 71 of 103 Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

SECTION J - List of Attachments

Attachment/ Reference Number

Title Number of Pages

J.1 Voluntary Product Accessibility Template-Revised Section 508 6 J.2 Accounting System Evaluation 3 J.3 Past Performance Questionnaire 6 J.4 Software Inventory 1 J.5 Problem Notification Report 1 J.6 ACF Policy on Email Signatures and Taglines 1 J.7 Non-Disclosure Agreement 2 J.8 Wage Determination 10 J.9 ACF Incident Response Policy 12 J.10 Historic volume of content production 2 J.11 Questions and Answers for Volume I 9

2016 monthly mean 2016 monthly range 2017 monthly mean 2017 monthly range 2018 monthly mean 2018 monthly range

Customer Contact Center

Website submissions - Questions, Suggestions, Complaints, Stories 446 341 to 650 431 239 to 562 406 298 to 489

Complaints entered to OHS's HSES 98 68 to 151 101 59 to 130 117 85 to 152

English Phone Calls to the HSICC Toll-Free Number 1,826 1,077 to 3,405 1,517 903 to 2,421 1,575 1,043 to 2,802

Spanish Phone Calls to the HSICC Toll-Free Number 270 111 to 692 271 181 to 544 258 142 to 467

ACF OHS Site

News Feed Updates 2 0 to 5 0 0 to 1 1 0 to 3

Broken Links Fixed 1 0 to 5 2 0 to 10 1 1 to 2

ECLKC

New Pages/Applications 24 7 to 122 84 11 to 337 51 15 to 96

Page Edit/Update 83 37 to 997 61 17 to 126 84 46 to 181

PDFs created 22 2 to 56 16 3 to 53 15 6 to 27

PDFs remediated 4 0 to 18 3 0 to 6 10 1 to 72

508 Checks 29 5 to 62 20 3 to 31 50 8 to 181

Job Center Postings 176 119 to 236 136 91 to 193 129 71 to 174

ECLKC Front Page Updates 7 2 to 12 2 0 to 10 1 0 to 4

Withdrawn Pages/PDFs 32 0 to 123 46 0 to 175 6 0 to 27

Video Processing 11 0 to 36 134 0 to 1605 1 0 to 27

Video Edit/Post Production 4 0 to 32 15 0 to 50 12 4 to 27

Graphic Creation 15 7 to 30 22 0 to 176 7 0 to 24

Attachment J.10 Historic volume of content production

This attachment provides historic data of monthly volume for a selection of HSICC activities.

The "monthly mean" indicates the mean number of monthly activity in the months for which data is available. For each year, at least 11 months of data are available.

The "monthly range" indicates the lowest and highest number of monthly activity for the months for which data is available.

This data is not intended to indicate future volume of tasks, or to modify the requirements in the solicitation in any way.

2016 monthly mean 2016 monthly range 2017 monthly mean 2017 monthly range 2018 monthly mean 2018 monthly range

Translation QA

QA'd Translated Materials from partners (in 2018 began re-checking all material already on the ECLKC) 2 0 to 9 5 1 to 10 39 8 to 94

Mass Communications

Eblasts Sent 20 15 to 26 22 15 to 35 24 17 to 31

Spanish Eblasts Sent 1 0 to 3 1 0 to 3 1 0 to 2

Unique E-blasts Sent to Subscribers 335,976 173,685 to 508,472 421,578 229,447 to 664,191 449,147 310,778 to 624,975

Facebook postings 31 29 to 32 30 25 to 31 29 20 to 32

Spanish Facebook Postings 9 8 to 11 9 7 to 11 9 8 to 11

Twitter postings 59 29 to 75 62 24 to 80 69 59 to 82

MyPeers members added manually no data no data 369 56 to 1332 145 16 to 307

MyPeers members deactivated no data no data 311 9 to 1751 505 0 to 5117

MyPeers communities added no data no data 2 0 to 4 2 0 to 7

MyPeers Work Groups added no data no data 5 0 to 10 3 1 to 6

NewsWatch

Total reports for the month sent to OHS 21 18 to 23 21 19 to 23 21 18 to 22

Total number of articles sent to OHS 303 183 to 369 316 272 to 378 260 155 to 337

Total number of academic pieces included in

NewsWatch to OHS 7 4 to 12 6 3 to 11 5 0 to 11

Number of NewsWatch articles put into OHS's HSES 5 0 to 13 7 1 to 16 5 0 to 22

No. Question Solicitation Reference Answer 1 Can corporate experience be provided for subcontractors as well as the prime?

Reference Section L Table 2 page 87 Past Performance and Corporate Experience and Capabilities (Advisory Down Select)

Yes. Relevant experience may be provided for subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to the acquisition."

2 Where it requests Project Description and Size information, what does “size” mean since value is a separate request?

Reference Section L Table 2 page 86 Past Performance and Corporate Experience and Capabilities (Advisory Down Select):

Size refers to scope and complexity of the project.

3 Section M.6, Down-Select Criteria, page 97, states "The Government will advise each offeror in writing whether or not it is a viable offeror based on its ratings for Factor 1 and Factor 2." Does the Government have an estimate of how many days after submission of Volume I will the offeror receive the written notice?

Section M.6, Down-Select Criteria, page 97 The government anticipates notifying offerors as soon as possible after review of Volume I has been completed. The date for submission of Volumes II and III will be no less than five business days after offerors are notified.

4 Under the instructions for Section B, Past Performance, the instructions state "Each performance reference is limited to eight pages..." However, the header of the table on page 85 denotes a 20 page limit for Volume I.

Are the performance references included in the 20-page limit for Volume I?

Section L.8.3, Proposal Submission Format, Table 2, page 86.

To eliminate duplicated instructions, the page limit in the header of Table 2, Volume I, in Section L.8.3 on pages 85-87 is removed and replaced (See Attachment Revised Pages 85-87). Section L.8.4 Page Limitation on page 90, is removed and replaced (see Attachment Revised Pages 88-90). Note: Past Performance information retrieved from PPIRS and the Past Performance Questionaires are not included in the 20 page limit. PPIRS is accessed by the government, and the Past Performance Questionaires are sent directly to the government. Offerors must develop Volume I in such a way to present all the requested information within the 20 page limit.

5 The evaluation criteria references Factor 4, Understanding the Project, however, this requirement is not delineated in Volume I or Volume II. May the Government please clarify where the Understanding the Project section should be placed?

Section M.5, Technical Evaluation Criteria, page 96 "Understanding the Project" shall be placed in Volume II. As described in M.6., only Factors 1 and 2 will be considered for Volume I submissions.

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS)

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

6 a. Is there an incumbent for this contract?

b. If so, who is the incumbent and are they eligible to respond to this opportunity?

c. What is the current contract value?

d. If yes, what materials does the Government plan to have transitioned over to a new contractor from the incumbent (e.g., web related, data files, etc.)?

Section C, page 7 a. Yes, there is an incumbent.

b. TransManagementSystemsCorp is the incumbent, and they are eligible to respond to this opportunity.

c. The incumbent contract value is $10,483,264.50 for 1.5 years. However the scope of the incumbent contract is not the same scope as this solicitation.

d. Attachment J.4 lists the Government Provided Inventory that will be transfered from the incumbent to the new contract.

During the transition period, the Government anticipates full transition of ECLKC website and archives, including the content backlog;

current mailing lists and social media handles; MyPeers; mobile app; call center knowledge base; and transfer of email addresses and phone numbers used by the public to contact the Office of Head Start.

7 What is the estimated level of effort (LOE) or the number of FTEs for the contract?

Section B, Supplies or Services and Costs, page 4 The Government anticipates each offeror will propose a different approach that will require different labor mixes.

8 Could the government please provide further information on the MyPeers user community, such as approximate numbers of users, current numbers of workgroups, current numbers for workspaces etc.?

Page 17, Subtask 2.2 The MyPeers community has 12,167 members, 58 communities, and 93 active workgroups as of Dec 27, 2018. New communities and workgroups are added upon request by community members, OHS partners, or OHS staff. New groups are required to have a community administrator.

Requests are reviewed and approved by a technical review committee composed of HSICC and OHS staff. HSICC staff provision new communities and support the community administrators.

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

9 The instructions for the Project Management team require that at least one of the four key personnel be proficient in Spanish. Would the government consider allowing the Spanish proficiency in another Senior but not key position in the organization, or in a position designated as key by the officer in an addition to the four positions outlined in the

SOW?

Page 41, C.7, B Section C.7. B. states the project management team shall have at least one member who meets each of the listed qualifications in C.7.B. Section C.7.C. states all members of the contractors project management team will be considered key personell. The contractor project managment team is not required to be limited to the four listed key personell.

10 Requirements for Mayor of MyPeers require both two years of experience in online communities as well as two years direct Head Start experience. This requirement creates an excessive challenge in hiring outside the current incumbent as well as limits the opportunity for offerors to bring resources with a greater depth of experience and lessons learned from other programs. Would the government consider broadening experience to two years supporting similar customer community environments and allowing the ACF experience to be covered in the corporate staff experience?

Page 42-43, C.7, C, 3 Every year 1,600 agencies provide Head Start and Early Head Start services, each of which has a sizable management team. In addition, a whole industry has risen to provide technical assistance and other supports to the $10 billion Head Start community.

Virtual communities have been in existence since the 1970s. Today there are hundreds of companies that provide online communities, and millions of community facilitators.

The mayor of MyPeers is responsible to foster Head Start culture in a completely virtual environment. It is vital that they have experience both with Head Start program specifically, and with online communities.

The experience for either requirement may be met by volunteer or paid experience.

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

11 The instructions for Past Performance state that the limit for each of up to 3 citations should be 8 pages. However, the page limit for Volume 1 is NTE 20 pages.

a. Are the Past Performance citations excluded from page count?

b. If not, could the government please clarify the instructions as to page counts for the volume?

Page 86, L.8.3

a. No; however, the past performance information retrieved from PPIRS and the Past Performance Questionaires are not included in the 20 page limit. PPIRS is accessed by the government, and the Past Performance Questionaires are sent directly to the government. Offerors must develop Volume I in such a way to present all the requested information within the 20 page limit. But also see the changes made to section L.8.3, Table 2, Volume I and section L.8.4 (Attachment Revised Pages 85-87 and Attachment Revised Pages 88- 90).

b. see the answer to question #4 and the answer question #11 a.

12 Would the government consider excluding the Cover Letter and any reference sections, such as a table of contents and figures, from the page count for Volume 1?

Page 85, L.8.3 See the answer to question #4 and #11.

Section L.8.3, Table 2, Volume I and Table 3, Volume II, and Section L.8.4 are revised removed and replaced. The cover letter, table of contents, and figures are not included in the page count.

13 All other page limits cited in this document are independent of the above page limits for Volumes I and II (i.e., the Cover Letter/Cover Page, Table of Contents, Executive Summary, Master Index, Resumes, Past Performance Questionnaires, or Charts do not count towards the above page limits.)

Could you please provide clarification as to what exactly are the referenced “other page limits cited in this document”?

Page Limits: *Volume I: 20 pages *Volume II: 60 pages *Volume III: 50 pages

"other page limits cited in this document" is removed (see Attachment Revised L.8.4)

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

14 Can the government identify the content creating organizations and individuals with whom the contractor will be interacting?

In the background section, on page 8 "Numerous federal and contract staff are the primary developers of content for the ECLKC, including six large national Training and Technical Assistance Centers." The Training and Technical Assistance Centers are funded through five year grants. The current Centers are described here:

https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/about-us/article/training-technical-assistance-centers

15 Can the government estimate the annual volume of content that is typically produced (average number of pages, videos etc.)?

Please see Attachment J.10.

16 Are “interactive modules” produced on a bespoke basis as discrete projects, or are they currently templatized or developed from standard patterns?

They are produced on a bespoke basis

17 a. Does the ECLKC website maintain 100% parity in Spanish content? Is all content published on the site translated to Spanish, or only a subset?

Yes. With very few exceptions, all HTML pages are translated into Spanish. An example of an exception is if content is posted in a language other than English, or if intelectual property rights limit the government's permission to translate a resource.

18 Where is the website hosted, and what can the government tell us about the hosting platform?

The website is hosted in a Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. The ECLKC Hosting and Security Contract is currently held by LinkTech, LLC.

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

19 a. Does the government have an email list management system in place that meets the described criteria (delivery analytics, click through statistics)?

b. If so, what system is currently utilized?

c. If not, is selection and implementation of such a system considered within scope of this project?

a. Yes.

b. The incumbent has a commercial system in place. The details are proprietary to the incumbent.

c.The commercial system currently held by the incumbent will be made available to the successful offeror, if they wish to keep it, or use it to minimize disruption as they transition in (as will all commercial systems and software currently paid for through the incumbent contract). The successful offeror may propose to select and implement a different system. Proposals which merely offer to conduct a program using software and systems currently used by the incumbent may be considered unacceptable.

20 Can the government share additional information about the technologies used to develop the app, cross-platform framework, native tooling?

The Head Start Resources app is native for iOS and Andriod. It is developed in a common commercial platform. The details are proprietary to the incumbent.

21 Can the government clarify the scope of app development for content creators?

Content Creators have the flexibility to develop content using the latest technology -a scope that is continually evolving.

Historically, they have developed apps though their own subcontracts. HSICC ensures these apps meet federal standards, as well as the standards of the relevant app store, and posts the apps in the app store.

This process may require discussion and close collaboration with the subcontracted app developer.

22 Under section F.3 "Place of performance", it is not clear how much work will be performed off-site and on-site respectively. Will government provide the clarity?

Section C.2, especially Task 5, provides further clarity on the needs of the government with regards to onsite/ in-person work.

23 Will non-US citizens with proper visa status be allowed to work on this project?

Yes

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

24 What is the expected head count of resources required to support all the task areas outlined in the RFP, including the call center support team?

The Government anticipates each offeror will propose a different approach that will require a different labor mix.

25 Is it required that all call center support staff are proficient in Spanish?

It is required that all customers who need assistance in Spanish receive assistance in a timely manner.

26 From the RFP requirements, a resource will meet in person with content contributors, federal staff, and key stakeholders for collaborative efficiency in products and developing processes. Can you please clarify which resource from the list of key personnel will be responsible for?

The Government anticipates each offeror will propose a different approach that will require a different labor mix.

27 What are the job duties of the Mayor for MyPeers? The specific job duties will be determined by the offeror. The general role is to foster a positive online community, increase commuinity engagement and growth, and support the administrators of each community and workgroup as needed.

28 In the RFI, it is mentioned that the Contractor’s management team shall have at least one member who meets each of these qualifications:Proficient in Spanish:

Can you please clarify which team member needs match this requirement?

This is a Solicitation, not a RFI. The government is offering flexibility in this regard. Any member of the project management team who is proficient in Spanish would meet this requirement. The contractor project management team is not required to be limited to the four listed key personnel.

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

29 An executive summary is required in this volume. However, in Section M.6, only two factors appear to be evaluated in the Advisory Down-Select: (1) Factor 1: Past Performance, and (2) Factor 2 Corporate Experience. How will the Executive Summary be evaluated and what is its relative order of importance in relation to Factor 1 and Factor 2?

Page 83, L.8.3, Table 2, Section A The executive summary will not be evaluated. Rather it serves as an organizing framework for the reviewers.

30 This paragraph states that the Executive Summary is excluded from page count. Please clarify if offerors are to limit the executive summary to 5 pages or similar – such that total pages in Volume I are 25 pages?

Page 90, L.8.4 Page Limitations The Executive Summary shall not exceed five pages; but are not included in the page count of the Volume (Please see Attachment Revised Pages 85-87 and Attachment Revised Pages 88-90). The executive summary will not be evaluated.

Rather it serves as an organizing framework for the reviewers.

31 If no limit exists for the Executive Summary, how will the government be able to fairly evaluate one offeror against another?

Page 90, L.8.4 Page Limitations The Executive Summary shall not exceed five pages; but are not included in the page count of the Volume (Please see Attachment Revised Pages 85-87 and Attachment Revised Pages 88-90). The executive summary will not be evaluated.

Rather it serves as an organizing framework for the reviewers

32 This paragraph states that “charts do not count toward the above page limits.”

a. What type of charts are excluded from the page limit? b.

Why are charts excluded and fold-out diagrams are not?

Page 90, L.8.4 Page Limitations a. Any charts should be included in the Appendices

b. Charts and fold-out diagrams should be included in the Appendices. (Please see Attachment Revised Pages 88-90)

Attachment J.11 - Questions and Answers for Volume I

Solicitation #19-233-SOL-00019_000001

HHS, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start (OHS) Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support

33 May an offeror submit appendices to include supporting documentation?

Page 84, L.8.3, Table 1 Instructions Yes

34 “The project management team shall have at least one member who meets each of the qualifications below… At least five years of experience as staff in a Head Start program.” Please clarify if this includes any position that supports Head Start, such as T/TA contractors, OHS staff, or is it exclusively experience as a grantee under the program?

Page 41, C.7 Personnel The experience requirement in C.7 is exclusively experience as staff as a Head Start or Early Head Start program grantee agency.

35 “An electronic Part A, Volume I, and all related material for the Advisory Down-Select must be submitted by email, no later than, on 01/18/2019 by 10AM.” …When does the government estimate that offerors will be notified of the Advisory Down Select decision after submitting Volume I?

Page 83, L.8.1 Proposal Submission The government anticipates notifying offerors as soon as possible after review of Volume I has been completed. The date for submission of Volumes II and III will be no less than five business days after offerors are notified.

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Table 2. Proposal Content and Page Limitations - Past Performance & Corporate Experience and Capability (Advisory Down- Select)

Volume I: Past Performance and Corporate Experience and Capabilities (Advisory Down Select)

Section Description

Cover / Cover Letter / Contact Page Provide a cover /contact page in each volume. The cover/contact page shall include the following information:

• Company or agency name

• Name and title of the point of contact (POC) authorized to negotiate on behalf of the offeror’s organization

• Telephone number, email address, and mailing address of POC

• Names, titles, email addresses, and telephone numbers of other

POCs that HHS may contact if clarification of proposals is needed.

• Type of company (i.e. small business, 8(a), etc.)

• Date submitted and proposal expiration date.

• Solicitation name and number.

Provide a cover letter that introduces the company, the proposal, and the proposal volume. The cover letter shall also summarize offeror qualifications and senior corporate commitment to the Head Start Information and Communications Center.

Section A Executive Summary, Assumptions, and Constraints

Provide an Executive Summary of this proposal volume including, but not limited to, win themes, a summary of the proposal’s unique features and attributes, and an explanation of the importance of this program to the company. Also, provide a consolidated list of all assumptions and constraints used in the preparation of this proposal volume.

19-233-SOL-00019_000001 86 of 103

Section B Past Performance Offerors will be evaluated on performance under existing contracts and performance on prior contracts. Offerors should note the difference between past performance and past experience. Past performance relates to quality and how well a contractor performed, while past experience is about the type and amount of work previously performed by a contractor.

A maximum of three [] performance references shall be submitted for contracts within the past three years. Past performance references can be for the offeror, predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience and/or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to the acquisition.

Each performance reference is limited to five pages and shall include the following information:

• Several points of contact (Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer's Representative and any other pertinent officials that can verify performance) - name, agency/company, address, phone number and email address

• For contracts with the Federal Government, indicate whether the government has evaluated the contractor and past performance information is available through PPIRS or whether the reference will be providing information via the past performance questionnaire (see Attachment J.3)

• Contract title

• Contract number (and task order number when applicable)

• Contract type

• Total contract value (including base & all options)

• Project description and size information

• If the past performance reference is for a subcontractor, identify the major or critical aspects of the requirement that they will perform

• Did the contract include small business subcontract goals for small disadvantaged business concerns? If so, were the goals met?

• Provide an explanation of problems, delays, cost overruns and corrective actions taken.

Past performance information is available to Federal agencies through a system called the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS). The government will be considering past performance information contained in PPIRS to the greatest extent possible.

For contracts that do not have performance information available through PPIRS, offerors are requested to provide the Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment J.3) directly to their reference. The reference should complete the questionnaire and submit information directly back to the Government via email to Ginger Lease, Contract Specialist at ginger.lease@psc.hhs.gov by the close date of submission for Volume I of this solicitation. The subject line of the email should read: “Sol. #19-233-SOL-00019_Past Performance Questionnaire_Head Start Information and Communications Center (HSICC) Support”

Past performance information is proprietary source selection information. The Government will only discuss past performance information directly with the mailto:ginger.lease@psc.hhs.gov

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Volume I: Past Performance and Corporate Experience and Capabilities (Advisory Down Select)

Section Description

Section B (Continued)

Past Performance (Continued) entity or person that is being reviewed. If there is a problem with the proposed subcontractor's past performance, the prime can be notified of a problem, but no details may be discussed without the subcontractor's permission.

Section C Corporate Experience and Capability

The offeror shall submit the following information for Corporate Experience and Capability:

Corporate strength, depth, and capacity o Provide a general overview of the corporation including, for example: products and services offered, organizational structure, customers (commercial, state, and federal), business objectives and corporate vision.

o Describe the organization’s experience and skills in implementing and managing complex federal projects of similar scale and complexity using proven project management approaches and methodologies. Describe the company business unit managing the work, and the relationship with the proposing business unit. Describe how the project is relevant to the proposed project, and how lessons learned will be applied.

o Discuss how the corporate leadership will monitor the Head Start Information and Communications Center from within the company to ensure Performance Measures are being met and program objectives are being satisfied.

o Describe existing corporate issue escalation processes and how they would be applied to this program.

Corporate experience specific to the Office of Head Start contract and program o Discuss the organization’s experience in the comprehensive design of complex websites, content management, contact center operations, and resource promotion.

o Explain corporate understanding of the operations of Head Start programs and how it will inform the maturation of the OHS websites, content strategy, contact center responsiveness, and resource promotion. This knowledge shall include specialized expertise in content areas such as early childhood development, teaching and learning, cultural and linguistic diversity, infant and toddler needs, early childhood and family health (including oral, nutritional, dental and mental), family and community engagement, program management and fiscal operations of Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and state systems for early childhood.

o Describe corporate capacity and experience to coordinate multiple complex projects with many stakeholders in a transparent manner.

o Discuss corporate experience and familiarity with federal requirements for IT and communications products.

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Table 3. Proposal Content and Page Limitations – Technical Proposal Volume Volume II: Technical Proposal Volume

Section Description Cover / Cover Letter / Contact Page

Provide a cover /contact page in each volume. The cover /contact page shall include the following information:

• Company or agency name

• Name and title of the point of contact (POC) authorized to negotiate on behalf of the offeror’s organization

• Telephone number, email address, and mailing address of POC

• Names, titles, email addresses, and telephone numbers of other POCs that HHS may contact if clarification of proposals is needed.

• Solicitation name and number.

Provide a cover letter that introduces the company, the proposal, and the proposal volume.

The cover letter shall also summarize offeror qualifications and senior corporate commitment to the Head Start Information and Communications Center.

Table of Contents The offeror shall provide a table of contents in each volume. The table of contents should include major sections, subsections, tables and figures.

Master Index The offeror shall provide a single master index for the entire proposal. The intent of the master index is to ensure that all requirements are addressed and easily accessible to the evaluators. The master index will cross-reference each RFP requirement to one or more sections of the offeror’s response.

Section A Executive Summary, Assumptions & Constraints

Provide an Executive Summary of this proposal volume including, but not limited to, win themes, a summary of the proposal’s unique features and attributes, and an explanation of the importance of this program to the company. Also, provide a consolidated list of all assumptions and constraints used in the preparation of this proposal volume.

Section B Technical Approach In this section, the offeror should describe its overall technical approach for meeting the contract objectives. The technical approach must be discussed in sufficient detail to clearly and concisely demonstrate that the offeror has an understanding of all requirements specified in Section C. Proposals which merely offer to conduct a program in accordance with the requirements of the Government’s scope of work may be considered unacceptable.

Volume II should also contain a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) to be proposed by the offeror for use in measuring contractor success. An example of a QASP is located in Section L.9. The QASP should detail qualitative and quantitative results, definitions, and standards of success to meet the performance objectives in Section C. The QASP that is submitted and negotiated will be incorporated into the contract.

The offeror shall demonstrate the sufficiency of its technical approach for each of the tasks in the SOW, including its general approach as well as specific processes and resources used for each task. The offeror shall addresses its approach to perform the technical and management requirements as described in the SOW, and how well the proposal meets the Head Start Information and Communication Center objectives, considerations, and constraints, including compliance with federal standards and regulations.

The offeror’s technical approach should relate to their ability to coordinate multiple complex projects with many stakeholders in a transparent manner.

Section C Management Approach In this section, the offeror shall provide a Project Management Plan that demonstrates the sufficiency of its strategies, processes, tools, organization, and resources for managing risks and the work required by the SOW. The offeror shall demonstrate the sufficiency of its approach to manage costs, schedule, staffing, team performance, contract performance.

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Section Description Section C-1 Staffing Plan Describe the proposed team of Key personnel and the full staffing plan for supporting personnel and the approach to staffing, especially how you propose to comply with contractor’s background investigation and staff security requirements described in Section C. This Plan must describe the roles and responsibilities of the team of Key and supporting personnel, the percentage of time they will work on this contract, and their proposed start and end dates on this contract. Discuss offeror’s approach to staff continuity, specifically, how to recruit, train, and retain staff to perform the contract tasks in relevant areas of technical expertise. This must include labor mix and level of effort.

Section C-2 Key Personnel and Resumes [1 page introduction + 2 pages per resume]

Offerors must provide complete resumes for key personnel identified in Section C and H.

This does not count towards any other page limitation. Resumes must contain information on education/training, background, general experience and more importantly specific experience as related to the SOW.

Key personnel must demonstrate performance under projects similar in size, scope, and complexity to the Head Start Information and Communications Center contract requirements. The experience, education, and training of each key person proposed must demonstrate the breadth, depth, and quality of relevant experience, results and effectiveness of their work in achieving goals in performance of projects of similar size and complexity to this requirement.

Signed letters of commitment are required of all key personnel. The letter of commitment must be directed to supporting this program including the length of an individual’s commitment and must be signed by the individual and a corporate authorized official.

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Section Description

Section D Section 508 Compliance Section 508 Compliance has been added as a non-weighted factor in accordance with HHSAR 311.7001; therefore, no weight will be given to this criterion. Section 508 Compliance shall be evaluated as acceptable or unacceptable. Offeror shall provide a detail explanation on how they will comply with Section 508 (See Attachment J.1) in the Technical Volume’s Technical Appendices

In accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (19 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by Public Law 105-220 under Title IV (Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998), and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR 1194), all EIT acquired must meet the following requirements:

• Federal employees with disabilities must have access to and use of information and data that are comparable to the access and use by federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities.

• Members of the public with disabilities seeking information or services from an agency must have access to and use of information that are comparable to the access to and use of information and data by members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities.

Meeting the requirements includes the development, procurement, maintenance, and use of EIT products and services.

The offeror should define how the development efforts associated with the Objectives will comply with the established EIT accessibility standards. Further information about Section 508 is available at http://www.section508.gov.

L.8.4 PAGE LIMITATIONS

Volume I (Past Performance and Corporate Capabilities Proposal) shall not exceed 20 pages in length. The cover letter, table of contents, figures, and charts, are not included in the page count. Volume II (Technical Proposal) shall not exceed 60 pages in length. The cover letter, tables of contents, Executive Summary, and Master Index are not included in the page count.

Resumes, charts, fold-out diagrams should be included in an Appendix and do not count towards the above page limits. However, the Executive Summary shall not exceed five pages.

Volumes I and II proposals submissions shall not make reference to pricing data in order that the technical evaluation may be made strictly on the basis of technical merit. Volume III (Business Proposal) shall not exceed 50 pages in length.

HHS reserves the right not to consider any pages beyond the established page limitations as part of the competition.

http://www.section508.gov/