Question and Responses_Syndromic Surveillance.docx

Question.

1. CDC is not requesting that cost and price data be included in the business proposal at the time of proposal submission. Instead, respondents are being asked to submit a firm-fixed price. We also understand that in proposal evaluation paramount consideration shall be given to technical proposals rather than to cost or price. (Will the fixed cost being provided during the initial submission enter into the competitive range or will all respondents who are otherwise technically qualified (i.e., in the competitive range) be invited to submit additional, detailed cost and price data to determine cost realism

A. To clarify, CDC is not requiring certified cost & pricing data. However, cost detail is required to support the total FFP proposed in the contractor format with the initial proposal.

2. Section L.9 states “The technical proposal (if required) must not contain reference to cost; however, resource information, such as data concerning labor hours and categories, material, subcontracts, etc., must be contained in the technical proposal so that your understanding of the Statement of Work can be evaluated…”The instructions for the business proposal are included. There does not, however, appear to be any instructions included for the technical proposal, even incorporated by FAR reference, nor is it explicitly stated that a technical proposal is required, although 70% of the evaluation is linked to the technical response. Please clarify whether a technical proposal is required and whether there are specific instructions for its preparation.

A.

Refer to Section L.Technical Proposal Instructions: Describe your technical approach for accomplishing the requirement. Identify your staffing plan to accomplish the tasks and explain any assumptions made as well as the basis of the proposed skill mix.

Question

3. Since the technical proposal requirements are unclear at this time, would the CDC consider extending the due date?

A. The closing date is extended until August 1, 2011.

4. The Performance-Based Matrix states that payment is linked to quality through FAR 52.246-5 Inspection of Services - Cost Reimbursement. It is our understanding that the Government contemplates the award of a fixed price contract. Should this section instead reference FAR 52.246-4 Inspection of Services – Fixed Price?

A. Delete: FAR 52.246-5 Inspection of Services- Cost Reimbursement Add: FAR 52.246-4 Inspection of Services- Fixed-Price

Question

5. The solicitation states, “Contractor understands and agrees that employee access to any procurement-sensitive information may create a conflict of interest which will preclude contractor from becoming a competitor for any acquisition(s) resulting from this information.” To avoid exclusion from any future acquisitions will the Government accept the submission of an Organizational Conflict of Interest Mitigation Plan as part of our proposal response?

A. No

Question

6. “L.10 Past Performance Information (Jan 2000)

2. The Offeror shall provide a list of the last three (3) contracts completed during the past three years and the last (3) contracts awarded currently in progress that are similar in nature to the solicitation work scope. Contracts listed may include those entered into by the Federal Government, agencies of state and local governments and commercial customers. Offerors that are newly formed entities without prior contracts should list contracts as required above for all key personnel.” The statement above specifies that a total of 6 (six) contracts or past performances must be submitted by the offeror – 3 that are no older than 3 years and 3 that are currently in progress. Will the Government accept past performances from ongoing awards that have completed either a base year or any number of option years as past performances that have completed work and satisfy the “completed contracts” requirement?

A. Yes

7. “M.4 Past Performance Evaluation - Adjectival Rating System (d) The Government will evaluate the quality of the offeror's past performance based on collaborated past performance evaluations included in the offerors proposal and/or other information obtained from references provided by the offeror, as well as other relevant past performance information obtained from other sources known to the Government. The Government may or may not survey all contracts listed by the offeror, and reserves the right to perform customer surveys only for those contracts which are deemed by the Government to be most relevant to this procurement. The Customer/Client Survey Letter and the Past Performance Survey Document included as attachments under Section J will be used by the Government to gather any required past performance evaluations.”

Yet Section J of the solicitation states: “Section J - List Of Attachments -There are no attachments or provisions included in this section”. Would you please forward the missing attachments or provide their location?

A. Past Performance Questionaire is attached and incorporated to Section J..

8. Item 1: “Recruit Subject Matter Experts - Within one (1) month following the date of award, identify and recruit subject matter experts (SME)…Is the cost associated with SME time and travel to be included in the fixed price proposal for this bid?

A. Yes

9. Is there specific number of SMEs that need to be recruited?

A. To be proposed by the offeror as it relates to their technical approach.

10. “Define Data Elements - Within seven (7) months following the date of award:

Identify message specifications and standards (e.g., HL7 2.5.1, ICD-9-CM) to be exchanged with a state health department and CDC as recommended by NHIN and the standards community ”Can you please clarify the use of the word ‘identify’ in 3.a. above? For example, is the vendor expected to simply identify specific message transaction and requirements such that the output is a messaging specification?

A. Identify specific message transaction and terminology.

Question

11. Under Task 2 part 3, "Define Data Elements," in item b. the CDC is requesting that the contractor, "Identify message specifications and standards (e.g., HL7 2.5.1, ICD-9-CM) to be exchanged with a state health department and CDC as recommended by NHIN and the standards community." (Page 8 of 63 on RFP) Please clarify the level of implementation detail needed for the information architecture deliverable. Is it a high-level guidance document (such as the Recommendations ISDS previously developed) or a technical implementation guide, such as the HL7 messaging guide??

A. The level of the implementation detail needed for the information architecture is a high level guidance document.

Question

12. Please clarify the Use-case and scope of the clinical data that the business and infrastructure requirements are being developed for: Does it include inpatient care? Ambulatory care? Primary care data? ER? All of these were referred to in the RFP A. Refer to 2.b.i and 2.b,ii, inpatient and primary care.