Attachment vi. Questions and Answers.pdf

RFP: 273FCC20R0007

Questions and Answers

# Solicitation Reference Question Answer

1 None provided Were there any RFI’s and answers issued prior to this RFP that you can share or that you can point me to?

Yes, a RFI was posted on FBO.gov. No answers were provided, the RFI was market research for the FCC.

The RFI can be found at the link below:

https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d0a4c72230674078d605e373b4cd8543/view?keywords=NANPA&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=false&page=1

2 None provided

At a high level I wanted to inquire as to whether my company can bid on only the RND portion of the contract or are you looking only for companies to bid on the entire contract?

The Request for Proposal (RFP) is for a single award contract to one vendor for all services. A company that only proposes on a portion of the services would be deemed non-responsive and would not be awarded the contract.

3 None provided How many Central Processing Units (CPU's). The Contractor should provide for a sufficient number of central processing units to comply with the requirements of the RFP.

4 None provided How much Random Access Memory (RAM) The Contractor should provide for a sufficient amount of random access memory to comply with the requirements of the RFP.

5 None provided How much SSD storage you require. The Contractor should provide a sufficient amount of SSD storage to comply with the requirements of the RFP.

6 None provided Servers’ Operating system you wish to use. The Contractor should provide a server operating system that is compliant with the requirements of the RFP.

7 None provided In what Data center do you wish your server will be in?

The Contractor should select a data center that complies with the requirements of the RFP.

https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d0a4c72230674078d605e373b4cd8543/view?keywords=NANPA&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=false&page=1 https://beta.sam.gov/opp/d0a4c72230674078d605e373b4cd8543/view?keywords=NANPA&sort=-relevance&index=opp&is_active=false&page=1

Solicitation Section 1, Continuation Sheet, Pages 4-6

The Solicitation does not contain separate CLINS for NANPA and PA travel costs. This is a change from previous NANPA and PA contracts.

Should Offerors include costs associated with NANPA and PA travel in CLIN 0001 or will the FCC add Travel CLINs for the Base and Option

Years?

CLINs 0004, 1003, 2003, and 3005 are added for Travel costs.

Solicitation Section 1, Continuation Sheet

(Pages 4-6) and Attachment I, Federal

Communications Commission (FCC)

North American Numbering Plan

Administrator, Pooling Administrator, and

Reassigned Numbers Database

Administrator, Performance Work Statement (PWS), Section 1.2 Overview of RND Funding and Fee Structure (Page 4)

The North American Numbering Council Recommendations on Funding of the Creation

Costs and Fee Structure for Users of the Reassigned Numbers Database, dated February 13, 2020, included a recommendation to allow Offerors the option to self-fund development costs thereby eliminating any expense to service providers and reducing the administrative time and expense of managing a cost recovery model for both the FCC and vendor.

Will the FCC allow Offerors the option of self-funding CLIN 0002 – RND Development versus obtaining funds from the NANP Fund and later repaying those funds?

The Reassigned Numbers Database Order states that “the costs to establish the database and create the query functionality will be recovered using the same type of mechanism that is currently used to recover the NANPA’s costs.” The Order does not allow for self funding.

Please note that the Performance Work Statement section 1.9 allows for accelerated repayment of the RND creation costs at the RNDA’s discretion.

Solicitation Section 1, Continuation Sheet

(Pages 4-6) and Attachment 1.1, Combined NANPA/PA Technical

Requirements Document, Section 1.5 Objectives (Page 13 of

129)

The second bullet states that the main objectives of the NANPA/PA include, “Develop and implement a single system to facilitate all activities of the NANPA/PA and the assignment, tracking, and data reporting requirements for all

Numbering Resources….” The Solicitation contains no specific CLIN for NANPA/PA System Development as it does for RNDA and as has been included in past NANPA and PA contracts.

Will the FCC add an additional Implementation CLIN for NANPA/PA as is currently provided for

RNDA Development?

CLIN 0005 is added.

See, Attachment 1.1 - NANPA-PA TRD.

Attachment 1.1, Combined NANPA/PA

Technical Requirements

Document (page 116 of 129)

Various sections reference the FCC Cyber Security Program and Item 23 under Section 16, List of References, cites the document FCC Cyber Security Program, FCCINST 1479.4 Effective

Date, May 2011. We believe it has been replaced by FCC Cyber Security Program FCCINST

1479.5 with an effective date of May 20, 2015.

We could not locate this document online.

Please provide the correct document.

Attachment 1.1 - NANPA-PA TRD is updated to reference FCC Cyber Security Program FCCINST 1479.5. The document can be found at:

https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/fcc-directive-1479.5.pdf

This reference is also updated on the RND TRD. The change can be found on page 52 of document (Section 10: List of References, Item 1).

See Attachment 1.2 RND TRD.

Attachment ii, Instructions to Offerors and Evaluation Criteria, Section 2.

Submission Instructions:

Subsection 4. Format and Content (Pages 1-2 of 10)

States that a standard 12-point font size applies to all volumes of the Offeror’s proposal. Graphics, particularly technical graphics, employ smaller font sizes to ensure each illustration, table, chart or graph is adequately labeled and described.

Does this 12-point font size requirement apply to text within graphics as graphics typically include smaller, but readable font sizes?

The 12-point font size requirement does not apply to text within graphics. However, please note that if the reviewers cannot read the graphic, the graphic will not be evaluated.

https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/fcc-directive-1479.5.pdf

Attachment ii, Instructions to Offerors and Evaluation Criteria, Section

5, Volume II-Technical (Pages 2-4)

The instructions state that the Technical Proposal is limited to a total of 60 single-sided pages. In contrast, the Evaluation Criteria and Instructions require Offerors to provide extensive detail. For example, Under Evaluation Criteria on page 8, the FCC states that it “…will evaluate the Offeror’s proposal for the combined NANPA, PA, and RNDA effort to determine… the extent to which the proposed technical and management approach demonstrates a clear understanding of all requirements” (emphasis added). Furthermore, the RFP Instructions require Offerors to submit a

Transition In/Transition Out, Staffing Plan, detailed program and risk management information, Implementation plan, etc. In order for an Offeror to demonstrate a clear understanding of all requirements set forth in the more than the 150 pages of the combined TRDs and for the FCC to properly evaluate against instructions and evaluation criteria, Offeror’s need an increase in the page limit.

Will the FCC extend the page length for Volume II, Technical to 300 pages.

Attachment ii, Instructions to Offerors and Evaluation Criteria is revised to permit 75 single-sided pages.

273FCC20R0007-

NANPA-PA-RNDA

Section 1 Supplies and Services

Should Travel be included in each of the CLINs where required? CLINs 0004, 1003, 2003, and 3005 are added for Travel costs.

Attachment 1.1 – Combined NANPA/PA

Technical Requirements

Document Section 10, pg 65 Systems characteristics

Attachment ii – Instructions Evaluation

Factors (a), Pg 8

Attachment 1, PWS Ensuring Progress On

Dual Projects, Pg 2

Is the vendor to develop a combined system for the NANPA and PA during the first 5 year contract period and what would be the period of performance for this task? The Solicitation does not have a CLIN for system costs as in previous tenders and there are inconsistences between the included documents as listed below:

Section 10 states “the newly developed system”

“develop the RNDA system and transition the existing NANPA and PA systems;”

“This contract calls for a single Contractor that will function as the NANPA, the PA, and the

RNDA. These systems all call for up-front development work and subsequent operation.”

Full performance of NANPA and PA functions is to begin after a 90-day transition period. See Attachment ii. Instructions to Offerors and

Evaluation Criteria, Section 1.1

CLIN 0005 is added for the transition period and development. See, Attachment 1.1 - NANPA-PA TRD, Section 10.

273FCC20R0007-

NANPA-PA-RNDA Pg

14; 52.237-3 Continuity of Services

Per Page 14 of the Solicitation (Continuity of Services), the incumbent will disclose personnel records and allow the successor to conduct on-site interviews with selected employees. Please confirm the current incumbent is under the same obligation to provide these records and access.

Further, please confirm that the current incumbent may not preclude employees from being interviewed or transitioning to the new contractor.

FAR 52.237-3 Continuity Of Services (Jan 1991) is included in the current contracts. The text of the clause is identical to the clause in the

RFP and can also be found at:

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

FAR 52.237-3 (2) requires the incumbent to exercise its best efforts and cooperation to effect an orderly and efficient transition to a successor.

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

17 Attachment+1.1+-

+NANPA-PA+TRD

Are there any technical enhancements items not included in the TRD for the NANPA and PA systems that are to be implemented prior to transition? If there are, what is the process to understand these items and when would these items need to be provided?

No

Attachment+1+-

+NANPA-PA-

RND+PWS Pg 6

Attachment+1.2+- +RND+TRD Pg 58

Please confirm that User Agents (e.g., aggregators or marketing companies) serving multiple users/subscribers must use separate accounts for each of the users/subscribers they are querying for and procure separate subscriptions for RNDB accordingly?

Yes. An aggregator or marketing company representing multiple companies must create a separate subscription for each company it represents.

19 General

Will the following information be available prior to the RFP response deadline:

Description of existing system platforms, tools, licenses, and associated costs with clear indication of those elements that would transfer to the new vendor at the time of award;

Copy of the existing NANPA, PA, RNA organization chart(s) with role descriptions;

Transition plan written by the existing NANPA and PA/RNA vendor(s).

Transition plans are provided as Attachment iii. NANPA Transition plan and Attachment iv. PA_RNA Transition plan.

Information on the existing system platforms, tools, licenses, etc is included within the transition plans. No cost information is provided as the offeror should negotiate its own pricing.

Current contract organization information is provided as Attachment v.

Resources for NANPA_PA

20 General

Will the current vendor be conducting a technical meeting to review the existing system(s) with potential RFP respondents prior to the RFP response deadline?

No