CALR RFQ Questions (6).docx

Computer Assisted Legal Research RFQ# 36C10B21Q0329 Note: The answers provided below are for informational purposes, to assist potential offerors in preparing proposals, and such answers do not themselves constitute an amendment to the Solicitation. Where questions and answers necessitated such an amendment, such changes have been or will be incorporated into a formal amendment to the Solicitation. To the extent that any answers provided below conflict in any way with the Solicitation and any Amendments, the final solicitation takes precedence.

CALR Questions:

1. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this?

(like,from India or Canada)

Answer: The company would have to be properly registered and current in System for Award Management and meet all requirements of the performance work statement including any and all security requirements.

2. Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

Answer: Yes, the awardee might need to attend in-person meetings at some point in the course of contract performance

3. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA?

(like, from India or Canada)

Answer: The company would have to be properly registered and current in System for Award Management and meet all requirements of the performance work statement including any and all security requirements.

4. Can we submit the proposals via email?

Answer: Proposal submission instructions are set forth in Section E of the solicitation.

5. Could you please tell me if the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation posted as solicitation number 36C10B21Q0329 will be a follow-on requirement to any work performed currently or in the past, or will this be a new requirement? If possible, can you please provide the most recent contract or task order number?

Answer: The requirement is a follow-on to an effort that is currently being executed under Contract/Order No. VA119-16-D-0040 36C10X20N0132.

6. B.4 Price Schedule – CLIN 0001 (Page 10). The price schedule requests a price for 5.1 Project Management (CLIN 0001), 5.1.2 Reporting Requirements (CLIN 0002), and 5.1.3 Technical Kickoff Meeting (CLIN 0003). Sections 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 are included in Section 5.1 and Section 5.1 doesn’t include any requirements specific to that section number. Can VA please clarify what pricing should be included for CLIN 0001?

Answer: PWS 5.1.1 Contractor Project Management Plan. See clarification in Amendment 0001.

7. 2.0 Applicable Documents (page 31). Can the VA please clarify the following:

Are all 71 documents mandatory or are some highly desirable?

Answer: The list of applicable documents in the RFQ is a VA standard list of all applicable documents that are relevant to performing or providing IT related services to the agency. Vendors need to be aware of and comply with the directives, regulations and documents referenced as they pertain to the specific deliverables in the contract.

If all documents are not mandatory, please advise as to which documents are highly desirable?

Answer: All documents are mandatory if they pertain to the specific deliverables in the contract.

a) If a Contractor cannot comply with all mandatory documents, will they be precluded from consideration for contract award?

Answer: As stated previously, the list of applicable documents is a VA standard list of all applicable documents that are relevant to performing or providing IT related services to the agency. Offers will be evaluated in accordance with the stated criteria in Section E of the Solicitation.

8. 3.0 Scope of Work – Provided Solutions (Page 34). The solicitation indicates that the “Contractor shall provide and support both a general CALR and Board Internal, VA hosted CALR capability for use by authorized VA users identified by the Board”. Some contractors may only be able to provide one of the requested solutions. May contractors bid on just one of the components, or will VA only consider offers that address both of the requested solutions?

Answer: See Amendment 0001, Section E of the Solicitation has been revised for clarification, All offerors must propose on an “all or none” basis.

9. 3.0 Scope of Work – XML Metadata (Page 34). Is it a mandatory requirement that a Contractor’s solution is able to process XML meta-data? Be able to process basic meta-data (RFQ Pg 30) may accept other tabular data Answer: While the XML could potentially be converted to some other tabular format, the government expects the offeror to provide an ingestion process for this data. The offerors solution for the Board internal CALR capability must be able to ingest and associate XML meta-data for the text based Decision documents and ingest and associate XML meta-data associated with the PDF regulation documents. See revised PWS in Amendment 0003.

10. 4.1 Performance Period – Go Live Date (Page 34). The solicitation indicates that the “Contractor’s solution shall be fully functional, tested, and available to transition users by September 15, 2021”. It is this contractor’s experience that implementation of our solution to the Board Internal, VA hosted CALR capability can take three months or longer, depending on availability of customer staff and the coordination of efforts between our team and the customer. We are already inside that three-month window today. Is the September 15 date firmly set or is there the possibility of that date moving to allow for a successful and complete implementation of the selected solution?

Answer: Based on the current schedule, VA requires the transition to be completed by November 30, 2021.

11. 5.2.2. Board Internal Legal Document CALR, Subpart A (Pages 39-40). Can VA please clarify the following:

1. It is our understanding that VA is seeking a knowledge management solution. But the solicitation indicates a need for “document management software”, which is very different. Is it a requirement of VA that proposed solutions include document management features?

Answer: The requirements of the internal CALR solution the VA is seeking are described in Section 5.2.B and in detail in section 5.2.2. The offeror’s solution must comply with the described capabilities for storing, searching and displaying the specified documents via a web-based interface using whatever solution the vendor deems appropriate.

Searching of PDF-based documents requires that the PDFs be OCR’d documents rather than images/scans of documents. Is it a requirement of VA that the proposed solution be capable of optical character recognition of scanned PDF images?

Answer: The Board’s Regulation and Statute PDF documents are not in Optical Character Recognition Format; they are image scans of these documents. Each document has an associated XML meta-data file that is used to make them searchable via a web interface. Only the data contained in the associated XML file needs to be searchable in the offerors interface so that a user can then click a link to display the associated PDF in browser.

In Subpart C, are the listed search criteria mandatory or highly desirable?

Answer: Subpart C contains mandatory search functionality.

12. 5.2.2 Board Internal Legal Document CALR, Subpart D (Page 41). Is extracting the meta-data directly from the existing SQL database a mandatory requirement of the Contractor, or is VA prepared to perform this extraction?

Answer: See revised PWS in Amendment 0003.

13. 5.2.2 Board Internal Legal Document CALR, Subpart G (Page 42). This Contractor requires more information regarding this requirement. Can VA please elaborate on the database conversion services specified in this requirement?

Answer: Sections G, H and I have been removed from the RFQ as they were redundant to requirement 5.2.2 A. f, which has been edited and states the full capability need.

14. 5.2.2 Board Internal Legal Document CALR, Subpart H (Page 42). This Contractor requires more information regarding this requirement. Can VA please elaborate on the database conversion services specified in this requirement?

Answer: Sections G, H and I have been removed from the RFQ as they were redundant to requirement 5.2.2 A. f, which has been edited and states the full capability need.

15. 5.2.2 Board Internal Legal Document CALR, Subpart I (Page 42). This Contractor requires more information regarding this requirement. Can VA please elaborate on the database conversion services specified in this requirement?

Answer: Sections G, H and I have been removed from the RFQ as they were redundant to requirement 5.2.2 A. f, which has been edited and states the full capability need.

16. 5.5 Phase-In Phase-Out Transition Plans (Page 43). The solicitation indicates that Contractors shall provide “a detailed plan for transitioning the existing Board decision and citator databases to the Contractor’s system with no interruption to service availability”. Can VA confirm that to achieve this requirement, Contractor’s must be able to have their proposed solution implemented and functional for VA use by no later than September 15, 2021?

Answer: VA requires the transition to be completed by November 30, 2021.

17. 5.5 Phase-In Phase-Out Transition Plans (Page 43). If a Contractor’s proposed solution does not include transition services (Phase-In/Phase-Out), will the Contractor be precluded from consideration for contract award?

Answer: Offerors are required to respond to the solicitation in accordance with the instructions set forth in the solicitation, Section E.8 Proposal Submission Instructions. Also note the requirements set forth in the PWS, 5.5 Phase-In Phase-Out Transition Plans

18. 6.1.2 Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (FICAM) (Page 44). If a Contractor cannot comply with this requirement, will they be precluded from consideration for contract award?

Answer: Reference Section E.9 Basis For Award, Offerors who fail to meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation will be rated Unacceptable and thus, ineligible for award.

19. 6.1.3 Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6) (Page 46). If a Contractor cannot comply with this requirement, will they be precluded from consideration for contract award?

Answer: Reference Section E.9 Basis For Award, Offerors who fail to meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation will be rated Unacceptable and thus, ineligible for award.

20. Addendum A, A3.0 Notice of the Federal Accessibility Law Affecting All Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Procurements (Section 508) (Page 55). Can VA please clarify the following:

1. Is it a requirement that a Contractor’s proposed solution for the General CALR and/or the Board Internal Legal Document CALR must have a current Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) that illustrates how the solution satisfies current accessibility standards?

Answer: Yes, any awardee will be required to comply with 508 requirements set forth in this section.

d) If a Contractor’s proposed solution does not have a VPAT or ACR, will the Contractor be precluded from consideration for contract award?

Answer: Any awardee will be required to comply with ADDENDUM A requirements.

21. E.8 Proposal Submission Instructions, 2.C. Content Requirements (Page 130). For Volume I, Written Technical Solution, the solicitation provides a page limit of 15 pages. The solicitation also indicates that “Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal.” In addition, because this is a “best value” evaluation, Contractors need to be able to describe how their proposed solutions differentiate themselves from the competition.

1. Given the level of detail required by the solicitation (10 pages of tasks and deliverables) and the need for Contractors to provide VA with sufficient detail (e.g., differentiating detail), we respectfully request that VA consider eliminating this page-limit provision altogether, and replacing it with a general requirement that proposals be prepared simply and concisely and that responses be clearly organized and easy to read. Will VA eliminate the page limit?

Answer: Page limit is increased to 20. Please see Amendment 0001.

If VA requires a page limit, would VA please extend the page limit for Volume I, Written Technical Solution to 50 pages?

Answer: Page limit is increased to 20. Please see Amendment 0001.

22. E.8 Proposal Submission Instructions, 2.C. Content Requirements (Page 130). For Volume III, Price, VA is requiring responses in an Excel (.xls) file format. No file template was provided with the release of the solicitation.

1. Can VA please provide interested Contractors with the Price.xls file referenced in the solicitation?

Answer: An Excel template is provided (36C10B21Q0329_Computer Assisted Legal Research_Sec B) See Amendment 0001.

In the alternative, may Contractor’s complete the B.4 Price Schedule and submit that document in PDF format?

Answer: An Excel template is provided (36C10B21Q0329_Computer Assisted Legal Research_Sec B) See Amendment 0001.

23. E.9 Basis for Award – Award Notice (Page 136). The solicitation indicates that any Virtual Technical Demonstrations will be conducted the week of July 15. Please clarify the following:

1. How soon after the completion of the demonstrations does VA anticipate making an award decision?

Answer: A contract is anticipated to be awarded when the necessary evaluations and reviews are completed.

1. With an understanding that the awarded solution must be implemented and fully functional by September 15, 2021, to avoid interrupted service to the VA, what is the anticipated contract implementation date (i.e., by what date is it anticipated that the awarded Contractor may begin work on this contract)?

Answer: For the base period, the Period of Performance is 12 months from date of award.

24. E.9 Basis for Award, A. Basis for Award (Page 136) and C. Evaluation Approach (Page 137). In Section A the solicitation states that “to receive consideration for award, a rating of no less than ‘Acceptable’ must be achieved for Technical Factor.” In Section C the solicitation states that “Offerors who fail to meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation will be rated Unacceptable and thus, ineligible for award”. Can the VA please clarify the following:

1. Are all of the requirements in Section 5.0 Specific Tasks and Deliverables considered minimum requirements?

Answer: Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with Section E of the solicitation. All Requirements of the PWS are considered minimum requirements. However, for the purposes of evaluation Section E sets for the areas in which Offerors are required to propose a detailed approach.

1. If some of the requirements in Section 5.0 Specific Tasks and Deliverables are not considered minimum requirements, can VA please clarify which requirements are considered to be “minimum requirements”?

Answer: All Requirements of the PWS are considered minimum requirements

1. Are there additional minimum requirements in the solicitation? If so, please clarify those sections as well.

Answer: All Requirements of the PWS are considered minimum requirements

25. Response Deadline Extension Request. Given the extensive number of clarification questions and to ensure that Contractors have an adequate opportunity to review the answers to questions and prepare their most cost-effective quote to meet the needs of the VA, this Contractor respectfully requests that VA extend the deadline for submitting bids to 10 business days after written answers to all submitted questions have been provided to Contractors. Will VA consider extending the submission deadline?

Answer: A brief extension will be provided in an upcoming amendment to the solicitation.

26. Can you kindly confirm if VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Technical Reference Guide for Acquisition Support version 1.3 July 2018 is the most current version?

Answer: Yes, the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Technical Reference Guide for Acquisition Support version 1.3 July 2018 is the most current version.

27. Regarding the background section language, “…or VA cloud instance and provide a similar to more advanced search capability for Board CALR.” And 5.2 B, “…or within a VA controlled cloud environment…” this language does not allow for a vendor controlled cloud environment. Can this language please be revised to include vendor controlled environments?

Answer: No, system requirements are as described in Section 5.2.

28. Additionally, the PWS includes regulations, the applicability of which are premised primarily on the vendor providing an on-premises solution, and therefore having access to government systems and personnel. We would respectfully request clarification within the PWS that if the government deems acceptable a vendor-hosted solution, that the government would furnish a different set of applicable requirements and/or reserve the right to negotiate the applicable regulations with the vendor based on the nature of the accepted solution.

Answer: System requirements are as described in Section 5.2.

29. 5.2.2 E Enterprise access conflicts with 5.7 option for increased quantity. We recommend soliciting pricing for 650 users as described in the background section, with additional CLIN pricing for 50 additional users, or alternatively enterprise access. Enterprise access could not be granted without Single Sign On or secure user authentication due to the sensitive nature of the BVA decisions, ie IP authentication would not be available for any user on the VA network. In order to properly price enterprise access we would request information on the total number of full time employees at the BVA, and approximate number of attorneys within the FTE population.

Answer: PWS 5.7 is only specific to the 5.2.1 General CALR Service. 5.2.2 E is specific to Board Internal Legal Document CALR and requires the contractor provide enterprise access (authenticating via Active Directory SSO) to any user within the VA intranet.

30. In regards to the offerors’ virtual technical demonstrations, does BVA still intend to hold the demonstrations on or about July 15th? Also, does BVA have any expectations or requirements of how vendors should structure the 2-hour presentation? For example, will vendors be limited to 30 minutes to present on the General CALR Search And Retrieval Functionality?

Answer: The anticipated demonstration date has been revised, see Amendment 0003. As the Virtual Technical Demonstration is part of the offerors’ technical proposals, Section E of the Solicitation sets forth what the demonstration shall consist of and the time constraints. In accordance with Section E of the Solicitation, VIRTUAL TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION the total presentation, caucus, and question and answer session is expected to last approximately two hours. The question and answer session is expected to last approximately 30 minutes, not more.