Response to questions- Gulf War Study.docx

Questions and Answers for Gulf War Study posted 8/31/2022, no further questions will be entertained.

Please also see revised Statement of Work (SOW) with the changes reflected below.

This Solicitation will now close on 9/7/2022.

Past Performance Questionnaire and quotes will both be due at 2pm EST.

QUESTION 1: “The contractor shall develop an analysis plan for calculation of sampling weights and correction factors." We could not find any statement that the contractor should produce the weights and correction factors after developing the plan. Will the vendor be responsible for producing weights and correction factors?

ANSWER: The contractor must develop the plan. The 7.3.4 is for a non-response analysis, which would require that the plan developed in 7.3.3 has been performed.

QUESTION 2: RFQ section 14.2.1.1 notes “If the investigation is conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) through the VA, the Contractor shall reimburse the VA within 30 days.” What cost should vendors assume for each background investigation conducted by the VA/OPM?

ANSWER: Please see table below for Tier 1 which is what will be needed per person.

QUESTION 3: Would the Government consider granting a five (5) day extension of the response due date from September 5 to September 12 to allow adequate time for bidders to prepare a response following the release of the Government’s response to Clarification Questions and taking into account that September 5 is a Federal Holiday.

ANSWER: The Government will grant an extension until 9/7/2022.

QUESTION 4: Can VA confirm that “information from up to three contracts” is to be provided as narrative in the proposal, and in addition, CPARS from the same and/or additional projects are to be included in the proposal to satisfy the Past Performance requirement?

ANSWER: YES. Information from up to three contracts is to be provided as narrative in the proposal, and in addition, CPARS from the same and/or additional projects are to be included in the proposal to satisfy the Past Performance requirement.

QUESTION 5: Can VA confirm whether medical records are to be collected and the sample size?

ANSWER: Medical records will not be collected at all for this contract.

QUESTION 6: The solicitation appears to require $20,000 of cyber security / data breach insurance [C.20.7.d(5)]. Is the extent of cybersecurity / data breach insurance coverage $20,000, or does the government have additional guidance?

ANSWER: Refer to C.20 of the Solicitation- (5) One year of identity theft insurance with $20,000.00 coverage at $0 deductible; and (6) Necessary legal expenses the subjects may incur to repair falsified or damaged credit records, histories, or financial affairs.

QUESTION 7: Can VA clarify whether bio-specimens are to be collected and if so further details on the sample size and what exactly is to be collected?

ANSWER: Biospecimens will not be collected at all for this contract.

QUESTION 8: In what format and how will Veteran files be provided to the awardee once work begins on the contract?

ANSWER: Data files will be provided in SAS or excel format and will be transferred by a secure data transfer mechanism provided by the contractor

QUESTION 9: The solicitation indicates the period of performance begins September 15, 2022. Has the government revised this start date for the program?

ANSWER: No

QUESTION 10: What was the incentive amount for the (most) recent leg of this Cohort Study

ANSWER: In the 2012 study, $20 for participation in pilot study, $10 for main study.

QUESTION 11: This task falls under Task Area 2: Data Collection and Reporting. Could the government provide more detail around the requirement to collect Biospecimens. Specifically, what type and category of biospecimens are we collecting (urine, blood, etc). Recommend adding a CLIN for specimen storage if temperature sensitive medical products (TSMP) are expected.

ANSWER: No biospecimens will be collected as part of this contract.

QUESTION 12: The draft PWS states the n=30K for veteran contacts. Could the government clarify, if these 30K veterans have been previously screened or is this is first contact?

ANSWER: Yes, these 30,000 Veterans were contacted in 1995, 2005, and 2012. It is a closed panel, so the same Veterans who were contacted in earlier surveys will be contacted again.

QUESTION 13: Does the government require this site to have a specific domain extension (.gov; .com; .net; etc.)? Will this site remain active in perpetuity?

ANSWER: We do not require the site to have a specific domain extension. The site will be shut down at the end of the contract.

QUESTION 14: Will govdelivery be used to mail survey materials

ANSWER: No

QUESTION 15: Section 7.2.3 on page 9 notes “The contractor shall be expected to update the address files supplied by the VA COR in order to reach Veterans for pilot and main studies.” and “The contractor shall compute error rates for addresses by source of address information (Department of Defense, Internal Revenue Service, and VA).” Could the VA please describe what steps have been and/or will be implemented to update respondent contact information since the cohort was last contacted in 2012?

ANSWER: There have been no efforts to update to the respondents contact since 2012.

QUESTION 16: Section 7.2.3 on page 9 notes “The contractor shall compute error rates for addresses by source of address information (Department of Defense, Internal Revenue Service, and VA).” Could the VA describe how the noted sources of information (Department of Defense, Internal Revenue Service, and VA) were used and/or will be used to update respondent contact information?

ANSWER: These sources are provided as examples of possible sources for validation and updates of existing historical address files. The contractor is expected to assess possible alternative sources for updating postal address. For suggested updates to postal address, the success of different sources used in identifying the correct current valid address will be calculated.

QUESTION 17: Section 7.2.9 on page 9 notes “The contractor shall conduct data collection using the appropriate mode: paper, web-based, CATI, medical records retrieval and/or biospecimen collection as directed by VA (n=30,000).” As part of this contract will the VA require medical records retrieval and biospecimen data collection? If yes, what sample size should contractors assume for these two efforts and what would these aspects be

ANSWER: There will be no medical records or biospecimen collection in this contract.

QUESTION 18: Section 8 Delivery Table on page 13 includes “Task 3 – 7.3.5: Write publications for peer-reviewed journals (n=3)” although this deliverable is not included in section 7.3 on page 11. Could the VA please confirm whether 3 publications for peer-reviewed journals will a required deliverable?

ANSWER: 3 publications for peer reviewed journals are NOT a required deliverable.

QUESTION 19: Section B.2 Price/Cost Schedule on page 21 doesn’t seem to include any item numbers that are associated with Task 3 (Simple and Complex Analyses). Where should the Task 3 costs be included?

ANSWER: Cost schedule has been updated

QUESTION 20: Section B.2 Price/Cost Schedule on page 21 includes item number 0011 Develop six social media posts. This seems to be the only item number associated with Task 4 (Educational and Informational Materials). Should all Task 4 costs be included under item 0011 Develop six social media posts?

ANSWER: Task 4 should include creating a one-page information sheet, creating a brochure, creating a fact sheet, and creating six social media posts. This has been updated on the cost schedule.

QUESTION 21: Could the VA please confirm that the quantities in Section B.2 Price/Cost Schedule on page 21 are accurate and that the table contains all of the items that costs are required for? There seems to be a disconnect between the schedule and associated tasks. Could VA please provide an updated schedule?

ANSWER:VA will provide an updated schedule

QUESTION 22: Could the VA please clarify whether the submission of separate Technical and Business proposals will be required? Or is the VA anticipating a single proposal volume that includes both Technical and Business proposals?

ANSWER: A single proposal that includes both is sufficient.

QUESTION 23: Does the VA have an estimate of how many sample members live outside of the U.S.?

ANSWER: VA does not have a current estimate of that, but based on the 2012 study there were a less than 20 and they were only those who lived on military base overseas (APO)

QUESTION 24: Will the contractor be required to link to survey responses from previous rounds of the survey for analysis and weighting purposes?

ANSWER: VA will evaluate the contractor’s plan for developing the weights; analysis of longitudinal data derived from earlier studies is not part of this requirement.

QUESTION 25: If a tool uses FIPS 140-2 validated encryption, is it VA approved?

ANSWER: On page 2 Section 3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE in the Rules of Behavior-

h. The contractor/subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated.

QUESTION 26: Will the contractor be storing, generating, transmitting, or exchanging VA sensitive information?

ANSWER: YES

QUESTION 27: Will the contractor be designing or developing an information system on behalf of the VA and therefore subject to FISMA

ANSWER: On page 3 Section 4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT in the Rules of behavior- a. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems.

QUESTION 28: Can the VA provide more explanation what is expected from the contractor to “remediate” an “event longer than 3 days.”

ANSWER:

QUESTION: Will the contractor be required to go through VA’s ATO process? If so, what is the VA’s anticipated timeline for awarding an ATO if the system already has implemented SP800-53 rev.4 controls.?

ANSWER: YES, the contractor will be required to go through the VA’s ATO process. Answer will be forthcoming.

QUESTION: What FIPS 199 security categorization level has been determined for any information system supporting this contract?

ANSWER: On page 3 Section 4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT in the Rules of Behavior- a. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference Appendix D of VA Handbook 6500, VA Information Security Program).

QUESTION: Educational and Informational Materials indicates the contractor shall prepare educational and informational materials for diverse audiences to reflect key findings and limitations of studies and analyses. However, section 8. The Deliverable Table has the planned completion date of the Task 4 deliverables as being 5-8 months after award of contract. Should the planned completion dates be re-adjusted to better reflect timelines after data collection is complete?

ANSWER: Yes, these can be readjusted.

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