Q and R -1.docx

1. Can the Government clarify whether production and distribution of printed materials (e.g., survey mailings, educational materials, and outreach materials) must be conducted through the Government Publishing Office (GPO) or other mandated Federal printing or mailing channels? No. This can and should be managed by the contractor through mechanisms they have in place.

1. Given the breadth of the technical requirements, data security provisions, and operational planning required to support a responsive quotation, would the Government consider extending the proposal due date by one week to allow offerors sufficient time to develop comprehensive and well-supported responses that take all answers to submitted questions into consideration? The Government does not anticipate extending the quote due date and time at this time.

1. Are we as the “company/ offeror” supposed to turn in the past performance questionnaires that are already filled out when we submit our quotes? For this solicitation, offerors may satisfy the past performance submission requirement in one of two ways:

Provide relevant Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) records, and/or Submit completed Past Performance Questionnaires using Section D, Attachment – Past Performance Questionnaire.

The language in the questionnaire about VA contacting references is standard template language indicating that the Government may use the form to obtain or verify past performance information from the references you identify, as well as from other government sources (e.g., CPARS). However, offerors remain responsible for providing adequate past performance information as part of their quote.

1. Please confirm or deny all staff will require access to VA Systems and therefore require PIV cards and the appropriate background investigations and; If not, please confirm that all data will be provided to the contractor by the Government. If data are provided to the contractor by the Government that contains any PII/PHI, what requirements and standards must be maintained for secure transmission and "data at rest" solutions on the contractor's laptops/network.

The contractor will need PIV cards, but not GFE. Background investigations are required.

1. Section C.8 (VAAR 852.204-72) does not include Tier designations for any positions. Please confirm the applicable Tier designation(s) for personnel requiring access to VA information systems, PHI/PII, or the veteran cohort dataset. The solicitation does not call for positions in the price cost schedule however VAAR 852.204-72 clause is applicable when contractor personnel will have physical access to VA facilities or logical access to VA information or VA information system.

1. Regarding the study sample size, can VA confirm 109,000 reflects the available Veterans in the cohort to be used as a sample frame for this study, rather than the anticipated number of interviews to be completed? The sample to be surveyed is N=109,000; this number does not represent the sample frame total.

1. If it is the number of anticipated interviews, how many records are in the available cohort? N/A

1. If it is the number of records available, does VA have a minimum number of interviews that are required to be completed to provide sufficient power for the planned analyses? There are no power analyses developed at present. We would expect response to solicitation to include this level of detail. Estimated effort should be based on response rate experience of recent VA HOME veteran surveys or other VA surveys of veterans, particularly with post 9/11 Veterans: consider 35% to 50% as an achievable goal. There are no face-to-face interviews as part of this study. Participants will complete a questionnaires independently, or if proposed by CATI administration.

1. In the deliverables table on page 10, it says that the contractor shall develop contact information for n=30,000 records. Does that mean that the contractor shall confirm addresses/other contact information for all cohort participants from the 2011 and 2018 studies, or that this work is to be done for a subset of the participants from those studies? Thank you for catching this error – it should say 109,000.

1. For what share of the available records in the cohort does VA have the following contact information: When the sampling frame has been finalized, we will match that file against VA address/contact data and remove all cases without valid address information. It is from that file from which participants will be selected.

1. Home address - Yes

1. Phone number - Yes

1. Email address? - Yes

1. VA has not performed evaluation of the completeness of the historical records from the earlier surveys. There is an internal VA information source that can provide some if not all of these data. It should cover a large proportion of the sample.

1. For what share of records in the 2018 CHAI study did VA have valid phone numbers? VA had no numbers at the outset of that effort. Credit bureau reporting supplied 1-2 numbers for the majority. VA now has an internal source – extent of coverage is not known.

1. In administering the 2018 CHAI study, how many call attempts per record did VA’s contractor make in order to obtain completed telephone surveys? Up to 15 attempts for non-qualified numbers and 20 attempts for qualified numbers.

1. Has VA refreshed participant contact information since its 2018 study? This has not been performed but will be completed once the sampling frame has been finalized.

1. In updating participant contact information, will VA have access to and provide the most up-to-date contact information from VHA/VBA records for Veterans? Yes.

1. In the 2018 CHAI survey, what share of completed surveys of Veterans came from the following approaches:

1. Survey completed online

1. Survey completed by telephone

1. Survey returned by mail

1. Task 7.2.14 describes a study design-related literature review that the contractor should conduct, but the row for Task 7.2.14 in the deliverables table refers to “complete literature reviews” (plural). Can VA confirm that only one literature review is required? Literature review for study design may by necessity address several topics: survey administration methodologies, sample weighting, non-response bias analysis, etc. The government seeks expertise of the contractor to provide advice which may necessitate literature review and citation in justification for decisions in study administration/interpretation.

1. How many months of data collection does VA’s current schedule anticipate? The contract period is 3 years. Bidders should present ideal scenario for maximizing response rate.

1. Is VA expecting the contractor to develop the survey instrument, or to review and adapt a survey instrument developed by VA researchers? This process will be collaborative with VA but rely heavily on existing validated instruments and/or previously administered survey materials for compatibility with prior surveys in these veteran populations.

1. For data deliverables (7.2.16 through 7.2.18), what format of data files does VA require be submitted. SAS and CSV files readable in R programming language.

1. How much of the survey content is expected to overlap with the CHAI study questionnaire? There will be some overlap – some repetition or follow—up of content or domains is anticipated.

1. Can VA elaborate on the expected analyses to be performed and the type (white paper? Article in peer-reviewed journal?) and length of the methods and technique information papers to be prepared as noted in Task 3? Analyses should be descriptive and use multiple regression analyses appropriate for the estimation of risk for health outcomes and disease prevalence. Deliverables should be developed as publishable manuscripts.

1. For example https://www.publichealth.va.gov/PUBLICHEALTH/publications_list/scientific_publications.asp

1. In Section 7.3.2, it states that coding shall be completed in SAS. Can VA elaborate on this requirement – does it mean that all edits to the data must be completed in SAS, that all calculations (such as the development of sampling weights/correction factors) must be completed in SAS, that all coding/re-coding of open-ended survey responses should be done only in SAS, or something different? VA preferentially employs SAS (and increasingly R), consequently and requires deliverables be completed in SAS, R or SQL as appropriate. However, specialty software applications, ie for natural language processing needed for open – ended questions is at the discretion of the contractor, but all methods must be disclosed and final data must be available in data readable in SAS and R.

1. Since other statistical analysis software packages are mentioned earlier in 7.3, can VA elaborate on where these are permitted? See response above.

1. Is VA open to the contractor making the case (in its proposal or in early project meetings) that other software packages may be more suited for the execution of certain project tasks? Alternatives should be presented in the proposal and agreed upon prior to award/execution of the contract.

1. Section 7.4 requires the development of educational and informational materials. Can VA clarify whether offerors are expected to provide electronic versions of these materials only, or whether any of the Task 4 deliverables are also expected to be printed and/or physically distributed as part of the contract? These materials may be used in mailing of solicitation for participation – so both printed and electronic for web presentation are likely to be necessary.

1. Does VA anticipate any of the informational materials described in section 7.4 being included in survey packets or other mail contacts from the contractor to survey participants? See response above.

1. Section 7.4.4 states that the contractor shall create promotional materials to include print and social media content and identifies n=6 social media posts. Can VA confirm that the six (6) social media posts represent the only deliverables required under this task? Correct – however the proposal allows for expertise of the bidder to suggest best methods for achieving success.

1. Does VA anticipate having a Cleland-Dole Act exemption from PRA submission to OMB for this research? This study will qualify as VA Research and be exempt from OMB PRA requirements.

1. If an offeror has an existing National BAA with the Veterans Health Administration, can that be utilized post-award rather than having to execute a completely new National BAA? This will be the VHA Privacy Office BAA team determination

1. Given the inclusion of certain clauses related to small business subcontracting plans (e.g., FAR 52.219-9 and FAR 52.219-16), can VA please clarify whether a formal plan is required as part of proposal submission or should these clauses be removed as inapplicable? A small business subcontracting plan is only required if the apparent offeror is other than small; otherwise the clauses can be removed as inapplicable and no plan is due with the quote.

1. Can VA please clarify whether any clauses requiring affirmative responses (e.g., FAR 52.219-1) must be included in proposals or is it sufficient for offerors to indicate they have up-to-date System for Award Management (SAM) representations and certifications? Offerors may rely on current SAM representations and certifications when the solicitation incorporates 52.204-7 but any provision that explicitly requires a completed copy or an affirmative representation “with the offer” still must be complied with as written in the solicitation.

1. For clarification on the submission requirements for the price/cost proposal, are offerors only required to submit the completed B.3 Price/Cost Schedule? Yes, guidance is provided within the Supplemental Instructions

1. Can VA elaborate on the guidelines and principles to be followed in determining which response ‘is the “best” as a whole” under the Comparative Evaluation framework, for example the criteria for determining “best”? “Once one quotation/offer is found acceptable, it is compared side by side to the remaining ones, and the “best” one is chosen

1. In determining the “best” response under this Comparative Evaluation framework, how are technical and price factors balanced? There are no evaluation factors listed in the requirement, once one quotation/offer is found acceptable, it is compared side by side to the remaining ones, and the “best” one is chosen.

1. Will the Government consider creating a CPFF CLIN separate from the FFP CLINs dedicated to the participants’ incentives costs? The Government does not intend to add a separate CPFF CLIN for participant incentive costs. The Government’s intent is to maintain the firm fixed price structure consistent with the current solicitation.

1. Will the Government consider creating CLINs for each year of the program vs having a single CLIN that covers 36 months? Thank you for your question regarding the CLIN structure. The current solicitation uses CLINs for the 36-month period to reflect the Government’s anticipated performance and funding approach. Contract Line-Item Numbers are established to clearly describe the supplies or services, quantities, prices, and delivery/performance requirements, and to facilitate administration and accounting

1. in preparing the BAA document it requires the name and email address of the VA Privacy Officer. Should we sign this document without that information or just submit the BAA completed but without signature. The Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is to inform the interested parties that it is a requirement for the requested services. Returning a filled-out form lets the CO/CS know that the contractor/ vendor acknowledges this and is aware of the RFQ requirements. Please complete the form as best as you can in accordance with the rfq.