Questions 1.pdf

General Questions

• Can the government confirm if there is an incumbent? Is there a contractor at the VA today doing the same type of work? If so, can the Government provide that contract number at this time?

This is a new contract. Some of the services have been handled internally as separate requirements, but not from one cohesive unit.

• How many ESTIMATED helpdesk requests come in monthly?

The Helpdesk is intended to be a single source for information related to Central Office IRB policies, guidance, and practices. There are currently approximately 250-300 requests related to use of IRBNet, and some of those are triaged to IRBNet Support, some to Research Support Division (questions about the form ERDSP), others about forms to submit in IRBNet, which are transferred to the assigned IRBManager.

There are another 300 inquiries a month to the Central IRB support staff which involve how-to questions regarding submissions to the Central IRB or questions about the status of a project.

Approximately 600 inquiries a month over all IRB types, some of which are triaged to responsible parties.

• The RFP states that the education training team is responsible for hosting in-person and remote training sessions. Are you able to confirm the number of days for each training session? What does the government expect the split to be between in-person and remote training for base years and option years?

There are only a few trainings estimated to be approximately 6-8 hours. Most trainings are approximately 60-90 minutes in duration. Other than the 2-3 in-person meetings, all of the other trainings will be remote.

• Are all of the in-person trainings within the Washington DC area, or will the Contractor be expected to travel to any of the 108 VA facilities across the U.S. for training?

There may be an expectation that the Contractor will need to travel for the In-person trainings. All In-person trainings will be held in the DC area.

• Can the government clarify past performance requirements?

The Addendum to 52.212-1 information was in the electronic version, but some of it didn’t carry over to the form. It has been included in the solicitation.

• Under forms and administration section, can the government an updated ratings and definition table that reflects that this requirement is a total SDVOSB set aside?

The requirement is a Tiered SDVOSB Set-Aside as stated in the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation. If the Rule of Two is met at the SDVOSB level, then competition will remain at that level. If not met, then the competition will move to VOSB, then total small business, etc.

Technical Questions

• Can the government provide more detailed instructions for the technical volume? Specifically, is there a page limit? If so, do resumes count against the page limit? Is there a particular font size minimum?

The information was not in the original document. The clause Addendum 52.212-1 of the Solicitation has been updated with the required information.

Pricing questions

• Can the government provide the total contract value for this effort or an estimated LOE?

No, this is a new competitive requirement and estimates are not available.

• Can the government provide an estimated number of FTEs for each task?

The FTE for each task are approximated based on labor hours and are as follows (~ 8.5 FTE):

• Task 1: 0.25 FTE

• Task 2: 0.36 FTE

• Task 3: 1.0 FTE

• Task 4: 2.25 FTE

• Task 5: 2.4 FTE

• Task 6: 1.25 FTE

• Task 7: 1.0 FTE

• Is the Government able to change the contract type to Time and Materials (T&M).

The contract will be Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity with Firm-Fixed Price task orders.