CSS FY21 RFQ Q_A.docx

The following are answers to questions received via email:

Question: Does the contractor develop the cover letters, or are the letters already developed?

Answer: The Contractor will be provided the letters used for the last fielding and will make recommendations for enhancement.

Question: Please describe further the Focus Group Invitation as part of Wave 4. Does the contractor perform the Focus Group? How large is the Focus Group?

Answer: The Contractor will create a database using the returned postcards for potential participants for focus groups. The Contractor is not conducting the focus groups.

Question: Please describe the sentence "A modified funeral MPS is one of the three surveys sent to funeral directors who worked with a private cemetery."

Answer: The Funeral Director survey is a single survey with 3 sections – National Cemetery, State or Tribal, and MPS. Some of the survey items are from the NOK surveys while other surveys items are on the FD Survey only.

Question: The SOW states: "The Contractor shall update the list of national cemeteries for the NC CSS and a state or tribal cemetery list for the STVC CSS that are used with the FD survey and displayed as a page for the web FD survey." Will NCA provide a source or reference to update the list?

Answer: Yes, NCA will provide the information.

Question: Are the web surveys required to be in both English and Spanish, or just English?

Answer: At this time, the online survey is in English only while the paper surveys are in English and Spanish.

Question: Does the GPO vendor print and provide envelopes?

Answer: For the surveys, the GPO printer provides the envelopes and surveys. Please note, the Contractor is responsible for the printing, mailing, and associated costs for the hard copies of the reports.

Question: Does the GPO vendor insert cover letters and surveys into envelopes, or does the contractor do that?

Answer: The GPO vendor does the printing and mailing of the surveys which includes putting the materials in the envelope.

Question: Who physically takes the envelopes to the USPS for mailing, the GPO vendor or the contractor? If the contractor, please explain the process for the government paying for postage.

Answer: The surveys, cover letters, postcards, and thank you note printing and mailing costs are covered by the government. The Contractor does not bring the letters to the PO, however the Contractor is responsible for all costs associated with the preparation, printing, and mailing of the reports as specified in the SOW and outlind in Table 1 in the SOW.

Question: For Wave 3, the SOW states: "Funeral directors will also receive a Self-Select Survey Stuffer code sheet, containing the names of cemeteries." Do funeral directors receive a code sheet in Wave 1? Does the GPO vendor print the code sheet? Does the GPO vendor insert the code sheet into envelopes, or does the contractor do that?

Answer: The list of cemeteries for the FDs will be provided by NCA. The sheet is either incorporated into the survey itself or as a separate page as per the direction of the COR.

Question: Can NCA provide FAQs from previous iterations of the surveys?

Answer: Previous FAQs for the Help Desk will be provided to the Contractor.

Question: Please clarify this sentence: "Since there shall be a single, annual fielding for the 2021 reports (2020 interments) the semiannual reports will be generated using the annual data for the 2020 NOK data disaggregated in a semiannual manner."

Answer: There will be a single fielding for the 2020 interments, however the Contractor will produce semi-annual reports by disaggregated the data and issuing 2 reports each containing 6 months of data.

Question: Can NCA provide examples of the Excel semi-annual report and the accompanying PowerPoint slides?

Answer: The semi-annual report is new for the 2021 reports. The report will be an abridged report of the survey items for the 6-month period.

Question: The SOW states: "The Contractor shall provide National and District semiannual data for the NCA Strategic Performance Measures (4 - 5 measures) derived from the National Cemeteries Satisfaction survey for the quarter." Will NCA identify the 4-5 strategic performance measures? Also, the survey are fielded semi-annually, but this requirement says "for the quarter". Please clarify.

Answer: Thank you for the careful review of the SOW and bringing the issue to our attention. The strategic performance measures are a subset of the survey items. The set of performance measures and targets will be provided to the Contractor. NCA is transitioning from quarterly reporting to semiannual reporting. Since there will be a single fielding for 2020 internments, the Contractor will be disaggregating the data to produce the semiannual reports.

Question: The SOW states: "Mail-in survey verbatim responses will be provided as submitted." Does this mean comments need to be transcribed verbatim into an electronic form for review in Excel?

Answer: Yes, verbatim responses from the surveys will be transcribed and a database will be created. There is a minimal number of open response items on the survey.

Question: Table 1 lists Task 17 as "Cemetery", but Task 17 in the SOW is listed as "STVC ANNUAL STATE REPORTS". Please clarify.

Answer: There are a series of reports for each survey type. For the State or Tribal Cemeteries there is an annual national report, state-level reports, and cemetery-level reports. The reports differ based on the unit of analysis.

Question: Task 18 in the SOW references Table 1, but Task 18 is not listed in Table 1. Please clarify.

Answer: Thank you for identifying the issue. Task 18 refers to the NC Cemetery Reports. A corrected Table 1 is presented below and the reference to the tasks is below the table.

Table 1: Annual Reports

(Task 15) State or Tribal Cemeteries Survey

Category Level National (Task 15) District (Task 16) Cemetery (Task 18)

National (Task 15) State (Task 17) Cemetery (Task 19)

Printed Final Reports**

( 2 per District)

Electronic Final Reports

TASK 15: ANNUAL NATIONAL REPORTS

TASK 16: NC ANNUAL DISTRICT REPORTS

TASK 17: STVC ANNUAL STATE REPORTS

TASK 18: NC CEMETERY REPORTS

TASK 19: STVC CEMETERY REPORTS

Question: Can NCA provide an example of the briefing template for Task 20?

Answer: NCA will share the previous year’s annual report to the selected Contractor.

Question: Task 20 states: "Enough details shall be provided in the template to allow NCA to understand the proposed design of the final briefing documents that are required under Task 19B", but Task 19B is "Preliminary STVC Cemetery Reports". Please clarify.

Answer: Task 20 is to create briefing documents for leadership while Task 19 is for the creation of individual cemetery-level reports.

Question: What is the extent of qualitative analysis (open-ended comments), other than delivering comments verbatim?

Answer: The spreadsheet will allow sorting of the comments based on themes that emerge from the review of the comments and key words.

Question: What is the page limit for the Technical proposal?

Answer: There is no page limit, however, the technical should be precise without non-essential information.

Question: Are the four sample questionnaires provided with the RFP the final versions of the surveys that will need to be used for the 2021 fielding or will there be changes to the questionnaires? If so, how extensive are the revisions?

Answer: The surveys provided will be used as the basis for the review of the surveys by the Contractor.

Question: Will the “Other (specify):” responses remain in the 2021 survey questionnaires?

Answer: There will be a minimal number of open-ended items as required by the SOW.

Question: Will the contractor be allowed to suggest reformatting the four sample questionnaires for scanning efficiencies and survey best practices?

Answer: Yes, the Contractor will propose the layout and format of the survey to increase efficiency and increase accuracy of the data capture.

Question: Understanding the sensitivity needed to serve this survey population, is there a predetermined schedule or gap between mailouts the contractor should adhere to?

Answer: There is a mandatory minimum 90-day mourning period for NOK. The fielding period for 2020 interments per the SOW is in April which adheres to the required waiting period.

Question: Pages 12 and 13 in the SOW list 20 tasks, but later in the SOW there are 21 tasks described. Please clarify.

Answer: Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. The Table of Contents on page 1 is correct. There are 21 tasks in the base year and option years. On page 12 and 13, the list is incorrect and one task was inadvertently left off the list, TASK 17: STVC ANNUAL STATE REPORTS.

Question: The RFP seems to ask for pricing at the summary CLIN level but the portal seems to be at deliverables? Having to submit pricing at the CLIN level and deliverable level does not seem correct? Can you please provide clarification?

Answer: A new spreadsheet is being provided as an attachment for pricing. Please use the new spreadsheet titled “CSS Pricing”.

Question: The Price Schedule is write-protected and prevents entering any data into the table. Can NCA provide an editable Price Schedule, preferable in Excel format?

Answer: A new spreadsheet is being provided as an attachment for pricing. Please use the new spreadsheet titled “CSS Pricing”.

Question: Is there an incumbent? If yes, who is the incumbent and what was the price of the contract?

Answer: The Library of Congress was the incumbent. The Library of Congress processed the 2020 Customer Satisfaction Survey. The amount funded for 2020 was $605,917.00.

Question: Is this contract a replacement for Solicitation Number 36C78620Q0077 that was awarded in February 2020 to Library of Congress?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Were the four Customer Satisfaction Surveys (CSS) for National Cemetery Administration (NCA) conducted in 2020, or paused due to COVID-19?

Answer: They were conducted by the Library of Congress.

Question: Is Library of Congress, or any other interagency agreement eligible to be awarded this contract?

Answer: The National Cemetery Administration does not anticipate making this award to a government agency. It is being solicited to only commercial sources.

Question: Will the government allow for 10 working days after answers to questions are returned?

Answer: Due to the tight timeline for this requirement, the request for quotes will not be extended.

Question: Could you please tell me if the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation posted as solicitation number 36C78621Q0056 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: This RFQ is for a continuing requirement. The Library of Congress was the incumbent. The Library of Congress processed the 2020 Customer Satisfaction Survey. The amount funded for 2020 was $605,917.00.