Government answers to Questions Solicitation 693JJ322R000014 for Highway Safety.pdf

Solicitation 693JJ322R000014 for Highway Safety, Civil Rights, Business and Public

Administration and Quality, and Communications Training

FHWA Response to Questions

1. Can the due date for proposals be extended?

Answer: Yes. The NEW DUE DATE FOR PROPOSALS IS THURSDAY JULY 14, 12

NOON EASTERN TIME.

2. How many awards are anticipated for this IDIQ?

ANSWER: 3-5 awards.

3. Does the NHI have preferred Transportation Subject Matter Experts they would encourage contractors to employ?

ANSWER: No

4. Does the NHI have a preferred WBT development medium (ex. Captivate, Articulate, Lectora)?

ANSWER: No

5 Does the NHI have a preferred platform for Web Conference and Videoconference

Training?

ANSWER: NHI is moving from Adobe Connect to Blackboard. As such, our web conference tool is also moving to Blackboard Collaborate

6. Does the NHI have a preferred virtual world platform?

ANSWER: No

7. Will Technical Walk Through Meetings be held in-person, or is there possibility of holding these meetings virtually?

ANSWER: These meetings are typically virtual meetings held via Teams or another online meeting tool. The requirements for Technical Walk-throughs will be specified in individual task orders.

8. Can the NHI provide a general estimate of the average classroom/seat time for courses to be developed and revised?

ANSWER: The face-to-face class sizes are usually 20 – 30 participants. Virtual classes depend upon the course design. More engaging courses typically have smaller class sizes to allow for the individualized attention required.

9. What is the difference between the Instructional Systems Designer listed in Attachment

J.1 and the Communication SME described in the RFQ Section C.5.3? The technical skills required and specific work to be performed by these two positions sound the same.

ANSWER: These may very well be the same depending upon the specific requirements of individual task orders.

10. RFQ, p. 56, states that the Key Personnel are the Program Manager and the Project

Manager(s). However, on page 69 of the RFQ, Part II requires that the staffing plan must include the education, experience, and key skills for proposed Subject Matter Experts

(SMEs) and proposed Instructional System Designers (ISDs) in addition to the Program

Manager and the Project Managers. Please confirm that the only key personnel are the

Program Manager and Project Managers and not the SMEs or ISDs.

ANSWER: The Key Personnel are the Program Manager and the Program Manager(s). The

SMEs and ISDs are not key personnel, but we need to see the skills typical for these positions.

11. Will the government please provide a summary of the various subject areas listed under

C.5.2 (Civil Rights) on page 5?

ANSWER: The topics listed are those for which we are either delivering training or developing training. It may require research on the contractor’s part.

12 Do contractors need to explicitly identify how many from the team are NHI-certified instructors?

ANSWER: It is to your advantage to identify these.

13. Page 7 of the RFP states that three contractor personnel are to attend the kick-off meeting but only 2 positions are listed as key personnel and one of those individuals is not listed as a required attendee. Can the Government explain the difference between the responsibilities of the Project Manager v. Program Manager?

ANSWER: A project manager has the day-to-day responsibility for a project and the expectation is most interactions is between the NHI Training Program Manager and the contract Project Manager. There may be situations where the project may not be progressing well and discussions with higher management might be needed. In those situations, NHI would expect to be able to speak with a contract Program Manager for resolution to the situation.

14. Is it the Government’s expectation that the Program Manager will be a full-time resource?

ANSWER: No.

15. What platforms does the Government currently use for its WBT, WCT and VCT? Per page 69 bidders are to discuss knowledge of best practices in various synchronous environments (face-to-face, WCT, VCT) but no discussion as to the current state is provided.

ANSWER: NHI is currently in the process of moving from Adobe Connect to Blackboard

Ultra. Blackboard will be the platform when this contract takes effect.

16. Under section C.7.2 the last paragraph states that technical assistance includes but is not limited to forensic evaluations. Can the Government provide more detail as to what is involved in this task?

ANSWER: The specific requirements will be described in individual Task Orders. However, generally speaking, this means working with FHWA technical experts to help identify and clarify content for the good of the specific discipline.

17. Under section C.7.2 the last paragraph states that technical assistance includes but is not limited to technology deployment. Can the Government provide an example of what technology would be deployed under this contract and how many users there would be?

ANSWER: The specific requirement will be described in individual Task Orders. However, generally speaking, this means working with FHWA to deploy/teach something that is not necessarily in general use at the moment.

18 Page 23 of Section C states that the contractor is responsible for the expenses relating to an instructor audition. Does this include the labor time for the audition by the instructor or just the provision and coordination of space?

ANSWER: Some topics may require an instructor to audition before they are allowed to represent FHWA in that topic. Those specific courses will be identified within the Task

Order that instructor auditions are required. If an audition is required, FHWA/NHI will not pay for the time or travel expenses of the contractor candidates.

19. Section L.5, Volume I includes a requirement to “Demonstrate that Contractor facilities are sufficient to complete the contract requirements satisfactorily and in a timely manner.”

Can the Government indicate what requirements it expects Contractor facilities to meet as there is no reference or requirement for contractor facilities in the SOW. Further as this is a criteria for evaluation under Section M please define what facilities would be considered favorably by the customer.

ANSWER: Specific Task Orders will identify specific requirements but they may require tasks such as audio/video recording and editing.

20. Page 22 of the RFP, under Engineering Services and Technical Support, bullet 3 -

Emergency Response services states “review of hydraulic design”. Please confirm this is an error and should be replaced with “review of highway designs”.

ANSWER: That is correct and the change has been made to the RFP.

21. The first paragraph on Page 68 states that resumes do not count against the proposal page limitations. Later, it states that the volume Part II Staffing proposal is limited to 30 pages.

Please confirm the page limit.

ANSWER: The technical proposal consists of Pt 1, Technical response with the page limit. Pt

2 is the resumes of proposed staff. This is limited to 30 pages.

22. Are resumes expected for each subject matter expert and instructor in each of the business areas? If yes, it may be difficult to keep within a 30-page limit.

ANSWER: The resumes do not need to be all-inclusive. These should be snapshots as to what they can bring to the table for the next 5 years.

23. What percentage of the current contracts has involved developing or updating training materials vs. delivering training?

ANSWERS: Training deliveries are offered upon demand. NHI cannot predict how many course delivery requests we might receive over the next 5 years. Likewise, courses require updating for a number of reasons including changes to regulations, practices, or further knowledge obtained by research. It is impossible to identify how many times a course might be required to have updates applied over the next 5 years.

24. Can a contractor currently performing on a different NHI IDIQ 8(a) contract submit a proposal?

A. Yes

25. Page 29, first paragraph – There is a mention of “checklists in Section J to test for 508 compliance.” Section J starts on page 57 and is about billing and rates. There is a mention of 508 compliance in Section H.3 on page 46, but there is no checklist. Is the checklist missing?

ANSWER: No. Please check with the NHI Website on 508 Compliance.

26. Section L.5, under the Volume II – Business and Cost/Price, Part I – Cost/Price

Information, on p. 69 of the RFP, item (a) states that “The Government’s required labor categories are included in J.2 for all Offerors as input to the cost/price proposal preparation.

Price proposals must adhere to the pricing structure established in J.2.” Can we submit additional labor categories that we feel are warranted and that offer value to the government?

For example, could a labor category of Quality Assurance/Quality Control or Video Graphics

Designer be used? If not, will additional labor categories be allowed to be proposed on individual task orders if necessary to complete the requirements of the task order statement of work?

ANSWER: Yes, additional labor categories may be suggested/added

27. Attachment J.1 (Labor Categories) lists 3 types/levels of Subject Matter Experts:

Transportation SME High, Transportation SME Mid, and Transportation SME Low.

However, 15 different types/levels of SMEs are listed in Attachment J.2 (Rates): 5 different types of SMEs (in the areas of Financial Management; Business, Public Administration &

Quality; Civil Rights; Communication; and Highway Safety) and 3 levels for each one (high, mid, and low). To make Attachments J.1 and J.2 consistent, can you revise Attachment J.2 to list only the three types/levels of SMEs that are named in Attachment J.1, or can you revise

Attachment J.1 to describe all 15 types and levels of SMEs that are listed in Attachment J.2?

Or can you otherwise provide direction on how the 3 levels in J.1 relate to the 15 levels in

J.2?

ANSWER: Attachments J,1 and J.2 have been revised and attached to this notice

28. RFQ, p. 68, Section L.5, Proposal Content and Configuration: In the table column titled

Email Proposal Format, the instructions state that the proposal should be submitted as “One

Email with each proposal part attached as individual files.” The text under the table states that “Each proposal will be broken out into the volumes and parts described below: Volume

1 – Technical (Parts 1-II) …...and Volume II – Business and Cost/Price (Parts 1-V). Please clarify whether the email of our proposal should have two attachments, one for Volume I and one for Volume II? Or should our email have six attachments, one for each “Part” (i.e., the two parts of Volume I and the four parts for Volume II)?

ANSWER: It may be best to send them in two emails. Just be sure that Volumes I and II are separate.