70FA2019Q00000028_A00001_Questions_and_Answers.pdf

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation # 70FA2019Q00000028

Amendment A00001 Questions and Answers

Reference Question/Comment/Clarification & Government Answer

General

Question: How many users in total are there for this new system?

Answer: In FY 2018, there were 2,131,996 independent study course completions by 882,148 students. In addition to students, there will be approximately 15 users in an administrator role and 300 users in course manager/instructor roles; the number of users in these roles may vary from option year to option year.

General Question: Has the Government already purchased the software licenses for MOODLE? If not, please provide specific number of user licenses needed for each year of the contract.

Answer: No software licenses for Moodle have been purchased.

General Questions:

1. What is the size of the current data set that will need to be imported into the Cloud based environment?

2. What are the anticipated data sizing needs from year to year in the cloud?

Answer: Independent study course content in the current LMS is 150 GB, and is expected to at least double with the addition of 300 classroom and blended courses to the Moodle LMS. Course content, course data, and limited student identification data are the only data that will be imported initially.

General Questions: Does the Government plan to run both systems concurrently during the transition process? If so, for how long, and what support will be needed from this contractor to import any additional data after full transition into the new system?

Answer: When a capability has been migrated to Moodle, there are no plans to run the system currently providing that capability concurrently with Moodle. Importing of data will be performed by Government staff; however, implementation services may include providing technical expertise to Government staff regarding importing data from multiple sources.

General Question: What is the current LMS being used at this time?

Answer: The current LMS was custom-developed.

SOW 2.1.1 General (a) & (b)

Question: Does DHS already have the Government Cloud site provisioned or is this something the contractor must do when awarded?

Answer: No, DHS does not already have the Government Cloud site provisioned; the contractor must do this upon contract award.

SOW 2.1.1 General (d) & (e)

Question: Are the numbers provided based on anticipated or actual completions in the current LMS?

Answer: Actual completions in the current LMS.

SOW 2.1.1 General (f)

The requirement is to “support approximately 15 users in an administrator role and 300 users in course manager/instructor roles; the number of users in these roles may vary from option year to option year.”

Question: How many learners will the system support?

Answer: In FY 2018, there were 2,131,996 independent study course completions by 882,148 students.

SOW 2.1.1 General (g)

The requirement is to “provide basic training for 10 users in the administrator role.”

Question: Does the Government anticipate that the training will be delivered individually or as group training?

Answer: Group training.

SOW 2.1.1 General (g)

Questions: Is this training in-person, CBT, teleconference? Does it include providing user guides for the individuals?

Answer: The training can be provided via CBT, teleconference, or in-person at the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, MD. User guides are not a requirement.

SOW 2.1.2 E-Learning Standards (a) & (b)

Question: Is there a preferred type of content or is it a mixture of both SCORM and AICC?

Answer: Currently SCORM content, but FEMA EMI would also like capability for AICC content.

SOW 2.1.6 Registration and Enrollment (d)

The requirement is to “process training registration form.”

Questions:

1. Does this refer to a standard form the Government has?

2. How do learners complete the form today? Is it manual or automated?

3. Can the Government provide additional clarity as to what is meant by “process?”

Answer:

1. FEMA Form 119-25-1 General Admissions Application

2. A custom-developed online form recently became available to apply to some courses; it is being made available for other courses in the future.

3. At this point, processing means to collect the registration data, and send to the current admissions system for further processing.

SOW 2.1.6 Registration and Enrollment

Will the contractor have to import historical registration and enrollment information? If so, what is the estimated size of the data to be imported?

Answer: No, the contractor will not have to import historical registration and enrollment information. however, implementation services may include providing technical expertise to Government staff regarding importing data from multiple sources.

SOW 2.1.6 Registration and Enrollment (c) & (l)

Requirements states “c. Display notification of deadline to cancel a course and ‘l’ also states l. Display notification of deadline to cancel a course”

Question: Is this a duplicate or was there another requirement?

Answer: This is a duplicate.

SOW 2.1.7 Course Delivery

Question: Do courses need to be developed as well as hosted?

Answer: Only hosted.

SOW 2.1.7 Course Delivery

Question: How many total courses/classes will need to be moved into the new system?

Answer: 212 Independent Study courses will be migrated from current custom-developed LMS. In addition, the Moodle LMS will also support approximately 300 classroom and blended courses.

SOW 2.1.8 Course Management

Question: Will data migration assistance be required for the skills, competencies, etc.?

Answer: No

SOW 2.1.8 Course Management a-d

Questions:

1. Does the Government have existing competency models?

2. Will the contractor be required to import the government’s existing competency data (if available) into the system?

Answer: While the Government has existing competency models, the contractor will not be responsible for import of these models or competency data into the system.

SOW 2.1.9 Tests and Evaluations

This type of work is typically completed in the SCORM or AICC package (with the exception of letter (m)).

Question: Does this work require development of the SCORM or AICC package?

Answer: This work does not require development of the SCORM or AICC package.

SOW 2.1.9 Tests and Evaluations (m)

The requirement is “integration with third-party testing tools.”

Question: Can the Government provide what third-party tools this system has to be integrated with?

Answer: FEMA EMI is currently using a custom-developed testing tool; a third-party testing tool may be of interest for future integration with Moodle.

SOW 2.1.10 Reports

Question: Is work required to develop the reports or do they have dedicated report resources already on staff?

Answer: Reports would be developed by FEMA EMI staff;

however, implementation services may include providing technical expertise regarding Moodle reporting features and how to achieve desired report formats.

SOW 2.1.10 Reports (a)

The requirement is to “provide standard and custom/adhoc reports.”

Question: How many existing reports does the Government have that the contractor will be expected to implement in the new system?

Answer: This requirement refers to the system’s capability to provide standard and custom/adhoc reports. Reports would be developed and implemented by FEMA EMI staff; however, implementation services may include providing technical expertise regarding Moodle reporting features and how to achieve desired report formats.

SOW 2.1.10 Reports (h) The requirement is to “create reports using third-party tools.”

Question: Can the Government provide a list of the third-party tools?

Answer: FEMA EMI currently uses Tableau; integration with other third-party report tools may be of interest in the future.

SOW 2.1.11 Resource Management (a)

The requirements are to “manage qualified instructors; track and report instructor qualifications.”

Questions:

1. What are the qualification requirements for instructors?

2. Does the Government expect this information to be maintained in the LMS?

Answer: FEMA EMI maintains qualification standards for instructors for each of the courses in the FEMA EMI catalog.

The qualification process for instructors, including qualification requirements for each course to be instructed, will be performed outside of the LMS. The LMS will track instructor assignment and usage in delivering FEMA EMI courses.

2.1.11 Resource

Management (b-e)

Question: Does the Government have an existing system or systems to manage the scheduling of facilities, equipment, classrooms, instructor availability, and other resources and assets?

Answer: Yes, the Government has an existing system to manage the scheduling of facilities, equipment, classrooms, instructor availability, and other resources and assets. Some of these management functions will be migrated to the Moodle LMS, while others will remain in the existing systems.

SOW 2.1.13 Integration with Other Systems

Questions: How many systems will the new system be connected to (data connections)? What are they?

Answer: It is expected that the Moodle LMS will initially interface with 3-4 systems. This number may increase in the future.

SOW 2.1.13 Integration with Other Systems (e)

The requirement is “import historical student course completions from multiple sources and present in a consolidated transcript.”

Question: Can the Government provide examples of the sources in which the existing transcript data resides?

Answer: The existing transcript data is in a Microsoft SQL database.

General

Question: Can you please provide details about the current Moodle environment? How and where is it hosted? What version of Moodle is it currently running? How large is the database and Moodle data folder? Could you provide a list of your current plugins in use (Site Administration > Plugins > Plugins Overview > Additional plugins)?

Answer: FEMA EMI does not currently use Moodle.

SOW 2.1.1

Question: Can you please provide additional detail about the usage of the system, both current and projected? How many unique users are there per month and per year? How many courses is a typical user completing per year? What is the average length of a course, or is there a range (ie how long does it take to complete a course)?

Answer: In FY 2018, there were 2,131,996 independent study course completions by 882,148 students. In addition to students, there will be approximately 15 users in an administrator role and 300 users in course manager/instructor roles; the number of users in these roles may vary from option year to option year. A typical user competes 1-3 online and/or classroom courses a year.

Independent study online courses have an average length of 3 hours, resident classroom courses are typically 3-4 days long and asynchronous instructor led distance learning courses are typically 4-5 weeks long.

SOW 2.1.2a

Question: Do you currently utilize SCORM 2004 content within your Moodle site? What are you using to dispatch the files (SCORM Cloud, etc.)?

Answer: FEMA EMI uses SCORM (both 1.2 and 2004) content in its current custom-developed LMS.

SOW 2.1.13e

Question: What sources are the historical student course completions coming from? What formats are they in and what data points do they include (completion y/n? Date of completion?

Grade? Pass/fail?)

Answer: Historical student course completions are in a Microsoft SQL database. The data points include student information, course number, course name, completion information (pass/fail), and completion date

SOW 2.1.7c/i Question: What tool(s) are you currently using to deliver and record synchronous events? Do you expect any associated licensing costs to be included in this solicitation and contract?

Answer: EMI uses the National Emergency Training Center Admissions system to schedule and record synchronous events.

There will be no associated licensing costs for this system to be included in this solicitation and contract.

General

Question: What Personal Identifying Information (PII) are you currently storing, and/or do you plan to store, in Moodle?

Answer: Students are identified by a FEMA Student Identification Number (FEMA SID). Initially, FEMA EMI plans to minimize the PII stored in the Moodle LMS (FEMA SID and student name) by integrating with other FEMA systems to obtain PII as needed for specific functionality. Long term, the PII stored in the Moodle LMS may include the PII which is currently collected on FEMA Form 119-25-1 General Admissions Application.

General

Question: For the required Authority to Operate, what impact level is required?

Answer: Moderate

Solicitation

Question: Given that questions are not due until August 5, and it will presumably take some time to respond, would you consider extending the deadline from August 13 to allow more time to provide a thoughtful response taking into account Q&A?

Answer: Questions may be submitted at any point, but no later than August 5, 2019. Responses/answers will be posted to FBO as soon as possible. The proposal due date remains unchanged.

General

Question: Does this contract anticipate any training/course content development and creation services, or has the course content already been developed and produced by FEMA?

Answer: This contract will not include any training/course content development and creation services.

General

Question: If training course development is part of this contract:

• what is the approximate volume and specific topics of course curriculum to be developed and produced?

• How much of the content development will involve multimedia production (ie. video, audio, animation, streaming media, etc.)?

• Where will the media content be produced (ie. at FEMA sites or at the contractor's facilities)?

Answer: This contract will not include any training/course content development and creation services.