70FB7024R00000002 - Questions and Answers 11-26-2024 Amendment 01.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 29 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- 70FB70-24-R-00000002
- Issued by
-
Federal Emergency Management Agency
About this file
This is a Questions and Answers document for solicitation 70FB7024R00000002, issued by FEMA for Individual Identity Verification and Authentication Support Services (IV&A). The document addresses 46 questions from potential offerors covering technical requirements, pricing, and submission guidelines.
Key details include: LexisNexis is identified as the incumbent; the proposal due date has been extended to December 11, 2024; pricing questions are due by noon EST December 2, 2024; transition period is 90 days; FedRAMP certification is required and cannot be waived; the solution must be cloud-based (no on-premise); COTS solutions are preferred; estimated annual transaction volumes are 2 million for most CLINs, with CLINs 0017-0021 at 200,000 annually. Technical requirements include identity verification, fraud detection, document validation, bank account verification, and one-time password capabilities. The government will issue firm-fixed-price task orders under the IDIQ contract, and both prime contractor and subcontractor past performance references are acceptable within the three-reference limit.
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Questions and Answers
| Solicitation: Individual Identity Verification and Authentication Support Services (IV&A) |
| Solicitation Number: 70FB7024R00000002 |
| # | Solicitation Part | Section Number / Page Number | Section Reference | Question | Answers | |
| 1 | Attachment C | Pricing Schedule | Regarding RFQ no. 70FB7024R00000002 for Individual Identity Verification and Authentication Support Services, the 2.2.1 Attachment C- Price Schedule.xlsx document appears locked and cannot be opened. Is there an unlocked version of this document available? | The pricing schedule has been unlocked. | ||
| 2 | Attachment C Price Schedule | n/a | Pricing | Attachment C is locked, and offerors are unable to open it. Will the Government please provide an unlocked spreadsheet? | The pricing schedule has been unlocked. | |
| 3 | Attachment C Price Schedule | n/a | Pricing | The construct of the Government's pricing spreadsheet will influence offerors' decisions whether to submit a proposal for this contract. Because we do not have a price spreadsheet, the time to prepare a proposal that considers the pricing is insufficient. Therefore, would the Government consider an extension of the proposal due date no less than two weeks after an unlocked Attachment C is provided to all offerors? | The proposal due date has been updated. | |
| 4 | Attachment C Price Schedule | n/a | Pricing | Since offerors will not be able to review Attachment C, Price Schedule, until after the Government responds to answers to questions and posts a new version, will the Government allow a second opportunity for offerors to ask questions, to include Attachment C and pricing? | Yes, solictation has been updated and pricing questions are due noon EST December 2, 2024. | |
| 5 | Attachment E Past Performance Questionnaire | Instructions, Block A, Page 1 | Past Performance | If the Government grants an extension, would the Government please provide an updated Attachment E with the new due date and time? | ||
| Attachment E has been updated to December 11, 2024 | ||||||
| 6 | Attachment E Past Performance Questionnaire | Instructions, Block A, Page 1 | Past Performance | If an extension is granted, will the Government allow offerors to update instruction block A with the updated due date and time? | Attachment E has been updated to December 11, 2024 | |
| 7 | Solicitation | n/a | Contract | Would the Government please provide the name of the incumbent contractor, and the associated contract number? | LexisNexis | |
| 8 | Attachment A PWS | 6.0', Page 16 | Contract | Paragraph 6.0 Transition Plan, states, "A transition from the current service provider within ninety (180) days from award of contract is required." Would the Government please clarify the correct transition period? | The PWS has been updated to reflect 90 days. | |
| 9 | Attachment A PWS | Appendix VI: FedRAMP Certified Language, paragraph (a)(i), Page 37 | Technical | This paragraph states, "…unless notified by the Contracting Officer that this requirement has been waived by the Agency Chief Information Officer." | ||
| Would the Government please clarify whether the FedRAMP certification requirement has been waived for the IV&A program? | A waiver will not be allowed. | |||||
| 10 | Attachment A PWS | Appendix VI: FedRAMP Certified Language, paragraph (a)(i), Page 37 | Technical | Would the Government consider waiving the FedRAMP certification requirement for a product that is FedRAMP-compliant but not yet certified by FEMA? | FEMA will allow time for compliance but will not waive the certification requirement. | |
| 11 | Attachment A PWS | Appendix VI: FedRAMP Certified Language, paragraph (a)(i), Page 37 | Technical | Would the Government allow offerors to propose a solution that is FedRAMP compliant, and upon contract award, sponsor the successful awardee to obtain FedRAMP certification from the agency for their proposed cloud solution? | FEMA will not sponsor a FedRAMP solution. | |
| 12 | Solicitation | Factor 3 | Past Performance | Would the Government consider allowing up to one Past Performance citation from team members/subcontractors that bring high relevance and performance to the proposed solution? | Yes, as long as the number of past performance references & total page count is not exceeded. | |
| 13 | Attachment D-Subcontracting Plan | Paragraph #1, Page 1 | Contract | Are offerors that do not plan to use a subcontractor required to submit a subcontracting plan? | Small business subcontracting plans are required from large prime contractors when a contract is expected to exceed $750,000 ($1.5 million for construction) and has subcontracting possibilities. These plans are required for the acquisition of commercial items and COTS items. FAR 19 lists what is required in these plans. | |
| 14 | 3. Proposal Format and Submission | Paragraph 5, Page 88 | Contract | To ensure that offerors can provide a fully compliant response that adequately describes their technical approach and understanding of the RFP requirements, will the Government extend the Factor 1 - Technical Approach and Understanding page limit to 20 pages? | The current number of pages should be sufficient. | |
| 15 | B.2 PRICE SCHEDULE | Paragraph 1, Page 26 | Contract | The Attachment C-Price Schedule.xlsx document appears locked and cannot be opened. Is there an unlocked version of this document available? | The pricing schedule has been unlocked. | |
| 16 | B.2 PRICE SCHEDULE | Paragraph 1, Page 26 | Contract | Since Attachment C-Price Schedule is not accessible in the original SAM.gov posting, will the Government extend the Q&A period until after an accessible version is made available? This additional time is necessary to allow offerors to review the price schedule and submit any related questions. | Yes, solictation has been updated and pricing questions are due noon EST December 2, 2024. | |
| 17 | 3. Proposal Format and Submission | Paragraph 1, Page 88 | Contract | Given the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and the complexity of this solicitation, we request a due date extension to Friday, December 13. This additional time will also allow offerors to review responses to questions and incorporate any changes into their proposals. | The proposal due date has been updated to December 11, 2024 | |
| 18 | Solicitation | Paragraph 4, Page 5 | Contract | FEMA references the Fraud Point solution in its CLINs. Can FEMA confirm it is not specifically requiring the use of this commercial product to meet the requirements as detailed in the PWS. | Correct. Offerors can suggest their own solution to meet the requirement. | |
| 19 | Solicitation | Paragraph 2, Page 26 | Contract | Section B.2 (Price Schedule): FEMA states "Offers must use Attachment C, Price Template to provide pricing." Attachment C is locked with rights management and cannot be accessed. Please provide an unlocked version of the Price Schedule. Since the price schedule is not accessible, will the government allow for a second question period to allow for questions to be submitted on the price schedule once it is made available to the bidders? Will the government adjust the bid due date to grant at a minimum the 2 week extension requested previously in part to accommodate this additional question period? | The pricing schedule has been unlocked. | |
| 20 | Solicitation | Paragraph 3, Page 26 | Contract | Section B.3 (Contract Type): FEMA states "The Government will issue Firm Fixed Price task orders. Funding will occur at the task order level." Can the government please confirm if there will be the other direct costs (ODCs) for licenses or supplies? | The current contract has not incurred additional costs for licenses or supplies. | |
| 21 | Solicitation | Paragraph 5, Page 88 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): Can the government grant an extension to the proposal due date from Dec 9 to Dec 23? This is critical given the complexity of the requirements, the number of questions that will need to be provided by the government that will impact the development of responsive proposals, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and the inability of potential bidders to access the price schedule. It is in the best interests of the government to grant this 2 week extension to allow for the development of proposals that are both responsive and compliant to the government's requirements and to be fair and equitable to all potential bidders. | The proposal due date has been updated to December 11, 2024. | |
| 22 | Solicitation | Paragraph 3, Page 89 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): Can FEMA clarify if industry may submit one (1) cover page and one (1) executive summary page? If yes, can FEMA confirm both the one (1) cover page and one (1) executive summary page will not count against page count? | The offeror’s cover page and executive summary shall be marked with the RFP number, title, company name, DUNS, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), and company POC information. The executive summary shall be no longer than one (1) page. The contents of executive summary will not be evaluated. The cover page and executive summary are not included in the page count. The solictation has been updated. | |
| 23 | Solicitation | Paragraph 3, Page 89 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): FEMA states "Factor 2 - Management Approach & Qualifications (resumes and certifications are excluded from page count – include as ATTACHMENTS). There is no limit for resumes, however, they are capped at 3 pages per resume.)" Can FEMA confirm if subcontractor resumes may be included in response? Can FEMA also confirm listing personnel's professional certifications in each resume is sufficient to meet this requirement? If not, what certification copies is industry required to provide in their response? | Prime contractor & subcontractor resumes are acceptable but it must be specified if the resume is for the prime contractor or a subcontractor. A listing of professional certifications are acceptable. | |
| 24 | Solicitation | Paragraph 3, Page 91 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): FEMA states in Factor 2 (Management Approach & Qualifications) that the Personnel Management Plan should "Provide an organization structure /chart showing lines of authority, responsibility and communication for management, Supervisory, and technical personnel for each site and as a whole." Can FEMA confirm that they would like an organizational structure/chart at the IDIQ level? Can FEMA also confirm which "sites" the Contractor will be required to have personnel? | The contractor will operate from their own premises. | |
| 25 | Solicitation | Paragraph 5, Page 92 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): FEMA states "The Offeror shall identify up to three (3) contracts or task orders (from the PRIME offeror)." Would FEMA consider one or more of those past performance references to come from a subcontractor or would FEMA consider increasing the number beyond 3 to allow the subcontractor to provide a reference? | The 3 contracts or task orders can be a combination of prime contractor or subcontractor, but it must be specified if the contract or task order is for the prime contractor or subcontractor. The number of contracts or task orders is sufficient. | |
| 26 | Solicitation | Paragraph 1, Page 93 | Contract | Section E.8.3 (Proposal Format and Submission): Should the Contractor address items 1-6 in Attachment C (Price Schedule) or should it be submitted separately in a PDF format? | The solicitation has been updated. | |
| 27 | Solicitation | N/A | Technical | Will FEMA provide an Identity and Access Management technology solution for access to the contractor provided solution? | No. | |
| 28 | Solicitation | N/A | Technical | Will FEMA outline the FIPS-199 System Categorization for the identity verification and authentication technology solution (i.e. whether it evaluates the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability security objectives as low, moderate, or high impact)? | The offerors FIPS-199 categorization should match the solution. | |
| 29 | Solicitation | N/A | Technical | Can FEMA confirm if there a preferred hosting platform for the solution (e.g., on-premise, Azure, AWS)? | On-premise is not permitted. No preference on any other platform. | |
| 30 | Attachment C - Price Schedule | N/A | Contract | Can FEMA confirm the date as to when FEMA will resend Attachment C - Price Schedule to industry as it is currently inaccessible per sign-in permissions? | The pricing schedule has been unlocked. | |
| 31 | Attachment D - Subcontracting Plan | Paragraph 1, Page 1 | Contract | Can FEMA clarify if the 41% small business requirement applies to labor only or total revenue (to include other direct costs)? | FAR 19.7 lists what is required subcontracting plans. | |
| 32 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 5, Page 5 | Technical | Section 2.1 (Identity Verification and Authentication Services): FEMA states "If the Contractor includes new technology, then commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products are preferred over custom development of software." Can FEMA confirm that it prefers to license an identity verification and fraud detection solution, and that it does not want for the Contractor to customize a solution which FEMA would own (together with the data)? | FEMA prefers a COTS solution but confirms that any customized solution would ultimately be owned by FEMA. | |
| 33 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 1, Page 8 | Technical | Section 2.9 (Investigation Tool Licenses): Does FEMA expect contractor to provide training support at the time of the procurement of licenses, or on an ongoing basis? Does FEMA expect any investigative support? | Training support would be at the time of license procurement only. FEMA does not expect but would welcome investigative support. | |
| 34 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 1, Page 8 | Technical | Section 2.9 (Investigation Tool Licenses): Does FEMA have a preference on which investigation tool is licensed by the Contractor? If the Contractor's proposed solution has previously integrated with several public data providers (e.g. Lexis, Reuters, etc.), does FEMA require that the Contractor select one at the proposal stage, or can it be selected after award and determining the best-fit for FEMA's business requirements? | No preference on which investigation tool is licensed. FEMA does require that the contractor select the solution at the time of proposal. | |
| 35 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 1, Page 5 | Technical | Section 2.0 (Specific Requirements/Tasks): The PWS suggests an orchestration framework that coordinates a series of commercial data providers to deliver against the various requirements. Does FEMA envision a single data provider or would it consider a commercial platform that can integrate a series of best of breed data providers that would allow FEMA to optimize their IV&A platform? | FEMA is open to all solutions proposed by offerors. | |
| 36 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 1, Page 5 | Technical | Section 2.0 (Specific Requirements/Tasks): Does FEMA wish to leverage Treasury’s Do Not Pay (Death Master File) for purposes of deceased person validation? If so, does FEMA presently have an MOU/data sharing agreement that authorizes FEMA to utilize Treasury DNP's real-time APIs. | Yes, FEMA wish to leverage Treasury’s Do Not Pay (Death Master File) for purposes of deceased person validation. No, FEMA doesn't have an MOU/data sharing agreement that authorizes FEMA to utilize Treasury DNP's real-time APIsto the second question. | |
| 37 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 2, Page 5 | Technical | Section 2.1 (Identity Verification and Authentication Services): FEMA states "The Contractor shall define the level of assurance they intend for identity verification." This references an approach from NIST 800-63-2. To keep pace with fraud threats and the dynamic nature of identity verification, can the government adjust this language / approach to instead reference Identity Assurance Levels as defined by NIST 800-63-3 and future revisions? | NIST 800-63-2 is the current policy. NIST 800-63-3 is not yet approved. FEMA would require the contractor to remain compliant with the most current policies. | |
| 38 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 6, Page 5 | Technical | Section 2.1 (Identity Verification and Authentication Services): FEMA provides helpful context on surge capacity numbers. Can FEMA also provide context on approximate expected annual identity verification transactions, given that Contractors may be able to provide bulk pricing discounts in accordance with volume? | Grand Total Estimated Cost is based on "mid" estimated number of transactions, so to be consistent we should use the same estimates in response to this question: |
CLINs 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004, 0005, 0007, 0008, 0009, 0011, 0012, 0013, 0014, 0015, 0016:
Transaction estimate = 2,000,000 annually;
CLIN 0006:
Transaction estimate = 12 annually;
CLIN 0010:
Transaction estimate = 25 annually ;
CLINs 0017, 0018, 0019, 0020, 0021:
Transaction estimate = 200,000 annually
| 39 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 6, Page 6 | Technical | Section 2.2 (One Time Password): What degree of integration is required related to FEMA’s IAL2 login process as part of the OTP requirements? | No integration is required. |
| 40 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 3, Page 7 | Technical | Section 2.6 (2.6 Bank Account Data Information Tool): There are a number solutions that provide equivalent or better performance to the Accuity solution. Would FEMA accept alternative solutions to provide bank data verification? | Yes. Offerors can suggest their own solution to meet the requirement. |
| 41 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 9, Page 7 | Technical | Section 2.8 (Business Document Validation Tool): Does FEMA expect the Contractor to validate the existence and legitimacy of the business and provide risk/fraud scoring by extracting information from the documents directly, or through an input of business data to a system/interface provided by the Contractor? | FEMA does not collect or store data regarding the businesses for documents provided by most applicants (exception, FEMA does collect a small subset for our COVID Funeral program). We are looking for solutions to validate documents provided by applicants that have business names or phone numbers for invoices and verification. |
| 42 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 5, Page 11 | Technical | Section 2.16 (Document Scanning and Validations): Is FEMA able to provide a list of documents to be scanned by the Contractor? | Types of documents that FEMA is looking for OCR are related to identity verification and eligibilty substantiation. This includes identity (Drivers license, birth/death certificate, Passport) documents, as well as non-standard documents like invoices from landlords, contractors, businesses. |
| 43 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 2, Page 16 | Contract | Section 6.0 (Transition Plan): Can FEMA confirm whether the transition should be completed within 90 or 180 days (both are referenced in the text? Does FEMA anticipate all capabilities to be live at the start of the period of performance, or does FEMA envision additional time for to integrate to the new capabilities (e.g. document verification integration)? | The PWS has been updated to reflect 90 days. |
| 44 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 2, Page 27 | Technical | Section 12.0 (DHS Enterprise Architecture Compliance): This section includes requirements for the DHS Enterprise Architecture policies and HLS EA requirements. At what time will details on these requirements, including the TRM, be provided? | During implementation of the solution, after award. |
| 45 | Attachment A - Performance Work Statement (PWS) | Paragraph 4, Page 37 | Technical | Appendix VI: FedRamp Certified Language: Does the platform which orchestrates all the calls to the backend providers need to be operated within a FedRAMP High boundary? Can you be specific regarding which part of the solution (orchestration workflow or data providers) needs to be within the FedRamp boundary. In addition, does FEMA expect that Contractors certify and accredit the COTS products that are part of their proposed solution. | The total solution needs to be FedRAMP compliant. FEMA will not waive the FedRAMP certification requirement. |
| 46 | Solicitation | N/A | N/A | Kindly requests an extension to RFP No.: 70FB7024R00000002’s response date, which is currently listed as December 9, 2024 at 11AM ET. | The proposal due date has been updated to December 11, 2024. |
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