FWaaS-QuestionsSupplemental - 20200901- Final Clarification.pdf

# Reference RFP Section Paragraph No. Page No.(s) Question Answers 1 Response to Bidder's Questions, Section 1, Questions 1-5 RFP Section 4.3 Case Priority RFP Section 4.4 Response Time

Q&A Section 1

RFP 4.3 - 4.4

Q&A p. 1 RFP p. 62-63

In Section 1, Questions 1-4, of the government's response to bidder's questions, the government indicates that CLINs x003 - x006 are considered 1 FTE each, defined by the government as 1,920 hours annually. However in the response to Section 1, Question 5, the government states that help desk support will be provided under CLIN x005, Technical SME. This seems inconsistent with the requirements in the RFP, Sections 4.3 Case Priority and 4.4 Response Time (pp. 62-63), that specify that help desk support response time for certain items will be provided "continuously, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week." Can the government clarify the inconsistency between allowing only 1 FTE at 1,920 hours for CLIN x005 and the response time required in RFP sections 4.3 and 4.4? In light of this would the government allow bidders to propose different levels of FTEs for CLINs x003 - x0006, allowing bidders to accurately reflect help desk and other labor support based on the technical requirements of the RFP?

No, the Technical SME should be the only person to handle HelpDesk Support in addition to other duties.

2 Response to Bidder's Questions, Section 3, Questions 6&7

Q&A Section 3 Q&A p. 2 In Section 3, Questions 6 & 7, of the government's response to bidder's questions, the government was not able to provide quantities for either pages of documents (annually) that will need to be scanned or numbers of audio/video files, file types, and size of files that will need to be processed (annually). Only the incumbent contractor providing DHS's current FOIA processing system has access to this information. The competitors on this solicitation will not have this information, which is necessary to provide an accurate and competitive proposed price. Can the government provide estimates of the following for bidders to use for proposed pricing to facilitate equal access to information and improve competition?

- The approximate volume of paper documents (in pages annually) that will need to be scanned into the platform?

- An estimate for number of files, file types, and size of files that will need to be processed and/or redacted on a per year basis?

Without these certain data points, bidders will have to include appropriate assumptions in their proposed pricing.

In FY19, DHS components that would use the system received and processed over 105,000 cases. We expect a 5-10% increase in the number of cases received per year. These components released nearly 3 million pages across initial processing, appeals and litigation. This includes all file types except spreadsheets, audio files, and video files. We do not have total pages reviewed data for FY19. Currently, files used in the system equate to about 10 TB of data, but we anticipate with the additional cases to add about 4 TB to 5 TB of data per year.

3 Response to Bidder's Questions, Section 3, Question 9 RFP Section 1.1 Objective RFP Section 1.2 Scope RFP Section 2.1.5 RFP Section 2.1.10.6

Q&A Section 3 RFP 1.1 and 1.2

Q&A p. 2 RFP p. 12, 16, In Section 3, Question 9, of the government's response to bidder's questions, the government states that the "Government will host our own data" in clarifying the $7M limit on this procurement. However, this seems inconsistent with the government's requirement in the RFP that bidders provide "a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to support the activities associated with processing... FOIA requests" and that "[t]he Contractor shall provide a SaaS solution hosted in a FedRAMP authorized cloud provider."

Additionally, In Section 2.1.5 the government indicates that approximately 10 TB of legacy data must be migrated into the SaaS platform. In Section 2.1.10.6 the government indicates that 4-5 TB of new data should be expected annually. If the government is going to "host their own data" as indicated in response to bidder's questions, can the government please indicate how much data annually, or both legacy data and new data, that the government expects to host?

Without these certain data points, bidders will have to include appropriate assumptions in their proposed pricing.

Yes, the contractor will need to migrate 10 TB legacy data into the solution plus the expected growth of up to 4 TB to 5 TB annually. The contractor will Host the data according to each FOIA request in order to draw on the Sourced data and process the FOIA request within the SaaS. The contractor will then report on the FOIA request based on the hosted data.

4 Response to Bidder’s Questions, Section 4, Questions 1-4 & 7 RFP Section 2.3.23 SBU Data Privacy and Protection RFP Section 4.7 Security Breach Notification

Q&A Section 4 RFP para. 1 RFP para. 5

Q&A pg. 2-3 RFP pg. 40 RFP pg. 63

In Section 2.3.23 and Section 4.7 the government inserts additional liability terms into the RFP that go beyond the standard DHS terms and conditions by saying “The Contractor will be required to compensate the Government for any costs associated with mitigating the release of SSI and PII that are caused by the Contractor (to include its employees, subcontractors, and teaming partners), such as reimbursing the Government for credit bureau checks for individuals affected by the release of PII and SSI.” Typically, the standard DHS recourse to a breach of SSI and PII can be found in the clause “Safeguarding of Sensitive Information (MAR 2015)” which contains the penalties and actions DHS has determined are needed in the event of a data breach. Can the government please remove the paragraph above from both Section 2.3.23 and Section 4.7 and rely on the standard DHS contract clause?

DHS Special Contract Clauses have been included in the Revised Request for Proposal - 70RDAD20R00000014_1SEP2020 and Sections 2.3.23 and 4.7 has been deleted.

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