Questions and Answers 7-12-2022.docx

Solicitation 75A50122Q00014 Questions and Answers As of: 7/12/2022

51Below is a list of questions received and the corresponding answers. Also be sure to check the Statement of Work for changes to the solicitation.

Can the quantities listed in Task Order Information/Response Sheet be considered a Grand Total or could there potentially be more to come?

How often do you anticipate the need for additional services during the contract period after the initial pick-up?

The quantities listed in Task Order 0001 are our only known requirement.

The amount of Task Order 0001 may or may not be the Grand Total. ASPR/BARDA is moving offices. The quantities listed in Task Order 0001 represent the amounts of files for CMA; however, as other BARDA offices are moving their files, they may identify a need for these services. If they do, additional task orders may be issued.

Can the Contractor’s location be in a different state than the pick-up location?

The Contractor may process/work at any location within the United States as long as the Contractor meets the requirements of SOW Paragraph 3

· Government must have access to all documents upon request, with a hard copy or electronic file provided within 48 hours.

· The files are stored in a secure, climate-controlled location that complies with NARA requirements/ locations.

Will we be able to use the loading dock to palletize boxes?

The files are boxed but the boxes are not palletized. The Contractor will be responsible for palletizing them.

Yes

What is the volume of box count?

Current Records: approximately 40 banker’s boxes* and 60 large boxes*

POP Prior to 2018: approximately 45 banker’s boxes* and 55 large boxes*

POP After 2018: approximately 90 banker’s boxes* and 35 large boxes*

* See attached pictures of boxes

Will ASPR-BARDA provide the contractor with an inventory of what is in each box and the contractor verifies the inventory when the files arrive at contractor’s location? Or will be contractor be creating the inventory based on the files found in the box?

Will HHS provide the Manifest for the files provided?

At the time of pick-up, the Government and the Contractor will number the boxes and type of files (i.e., current, prior to 2018, POP after 2018) that are contained in the box.

The Contractor will be required to create the inventory of each box based on the files found inside.

The solicitation has been amended to change the time frame for the inventory from one (1) week to a time frame to be jointly agreed upon by the Contractor and Government in each task order.

See answers above

What percentage of documents would be fragile or have torn edges, rips in the Paper which would require flag bed scanning?

The Government believes most documents will be in good to excellent condition. However, there will most likely be some damaged documents that require repair.

Are the documents of type Litigation (few staples/clips), Medium Litigation (Multiple Staples/Clips with Sticky Notes) or High Litigation (lots of stapes/clips, onion skin pages, fragile documents)?

The Government estimates that most of the document preparation will consist of removing staples, paper clips, rubber bands, tabs, dividers, and other forms of page separators. They will also need to be reviewed for post-it notes and different sized pages. There should be minimal requirements for taping and repairs.

What percentage of old vs. newer documents Some of the contract files date back to 2005.

Unknown

Unknown. While the Government believes all pages can go through an auto-feed scanner, there may be some the Contractor identifies that cannot.

If color is needed, can you provide an estimated percentage of color?

No color scanning is required. Black and White/Gray Scale may be used.

To the best of the Government’s knowledge, there should be very few “poor quality” originals; however, as the Contractor prepares the documents, some may be identified.

All contract with POP end after 2018, contracts will be scanned by contract file section. Can you explain?

Contract files are divided into sections. The Contractor may scan all the documents located in a section together instead of scanning each document separately.

The estimated number of contracts that can be bulk-scanned The Government’s estimated number of images for contracts with POP end after 2018 (bulk scanned by section) and contracts with POP end prior to 2018 (bulk scanned by contract) in the Task Order Information/Response Sheet – Task Order 0001. This is representative of the Government’s known requirement at this time. While other requirements may be identified, there are no further requirements known at this time.

For naming conventions, please see paragraph 2e on the SOW and the questions and answers below pertaining to file naming.

· Will ASPR/BARDA staff be able to provide the Contractor with a list of typical documents included in a contract/solicitation so that we are naming the documents in a standardized manner?

· An average file contains how many documents? Could you estimate how many pages on average per document? (I am trying to figure out how much indexing is required for current files) Correct, for the current files, documents, documents will be indexed by Contract or solicitation number and by document title.

Yes, we will provide a list of current documents. See Attachment 5.

Unfortunately, the Government is not able to accurately provide this information. Contract file sizes and pages per document vary based on contract type, complexity, and age. There is no “average” size or number of pages.

Some contract files take up several boxes.

· Is the contractor expected to provide temporary storage during the digitization and quality assurance review period only?

· Is the contractor expected to provide long-term storage after digitization project is over? For how long?

· How long with the quality assurance period be until we can get permission to shred the documents?

The contractor is only expected to store the documents until the Government has notified the Contractor of acceptance of files on the hard drive (see SOW paragraph 4 Amendment 0001. – It was changed to clarify the destruction time).

No, the Contractor is not expected to provide long-terms storage after digitization is complete.

The quality assurance period is expected to be approximately 10 business days.

When or how will we know the length of time the records are to be stored before destruction take place?

Storage refers to the time the documents are being digitized up and up to notification of acceptance by the Government.

Approximately how many pages per document? (1-2, 5-10, 10-20)

Out of the 625,000 images, how many documents are there?

Unfortunately, the Government is not able to accurately provide this information. Contract file sizes and documents/pages per document vary based on contract type, complexity, and age. There is no “average” size or number of pages or documents.