Attachment C - Questions and Answers 2.26.21.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 24 KB Posted
- Attached to
- COVID-19 Wastewater Data Testing Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 75P00121Q00029
About this file
This is a solicitation for COVID-19 wastewater data testing services. The Department of Health and Human Services seeks a contractor to assist the HHS Office of the Chief Information Officer in leveraging wastewater data to detect COVID-19 trends and include that data in the HHS Protect Program. The base period of performance is 12 weeks starting March 12, 2021. Offerors must propose collecting and testing samples from at least 100 wastewater treatment facilities within the first week and ramping up to 320 facilities within 3 weeks, representing coverage of 100 million US citizens. The contractor must deliver quantitative measurement results within 36 hours of sample receipt and conduct next generation sequencing on pooled weekly samples from each facility. Proposals are due by March 2, 2021. The anticipated award is a fixed-price contract under NAICS code 541380 with a small business size standard of $16.5 million.
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment A. SOO RFP.Amd1.pdf | ||
| Attachment F - FIPS.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment D - Instructions and Evaluations.pdf | ||
| Attachment C - Question and Answer Template.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment B - Quality Management Plan Template.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment G - NWSS_DCIPHERE Data Dictionary.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment E - EPA_Wasterwater_Facilities_abr.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment A. SOO RFP.pdf |
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Text version
Template for Q's.
| No. | Document Name | Page | Section | Question/Comment/Suggestion | Government Response |
| 1 | It is our understanding that as part of RFQ No. 75P00120Q00176, HHS & its contractor sampled WWTPs. How many individual WWTPs were eventually sampled? Will the list of those participants be released to the contract award recipient? | The prevoius awardee had 105 facilities participating with them in order to support the Government. The relationship established with the 105 facilities is between the contractor and the facility, thus the relationship is not transferrable by the Government and a new contractor is responsible for forming and maintaining facilities. | |||
| 2 | Attachment A | 6 | 1.6.3.3.4 | What is the criteria for sequencing data that is “appropriate for strain surveillance”? Scientific preprints showing sequencing results on wastewater samples have reported data on strains from samples with as low as 18% coverage, but clinical thresholds are much higher, requiring at least 90% coverage. | Next generation sequencing that accounts for genome fragmentation, short reads, potentially high viral diversity, and the relatively low abundance of viral RNA, such as tiled amplicon approaches are acceptable. Metagenomic sequencing of total RNA or Sanger sequencing of amplicons is not appropriate. |
| 3 | Attachment A | 6 | 1.6.3.3.4 | Is there a concentration cutoff for generating sequence data from wastewater samples? Preliminary efforts to sequence wastewater samples by our group and others has had more success with samples with high concentrations. | Concentration cutoffs may be included in the sequencing approach. Justification for the selected cutoff must be provided. |
| 4 | Attachment G | What is the significance of the green and yellow highlighting in the data dictionary spreadsheet (attachment G)? | The Green data elements are required data elements and the remaining are elements that can be tailored between the Government and the awardee. | ||
| 5 | Attachment A | 1, 16-17 | 1.5, 3.3 | Section 1.5 says payment will be 12 weeks after the date of the award, but section 3.3 says invoices will be submitted monthly where the Prompt Payment Act requires full payment no later than 4 weeks after invoice submission. | The section in 1.5 was referencing the duration of the performance period. Language has been added to section 1.5 to add clarity on the base performance period of twelve weeks and that the payment schedule is for a monthly firm fixed price. The table in Section 1.5 has been revised to include payment schedule pricing for the FFP of each month |
| 6 | Attachment A | 10, 13-14 | 1.6.4.2, 2.3 | Will any consideration be given to exactly what portions of society are being surveyed or will any coverages which meet the requirements on page 10 and receive the same CPARS scores be considered equivalent? | The goal is to collect data that covers 100 million of the US population. The Government goal in this solicitation is for all states covered, Indian Tribes represented, and for some of the US Terriroties covered. The Government expects by having 100 facilities categorized as small will represent underserved populations. |
| 7 | RFP (Attach A) | 5 | 1.6.3.1.4 | Do we need the sites selected and confirmed by bid date or will those be due once the contract is awarded? | The MTA's do not need to be current but should be recent. By offeror providing documentation that have had at least 100 MTA's supports the validity of the offeror's recruitment approach, that they can gear up quickly and recruit the remainder by the phase 0 cycle. |
| 8 | RFP (Attach A) | 18 | 4.2 & 4.3 | Is Microsoft Office and OneDrive and SharePoint deemed compliant for data storage and cloud storage | Yes, Users of those systems mut be required to have robust passwords that exipie and require a password change at a given interval. Passwords must not be repeated. The systems used must be behind an encrypted firewall and have virus protection. User accounts must not be shared. |
| 9 | Attachment A | 6 | 1.6.3.3.4 | How will HHS determine which variants/strains the lab is required to test for? | The quantitative measurements should use broadly reactive assays that capture the total SARS-CoV-2 concentration. Variant detection should be performed vis next generation sequencing, not strain-specific PCR. |
| 10 | Attachment A | 7-Jun | 1.6.3.4 | If sample sites/volunteer facilities are interested in non-disruptive access to their system results data, and the contractor can share it within a secure manner, is HHS comfortable with the communities accessng their data? | The contractor may provide the facility with its data along with COVID-19 trends that are produced by HHS protect as it concerns the covered area that the facility services. The contractor will need to comply with Federal and HHS security regulations and policies, such as esuring the data is encrypted, sent via secure transmisison methods like box |
| 11 | Attachment A | 9 | 1.6.4.2 | What is the target date for the first day of sample collection? | 1 week after award of contract, we expect to be sampling 100 facilities |
| 12 | Attachment A | 10-Sep | 1.6.4.2 | Is a rolling enrollment approach allowable? | The Government requirement is to be ramped up to at least 320 facilities within 3 weeks, as detailed in Section 1.6.4.1, with the diversity objectives stated in section 1.6. It can roll into those three weeks as it can roll to 100 within the first week. |
| 13 | Attachment A | 5 | 1.6.3.1.6 | Will there be instances where HHS will want results delivered sooner than 36 hours of receipt? | Results delivered within 36 hours is required. If they can be delivered sooner, that is acceptable but not required. |
| 14 | Attachment A | 5 | 1.6.3.1.2 | What is the significance of the 500ml sample size? Would HHS be open to a smaller sample volume, provided the analysis is unaffected? | The Government has determined a sample size of at least 500 ml to provide acceptable test performance. The contractor must provide an approach in response to this solicitation that meets the requirement of sample sizes 500ml or greater. The contractor may include an additional alternate approach with their submission for Government consideration that utilizes samples less than 500 ml without diminishing test performance that includes a justification for the use of smaller sample volumes and evidence of acceptable test performance. Section 1.6.3.1.2 has been revised to include the ability for the contractor to propose changes to sample size that do not diminish test performance and to reiterate that the contractor must utilize samples greater than or equal to 500 ml unless otherwise authorized by the Government. |
| 16 | Attachment A | 10 | 1.6.4.2.7 | Regarding the sequencing, how many samples could be pooled within the whole genome pool? | Sites are samples twice per week. Those 2 samples may be pooled and analyzed as a single weekly sequence analysis. Pooling of multiple weeks or across sites is not acceptable. Section 1.6.4.2.7 has been revised to include this clarifying language. |
| 17 | Attachment A | 10 | 1.6.4.1 | For the NGS, what is the depth of sequencing or Giga base output per sample? | There is no minimum depth or output, as that will change by approach. Justification that the approach taken can account for genome fragmentation, short reads, potentially high diversity, and relatively low viral abundance should be provided. |
| 18 | Attachment A | 10 | 1.6.4.1 | Is WGS or amplicon sequencing preferred? | Next generation sequencing that accounts for genome fragmentation, short reads, potentially high viral diversity, and the relatively low abundance of viral RNA, such as tiled amplicon approaches are acceptable. Metagenomic sequencing of total RNA or Sanger sequencing of amplicons is not appropriate. |
| 19 | Attachment A | 10 | 1.6.4.1 | Is there any other information that can be provided relative to the sequencing to be performed? | Next generation sequencing that accounts for genome fragmentation, short reads, potentially high viral diversity, and the relatively low abundance of viral RNA, such as tiled amplicon approaches are acceptable. Metagenomic sequencing of total RNA or Sanger sequencing of amplicons is not appropriate. Section 1.6.4.1 has been revised to include this clarifying language. |
| 20 | we request clarification on the NAICS classification. Will you accept offers from small businesses that have not included the listed NAICS code for this solicitation (541380) on their SAM profile, provided the small business still passes revenue threshold tests for 541380? | NAICS Code 541380, Testing Laboratories, is the NAICS code vendors must pass the revenue threshold for and was the NAICS code used for the previous wastewater solicitation. The vendor may provide documentation to support they pass the revenue threshold test for 541380 if it is not currently reflected in SAM and Offerors MUST include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items (JAN 2021) with its offer | |||
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&"Times New Roman,Regular"&12Attachment D - Question and Answer COVID-19 Wastewater Data Testing RFP No. &"Times New Roman,Italic"75P00121Q00029&"Times New Roman,Regular"&K000000
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