91990025R0010 Amendment 0001 SF30.pdf

Addendum 52.212-1—Instructions to Vendors- Commercial Items (April 2014)

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) as a 100% small business set-aside. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 611710 Educational Support Services. The size standard is $24M. The Department intends to award a fixed price, single award Contract as a result of this RFP. The period of performance will consist of one, 12-month base year with four, 12-month, option years.

The Department’s obligation under this Contract is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Department for any payment may arise until funds are made available to the Contracting Officer (CO) for this contract and until the Contractor receives notice of such availability, to be confirmed in writing by the CO.

The vendor is expected to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the proposed tasks and the existing resources, as specified in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The Proposal should address the requirements in the PWS, not simply repeat the language. The Proposal should be written in enough detail to enable the Department to perform a comprehensive evaluation based on its full merits.

Although the intent of each task is spelled out in the PWS, it is incumbent upon the vendor to propose the most effective method for executing the tasks and the most feasible timeline and dates for all key activities. Vendors are encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the best methods of attaining the objectives of this contract.

The vendor’s proposal must be submitted electronically. The proposal must be received by the Department before the proposal submission deadline. Proposals must remain valid for a period of 60 days after proposal submission. It is the responsibility of the vendor to allow adequate time to submit the proposal’s files before the proposal submission deadline. Vendor’s must have an active registration with the Department’s System for Award Management, SAM.gov, at time of proposal submission.

The proposal must be received at or before April 16, 2025, by 2:00 PM ET. Proposals must be submitted electronically to the Points of Contact listed below:

• Michael Rivera, Contract Specialist (Email: michael.rivera@ed.gov)

• Katie Opper, Contracting Officer (Email: katie.opper@ed.gov)

The Department’s email system cannot handle emails larger than 20 Megabytes (MB). Proposal submissions must be broken up into separate emails if necessary to accommodate size limitations, with each email identified (e.g., Company Proposal Submission 1 of 3, Company Proposal Submission 2 of 3, etc.). Electronic file names must not contain special characters (e.g., #, *, ?, (, ), {, }, %, >, <, /, \, $, |). Quotations will not be accepted after the proposal submission deadline date and time. Proposals will be rejected for surpassing the email size limitation, so please allow enough time for proposal submissions. A confirmation receipt will be sent from the Contract Specialist (CS) when the proposal is received.

Failure to comply with the Instructions to Offerors and RFP requirements may result in the proposal being removed from the competition as the Department reserves the right to eliminate proposals that do not conform to the RFP and Instructions to Offerors. Any exceptions to the RFP’s terms and conditions must be fully explained in writing with supporting justification to the CO for consideration.

The proposals must consist of three (3) volumes. The Volumes are: (1) Executive Summary, (2) Technical mailto:michael.rivera@ed.gov) mailto:katie.opper@ed.gov)

Proposal, and (3) Price/Business Proposal. The Volumes and page limitations are shown in Table 1, below. Non-conforming proposals may or may not be considered for award. Proposals must be complete for consideration.

Proposals that do not include all required volumes and attachments in accordance with these Instructions for Offerors may or may not be evaluated nor considered for award. Offerors are responsible for ensuring that the Department receives complete proposals, conforming to all RFP instructions before the Submission Due Date and Time.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

1. The offeror’s proposal must include all information requested and must be submitted in accordance with these instructions. Any offeror who submits an incomplete proposal may not be evaluated. The offeror must be compliant with the requirements as stated in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Non- conformance with the instructions provided may result in the proposal being determined non- responsive and will disqualify the proposal from consideration.

2. The offeror’s proposal is presumed to represent its best efforts to respond to the RFP. All inconsistencies, whether real or apparent, between the conveyed performance and price must be explained in the proposal. The evaluation will be based on an assessment of the information submitted in the offeror’s proposal and other evaluation information available to the Department. All assumptions will be evaluated as part of the individual factor or sub-factor to which they apply. The Department reserves the right to reject any proposal that includes any assumption(s) or conditions that impact or affect satisfying the Department’s requirements.

3. Content Requirements. All information must be confined to the appropriate Volume. Proprietary information must be clearly marked as such. Each Volume of the proposal must consist of a Title Page (Title of the Volume), Table of Contents, and the narrative or information being requested within the instructions to offerors.

Appendices must have a Title Page (Name of Appendix, i.e., Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Appendix 3).

4. No pricing information must be in any Volumes other than the Price/Business Proposal. The Technical Proposal will NOT contain any reference to specific prices.

5. Each Volume must be submitted separately in accordance with Table 1 below. Each Volume must be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be evaluated with no cross-referencing to other Volumes of the proposal. Each evaluation subfactor response must be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be evaluated with no cross-referencing to other evaluation subfactors or Volumes.

6. The use of hyperlinks in the proposal is prohibited.

7. Proposals must adhere to the page count limitations below. Pages that exceed the required page limitations will not be evaluated.

8. Each file name submitted must be with the Volume number first, then the Volume Title/Description, then Postsecondary Analysis, and lastly the company name which may be abbreviated. For example, “Vol 1 Technical Postsecondary Analysis Company Name”.

9. Contents of files must print on Letter 8 ½” by 11”. The technical proposal must be submitted searchable PDF format. The proposal should be written in no smaller than 12-point font for text, 12- point font or larger for tables, 10-point font or larger for graphics, and double-spaced. Margins should be no smaller than 1 inch on all sides.

10. The Technical Proposal must be limited to a total of 45 pages. The page limit excludes only the cover page;

the table of contents; and Appendices.

11. File Packaging: Files must be in read-only format, using PDF files except that all price breakdown information must be submitted in Microsoft Office Excel unprotected format and viewable in Microsoft Excel versions 2010 and later. Please note – Self extracting .exe files are not acceptable.

Table 1: Proposal Volumes and Descriptions

Volume Number Volume Title Description Page

Maximum

1 Executive Summary Not an evaluation factor N/A

2 Technical Quote

Evaluation Factor I: Technical

Subfactor I – Quality and

Credibility of Approach to PWS

Subfactor II – Qualifications of the Project Staff

Subfactor III – Soundness of Management Plan

Subfactor IV – Corporate Experience

Subfactor V – Past Performance

45 pages

3 Price/Business Quote Evaluation Factor II Price/Business Quote N/A

PROPOSAL CONTENT REQUIREMENTS

Volume 1 - Executive Summary: Within this section, the offeror must provide a Title Page, a Table of Contents. This Volume must include the following information: (1) RFP number; (2) Company’s Name, address, SAM unique entity ID, Tax ID No.; (3) requirement title; (4) point of contact and alternate contract, including last name, first name, telephone, and email; (5) administrative point of contact, including last name, first name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, and email (this is the individual that will be administering the contract in accordance with clause 306-8 (CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR FEB 1985); (6) date proposal submitted; (7) proposal expiration date (valid minimum 60 calendar days); (8) SAM record print out of the company/offeror ’s “Core Data.”; (9) Completed Representations and Certifications or provide a statement that states that the Representations and Certifications located within SAM.gov for “Your Company’s Name Here”, is current accurate and complete. (10) Completed RFP Provisions as required to include 3452.209-70 CONFLICT OF INTEREST CERTIFICATION (MAY 2011) (Both Prime and Subcontractors). (11) Written acknowledgement of all amendments either by providing a statement, “Contractor acknowledges all amendments” or provide signed SF30(s) within the Executive Summary. (12) Place of Performance, full address to include zip code.

Volume 2 - Technical Approach:

The technical Proposal shall contain the following:

1. Table of Contents. The Proposal should include a Table of Contents to highlight the structure of the technical Proposal and to list the main authors of each section.

2. Introduction. The Introduction should briefly describe the vendor’s overall plan for achieving the objectives of this work as expressly described in the PWS. This should include the vendor’s proposed solution and any methodologies, tools and products used to deliver the proposed solution, including the applicability of these methodologies, tools and products to meeting the objectives stated in the PWS. Additionally, the introduction shall include a brief summary of the vendor’s qualifications and unique strengths relevant to performing the tasks identified in the PWS.

3. Technical Approach. This section should fully describe the technical and theoretical approach the vendor shall employ to meet the Department’s operational requirements as stated in the PWS. While a general statement of strategy is appropriate, vendors should be specific with regard to how they will perform each task and sub-task and should reflect efficient utilization of the vendor’s resources, such as leveraging prior Federal investments, to meet the Department’s operational requirements. Some important notes are listed below for specific tasks.

The vendors shall also identify potential and/or anticipated risks and challenges or problems and propose refinements to the design of the work, the time frame for completing tasks, and/or deliverable due dates to better ensure successful completion of the PWS tasks and objectives.

4. Key Personnel. The vendor shall propose SMEs with appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience to support the Department’s requirements as expressly stated in the PWS. The Proposal shall describe in detail the qualifications of key personnel and their assigned roles and responsibilities, including detailing their competencies and experience in performing work of similar size, scope and complexity to the work expressly identified in the PWS. The Department anticipates the following Key Personnel: Project Director, Programmers, Analysts, and Help Desk.

The vendor’s proposed staff must possess knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience in the following functional areas:

(a) Federal contract management; (b) Project Management (c) Knowledge of Title IV legislation, and the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA); and (d) Developing and writing congressionally mandated reports.

The Vendor's proposed staff must be able to obtain the required/necessary security clearances to complete the tasks.

The vendor shall include specific details regarding the commitment of time (e.g., percentage of time dedicated to the task order and the associated level of effort) for all key personnel proposed to support this task order.

The proposed key staff section should indicate clearly the relationship between past staff experience and proposed task assignments for this contract.

Resumes shall be included for all key staff for this task order, including key staff from subcontractors, and consultants. Resumes should document only directly related experience, educational background, publications, and professional activities. All resumes should share a common format and organization. A letter of commitment from all proposed consultants and key staff not currently employed by the vendor should be included. The need for any proposed consultants shall also be fully justified, including how they would contribute to the project.

If key personnel are unknown at the time of submission, a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria) should be substituted for resumes.

The Department of Education shall review all key personnel resumes to ensure that personnel have adequate and substantive experiences and knowledge in the above referenced areas. By listing key personnel as part of the quote, the vendor is making a firm commitment to use said personnel to carry out the activities in the performance work statement.

The vendor shall disclose all existing contractual obligations for each key staff member proposed that will continue during the anticipated period of performance of this task order. This should also include identification of the funding sources for the existing projects and the percentage of time dedicated to each of these projects.

5. Experience; Past Performance; Institutional Capacity. This section should fully describe the vendor’s organizational capacity and ability to perform all phases of work associated with the tasks and sub-tasks identified in the PWS. The vendor should describe its past and current experience in conducting projects of a similar or comparable nature as well as its experience with different Federal programs. Brief summaries of such work should be submitted, including the names, current affiliations, and current telephone numbers of appropriate references. Include also: (1) Vehicle number and type; (2) Funding agency (DOL, HHS, etc.); (3) Original dollar value and final dollar value (including options; if applicable); (4) Original completion date and final (or current) completion date; (5) Description of the scope of the project or contract; (6)Relevance of the work to the work described in this PWS; (7) Performance experience summary; (8) Methodology(ies) and tool(s) used;

(9)Challenges in the effort and how they were overcome; and (10) An explanation of why the effort was considered “successful.”

It is the responsibility of the vendor to ensure that telephone numbers and points of contact for references are current and accurate. Inability to contact references may impact the Department’s ability to perform a complete evaluation of past performance which could impact the evaluated score. The Department also reserves the right to obtain past performance information from other sources.

6. Management Plan. The vendor shall provide a summary description of its internal management control system that will be used for planning, scheduling, budgeting, managing, and reporting the accomplishments of this requirement. The proposed management system should include procedures for effective management of project resources, procedures for controlling the quality of products/services, and procedures for early identification of potential problems in carrying out task activities. The vendor must describe how the internal management control system will be applied to the work of this Proposal as specified in the PWS and the Evaluation Criteria.

The Proposal shall provide details about how the vendor will coordinate and communicate with OPE/PPI.

In addition to describing the management system, the vendor should present the following information in an Appendix to the Management Plan (please note that the pages contained in this Appendix shall not be counted against the 20 page limitation):

• Sub-contractual arrangements including the work to be done, responsibilities for tasks, reporting arrangements, and any other terms of the agreement. A letter from the proposed subcontractor delineating the nature of the agreement must be included.

• Time commitments for each staff member proposed (including subcontractor personnel, consultants, and any other proposed personnel), to be expressed in person-hours and shown in tabular form as follows:

Staff/Consultant Task

Total %

FTE

% time on other Federal

Projects

% time on non-Federal

Projects

It is important that vendors report this information separately for each performance period identified in the request for quotations. In addition, the vendor should outline all existing obligations over the period of the contract for staff proposed for the contract, including the percentage of time allotted to existing projects. The chart must include a total for each task and for the entire contract.

• A schedule of task activities and the delivery of products in calendar weeks from the effective date of the contract.

• Charts (e.g., GANTT charts) showing the interrelationship of tasks plotted on a time scale.

• Time for any contractor internal review and clearance procedures as well as Department review.

• Listings of materials or services the vendor expects the Department to make available (e.g., data, reports, etc.).

In summary, the management approach should provide assurance that all tasks will be completed on time, and with a high level of quality. For planning purposes, the contract award is planned for June 2025.

7. Use of Subcontractor and Consultants. Proposal may include plans to subcontract part of the work, provided that evidence is presented that any proposed subcontractor is fully capable of performing the assigned tasks, and that the vendor has effective control of the participation of the subcontractor(s) in the project. Proposal should identify consultants and the role each will fill in performing the contract. Letters from proposed subcontractors/consultants indicating their willingness to serve, if selected, must be included with the vendor’s Proposal.

Volume 3 - Factor III - Price/Business Proposal The offeror must submit a Price/Business Proposal. Prior to submission, the offeror must verify that the contents of the Price/Business Proposal (PDF and Microsoft Excel Workbook) are mathematically accurate (including rounding), and the supporting data reconciles in the proposal. The Price/Business Proposal must contain all of the Department requested information. Information must be completed and in sufficient detail for the Department to make a fair and reasonable price determination. The CO may reject a proposal if proposed prices are found not to be fair and reasonable. There is no page limitation to the Price/Business Proposal.

The Price/Business Proposal cover page must include the following information:

a. Cover page: A cover sheet with the name and address of the firm and the offeror’s unique entity ID number, signed by an officer of the firm. The cover sheet should also include the date, the point of contact (name, phone number, email address) of a company representative who can answer any questions that the Department may have and is authorized to conduct negotiations on behalf of the offeror.

b. Statements: The Price/Business Proposal must include a statement advising that the proposal is firm for a period of at least 60 calendar days from the proposal submission date and a statement certifying that the offeror has an active SAM registration. The offeror must have an active SAM registration at time of proposal submittal to be eligible for award.

c. Abstract: A one-page summary must be provided, abstracting the proposal’s contents in language understandable to an informed layperson. The abstract must indicate full acceptance of the RFP’s requirements or provide detailed exceptions to the RFP or assumption justifications.

d. Price/Business Proposal Details: At the beginning of the Price/Business Proposal, there must be a summary table showing the offeror’s prices, which includes the base year requirement and all option periods of performance. The table below is provided as an example summary. The Department will evaluate the offeror’s Price/Business Proposal is based on Total Evaluated Price, which is calculated using the following formula:

(Base Year + Option Year 1+ Option Year 2+ Option Year 3 + Option Year 4 + 52.217-8 Option = Total Price).

The price for the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8 extension period will be calculated by utilizing the Option Year 4 price and dividing it by 2.

In addition, there must be a summary table showing the offeror’s prices broken down by Optional and Non- Optional tasks. The table below is provided as an example summary.

e. Labor Categories and Labor Rates: The offeror must submit a complete Per-Task/Sub-Task Price Buildup.

All mathematical/computational sections must be submitted in a Microsoft Excel Workbook file, with all formulas preserved for the Department’s review. Vendors may add additional worksheets to Attachment 1 or provide a separate Microsoft Excel Workbook file. The complete price build‐up for this contract must include the identification of proposed labor categories by named individuals, their functional labor category, level of effort, loaded hourly rate, extended labor price (i.e., labor hours x hourly labor rate), and other direct costs. Sample table provided below. The proposed price must be presented by task and subtask.

Labor Category Basic Period

Of Performance

Option Year 1 Option Year 2 Option Year 3

Sample: Project Director

$123.45/Hour $134.56/Hour $145.67/Hour $156.78/Hour

The labor category by named individual must match resume name provided within the technical portion of the response. The Price/Business Proposal must describe any applicable assumptions used to formulate the price build‐up. If a percentage rate is applied (e.g., “Technology Fee” at x%), the percentage and the rate the percentage is applied to must be clearly disclosed in the Price/Business Proposal (e.g., 40% of total labor costs).

Offerors are encouraged to justify any proposed indirect rate(s) by explaining such rate’s its purpose and providing evidence of such rate’s reasonableness.

Offerors are encouraged to propose discounted rates to improve the competitiveness of their proposal. The labor mix and labor categories proposed must be consistent with the personnel proposed in the Technical Proposal in sufficient detail for the Department to have a reasonable understanding of the offeror’s planned technical approach, and the ability to review the consistency between the planned technical approach and the proposed pricing.

If the offeror proposes subcontractors, a separate price buildup (by task/subtask) must be submitted for each proposed subcontractor, and the subcontractor prices must be included in the offeror's total, firm‐fixed price, for the Contract. The master price buildup for the Contract, must clearly show which costs are associated with the offeror and which costs are associated with each subcontractor. The subcontractor price buildup may be provided as a separate Microsoft Excel file or worksheets can be added to Attachment 1. If proprietary data will not be shared between the offeror and subcontractor(s), each subcontractor’s Price/Business Volume may be submitted as a sealed volume directly to the CO and CS via email.

Base Year

Option Year 1

Options Year 2

Option Year 3

Option Year 4

52.217-8 Option

Total Price

Web Data Collection

Base Year Optional Tasks

Base Year Non- Optional Tasks

Option Year 1 Optio nal Tasks

Option Year 1 Non- Optiona l Tasks

Options Year 2 Option al Tasks

Options Year 2 Non- Option al Tasks

Option Year 3 Optional Tasks

Option Year 3 Non- Optional Tasks

Option Year 4 Optional Tasks

Option Year 4 Non- Option al Tasks

Web Data Collection

f. Completed Microsoft Excel Price Schedule (Attachment 1): To be considered for award, offeror must complete in its entirety the Price Schedule, Attachment 1. Failing to use the provided Department Attachment 1 or tampering with the descriptions or quantities or tabs of the workbook will result in the entire business proposal as non-responsive. The following Price Schedule tabs must be completed: Price Schedule Price Summary, Price Schedule Base Year, Price Schedule Option Period 1, Price Schedule Option Period 2, Price Schedule Option Period 3, and Price Schedule Option Period 4. The instructions provided in Attachment 1 must be followed.

Some line items contain optional tasks and may be exercised at the discretion of the Department. The offeror must provide proposed pricing for option periods 1-4 because the Department will have the option to exercise or not exercise the optional periods of performance under the Contract for all or part of the line items in any given Contract period of performance. Some of the optional tasks of the Contract are quantity/unit based and are identified as such within the Price Schedule. Exceptions to the completion of the price schedule must be fully described in the narrative. Taking exception to the Excel Price schedule may result in a non-responsive proposal.

g. Payment Schedules: The offeror must submit a proposed payment schedule for the Contract as separate Microsoft Excel file or separate tab/worksheet within Attachment 1 Price Schedule. The payment schedule must be associated with each deliverable identified in the PWS. Ongoing tasks may be broken down into monthly payments, but discrete deliverables must have discrete payments associated with them based on completion of a milestone associated with that deliverable.

The individual task proposed pricing amounts must total the contract proposed price amount.

The payment schedule need not reference the deliverable due date, but must use the following format example:

Task ID Task

Description Acceptance Criteria or Notes

Base Year

OY1 OY2 OY3 OY4 52.217-8

Option

Example Task 1.1 Project

Management and Reporting

Meeting agenda provided 2 days prior to the meeting

Task 1.2 Planning and Reporting

Within [30] days of Award, the project plans are submitted.

Meeting notes and action items submitted 1 day after the

Task 2 Operations and Maintenance Plans and updates

Plans for O&M are discussed on a regular basis with COR and updates are included in Monthly Reporting.

The payment schedule shall also delineate IT costs from non-IT costs.

h. Conflict of Interest Plan

The vendor shall submit a Conflict of Interest Plan, providing details on its policies and procedures to identify and avoid potential organizational or personnel conflicts of interest (or apparent conflicts of interest). The Plan should also address procedures taken to neutralize or mitigate such conflicts, if they have not been or cannot be avoided. The Plan should indicate that such policies and procedures are operative throughout the period of outside activities’ financial interests, or other significant connections or identifications that would establish, or give the appearance of establishing, a conflict of interest. A method for periodically reviewing financial interests of employees, subcontractors and consultants, and their immediate families, in order to assess actual or apparent conflicts of interest, should be included in the plan. The term, “potential conflict” means a reasonably foreseeable conflict of interest.

The thoroughness, completeness and effectiveness of the Plan shall be evaluated as part of the vendor’s overall Proposal. The Plan will be incorporated into the contract awarded to the successful vendor.

Question No Reference Question Category Question RFP, PWS or attachments and section

Contract or other category Actual Question ANSWER

PWS - Subtask 2.1 Dev/Test environment Subtask 2.1: Systems Maintenance, Upgrading, Testing, and Documentation. Under Contractor duties, bullet point 3 says "Maintain, test, and document that the website applications are capable of handling 1000 simultaneous users during peak usage times. Any testing should first occur in the contractor’s host environment before testing in the NCES environment."

Question - Is contractor expected to maintain separate dev/test environments for the project on contractor infrastructure?

Yes.

PWS Subtask 2.2

System modifications/edits What are the average number of modifications/edits per month?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 2.3 Campus Safety and Security

(CSS)

What are the average number of Update and edits requests per month ?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 2.4 Equity in Athletics (EADA) What are the average number of Update and edits requests per month ?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 2.5

Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP)

What are the average number of Update and edits requests per month ?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 2.6 E-Recognition What are the average number of Update and edits requests per month ?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 2.7

College Affordability and Transparency Explanation Form

(CATEF)

What are the average number of Update and edits requests per month ?

This really depends on a variety of things and is not consistent month to month. Some months, the updates are 0. If there is a change to statue or regulation that requires a change to the system, then the system needs to be updated.

PWS Subtask 4.2 Data Reports Please share number of reports to be supported. Some view on reports split complexity wise (simple, medium, complex) will help.

The known report is the CATEF summary Guide to College Costs, which is yearly (see:

https://collegecost.ed.gov/affordability). Other reports may be required based on change in statute or regulation.

PWS Subtasks 4.2, last bullet P

"Deliver all SQL and SAS code used to produce the statistics and graphics included in the reports d to the COR." Is/are there a word(s) missing or is the "d" extraneous? Please send completed requirement.

It should state: "Deliver all SQL and SAS code used to produce the statistics and graphics included in the reports to the COR. " The PWS has been revised.

SOO p4, Vol 1, Item 12 Place of Performance

Place of performance is noted here by asking for full address, including zip code. Please confirm that remote work is expected and that the government understands that all work will be performed as Work From Home (WFH). Providing individual home addresses is unworkable; please confirm the government desires only to know the Prime's office address and that all work will be performed remotely as WFH. This should be the prime's address.

PWS Task 2 Systems Supported

Can you provide the anticipated number of releases per year or per quarter that will be required for each system to production?

Each data collection is updated once a year. See 3.3 Anticipated schedule. Regulatory or statue changes may require additional releases.

PWS Task 5 p19 Transition Plan

Task 5 describes a Transition Out Plan and deliverables, but there is no corresponding Transition In plan mentioned. Should we assume that there will be a transition in time, and if yes, what is the estimated duration that we should assume for that?

Transition will occur with the current contractor providing documentation of all system requirements and databases

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics What is the volume of reports that are generated across the different applications on a daily/monthly basis?

All known reports are mentioned in the PWS. 4.2 has up to 10 additional reports. These additional reports are not known at this time and would be on demand. The reports may be for internal or external use and may contain both quantitative and qualitative information.

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics

What type of analytics are performed in broad categories? For example: 30% is management reporting on trends and patterns, 20% of real-time alerts and dashboards? Number of users/visits each month through google analytics

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics

Are there Key Performance Metrics that are key to driving operations? What is a range of approved KPIs that are supported and governed?

The KPIs are meeting the deadlines and the quality assurance performance standards

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics

For each database, what is the range of attributes and temp tables maintained within each model? For example, DB1 has 300 Attributes and 1000 tables, of which 50 are temp tables for reporting.

If attributes means columns, the systems do not currently use many temp tables. Some of the data processing procedures, primarily when performing data transformation and migration will make use of a temporary table, but these temporary tables are created, defined, used then discarded as part of the specific stored procedure.

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics How much unstructured data does reporting need to source in order to generate accurate reports?

e-Rec is mostly unstructured, as it is text entry heavy. Other than that, most of the unstructured data is in the form of caveat boxes on EADA and CSS, or any collection system where “other” is an option and an additional text box appears such as DAPIP for justifications to an action. CATEF has the steps towards cost reduction page that is unstructured as the school is required to provide an explanation as to whether or not they will reduce costs.

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics

What types of analysis does the department want to perform that is not supported today (e.g., Predictive analytics, Sentiment Analysis, web site commentary)? These types of analysis are currently not required.

PWS Task 4 Reporting & Analytics

Do any external data sources need to be included in reports (e.g., Public sources, data.gov, Treasury data, Census survey on economic forecasts, state education data)? No.

PWS Task 2 PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) Infrastructure

Is there currently a development Environment for testing on the current AWS platform or will that be needed to be created and provided?

Testing should first occur in the contractor’s host environment before testing in the NCES environment

PWS, Subtask 2.2 (Modify Systems) Development

What is the scope of new development? Does it involve re-architecting system designs?

Any modifications to the systems would be based on changes to status, regulations, or other mitigating factors. In the past, this has usually meant updated the data collections (add questions, remove questions).

PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) Deployment

How are the websites deployed within AWS? Is it using an AWS service, or on an EC2 instance.

The contractor only delivers annual databases and compiled code for each application and request the webmasters to run it/set it up on their servers. The IES servers are hosted on AWS GovCloud.

PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) Deployment

How are the .NET APIs deployed within AWS? Is it using an AWS service, or on an EC2 instance.

The contractor only delivers annual databases and compiled code for each application and request the webmasters to run it/set it up on their servers. The IES servers are hosted on AWS GovCloud.

PWS, Subtask 3.1 (Technical Help Desk Support) Ticketing System What ticketing system is currently in use? Do we need to provide our own?The contractor should provide their own.

PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) SQL Server Is this 1 Microsoft SQL Server with multiple databases?

There are multiple servers each with multiple databases – A Collection server and a Dissemination at minimum.

PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) Services

What are all the services utilized in AWS? Example monitoring, lambda jobs, user authentication.

The contractor only delivers annual databases and compiled code for each application and request the webmasters to run it/set it up on their servers.

PWS, Subtask 3.1 (Technical Help Desk Support) Support Metrics

What are the typical types of tickets received? What is the average resolution time for standard tickets?

In terms of DAPIP/NPC help desks – the calls/emails are almost all content specific as the NPC does not use passwords and DAPIP only has accrediting agencies logging in who do not reach out for assistance with their password more than once or twice a year. -recognition we have had 6 password related questions over the last year, as this help desk is mainly content specific as well. CATEF is a one month collection we email the IPEDS keyholder their user ID and password at the start of the collection. The help desk is mainly content specific with an average of 5-10 users per cycle requesting assistance with their password.

PWS, Task 2 (Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems) Security

If not using an AWS user authentication (ex. Cognito) how is user authentication managed?

The contractor only delivers annual databases and compiled code for each application and request the webmasters to run it/set it up on their servers.

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Can the government clarify whether all listed IT systems must be maintained in their current state, or is the contractor expected to propose modernization or upgrades? Maintained

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

What level of access will the contractor have to existing source code and system documentation for maintenance purposes?

The successful contractor will have all documentation available.

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Are there any anticipated changes in regulatory requirements that may impact system modifications during the contract period? Possible changes are anticipated, but they are not known.

32 Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Will the government provide existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), or is the contractor responsible for developing new ones?

Task 2.1 states "Create (or update, as may be required) for all systems." The systems are all found within the PWS.

Attachment 3 SOP Example has been added to the solicitiation.

This attachment contains examples of two separate SOPs which are outdated. This example is not all inclusive of all systems and only provides an example of current SOP.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Key Personnel Contract

What specific security clearance levels are required for key personnel?

Both high (Project Director/programmers/analysts) and low (help deck)

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Does the contractor need to provide an Authority to Operate (ATO), or will the government issue one? The government is currently responsible

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Are there any specific cybersecurity frameworks beyond NIST and FISMA that the contractor must comply with?

All frameworks outlined in Section II. "Security Information and Privacy Requirements" must be met.

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Will the contractor be required to conduct independent security audits, or will the government handle that? No. the government is currently responsible

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Can the government confirm whether subcontractors’ past performance will be evaluated separately or as part of the prime offeror’s experience? This will be evaluated under 1 item.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Key Personnel Contract

What specific security clearance levels are required for key personnel?

Both high (Project Director/programmers/analysts) and low (help desk)

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Key Personnel Contract

Is there a preferred ratio of key personnel to non-key personnel for staffing purposes?

the contractor must propose what the contractor think will be best meet the requirements

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Key Personnel Contract

If key personnel are unknown at submission, will the government accept placeholders with a hiring plan?

If key personnel are unknown at the time of submission, a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria) should be substituted for resumes.

Attachment+2+PWS Task 2-Develop, Update, Maintain, and Support IT Systems Contract

Will the contractor be reimbursed for cloud hosting and infrastructure costs, or are they provided by the government? Provided by the government

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Price/Business Proposal Contract

What is the anticipated level of effort (LOE) per year for this contract?

Please put forward the LOE the contractor think is appropriate/necessary for the tasks.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Key Personnel Contract

Can the government specify which positions are considered Key Personnel for this contract? Project Director, Programmers, Analysts, Help Desk

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Executive Summary Contract

The solicitation requests a "Place of Performance" within the Executive Summary. Should we provide our company's address, or is the government expecting a different location? Provide the company's address.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Technical Proosal, Subfactor D

– Corporate Experience Contract

What specific details are required when submitting corporate experience under Subfactor D – Corporate Experience? Should we follow a particular format or structure? There is no set format.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Technical Proosal, Subfactor E

– Past Performances Contract

What is the minimum and maximum number of past performance references that an offeror can submit? There is no minimum or maximum.

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Technical Proosal, Subfactor E

– Past Performances Contract

Will the government accept commercial past performance as part of the past performance submission, or must all references be from government contracts?

The vendor should describe its past and current experience in conducting projects of a similar or comparable nature as well as its experience with different Federal programs

Instructions+to+Offerors+and+ Evaluation+Criteria Technical Proosal, SUBFACTOR C –

SOUNDNESS OF

MANAGEMENT PLAN Contract

Is the government seeking a specific tool for the "internal management control system", or does it only require a defined process, allowing the offeror to use any method or tool of their choice? The offeror may use the method or tool of their choice.

49 91990025R0010+SF1449+Soli citation Contract

Please confirm if the Department of Education is going to continue this Solicitation because of the changes in the Federal Government. At this time, this solicitation will move forward.

Instructions to Offerors, Page 5 Contract

Can the Department clarify which roles are considered key for this opportunity? Project Director, Programmers, Analysts, Help Desk

PWS, Task 2.2, Page 7 Technical

As written, the requirement for this task is open ended; there is not sufficient guidance to provide an accurately scope. For instance, the requirement to "redesign websites" could be a few hours or could be several hundred hours. Can ED provide some clarity on how many hours per month we should dedicate to this effort?

Redesigns or modifications are based on changes in statue or regulation. Historically these updates occur monthly.

PWS, Task 2.2a, Page 7 Technical

Are these optional 100 hour blocks to be exercised in addition to the work described in Task 2.2 Modify Systems? Only if needed.

PWS, Task 2.6.b, Page 11 Technical

Is "Subtask 2.6.b" supposed to be "Subtask 2.6.a", or is there a missing subtask? This is a typo. Subtask "2.6.b" should be Subtask "2.6.a"

PWS, Task 3.1, Page 15 Technical

Does the requirement to respond within 24 hours include only business days or weekends as well? Business days

PWS, Task 4, Pages 18-19 Technical

Could ED provide more information about the reports that will be required under Task 4 to help define the scope of this task? For example: Which surveys will require reports? Will the audiences for these reports be primarily public or internal? Will the reports be primarily composed of data tables/visualizations or also include narrative? Could ED share examples of past reports?

The audience could be either internal or external. Except for the two reports mentioned in 4.2, the reports are on demand reports, if needed. There are no examples to share. If requested, the reports would contain both qualitative and quantitative information.

PWS, Tasks 4.1/4.2, Pages 18-19Technical

Tasks 4.1 and 4.2 indicate the contractor shall deliver all SAS and SQL code used to produce the statistics and graphics included in the analysis and reports. Is ED open to contractors using other statistical software (such as Stata or R)? SAS and SQL are required

PWS, Task 5, Pages 19-21 Technical

There doesn't seem to be a Transition In task. Will the incumbent contractor be available to work with the incoming contractor to ensure a smooth transition of documentation and access for all systems in the new contract?

Transition will occur with the current contractor providing documentation of all system requirements and databases

Page 5 of the instructions Key personnel Are key personnel resumes excluded from the technical page count? Yes

Pages 18 & 19 of the PWS Technical approach

Bullets in both Subtask 4.1 and 4.2 state that the contractor must "[d]eliver all SQL and SAS code used to produce the statistics and graphics included…". Is it a requirement that SAS be used as the statistical analysis tool or could another tool such as R be used in place of SAS? SAS and SQL are required

Page 15 of the PWS Technical approach

Regarding Subtask 3.1 - Technical Help Desk Support: What are call sheets referring to in the context of a help desk? Are these user support tickets, templates used for calls/emails, log of calls, etc.

These are lists of questions that come in, when, who they are assigned to and resolution.

Page 4 of the PWS Documentation

Regarding Task 2 - Do the collection and dissemination applications have existing technical documentation such as system design documents and data dictionaries? There are data dictionaries available.

62 PWS Contract Is this solicitation still planned for award? Yes

PWS page 6 " All systems currently have an active security authorization “Authority to Operate” (ATO).

There are no active POAMs at the time of the writing of this PWS (February 2025). " Solicitation# 91990025R0010

Would the scope of work requires to engage in the ATO renewal process when the ATO expires? No.

PWS page 6 " All systems currently have an active security authorization “Authority to Operate” (ATO).

There are no active POAMs at the time of the writing of this PWS (February 2025). " Solicitation# 91990025R0010

Would the scope of work requires a continus monitoring activities such as STIG checks and POAM tracking No

Instructions to Offerers and Evaluation Criteria, Request for Proposal Instructions General Will the government consider extending the submission deadline? YES

PWS, Subtask 2.1 Budgeting

Should the contractor plan to utilize a government-provided license for the host environment or plan to purchase its own license?

The host environment is hosted by IES. Any testing environment is provided by the contractor.

RFP, SF 1449, Page 1

RFP, Addendum 52.212-1 Instr to Vendors Commercial Items (April 2014), Page 1 NAICS Size Standard

The NAICS used for this solicitation is listed in the RFP as 541512 with a size standard of $23 million. Would the Government consider updating the solicitation to reflect a size standard of $34 million for NAICS 541512 as established by the SBA, March 17, 2023 (Table of size standards | U.S. Small Business Administration)?

The correct NAICS code is 611710 Education Support Services as stated in Addendum 52.212-1. This NAICS has a size standard of $24M.

II. Scope of Work Task 2

Does the PWS require work to be performed on-site, or can it be completed at the contractor’s facility? If on-site, please specify the location. Contractor's facility.

II. Scope of Work Task 2 What does the Department currently utilize for source code control and CI/CD for these websites?

There is no existing functionality to enable CI/CD on the Development or Production servers.