95476722R0800 Q_A.pdf

Q&A Videography Services

Levine Institute of Holocaust Education 95476722R0800

1. Are you anticipating extending the proposal submission deadline past 6/30 considering responses have not yet been published? Any updates will greatly help with the planning of our proposal development.

Yes, in recognition of the volume of questions received and in light of the July 4 holiday, USHMM is hereby extending the proposal due date for this solicitation to Thursday, July 7, 2022 at 3:00 PM ET

2. Is the Museum seeking Contractor support with creation of the condensed 8-hour curriculum, or only seeking Contractor support with videos for the curriculum?

This contract is only for assistance with the video products within the curriculum, not for the curriculum at large.

3. It is mentioned that the Museum will create a condensed, 8-hour curriculum to include Videos. Please clarify that the 8 hour length is for the curriculum and not the video lengths.

Correct, the curriculum is 8 hours, and the videos are short components of the curriculum (see RFP section 2.1 for anticipated lengths).

4. Please confirm the videos that will be part of the curriculum will be per the lengths specified as below in Clause 2.1 - the first five Videos will be: What are Mass Atrocities? (10-15 min); Early Warning Signs, Risks, and Triggers (5-7 min); Survivor Testimony - “During” Phase (5-10 min); Professional Testimony from the Field - “After” Phase (5-10 min); and Role of the German Criminal Justice System During the Holocaust (5-10 min)

Yes, those are the intended video lengths.

5. In section 2.2 you mention that you’ll be providing pre-existing material. Do you have links or examples of that material?

The pre-existing material will be a combination of contemporary and historical footage and images.

Contemporary images are anticipated to be of similar quality as those found in the Museum’s online exhibition of “Burma’s Path to Genocide” [https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/burmas-path-to-genocide].

Examples of historical material and quality can be found on the Museum’s collections website [https://collections.ushmm.org/search/]. The Fritz Gluckstein video linked in the RFP is indicative of what the Museum deems acceptable quality for historic footage/images. All the provided pre-existing content will be collected and labeled. Pre-existing videos can likewise be shared with time stamps, etc. as our goal is to facilitate the production process as best we can.

95476722R0800 Q&A 1 of 8 [Published 06/21/2022] LIHE Videography Services https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/burmas-path-to-genocide https://collections.ushmm.org/search/

6. Who writes and approves the content of the productions? Is there a team of advisors?

The content of the production scripts are written by the Project core team and subject matter experts, with review and input from subject matter experts, the Project sponsors, interviewees, and the Contractor. The Project Lead gives final approval of the video productions.

7. To what degree will USHMM dictate the story guidelines of each video? Put another way, the information in each video is rather specific, but will that be prescribed by USHMM or will the interviews wind up guiding the stories?

Each video is intended to address specific educational goals and/or questions, but the story guidelines are likely to emerge in different ways. Videos 1, 2, and 5 have detailed production scripts and story guidelines the Museum has created. Video 3 is anticipated to be the most interview intensive script and as such the story will be guided thereby. Video 4 has a detailed introduction and closing; interviews will guide the story production of the middle portion.

8. Will the production guides for all videos be available at the time the contract is awarded? If not, is there a preliminary schedule for their availability?

At the time of this response there are draft production guides available for all videos, which are currently undergoing a multilayered review and editing process. Contractors will receive access to all production guides at the time of award, and will provide feedback on the guides as part of the product development phase (RFP section 2.3).

9. Section 2.2 Videography Services - Does USHMM wish for the Contractor to hire professional actors to fill any of the necessary roles?

No.

10. Who chooses the people to be interviewed?

The Museum will identify all speakers for the videos, including the interviews.

11. Once an interview candidate is identified, will the Contractor handle all coordinating with the candidate?

The Museum will negotiate speaker contracts and video releases for all interviewees. Once those have been secured, Contractor shall be responsible for scheduling and coordination of all logistics with and between Museum, crew, and talent.

12. Will a Museum staff member be assigned to conduct interviews during production of the videos or will our team conduct the interviews?

If desired, the Museum can assign a staff member to conduct the interviews.

13. How many interview subjects do you see in each video?

There are 1-3 speakers, including the narrator, for each video.

95476722R0800 Q&A 2 of 8 [Published 06/21/2022] LIHE Videography Services

14. Is it possible to film all the interview content in 1-2 days or do you intend for the interviews for the different videos to spread out over the course of the contract terms.

We can arrange for any in-person interviews to be filmed in the same 1-2 day timeframe.

Remote interviews may vary based on schedules.

15. Will the videos be produced concurrently?

That is an acceptable approach. Logistics may require that the timing be somewhat staggered.

16. Will the Museum provide language translation services (for interviews, documents, previously-recording footage) if required?

The Museum will provide language translation services if required.

17. Is Spanish translation or sign language needed for the finished production?

No.

18. In section 2.4 the RFP states: “Contractor shall deliver all completed Videos produced hereunder closed-captioned in the English language, accompanied by full and accurate transcripts.” Would you require final video files without closed captions in addition to videos with closed captions? Do you need the SRT file?

For the closed captioning component, the Museum is requesting to receive SRT files (SubRip Subtitle file, a standard captioning file) with the videos.

19. Will the USHMM team prepare transcripts of the finished videos or rely upon the production partner to do so?

The Contractor is responsible for preparing the transcripts.

20. Who pays for stock footage, news reports and other copy-protected media?

See RFP par. 2.2

21. Does USHMM anticipate the need for motion graphics, such as charts/graphs? Who decides if they are needed? I saw the sample provided production #5.

The Museum anticipates the need for limited motion graphics and animations, chiefly where videography and/or photographs would otherwise prove inadequate to visualize the content.

Although we expect to consult with and draw on our Contractor's expertise, the Museum remains the final arbiter of all content decisions.

22. The RFP states tripods can be used during the production but not lights on stands.

Please elaborate if productions can be completed during normal hours or is this decided as needed?

See RFP, "Other Applicable Terms and Conditions," at paragraph 6, et seq. Museum expects to determine the preliminary production schedule at kickoff, following award.

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23. Can you confirm that all location filming will only be taking place at the Museum and that any remote guests (outside the metropolitan DC area) can be interviewed on a virtual platform (Zoom, Teams, Skype, etc.)? We’d like to confirm that contractors will not need to send or coordinate location crews outside the DC area.

This is correct. Any in-person filming will take place at the Museum, and anyone located outside of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area can be filmed remotely.

24. If we have a virtual production capability, could we leverage it? Conduct the interviews in our studio?

While some interviews will be best suited for on location filming, remote filming and production of others will be acceptable, and may even be necessary. However, bids that are entirely remote filming will be considered.

25. Clause 2.6 (page 3) mentions that travel expenses would not be reimbursed and that Contractor would incur all expenses related to travel during the performance of Contract. This clause is contradicted by Clause 2 on Page 13- Travel and Expense -where it is mentioned that travel expenses are to be reimbursed according to GSA travel guidelines and are to include lodging and travel expenses only. Please clarify and confirm what is applicable. As the initial project pertains to 5 videos, please advise on travel requirement with respect to these videos. If travel is required it would be preferable and cost effective to plan the travel in one single trip for all the videos requiring travel. Please advise if the shoots could be organized and lined up in one single trip or multiple trips would be required for video shoots at the Museum.

The two clauses are complementary, not contradictory. Reimbursable travel, when allowable and relevant, is subject to the limits established by GSA travel guidelines. For the initial project, travel is neither contemplated nor allowed as a billable.

26. How many Museum stakeholders are involved in the project engagement, review, and approval process of the tasks and deliverables under this contract?

The Contractor will engage with a limited team of Museum stakeholders, including the curriculum Project Manager, the Project Lead, and the Contract Officer's Representative. This team will mediate the review and approval process. Other stakeholders may be involved as interviewees.

27. How will the production be previewed in advance of completion? Private Vimeo? Or file?

The Contractor's standard platform for preview should be acceptable, as long as it is done in a way where the video is not publicly available, and the Museum is able to view the video and provide feedback. Private Vimeo would work, as would Frame.io, for example.

28. Is recording in 4k acceptable and the production released in HD? What is the Museum’s preferred high-definition digital video file format for your website (ie:

deliverable)? What video format is requested for the final production: .mov or .MP4?

The Museum’s current standard is to record in 4K and release in HD (1080p). Final files should be both a production quality file (preferably a ProRes) and a mp4 file.

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29. Is the period of performance and completion date for the first five videos fixed and/or tied to a specific event or are the delivery dates flexible within a range?

The first five videos are tied to a deliverable due to a third party in December 2022.

30. Is the raw footage required to be released?

Yes, consistent with RFP paragraph 2.5, Museum expects all the work product created in the performance of the contract to be delivered.

31. The RFP states “Offeror's technical proposal shall be a narrative…” Is it acceptable for us to format the proposal in a slide deck?

Yes. Provided proposals remain subdivided in two separate volumes per RFP paragraph 3.2, We are focused on material substance, not format. Personal aesthetics aside, Offerors bear the burden of demonstrating responsiveness in whatever manner they choose to organize and present their proposals.

32. RFP par. 3.4(1) requests a technical brief that "shall describe Offeror's working method, philosophy, project approach, and performance schedule in a manner which unequivocally indicates that Offeror understands and upon award, shall fully perform and deliver the goods and services (including descriptions of services/sample metrics and reporting, along with Offeror's total anticipated outreach and segmentation capability) that the Museum has hereby requested. Please clarify what is meant by our total anticipated "segmentation capability."

"Segmentation capability" appears here in a parenthetical that was an artifact of a draft for unrelated services. The entire parenthetical is hereby struck from the paragraph.

33. As you are aware, the pandemic resulted in closings, delays, and holds on many, many museum projects for more than 2 years. Will USHMM therefore allow samples of past projects that reflect work completed within the past 7 years instead of limiting the period to 5 years?

Yes.

34. USHMM has asked for a list of our work in the past 10-18 months [at par. 3.4(2)]. Of necessity, this will require listing work that has been on hold due to pandemic. Is that acceptable?

Yes.

35. In the interest in providing the best possible solution for this RFP, our response may exceed the budget of $67,000 for the first five videos. Would our response still be accepted and considered competitive if this was the case? There are several unknowns that will have an impact on the budget: (a) will the first five videos be filmed on location, via remote capture, or possibly include no original filming? (b) If

95476722R0800 Q&A 5 of 8 [Published 06/21/2022] on-location, how many days of filming do you anticipate are needed to capture enough footage for editing? (c) The range of run time is 30-52 minutes.

The Museum's pricing requirements can be found at RFP par. 3.5(1). The Museum is precluded from issuing an award against any proposal that exceeds the available budget; any Offeror submitting such a proposal is effectively inviting the Museum to pursue a private round of negotiations and realize tradeoffs, a risky approach to the extent that the Museum declines to engage. On the other hand, a flexible creative might justify such an approach as a way to call attention to resource allocation alternatives that would not be otherwise apparent. We leave this decision to each Offeror's competitive discretion and encourage transparency of intent and clarity of approach to the extent possible. Offerors can manage the risk of latent ambiguities by making and stating the assumptions on which their proposals are founded.

36. Will the number of animations/infographics per video be determined or should we budget for a certain number to fit within budget parameters?

Offerors should budget for a certain number to fit within budget parameters, identifying and justifying the limit as a contingency or assumption of their proposals.

37. Does USHMM anticipate charging back anything as government furnished equipment? For example, will USHMM take billing deductions for access to its production guides or staff expertise?

No.

38. The five-year engagement period seems similar in structure to an ID/IQ contract.

Should our price sheet for services and pricing structure include inflationary cost increases during the project period?

Yes, if you choose to assess them. Without recommending a specific approach, we note that tying base rates to CPI or other equivalent external metric allows greater flexibility than declaring specific percentage or dollar increases.

39. Please confirm if a minimum wage of $15.00 is acceptable for some of the corporation's staff. Not the main producers and editors. Do I have to provide sick and vacation time as a part of the RFP?

Museum anticipates a firm, fixed price contract, not a labor hour or time and materials agreement. Contractors are responsible for compliance with applicable law.

40. Will installments be made on the project in advance of completion?

See RFP par. 3.5(2). USHMM prefers to tie payments to completed deliverables.

41. Section 4 Evaluation Process: “Each member of the evaluation panel shall be accorded equal weight in his or her rating of proposals.” Are there any known evaluation categories and have the weights of these evaluation criteria been determined yet?

See RFP par. 4.1. To simplify review, the initial technical proposal evaluation is typically organized into six unprioritized subcategories: (1) responsiveness, (2) proposed

95476722R0800 Q&A 6 of 8 [Published 06/21/2022] creative/technical approach, (3) past performance, (4) corporate capability, (5) dedicated project staffing, and (6) the technical proposal taken as a whole (ostensibly a gestalt subcategory, but also a catch-all for panelist comments left otherwise unaddressed).

42. We would like to know if this is a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number?

This is a new requirement.

43. We are operating under a new structure and I’ve yet to register this new entity in SAM.

Is that necessary to submit a bid, or could I just do that if we were awarded the project? Does the bidding company need to have an active SAM registration during the bidding process or only after their bid has been accepted?

It depends on how you read this. FAR 4.1102(a) requires registration prior to submitting a bid, but FAR 14.405 requires the Contracting Officer to give otherwise competitive bidders an opportunity to cure proposals whose defects reside in "minor informalities" prior to award. Then again, the present solicitation is being pursued as a simplified, commercial services acquisition on a best value rather than a lowest-price, technically acceptable basis, so we regard this to be ultimately a matter of CO discretion (see, e.g., this analysis). Suffice it to say that we would strongly prefer not to have to make this judgment call if we can avoid it and can be expected to exclude bids from unregistered suppliers. Rather than court controversy, we urge all erstwhile unregistered suppliers to complete their updated registrations prior to submitting.

44. We did not see any insurance requirements for both general and professional liability.

Are there specific insurance requirements for this procurement?

Yes. Museum's award shall incorporate the following additional warranties, indemnities, and insurance requirements:

52.228-5 INSURANCE-WORK ON A GOVERNMENT INSTALLATION (JAN 1997)

52.228-7 INSURANCE-LIABILITY TO THIRD PERSONS (MAR 1996)

In addition:

(a) Contractor represents and warrants that the services and Videography required herein will be rendered in a safe, workmanlike, and professional manner, in full compliance with Museum's requirements, and with the care, skill, and diligence required by the highest applicable professional standards. Museum may, at any time, require Contractor to correct any errors or deficiencies in its work product or services within a mutually agreeable time, at no cost to Museum and in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Contract.

(b) Contractor shall indemnify and hold harmless Museum, its officers, agents, employees, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Council from and against any and all loss, damage, liability, expense, claim, or action (including, if necessary, reasonable court costs and attorneys' fees) caused by or arising from any breach of warranty or this Contract by Contractor; or any act or omission in the execution or performance of this Contract by Contractor, related directly or indirectly to any aspect of this Contract.

(c) Except as otherwise provided herein, Museum will hold Contractor harmless for any use of the Videography by Museum.

95476722R0800 Q&A 7 of 8 [Published 06/21/2022] LIHE Videography Services https://www.gao.gov/assets/b-419111.pdf https://www.acquisition.gov/far/4.1102 https://www.acquisition.gov/far/14.405 https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/gao-finds-sam-registration-requirement-4641262/

(d) For the life of this Contract, Contractor shall maintain, at a minimum, the standard level(s) of commercial general liability and such other insurance coverage as are standard in the videography industry. If policies are on a "claims made" basis, Contractor shall continue to maintain coverage for a period of three (3) years following the termination of this Contract. Such insurance shall provide for thirty (30) days advance written notice of any cancellation.

45. If Contractors have follow up questions based on answers that come out in the first round, will there be an opportunity to submit additional questions?

No. Offerors can manage the risk of latent ambiguities by making and stating the assumptions on which their proposals are founded.

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