Questions Answers .docx

Amendment #001 dated 05/25/2010 Page 1 of 5

Solicitation AG-63PX-S-10-0002 Publication Questions and Answers

Question: I’m reviewing the solicitation specified in the subject heading and have questions regarding the needed qualifications. My understanding is that the Senior and Journey Writer/ Editor roles require:

· a Master’s or equivalent graduate degree, or

· two progressive years of education towards such a degree, or

· an LL.B or J.D. if related, AND

· ACWA certification or other valid assessment

Would you please confirm that: a) my understanding is correct, and b) what constitutes as an “other valid assessment?”

Answer: Basically, the four bulleted items are seeking education (1st three bullets) and proven skill (last bullet).

Assessment: Evidence that person has successfully performed that type of work previously. Recommendations from previous clients/employers and samples of work (i.e., for editing, a before and after version) could also serve as an appropriate assessment.

Question: Approximately what proportion of the task orders for each of the services is considered "rush" or "short delivery"?

Answer: No more than 20% would be considered ‘rush’, based on the number of jobs or projects. For editing, a ‘non-rush’ project, the contractor should be able to complete in 2-3 weeks; for layout work, contractor should be able to complete first draft of layout of a 75 -100 page document in 3-4 weeks.

For rush or short delivery, schedules would be approximately 50% of these times.

Question: Should the extra cost of overtime for these jobs be averaged into the unit price on Schedule of Items, page 3?

Answer: It is recommended that you submit unit price w/o cost of overtime. Each individual task order request will give the contractor an opportunity to submit overtime costs if needed.

Question: Can you give any hints of what you had in mind vis-à-vis materials (Line g. in the Schedule of Items, page 3 of the solicitation)? By "piece," do you mean items like toner and paper or items like printer's dummies?

Answer: Printer’s dummies (the cost of outputting them) would be an example. Another example would be media (CDs, DVDs, etc.) used in transferring files to agency. Shipping materials would also fall under this category – mailing tubes, for instance if a poster is being shipped.

Question: The solicitation seems to imply that the process that is commonly defined as "styling" in scientific publishing (examples: GPO adherence, order for signs of aggregation in mathematical equations, units of measure, abbreviations, table construction, table titles, figure captions, completeness and correctness of citations, scientific names) is a part of the editing task Item, not separate, and is performed before the manuscript is sent back for author review of technical editor suggestions, comments, and suggestions. Please confirm or clarify.

Answer: YES. Our typical work flow is the editor is responsible for both content editing and styling. However, a few work orders may specify “content editing only”; which we do under atypical circumstances.

Question: Whose responsibility--the COR or the contractor--will it be to ensure that no additional errors have been introduced during the author's revision of the manuscript and that the technical editor's suggestions, comments, and questions have been adequately resolved? If it's the contractor's responsibility, is this "refereeing" process considered a separate task order or part of the per page charge for the original task order?

Answer: It is the responsibility of the agency … the project manager within the Production Services group of NRS.

Question: At the bottom of page 10, SOW, is the statement: LEVEL D PAGE LAYOUT AND FORMATTING INCLUDES ALL APPLICABLE ELEMENTS OF COPY TYPING AS DEFINED BELOW. A search of the remainder of the SOW produced no references to copy typing. Is something missing? Or are we missing something?

Answer: Amendment deletes this paragraph and any references in the Solicitation.

Question: On the layout, electronic publishing, and graphics lines of the Daily Productivity Standards (page 17 of the SOW), please explain the numbers (expressed in hours) that come before the numbers in parentheses.

Answer: Since the schedule of items listed on page 3, provides estimates of our expected work on an hourly basis, the table on page 17 in the (Statement of Work) converts/ Estimates the number of pieces or pages expected to be done in those hours. For instance, Table pg 2 shows 25 hours of page layout/formatting level B work, and that is estimated to be at a rate of 10 pages per hour, or 250 total pages.

Question: On that same table, the word "Writing" appears on line 20, followed by three levels of work on the next three lines. We are tempted to assume that this is an error and that the three levels apply to the proofreading service (line 19), although page 13 of the SOW does not specify levels of work for proofreading.

Answer: The line (writing) is in error. Writing is not part of this solicitation. Levels A-C refers to Proofreading.

Question: What is the total number of pages to be edited? For example, do the estimated number of hours for page layout and formatting correspond to the 3,400 pages listed for editing?

Answer: Editing and layout are totally separate. So no, they do not correspond. 3,400 pages for editing do not equate to anything within design/layout.

Question: The estimated quantity for editing is 3,400 pages whereas the quantity for the proofreading is only 1,300 pages. Can you explain this discrepancy?

Answer: Some projects do not require proofreading. Typically, we ask the contractor to proofread after layout and design/1st draft. We do not ask for proofreading after editing a manuscript.

Question: Would you accept a company that has one person to assume all titles and does the work?

Answer: Yes

Question: Would it be necessary for the winning vendor to obtain insurance?

Answer: Not required in the solicitation.

Question: Would your agency provide photography or do I need to include stock photography in the cost proposal?

Answer: Most of the time, photographs are provided by the agency. Occasionally, agency will ask the contractor to procure stock photography to use. If the contractor procures photography, it must be approved by the agency prior to payment.

Question: Would the vendor be provided with the research material? Would interviewing subjects be needed? Do you have examples of written technical reports online?

Answer: The contractor would be expected to obtain his/her own research material if it’s publicly available. Some research materials are available only through a nonpublic Forest Service network; electronic versions these items will be supplied by the agency to the contractor. An example of this would be the PNW Author’s Guide.

Be advised that some of the publicly available items expected, i.e. GPO Style Manual, are available online.

Question: Should I include samples of design work? If so, can I provide it electronically (on disk) instead of hard copy? Approximately how many samples should be included?

Answer: Samples of work are encouraged. Electronic copies are acceptable; however, the files will be printed on the agency’s desktop color printers and may not reflect the absolute best output. Four or five samples should be sufficient to show variety of the work performed.

Question: Are you looking for a writer who also has comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter or has experience working at the Dept of Agriculture?

Answer: A writer is not part of the solicitation. Experience in the subject matter is more important than experience working with USDA because of the breadth of various topics under “USDA” might not include our typical subject matter.

Question: Section K—Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors or Respondents for this solicitation does not include information about the required proposal contents or format. However, Section M, the evaluation factors are listed. a) Is there a particular format/order in which proposals should be prepared? And b) Are offerors to assume that proposals should include the contents of the bulleted list under “Evaluation Factors

Answer: Proposal contents or format is found in: Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors or Respondents referenced Clause 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors – Competitive Acquisition (Jan 2004). Full text of this clause is located at: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/52_215.htm. Section M - Evaluation Factors, offerors proposal should address the bulleted factors as listed.

Question: In the solicitation, the total value maximum including base and option years is $50,000. Likewise, the Federal Business Opportunities website states, “Price Range: Less than $50,000”. However, the statement of work, states the maximum total value of task orders issued will be of $500,000 (which includes base and option years). Which figure is the correct?

Answer: $500,000.

Question: Could you please confirm that the budget for the publication productions services in this RFP is less than $50,000 for the base years and all option years?

Answer: In the past 2 – 3 years, we’ve spent in excess of $100,000 on contractor services. I don’t see this changing in the next few years UNLESS we add staff to our group.

Question: How does the USDA Forest Service envision task orders will be placed?

Answer: The Government will contact Contractor for Request for Proposal of our need for services and Contractor will reply to Request for Proposal as identified in: G. Contract Management Requirements for all Task Items 1-5 in the Statement of Work. (Pages 14-16).

Question: Can I submit response via email?

Answer: yes, email is acceptable. Email: jtaveirne@fs.fed.us

Question: Can the Place of Performance, be outside of St. Paul, Minnesota?

Answer: Any city in the United States will be considered. The contractor must obtain Department of Labor Service Contract ActtWage Determination applicable for their location at: http://www.wdol.gov. An example of the State of Minnesota Determination is listed in Section J of the Solicitation.

Question: Would a response be disqualified or considered weaker if it only addressed one of the five production services (such as editing) and entered zeros in the unit price and extended price for the others (page layout and formatting, electronic publishing, graphics, and proofreading)?

Answer: No, Vendor can respond to one or any combination of the requested services.

Question: Should offerors provide GSA rates or open market?

Answer: This is an open market purchase, the choice to provide GSA pricing would a business decision.