Q A_AG-8447-S-15-0006_Revised_0909.pdf

Q&A, Solicitation AG-8447-S-15-0006 September 9, 2015

9/9/15: Correction to Answer from 9/8/15 post to Question 20. Added question 23.

9/8/15: Updates and new questions are being added to the Q&A document that was posted September 4, 2015. Today’s and September 4 updates are highlighted in yellow. Additional questions beginning with question 20.

9/4/15: Updates and new questions are being added to the Q&A document that was posted August 31, 2015. Updates are highlighted in yellow, and new questions are at the end beginning with Question 14.

A solicitation amendment will be provided early the week of August 31, 2015 to reflect some of the items below that are not currently covered by the contract or its clauses. It may also include additional items, as well.

Current Amendments:

• Amendment 1 of the Solicitation AG-8447-S-15-0006: All changes are still valid; there were many changes and a table of changes was included with the post

• Amendment 2 of the Solicitation AG-8447-S-15-0006: document includes only a replacement page for the first page of Attachment 3, which includes acceptance of terms language and DUNS number in the signature block

• Amendment 3 of Request for Quotation (RFQ) APFO-TO-7-15-1: replace entire RFQ, includes removal of pricing for 1-year, addition of option for Tiff World File

Question 1: If the contractor is not in the area, will they be required to have their own personnel box up the film canisters to ship it to the location or will APFO personnel be available to box it up for a federal express or UPS pickup?

Answer 1: The initial preference was to have the work performed in the Salt Lake City vicinity; however, recent developments regarding the uncertainty of funding, requirements regarding interim storage of the film, the amount of time the Government may retain ownership of the film, as well as reduction to the quantity of rolls and exposures that may need to be scanned commercially has made that option less feasible. The film may originate at a Government facility, such as APFO, or at a Federal Records center (in Denver, Ft. Worth, Lenixa, etc.). Therefore, the offeror may propose to pick-up and deliver or ship the film in a variety of ways. If film is shipped by carrier, (i.e. UPS, Fedex, etc.), the Government may elect to utilize its shipper accounts for delivery and return of film to reduce the overall cost, depending upon which option is more effective and efficient. For the purposes of the IDIQ contract and initial task order, assume the Government will provide personnel to prepare the film for shipment/pick-up and to receive the film when it is returned.

For the first task order, pricing must reflect contractor-paid shipment/transportation of film from the APFO to the Contractor’s facility and return.

Question 2: What is the range of climate needed for a climate-controlled vehicle in Section 5.1?

Answer 2: The intent is for the vehicle to be equipped with heat and air conditioning to ensure the film is not damaged by climate elements during transport. No range has been established.

Question 3: Will all film canisters for a task order be removed at once, or will it be done monthly?

Answer 3: For the purposes of the IDIQ contract and first Task Order, there is expected to be set-up time required for both the contractor and government. The Contractor is given the opportunity to submit with the proposal the quantity of film it can receive and manage at any given time in Attachment

3. The film may come in multiple shipments as APFO staff are able to perform pre-inspection. However, future task orders may necessitate a larger delivery at once, since film may be palletized and originate from a records center.

Question 4: Section 5.0 states contractor needs to be bonded for transportation and holding of film, what is the bond value?

Answer 4: The intent of Section 5.0 is to ensure the contractor has either insurance or bonding to cover damage to the film, should it happen. Since the amount charged per exposure for damage due to negligence is stated as $100, the estimated need for coverage should be based on that amount.

I.e. If a roll of film containing 200 exposures were damaged due to contractor negligence, and all 200 exposures were damaged, the assessment of damage would be $20,000.

Question 5: Can companies from Outside USA compete for this work? (i.e. India or Canada)

Answer 5: Since this is a small business set-aside, only companies that are US small businesses are eligible for award of a contract.

Question 6: Can the proposal be emailed?

Answer 6: The proposal itself can be emailed; however, the sample image scans requested in the instructions must be mailed. Any proposal emailed should request a received and read receipt to ensure it was received in time.

Question 7: Are in-person meetings required?

Answer 7: In-person meetings are not required in the solicitation; however, Government personnel visit(s) to a facility may be requested.

Question 8: Does the offeror provides quantity, the unit price, and the total, which would include all costs except for media (hard drives) and shipping/transport?

Answer 8: The RFQ for the first Task Order will be amended to include a quantity range, like the IDIQ.

This is intended to determine the proper allocation of work, since the quantity awarded may not reflect the capacity that can be performed. The intent of separate pricing for media and shipping/transport is to allow the Government to determine whether it can provide a more economical means of both. The Government receives discounted shipping rates and may have the option of providing a file transfer service for receipt of the data. Insert pricing for shipping/transport and media (hard drives) that you would be able to obtain.

Question 9: Is the response due date September 8 or September 10; it is stated September 8 in Item 15 of the synopsis/solicitation.

Answer 9: The response date is September 10, 2015, 2:30pm Mountain Time. Please note an afternoon shipment request may not arrive in time on that date.

Question 10: How many rolls will APFO allow a contractor to possess at one time? Whatever this number is - are scans associated with this pick up to be delivered within 30 days or will APFO allow a contractor to have more than 30 days worth of work within their possession at one time?

Answer 10: There is not an established limit. The solicitation is constructed to allow offerors to state the quantities and schedule they can manage, as each would vary. APFO will require some time upon award of contract and task orders to complete pre-inspection of the film before contractor receive it.

The 30-day delivery period is from completion of scans (whole rolls) in sufficient quantity to make delivery of data on a 2TB drive economical for the offeror.

Question 11: If the place of work is not within the preferred 50 mi radius of Salt Lake County, does the APFO have a preferred method of film delivery to base office?

Answer 11: Please refer to the answer 1. The preferred method would be the least costly method that offers tracking and best assurance the film will arrive and be returned safely.

Question 12: It is stated that there will be an option for TIFF World File for orientation of images files...

Should this option be in Attachment 3, Offer pricing, Resources, and Schedule?

Answer 12: The pricing for this option is included in Attachment 3, page 65. We have not included this option in the RFQ for the first Task Order.

Correction: Amendment 3 to the RFQ for the first Task Order includes the TIFF World File as an optional item.

Question 13: What sources, if any, are available from the APFO for use in producing the TFWs? For example would any frame center information be available (preflight data or files containing the AOI, post-flight data, initial planning data and/or flight maps)? We would be looking for any type of information that allows someone to get in the vicinity of the area to aid in the generation of the tfw.

Answer 13: The amendment will include the information that should be provided in a Task Order that includes the TFW option:

1. Each exposure should be able to be located to a specific county based upon FIPS code provided

2. There will be digital (tif) photo or line indexes available which will give an approximate location for each exposure within the contract area (usually a county).

New Questions

Question 14: Please define negligence as it pertains to Section 5.0.

Answer 14: Negligence would be considered circumstances that are within the Contractor’s control, i.e.

film placed in a damaged box for shipment, leaving film on the dock outside the door for prolonged periods of time, exposing film to excessive heat in a building or vehicle, etc. Since APFO is performing an inspection of the film prior to releasing it to a Contractor, film considered at risk for scanning is not likely to be released to a contractor for scanning. If a Contractor deems the film too risky to scan upon receipt, The Government should be contacted within 24 hours, and that roll of film can be returned and replaced with another roll of film suitable for scanning. In addition, the film inspection report provides contractors an opportunity to list any defects not noted on that report when they receive the film.

Question 15: Explain the delivery period and 2 Terabyte (TB) drive requirement.

Answer 15: The intent of a minimum drive size of 2TB is to reduce the number of drives and sets of data managed. It is more efficient and economical to receive one 2TB drive than to receive and manage eight 250 GB drives. The images scans from a roll of film should not be placed on separate drives. For example, scans from 18 whole rolls of film containing 3,500 exposure could be placed on a 2 TB drive and total just over one terabyte of data. Delivery is required within 30 days from the time this amount of data is scanned.

Question 16: Why is a photogrammetric scanner required? There are flatbed scanners capable of scanning at higher resolution than required in the solicitation, i.e. over the 2,136 equivalent DPI.

Answer 16: The intended use of the image scans stated on Pages 21 and 22 of the solicitation Attachment 1, Section 12 include use in geospatial applications as well as potential georeferencing and orthorectification. A photogrammetric scanner is a specialized device that is able to transfer the geometric accuracy of photogrammetric (aerial) film into a digital format. This accuracy is required to ensure quality GIS products can be produced from the digital file. A photogrammetric scanner is periodically calibrated with a glass grid-plate, and will typically have a geometric error rate of between 1 and 4 microns.

It makes it very difficult to get any type of a quality georeferenced or orthorectified product out of a poorly scanned image, with any type of additional distortion from the scanning process. The pre-1980’s camera calibration reports do not contain camera lens distortion values. Using another type of scanner may add another layer of distortion with no way to correct for them in the photogrammetric process.

Also, there is no guarantee that the accuracy of the scanning will be consistent from one image scan to another; whereas a photogrammetric scanner can maintain that accuracy over multiple scans.

Distortion from scanning will increase processing time in the aerial triangulation process and degrade the accuracy of the final ortho rectified product. This is not addressing the possible image quality issues

ie. Missing pixels, seamline offsets from scanning, etc.

As a comparison, from previous projects covering all years available, the spatial accuracy for ortho products without lens distortion values is generally >6 meters from a base ortho; when distortion parameters are available the spatial accuracy is within the 1 to 4 meter range

Question 17: Can you summarize what is needed to be submitted with our response and whether it needs to be in a separate envelope? Is the SF-1449 required?

Answer 17: The SF-1449 is optional, but not necessary. Under FAR 12.6, it is not used to transmit a solicitation when using the streamlined method as was done for this procurement. The following outlines what needs to be submitted for consideration for award of contract and first task order:

1. Signed and completed Attachment 3 to RFP Continuation AG-8447-S-15-0006, Amendment 2, pages 63-67. Only page 63 was changed in Amendment 2. The amended page 63 includes the only statement needed based on the instructions found on page 47.

a. Pricing pages 63 through 65 must be separable from the rest of the response, either via tab, or stapled separately, or at least notably marked. It does not need to be in a separate envelope. We don’t want pricing information mixed in with the technical responses.

2. Technical Capability: Address of Items under Section 2, Technical Capability, found on pages 44 through 46 (Attachment 2 of Continuation AG-8447-S-15-0006, Amendment 2)

a. 3 Sample scans from each scanner (page 45 (B)(2))

3. Past Performance: Response to Section 3, Past Performance, found on page 46 (Attachment 2 of Continuation AG-8447-S-15-0006, Amendment 2). This can be included with the Technical address. It is helpful to mark this as past performance information.

4. Certifications: These are found in Attachment 2 of Continuation AG-8447-S-15-0006, pages 51 through 62. As indicated in the first paragraph on page 51, the offeror needs to complete and return only paragraph (b) if the reps and certs are in SAM.gov.

5. RFQ APFO-TO-7-15-1 (Amendment 3): The only response needed for the Task Order RFQ is completion of the blocks included in the pages of the RFQ. No additional write-up is needed, unless the offeror determines explanation is needed for differences from the response to the Task Order. Submitting all six pages of the RFQ will constitute acknowledgement of the differences between requirements in the IDIQ and the first Task Order. No additional samples are required, other than pre-production if a contract is awarded.

Question 18: The metadata template provided has a place for Spatial Domain, but is not one of the required elements listed requiring a data value per image supplied by the contractor. For the samples and for Task Order 1 scans, should we leave them as the static values given, or should we replace them with the more appropriate “N/A” (but not sure that will parse without errors)?

Answer 18: In order for the sample metadata to parse, insert 0 (zero) in data values and “N/A” in text values. Metadata files for each image scan are not required for the first task order; only a text file for each set of data/scanner submitted. The metadata file per image scan is a potential requirement of other task orders issued against the IDIQ contract, which is why it was left in the solicitation.

Requirements not modified, changed, or eliminated in the Task Order should be as they are stated in the IDIQ contract.

Question 19: Does the supplemental file also need to be included with the scan samples in the response?

Answer 19: If the offeror has a camera calibration report available for the film utilized for the sample scans, include it with the sample scans. It would be very helpful to see what that supplemental file will look like.

Question 20: In reference to the “north up” requirement in Attachment 1, Section C-5.6(a), is the film annotated on the North end of the exposure?

Answer 20: Yes, the film is typically edited on the north end of the exposure. There is some film from the 1950’s and 1960’s that are not titled/annotated. Where that is the case, the image shall be oriented so that editing/titling/annotating is up.

Question 21: Does the contractor have to supply insurance for the shipment via carrier (federal express or ups) or just for while film is at contractor’s facility? To give estimate of shipping, what insurance value should be used? As federal express charges $10 per $1000 insurance. According to the value stated $100 per frame. 4 rolls of film at 175 frames each would mean $70,000 insurance. Federal express max is $50,000 and that would cost an extra $500 for the shipment.

Answer 21: The contractor does not have to supply insurance for shipment via carrier (i.e. Federal Express or UPS). Insurance or bonding in Section 5.1 of Attachment 1 applies to the contractor’s facility, as well as to its vehicles that may be used for transportation of the film.

Question 22: The spec states that the tiff file needs to be Big Endian, what conversion program does APFO use as DSW scanners produce little endian tiff files? Will that program be available to contractors?

Answer 22: APFO performs this process utilizing FastDodge software through a server using SPARC architecture and Solaris 9 operating system. With this setup we can only end up with Big Endian files. We have based our inspection and archiving processes on Big Endian.

Question 23: Are filenames based on exposure numbers from the counter or from the exposure number edited/labeled on the film? How are untitled exposures handled?

Answer 23: Filenames are based on the exposure labeling on the film. Untitled exposures are not scanned. If scanned by a contractor’s process, they are not delivered.

If responses already submitted need to be changed due to responses from September 8 and 9 Q&A, you may email those changes to michelle.clifford@slc.usda.gov and request read receipt for your email.

mailto:michelle.clifford@slc.usda.gov