BEA_RFP Questions Response 24May2022_JZ.pdf

Vendor: Questions and Answers

RFQ (Request for Quote): Firm-level Environmental Expenditures and Revenues FOR BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

(BEA)

Date: May 24, 2022

RFP (Request for Proposal) Questions

1.0 General Instructions

• No Questions

2.0 Communications and Questions

• Vendor Question Period Extension requested and granted until May 25, 2022, 9AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)

3.0 3.0 Proposal Organization

• No Questions

3.1 Section 1 Technical Proposal

• Regarding vendor’s ability to “demonstrate” experience and technical capabilities, what degree of demonstration is required?

3.2 Section 2 Past Performance Proposal

• No Questions

3.3 Section 3 Price Proposal

How many Dept of Commerce/BEA employees will have access to collection, warehousing, and analysis of Refinitiv ESG (Environment Social & Governance) data? Generally, all BEA employees have access to data purchased by BEA. We currently have approx. 500+ employees. As with all data housed at BEA, the number of individuals working on projects currently projected to benefit from a particular dataset like this will be much smaller than this total, but before data is vetted and used regularly we cannot provide an exact number of regular users of the data.

To what extent will Refinitiv ESG data be available in external reports by the BEA in production of national accounts as part of the various UN (United Nations) statistical standards? This data will initially be used for research purposes. Before new methods and data are incorporated into production of official accounts produced by BEA, they must be vetted. Often this is through use by researchers who develop pilot estimates and/or research papers to demonstrate what the data can and cannot do, and document how it might be useful for the national accounts. Since BEA has not purchased this kind of data before, for the upcoming fiscal year it will likely be used in this capacity. If the data is of sufficient quality and has been sufficiently vetted for use in the national accounts by BEA, only then would it be used for production. BEA follows strict guidelines for protecting confidentiality of its data and adheres to standards agreed upon with its vendors in data use agreements.

• Refinitiv/LSEG typically price services on a monthly recurring subscription. Does BEA require pricing for the base period term (12 months)? Yes

4.0 Evaluation Factors

• Refinitiv/LSEG have a large team across multiple stages of client service/support that will be responsible for various aspects of provision of stated services. Regarding “key” personnel assigned to the project, could BEA provide a definition of “key personnel”. Key personnel is not applicable. This is data purchase.

5.0 Contract Type

• No questions

6.0 Clauses Applicable to This Solicitation

• No Immediate questions but reserve the right to revisit upon closer review.

7.0 Payment – Firm Fixed Price

• No Questions

8.0 Payment – Time and Material/Labor Hour Time and Material

• No Questions

9.0 Submittal of Invoices

10.0 Attachments

SOW (STATEMENT OF WORK) Questions

1.0 Introduction/Background

• No Questions

2. Scope In addition to Firm-level ESG data, is there benefit to understand Refinitiv/LSEG’s ability to deliver Country/Sovereign level ESG disclosure data as it pertains to the specifications outlines in the SOW? Not currently. At this stage, only firm-level data (which should contain county/sovereign identifiers and industry identifiers) are necessary for our current uses of the data and our vetting process through research efforts that would benefit from the use of firm-level data.

3. Specifications Could you please clarify what is meant by “Climate Change Commercial Risks Opportunities” as it relates to Firm-level data requirements and provide examples and/or detailed descriptions of such data items? With the request for data on “climate change risks/opportunities,” we are asking for a variable that assesses whether a company has indicated (self-reported) awareness that climate change poses a potential risk or opportunity for the company in a particular year. One description of this might be: “Is the company aware that climate change can represent commercial risks and/or opportunities?”. In addition to a flag for whether this is true or not for the firm, we would like to know the years in which this is or is not the case for the firm. For example, while the firm may be in a given vendor’s data from 2005-2020, the firm may not have begun disclosing awareness or concern about climate change until years 2015 and after. Additionally, if there are variables that are helpful for understanding the data source used to assess the indicator value in a given year (e.g., whether the source is from a firm’s mandatory 10-K vs. a press release) and the quality of the information used (e.g., whether a higher score is given when the value is determined by a required filing with the SEC

vs. a voluntary disclosure document), variables that capture this information would also be potentially useful for BEA projects using this data.

4. Period of Performance

• No questions