iTRAK RFP Questions and Answers.pdf

National Science Foundation RFP# DACS12P2108

Response to Offeror RFP Questions that were submitted prior to November 15, 2011 Close of Business.

154. Page 2, Section B. 3 states that the contract consists of a 24-month base period from the date of the contract while page 1 of the iTRAK Task Order 1 addresses the implementation and integration services for 18-months. Additionally, Page 40 of the solicitation references fully implementing by October 1, 2013, which is 18 months after projected award. However, the hours estimates provided on page 47, the T&M durations reference 24 months. Can the government clarify how the initial 6-months of hosting (production) services will be procured and clarify if they should be assumed in the scope of Task Order 1? Should the T&M tasks assume 18 months to deployment and 6 months of post production support, or 24 months to deployment?

Answer: Please see the RFP amendment for Task Order 1 pricing requirements. The base year is for 24 months which includes 18 months of implementation activities and 6 months of O&M, therefore price according to the instructions.

155. Page 7, Section 2.2 of the iTrak Task Order 1, states that “NSF is in the process of changing the FAS interfaces to operate on “Open Standards” such as Web

Services and Data Services. This transition is planned to be completed in time for the iTRAK implementation. Can the Government provide additional clarification on when these services will be available such that the contractor can factor that milestone into our implementation approach and schedule?

Answer: The offeror shall include the date in the project plan that is required for them to complete the implementation within the time frame as stated in the RFP.

156. Page 36 of the RFP, Section E.3, part 1 and 2 – Offerors are required to

“segregate” the response for completing the IDIQ and tasks identified as Task

Order 1. Please clarify whether the Government expects a duplicate response in cases where the approach to both the IDIQ and Task Order 1 are the same.

Answer: Please see the RFP amendment as to how IDIQ information will be utilized by the Government to establish Task Order 1.

157. Page 36, Section E.3 of the RFP indicates that “text shall be single-spaced, on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper…” Will the Government allow 11 x 17 paper (foldouts) for charts or graphics, as needed?

Answer: Please see the RFP instructions for specific proposal page size and limitations.

158. Page 37 of the RFP, Section E.7, “Offerors must submit their oral presentation materials together with their proposals in Portable Document Format (PDF).”

Will the Government provide formatting guidance for the presentation?

Answer: Offerors are required to follow the established oral presentation guidance only when submitting proposal information.

159. Page 38 of the RFP states that there will be no questions by the Government during the presentation or software demonstration. Can we assume that there will be a caucus period at the end of the demonstration and clarifying questions may be presented by the Government after caucus? Does the government wish to indicate who should be present should questions arise? Will the Government provide further guidance between the period between proposal submission and the actual orals session?

Answer: Please see the RFP regarding the specified oral presentation and software demonstration instructions and schedule. Also see the iTRAK RFP Questions and

Answers 11-22-11, specifically questions 38 and 141.

160. Page 38 of the RFP states, “maximum number of Offeror participants during the

Oral Presentation and Software Demonstration is 8.” There are 9 key personnel suggested in the RFP. Which of the 9 key personnel do you wish to see at the meeting?

Answer: The RFP states that up to 8 personnel are required to attend but only key personnel are permitted to present information. The offeror must determine which key personnel will be presenting.

161. Page 42, reference Section E.8, Subfactors G and H – SLAs, a Software

Compliance Support letter, and an Estimated Schedule for Major Release

Upgrades are required. Can we include all documents in appendices, excluded from the page limit for the Technical Proposal?

Answer: The Software Compliance Support letter and the Estimated Schedule for Major

Release Upgrades should be included in the page limit.

162. Page 44, reference Section E.8, Factor 2, d) – Quality Control Plan. Please clarify whether a summary of our QCP is required—or should Offerors provide a complete and separate QCP document as an appendix, excluded from the page count?

Answer: Please see the instructions for the information that is required in the Quality

Control Plan. The offeror should address the QCP requirements within the page limitations.

163. Overall - For FY ’13, does the government intend to close the books using FAS or iTRAK?

Answer: FY 2013 will be closed in FAS.

164. Overall - Will all training and change management activities take place at NSF?

Answer: Yes

165. Overall - Will all of the iTrak users be on-site at NSF? If not, what percentage will be offsite?

Answer: All users are on site.

166. Overall - Should we assume that we are using the NSR’s rational testing tool or providing our own?

Answer: Please see iTRAK RFP Questions and Answers 11-22-11, specifically question

144.

167. Overall - Can the government clarify its requirements and performance measures for an onsite learning lab environment to provide in-person assistance during and post go-live? Period of performance post go-live? Hours of operations? Number of staffing required?

Answer: Based on the information in the RFP, the offeror should propose a training solution.

168. iTRAK Task Order 1, page 9 - The government requests an implementation environment for configuration, integration, staging, data migration and conversion, all testing, and training. On page 10, the deliverable table lists implementation environments for development, conversion, testing, and training.

Can the government clarify the implementation environment requirement for the implementation and integration services?

Answer: The Contractor shall provide hardware, software, and services for development;

environments for configuration, integration, staging, data migration and conversion, all testing and training. All hardware and software shall be hosted in the Contractor’s facility. See page 9 of the task order.

169. iTRAK Task Order 1, page 12 - The Project Management Deliverable table contains deliverables for Requirements Fit Gap Analysis (FitGap) and Conference

Room Pilots (CRP). The same deliverables are contained in the Implementation

Services Deliverable table on page 6 of the iTRAK Task Order 1 - Can the

Government clarify its intent as to whether the FitGAP and CRP deliverables (and associated hours) are expected to be delivered as part of the Project Management or Implementation Services Task?

Answer: The Requirements Fit Gap Analysis and Conference Room Pilots should be included under the implementation service section.

170. iTRAK, Task Order 1 - The Contractor is asked to provide Software Licenses under both Section 2.4 (Hosting Services) and Section 2.7 (Software Licenses).

Can the government clarify if a difference exists between the two requests? If not, can the government clarify its preference for where software licenses should be provided?

Answer: Software licenses should be provided in 2.7.

171. iTRAK, Task Order 1 – specifies an 18-month period of performance with the implementation of the requested software on the last day of the performance period. On page 13, the government requests “post-deployment training”. This training, by definition, would occur after the performance period of Task Order 1.

Can the government clarify its intent for delivery of post-production training as part of Task Order 1?

Answer: No. The offeror should include post deployment training as part of Task Order

1.

172. Attachment C – Section 3.6, pages 7-8 - Is NSF planning on retiring all of the interfaces specified in table 3. If so does the iTrak implementer also need to have out-of-the-box integration with an LMS? NSF currently uses Plateau for training are they willing to go with a new vendor if our team has capabilities to integrate with another vendor. Also is the expectation that FPPS would be retired post iTrak implementation?

Answer: The vendor must comply with the requirements in attachment C as stated.