Compilied Qs RFP DTFH6111R26 11012011.pdf

Questions for RFP DTFH61-11-R-00026

“Develop, Enhance & maintain a Web User Interface Program for the LTPP Information Management System”

Question #1 Will the WIP be hosted on servers at an FHWA data center?

a. If yes,

i. What technologies does FHWA support for developing web applications?

ii. What administrative access is provided those servers?

iii. What are the change control procedures for deploying new application versions?

b. If no,

i. Will FHWA provide servers?

ii. Are using servers in the cloud an acceptable solution?

Answer: No.

i. No.

b.ii. Yes, as long as it can be justified as an effective approach.

Question #2 Will FHWA provide licenses for software such as Oracle?

Answer: No.

Question #3 If it may take 8 months to get OMB approval to do the survey of the user community, how can the results be delivered in 6 months?

Answer: The offerors may propose alternative ways to effectively obtain user inputs, both meeting the timeline and satisfying the OMB requirement. For example, if the survey is limited to less than ten carefully selected participants, there is no need to obtain OMB approval.

Question #4 For Graphic Presentations, will the Government allow the use of a small font size such as 8 point font as long as the graphic is readable?

Answer: Yes, provided that it is clear and readable.

Question #5 The total for Sr. Engineer appears to have an error. Should the hours be increase to arrive at the total of 10,920 or should the total be corrected to 3,320

Answer: Thank you for pointing out the error on page 47 of the RFP. The table with corrected estimated level of effort (in RED FONT) is provided herein.

Estimated level of effort for Direct Productive Hours

Description Base Period

(12 months)

Base Period

(12 months)

Option Year

Option Year

Option Year

Total Hours

Project Manager 340 340 500 500 500 2180 Pavement Engineer Lead

(PEL)

470 470 660 660 660 2920

Computer Software Lead

600 600 900 900 900 3900

Sr. Engineer 310 310 900 900 900 3320 Computer Programmer 1710 1710 2500 2500 2500 10920 Project Engineers 240 240 500 500 500 1980 Support Staff 200 200 240 240 240 1120 Subject Matter Experts

(SME)

130 130 200 200 200 860

Total Hours 4000 4000 6400 6400 6400 27200

Question #6 Section C.3 of the RFP notes that “The LTPP Web Interface Program 1.0 shall at least encompass the functionalities available at the LTPP DataPave Online (http://www.ltpp-products.com/). In addition, other LTPP software products such as Diva, ESALCalc, Performance Forecaster, LTPP E*, and others as identified by the COTR, shall be incorporated into the LTPP Web Interface Program 1.0.”

a. With the existing LTPP Products website, is the winning bidder expected to replace the existing functionality of the LTPP site entirely with the latest technologies, or will they be granted access to existing business processes and source code to update and extend more cost effectively?

b. Additionally, to maximize integration and provide a more seamless experience for the user will the other LTPP software products be made available to the winning bidder (assuming they don’t already have access to them)?

Answer: a. This contract is to develop a new program to replace the existing functionality of the LTPP product site with the latest technologies.

b. The software source codes of the LTPP products and tools, where available as submitted through various research projects, will be provided to the wining contractor. However, the source codes of the current LTPP product online are not expected to be available to the winning contractor.

Question #7 Section C.3 of the RFP notes that “Survey of the representative LTPP data users—this can be done in person, by phone, and/or via questionnaires. At a minimum, this survey shall include users from academia, State DOTs, and other users in the pavement community.”

Incorporating target user input will be critical to the ultimate success of the LTPP Web Interface. Since a questionnaire requiring a PRA won’t meet the designated timeline, should we assume that phone interviews are all that is available for this task?

Answer: Please refer to the response to Question #3.

Question #8 Section C.1 of the RFP notes that “The LTPP IMS is housed at the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, in McLean, VA. An LTPP Data Processing Work Station containing the LTPP PPDB and its data entry forms, as well as portions of the LTPP AIMS, is housed and operated by the LTPP Technical Support Services Contractor in Oakridge Tennessee.”

Will a snapshot of the LTPP IMS (specifically the databases) be available to the contractor for use at their location for development purposes or must the bidder coordinate live connections to the Turner-Fairbank server?

Answer: The LTPP IMS data (esp. PPDB) and information will be provided to the contractor for use at their location for development purposes.

Question #9 Is there a desire to have a live data feed from the LTPP PPDB Data Processing Workstation through the web interface?

Answer: While a live data feed (or a connection) may not be feasible during the initial stage, it is desirable to have a live data feed from the LTPP PPDB Data Processing Workstation through the web interface in the future. The Offerors may propose work approach deemed most effective.

Question #10 Section L.10.B of the RFP under “Other Personnel” there is a “3-5 page limit” given for each resume. Can clarification be provided?

Answer: The intention is to limit the length of the resumes of the “Other Personnel” to 3-5 pages each.

Question #11 Section L.2 of the RFP does not indicate whether the Technical and/or Business proposals submitted electronically need to be done so in an editable format? Will *.pdf submittals suffice?

Answer: Section L.10 General Instructions for Preparation of Proposal under “A” (Proposal Format) #4 states that “The cost information shall be provided in an interactive format (Excel). All other documents may be provided in a PDF file.

Question #12 In Section L.10.C.e, plug numbers are provided for ODCs and Travel, but the instructions describe the need to provide a separate schedule to breakdown ODCs. Is it sufficient to provide the plug numbers without the additional schedule?

Answer: As stated in the RFP, the offerors shall propose their own ODCs and Travel costs for the base period. Therefore, breakdowns shall be provided for the base period (24 month) since they are not plug-in numbers. It is not necessary to provide breakdowns for the Optional periods.

Question #13 Is there a requirement that the Prime Contractor performs over 50% of the work on this project? If not, is there going to be an advantage given in the evaluation process to those teams where the Prime performs over 50% of the work?

Answer: No, there isn’t a requirement restriction, but the following clauses will be added to the contract award:

52.215-22 – Limitations on Pass-Through Charges – Identification of Subcontract Effort (OCT 2009) 52.215-23 – Limitations on Pass-Through Charges (OCT 2009)

Question #14 Besides the use of the Oracle database platform, are there any software or platform restrictions/limitations in the bidders approach to develop the LTPP Web Interface Program?

Answer: The LTPP WIP needs to interact with and obtain data effectively from the LTPP PPDB, which resides on Oracle database platform. Beyond that, there are no other restrictions in selection of software development tools except for the COTR approval.

Question #15 To better estimate technical requirements for the server and software stack, is usage information available for the current “LTPP DataPave Online”? If not, is there an anticipated maximum load rate (simultaneous users) to consider?

Answer: No. The offerors are expected to estimate the maximum usage, including both number of concurrent users and the amount of data being accessed or downloaded. The maximum usage will likely change overtime, as the LTPP IMS evolves. The LTPP WIP must be able to allow the users to explore and download large files (in gigabytes magnitude or larger) with ease.

Question #16 The hours for the Computer Programmer appear to be incorrect in the total column. Should the total be 10,920 hours?

Response: Yes. Please refer to the response to Question #5.

Question #17 Is there any requirement to use Oracle as backend database for the proposed development of LTPP Web Interface Program? Is there any constraint on using or not using other commercial and open-source technologies for backend database? We understand that the Web Interface Program will need to interact with PPDB that is based on Oracle database.

Answer: No, as long as the choices are justified and approved by the FHWA. Please refer to the response to Question #14.

Question #18 Reference to Task A.2.3, it is anticipated that LTPP Web Interface Program

1.0 will be formally released to public before the end of Task A.2 (within 24-month base performance period). This will require provisioning and deployment of production hosting infrastructure (server-side hardware and software licenses) to be included in Task A.2. However, it is not clear if the cost for this hosting infrastructure should be included in the cost for base performance period (initial 24-months) or should be spread to options periods/option years (years 3 through 5). This can be a significant cost depending on hosting mechanism proposed for the program.

Answer: The winning contractor is responsible for ensuring proper hardware, software, as well as licensing, for hosting the LTPP WIP program on the web for the public use. The offerors should spread the associated ODC costs throughout the contract as appropriate. Large ODC spending is subject to FHWA approval.