ED-ESE-14-R-0030_Answers_to_Questions_from_Offerors_FINAL.pdf

Questions and Answers

ED-ESE-14-R-0030

Question 1: Page 1: Elizabeth Price is listed as the contact, but later in the Contract, Nammi Shadrach is listed as the Contract Specialist. Please clarify.

Department Response: Nammi Shadrach is the Contract Specialist.

Question 2: Does the Department intend to issue a single award under this solicitation?

Department Response: Yes, the Department will issue a single ID/IQ award under this contract.

Question 3: Can the Department confirm that the ordering period for the ID/IQ is five years and the Period of Performance for Task Order 001 is base plus three for a total of 4 years?

Department Response: The ordering period for the ID/IQ contract is five years. The period of performance for Task Order 0001 is one 12-month base year and three 12-month option years.

Question 4: Personnel: The description of the creative lead requires that they have “Experience with Learning Management Systems (LMS) and/online learning platforms.” Should this be …(LMS) and/or online learning platforms”?

Department Response: This should read as follows: “Experience with Learning Management Systems (LMS) and online learning platforms.” The Instructions to Offerors has been updated.

Question 5: Vol II. Business Proposal (f): the Excel document “Meeting Budget Breakdown” seems to be missing from the documents provided on fbo.gov.

Department Response: Through this amendment, the Meeting Budget Breakdown will be attached as an Excel worksheet.

Question 6: Task 3.1: When are the System Integration Guide and the System Style Guide deliverables due? They are not listed on the Schedule of Deliverables at the end of Attachment B.

Department Response: The System Integration Guide and the System Style Guide shall be due within 60 days after contract award. As system changes occur, it is anticipated that these documents may require updates. At a minimum these documents shall be reviewed and updated every 180 days.

Question 7: Task 5: Does the Department want the resumes of three proposed individuals for each of the subject matter areas identified for the Base Year included with the Proposal? May these resumes be included with the others for Key Personnel, and therefore not count against the 40 page limit?

Department Response: For Task Order 0001 Task 5.1 (the Base Period), the Department anticipates that offerors will provide an appropriate number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in order to accomplish Tasks 5.1.1 and 5.1.2. The Department does not require three resumes for each recommended SME position identified by the offeror.

Question 8: Task 6.1: Does the Department envision the Education Specialist driving the efforts related to securing educational credits for activities on the portal?

Department Response: The activities to accomplish Task 6.1 should be detailed in the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 9: Regarding the Phase in, will the incumbent provide all documentation from the old site to the new contractor during this phase in work? Who is the incumbent?

Department Response: For the Phase in, the Department will provide all available Government Furnished Information (GFI). Reference Task Order 1 PWS Task 7.1

Question 10: Based on the Instruction to Offerors, it seems that ED requires many key personnel to be in place when the proposal is written? Is this correct? Which staff must be in place now

vs. recruited during this phase in period?

Department Response: The Department expects that all staff identified by an offeror shall be in place and prepared to begin work at time of award.

Question 11: One of the requirements is to provide a Project Effectiveness Plan and Annual Report. Has ED collected effectiveness data on the site from the users already? Will this information be available to the contractor? Will the contractor be able to collect independent data through this contract without going through OMB?

Department Response: The offeror should not anticipate access to historical data for the Project Effectiveness Plan and Annual Report. The need for an OMB information collection notice is predicated on the offeror’s proposed methods to collect the data.

Question 12: The Contractor is required to provide TA to 20 targeted sites during a year. Are these based on need or will ED choose these sites?

Department Response: The offeror will work with the Department to identify sites for targeted technical assistance.

Question 13: Will the contractor provide the platform for these webinars or use ED’s webinar platform? Will the contractor organize all aspects of the webinar, including providing IT technical support to participants?

Department Response: Per the Master PWS Task 2, “The contractor shall provide scalable, web-based solutions as a service (SaaS/PaaS) to provide virtual, instructor-led, and blended technical assistance programs.” The approach to Task 2 is predicated on the offeror’s technical solution.

Question 14: What is the current website technology based on? What is the content management platform that is currently in use? Will the new contractor have access to all aspects of the existing site as well as training documentation on how to update? Is there any requirement in this contract to change the overall structure or design of the existing site (or will the new contractor be updating and expanding on the content)?

Department Response: The current portal solution stack consists of Linux, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and PHP (LAMP) and utilizes ExpressionEngine as the Content Management System (CMS). A change to Task Order 0001 PWS Task 7.1 will be made to reflect this information.

Change to the overall structure or design of the existing portal is predicated on the offeror’s

Question 15: Does ED place a limit on the daily rate that can be offered to the SMEs?

Department Response: No, ED does not place a limit on the daily rate that can be offered to an SME. However, the offeror may propose more than one labor category for SMEs (e.g. Subject Matter Expert 1, Subject Matter Expert 2, Subject Matter Expert 3, etc.) based on varying degree of expertise within a particular content area.

Question 16: For enhancement to the Y4Y Portal, ED indicates that they would like to allow users the ability to customize trainings to meet their specific needs. Can ED expand on this?

Department Response: Per the Final Solicitation, Volume I: Technical Proposals, 4: Technical Approach, j: Subtask 6.2, “Offerors are encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the enhancements of the current Y4Y Portal. The proposed enhancements should be innovative and ensure optional functionality, performance and reliability to enhance user experience. At the sole discretion of the Government, the offerors proposed approach to this optional subtask may be included in the contract.”

Question 17: With regard to the system usage training, has this work been conducted by the current contractor? Since the new contractor is expected to integrate content from third party, it would seem that this may have been already provided by the incumbent. If developed, will it be turned over to the new contractor?

Department Response: Refer to Task Order 0001 PWS Task 7.1 for info regarding GFI.

System usage training is dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 18: In terms of Compliance with ED IT Security Policy, will the portal/site be housed on a unique server due to FISMA? Will new contractor have to go through the OMB process for any of the data collection required in this contract (direct data collection from grantees and users)?

Department Response: Hosting and data collection requirements are dependent on the offeror’s

Question 19: What activities would ED expect to be satisfied when enabling credit for completion?

Department Response: Activities around credit for completion are dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement. Please refer to Task Order 0001 PWS Task 6.1.

Question 20: Task 1 - Does ED have a specific length for the phase-in and phase-out periods (i.e. 60 days, 90 days, etc.)?

Department Response: Length of time for phase-in and phase-out activities will be predicated on the Phase-In and Phase-Out plans submitted by the offeror and the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 21: For Task 1.3 can the Government cap the hours dedicated to the development of documents and number of briefings for this solicitation?

Department Response: Per Task Order 0001 PWS Task 1.3 “It is estimated that no more than five white papers and documents per year and four hours per quarter of briefings will be required.”

Questions 22: Task 2 - What are the expected number of participants per session for:

a. Onsite technical assistance?

b. Virtual technical assistance?

c. Quarterly virtual technical assistance?

Department Response: Number of participants for technical assistance sessions is dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 23: Task 2 - At what location does the Department estimate the National, State, or Regional conference support will take place?

Department Response: The offeror should prepared for five Task Order 0001 PWS Task 2.4 presentations to be held outside the Washington, DC area.

Question 24: Task 4 - What is the expected size of the listening sessions being held in conjunction with National, State, or Regional conferences?

Department Response: At a minimum, the Department expects 20 attendees at each listening session. The Task Order 0001 PWS Task 4.2 has been updated to reflect this answer.

Question 25: Task 4.1 – Technical Working Group: Is there an existing Technical Working Group in place that the award winner will have access to?

Department Response: The Offeror shall work with the Department to identify participants for the Technical Working Group (TWG). Accordingly, it is anticipated that some participants may have served on previous TWGs.

Question 26: In Task 5.1 is there an expected level of effort for the SMEs in the virtual sessions?

Department Response: The level of effort for SMEs in virtual sessions is dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 27: Task 6 - Will the department provide user feedback from the existing Y4Y Portal at the start of the contract to inform the development of enhancements?

Department Response: Per the Final Solicitation, Volume I: Technical Proposals, 4: Technical Approach, j: Subtask 6.2, “Offerors are encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the enhancements of the current Y4Y Portal. The proposed enhancements should be innovative and ensure optional functionality, performance and reliability to enhance user experience. At the sole discretion of the Government, the offerors proposed approach to this optional subtask may be included in the contract.”

Additionally, during the Phase in period, the Department will provide all Government Furnished Information (GFI). Reference Task Order 0001 PWS Task 7.1.

Question 28: Task 7 - Can the department provide a list of ADP assets under the current contract?

Department Response: Refer to Task Order 0001 PWS Task 7.1 for information about the current portal environment.

Question 29: Proposal Requirements - Does the page count include the cover sheet and Table of Contents?

Department Response: Yes, the page count includes the cover sheet and Table of Contents.

Question 30: Proposal Requirements - Should the phase-in and phase-out plans be part of the Technical Response?

Department Response: The offeror’s technical solution to this requirement should have sufficient detail to provide assurances to the Department that the offeror understands the requirements and activities involved in phasing in and out.

Question 31: Will this contract be Base Year plus 3 option years or 4 option years? There are places that mention this being a 4 year contract and 5 year contract.

Department Response: The ID/IQ contract will have an ordering period of five years. Task Order 0001 will have a period of performance that consists of one 12 month base year and three 12 month option years.

Question 32: In the draft of the PWS, the number of hours for ELT work was specified at 5,760.

There is no specified amount of hours in the final version or any form of guidance for what is expected. Instead, there are just directions to include the names of the subject matter experts and their hourly rates.

a. Assuming removing it was intentional, should we consider the number to be guidance, either as an approximation, ceiling, or floor?

b. Should the bid include any estimate at all of how many hours will be devoted to creating the products and providing the specified services?

Department Response: The offeror is reminded that draft documents are not to be used as guidance for the final solicitation. The number of hours and number of SMEs associated with those hours are dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 33: How would any given 21st CCLC state education agency or grantee (school district, community organization, etc.) make a request for onsite technical assistance or even know that it is available?

Department Response: The activities around onsite technical assistance requests are dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 34: Can you provide data on the current use of the site nationally?

Department Response: Currently, there are approximately 6,000 registered users of the portal.

Please consider the following for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers formula grant program:

Grantees: 54 (50 states, PR, DC, USVI and BIE)

SubGrantees (aka Centers/fiscal agents) Range:

2009 - 3,307 2010 - 3,616 2011 - 4,105 2012 - 4,160 2013 - 4,126

Program Sites Range:

2010-11 - 10,188 2012-13 - 9,989

Question 35: Was the Task 6 credit for completion determined by previous needs assessments?

Will the new provider be able to access this information?

Department Response: Credit for completion is not based on previous efforts.

Question 36: Are there any major concerns or issues on the website that are expected to be remediated?

Department Response: See the answer to Question #27.

Question 37: Where from and how often is third party content expected for the website?

Department Response: Please see Task Order 0001 PWS Task 3.1.

Question 38: Does the Department require the contractor to host the site or is the system going to be hosted by ED?

Department Response: The system will not be hosted by ED.

Question 39: Could the Department provide the number of software licenses purchased to carry out this effort?

Department Response: Please refer to Task Order 0001 PWS Task 7.1. The only software license that will be part of GFI is the license for ExpressionEngine.

Question 40: “ In addition, the Contractor may be required to provide a full range of Asset Management Support including but not limited to: Shipment of Automated Data Processing (ADP) assets, including coordination with shipping and receiving departments to ship and track inventory assets…”

Could the Department provide the types or the amount of assets generally moved in a contract year? How often does this relocation of assets, replacements and repairs usually occur?

Department Response: Please see the answer to Question #28.

Question 41: Will the Department provide insight on the number of participants that are estimated for the on-site and virtual technical assistance sessions? What content must be included in each technical assistance session?

Department Response: Please see the answer to Question #22.

Question 42: Will the Department provide the contractor a list of potential SEAs, SME, employee, and subgrantee to which to assemble the Technical Working Group (TWG)?

Department Response: The offeror shall work with the Department to identify participants for the Technical Working Group (TWG). Accordingly, it is anticipated that some participants may have served on previous TWGs. Refer to question #25.

Question 43: Will the Department provide the contractor a list of recommended grantee, and subgrantees for the annual face-to-face Listening sessions?

Department Response: The offeror shall work with the Department to identify participants for the listening sessions.

Question 44: Will the Department provide the contractor a list of recommended SMEs that it has worked well with previously?

Department Response: The offeror shall work with the department to identify SMEs in order to complete the tasks in the Task Order 0001 PWS. However for Task Order 0001 PWS Task 5.1(the Base Period), the Department anticipates that offerors will propose appropriate Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in order to accomplish Tasks 5.1.1 and 5.1.2.

Question 45: “ The Contractor shall assemble a temporary ELT specific Technical Working Group (TWG) to Collaborate on education strategies, content creation, and informational practices as they relate to ELT in a 21st CCLC Environment. This TWG shall have a membership of not more than 9 people and shall meet via virtual capabilities (as defined in Task 2)”.

Is this temporary ELT TWG included in the three (3) annual virtual TWGs from Task 4.1?

Department Response: The ELT TWG as described in Task Order 0001 PWS Task 5.1.1 is independent of the Technical Working Group of Task Order 0001 PWS Task 4.1.

Question 46: “The Contractor shall assemble a temporary STEM specific Technical Working Group (TWG) to collaborate on education strategies, content creation, and informational practices as they relate to STEM in a 21st CCLC environment. This TWG shall have a membership of not more than 9 people and shall meet via virtual capabilities (as defined in Task 2).”

Is this temporary STEM TWG included in the three (3) annual virtual TWGs from Task 4.1?

Department Response: The STEM TWG as described in Task Order 0001 PWS Task 5.1.2 is independent of the Technical Working Group of Task Order 0001 PWS Task 4.1.

Question 47: What types of technology platforms are already in use for the current Y4Y portal that the Contractor will perform enhancements on? (i.e. Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, etc.)

Department Response: Please see the answer to Question #14.

Question 48: “Be expected to install and maintain all Y4Y hardware components and keep track of them via an automated reporting and tracking tool.” What automated reporting and tracking tool is currently being used?

Department Response: An automated reporting and tracking tool will not be part of the GFI for this contract.

Question 49: “The Contractor shall provide oversight of all tasks at Y4Y equipment locations.”

Where are the Y4Y equipment locations for which asset management is to be performed?

How many separate Y4Y locations will the contractor be performing asset management for?

Department Response: Location(s) for equipment is dependent on the offeror’s technical solution to this requirement.

Question 50: Does the Department currently have security documentation in place or would the contractor be required to go through the entire security and approval process and prepare all security documentation required? Please elaborate on the security documentation still needed.

Department Response: The Department does have security documentation in place for the Y4Y portal. However, updates to the security documentation will be necessary in order to transition the portal to this contract.

Question 51: The Schedule of Deliverables for Task Order 1 excludes Task 5, yet the solicitation indicates that “the base year of Task Order 0001 will include all tasks included in the IDIQ contract. The Option years will include Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7. Tasks 5 and 6 will be issued as new Task Orders.” Could the Department please clarify this?

Department Response: The Schedule of Deliverables for Task Order 0001 has been revised to reflect applicable deliverables. In the base year only, Task Order 0001 will include all tasks from the ID/IQ contract. In the remaining option years, Task Order 0001 will include Tasks 1 – 4, and Task 7. Tasks 5 and 6 will be issued as new task orders in the option years because the need for SMEs and Enhancement are not know at time of award. They will be developed on a yearly basis.

Question 52: Are the letters of intent from subcontractors and letters of commitment for proposed key personnel included in the page count?

Department Response: Per the Final Solicitation page 25, “The page limit excludes resumes and letters of agreements from subcontractor or partners, if any; however, resumes are limited to two pages per resume.”

Question 53: Does the Department require a minimum amount of past performance references for prime and/or subcontractors? (i.e. 3 for prime, 2 for subcontractors)

Department Response: The Department does not require a minimum amount of past performance references. However, it is the offerors responsibility to ensure that the past performance that they do submit is sufficient to meet the requirements outlined in the Instructions to Offerors.

Question 54: “A spreadsheet describing labor rates of key personnel and number of hours proposed. The…labor mix and labor categories proposed should be consistent with the personnel proposed in the Technical Proposal.” Does this imply that the pricing for Business Proposal as well as the Technical Proposal narrative shall be in response to Attachment A Main PWS (IDIQ Master PWS) or Attachment B PWS (task order)?

Department Response: As stated in the Instructions to Offerors, under Volume II - Business Proposal, “The business proposal shall contain a section entitled “Pricing Schedule” that shall include a chart showing labor categories and loaded labor rates for each year of the IDIQ contract.” The offeror should consider all the task, subtasks, and optional tasks in the Attachment A Main PWS (ID/IQ Master PWS) when developing this price schedule. These proposed labor categories and corresponding labor rates shall be used throughout the ordering period of the ID/IQ contract and applied to future task orders accordingly.

The section referenced in this question, “A spreadsheet describing labor rates of key personnel and number of hours proposed. The titles and rates of personnel proposed to work on this project should be provided. The labor mix and labor categories proposed should be consistent with the personnel proposed in the Technical Proposal,” pertains to Attachment B PWS for Task Order 0001.

Question 55: “f. Meeting Budget Breakdown (Subtasks 4.1 and 4.2) - As part of internal Government reporting requirements on tracking the costs associated with in-person meetings (as opposed to webinar and other non-face-to-face meetings),the offeror shall complete the Excel document titled “Meeting Budget Breakdown” and submit as an Excel document along with the business proposal submission.” Will the Department provide this spreadsheet for offerors to complete?

Department Response: See response to Question #5.

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