Vendor_Q A_April_24_2015.pdf

U.S. Department of Education Office of Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

Solicitation ED-ESE-15-R-0010 Response to Vendor Questions

April 24, 2015

1. What is the total dollar value of this solicitation over the entire life of the project?

Response: The Department will not be sharing this estimate. Each vendor must develop their own unique technical approach which will determine the level of effort and dollar value.

2. Who is the incumbent on this project?

Response: The Research Foundation for the State University of New York was previously hosting the Results website as contract ED-ESE-10-C-0084. However, ED-ESE-15-R-0010 should not be viewed as a recompete, because the contractor for ED-ESE-15-R-0010 will focus mainly on the functions of the Results website and will not provide the same level of technical assistance, meeting support, and direct community outreach that the previous contract provided.

3. The solicitation mentions this as a Firm Fixed Price-Performance Based Acquisition. Could you please provide us some information and guidelines on the Performance Based Acquisition criteria.

Response: Please see FAR Part 37.6 “Performance-Based Acquisition.”

4. Are there any cost share components to this program that the winning applicant is responsible for?

Response: No, the awardee will be responsible for all costs of hosting the Results website and completing all other tasks required by the Performance Work Statement.

5. Since the work may be spread across multiple states, can the Dept. of Education provide us the list of states that are a primary focus of this program?

Response: The website must be designed to serve all the states to enhance coordination among the Migrant Education Programs (MEPs). Information has been provided in Task 4.2 regarding specific programs that should be targeted.

6. With regards to Task 5.3 Compliance with ED IT Security Policy for ED-ESE-15-R-0010, my understanding is that the solution and the contractor and subcontractors must all be FISMA compliant. If that is accurate interpretation, are there any alternatives to working with your organization on this initiative if the prime or sub isn't FISMA certified, but can deliver a FISMA certified digital solution?

Response: The requirements in the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 do not require a FISMA-specific certification. However, the requirements and standards in FISMA and in the other Federal IT security requirements stated in the PWS must be strictly followed. The system designed for this procurement will need to be FEDRAMP certified and more information can be found at: http://www.fedramp.gov/.

http://www.fedramp.gov/