QandA_Phase_1_Solicitation.pdf

Solicitation ED-FSA-14-R-0007 Phase 1: NSLDS Questions and Answers

Number Solicitation Reference Question/Comment Response

1 Solicitation Section F.3. Will the government consider extending the proposal due date beyond March 6th? Yes, it has been extended to Tuesday, 3/11 at 12pm EST.

2 Solicitation Section A. Will this be awarded to multiple vendors? No, this will be a single award to a small business prime contractor in Phase 2.

3 Solicitation Section D.5 Should the cost estimation include the re-hosting option?

No, the cost estimation should only include the base year and four option years for O&M support as well as customer service support. Do not include the re-hosting option in the estimate for Phase 1. See Solicitation Section D.5. and F.1.A. Section B., for additional details regarding the estimated cost.

Attachment 1, SOO, Section 3.3 – Customer Service

The Business Proposal instructions specify that offerors provide an estimated annual firm-fixed price for the base period and four option periods, and the referenced Attachment 5 includes just one row for provision of estimated costs. Section 3.3 of the SOO states that “All Customer Service Center functions under this contract shall be severable, and should be priced as a separate line item within the proposal.” Should the offeror provide the customer service center as an optionally priced service within the Business Proposal?

The cost estimation for Phase 1 should also include customer service support separately for the one-year base and four one-year options. Attachment 5 will be amended accordingly. See Solicitation Section D.5. and F.1.A.

Section B., for additional details regarding the estimated cost.

5 What is the place of performance? Performance must occur within the United States; however, the offeror must have a presence within the Washington, DC Metropolitan area with the ability to access the FSA Program Office daily.

6 Solicitation Section D.2.B Would expertise in mining and analyzing similarly complex data as Title IV data would be acceptable?

Yes, Subfactor 2.B.v. "Mine & analyze queries" is now updated to require offerors to demonstrate experience with mining and analyzing data of comparable scope and complexity as Title IV data.

7 Solicitation Section 2.C Is Cool:Gen experience a requirement for the Platform factor or only similar experience encompassing most of the components in Attachment 3?

The Platform requirement is referring to the hardware listed in Attachment 3. However, the Cool:Gen experience is a requirement for Sub-factor 2B.

Attachment 2, System Processing Volumes and Attachment 4, Evaluation Factors Matrix

In Part II, “New Data Correction Cases” of the Evaluation Factors Matrix, please define specifically what a case may consist of?

Data correction cases are opened when incorrect or outdated information exists within the database and a caller requests that changes be made within the system. A case may consist of any record that needs data correction. For this factor, offerors must demonstrate experience with data correction transactions.

Attachment 2, Appendix A

Are the usage statistics in Attachment 2, Appendix A the minimum required benchmark for Phase 1 evaluation purposes?

Offerors must provide demonstrated ability and experience to operate and maintain system processing levels of comparable size and scope as identifed on page 1 of Attachment 2. Page 1 of Attachment 2 will be used for evaluation of Subfactor 2.A. The Appendix provides background information about historical system volumes.

For Sub-factor 3.A., System Management of PII, Attachment 2, Appendix A, is used a guideline for offerors to provide demonstrated experience of sensitive data management comparable in size.

Solicitation Section F.1.B.

Past Performance

Section B. Past Performance, (a) states that the Offeror must include corporate past performance information, and (b) states the requirement for submitting questionnaires. Additionally, Evaluation Factor 4 states that the offeror must provide past performance experience, past performance references, and past performance contact information. There are no page limitations stated for the Past Performance reference information. Are offerors to provide narrative references in addition to questionnaires, or is past performance evaluation related to the information contained in the matrix? If so, what are the page limitations for this section?

Past performance shall be provided through questionnaires and the requested past performance information found in Attachment 4, Evaluation Factors Matrix (Clients' CO and/or Contract Administrators' contact information and CPAR ratings (if applicable)). Attachment 4, Evaluation Factors Matrix shall not exceed four

(4) pages (See Solicitation, Page 6., Section 2. Page Limitations, 1.) The past performance questionnaires do not have a page limitation but no more than three (3) questionnaires shall be submitted per offeror (See Solicitation, Page 6., Section 2. Page Limitations, 4.).

Solicitation Section F.1.B Past Performance

Our understanding of the past performance instructions provided in this section, in conjunction with the past performance evaluation factors described in Section D.4, Past Performance, is that the Government is requesting past performance write-ups for up to three past performances within the specified period and that these past performance write-ups should be included within the Technical Response. The write-ups should focus on describing the relevancy and quality of delivered services similar in nature to the requirements described in the SOO. These write-ups should be provided in addition to the corresponding past performance questionnaires to be provided directly from client references. Please confirm this understanding or clarify the instructions as appropriate.

Past performance shall be provided through questionnaires and the requested past performance information found in Attachment 4, Evaluation Factors Matrix (Clients' CO and/or Contract Administrators' contact information and CPAR ratings (if applicable)). No additional documentation for past performance should be submitted.

Solicitation Section F.1.B, Section A: Evaluation Factors Matrix

Section F.1.B of the Solicitation document states that “Offeror must provide Evaluation Factors Matrix and supporting documents referenced in matrix (See Attachment 4).” Should the Evaluation Factors Matrix (Attachment 4), which is an Excel spreadsheet, be inserted into the main body of the technical proposal (a Word document), or is it acceptable to reference the completed Attachment 4 Excel file from the technical response document and provide it as a separate file?

The Evaluation Factors Matrix is the main response document. The Matrix is the core of the technical proposal.

Solicitation Section F.1. – Proposal Components

From the proposal components listed in Section F.1 of the Solicitation, it is clear that the Government seeks brief, targeted responses to Phase I of solicitation process. It may be helpful to allow vendors to include a brief (e.g., two-page) Executive Summary to provide context for the proposal components, such as the make-up of offeror’s team. Will the Government allow inclusion of such an Executive Summary as a component of the offerors’ Technical and/or Business Proposals?

No, offerors may not submit an executive summary.

Attachment 4: NSLDS Phase 1 Evaluation Factors Matrix

In order to best fit the information provided, may the offeror adjust the width of the columns in the Evaluation Factors Matrix (Attachment 4) as long as page counts and font sizes are adhered to?

Yes, offerors may adjust column widths of Attachment 4 but must be compliant with the solicitation page and font limitations (See Solicitation, Page 6, Section F.1.B.2.).

Attachment 2: System Processing Volumes, Appendix A, Part II:

Customer Call Center Volumes

Is there information on 2013 Call Center volumes?

2013 Customer Service Volumes Total Calls Offered: 42,097 Total Emails Received: 11,311 New Data Correction Cases: 11,811

Attachment 1, SOO Section 7-System Interfaces

The Interfaces section states “For additional information on interfaces, please refer to the Current State document, Interfaces sections for details”. No such Current State document was attached to the solicitation. Please provide the Current State document.

The current state document and any other referenced document in the SOO will be provided in Phase 2.

These reference documents are not needed to respond for Phase 1.

17 Attachment 1, SOO Questions regarding Phase 2, especially questions regarding the SOO.

Phase 2 questions, especially specific questions regarding the SOO, will not be addressed in Phase 1. The questions and comments addressed in this Q&A document are all related to the Phase 1 solicitation, to include the instructions and the evaluation factors. The current SOO is a draft and is subject to change in Phase 2.

Q&A