PESATD-Amendment 2 RFP Questions and Responses 2-1-2010.pdf

Solicitation Number: ED-IES-10-R-0012 – RFP QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

SUPPORT FOR POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION STATISTICAL ANALYSES AND DATA COLLECTION (PESATD)

1. Please clarify the number of contracts that should be used in providing information about past performance. Section L.6 (page 49) of the instructions indicates each offeror will submit information about its most recent ―four (4) contracts‖ completed in the last three years or currently in process.

However, on page 55, the instructions indicate offerors will submit information about its most ―recent three (3) contracts‖ completed in the last three years or currently in process. Are these statements referring to the same submission, or does page 55 refer to different type of contract information that should be submitted? If it is the same, should offerors submit information for three or four contracts?

Response: Section L.6 (page 49) and the Past Performance Forms instructions on Page 55 are not requesting the same information. Section L.6 (page 49) refers to the ―Past Performance Report‖ that each offeror shall submit as a separately bound part of its proposal for both the offeror and proposed major subcontractors. Whereas, Page 55 refers to Attachment D – Contractor Performance Information- forms.

2. In the Instructions to the Offerors, there are several sections that do not appear to apply to this solicitation. On page 53, under Content of the Technical Proposal, the first paragraph refers to

―random assignment regression discontinuity and experience with teacher compensation strategies.‖

Similarly, on page 55, in the second paragraph under Protection of Human Subjects, there is again a reference to random assignments in a school setting, cluster random assignment, etc. Should different paragraphs be inserted instead of the current wording?

Response: This information was incorrectly inserted and does not apply to this contract

3. On page 53 under Technical Approach, the last sentence begins, ―In particular,‖ and ends abruptly.

Is something missing here?

Response: This is a mistake and should be disregarded.

4. A budget is requested for years 1–5 (page 56 of 60), and staff time required (page 56 of 60) is also requested for five years. Are we correct in assuming that all tasks will repeat each year, and that for

Task 4, there will be an analytic report on a different topic each year?

Response: With the exception of Task 4, which will be a one-time only task, all of the tasks will repeat annually. Task 4, the cost per completions report has a period of performance of 18 months from award of contract.

5. The pricing schedule requests prices associated with deliverables due during the first 18 months of the contract. Does this mean that you only want offerors to submit the pricing schedule for the first 18 months with the proposal, you want offerors to propose additional deliverable dates and associated pricing after the first 18 months, or you wish to provide additional deliverable dates?

Response: The pricing schedule should cover all 60 months. Offerors may revise the Pricing

Schedule as needed to meet all the necessary deliverables and their associated pricing.

6. The pricing schedule lists ―CD Archive: Quarter 1 due on July 15, 2010‖ twice. Should the second listing be deleted or should this submission be due on July 15, 2011?

Response: CD Archive of NEDRC question will due on July 15, 2010.

7. The items on the pricing schedule, particularly for Task 5, do not match the subtasks in the SOW.

Please clarify by providing additional items on the pricing schedule or explaining how the tasks and subtasks map into the pricing schedule.

Response: Offerors may revise the Pricing Schedule as needed to meet all the necessary deliverables and their associated pricing.

8. There is contradictory information about font size and spacing of the proposal on page 53 of 60, i.e., 11-point Times New Roman with spacing of 1.5 lines versus 12-point font with double spacing.

Please indicate which is correct.

Response: The proposal should be in 11 point Times New Roman with spacing of 1.5 lines.

9. Section L.7 (page 47) indicated that Past Performance is a separate volume, but Section L.11 (page

53) indicates only a technical and a business volume. Please clarify.

Response: See L. 6 314-1 Past Performance Report (Mar 1996)

10. Are Appendixes included in the 100-page limit?

Response: No appendixes are not included in the 100 page limit.

11. SF33 states ―original and 6‖ hard copies, but Section L.11 (p.53) states ―five (5) hard copies‖ for the technical proposal and ―two (2) hard copies‖ for the business proposal. No copy quantity is given for the Past Performance volume if Past Performance should be a separate volume.

Response: In additional to the electronic copy via e-mail, please submit five (5) hard copies for the technical proposal; two (2) hard copies‖ for the business proposal; and two (2) hard copies of the Past

Performance Report.

12. On page 55 of 60, there are several points listed after Organizational Capabilities, Experience &

Resources. These points are:

* The primary author for each section of the Technical Proposal shall be identified by name.

* An organizational chart and a statement relating corporate experience to the subtask areas in this project.

* An internal quality control plan that addresses accountability in each subtask area.

* Short abstracts of current work shall include the name, current affiliation and current telephone number of the study's project officer. This section should briefly identify resources (other than personnel), such as facilities and equipment that are available for use in carrying out the activities of this project. Applicable contractor past performance should include evidence of experience in program evaluations that involve: random assignment in a school setting; cluster random assignment; regression discontinuity;

matched comparison design; interrupted time series; collection and analysis of quantitative data; teacher compensation strategies, teacher compensation; prior successful work in conducting studies of a similar nature.‖

We are not clear whether these points were meant to be included as part of ―Organizational

Capabilities, Experience & Resources,‖ since some of them appear relevant to that section (e.g., short abstracts of current work), while others seem more appropriate for other sections (e.g., an internal quality control plan) or seem not to apply to this solicitation (e.g., random assignment in a school setting). Could you please clarify?

Response: Offeror should address these capabilities, experiences and resources throughout the technical proposal.

13. There are some minor discrepancies between deliverable dates in different parts of the SOW: The summary and timeline of deliveries (page 14) says that NPEC Website Archive is due April 15th annually compared to the March 15th annual due date specified on page 12; Data File Delivery for both EADA and Campus Crime in the summary table is specified as December 31, 2010 compared to December 17, 2010, as specified on page 11.-

Response: Data file delivery for Campus Crime and EADA is due December 31 st , while NPEC website archive is due April 15 th

14. Subtask 1.2 (page 3 of the SOW) requests that the monthly report includes ―a section specifically titled Small Business Subcontracting Plan.‖ Are we correct in assuming that this is not necessary, since this is a Small Business Set-Aside Contract?

Response: Correct. In accordance with FAR 19.702(b), Subcontracting Plans are not required from

Small Business Concerns.

15. For budgeting purposes for Task 4, Analytic Report on Cost per Completion, can the Department provide an estimate of the scope of this report? For example, approximately how many fields of study are anticipated? What is the estimated length of the report? Who is the intended audience for the report?

Response: Offerors should explain their approach in the proposal

15. Under Task 5, Web Data Collection Surveys, Activities 5 and 13 appear to be identical. Should one of these activities be dropped?

Response: The activities are identical. The one change that should be made is that the data should be submitted on CD in Excel, SPSS, SQL and SAL formats. Note that Excel was added

16. For budgeting purposes, how many workgroups are anticipated under Activity 14 in Task 5, Web

Data Collection Surveys? - For Year 1 of the contract, we do not anticipate having to convene a workgroup for the Campus Crime Handbook.

Response: In the future, we anticipate one meeting which will last approximately 2 days and will involve only local participants, therefore travel and per diem will not need to be provided.

17.Under Task 5, Web Data Collection Surveys, two trainings are anticipated under Activity 15. Where will the trainings take place? How many attendees are anticipated at each training?-

Response: The trainings will be local and conducted at one of the Department or Education buildings and we anticipate 25 participants.

18. As a small business, we do not have negotiated indirect rate agreements with any agency of the federal government, and historically have not proposed on cost-reimbursement contracts. Since you have identified that the contract you would award as a result of this solicitation would be fixed price, would ED accept the budget in the business proposal you request in Section L.10 (page 56) using fully-loaded labor rates, along with an itemization of other non-labor direct costs? Also, are those required from potential sub-contractors?

Response: Yes.

19. Can you provide a detailed diagram of the current configuration for the system?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A which details the IES/ NCES System Environment.

20. On the environment concept diagram, is this the current high level architecture, or conceptually how you would like the site architecture designed and delivered?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A which details the IES/ NCES System Environment.

21. Are there any service level requirements for the system?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A which details the IES/ NCES System Environment.

22. What is the percentage of availability required for this system?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A

23. What are the support requirements? Tier I technical support, end user support requirements?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A

24. Are there any planned changes to the current architecture of the site?

Response: No.

25. Is there a standard format for the various data feeds?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A

26. Could you provide a listing of the formats currently utilized by the various data feeds?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A

27. How often are the data feeds updated?

Response: All the information that will be provided to potential offerors is contained in Appendix A

28. Could you describe the current data collection process in more detail?

Response: See SOW and the website.

29. What is the quantity of video and other legacy files that may need to be converted for the website?

Response: The web version directory of all of the files is a total of 66.1MB. However, when the program is running, each scene is preloaded and you only see one scene at a time which is an average of 150-200

KB.

30. Could bidder be provided with the current database architecture?

Response: Current web applications conform to IT Standards, See Appendix A of SOW

31. Are there any planned architectural changes to the database? Applications?

Response: See SOW for NCES requirements for the task.

32. If surveys are to be added or additional questions added to new surveys, can bidder assume the survey questions and field parameters will be provided by Dept of Education or other source?

Response: Yes.

33. Is bidder to provide help desk system for the creation and tracking of the help desk call records?

Response: Yes.

34. How long does historical data need to be kept by the contractor?

Response: Historical data in this task refers to call received by the help desk. This call record system began in the 2008 data collection. Therefore all historical call records must be archived in the collection system as well as all new calls.

35. Can bidder recommend other technology for data delivery other than CD's (for example, SFTP)?

Response: Offeror to provide any additional suggestions in their proposal.

36. Is it a one time conversion (i.e. migration to the new DB format) or is it a continuous process (i.e.

sync/replication of existing DBs with the new ones)?

Response: Migration is an on-going process. There are several migrations of the data as cases come in.

Each time the updated database replaces the old one.

37. Should contractor deliver data in all 3 formats (SPSS, SQL, SAL) or either one of those?

Response: All three.

38. Is there a protocol for electronic transmission defined or contractor should develop its own protocol?

Response: The contractor will be expected to develop an electronic transmission protocol, but NCES will make available other transmission protocols from similar data collections.

39. Will transferred data uploaded to the Accredited schools databases require converting data into the different formats for Schools' databases or is this part unified already?

Response: The completion of this task is dependent upon ED satisfaction that an acceptable level of standardization can be reached by accrediting agencies with respect to the way they report similar data to

ED. This is interaction between the ED and the Accrediting Agencies and not interacting with individual schools. If an agreement cannot be reached between ED and the accrediting agencies, then this task will not be performed.

40. Should contractor deliver data in all three formats (Excel, SQl, SPSS) or any of these formats?

Response: All three.

41. What is the level of fault tolerance for the system?

Response: See Appendix A which details the IES/ NCES System Environment.

42. What is the data retention requirements for the system?

43. What are the security requirements for the system?

44. Is the required place of performance Washington, DC for the required contractor secured facility?-

Response: No

45. Are the current help desk activities located in Washington, DC or can these services be performed offsite?-

Response: Yes, helpdesk activities can be performed off site

46. What was the previous annual contract value for this work?

Response: This information can be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

47. Is the incumbent vendor eligible to bid on this contract?

48. Is this contract a small business set-aside?

Response: Yes

49. Are identified vendor project staff required to have government security clearance prior to the proposal submission or will the Department of Education allow the incoming contractor a designated time period to obtain security clearances for all personnel?

Response: The contractor will have a designated time period to obtain security clearances for all personnel

50. How many staff (FTE’s) currently work on this project for the incumbent vendor?

Response: This information can be provided under a FOIA. However, it takes approximately .75

FTEs to provide support for the NEDRC. NCES will provide information on the average number of calls received as part of the help desk for Task 5 Data Collection Activities.

51. How many calls are received monthly at the associated call center/1-800 number?

Response: Please see attachment C

52. Will the incoming vendor inherit the systems already developed by the outgoing vendor?

a. If yes, what are these systems? Please supply all technical documents relating to these, including ETL routines and data schemas.

b. If no, please supply all technical standards, import file specifications, report and analysis specifications.

Response: Yes. See SOW.

53. Is the system hosted by U.S. DoEd or is it expected that the vendor hosts it.-

a. If hosted by the DoED, please supply a technical description of this hosting environment and the service level agreement with the hosting facility.

b. If hosted by the vendor, please supply the service level agreement expected for the host facility.

Response: The development server, where the initial design work is done is hosted on the contractor’s server. When the data collection system is ready to go live, it is migrated over to the department of

Education’s server. Both environments need to conform to the IT Technical Standards which are included in Appendix A of the SOW.

54. What third-party software applications does DoED license that are relevant to the systems for this project? What versions of these software applications is DoED currently using?

Response: All of this information is included in Appendix A of the SOW.

55. Does DoED plan any major upgrades to the system and/or host environment that would fall within the span of this contract?

Response: No

56. Please provide the existing system documentation, such as requirements, design, architecture, change logs, etc. for the Website referenced for Activity 2 and all other systems that are included within the scope of this contract. This information will be necessary to scope the IT portion of the project under a fixed price contract.

Response: See Appendix A, all websites must conform to these standards

57. By task, what is the estimated level of effort (hours) required to perform the work outlined in this Performance Work Statement (PWS)?

Response: Provide a proposal each task.

58. Is the scope of work defined in the PWS currently performed via a single contract, or are there multiple contracts?

Response: This will be a single contract, which has multiple components to it.

59. What is the current level of effort (hours) on the existing contract(s)?

60. What is the estimated budget for the work outlined in this PWS?

Response: Provide a proposal to perform each task.

61. What are the major improvements that ED would like to realize as an outcome of the new contract?

Response: All of the requirements for this contract have been specified in the SOW

62. What is the expected award date for this procurement?

Response: The end of March.

65. What is the expected transition period from the incumbent and is there a schedule for transition?

Response: The company that is awarded the contract will be expected to begin work immediately.

66. What support is the incumbent expected to provide to the contractor during the transition period?

Response: See above response under #63

64.Section B.1 and other areas of the RFP indicate that the government intends to award a fixed price contract; however, section B.2 discusses provisional and negotiated indirect cost rates.

These rates are customarily changed on an annual basis. Does the government intend to require detailed cost information to support incremental billing for this fixed price contract?

63. Given privacy act concerns, would ED accept GSA‐approved labor category descriptions and rates for key personnel, versus salary information?

Response: The offeror may provide GSA‐approved labor category descriptions and rates for key personnel.

67. Section F.1 of the RFP indicates that the base period is 60 months, the entire contract period. Customarily, a base period and several option periods are specified for multiyear efforts. .Are there option periods in the term of this contract?

68. Section F.4 indicates that the contractor shall provide invoices indicating the amount of time worked, the date, and number of hours and work performed for any consultants utilized in performance of this project. Please confirm that detailed cost information will not be required in support of this fixed price contract.

Response: Detail cost information is required to support the invoice charges.

70. Section G.1 indicates that the invoice format is provided as Attachment C; however, no

Attachment C is appended to this RFP. Please provide Attachment C.

Response: Attachment C – Billing Instructions will be provided to the contractor.

69. Please confirm that the winning contractor will not be required to provide detailed cost information for the monthly report.

Response: Detail cost information is required to support the monthly report.

71.L.10 indicates that an original and five hard copies are required. Please clarify the number of copies required in response to this RFP.

Response: See response #11.

72. Task 1.2 of the SOW requires monthly reports containing small business subcontracting plans and the status of those plans. However, Section L.10 identifies this RFP is a small business set aside. Please confirm that monthly small business subcontracting plans will be required from the small business contractor.

Response: Small Business Set-aside, no subcontracting plan required.

73. L. 10: requests that the response indicate an ―understanding of the project and familiarity with the issues relevant to designing and conducting random assignment impact evaluations in a school day setting‖. Please clarify how this requirement applies to this RFP.

Response: This language is in error and non-applicable to the PESATD.

74. L. 10: The RFP states that offerors should provide ―evidence of prior successful evaluation work in the areas including, program evaluations that involve: random assignment in a school setting; cluster random assignment; regression discontinuity; matched comparison design;

interrupted time series; collection and analysis of quantitative data; teacher compensation strategies, teacher compensation. How does this apply to the analytic report on cost per completion or other studies expected from this project?

Response: This language is in error and non-applicable to the PESATD.

75. We understand the need to provide a build or basis of estimate for the fixed price effort by subtask category, personnel, year etc., and by deliverable, in the pricing schedule. Please clarify the need for the following paragraph requesting direct and indirect cost which apply to a ―Cost‐Plus‖ effort. ―The cost estimate should contain breakdowns of direct charges for personnel, materials, supplies, and all other major budget items as well as indirect cost rates used in preparing the cost estimate. Indirect rates shall be consistent and in accordance with current provisional billing rate agreements. A copy of current indirect rate agreements shall be included with the business proposal‖.

Response: This is a fixed price contract not ―Cost-Plus...‖. A breakdown of costs is requested for proposal analysis.

76. Standard form 33 indicates that an original and 6 six hard copies are required; however Section

Section L. 10 lists two different format options for the proposal – 11‐point Times New Roman, with

1.5 line spacing, and 12‐point font (type not specified) with double spacing. Please clarify which format is preferred.

Response: See Responses to #8 and #11.

77. The following response pertains to the below group of questions which pertain to Task 2.

*Please provide the current and expected number of constituents anticipated under Task 2?

*Please estimate the number of requests these items incur per day/week or month?

*How many staff members are currently used?

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide the number of requests during the last year that required new datasets etc…: In response to requests for information, create new datasets and extracts consisting of variables from the components of different PSD surveys.

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide call volume, duration, time to disposition and other call statistics: Maintain telephone facilities and a toll free telephone number to receive requests from the Department's constituents. These facilities shall be staffed between 12:00 noon and 5:00 p.m.

(Eastern Time) Monday through Friday.

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide the number of emails received during a given period and the level of effort required to respond to the ―average email‖: Maintain an e‐mail account to receive and to respond to requests from the public and from other government agencies.

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide a copy of a current log of requests, including number of hours spent on requests: Maintain a tracking log that records all requests received, which includes the name of the requestor, affiliation, email address, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, description of work performed, and numbers of hours spent responding to request

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide the number and scope of custom tabulations required in the past year, and the expected future requests over the contract duration: Respond to information requests from NCES for customized data tabulations within 5 business days from request.

*With respect to the following paragraph, please provide the frequency, size and type of requests for information: Distribute data to NCES' constituents and respond to requests for information, relying first on published material, and second, on analysis, within 5 working days

Response: The task monitor for the NEDRC closely works with the NEDRC to be sure to supervise the amount of work performed, set a priority for responses, set limits of the number of responses which a specific agency of individual can receive. Once the contract is awarded, the task monitor will sit down the contractor and discuss these requirements. Since the volume of the calls, faxes, and emails varies greatly from month to month, it is impossible to calculate an average that will be meaningful. Based on the last 5 years of the contract, and working closely with NEDRC task monitor however, NCES can state that it will not take more than .75 FTEs to support the NEDRC.

78. With respect to the following paragraph, please provide the number of current databases (both physical and logical), tables, data elements, and records: Maintain all databases necessary to respond to requests in a secure contractor‐supplied facility. Additionally, if the system is to be hosted at the contractor’s facility, please provide information regarding the current environment;

e.g., number and type of servers, software installed, number of web visits and hits per month, and size of the current databases.

Response: Occasionally, a request will come in to the NECRC that requires the contractor to create variables or do some programming to create a custom dataset or table using postsecondary databases that can be downloaded from the NCES website. These are the databases, tables, data elements and records that are referenced in the quote ―Maintain all databases necessary to respond to requests in a secure contractor‐supplied facility”. Information on NCES’ current IT environment can be found in Appendix

A in the SOW.

79. What is the volume or extent of this work?

Response: The contractor will be expected to maintain the NPEC website. It is not expected that the website will need to be redesigned, but it will need to occasionally be updated to reflect the new activities, members or NPEC reports. The NPEC website is not a very large website, please see it at http://nces.ed.gov/npec/and the updating will consist primarily of posting updated documents to the site or making small editorial changes as directed by the task monitor.

80. What type of content is expected to be created: abstracts or descriptions of pre‐written reports and data, or new data analysis?

Response: The contractor will not be expected to create content.

81. Does this mean developing an aggregation algorithm based on CIP codes? In other words, are cost estimates to be created for each existing CIP code, or for aggregated groups of CIP codes? Or is it for a strategic group of CIP codes closely aligned with national interests such as math, science, technology and foreign languages?

Response: The Cost per Completion paper will be a collaborative process between the contractor and

NCES. NCES will work with the contractor to develop logical groupings of CIP codes for which the cost per completions will be calculated.

82. The RFP states to use Completions, Finance and SFA to develop costs for completion. Are these the sole datasets to be used for this analysis? Can we use other data sets, such as NSOPF?

Response: Yes, in addition to IPEDS data, other NCES postsecondary sample data, such as NSOPF may be used.

83. Is the analysis in Task 4 to include all institutional sectors? Or can we focus on selected sectors, and a sample?

Response: Task 4 will be limited to degree granting postsecondary institutions

84. Is the analysis in Task 4 to include a universe of institutions? Or is a sample expected?

Response: The universe for Task 4 will be limited to degree granting postsecondary institutions.

85. Are cost estimates to be developed separately for graduate and terminal degrees and undergraduate baccalaureate and sub‐baccalaureate students?

Response: Yes, it is expected that the cost estimate will be calculated for different award levels.

86. Are the costs that are to be estimated the costs to the student, to the institution, or both?

Response: It will be the total cost which includes costs to the student and costs incurred by the institutions.

87. Would ED entertain altering the schedule and scope for this task to include a data collection?

Response: No . This will be all secondary analysis and will not include data collection.

88. Please provide the current level of effort for the activities under Task 5. How much of the work is new development versus operations and maintenance?

Response: Please see Attachment C

89. What tasks regarding the 2010 data collection will the incumbent be responsible for during the transition period?

Response: None. The company which receives this contract will be expecting to assume all responsibilities for the 2010 OPE Data Collections. The incumbent will hand over all existing files and documentation.

90. Is the current contractor standing up the September 2010 data collection?

Response: No.

91. Regarding the Campus Crime Data Collection—are the Fire Safety data to be included in this collection as well?

Response: Yes

Does this also include the new requirements on missing persons reporting?

92. Can you provide the number of FTE staff needed to run the Campus Crime help desk, or indicate a volume of inquiries expected?

93. When is the updated handbook scheduled for release?

Response: April 2010

94. Is the contractor required to develop a new Website application for Activity 2, or is the existing application owned by ED and therefore to be transitioned to the new contractor?

Response: The existing application will be transferred to the new contractor and the new contractor will be responsible for any updates. Major changes are not anticipated in this application.

95. What is the name of the current system used to capture electronic call records? Is the system owned by ED and therefore provided as GFE?

Response: The name of the system is not necessary to respond to this RFP. The system is owned by the government and will be turned over to the company that is awarded the contract.

96. Please provide all relevant call volumes, durations, peak volume periods, reasons for calls, average call times, first call resolution statistics/percent of calls resolved via the initial call and other ―help desk‖ statistics by month and year to assist in scoping this effort via a fixed price contract.

Response: Please see attachment C

97. Can ED provide the concept of operations, standard operating procedures, and training materials used by the technical help desk?

Response: All training materials are available to the public and can be found through searching the

Department of Education’s website. ED will not furnish the concept of operations or standard operating procedures as this information is not needed to respond to the RFP.

98. Please provide the number of help desk staff currently supporting this project by month and year.

Additionally, information related to the help desk support required for each of the data collections would be helpful in determining the scope of those projects from a staffing standpoint.

99. Can ED provide information on what efforts have been made to modernize the data collection instruments utilized to conduct the surveys required by the PWS?

100. What is the required response rate (e.g., 95%) for each of the data collection surveys? What response rates were achieved over the past three years?

Response: All Title IV postsecondary institutions are required to complete the Campus Crime Survey, EADA Survey and the Accredited Schools List. Therefore the Department strives for 100 percent and has made this goal for the past 4 years.

101. What are the survey open and close dates for each of the data collections?

Response: This information is contained in the SOW.

102. Can ED provide the user guides for each of the systems and separate data collections?

103. Is the contractor required to send paper forms, memos, or correspondence via the U.S. Postal

Service? If yes, can ED provide the anticipated volumes per year and indicate who is responsible for the postage costs?

Response: The contractor is responsible for preparing the paper forms, memos, and correspondence, but the Department will actually post mark them and mail them out.

104. In anticipation of providing updates and maintenance for the NPEC website should offerors assume that the NPEC website, http://nces.ed.gov/npec , which currently has 7 html pages and several pdf files mostly remain the same size?

105. In addition to the static web pages on the NPEC website will the contractor also be responsible for the creation of all pdf files that reside on the NPEC site?

http://nces.ed.gov/npec

Response: Yes, the contractor will be responsible for creating the pdf files from documents which are given to the contractor. They will not be responsible for the actual content.

106. In addition to the pdf files that reside on the NPEC website will the contractor also be responsible for the creation of all, some or none of the NPEC related pdf files that can be found through the NCES publication search, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/, that are identified as NPEC publications?

Response: The contractor will not be expected to go back and create and convert any previous NPEC publications to pdf files. The contractor shall be responsible for converting NPEC reports that appear on the NPEC website into pdf files, but will not be expected to post them to the NCES pubs search website.

Will the contractor be responsible for the update and maintenance of the NEDRC website

(currently 7 html pages), http://nces.ed.gov/partners/nedrc/.

108. Is the current list of 7 PSD databases contained on the NEDRC website, http://nces.ed.gov/partners/nedrc/accessible.asp, the only databases that the contractor will be responsible for answering requests from? If not what other databases should be included?

Response: The contractor will be responsible for using any postsecondary data or publications produced by NCES /IES to respond to requests. It the responsibility of the contractor to make themselves knowledgeable about the different postsecondary data and publications produced by NCES/IES as part of preparing their response to the RFP.

109. Should offerors anticipate that they are responsible for the posting of the NEDRC tables that are found on the NEDRC Table Library website at http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/nedrc_tables.asp?

110. In what format does the contractor need to provide the tables so posting can occur?

Response: Based on the response to question 6, this question is no longer applicable.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/ http://nces.ed.gov/partners/nedrc/.Response:%20%20No http://nces.ed.gov/partners/nedrc/.Response:%20%20No http://nces.ed.gov/partners/nedrc/accessible.asp http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/nedrc_tables.asp

111. Approximately how many requests for NEDRC help come in on an annual basis through the NEDRC form request at http://nces.ed.gov/partners/NEDRC/form.asp?

Through phone calls? Through fax? Through email? Through U.S. mail?-

Response: See Chart on Help Desk numbers

112. Please provide the information that is currently maintained in the NEDRC tracking log that records all requests received, which includes the description of work performed, and numbers of hours spent responding to request.

Response: See SOW

113. In which of the three categories found on the IPEDS Table Library, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/tables_library/, are NEDRC created tables typically posted?

Response: This question is not relevant to this RFP because the contractor is not responsible for posting tables to the IPEDS table library.

114. Is the contractor responsible for the posting of these tables to the IPEDS Table

Library or are they handed off to someone else for posting?

Response: No, another contractor deals with formatting and posting all tables to the

IPEDS Table Library.

115. In what format does the contractor need to provide the tables so posting can occur on the IPEDS Table Library?

Response: Contractor is to propose

116. In what format are the newly created datasets and extracts, consisting of variables from the components of different NCES surveys, to be developed for NEDRC?

Response: The newly created datasets and extracts should be created in a format that is compatible with the three statistical packages currently used by NCES- SPSS, SAS and

STATA.

117. If no standard format in what various formats have these new datasets been created in the past?-

Response: The datasets have been created in a format that is compatible with the three statistical packages currently used by NCES- SPSS, SAS, and STATA.

http://nces.ed.gov/partners/NEDRC/form.asp http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/tables_library/

118. Which single year of IPEDS data will be required for the development of this report, or is this a trend report that will require using multiple years of IPEDS data for the three mentioned surveys (IPEDS Completions Survey, the IPEDS Finance

Component, and IPEDS Student Financial Aid Survey), and if so which years?-

Response: The task will require multiple years of IPEDS data. The exact years to be used will be determined as part of the analysis plan, which will be developed a collaborative process between the contractor and the NCES task monitor.

119. Will the report require analysis down to the 6-digit level of CIP code?

120. Is the report to be created for all postsecondary institutions in the IPEDS universe or is it for a subset of institutions based on level of institution and type of award conferred? If for a subset please define what that subset will be.-

Response: It will be limited to degree granting institutions.

121. Will this report require the creation of tables for each state?

122. Approximately how many tables in total will be created for this report?

Response: Contractor is to propose

123. Approximately how many pages of text does NCES anticipate the report will end up having?

Response: Contractor is to propose.

124. . Which of the following formats will the contractor be responsible for in terms of a final product: a print version, a PDF format, a web version of the report to include text, tables and graphs?-

Response: All of the above.

125. Will tables created for this report be merged into the IPEDS Tables Library, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/tables_library/, and if so what format will the tables need to be in for this to happen?

Response: See the NCES/IES Style Standards which will specify how the tables need to be formatted for posting to the NCES website.

http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/tables_library/

125. Will the database that is used to conduct the analysis need to be created solely in a format that is compatible with the three major statistical packages used by NCES, i.e., STATA, SPSS and SAS, or will a database need to be created specifically for each of these formats?

Response: The database will need to be created in a format(s) that is compatible with all three of these statistical packages.

127. Please provide test login information for https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/athletics/ so offerors can see the current survey configuration in its entirety.

Response: This information is not necessary to respond to the RFP.

128. Although referred to, the OPE survey https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ is not specifically mentioned in the RFP. Is this survey part of the procurement or is it being replaced in its entirety by Task 5- Activity 10: Electronic Transmission of ASL

Data?

Response: As discussed in the RFP, the OPE Data Collection Activities consist of the

Campus Crime Survey, EADA Survey, and the Accredited School List. Unlike the other two surveys, the Accredited Schools data collection is a continuous, on-going process.

129. Please provide test login information for https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ so offerors can see the most recent survey configuration for accreditation in its entirety.

130. Please provide test login information for https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/security/ so offerors can see the current survey configuration in its entirety.

131. How many surveys are submitted directly by intuitions, by system coordinators, by state coordinators?

Response: Contractor is to research

132. Please provide a list of state coordinators.

Response: Not necessary to respond to the RFP.

133. What was the most recent year’s rate of institutional responses that required error resolution? Please provide this for both the EADA and Campus Crime Surveys.

https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/athletics/ https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ https://surveys.ope.ed.gov/security/

134. The data tool, http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/, is not specifically mentioned in the

SOW. Will the contractor be responsible for updating and maintain this data tool or is it to be replaced by a new data tool that will be developed through this procurement?

Response: Yes, See SOW.

135. In addition to the Campus Crime handbook, http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/campus.html, should the offeror assume that they are to be responsible for the update and maintenance of http://www.ed.gov/campus-crime/index.html or to develop alternative on-line training sessions?

Response: Yes, See SOW

136. You have provided the web standards for the IES/NCES Web Standards but the

Campus Crime Handbook and on-line training are not on those servers. Instead they reside on the ED web servers which have a different set of standards and operating procedures. Please provide the information for developing and getting website material on the Dept. of ED web servers.

Response: This can be found at ed.gov

137. Please provide the complete architecture that for the Integrated Postsecondary

Education Data System (IPEDS) data collection system. This should ideally include, but not be limited to, programming languages used, database structure (e.g. number of tables and elements), and type of files.

Response: This information is not necessary to respond to the RFP.

The IPEDS data collection system conforms to the NCES/IT Web Standards, which are included in the SOW in Appendix A.

How many tables and rows are in the databases?

138. Please provide the current user guides for the EADA data collection application.-

Response: This information is available on the EADA website

139. Please provide the names of individuals who have recently served as workgroup members to support development and or changes to the Handbook/User Guides/ data

Tool development.

Response: This information will not be provided it is not necessary to respond to the

RFP.

140. How often have these workgroups met and how many people have been supported for their attendance (e.g. travel, per diem).

http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/campus.html http://www.ed.gov/campus-crime/index.html http://www.ed.gov/campus-crime/index.html

Response: Workgroups that have met to update the Campus Crime Handbook only met once and include local people only, so there is no travel or per diem provided.

141. Please provide information on past training sessions requested by OPE to support the Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting and the on-line Campus

Crime Training. This information should include, but not be limited to, the number of people attending, how many were supported to attend (e.g. travel and per diem), and where the meetings took place, how long the meetings were.

Response: Please see response to previous question.

Please provide a complete list of current web edit checks and parameters that have been implemented into the EADA and Campus Crime surveys.

142. In addition to the web surveys and data tools are the online training materials (e.g.training video) also required to be Section 508 compliant?

Response: Yes and the video training needs to be in Flash Format as part of

Section 508 Compliance.

143. Is there any data imputation required for either the EADA or campus

Crime surveys? If so please specify which variables are considered "key" variables for imputation for each survey component.

Response: No imputation occurs.

144. For those institutions that must undergo instrument non-response imputation rather than item non-response imputation, will the instrument non-response imputation be limited to key variables only?

Response: No imputation occurs.

145. Please provide copies of the existing training materials used for the EADA and Campus Crime surveys which were used in on-site or on-line training.

Response: Not releasable

146. Are there current methodology reports for the EADA and Campus Crime data collections can be made available?-

Response: These do not exist

147. Since this contract in intended to ―provide support for OPE’s three data collections which are used by PSD to populate College Navigator‖ are there any specific tasks that are associated with this desired outcome?

148. Will the Government please clarify if there is a need for a transition plan as a part of the proposal response? If so, where should this be addressed in the technical proposal?

Response: There is no transition plan, whoever is awarded this contract needs to be able to come in and start work immediately.

149. Will the Government please provide the size of all 3 current databases, EADA, Campus Crime, and Accreditation?

150. Will the Government please clarify if there are testing, and configuration management tools currently being used by the IES technology team that will be made available to the winning bidder during developmental stages?

151. Can a picture of the current IT architecture please be provided showing all servers and which applications are running on those servers?

Response: This information is contained in Appendix A of the SOW.

152. Roughly how many lines of code comprise the data tool and survey applications?

How many tables and rows are in the database?

153. What are the average number of calls and emails per week for the current help desk? What are the maximum (peak) calls and emails the help desk has encountered within the survey cycle year?

154. The proposal states for both the Campus Crime and EADA surveys ―Test that the modified system functions in the same fashion as the IPEDS developed system.‖ Please provide all necessary documentation and access to resources to help illustrate how the current IPEDS system operates.

This information will be shared with the winning bidder.

155. Activity 6 in Task 5 states ―Maintain and enhance the electronic call record for both technical and policy related questions directed to the Help Desk related to Campus

Crime, EADA and the Accredited Schools List.‖ Please provide all necessary documentation so that offerors can assess the current electronic help desk system in order to understand what enhancements might be recommended.

156. Please provide ―the previous year’s call sheets.‖

157. How many accrediting agencies are there that will require to be included in the data collection effort?

Response: This number varies from year to year, but there are typically fewer than 50.

158. There is no mention of an administrative tool that allows OPE/NCES staff access to survey status such as number of schools with data submitted, number of schools with outstanding edits, help desk issues that need resolution. Is this currently being provided and if so will it continue to be a requirement of this contract? If so, in which task should that requirement be placed?

Response: There is an administrative tool within the OPE Data Collections that allow Department of Education staff to view summary status. This is sufficient for OPE’s oversight and no additional information is required or will be part of the next data collection system.

159. Due to the specific nature of the many questions, and the anticipated breadth of the responses, and the need to receive the information to adequately prepare proposals for a fixed price procurement will the Government please provide a 4-week extension on the proposal due date of February 8, 2010?

Response: No this is not possible

Help Desk Question(s): Responses:

160.

What kinds of policy related questions come into the help desk?

The answer to this question can be found in the SOW.

161.

What format do the call records need to be placed into when provided to ED for analysis?

Excel or CSV format

162.

The RFP states ―Load the previous year’s call sheets, edit them and make the entire record available to the help desk and ED staff.‖ So by previous year is there a migration of existing call center, or does this mean within the scope of this contract maintain really a minimum of 1 prior cycle so this wouldn’t kick in until year 2?

The contractor should expect to load in the previous year’s call sheets into the data collection system, so they can be accessed.

163.

Are there performance (SLA) requirements for this contract? If so, what are they

NCES cannot answer this question because we do not know what SLA means.

164.

What…