Attachment 3 Question Answers May 23.docx

Questions on the ESSIN Draft Performance Work Statement Received by Deadline of May 19, 2011 (Answers provided during May 23, 2011 Pre-Solicitation Conference)

Q1 – “Contractor shall include in its bid the names, positions, and qualifications of all staff.” This requirement appears to put non-incumbents at a disadvantage. Will the names only of key staff be sufficient to meet the requirements?

REPLY: Thank you for this input, ED intends on changing the final solicitation to require the inclusion of the name(s), positions and qualifications of staff proposed for Management/Leadership and Senior Professional Staff positions. Also, because many of the tasks are Firm Fixed Price and the offeror must be fully staffed and able to begin work on January 1, 2012, it is important that the Government has clear knowledge of the positions, labor categories, qualifications and hourly rates for each position the offeror proposes in order to provide the work as described. While the offeror may not be able to identify all staff by name, the offeror must provide the qualifications and hourly rates for each position proposed.

Q2 – What is the role of the Project Director (and how is it different from Task Leader)?

REPLY: To avoid unnecessary confusion, ED will use the term Task Leader. The Task Leader shall carry out the overall management and leadership functions for work performed under the task order. Dependent upon the Performance Work Statement and or Statement of Objectives, the Task Leader may also have responsibilities for conducting some of the work.

Are they to charge hours to each of the tasks?

REPLY: The senior staff member (e.g., Task Leader or Senior Scientist) on each PWS is expected to function as an integral member of the contractor’s staffing team, and as such shall bill to the specific task.

Can different tasks have different project directors/task leaders?

REPLY: Yes

Q3 – Can one of the Statistical Standards Program Support TOs be full and open?

REPLY: No, contractor staff hired to work on ESSIN Tasks 1-2012 and 2-2012 must be co-located and work as an integral team on technical review and the related data quality monitoring and special projects described in these tasks. Thus, these two tasks shall be awarded to the same small business. Because the support for these two tasks comes from separate budget lines, they must be awarded and administered separately. A Small Business can team with a large company to offer a response.

Q4 – Are the 19,000 hours of Task 12 for each year or total over 5 years?

REPLY: If we exercise all options, we anticipate the use of this many hours in 2012.

Q5 – Task 11 Subtask 5, please clarify the amount of staffing, either per data request or for all 25 data requests. –

REPLY: For Subtask 5, under the assumptions section, the PWS proposes roughly one-half of an FTE over the course of one year, with estimates by labor types: “Over the year, the number, kind, and complexity of requests for data products cannot be predicted. NCES anticipates a need for two (2) weeks of a Task Leader, one (1) month of a midlevel analyst 3’s time, and one-third (.33) FTE of a Junior Analyst for 25 data requests per year.”

Q6 - Winners of Task 14 and 15 “may not bid on any other NAEP contracts.”

REPLY: This is an error in the draft PWS for Task 14 and 15 and will not be included in the final solicitation.

Are there similar restrictions for the winners of Tasks 9 (for example, not bid on TIMSS and PIAAC), 11 (FRSS/PEQIS), and 12 (NHES and ECLS-K)? –

REPLY: No

Q7 – Can small non-profits be counted towards the 37.3% subcontracting target? Can small non-profits bid as primes on Category B task orders?

REPLY: Only those companies that are certified as small businesses by the Small Business Administration are eligible to respond to Category B Performance Work Statements. Similarly, only those companies that are certified as small businesses by the Small Business Administration shall be counted towards the 37.3% subcontracting target.

Q8 - To be selected for the two groups and to be given the opportunity to compete on future tasks, do you have to be one of the contractors awarded at least one of the 15 task orders? Do you have to be the prime contractor on at least one of the tasks?

REPLY: There are actually 16 tasks. Yes, the ESSI Network will consist of the set of contractors who are awarded one or more of the 16 tasks in the first competition under this contract. Members of the ESSIN are prime contractors.

Q9 - Will each task be awarded to a single contractor or contractor team or could multiple awards be made for an individual task?

REPLY: Yes each Performance Work Statement will be awarded to one contractor or contractor team.

Q10 - The period of performance for many of the tasks (e.g., Task 5, Task 7, Task 11) is 12 months (base period) with annual options for years two through five. Will tasks with a base year and option years be competed only once?

REPLY: Each of the 16 tasks will be awarded for a base period of 9 to 12 months (depending on the start date for the specific work), with options for years two through five. ED reserves the right to terminate the task at the end of year one, to exercise the option to continue the task with the year one contractor, or to recompete the task in any subsequent year.

Q1 - The RFP associates a PWS with each task. Each PWS describes a different mix of service types that may be applicable to NAICS codes other than 541720. The skills and expertise required to respond to the overarching BPA may differ from those required to respond to specific PWS tasks. In addition, as drafted, the RFP requires a Category A or B offeror to submit a proposal for each task/PWS, and allows a Category A or B offeror to submit a proposal for one or more task/PWS’s, but does not require an offeror to respond to all task/PWS’s. That is, the RFP does not require an “all or none” bid. The RFP now lists only NAICS Code 541720 – Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities, for the entire RFP. FAR 19.102, Size Standards, subpart (b)(1), however, requires an agency to assign a NAICS Code to each item of service solicited. In addition, FAR 19.102(e) states that: “If a solicitation calls for more than one item and allows offers to be submitted on any or all items, an offeror must meet the size standard for each item it offers to furnish.” Since the agency (a) is soliciting several different task/PWS’s (b) must assign a NAICS to each task/PWS solicited and (c) is allowing offerors to respond for some task/PWS’s but not all of them, we ask that Education assign a specific NAICS Code appropriate to each task/PWS?

REPLY: ED will assign additional NAICS Codes.

Q2 - The Draft PWS says “The ESSIN will be comprised of up to seven large and small businesses that fall under two groups, Group A and Group B.” (first sentence of the fourth paragraph on p.1). Is this the combined number for the two groups or can up to seven be selected for each group so that the total number of contractors in the ESSIN can be as high as 14?

REPLY: The number of ESSIN firms will not be limited to 7. The number of ESSIN firms is limited only by the number of tasks included in this first solicitation for the ESSIN.

Q3 - Will offerors have an opportunity to provide ED with information on their corporate capabilities and staff experience in the four broad project categories identified on pages 2-5 (statistical methodological research, analysis and reporting, development, project support), or will they only be able to provide this information through their response to specific tasks?

Yes, although ED would prefer that the evidence be provided relative to the specific task on which the contractor is bidding.

Q4 - The draft PWS includes several references to the Instructions to Offerors. Could you make this available to potential bidders?

REPLY: The Government is seeking information and questions from the public on the Draft Performance Work Statement at this time. The Instructions to Offerors will be made available with the anticipated release of the RFP in June 2011.

Q5 - When does NCES plan to release the RFP?

REPLY: See the pre-solicitation notice posted on www.fbo.gov. We anticipate releasing the Solicitation in June.

Q6 - Will this procurement be competed under the ED-SAT vehicle?

REPLY: This is a full and open procurement as advertised on www.fbo.gov, not an EDSAT procurement.