Transcript Pre-Solicitation Conference 05-04-2012.pdf

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Department of Education: Pre-Solicitation Conference 05-04-2012

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

PRE-SOLICITATION CONFERENCE

May 4, 2012

1:00 p.m.

Capitol Place

80 F Street NW

Room 100 (Large Board Room)

Washington, DC

Reported by: Natasha Thomas http://www.capitalreportingcompany.com/

1 A P P E A R A N C E S

3 Panel Members:

4 Deila Johnson, Contract Specialist

5 Renee Rowland, Contract Officer's Representative

6 Marilyn Seastrom, Acting Deputy Commissioner of

7 National Center for Education Statistics

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 MS. JOHNSON: Good afternoon, everyone.

3 Welcome to the United States Department of

4 Education's pre-solicitation conference for the

5 small business set-aside procurement within the

6 Institute of Education Sciences, National Center

7 for Education Statistics, also known as NCES, 8 titled National Cooperative Education Statistics

9 Systems Contract, also known by the acronym NCESS.

10 My name is Deila Johnson. I am the

11 Contracting Officer for this procurement. The

12 purpose of today’s conference is to disseminate

13 information to potential offerors about this

14 requirement.

15 At this time, I'd like to introduce the

16 Department of Education’s acquisition team. For

17 the acquisition team, I'd ask you to please stand, 18 wave your hand, or make a noise so our attendees

19 know who you are.

20 First, Jennifer Arthur is the Contract

21 Specialist; however, she is not in attendance

22 today. Right here to my right we have Renee

1 Rowland. She is the Contracting Officer’s

2 Representative, also known as the COR. To my

3 immediate right, we have Marilyn Seastrom. She is

4 the Acting Deputy Commissioner of the National

5 Center for Education Statistics.

6 In this corner to my right, from the

7 Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business

8 Utilization, the Small Business Specialist is

9 Marcella Coverson. The OSDBU office is here in the

10 department to assist small businesses, learn about

11 the department and compete for awards. Next to

12 Marcella is Helen Chang. Helen is the Small

13 Business Liaison from Contracts and Acquisitions

14 Management office.

15 The agenda will proceed as follows. I'm

16 discussing the purpose. Next we will hear from you

17 all to give brief introductions. You'll hear about

18 the procurement process. Marilyn will discuss an

19 overview of NCES. Renee will talk about the overview

20 of Performance Work Statement, and then we will have

21 questions and answers.

22 We will provide responses to the

1 questions received by the May 1st deadline posted

2 on www.fbo.gov under the pre-solicitation conference

3 notice.

4 As a reminder, there will be no questions

5 from the floor. However, if you have a question, 6 please state it out loud, stand up and state it out

7 loud, and then submit the question in writing on

8 the note card provided to you to Alean Miller.

9 Alean, can you raise your hand? She's in

10 the back. She greeted you at the door. She's in

11 the back of the room, so provide her with the note

12 card. After you've stated your question, provide

13 her with the note card. If you don't have a note

14 card, raise your hand and we'll give you one.

15 Answer will be posted with the solicitation.

16 We ask that you put all cell phones and

17 other electronic devices on vibrate at this time.

18 This pre-solicitation conference is being recorded, 19 and a written, verbatim transcript of this

20 pre-solicitation conference, which will include all

21 questions and answers received to date, will be

22 released with the solicitation.

http://www.fbo.gov/

1 There are bathrooms and water fountains

2 located on this floor, and the Department of

3 Education staff or security can direct you to

4 them.

5 At this time, I'll ask all conference

6 participants seated around the table, because there

7 should be one representative from each company

8 around the table, to briefly introduce yourselves

9 at this time. Give your company's name, your name, 10 the company's name, your company’s specialty and

11 the small business category that you're in.

12 Okay. We'll start.

13 MS. PARKER: Hello. My name is Jessica

14 Parker. You said to stand. Can't really do that

15 very good.

16 MS. JOHNSON: You can sit down.

17 MS. PARKER: Can everybody hear me?

18 Okay. I'm Jessica Parker, and I'm with GEARS, 19 Global Evaluation Applied Research Solutions, 20 Incorporated, located in Lanham, Maryland;

21 and I'm the Director of the Division of

22 Evaluation and Applied Research, and my specialty

1 area includes social psychology methods, also a

2 Ph.D. in quantitative psychology statistics, and

3 that's also then what our division focuses on. And

4 we are 8(a), small business. Nice to meet you.

5 MS. SHILLING: Hi. I'm Hallie Shilling

6 at Windwalker Corporation. We have divisions in

7 research and also training and technical

8 assistance. We've been a contractor of the

9 Department of Education and NCES for more than ten

10 years now. Our status, we're a small Native

11 American business.

12 MS. DAVIS: Hi. Good afternoon. I'm Kim

13 Davis, President, CEO of Events Unlimited, 14 Incorporated, located in Deptford, New Jersey.

15 Specialty area is conference and event planning

16 with a background in education. We are a small, 17 woman-owned SDB 8(a) and WSOB business.

18 MR. COOK: Hi, everyone. My name is

19 Willie Cook. I work with -- I'm an Executive Vice

20 President for WSC Associates in Clinton, Maryland.

21 Our specialty is -- what we do is we manage not for

22 profit organizations with a background in

1 conference and event planning, that which brings us

2 into a little bit of IT as well. We've been in

3 business -- we're a small business, 8(a), 4 woman-owned small business 8(a) as well.

5 MR. HABIB: Good afternoon. Shezad

6 Habib, Manhattan Strategy Group. We are a small

7 business, 8(a), also GSA Schedule holder. We have

8 contracted with the Department of Education since

9 2008. Four service lines: Research and

10 evaluation, technical assistance and administrative

11 and logistics support.

12 MR. SNYDER: Fred Snyder from NOVA

13 Research Company. We're a woman -- small

14 woman-owned business. Our specialty is research

15 and evaluation, conference planning and logistics

16 support and health related communications.

17 MS. PITKOW: Hi. My name's Rebecca

18 Pitkow. I'm with Guardians of Honor. We're a

19 small disadvantaged woman-owned 8(a). We

20 specialize in research analysis, information

21 technology management and evaluation.

22 MR. MORGAN: Good afternoon. My name is

1 Oscar Morgan. I represent Magna Systems. We are a

2 small business minority-owned venture, business

3 located in -- headquartered in L.A. and affiliated

4 office in Largo, Maryland. We specialize in

5 conference and event planning, technical assistance

6 and IT.

7 MR. COFFEY: Good afternoon. Lester

8 Coffey. I'm with Coffey Consulting in Bethesda, 9 Maryland. We do research, evaluation, technical

10 assistance and training, and also logistics. We're

11 a small veteran-owned disadvantaged business.

12 MR. MCDONALD: Good afternoon. My name

13 is Ray McDonald. I'm with Lux Consulting Group.

14 We're an 8(a) certified business and we have MOBIS

15 as a GSA schedule. My specialties include tuning

16 and technical assistance, research and development

17 and information support, logistical support. We

18 always receive exceptional ratings, and I've always

19 received a hundred percent of our award fee on any

20 performance-based contract.

21 MR. WILDER: Good afternoon. Joseph

22 Wilder, Deputy Project Director with PSA. We're

1 based out of Reston, Virginia. We're a woman, 2 minority-owned small business, and our specialty is

3 conference planning, communications, graphics and

4 health.

5 MR. JOHNSON: Good afternoon. I'm Hank

6 Johnson. I'm with the company called AEIO, LLC.

7 We are a woman-owned 8(a) firm based out of

8 National Harbor, Maryland. Our specialty is event

9 planning and conference management. Our CEO, 10 Dionne Word, is right behind me.

11 MS. WONG: Good afternoon, I'm Simin

12 Wong. I'm from AFYA. We are based in Laurel, 13 Maryland. Our specialty is research, evaluation, 14 technical assistance, epidemiological study and

15 knowledge transfer. We also do meeting and

16 logistic administrative support. I am the Director

17 of Division of Analytical Services. I'm an

18 epidemiologist and a medical researcher.

19 Our mission in AFYA is to improve the

20 health of all Americans with a special focus on

21 disadvantage community, and our Director of

22 Logistic and Administrative Support is Ms.

1 Sheritta. She's sitting right there. Thank you.

2 MS. BURKE: Good afternoon. I am Suzanne

3 Burke, President and owner of Avila Government

4 Services based in Alexandria, Virginia. Our

5 specialty is meeting and conference planning, and

6 our senior meeting planner is behind our

7 representative today.

8 We're a woman-owned, service disabled, 9 veteran small business.

10 DR. NELSON-REED: Good afternoon, 11 everyone. My name is Dr. Vanessa Reed, and I am

12 with J.A. White & Associates. We are headquartered

13 out of Columbia, South Carolina with offices here

14 in the D.C. area, as well as throughout the

15 country.

16 Our specialty includes educational

17 support services for evaluation, for compliance

18 activities, as well as grant writing and other

19 support services.

20 DR. JORGENS: Hi. I'm Dr. Jack Jorgens.

21 I do proposals and business development for

22 Kauffman and Associates, which is a Native American

1 owned, woman-owned small business in Silver Spring.

2 We -- our strengths are meeting and event planning, 3 research and evaluation, training and technical

4 support, and various kinds of administrative

5 support.

6 MR. KOECHLIN: Good afternoon. Bob

7 Koechlin, Director of Alliances for Ampcus

8 Incorporated out of Chantilly, Virginia. We're a

9 woman-owned 8(a) in business since 2004

10 specializing in IT solutions.

11 MS. JOHNSON: Well, thank you to

12 everyone. I've also received a card that every

13 company is not at the table. Therefore, we're

14 going to ask the few that are in the audience to

15 stand up and introduce themselves as well.

16 MS. ROSEBORO: Yes. I'm Paulette

17 Roseboro, Professional Acquisition Services, 8(a)

18 woman-owned business located in Lanham, Maryland, 19 providing acquisition support based services, as

20 well as administrative and logistics services.

21 FEMALE SPEAKER: I am (indiscernible). We do

22 management and consultant and a broad range of

1 services with support services, conference

2 management and grants management, communications

3 and general support management services.

4 MS. BURKE: Hi. I'm Audrey Burke with

5 Isom Global Strategies. We're located right here

6 on New Jersey Avenue actually, so we're very close.

7 What we specialize in is logistics support, 8 conference planning and conference management, as

9 well as communication outreach. We're currently

10 working with the Department of Education currently

11 doing brochures and development with (indiscernible)

12 development as well. We also do research and

13 evaluation. I'm actually the Research Director

14 with Isom Global Strategies.

15 MS. DUNNE: Hi. I'm Anne Dunne, Founder

16 of Strategic Results. We are a marketing and

17 meeting management company with specializing in

18 logistics, graphics, scientific writing and

19 research; and we are a hub zone 8(a), and we are a

20 woman-owned business.

21 MS. HARMALKAR: I'm Sayali Harmalkar, and

22 I'm with Livanta. We are a private central

1 American system mostly, and we are new to your

2 department; and our major function is technical

3 assistance. We are in programming, technical

4 statistics, data analysis, data management, and we

5 are a small business located here in Upper East

6 Junction, Maryland.

7 MS. SITKO: My name is Doray Sitko. I'm

8 with Econometrica in Bethesda, Maryland. We have

9 several product lines, including research and

10 analytics. We do evaluation and conference and

11 event services and several other administrative

12 support services.

13 MS. JOHNSON: Are there any other

14 companies that we did not hear from?

15 Well, again, we'd like to thank you. We

16 appreciate your attendance. This pre-solicitation

17 conference serves as an integral part of our market

18 research and vendor communication. A decision has

19 not been made on the procurement vehicle, be it

20 full and open competition, GWAC, federal

21 supply schedule, et cetera. However, we are

22 gathering information from the market to determine

1 the best acquisition strategy for this requirement.

2 All that being said, without further

3 delay, I introduce to you Deputy Commissioner

4 Marilyn Seastrom.

5 MS. SEASTROM: Good afternoon.

6 I am Marilyn Seastrom, the Acting Deputy

7 Commissioner at the National Center for Education

8 Services. I would like to welcome each of you to

9 this pre-solicitation conference and thank you all

10 for your interest in our work.

11 I know that some of you are already

12 familiar with NCES, but our work may be new to

13 others of you; so I would like to take a few

14 minutes to tell you a little about NCES.

15 We are one of the centers in the

16 Department of Education's Institute of Education

17 Sciences. They are located in this building. We

18 are actually physically located at 1990 K Street.

19 As the primary statistical unit in the

20 Department of Education, NCES is one of the 14

21 designated principal statistical agencies in the

22 United States. In comparison with the other 13

1 statistical agencies, NCES has the third largest

2 budget out of the 14, but we're ninth in terms of

3 number of staff. Because of this disparity in

4 staffing relative to budget, it's important that we

5 leverage participation of our colleagues in the

6 statistical offices within state Departments of

7 Education and in institutional research offices in

8 post-secondary institutions. These colleagues

9 provide the data that we rely on in our universe

10 data collections. Our ability to fulfill our

11 mission of reporting on the condition of education

12 is also dependent upon strong working relationships

13 with the federal contracting organizations such as

14 your own that conduct our data collections and

15 support all aspects of our work.

16 The work we're discussing today

17 represents the confluence of these two important

18 elements of our work. The National Cooperative

19 Education Statistics Systems contract will support

20 the work of the National Forum on Education

21 Statistics, just K through 12 education, and the

22 National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, or

1 NPEC, that is our postsecondary forum. The Forum

2 and NPEC provide the basis for our collaborative

3 work with our colleagues, who supply much of the

4 universe data that are the backbone of our data

5 collections. So you can see how important this

6 contract is to all of our work.

7 At this point, I'm going to ask Renee to

8 give you an overview of the draft Performance Work

9 Statement and to provide answers to the questions

10 that some of you submitted in advance. Then we

11 will have you submit, both orally and in writing, 12 any additional questions that you may have as a

13 result of the presentation today. Thank you very

14 much.

15 MS. ROWLAND: Good Afternoon. I'm going

16 to give you an overview of the Performance Work

17 Statement of this contract. The contractors will

18 provide logistical support for the National

19 Cooperative Education Statistics System, also known

20 as NCESS,which will be referred to as the cooperative.

21 This includes both the National Forum on Education

22 Statistics, also known as the Forum, and the

1 National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, also

2 known as NPEC. For more information about these

3 cooperatives, you can go to the NCES website at

4 nces.ed.gov and search on Forum, F-O-R-U-M, NPEC, 5 N-P-E-C, or effective practices conferences, or go

6 to nces.ed.gov/npec, nces.gov/forum and

7 nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/edci/index.asp.

8 This contract will be awarded to a small

9 business. The period of performance is a 12-month

10 period with four one-year option periods. Work

11 performed by the contractor will be issued in Task

12 orders and will be firm, fixed price. The

13 contractor will provide five types of logistical

14 support -- technical assistance, training, 15 research, development and informational support, 16 general administrative support and conferences, 17 meetings, workshop support.

18 Task Order 1 describes work needed for

19 the National Forum on Education Statistics and the

20 management information system's pre-conference

21 support. Since this is a pre-conference support

22 task order, the remaining activities of the Forum

1 and MIS conference will be issued in a separate

2 task order.

3 The period of performance is from date of

4 award to December 31st, 2012. The period of

5 performance for the remaining activities related to

6 the Forum will be from January 1st, 2013 to August

7 15th,2013. A list of scheduled and anticipated

8 meetings by year can be found in Appendix A, 9 Section 5 of the Performance Work Statement.

10 Task Order Number 2 describes work needed

11 for the support of the National Postsecondary

12 Education Cooperative, NPEC. The period of

13 performance is from date of award to August 15th, 14 2013. This task order includes research and

15 development, technical assistance projects and

16 administrative and logistic support for the

17 Integrated Postsecondary Education Statistics

18 Program, which is also referred to as IPEDS. The

19 task order also describes two optional sub-tasks.

20 They include providing support for the NPEC sample

21 survey work in the two areas just mentioned. A

22 list of scheduled meetings can be found in Appendix

1 B of the Performance Work Statement.

2 Requirements for Task Order 1 and 2 can

3 be found in Appendix A and B of the PWS, or

4 Performance Work Statement.

5 All the comments given by the panel

6 today, the questions and answers given by me today, 7 the questions submitted today and answers to them

8 will be posted with the final solicitation. You

9 are encouraged to review in detail the final

10 release of the solicitation for changes and/or

11 additional information that may be incorporated

12 since the original release.

13 At this time I will provide responses to

14 questions received by the May 1st deadline posted

15 on www.fbo.gov under the solicitation -- under the

16 pre-solicitation conference notes. There were a

17 total of 78 questions submitted by the deadline.

18 After I read 39 questions, we will take a

19 five-minute break. Let's begin.

20 Question 1. Is there an anticipated

21 contract award date? Reply, September 14th, 2012.

22 Question 2. Who is the former contractor http://www.fbo.gov/

1 referred to under transition period on Page 2 of

2 the PWS? Reply, Coffey Consulting, LLC, Bethesda, 3 Maryland, Contract Number ED-04-CO-0044-0001.

4 Question 3. Are there predetermined

5 years of experience and other credentials required

6 for each labor category in the PWS? Reply, this

7 information will be provided in the final

8 solicitation.

9 Question 4. What are the evaluation

10 criteria for the IDIQ award? Please describe the

11 points or at least the relative weights of the

12 factors to be scored. Reply, this information will

13 be provided when the final solicitation is

14 released.

15 Question 5. The MIS conference and the NCES

16 annual summer forum and data conference are

17 described as being three days with 100 concurrent

18 sessions each for an estimated 700 people at each

19 event. Is this a total of 100 concurrent sessions

20 over the three days for each event via the use of

21 tracks such that there may be five to seven

22 function rooms needed for concurrent sessions at

1 any one time? Please clarify.

2 Reply, as indicated in Task Order 1, 3 Section 4 of Appendix A, the space requirement

4 includes nine to ten concurrent sessions and two

5 large general sessions. We also secure additional

6 rooms for storage of materials and a small NCES

7 meeting room for 10 to 15 people.

8 Question 6. Will any of the events

9 include exhibits and/or poster sessions? Reply, 10 yes. Exhibits will include demonstrations of

11 educational software used by local and state

12 education agencies.

13 Question 7. For example, will any of the

14 presentations accepted via the call of the papers

15 result in these non-oral presentation formats?

16 Reply, yes.

17 Question 8. Does NCES envision the state

18 longitudinal data systems conference, Item 4, Page

19 7, to be a stand-alone meeting or tagged on to the

20 MIS conference? Reply, please see Appendix A, 21 Section 5.

22 Question 9. What types of reports does

1 NCES envision will require a formal NCES

2 adjudication process, Second paragraph, Page 15

3 under this contract? Reply, some Forum reports are

4 designated for release as NCES publications and go

5 through the full review process. Others are

6 published as Forum reports and do not go through

7 the full NCES review process.

8 Question 10. Can you also estimate the

9 number of reports that might be required per year?

10 Reply, the Forum work included in the current task

11 order does not include any reports. The NPEC-IPEDS

12 papers and reports are not described as including

13 steps for NCES clearance. The work conduct for

14 IPEDS focus groups and the work in the options for

15 NPEC-S is work that, if published, will be

16 incorporated into larger methodology reports, thus

17 the full NCES review would occur at that stage

18 independent of this contract.

19 Question 11. Under Task 2.2, Task Order

20 Number 2, the draft RFP mentions that all meetings

21 will take place at Ed facilities unless approved by

22 the CS or COR. However, the next paragraph

1 indicates the contractor shall execute a site

2 search for suitable meeting sites. Please explain.

3 Reply, meetings up to 50 participants are

4 considered small and will be held at Ed facilities, 5 if space is available. Meetings larger than 50

6 participants are held outside Ed, at a hotel or

7 conference facility.

8 Question 12. In the PWS Section 5

9 transition period, how long is the anticipated

10 transition period? Reply, the transition period, 11 if needed, will be ten days.

12 Question 13. How many contractors will

13 we need to coordinate with? Reply, the current

14 contract is held by one company. The contract will

15 be awarded to one contractor. That contractor may

16 have partners, consultants and/or subcontractors.

17 It will be up to the contractor who receives the

18 award to determine the appropriate number who will

19 participate in transition.

20 Question 14. What types of information

21 will be provided? Reply, the current contractor

22 will still be under contract during the

1 transition period. The new contractor, if needed, 2 will have an opportunity to ask questions, discuss

3 any work in progress or hand off any work during

4 this time.

5 Question 15. Will mailing lists be

6 transferred? Reply, yes. The COR will provide

7 mailing lists.

8 Question 16. Will websites be

9 transferred? Reply, NCES maintains all websites.

10 Websites pertaining to the cooperatives may be

11 accessed by going to -- and I've already read these

12 websites.

13 Question 17. Will in progress, research

14 and technical papers be transferred? Reply, in

15 progress, research and technical papers will be

16 provided during the transition period.

17 Question 18. In the PWS, Section 6, 18 logistics support and services categories under

19 technical assistance, could you elaborate on what

20 you hope to develop software for and automate?

21 Reply, Ed is not requesting work in this

22 category in these initial tasks. One example of

1 possible work here might be the submission of

2 teacher level data on teacher compensation from

3 state education offices.

4 Question 19. In the same section under

5 technical assistance, could you elaborate as to the

6 scope for electronic submission, retrieval and

7 transmission? How is this currently facilitated?

8 How large are the files or data and how many

9 contributors or users?

10 Reply, in the example mentioned in

11 response to Question 18, Ed is currently using a

12 pilot study that was not designed to support the

13 collection of approximately 25 fields of

14 information from 50 states and D.C. for a total

15 over 65,000 to 70,000 teachers. An expansion of

16 this data collection would require web based

17 software that will accommodate entries from all

18 states and D.C.

19 Question 20. In the PWS Section 6, 20 logistics support and services category under

21 training, what types of new technology will you

22 require the contractor to provide training on?

1 Reply, one example is web-based data submissions

2 with electronic edits incorporated into the

3 submission software.

4 Question 21. How varied or standardized

5 are the software and products used by IES and data

6 providers or respondents for which data

7 transmission or analysis that will require TA and

8 training? Reply, this is an evolving field. We

9 currently use everything from paper data

10 submissions to computer-assisted telephone

11 interviews to web-based data collections from both

12 individuals and institutions. The work most likely

13 to be supported by this training involves various

14 web-based data collection interfaces.

15 Question 22. What is your assessment of

16 the scope and severity of any capacity or

17 capability issues that need to be addressed? For

18 instance, are all contributors providing data at or

19 above a minimally adequate or compliant level? How

20 do state fiscal constraints contribute to this

21 problem?

22 Reply, this varies by whether the data

1 collected are well established elements that have

2 been collected for a number of years or whether

3 they are newly added data elements.

4 Question 23. In the PWS Section 7, 5 anticipated extent of work, Section B, 6 communications, what technologies, processes and

7 procedures are currently being used to facilitate

8 discussion and document collaboration among

9 cooperative working groups?

10 Reply, telephone and video conference

11 calls, webinars, shared electronic work spaces that

12 is real-time online document collaboration with

13 document mark-up ability.

14 Question 24. In the PWS, Section 7, 15 anticipated extent of work, C, conferences, 16 meetings of the cooperatives, who selects and

17 provides experts or consultants for the sessions?

18 Reply, the government will identify the

19 experts and the contractor will make the necessary

20 arrangements for experts to participate.

21 Question 25. Under the same section, 22 what is your anticipated quantity of technical

1 writers needed for the MIS conference as an

2 example?

3 Reply, technical writers are not used for

4 the MIS conference. When the services of technical

5 writers are anticipated, the level of effort

6 anticipated will be specified in the relevant task

7 orders.

8 Question 26. Please elaborate on

9 moderator expectations. Reply, the

10 responsibilities of the moderators and the level of

11 effort anticipated will be specified in the final

12 solicitation.

13 Question 27. What is the process for

14 PowerPoint presentations that are not FERPA

15 compliant? Reply, Ed will provide the contractor

16 with a set of reporting rules to look for that is

17 identify potential sources of disclosure. The

18 contractor will identify possible problems and

19 bring them to the attention of the COR. If Ed

20 agrees, the contractor will be expected to contact

21 the presenter and communicate the specified

22 changes.

1 Question 28. Please elaborate on the

2 types of pre-meeting materials required. If

3 materials to support sessions are also required, 4 please also elaborate on the types of materials

5 required for this as well.

6 Reply, please refer to the PWS, Appendix

7 A, Section 6, deliverables.

8 Question 29. Are presenters responsible

9 for providing their own materials? Reply, yes.

10 Question 30. Are there technical

11 literature reviews and background materials

12 required for each conference? Reply, no.

13 Question 31. Will follow-up meetings

14 with state representatives be conducted in person

15 or via remote access? Reply, via remote access.

16 Question 32. Will you require a

17 technical writer, moderator, agenda or other

18 meeting materials or personnel? Reply, Task Order

19 1 work will include an approximately 100-page

20 agenda, a one-page flyer, a two-page brochure, name

21 tags, name tents, lanyards, pens, writing pads and

22 signs.

1 Task Order Number 2 work will include a

2 moderator, a one-page agenda, name tags, pens and

3 writing pads.

4 Question 33. In the PWS Section 9, 5 deliverables, A, general milestones and

6 deliverables, you request six copies, six paper

7 copies, of all work plans and reports.

8 Would you consider accepting electronic

9 submissions in lieu of this requirement to reduce

10 the economic and environmental impact?

11 Reply, this is a mistake. Thank you for

12 bringing it to our attention. Ed requires an

13 electronic submission of all drafts and the final

14 and a paper copy of the final deliverable in a

15 spiral binder.

16 Question 34. In Section 12, data

17 security plan, when will the final plan be due to

18 the COR for approval? Reply, please note that the

19 contractor employee security screening requirements

20 described in the PWS require all contractor staff

21 requiring a moderate risk level clearance, those

22 working with any personally identifiable

1 information, to complete all initial steps of the

2 electronic clearance application within 14 days of

3 the contract award. Because the mailing lists

4 include personally identifiable information, the

5 security plan must be in place before the

6 contractor can receive the mailing list.

7 Question 35. Task 1.1 of Task Order

8 Number 1 requires that new contractor, if

9 necessary, to coordinate with the previous

10 contractor to obtain contract with Mayflower Hotel.

11 Who is the incumbent?

12 Reply, this question was previously

13 answered in Question 2.

14 Question 36. Is incumbent eligible to

15 submit a proposal for this requirement? Reply, 16 yes.

17 Question 37. Task 1.2 of Task Order

18 Number 1, who identifies the presenters? Reply, Ed

19 identifies the presenters.

20 Question 38. Does the NCES proposal

21 review selection committee have a standard

22 timeframe they require for review and selection?

1 Reply, yes.

2 Question 39. For Task 1.3 of Task Order

3 Number 1, what is the process for gaining NCES

4 approval of editors? Reply, submission of resumes

5 to the COR for approval.

6 At this time we'll take a five-minute

7 break.

8 (Recess taken.)

9 MS. SEASTROM: Everyone back to their

10 seats. Okay. We have another 39 questions. Thank

11 you all for your attention again and please

12 continue.

13 MS. ROWLAND: All right.

14 Question 40. May the contractor use

15 graphic design software other than Adobe InDesign?

16 Reply, no. Software must be compatible with Ed

17 printing.

18 Question 41. With Task 1.4, who are

19 considered mentors? Reply, Ed will identify these

20 individuals. They are senior members of the Forum.

21 Question 42. Will the current

22 directories be transferred to the new contractor?

1 Reply, yes.

2 Question 43. Who provides the

3 information for updating? Reply, Ed provides the

4 information for updating.

5 Question 44. For Task 2.1, Activity 2, 6 can you estimate the number of participants and

7 anticipated format of the focus groups? Reply, we

8 are envisioning a standard focus group format, one

9 to one and a half hours of no more than 10 to 12

10 people per group. Past focus groups have included

11 key stakeholding groups such as post-secondary

12 institution representatives, high school

13 counselors, college or high school students, 14 parents and others.

15 Question 45. For Task 2.2, Activity 1, 16 what types of other management and administrative

17 materials do you anticipate needing?

18 Reply, we anticipate needing general

19 management and administrative materials such as

20 maintaining member rosters, drafting and sending

21 communications, for example, letters and e-mails, 22 to members, receiving RSVPs for meetings, et

1 cetera.

2 Question 46. For Task 2.2, Activity 1, 3 do they include any of the following: Tracking

4 databases, analytic papers, training documents

5 and/or directives? Reply, no.

6 Question 47. For Task 2.2 activity two, can

7 you elaborate on the types of meeting materials you

8 might require?

9 Reply, in general, the contractor will

10 work with the NCES task leader to draft the agenda

11 for meetings and develop other collateral materials

12 such as meeting minutes and any relevant handouts

13 or presentations that will be given at the meeting.

14 Meeting logistics materials such as confirmation

15 e-mails to participants, signage, et cetera, should

16 also be included.

17 Question 48. For Task 2.2, Activity 2, 18 who solicits and selects presenters or experts?

19 Reply, in general NCES will provide guidance

20 regarding presenters or experts for meetings, 21 papers or reports and other activities. However, 22 the contractor may recommend presenters or experts

1 as appropriate.

2 Question 49. For Task 2.3, this is

3 listed as optional. Please provide more

4 information as to why. Reply, Ed has an interest

5 in this work but has not determined whether it will

6 be ready to exercise this option in the first year

7 of the contract.

8 Question 50. We understand that the

9 adjudication process and timeframe varies based

10 on the type of report and the corresponding level

11 or levels of review required. Do you anticipate

12 Task 2.3 requiring review and adjudication?

13 Reply, it is likely that work of this

14 nature will be included in larger data collection

15 methodology reports. Thus, any NCES clearance

16 would occur at that time.

17 Question 51. For Task 2.3, if so, please

18 confirm that the 15 days between draft and final

19 reports listed in the associated schedule of

20 deliverables provides ample time for such review

21 based on the types of papers you anticipate

22 requiring.

1 Reply, 15 days between draft and final

2 reports should provide ample time for review.

3 Products of the National Postsecondary Education

4 Cooperative undergo different review and

5 adjudication procedures as the information and

6 opinions published in them are the products of the

7 Cooperative and do not necessarily represent the

8 policy or views of the U.S. Department of

9 Education. If certain products require additional

10 time for review, NCES may adjust the schedule of

11 deliverables as appropriate.

12 Question 52. Will the contracting office

13 accept the solicitation response or proposal and

14 past performance evaluations via electronic

15 submission? Reply, the government may ask for

16 electronic or hard copies. The contractor should

17 be prepared to submit the response both ways.

18 Please see the instructions to offer us when the

19 final solicitation is issued.

20 Question 53. What is the current travel

21 management system? Reply, the contractor

22 identifies its own travel management system or

1 agent.

2 Question 54. Who is currently performing

3 the travel reimbursement and support functions?

4 Reply, the contractor is currently performing these

5 functions.

6 Question 55. Is there a preference for

7 online meeting, registration or management tools

8 versus in-house web portals? Reply, Ed requires

9 the use of the NCES website for meeting

10 registration.

11 Question 56. There are several

12 references to an existing contractor in the

13 Performance Work Statement. Please identify the

14 incumbent firm or firms. Reply, this question was

15 previously answered in response to Question Number

16 2.

17 Question 57. What is the value of the

18 current contract, including all modifications?

19 Reply, the current value of the current contract

20 including all modifications is $7.4 million.

21 Question 58. Is the existing contract

22 also an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, 1 IDIQ, contract? Reply, yes.

2 Question 59. How long has the current

3 contract been in place? Reply, the contract was

4 awarded September 2007 and ends September 25th, 5 2012.

6 Question 60. How many contracts does the

7 department anticipate awarding under the planned

8 IDIQ contract? Reply, a contract with multiple

9 task orders will be awarded to one contractor.

10 Question 61. Is the current contract

11 structured in the same manner as the planned

12 contract, that is with five individual areas of

13 service?

14 Reply, yes. There are five areas of

15 service in the current contract, and there are five

16 areas of service in the solicitation, planned

17 contract. We expect that your response to the two

18 specific task orders will demonstrate your

19 expertise in the majority of the five areas. If

20 you find that your response does not allow you to

21 adequately address any of the five areas, please

22 include a section in which you write to your strengths

1 in those areas.

2 Question 62. May offerors propose

3 to provide services in a selected number of the

4 five areas, or must offerors propose

5 to provide services in all of the five areas?

6 Reply, the solicitation ED-IES-12-R-0059 requires a

7 response to all work identified within. An offeror

8 may decide to partner or utilize subcontractors

9 and/or consultants to respond to the work.

10 Question 63. In the service area called

11 research development and informational support, the

12 PWS states that the contractor will need to

13 identify experts to serve as meeting facilitators

14 or presenters. Is there a list of individuals

15 already being used for these purposes?

16 Reply, yes, there is a list of experts

17 that are currently utilized. However, the offeror

18 may also suggest experts, particularly if they have

19 expertise in the areas impact NPEC or the Forum will

20 be working on.

21 Question 64. Will this list convey to

22 the new contractor or contractors? Reply, this

1 list will be made available when the work is

2 ordered.

3 Question 65. Is there a maximum daily

4 rate that the department allows contractors to pay

5 for consultant services? Reply, the rate is based

6 on a number of factors, including, but not limited

7 to, the consultant's salary history and available

8 budget for consultants.

9 Question 66. The use of communications

10 software is required by the PWS. Does Ed have any

11 specific communications software that the

12 department prefers that offerors use? Reply, 13 communications software includes audio and video

14 conference calls, webinars and shared electronic

15 work spaces.

16 Question 67. In Section 14, labor

17 categories or staffing, the PWS states that

18 offerors must provide evidence of a proven hiring

19 track record, for the positions described in the

20 PWS. Can the department describe what information

21 will be acceptable as such evidence?

22 Reply, while you may not currently employ

1 staff in each of the specified staffing categories

2 or may not employ enough staff in some categories

3 to fully staff the current tasks, Ed would like for

4 you to provide evidence that you have prior

5 experience successfully hiring staff in each

6 staffing category and a description of your hiring

7 plan for future hires.

8 Question 68. Also regarding Section 14, 9 labor categories and staffing, how many individuals

10 must offerors propose in each of the labor

11 categories? Reply, the government's expectations

12 of the required FTEs will be given in the final

13 solicitation.

14 Question 69. Regarding Appendix A and

15 Appendix B, does the department anticipate

16 requiring the offerors provide, along with their

17 proposal submitted -- let me start again.

18 Question 69. Regarding Appendix A and

19 Appendix B, does the department anticipate

20 requiring that offerors provide, along with their

21 proposal submitted in response to the overall

22 IDIQ solicitation, separate, additional technical

1 and business proposals, that is two additional

2 technical proposals and two additional business

3 proposals, for the performance of each of the two

4 individual task orders described in Appendix A

5 and Appendix B?

6 Reply, the government anticipates one

7 overall response, including the work described in

8 Appendix A and Appendix B. The government

9 anticipates one business proposal that prices the

10 work proposed in Task Order 1 in Appendix A and for

11 Task Order 2 in Appendix B separately.

12 Question 70. If the answer to the above

13 is yes, will only one contractor be awarded both

14 Task Orders Number 1 and 2, or is it possible that

15 the two task orders will be awarded to two

16 different firms?

17 Reply, a contract with multiple

18 task orders will be awarded to one contractor.

19 Question 71. Regarding Task Order Number

20 2 which the PWS says will be a firm fixed price, 21 given the fact that the PWS says that the exact

22 level of work to be performed on this task order

1 cannot be known, why hasn't the department elected

2 to make the task order fixed price, which requires

3 a level of certainty regarding the level of effort

4 to be expended to avoid risk?

5 Reply, this question has already been

6 answered.

7 Question 72. Also regarding Task Order

8 Number 2, will offerors be required to submit

9 separate technical proposals and budgets for the

10 two optional sub-tasks, Task 2.3 and 2.4?

11 Reply, the offeror's proposal should

12 include their response to each of the proposed

13 tasks, including all sub-tasks and options. The

14 budget submitted should provide costs by task and

15 sub-tasks, keeping in mind the level of effort

16 specified for each task.

17 Question 73. I was wondering if this was

18 a new requirement or if there is a previous

19 contractor that fulfilled the same or similar

20 requirements. If yes, could you please provide the

21 contractor's name and contract number?

22 Reply, this question was previously

1 answered in response to Question Number 2.

2 Question 74. Who is the incumbent from

3 the previous contract? Reply, this question was

4 previously answered in response to Question Number

5 2.

6 Question 75. Is technical assistance

7 related to surveys conducted for student programs

8 in states across the country, or is technical

9 assistance for educational personnel and their work

10 responsibilities?

11 Reply, the Hawkins-Stafford Education

12 Improvement Amendments of 1988, Public Law 100-297

13 established the National Cooperative Education

14 Statistics System to produce and maintain, with the

15 cooperation of the states, comparable and uniform

16 education statistics. Thus, the activities

17 supported through this solicitation focus on both

18 data submission from the states and institutions to

19 NCES, and on the underlying quality of the data

20 that are generated in schools, districts, branch

21 campuses and departments within institutions.

22 Question 76. Contractor asked to develop

1 and disseminate and develop standards and

2 methodologies for electronic data submission in

3 Section 6 under technical assistance. Are current

4 standards and procedures already in place, or will

5 they be newly developed?

6 Reply, the contractor is asked to work

7 with NCES to develop, implement and maintain a

8 technical assistance program that may include, 9 among other things, the develop and dissemination

10 of standards and methodologies for handling

11 electronic data. While some data are currently

12 transmitted electronically through electronic

13 systems at Ed and Census, this is an evolving

14 field. Ed anticipates that new collections and

15 technologies may emerge and that revisions may be

16 needed to current procedures. If needed, Ed will

17 issue a task for support in this area.

18 Question 77. How are current surveys

19 being conducted by states in Section 6 under

20 technical assistance?

21 Reply, at the present time most of the

22 data collected from states are based on

1 administrative record data that are reported to

2 state Offices of Education for administrative

3 purposes. Similarly, much of the data collected

4 from postsecondary institutions are based on

5 administrative data that are collected as part of

6 the administration of programs at each institution.

7 NCES works with the states and school district and

8 with postsecondary institutions to develop common

9 definitions and to improve data quality in the data

10 underlying the submission to NCES.

11 And the last question. Question 78. The

12 contractor will be billed directly for airfare and

13 hotel for sponsored participants, Section 7. Will

14 the contractor be able to invoice for these

15 expenses to be paid by the government under a firm

16 fixed price contract? Reply, the travel will be

17 costs reimbursable. The contractor will be

18 reimbursed by the government.

19 Now I will turn it over to Deila

20 Johnson.

21 MS. JOHNSON: Thank you. Thanks, Renee, 22 for that.

1 All right. Now, we will take your

2 questions. If you have any further questions, we

3 ask that you stand up, come to the table over top

4 the corners and project so our recorder can get all

5 the information. State your name, your company and

6 your question. Then provide your card to Alean

7 standing over there and as mentioned previously, we

8 will have all answers and responses provided in the

9 solicitation.

10 Now, if you have some questions that are

11 for our small business reps, those can probably be

12 answered right here, since they're here today. All

13 right. Any questions?

14 MS. DAVIS: Yeah. I have some. Only

15 one. But can I just go ahead and proceed? The

16 first question is will --

17 MS. JOHNSON: State your name.

18 MS. DAVIS: My name is Kim Davis, 19 President, CEO, Events Unlimited, Incorporated.

20 Question number 1, does data collection

21 include both qualitative and quantitative data?

22 The second question is will invoicing go

1 through WAWF, which is Wide Area Work Flow? And

2 then the third question was will the type of

3 reporting require mean, median, standard deviation, 4 et cetera, that type of statistical analysis?

5 MS. PARKER: Again, Jessica Parker from

6 Global Evaluation and Applied Research Solutions, 7 or GEARS.

8 My questions are first to reference

9 Public Law 100-297 the Hawkins-Stafford that was --

10 I hope I got this right -- 1988 or '98. But was

11 the purpose? '88? Thank you.

12 Was the purpose of this legislation when

13 it was established in '88 the same purpose, 14 underlying purpose, of this work that's currently

15 being done? I guess I'm just thinking in terms of

16 years that have gone by to date.

17 And also, will future work related to

18 NCES be dependent upon appropriations legislation

19 process and funds distributed, allocated? And also

20 one more question. Could you just clarify when you

21 stated in response -- I don't recall the number, 22 the question number, but when you said if needed, 1 the transition period will be ten days. If you can

2 clarify the if needed part and what would qualify

3 whether or not that's required. Thank you.

4 MS. JOHNSON: Next? Any further

5 questions from the floor?

6 MS. BURKE: I have a question. Suzanne

7 Burke. Do you anticipate any additional task

8 orders during the first year besides the two that

9 are listed?

10 MS. JOHNSON: Any further questions? All

11 right. Well, we hope that you have gained a better

12 understanding of the NCESS requirement. We also

13 encourage you to use this opportunity to network.

14 We noticed that you all were doing that during the

15 five minutes and didn't want it to end, so you will

16 have time after this meeting to do so. We hope

17 that you'll network with your professional

18 colleagues here for professional partnerships or

19 teaming.

20 And also the Office of Small and

21 Disadvantaged Business Utilization, our small

22 business office, has this card that they gave me a

1 copy of. It has great information on here, their

2 phone number, e-mail address, who the director is, 3 who the specialists are. It also has an e-mail

4 address where you can send in your capability

5 statements. They're here to provide support and

6 tell you what the forecast is for contract

7 opportunities, acquisitions, CCR registration and

8 having -- assisting with doing business with the

9 Department of Education. All of this is already on

10 our website through the Department of Education, 11 but maybe you might want to contact them to get

12 further guidance. And also, they have a great tag

13 line that says OSDBU, where small business is

14 everybody's business. So I'd just ask that you

15 also meet them, maybe talk with Helen and Marcella

16 after the meeting if you have any questions; and

17 also, I heard that they have some of these to hand

18 out. I don't think they have enough for everyone, 19 but if you're going to use it I ask that you take

20 one. So we just want to thank you.

21 Does anyone on the panel have any further

22 comments or -- well, thank you and have a great

1 weekend and we really appreciate it and hope that

2 you learned a lot today. Thanks a lot.

3 (Whereupon, the Pre-Solicitation

4 Conference was adjourned at 2:11 p.m.)

1 CERTIFICATE OF NOTARY PUBLIC

2 I, NATASHA THOMAS, the officer before whom the

3 foregoing hearing was taken, do hereby certify that the

4 testimony appearing in the foregoing hearing was taken

5 by me in audio recording and thereafter reduced to

6 typewriting under my supervision; that said

7 transcription is a true record of the proceedings; that

8 I am neither counsel for, related to, nor employed by

9 any of the parties to the action in which this was

10 taken; and, further, that I am not a relative or

11 employee of any counsel or attorney employed by the

12 parties hereto, nor financially or otherwise interested

13 in the outcome of this action.

17 ___________________________

NATASHA THOMAS

18 Notary Public in and for

WASHINGTON, D.C.

1 CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER

3 I, Stacey L. Daywalt, hereby certify that

4 I am not the Court Reporter who reporter the

5 following proceeding and that I have typed the

6 transcript using the Court Reporter's notes and

7 recordings. The foregoing/attached transcript is a

8 true, correct and complete transcript of said

9 proceeding.

12 _________________ __________________________

Date Stacey L. Daywalt

13 Transcriptionist

Capital Reporting Company

$7.4 38:20

1 18:18 20:2,20

22:2 30:19

32:8,18 33:3

34:15 35:2

43:10,14 48:20

1.1 32:7

1.2 32:17

1.3 33:2

1.4 33:18

1:00 1:5

10 22:7 23:8 34:9

100 1:13 21:17,19

100-297 45:12

49:9

100-page 30:19

11 23:19

12 16:21 24:8

31:16 34:9

12-month 18:9

13 15:22 24:12

14 15:20 16:2

24:20 32:2 41:16

42:8

14th 20:21

15 22:7 23:2 25:5

36:18 37:1

15th 19:7,13

16 25:8

17 25:13

18 25:17 26:11

19 26:4

1988 45:12 49:10

1990 15:18

1st 5:1 19:6 20:14

2 19:10 20:2,22

21:1…