Attachment A to ED-NAG-09-R0001.pdf

SOLICITATION #: ED-NAG-09-R-0001: ATTACHMENT A

OUTREACH, DISSEMINATION AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS

May 11, 2009

1. Can the incumbent, CommunicationWorks, bid on this contract?

Answer: Yes

2. Is the incumbent no longer eligible to work on this contract?

Answer: See response to question 1.

3. What is the reason for rebidding this contract?

Answer: The current contract will expire at the conclusion of Fiscal Year 2009.

4. Is the National Assessment Governing Board pleased with the services the current vendor is providing?

Answer: We cannot respond to this question.

5. Is the project's increased ceiling amount of $3M due to inflation or an expanded scope of communications services?

Answer: An expanded scope of work, based on task order requirements.

6. Will the government please clarify if the solicitation is full and open or has any special designations? The listing for this solicitation on Fedbizopps indicates that it will be a small business set aside, but is not specified within the actual solicitation.

Answer: Amendment Number 001A to the solicitation designates the solicitation as a total small business set aside.

7. Does the solicitation require a small business subcontracting plan?

Answer: See the response to question 6.

8. I am aware that this solicitation is a total small business set-aside. I realize that this means that the prime contractor must be a small business to bid. However, I would like to know if this remains the case for vendors interested in teaming opportunities.

Answer: Vendors may propose teaming arrangements if they wish to do so.

9. In order to enable offerors to prepare proposals optimally tailored to the requirements for this engagement, what resources has the Board budgeted on an annual basis for reporting and disseminating the results of the Nation’s Report Card assessments? Please confirm that total not-to-exceed amount of $3 million applies to the entire term of the contemplated contract through 2013.

Answer: The total not-to-exceed amount of $3 million applies to the entire term of the proposed contract period. An annual budget can be averaged over the contract period, based on the Governing Board’s experience with prior work requirements.

10. Will the government please clarify if the solicitation is single award or multiple awards?

Answer: A single award is anticipated, but it is possible, based on the offers received, that multiple awards may be made.

11. Attachment C: Pricing Schedule provides labor categories to use for the duration of the contract. Will the government please provide the descriptions/definitions for the labor categories. Are there estimated hours the government wants contractors to consider when determining price?

Labor categories are generic and provided for guidance only. Bidders may submit their own labor categories as stated in the solicitation. Descriptions for the labor categories in the solicitation cannot be provided. Based on fluctuating task order requirements, an estimate of labor hours cannot be provided in advance. Task orders issued may provide more detail for the labor hour estimates, as needed.

12. Section B, B.3 Contract Definition part a) indicates that the solicitation is a firm fixed price, Indefinite Delivery contract. Part b) indicates that the solicitation is a time and materials, Indefinite Delivery contract. Further, the Statement of Work (Section 2.3, p4) indicates that “the proposed contract will be executed as a Time and Materials, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract.”

Does the National Assessment Governing Board/NAEP prefer a Time and Materials or Fixed Priced contract?

Answer: The proposed contract will be an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Each task order issued under the contract will specify whether it will be a Time and Materials (TM) task order, Fixed Price (FP) task order, or Firm Fixed Price (FFP) task order. The tasks described in the solicitation which need to be budgeted are proposed as Time and Materials task orders and should be budgeted accordingly, based on the guidance in the cost proposal instructions.

13. Will the government please clarify and provide more details around the terms of the contract type and if the government has a preference for Task Orders of one type over another.

Answer: See response to question 12.

14. Section L 8 314-1 Past Performance Report states that the offeror shall provide details on four relevant contracts completed in the last three years. Do all of these examples need to come from the Prime or can they also be from a teaming partner?

Answer: The four past performance reports for contracts completed in the last three years should be from the prime contractor. If a subcontractor is proposed, offerors should submit, at minimum, one past performance report (of the four) from the subcontractor.

15. Please clarify the total number of past performances required when subcontractors are being used.

Answer: See response to question 14.

16. Section 4, Instructions to Offers, 4.1.2 Technical Proposal, details that offers include

Related Organizational Experience including current and past clients within the last two years. Section L.8 314-1 Past Performance Report indicates that the offeror shall provide details on contracts completed within the last three years. Will the government please clarify the number of years the government desires to see in the past performance?

Answer: See response to question 14.

17. The Statement of Work Task 5 details that the contractor shall provide design, editing, and other publication services for Governing Board publications. Will the government please clarify if there is specific software the government expects the contractor to use to complete this work?

Answer: Task orders that require publication services will specify the software to be utilized for the publications work.

18. The Sample Task Order Requests (Task 3) list a task to “secure appropriate technical capabilities, layout and design of pre-release briefings and all release day events- which may include audiovisual, satellite/telecommunications, recording and transcription services, creating an audio podcast, web casting, coordinating conference calls, and providing logistics for the event such as seating arrangements and registration.” Does the government expect the contractor to including pricing for these activities in its response?

Answer: Yes

Are any of these types of services and technology provided by the government?

No

19. Has the current contract met the Board’s expectations for communications support to reporting and disseminating the results of assessments of the Nation’s educational system?

Answer: The Governing Board cannot respond to this question

20. What, if anything, has worked particularly well under the current contract approach?

Answer: The Governing Board cannot respond to this question

21. What, if anything, does the Board particularly look to improve under the next contract?

Answer: The Statement of Work provides details of the requirements for the new contract.

22. What significant challenges confront the Board in focusing attention of key stakeholders and the general public on the reports and assessments?

contract, and more information on the Governing Board’s work is at www.nagb.org.

23. The solicitation makes several references to “innovation” as a particular objective in delivering communications support under the contemplated contract. What innovations has the Board taken advantage of under the current contract? Does the Board look for innovation in particular areas of performance under the contemplated contract?

24. The solicitation also includes several references to “efficiency” and “cost effectiveness” in performance of the contemplated contract. Has the current contract approach raised concerns about efficiency and cost effectiveness? If so, have those concerns focused on particular areas of performance or overall performance?

25. For our submission, do we include in our pricing an estimated number of hours or do we merely quote the labor rate per labor category as indicated in attachment C and the number of hours to price will be included when the task orders are released?

Answer: Pricing for tasks is required, as requested in the solicitation and Attachment A.

26. Section 4, Instructions to Offers, 4.1.2 Technical Proposal, details that offers include

Related Organizational Experience including work samples. Will the government provide more details as to how they want the work samples included in the submission and if these materials count in the technical approach page limits.

Answer: Samples may be submitted with proposals, as separate attachments. Submitted sample materials will not count toward the page limitation.

27. Can we submit creative samples (e.g. Web site designs) and if so does this count towards any of the page counts?

Answer: See response to question 26.