Amendment_0001_ED-OPE-15-R-0017.pdf

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 STANDARD FORM 30. (Rev. 10-83) Previous Edition unusable Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

Page of Pages AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. Contract ID Code

2. AMENDMENT MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (if applicable)

6. ISSUED BY CODE 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6) CODE

(x) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (NO., Street, Country, State and ZIP Code)

CODE FACILITY CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning ______ copies of amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OR OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

Check One

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return _______ copies to the issuing office.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. DATE SIGNED

Continuation Page

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Continued from Block 14...

- Addendum to 52.212-1 -- Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items (July 2013)

- Addendum to 52.212-2 #- Evaluation of Offers -- Commercial Items (January 1999)

- Attachment A - Performance Work Statement

Attachment Page

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Responses to Clarification Questions for ED-OPE-15-R-0017

Support for Postsecondary Education Data Collection

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

1. How many IT personnel currently support the system operations, maintenance and enhancement work required under Task 2?

A: The Department will not provide a number for personnel. Vendors should submit their staffing estimate that they think they need for successful completion of the tasks.

2. For activities 1 – 7, 9, 11, and 13 of Task 2, who will define the changes that are required?

A: The COR will work with appropriate Department staff and the contractor.

3. For activities 1 – 7, 9, 11, and 13 of Task 2, are the changes reviewed and approved within ED prior to making the changes in the systems?

A: Yes.

4. For each of the activities under Task 2, will the documentation for each of the systems be made available prior to the submission deadline?

A: The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software. Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract.

5. For activities 1 – 7, 9, 11, and 13 of Task 2, will ED provide documentation describing the changes that have been made in the last two to three years?

A: The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software. Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract.

6. Will ED confirm that the IES web standards provided are the most recent version? If it is not the most recent version, will ED provide the current version of the standards?

A: Yes, this is the most recent version available at this time.

7. Task 2, activity 1 is characterized as work that will occur monthly; are there drivers other than regulatory changes that would require that this activity happen monthly?

A: There are three drivers; the changes, if necessary, are determined by new requirements specified by statute (HEOA), any future changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, or OPE.

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8. Task 2 Activity 1 - What is the anticipated level of this effort on a monthly basis? Can you please expand on the work to be performed on this task?

A: The Department will not provide anticipated level of effort for this activity. The not-to-exceed labor hours are only provided on activities which include optional tasks AND would be impossible to price without a labor hour threshold. For activities without not-to-exceed labor hour limits, it is the Deparment’s opinion that an offeror can propose a unique technical solution that will vary from other offeror’s and will have differing labor hour estimates dependent upon how the technical approach is presented. Please see the PWS, Task 2, Activity 1 for the description of work.

9. Task 2 Activity 2 – Can the Department provide an example of the current documentation of system changes?

A: The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software. Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract.

10. Task 2 Activity 8 Campus Crime and EADA collection periods, by processing all the data collected and migrating the data to the appropriate public display websites – Can you share any documentation regarding the current processes for the data collection?

A: The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software. Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract.

11. Task 2, activity 9 is characterized as work that will occur weekly; are there assessment activities that ED would like to occur on a weekly basis for the Campus Crime and EADA systems outside of the collection period?

A: Any revisions made due to changes in the regulations or by OPE may occur weekly.

12. Activity 10: Can you share the documentation pertaining to procedures for the electronic transmission of accreditation data?

A: The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software. Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract.

13. Activity 12- “Maintain the electronic call record for both technical and policy related questions directed to the Help Desk related to Campus Crime, EADA, CATC, NPC, GE Disclosure template, and the Accredited Schools List” – How is the electronic call record maintained now? Is there any documentation regarding the helpdesk response? Does it come over GFE?

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A: A web-based application system designed by the current contractor is used to log questions, issues, and responses. The Department is not asking for a new system to be created. Documentation will be provided to the contractor who is awarded the contract. Yes, it covers the GE template.

14. How many full-time equivalent (FTE) currently support the help desk required under Activity 12 of Task 2?

A: The offeror should put forward the number of FTE they think is necessary to successfully complete the task.

15. How many inquiries (emails and phone calls) are received by the help desk per month?

A: The help desk receives approximately 30,000 inquires per year. Peak months are during the Campus Crime and EADA open survey periods, as outlined in the PWS. The help desk consists of call and email submissions. The contractor can expect approximately 7000 individual requests per month for assistance or clarification during the peak times.

16. What is the average response time for help desk inquiries?

A: This can be anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the question asked. The average time for most is 15 minutes.

17. Are there service level agreements associated with the system and help desk operations?

A: The hours of operation for the helpdesk are outlined in the PWS, Activity 2, Task 12.

The system is available to the greatest extent possible for both contractors and respondents. Contractors will be notified of any downtimes (which are not regularly scheduled).

18. Activity 14 - What is the anticipated level of this effort on a monthly basis?

A: The Department will not provide an anticipated level of effort for this activity. The Department can say that the hours will increase during the collection period when the memos are prepared and mailed and during the months where the Department requests the training presentation.

19. How many letters are to be produced under Activity 15 of Task 2 for Campus Crime and EADA? Will the letters be mailed through the government printing office? If not, is postage to be covered by the contractor?

A: Approximately 10,000 letters will be mailed. The Department will provide the envelopes, and the contractor will mail the letter.

20. What is the Government’s expectation with respect to how the Transition-In will be priced? Will ED please clarify the transition-in schedule and expected deliverables? Will ED provide a copy of the incumbent contractors Transition-out Plan?

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A: There are no transition-in or transition-out schedules under the previous contract with similar requirements, ED-IES-10-C-0016. A transition-out plan has been accounted for in this contract as Optional Task 4.

21. Task 4 paragraph C – Please confirm that it is the Government’s intent that the contractor will provide a CD archive that contains all the files from the NPEC Website annually.

A: Yes.

22. Can we host the development environment at the contractor site?

A: Yes, the contractor will host the development environment. The information will then be pushed to the Department’s development server.

23. What is the anticipated call volume of the helpdesk?

A: The help desk receives approximately 30,000 inquires per year. Peak months are during the Campus Crime and EADA open survey periods, as outlined in the PWS. The help desk consists of call and email submissions. The contractor can expect approximately 7,000 individual requests per month for assistance or clarification during the peak times.

24. The system will be hosted on IES Servers, will the contractor have access to production servers?

A: No.

25. In Activity 4, the deliverables list refers to the draft and final Guide for Campus Crime EADA Data Analysis Tool, but in Activity 3, there is no user guide listed as a deliverable for Campus Crime. Should there be deliverables in Activity 3 for Campus Crime User Guides as well as a deliverables in Activity 4 for EADA Data Analysis tool?

A: Please see Task 2, Activity 4. The user guide for the EASA and Campus Crime Data Analysis tool deliverable is combined.

26. Many of the activities discuss developing new screen content and edits. Can you provide more details on the level of effort or type of edits? For example, what are the activities involved in getting the sites up annually?

A: The new screen content and edits are based on regulatory changes.

27. In compliance with both the Federal Computing Cloud Strategy and the Department of Education’s Information Resources Management (IRM) Strategic Plan (2012), does the Department anticipate the migration of the web assets from the Department’s internal servers to FedRAMP approved Cloud Service Providers? In base year? In option years?

A: The production environment is currently hosted on a Department of Education cloud environment. We are not asking the surveys be moved from the Department’s environment.

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28. The PWS has a requirement to “Add historical data to the ASL database as it becomes available” Does the current system export/import data from database to database or is data manually enter data to ASL system?

A: The data is entered manually.

29. What versions of .Net, Windows Operating System, SQL Server and other software relevant to the production, development and test environments are you using?

A: The IES environment for development and operation of the software is currently as follows: Windows Serve 2003, IIS6, SQL Server 2005, ASP.NET 1.1 - 4.5 and MVC 3.

However, over the life of the contract, the environment may change; thus the contractor shall be prepared to match all upgrades as they are implemented.

30. Is the Government or the contractor responsible for the development, test and production environment software licenses?

A: The contractor is responsible for the licenses it will need for their development and test environments.

31. For what tasking are SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL, and HLM used? SPSS is used for submission of complete survey data sets with document are sent to ED in EXCEL, SPSS, SAS and SQL formats.

A: Please see Task 2, Activity 8 of the revised PWS. The technical evaluation criteria has been revised as well to remove SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL and HLM requirements.

32. For each of the following (SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL, HLM), which modules are currently used for the project? SAS version 9.0. SPSS version 22. Can you please list by environment which software is installed on production, test and development?

A: Contractors will not have access to production servers. Contractors will submit items and Department staff will move the items to the production servers.

33. Who is responsible for acquiring the licenses for SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL and

HLM?

A: The contractor is responsible for SAS and SPSS license. SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL and HLM requirements have been removed in the revised PWS and evaluation criteria.

34. The CATC website at collegecost.ed.gov/catc and the CATC/CATEF collection are referenced interchangeably in Task 2, Activities 1, 2, and 5. The CATC website involves substantial work to create the data tables and lists needed to post on the website and to test that the website is functioning properly. The CATEF collection (also called the CATC collection throughout the PWS) is a full collection that involves an annual update of the application, comprehensive testing, review of all completed surveys, submission of data, and a draft and final summary report (which is only mentioned in the schedule); in addition to the help desk, letters, and handbook. With this in mind, why are only 250 hours expected for both the website and the collection? Additionally, is an update of the other sections of the collegecost.ed.gov website expected?

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A: Please see the revised PWS. The Department has clarified these tasks. The Department feels the hours allotted are reasonable for updating the CATC website and implementing the CATEF data collection. The collection is a relatively small collection (roughly 580 respondents) and the collection period is 3 weeks. Contractors will not need to apply 100% of their time monitoring this data collection during the collection period.

35. The update of the NPC template and bulk upload tool specified in Activity 6 also involves the update of the EFC tables and testing to ensure that the tables are producing the numbers expected in the application and bulk upload tool. The hours allotted for Activity 6 do not seem to take that into account. Additionally, who will be responsible for updating the NPC information center on the IPEDS website?

A: The contractor will be responsible for updating the NPC information on the IPEDS website. Please see Activity 6.a. If additional hours are needed, there is an option to add hours in increments of 50 via the optional task.

36. Task 2, Activity 3 of the RFP states that the Campus Crime Data Collection Application will be available for public submission annually on August 1. In addition, the Task 15 Schedule for Campus Crime lists a 3 month collection period from August – October. Are these intended changes to the Campus Crime collection period?

a. These statements imply an August 1 – October 31 data collection period. Historically, data collection has been limited to an 8 week period.

b. Historically, the Campus Safety and Security Survey has opened in mid-August and ended in mid-October (August 20 – October 15 in 2014). This flexibility in when the survey opens has allowed the data collection timeframe to adjust to ensure that the collection would open on a weekday, typically a Wednesday.

c. Historically, the EADA survey has been due October 30 (see next question). Therefore, a mid-October Campus Crime due date enables the collection due dates to be staggered so that the Help Desk can adequately accommodate end of collection calls from both surveys.

A: The dates are estimates to be confirmed with the contractor at the kick off meeting.

37. Task 2, Activity 4 of the RFP states that the EADA Data Collection Application will be available for public submission annually on September 1. In addition, the Task 15 Schedule for EADA lists a 1.5 month collection period which would mean the collection would end in mid-October. Are these intended changes to the EADA collection period?

a. The EADA Survey is supposed to be due 15 days after the EADA Report, which is due on October 15th. Historically, EADA has closed on or around October 30.

b. Historically, EADA has opened in mid-September (September 10 in 2014). This flexibility has allowed the data collection to avoid opening on a weekend and avoid any overlap with the Labor Day holiday.

A: The dates are estimates to be confirmed with the contractor at the kick off meeting.

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38. Could any of the tasks be handled remotely?

A: The work will be performed at the contractor’s site.

39. We understand that the actual statistical analysis is performed by a different contractor. Therefore knowledge and experience using statistical software packages, such as SAS, SPSS, SUDAAN, STATA, LISREL, and HLM are truly not required for the performance of tasks on this contract. Creating survey designs do not require this understanding. We therefore request the removal of this experience and knowledge requirement.

A: Regarding the surveys, complete data sets with document are sent to ED in EXCEL, SPSS, SAS and SQL formats. The technical evaluation criterion has been updated to reflect this need and remove the unnecessary software packages.

40. Please confirm that all systems and software (including Staging, Testing and Production environments) supported under this contract are hosted and operated in Government facilities and vendor staff will be provided appropriate access to provide required support.

A: The contractor will have access to the Department’s development server only.

Development and testing environments will be hosted by the contractor.

41. Please confirm that the operations and maintenance of the Staging, Testing and Production environments, including patching and maintenance of Operating Systems, Physical Databases, and all network appliances and systems are outside the scope of this Performance Work Statement.

A: These items are outside the scope of the PWS and will be handled by Department staff internally.

42. For all the applications and surveys, will ED provide the technologies employed at the application and infrastructure level so that we can accurately estimate the required work for staffing and pricing purposes?

A: The platforms and web applications are Microsoft .NET running on Windows servers.

43. Will ED identify any preferred or required tools employed in the O&M and development of the surveys and applications? (i.e. ticket tracking, requirements tracking, etc) Please also identify tools that the Department hosts so we can determine what additional tools may be required?

A: No. The surveys and applications are developed. The contractor will maintain and update the surveys and applications. The management of the surveys and applications regarding the Department is already established. If referring to the help desk tracking, that is already in place, but can be enhanced. Please see Appendix A regarding IES website standards and tools needed.

44. Do anticipated changes to the Gainful Employment Disclosure Template require the tool to automatically populate parts of the form using FSA data systems (e.g., PEPS, NSLDS)?

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A: Yes. The changes to the template are not finalized and this is not anticipated for the first release.

45. What percentage of time does ED envision the project director will be committed to the project?

A: The offeror should put forward the number of labor hours they think is necessary to successfully complete the project.

46. Can you please elaborate on the programming needed for Activity 2 (Develop, test and document all functions including new programming and testing, such as screen entry, warnings, edit failure, file import, and data locking).

A: The contractor will not be starting from scratch with regards to the programming.

The Department has now made available on Fed Biz Ops the 2013 and 2014 functional specification documentation for Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data collection software and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) data collection software.

Additional documentation related to this and other topics of concern will be made available to the successful offeror who is awarded the contract. The Department’s development server is Microsoft SQL.

47. Will there be someone to work with to gain accurate content or to verify content CATC? A: The contractor will work with the COR and appropriate Department staff.

48. Does their server have SQL capabilities or will the forms needed be housed on an external server?

A: The server is a Microsoft SQL server. The surveys will be housed on the Department’s servers.

49. Instructions for Offerors, Page 28, Bullet #6, states the following – “This section shall also include a chart depicting the timelines for all tasks and subtasks, including deliverables. Staff responsible for each task and subtask shall be included on the chart.” On Page 29, Task 2, which comprises a majority of the support requirements of this PWS states the following – “Note: The schedule for this task will be finalized at the post award kick-off meeting under Task 1.” Therefore no offeror will be able to provide timelines for activities under Task 2. Please clarify this requirement, or remove this requirement to provide timelines.

A: Offerors shall propose a schedule based upon the dates provided in the PWS and their technical approach. All delieverable dates will be finalized at the kickoff meeting with the successful offeror.

50. Please provide the not-to-exceed labor hours for Task 2, Activity 1.

A: The Department will not provide not-to-exceed labor hours for this activity. The not-to-exceed labor hours are only provided on activities which include optional tasks AND would be impossible to price without a labor hour threshold. For activities without not-to-exceed labor hour limits, it is the Department’s opinion that an offeror can propose a

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unique technical solution that will vary from other offeror’s and will have differing labor hour estimates dependent upon how the technical approach is presented.

51. Please provide the not-to-exceed labor hours for Task 2, Activity 8 – 15.

A: The Department will not provide not-to-exceed labor hours for these activities. The not-to-exceed labor hours are only provided on activities which include optional tasks AND would be impossible to price without a labor hour threshold. For activities without not-to-exceed labor hour limits, it is the Department’s opinion that an offeror can propose a unique technical solution that will vary from other offeror’s and will have differing labor hour estimates dependent upon how the technical approach is presented.

52. Please provide the not-to-exceed labor hours for Task 3.

A: The Department will not provide not-to-exceed labor hours for this task. The not-to-exceed labor hours are only provided on activities which include optional tasks AND would be impossible to price without a labor hour threshold. For activities without not-to-exceed labor hour limits, it is the Deparment’s opinion that an offeror can propose a unique technical solution that will vary from other offeror’s and will have differing labor hour estimates dependent upon how the technical approach is presented.

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ACQUISITION QUESTIONS

1. Please clarify that the Cover Page, Table of Contents, and Table of Figures/Exhibits are not included in the page count.

A: Instructions have been updated to reflect that the cover page and table of contents do not count towards the page count. Tables, figures and exhibits that are part of the technical proposal do count towards the page limit, however they do not have font specifications as stated in the submission instructions.

2. Does the technical proposal 25-page limit include the title page, cover letter, and table of contents?

A: As stated above, a title page and table of contents will not count towards the page limit. Any cover letter would however be included as part of the page limit, as such content would be considered either part of the “introduction” or “general approach.”

3. Instructions to Offerors, states the following “Authors of each section shall be clearly identified in the proposal’s Table of Contents.” All sections are written by the offeror company in general and not by any specific individual. Also all sections are the responsibility of the offeror, the Prime Contractor. So it is redundant to identify the authors of each section. We request you to please remove this requirement.

A: The Government disagrees with this assertion and this requirement will be kept in the Instructions to Offerors.

4. We request an editable, MS Word version of Attachment B – Past Performance form.

A: An editable version of Attachment B has been posted to the FBO announcement.

5. Section titled, Evaluation of Offerors, Qualifications of the Project Staff – The only way any offeror will be able to meet the requirements of this section is by proposing incumbent staff only. It is not reasonable for the Government to expect all offerors to be able to propose incumbent staff. These requirements provide an unfair advantage to the incumbent, which we are sure is NOT the intent of the Government. Therefore we request the removal of all experience requirements that are specific to the Department of Education, and retain only the general Information Technology (IT) requirements.

A: The Department disagrees with the offeror’s assertion and will not modify the evaluation requirements. There is no expectation stated or unstated that offerors would be required to propose incumbent staff. The evaluation is particular in emphasizing the difference between knowledge and experience; knowledge can be attained without having experience as the incumbent. Knowledge can be evidenced through the details of the offeror’s technical approach.

The following is a list of where some information can be found in regards to the specific subject areas identified in the solicitation. This list is not all encompassing, but provides resources that may prove helpful in advancing offeror knowledge of some content areas:

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For information regarding the Secretary’s recognition process, visit http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation.html#Overview

For the database on accredited schools, visit http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/

For copies of previous staff reports, click on “Public Documents” at the following site at https://opeweb.ed.gov/aslweb/

6. Instructions to Offerors, Page 30, states the following – “Labor Rates and Categories – The proposed budget for each task shall include the number of labor hours by labor category. Provide spreadsheet identifying labor categories, labor hourly rates, the identification and application of all indirect rates, escalation and profit used to arrive at the extended loaded labor rates.” Given that this is a Firm Fixed Type contract, and it meets the requirements in FAR 15.403-1(c), please confirm that this instruction will be removed.

A: Labor rates and categories are appropriate in a fixed-price environment as part of the detail required to make a price reasonableness determination. Labor rates and categories are necessary to determine if the business proposal is consistent with the personnel and approach proposed in the technical proposal. This instruction will remain in the Instructions to Offerors.

7. Instructions to Offerors, Page 30, Bullet #8 – subcontractor’s proposal: Our subcontractor has agreed to use our labor rates, and we are not proposing and load or markup on the subcontractor rates. In this case are we still required to provide a proposal from the subcontractor? Please clarify.

A: Yes, a copy of each sub-contractor’s proposal submitted to the prime should be included. If it so happens that the subcontractor is using the prime’s labor rates, that can be denoted in the subcontractor proposal, but it must still be included as part of the prime’s business proposal submission.

8. Is the “Past Performance Report” referenced in this section the customer responses to the past performance questionnaire? If so, since questionnaires are completed by customers and returned directly to the Government, is it the Government’s intent that offerors will submit only (1) a technical proposal and (2) a business proposal? If this is not the Government’s intent, please describe the Government’s expectations for the content of (3) the past performance report.

A: The Past Performance Report is only comprised of three completed Contractor Performance Information forms from references. The only content the vendor should submit are the technical and business proposals; the references would submit the past performance reports to the Department per the specifications in the solicitation.

9. Page 26 of the solicitation indicates that the Past Performance Report is made up of the completed Contractor Performance Information forms, which are to be sent directly to the contract specialist by the offeror’s references. What, then, is to be included in the

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third part referenced on page 26 called “Past Performance Report” that is to be submitted with parts I and II, Technical and Business?

A: As stated above, The Past Performance Report is only comprised of three completed Contractor Performance Information forms from references. The only content the vendor should submit is the technical and business proposals; the references would submit the past performance reports to the Department per the specifications in the solicitation.

10. The past performance requirement did not specify details regarding prime and subcontractors, only that the “offeror” must submit three. Should this be two from the prime and one from the subcontractor?

A: If a subcontractor is doing a significant amount of the work under this requirement (defined as 25% or more of the total effort) then the subcontractor should also coordinate the submission of three past performance reports on their behalf. Thus, the prime would submit three reports and the subcontractor would submit three reports.

The instructions to offerors has been updated to clarify this request.

11. For past performance will the key personnel references be acceptable?

A: Yes. If the offeror has no relevant corporate or organizational past performance, the offeror may substitute past performance of a predecessor company or of the offeror’s management or proposed key personnel who may have relevant experience.

12. In the business response, should one bid the maximum optional hours for each task even though that would most likely not be the actual needed?

A: The Department does not fully understand this question. The offeror should propose a technical proposal which includes the total number of hour estimated by the offeror to complete the work by the approach they specify in their proposal. For Task 2, Activities 2-7, the contractor should bid at the not-to-exceed limit since that estimate has been provided by the Government.

13. What is the anticipated award date?

A: Exact award date is still to be determined, but the Department wishes to award by no later than the end of the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, or June 30, 2015.

14. The Department request a ”...copy of each sub-contractor’s proposal submitted to the prime contractor.” In an effort to maintain consistency in formatting and for ease of review, May the business proposal instead include the subcontractor pricing and costs in all summary and detail charts, providing that all subcontractor pricing and costs are clearly delineated?

A: The Department would prefer that each subcontractor’s proposal be included as part of the final business proposal volume. A summary schedule identifying each sub-contractor’s price should also be included.

15. Is this a new requirement or is there an incumbent, if so, who is it?

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A: There was a previous requirement similar in nature. This contract was number ED- IES-10-C-0016 and was held by IT Innovative Solutions Corporations (INOVAS). The title of this contract was “Support for Postsecondary Education Statistical Analyses and Data Collection (PESATD).”

16. Is the incumbent eligible to bid on this?

A: As stated above, there was a previous requirement similar in nature, but not exactly the same so it is not a traditional re-compete with an incumbent. That being said, INOVAS is considered a small business under the anticipated NAICS Code (541511) and thus is eligible to bid on this total small business set-aside.

17. If there is an incumbent, are they eligible to bid on this?

A: As stated above, INOVAS is eligible to bid as a small business under NAICS Code 541511.

18. Kindly inform if there is an incumbent currently performing the work specified in RFP ED-OPE-15_0017 - if so, is such incumbent eligible to bid on this contract?

A: As stated above, INOVAS is eligible to bid as a small business under NAICS Code 541511.

If these requirements are currently being performed under a contract,

a. Who is the Contractor? - INOVAS

b. What is the contract number? ED-IES-10-C-0016

c. When does the contract expire? – April 15, 2015

d. What is the current contract value? The total contract value for all years and all modifications is $11,319,852.88. However, ED-OPE-15-R-0017 represents the solicitation of a new requirement which will have many differences from this previous contract.

19. When do you expect the solicitation to come out?

A: The solicitation was released on March 4, 2015 on Fed Biz Ops.

20. What is the anticipated RFP release date?

A: The solicitation was released on March 4, 2015 on Fed Biz Ops.

21. What exactly is the March 26th "Closing Date"?

A: The technical proposal, business proposal and past performance reports must be received at or before the closing date of 11:00am EST on March 26, 2015.

22. The response period appears to be extremely short - any possibility of extending the response due date?

A: The due date will not be extended. A draft PWS was originally posted for questions/response on November 21, 2014. After posting responses to vendor questions on January 30, 2015, a revised pre-solicitation PWS was posted on February 25, 2015. A revised pre-solicitation notice was posted on March 2, 2015 and the solicitation was released on March 4, 2015. There was been enough time to make

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industry aware of the requirement and with a three week open solicitation window, enough time to prepare a thorough solicitation package.

23. What is the team size of the incumbent? Could you please provide us the number of staff of the incumbent per each role/ task?

A: The Government will not provide any information related to the size of the incumbent, staff assigned to each task or the labor hours devoted to each role/task.

The requirement has changed significantly from the previous contract and the Government is interested in evaluating each offeror’s independent technical and business solutions.

24. Is this solicitation a new requirement or a follow on?

A: This is a follow-on requirement that varies from the contract ED-IES-10-C-0016 in both scope and general expectation. One of the primary changes is that this requirement does not include Statistical Analyses in both the title of the contract nor as a major part of the PWS.

a. If it’s a follow on who is the current contractor? INOVAS

b. How many FTEs and labor categories are providing services? The Government will not release any information related to the contractor’s FTE and labor categories.

c. What is the length of their services? INOVAS had a contract which has been exercised to the maximum period of performance of 60 months.

25. How are these services currently being performed? Under contract? In-house?

A: Partially similar services are contracted through INOVAS under contract ED-IES-10-C- 0016. That contract is titled ““Support for Postsecondary Education Statistical Analyses and Data Collection (PESATD).”

26. Please clarify the difference in the Summary Schedule and the Pricing and Payment Schedule.

A: Summary Schedule gives the overall final price by performance period/year, whereas Pricing and Payment Schedule shows the cost for each deliverable for each performance period/year.

Table of Contents

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SECTION

. 1 Addendum to 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors

. 2 Addendum to 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items

. 3 Attachment A - Performance Work Statement

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SECTION

. 1 Addendum to 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors

Addendum to 52.212-1 -- Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial Items (July

2013)

The offeror is expected to show a thorough understanding of the proposed tasks and the existing resources, as specified in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The proposal should address the requirements in the PWS, not simply repeat the language. The proposal should be written in enough detail so that a review panel can adequately judge its full merits.

Although the intent of each task is spelled out in the scope of work, it is up to the offeror to propose the most effective method for carrying out the tasks and the most feasible timeline and dates for all key activities. The offeror is encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the best methods of attaining the objectives of this contract.

Each offer shall consist of three parts: (1) a technical proposal, (2) a business proposal, and (3) a past performance report. All information necessary to judge the technical soundness and management capabilities of the offeror shall be contained in the technical proposal. The business proposal shall contain all information related to the determination of the costs/prices associated with each of the project’s tasks. The technical proposal shall not contain any reference to specific costs or prices, but resource information (e.g., staff hours) may be included so that the offeror’s understanding of the scope of the work may be evaluated by the Technical Evaluation

Panel (TEP). Authors of each section shall be clearly identified in the proposal’s Table of

Contents. Further clarification regarding content of these proposals is identified in the Proposal

Content section of this solicitation.

Submission Instructions

The technical proposal shall be written in a standard font, no larger than 12 point for all text outside of titles and headers, and limited to a total of 25 single-spaced pages. Margins shall be no smaller than 1 inch on all sides. Specifications pertaining to font do not apply to tables, figures, or exhibits. The page limit excludes the cover page, table of contents, resumes and any letters of agreement from subcontractors. Technical proposal shall be submitted in either

Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

Additional appendices (outside of resumes and subcontractor letters of agreement) are not allowable; offerors shall not put substantive materials in an appendix in order to subvert the page limit. All pages falling outside these parameters will be immediately discarded and not considered as part of the evaluation process.

The business proposal, which also includes the Conflict of Interest Plan, shall follow the same font and margin specifications as the technical proposal. There is no page limit for the business proposal. The business proposal shall be submitted in either Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF format.

The Past Performance Report, which are is comprised of completed Contractor Performance

Information forms from three references, are due no later than the due date for the Technical &

Business Proposals under this solicitation. If a subcontractor will be responsible for completing

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a significant amount of the work under this requirement (defined as 25% or more of the total effort), then the subcontractor shall follow the same procedures as the Prime offeror and submit three completed Contractor Performance Information forms. Please request that the reference please return the completed form (see Attachment B of this solicitation for the form) to the

Contract Specialist, Charles Harless (charles.harless@ed.gov). The subject line should reference

RFP ED-OPE-15-R-0017 and the prime offeror’s or subcontractor’s name of business.

Offerors are requested to provide three past performance evaluations using the past performance format as outlined within Attachment B of the solicitation. The Department reserves the right to obtain past performance information from other sources.

The technical proposal, business proposal and past performance reports shall be submitted as separate digital documents. The technical proposal, business proposal and past performance reports must be received at or before 11:00am EST on March 26, 2015. Proposals shall be submitted electronically to the Points of Contact listed below:

• Charles Harless, Contract Specialist (Email: Charles.Harless@ed.gov)

• Pamela Bone, Contracting Officer (Email: Pamela.Bone@ed.gov)

All questions in response to this solicitation must be received at or before 11:00am EST on

March 11, 2015. Questions shall be submitted electronically to the Points of Contact listed below:

• Charles Harless, Contract Specialist (Email: Charles.Harless@ed.gov)

• Pamela Bone, Contracting Officer (Email: Pamela.Bone@ed.gov)

Responses to all clarification questions will be answered by the Department and provided to all offerors in an amendment posted to FBO.gov on or about March 16, 2015. If an offeror submits a clarification question prior to March 11, 2015, they will not receive a response until all questions have been received by the established date. Oral explanations or instructions given by the Department before award of the contract(s) shall not be binding. Any information given to a prospective offeror concerning the solicitation will be furnished promptly to all other prospective offerors.

The Department’s email system cannot handle emails larger than 20mb. Submissions should be broken up into separate emails if necessary. Proposals or questions that were rejected by our servers due to violation of the size limit or other technical issues will not be accepted after the specified deadline, so please plan accordingly when submitting materials to the Department.

Proposal Content

I. Technical Proposal

The technical proposal shall disclose your technical approach in sufficient detail to provide a clear and concise presentation that includes, but not limited to, the requirements of the technical proposal instructions. Pricing information is restricted to the business proposal. The technical

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proposal shall not contain any reference to the cost and price; however, appropriate resource information, such as labor hours and categories, material specifications, and subcontracts etc., must be contained in the technical proposal so the Department can evaluate the offeror’s understanding of the scope of work within the contract. The technical proposal shall consist of the following sections:

1. Table of Contents: The Table of Contents will provide an easy means to identify authors and major points of discussion. Offerors shall include page numbers in the Table of

Contents.

2. Introduction: The Introduction shall briefly provide an impression of the offeror’s general understanding of the project’s objectives and scope of work.

3. General Approach: The General Approach section shall provide the rationale for the proposed approach, describe the offeror’s overall plan to accomplish the work successfully, indicate what the contractor sees as the most challenging aspect of the project and how the contract plans to address these challenges.

4. Statement of Work: The Statement of Work section must correspond to the Performance

Work Statement (PWS) included in the government’s RFP. The offeror’s Statement of

Work expands upon each of the tasks outlined in the government’s PWS and discusses procedural issues related to completing each task. The offeror’s plan for carrying out each task, including the naming of staff members who will play a major role in completing the task, must be clearly stated.

5. Management, Staffing, and Scheduling: The project management section details the offeror’s plan for managing the project, including coordination and communication within the offeror’s organization and with the Department. It shall include discussions of the offeror’s procedures for: ensuring adherence to schedules and deadlines; ensuring high quality products and outcomes; maintaining close communication with the COR.

6. All personnel must be identified, and their positions in the project management structure are detailed in an organization chart. It includes a staff skills matrix that identifies that project staff by skill area; and a person-loading chart that shows the number of hours each staff member will devote to each of the project tasks.

This section shall also include a chart depicting the timelines for all tasks and subtasks, including deliverables. Staff responsible for each task and subtask shall be included on the chart.

7. Related Experience of Proposed Staff: This section shall contain a summary for each proposed key staff member that indicates how his/her prior work experience and educational background relates to his/her proposed role on the contract.

8. Related Corporate Experience: This section shall describe the offeror’s capability and experience related to the tasks described in the PWS. It shall contain a description of the

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approach that the offeror will use to provide corporate oversight for the contract. It also should list the steps that the offeror will take to insure the quality of the work and products.

This section shall also describe the offeror’s past experience in conducting projects of a similar nature and magnitude. One-page abstracts of related work should be included which clearly identify scope of work of these prior projects and their time frame and current status (e.g., complete, ongoing). The name, current affiliation, and current telephone number of the project’s COR (or equivalent, if not government-sponsored) shall be specified. These CORs may be asked to report their experience on the project

(size, problems, overruns, responsiveness, flexibility, and product quality).

9. Offerors are encouraged to submit resumes or current vitae for each staff member proposed for the project. These documents must list: 1) each degree earned, including the date when each was confirmed, the confirming institution, and the major field of study; 2) any professional certification, if applicable; and 3) no more than four prior/current work or project experiences.