Attch 5 - Questions and Answers.pdf

FA449724Q0051 – Mass Texting Subscription Questions and Answers

1. The requirement specifies that the dashboard should display the telephone number of the originating mobile device along with the location based on the area code and the geographic location of the phone at that moment. We understand that US carriers do not provide the geographic location of a mobile device when using SMS due to privacy concerns and regulations.

Could you please clarify if the expectation is to provide this information somehow, or if there is an alternative method or technology you are expecting the contractor to use to meet this requirement?

Ans: This is just display of full phone numbers including the area on the dashboard after we save it to the contact list. It is our responsibility to provide or save the phone numbers on the dashboard.

2. One of the dashboard requirements is geographic location of the phone at that moment.

Exact geographical phone location is not a datapoint that can be collected via SMS. Would the Government consider removing or refining that requirement?

Ans: This is just display of full phone numbers including the area on the dashboard after we save it to the contact list. It is our responsibility to provide or save the phone numbers on the dashboard.

3. How is the patient population of 33,000 patients paired down to determine the 5,000-10,000 patients that receive any given message?

Ans: 5K – 10K patients are currently enrolled to the clinic.

4. What information does the Government need to collect from the QR-Code enabled sign up form?

Ans: Full Name, Phone number and email

5. In the Objective, the Government mentions sending real-time notices or announcements to an individual phone. Is there a need to send individual messages to a phone outside of the need to send mass messages to a pool of recipients?

Ans: if I understand the question, there will not individual communication beside the mass messaging. Each text/message will send to the total number of 5K-10K patients.

6. How does the Government plan to keep the eligible patient population contact list in sync between the mass texting system and the source of record for these patients?

Ans: Contractor should only be responsible for providing the mass texting services and not to worry about patients record source.

7. Can the Government elaborate on what is meant by "key word" in the Dashboard requirements?

Ans: the Key Word here means the receivers are not allowed response/reply to any messages sent out to them.

8. In order to offer the most cost-effective quote, is the Government open to quotes that contain a per message (volume based) price?

Ans: No, please only provide quotes based on the PWS and the clarifications provided on this Q&A.

9. The last sentence of the first paragraph in 52.212.3(b)(2) finishes with "…except for paragraphs ___." Can the Government please clarify if that sentence is meant to include specific paragraph numbers or not?

Ans: The Offeror has completed in the last 12 months the annual representation and certifications electronically in SAM.gov. The Offeror must verify the electronic SAM information is current, accurate, complete and applicable to this solicitation by answering paragraphs (c) through (v).

10. Does the Government have a specific date they wish to have the solution fully implemented and live?

Ans: Immediately or as soon as possible

11. Would you prefer to receive a variable monthly invoice based on usage per-message rates for SMS and Email, or opt for a fixed Committed Spend amount to cover anticipated usage for the term, with the understanding that any usage exceeding the Committed Spend will result in an additional monthly bill?

Ans: The offeror’s monthly quote shall be fixed and is not subject to any adjustments per the Combined Synopsis document under Instructions to Quoters.

12. Is the dashboard to be the user interface that digital agents will use to respond to messages?

Ans: The dashboard will only serve are means to add phone numbers, initiate/draft messages, provide status of sent messages (like sent, failed or pending) to the contact list.

13. What's the intent of the real-time geographic location of the mobile phone? This is not something supported by the carriers over SMS, how is this expected to be gathered (for example, location sharing services through IOS/Android App)?

Ans: This is just display of full phone numbers including the area on the dashboard after we save it to the contact list it should not show location or anything and it is our responsibility to provide or save the phone numbers on the dashboard.

14. Do digital agents need the ability to initiate a fresh/net-new conversation, i.e. ad hoc communications to patients?

Ans: platform/dashboard should be able to allow us to draft/write/initiate our mass texting messages/notices.

15. I would like to know if there will be more than one user for the web application. And if so, how many?

Ans: We only need/require one user account and all the administrators can use it to sign in when needed.