Sources_Sought_Questions_and_Answers.doc

FDA-Off-Site-RIM-000141 Sources Sought

Questions and Answers

1. Is this a new site or is there legacy equipment being replaced?

Answer: The requirement is for off-site document processing at the Contractor’s location. The Contractor is responsible for providing all equipment (except the Government furnished laptops).

2. How much data is managed/stored each week?

Answer: Refer to attachments “Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload” and “Appendix B -Summary of Volume Submissions,” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps.

3. Will tiered storage be in use at this site?

Answer: The question is unclear.

4. What level of security is needed for this building? (Level 1-4) Answer: Levels 3 and 4.

5. Assuming using our equipment and software to image and track. Section 3.8.3 states that if equipment and software is not on the MAT list, it must be approved via the formal FDA technical approval process prior to connection to FDA’s network. However in Section 3.8.3 it states the FDA will be providing personal computers and FDA network access to contractor staff.

Answer: The question is unclear. The Government is providing laptops however, the approval process would be necessary for Contractor equipment that may need to be connected to FDA’s network (if applicable).

6. Section 1.3 – Can FDA provide a specific list of tasks associated with receiving, processing, inventorying, scanning and disposing of documents and records? What is entailed in the processing? How detailed is the inventory process?

Answer: The list of tasks and processes will not be identified at this stage.

7. Section 3.7.1 states Information technology systems that will be used to process, store, or transmit federal information in support of this contract shall be segmented from Contractor’s Corporate Network. Does this mean all the information related to project needs to be on a separate server?

Answer: This requirement only applies to regulatory information being processed on behalf of the federal government. The contractor’s Program and Task Order Management Support information may reside on the corporate network/server.

8. Are we sharing facility with FDA employees? Can be the building ONLY be used for this contract?

Answer: Refer to attachment “CDRH Offsite Real Property Clauses,” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps.

9. What is the percentage allocation of each type of document received (i.e. 80% of submissions are paper, 10% are electronic and 10% are eCopies)?

Answer: Refer to attachments “Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload” and “Appendix B -Summary of Volume Submissions,” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps.

10. What are the anticipated hours of operations of offsite DCFs?

Answer: Hours of operations 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday except on Government Holidays or when the Government is closed due to inclement weather.

11. Will the contractor be required to utilize existing FDA repositories and tracking systems?

Answer: Yes.

12. Is contractor required to provide any information systems/software/applications?

Answer: Vendor provided equipment/software must be in X with MATS as X defined.

13. Section 3.10.7 references “new incoming records material may also be distributed to the off-site scanning vendor(s). Who are the off-site scanning vendor(s) and what are their addresses/locations?

Answer: This is an error. Please disregard.

14. Transition In/Transition Out. Given the level of effort for these, and that there will be multiple Transitions by facility, will the Government clarify whether these activities will be discrete TO’s or rolled up into the overall facilities provisioning TO?

Answer: This will be defined at a later date.

15. Is it required that the facility be within the 15-mile radius?

Answer: It is at the discretion of the contractor to determine whether their company can adequately perform services and meet Service Level Agreements identified in the IDIQ and Task Order SOWs. Things to consider for this upcoming requirement are as follows: Contractor locations must be in close enough proximity to FDA Centers and Offices to provide courier service to multiple FDA facilities each weekday as fully outline in Individual Task Orders (ITO) and provide expedited delivery services of FDA material. Expedited delivery services are within 3-4 hours of a request.

For the purposes of this upcoming requirement, facilities outside of the Washington DC Metro Area must adhere to timeframes and distance restrictions identified in ITO’s. To meet performance deliverables as tasked, the Contractor must be located at a distance that will ensure delivery within the timeframe specified for no additional cost to the contract.

16. The FDA wishes to transition document control and records services to Contractor hosted off-site locations. Will this be for all of FDA or just specified departments?

Answer: The government will not provide this information at this stage.

17. Will the operation of existing Document Control Centers be transferred to contractors?

Answer: Yes.

18. What is the annual volume of records (cubic feet) to be transferred to the contractor?

Answer: Please refer to attachment Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload

19. Will the contractor be expected to assume responsibility for all records at once, or will there be a phased-in strategy?

Answer: Contractor to propose transition schedule.

20. How soon after award must the contractor have total control of the records?

Answer: Refer to the response to Question #19.

21. The draft requires the contractor to inventory records located at Contractor-hosted off-site facilities. Would such inventories include legacy records? Would there be existing inventories available for review? When would the inventories begin? Duration? Frequency? Anticipated volume?

Answer: Please refer to the response to Question #6.

22. Does FDA expect the contractor to provide support with FDA’s efforts to meet government-wide goals for complying with the Presidential/OMB/NARA directive on managing government records, to include: Inventory and Organizing, Scanning and Disposition, Electronic Content Management and iCloud?

Answer: Yes, as defined in the Statement of Work.

23. Will the government consider expanding the area of consideration for the Document Control Facility to be located within 75 - 100 miles of Washington, DC?

Answer: Please refer to the response to Question #14.

24. What government furnished equipment would be available for this requirement?

Answer: The government will not provide this information at this stage.

25. Are there any vendors currently providing this service to the federal government? If so, who are they?

Answer: There is no incumbent currently performing the statement of work for, as written, totally off the Government site.

26. Are there current government employees providing this service? If so, how many?

Answer: The government will not provide this information at this stage.

27. Can you please clarify the expected physical storage requirements for this task as it has been outlined?

Answer: Refer to attachments “Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload” and “Appendix B -Summary of Volume Submissions,” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps.

28. Do interested firms need to secure a location within the designated area capable of storage before bid? If no, what is the timetable upon award for a firm to secure an adequate location if they do not already have facilities capable of meeting the project requirement?

Answer: Yes.

29. In the previous Q&A there was indication that the physical storage requirements of the project would scale down over the life of the project as non-digital files were converted. To what extent would this alter the physical storage requirements from (for example) year 1 to year 5 of the project?

Answer: To be determined at a later date.

30. If they are within the designated project area, is it acceptable for project staff and storage to be distributed across multiple locations? Would it be possible for a firm to begin with two locations and scale down to one over the life of the project dependent upon the answer to the question above?

Answer: A centralized location is required.

31. Broad requirements are provided for off-site scanning, photocopying and conversion services in section 3.10.9 but there is no indication of the annual volume and/or scale (actual or estimated) of services that will need to be executed by Contractor Off-Site DCF. This is vital in order to know if we need the resources (equipment, labor, storage, etc.) to handle 100 documents or 1 million documents.

Answer: Please refer to attachments “Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload” and “Appendix B -Summary of Volume Submissions,” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps.

32. Section 3.10.9 states that the Contractor will "...image document/files using FDA supplied hardware and software." Is the Government intending to transfer its equipment and/or software from its current DCCs and DCFs to the contractor's facility? Is the contractor allowed/expected to use our own hardware/software?

Answer: This is stated in error. The Contractor shall provide all equipment, with the exception of computers that will be provided to access FDA internal systems. FDA uses a combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom-coded software for scanning, loading, and storing documents as well as for data entry. Further, if any of the contractor’s peripheral equipment needs to be connected to the FDA network, it must be on FDA’s Master Approved Technology (MAT) list.

33. The Draft SOW does not mention whether the Contractor-Hosted Off-Site Document Center will receive all documents from FDA’s current Document Control Centers (DCCs) and Document Control Facilities (DCFs). Does the government anticipate closing all 21 of their DCCs and DCFs and consolidating all of their document processing to Contractor-Hosted sites.

Answer: The government will not provide this information at this stage.

34. The solicitation (Question 2) mentions a potential future requirement for storage of documents, but does not list the anticipated square footage required for such storage.

Answer: This is not a solicitation. This is a Sources Sought Notice. Please refer to attachment “Appendix A: Draft CDRH Workload” attached to the Sources Sought Notice in FedBizOpps. The first tab in the Excel spreadsheet is labelled “footage.”

35. Neither the solicitation nor SOW lists the name of the records management software currently being used at the DCCs and DCFs. Is the Government looking for new software or must we use the current software in place?

Answer: A solicitation has not been released yet. The contractor must use the current software in place.

36. The solicitation identifies the NAICS Code as 541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. Would the Government consider using an additional/alternate NAICS Code (possibly 541513, Computer Facilities Management Services) to allow for a wider cross section of capability responses?

Answer: The 541611 NAICS code will not be changed. The 541611 NAICS code includes records management services. The 541513 NAICS code is not appropriate for this requirement.

37. From the facility location guidance item #11 - Are you defining an area with a radius of 15 miles from the 10903 New Hampshire Ave address?

The guidance for “East - 15 miles from 10903 New Hampshire Ave to Cherry Hill Road, Silver Spring, MD 20993” and “West - 15 miles from 10903 New Hampshire Ave to Columbia Pike Road, Silver Spring, MD 20993” … is confusing because the distance in both cases is less than 2 miles.

Answer: There is a typo in the guidance. It should state:

“East - 15 miles from 10903 New Hampshire Ave towards Cherry Hill Road, Silver Spring, MD 20993” and “West - 15 miles from 10903 New Hampshire Ave towards Columbia Pike Road, Silver Spring, MD 20993.”

Amendment 1 to the sources sought notice updated the guidance to correct the typo.