HE1254-18-T-9000_Amendment_0001_-_TSS__Q&A's.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

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)

30-105-04EXCEPTION TO SF 30

APPROVED BY OIRM 11-84

STANDARD FORM 30 (Rev. 10-83) Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

This amendment is hereby issued to post the answ ers to the questions received for this RFQ. All other terms and conditions of this solicitation remain unchanged. (See Summary of Changes)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

1 6

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

16C. DATE SIGNED

BY 01-Feb-2018

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA15C. DATE SIGNED15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of Contracting Officer)(Signature of person authorized to sign)

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., Street, County, State and Zip Code) X HE125418T9000

X 9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

24-Jan-2018

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

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

Offer 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 1 copies of the 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 OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN

REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you 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 APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

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.)

10A. MOD. OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO.(If applicable)

6. ISSUED BY

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

01-Feb-2018

CODE

DOD EDUCATION ACTIVITY

ATTN: PROCUREMENT DIVISION

4800 MARK CENTER DRIVE

SUITE 05F09-02

ALEXANDRIA VA 22350-1400

HE1254 7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than item 6)

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.

CODE

See Item 6

FACILITY CODECODE

EMAIL:TEL:

HE125418T9000

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION SF 1449 - CONTINUATION SHEET

The following have been added by full text:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Questions and Answers for Transcription Support Services (TSS)

1. Would you kindly confirm if this is an entirely new effort or is there an incumbent currently providing the services? If so, can you please provide the incumbent contract details?

Answer Q1.) Transcription service are currently being performed by Diversified Reporting Services, Inc.

under a BPA HQ0034-14-A-0014.

2. Can companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like,from India or Canada)

Answer Q2.) No.

3. Do Contractor need to come over there for meetings?

Answer Q3.) No, the meetings can take place via teleconference or via a vendor hosted solution/forum (i.e. WebEx) environment, unless issues or concerns arise that require a face to face meeting to resolve.

4. Can tasks (related to RFP) be perform the outside USA? (like, from India or Canada)

Answer Q4.) No.

5. I am a newly-established CPA firm and am a certified SDVOSB. I have access to two employees and myself to perform on this contract; however, I do not have a past performance, as we are new. Does this disqualify my company from putting in a RFQ response?

Answer Q5.) This does not disqualify your company from submitting a response to this RFQ.

6. The RFQ, it indicates "controlled" and "uncontrolled" transcription. I could use a better definition of that or if you could point me in the direction of where this is explained, it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer Q6.) Controlled environment: the environment where a witness or subject is interviewed in a quiet, private space, with no outside ambient noise – only the voices of one to three people speaking at separate times. Uncontrolled environment: audio recordings where there may be outside ambient noise and unidentified persons speaking.

7. Performance Work Statement > Section 2.5, General Deliverables> Kick-Off Meeting states that contractor shall schedule and coordinate a kick-off meeting. If vendor is located out-of-state, would it be acceptable to host a teleconference call for the kick-off meeting?

Answer Q7.) As stated in question three above, the meetings can take place via teleconference or via a vendor hosted solution/forum (i.e. WebEx) environment. The DoD OIG has teleconference and VTC capability.

8. What are the anticipated volumes for this contract?

Answer Q8.) The antickpated volumes will be equil to if not more than last year. The DoDIG averaged 275 pages/month for 1-day turnaround and 2600 pages/month for 5-day turnaround.

9. Is the Department currently utilizing a vendor for these services? If so, what are the current rates?

Answer Q9.) Yes the DoD OIG are currently utilizing these services, however we cannot divulge their current rates.

10. SERVERS: Understandably, the place of performance is within our office by cleared personnel for security reasons. The solicitation specifies that work should not be comingled. Does that require a separate instance of our Transcription Platform that was designed to handle multiple clients securely dedicated to this work? Also, is it acceptable to house the transcription servers in Microsoft Azure Cloud with a HIPAA secure BAA agreement if all data is encrypted at rest and in transit or do we need to host our servers in Microsoft Azure Government Cloud or in our office on dedicated servers?

Answer Q10.) a. Yes, that would require a separate instance of the Transcription Platform. Application level separation is not sufficient. b. No, by definition ANY cloud instance would be a comingled environment and therefore it must be on dedicated servers.

11. FONTS: As per section 2.1.1 Transcript Format: • Transcript shall be double-spaced using 12-pitch font, 1-inch margins, printable on 8.5 by 11 size paper, with a minimum of 25 numbered lines of text per page, left justified with no indents, as shown in your attachment. Does that require a specific 12-pitch font or any MS font that can be converted to ASCII?

Answer Q11.) Times New Roman will be required theme font.

12. VOLUME: There is a wide range of minimum and maximum work from 2200 to 300,000 pages/year. This volume would require from just 1 to perhaps 40 full-time transcriptionists with a short time for staffing adjustments after the award. Since it is a sole source award, can we presume that there will be a fairly constant volume of documents per week that may exceed 6000 pages/week at times? What are the past volume range of pages per week and the maximum number of 24-hour jobs per day? Can you supply the staffing hours of prior vendors that need to be reported?

Answer Q12.) For the last year, we have averaged 275 pages/month for 1-day turnaround and 2600 pages/month for 5-day turnaround.

13. TURNAROUND TIME: At startup, for the first week. Can work be limited to 5 day turnaround time or 48 hour turnaround time for 1-day turnaround jobs to allow for extra editing and proofreading steps?

Answer Q13.) The vendor must be able to process 1 day and 5 day turnarounds at time of award of first task order.

14. NUMBER OF DICTATORS: How many average speakers are dictating for each job and what is the range?

Answer Q14.) One or two interviewers of one subject/witness at a time in the controlled environment. It is unknown and may be various people for recordings in the uncontrolled environment.

15. AUDIO QUALITY: Can you tell us more about the quality of the recordings? Are there multichannel recordings with dedicated channels for each speaker for some percent and what portion are recorded telephone calls?

Answer Q15.) Controlled environment recordings of interviews in person and by telephone are high quality. The Uncontrolled environment recordings – quality can vary.

16. METADATA: Will the audio jobs come with metadata identifying the spelling of the speaker's names or any other data?

Answer Q16.) Yes – names, organizations, acronyms, and unfamiliar terms will accompany the request for transcription of interviews conducted in controlled and uncontrolled environments.

17. WORK AT HOME TRANSCRIPTIONISTS: Would US based transcriptionists with appropriate security clearance working on secured dedicated computers be allowed to do work with audit trails for each job, or must all employees work within our offices?

Answer Q17.) As long as security requirements are met, the work location is immaterial.

18) Is the format shown in Attachment 2 "Sample Transcript" the only format that will be used? If there are other formats, would it be possible to supply samples and an indication of the frequency for each type of format.

Answer Q18.) The Sample Format is required for all interviews conducted in a controlled and uncontrolled environment.

19) Will a NACLC clearance also be accepted?

Answer Q19.) Yes.

20) Will background investigations conducted by DEA, ICE, and/or ATF agencies meet the NACI or will reciprocity be granted?

Answer Q20.) Yes.

21) Will background investigations conducted by DEA, ICE, and/or ATF agencies (mostly NACI some MBI) be accepted? If so, what level of investigation is required?

Answer Q21.) Yes, at NACI and MBI.

22) Please confirm that WRD 15-4281 (Rev.-7) will be the Wage Determination used on this contract. This wage determination does not have a labor category entitled "Administrative Support Assistant" nor does it have any wage rate of exactly $22.03/hr. The closest wage rate to "Administrative Support Assistant" is "01020 - Administrative Assistant" under "Administrative Support" category with a wage rate of $31.98/hr.

Answer Q22.) The WRD 15-4281 (Rev.7) will be used.

23) Will any work be required on-site?

Answer Q23.) Per the section 3.5 of the PWS, all work will be performed at the contractor’s location.

24) Will all audio be submitted electronically?

Answer Q24.) Per section 2.1 of the PWS, The contractor shall receive audio recordings as specified by the COR either electronically or physically (depending on size of files) by secure means and transmit the resulting transcriptions in electronic format via secure electronic (or by secure physical (CD/DVD) means if size of file exceeds 100MB).

25) Is there a current contract for this work that is expiring?

Answer Q25.) As stated in question number 1 above, BPA HQ0034-14-A-0014.

26) If so, what is the current rate of service?

Answer Q26.) As stated in question number 9 above the current contractors rates will not be provided.

27) How will the scoring be weighted for each section?

Answer Q27.) There will be no formal evaluation, therefore no scoring or weighted factors will be used in accordance with FAR 13.106-2(b)(3).

28) Which type of transcription work will be needed? Medical? Legal? Meeting minutes?

Answer Q28.) Transcriptions will be of interviews conducted by investigators with subjects and witnesses in a controlled environment. Also, it could also include audio recordings of law enforcement sensitive conversations in an uncontrolled environment.

29) Is this a multi-award bid or will 100% of the work go to a single vendor?

Answer Q29.) As stated in FAR Clause 52.212-2 and FAR Clause 52.216-1 of this RFQ, this will be a single award Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ contract.

30) Is there a schedule of events for this contract?

Answer Q30.) The Government is unable to answer this question because we are not what you are referring too.

31) How many lines are on the average page (for pricing purposes)?

Answer Q31.) Per section 2.1.1 of the PWS, it should be a minimum of 25 numbered lines of text per page.

32) Are SAM/CAGE codes required upon the time of RFQ submission?

Answer Q32.) The SAM/CAGE codes are required by any contractor doing business with the Government. Therefore, the Contractor must meet these requirements prior to award.

(End of Summary of Changes)