QA_Round_1_(10_July_13)_v1.pdf

Request for Quote No: HQ0002-31560-485-000 Questions and Answers – Round 1

Question 1 - Is this a new requirement or re-compete?

Answer 1: This is a NEW requirement.

Question 2. Is there any chance this contract can be assigned to a well-qualified HUBZone company as a direct award?

Answer 2: This requirement had already been set-aside to small business.

Question 3. Is there any vendor conference coming up on this opportunity?

Answer 3: There will be no vendor conference for this requirement.

Question 4. Referencing Section 3.1 of the PWS, the fifth bullet states the within 30-days the capabilities will include, "produces responses that report data and data visualizations based on user 'calls'”. However, in the paragraph following, it states that "the Government and the contractor will within 60-days finalize the data format and select visualizations to be included..."

Please provide clarification on the preferred timeline for capabilities. What is the desired duration to go live to end users?

Answer 4: The PWS identifies the following timeline - The contractor has 30 days to provide a system that delivers the basic functionality listed in the reference paragraph (e.g., establish the 5-year database architecture, query the database using an Excel file, respond back to user “calls”).

The contractor has 45 days from contract award to add additional capabilities to the basic service as listed in the second reference paragraph (e.g., error checks, file transfer protocol). The Government and the contractor will within 60 days of contract award finalize the format of the “response” (e.g., what data should be reflected in visual charts, ensure that charts are presented in a format that is easy to understand) before deciding whether and when to “go live”.

Question 5. Please provide any available metrics for capacity planning. What is the number of anticipated users? How many transactions?

Answer 5: The contractor should plan for a robust system based on the size of the data inputs provided. For example, each fiscal year of data in FPDS is approximately1- 2 GB. This means a 5-year query could hypothetically call for 10 GB of both data and visualizations. Though this use-case would be atypical, it is possible. See answer to question 15 regarding “commercial terms” and consider how this business arrangement influences your architecture and commercial software licensing strategy. The number of both users and transactions could vary from 10 per day to 10 concurrent data calls. Anticipating this, the contractor should establish parameters in their Service Level Agreement (PWS 3.2) based on their own determination of a reasonable commercial offering. The Department will select the quote that provides the best value.

Question 6. Referencing Section 4 of the PWS, "...contractor will provide support services, as required." Is it expected that the contractor will have to provide tier 1 support to end users (e.g.

phone / email) or will contractor be in a tier 2 role within some current support model?

Answer 6: The service provided by this contract is focused on information logistics - or simply “the movement of data”. The contractor is not expected to provide support services to end users, but will be expected to be responsive to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

As you design the service architecture, do keep in mind that the “call” template limits what actions are available to users, which inhibits the need for tier 1 services. Also, end users already have access to a tier 1 help desk within their agency and at the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS.gov), and will be encouraged to go there to address and resolve data issues.

Question 7. Will the data being requested be only for spending type of Contracts? Or, do we need to support additional data such as grants, loans, etc.?

Answer 7: Although USAspending.gov reports grants and loan data from the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS), the Department is at this time only interested in contract data that USAspending.gov receives from FPDS.1

Question 8. While the “call” provides the contracting office ID (and/or additional information for the lookup into FPDS), it doesn’t appear to give any detail as to what output information the “response” should provide. Should we assume at this time that all columns from a FPDS record will be returned? FPDS provides a basic level of detail and also complete detail on a given contract. The complete detail is 200+ columns that are available to be returned, which is not a problem, just trying to narrow down the requirements.

Answer 8: Yes. If the user “calls” for “data + charts”, the contractor should provide all 200+ columns. As an aside, detailed information about data fields and parameters are at FPDS.gov.2

Question 9. Do the records in FPDS change? More specifically, if there is a contract that was say in FY2012 and has now ended, could the record still be updated, therefore the need to always refresh the data in case it is requested by a user?

Answer 9: Yes. USAspending.gov provides API users a monthly “delta CSV” file to download.

Question 10. What are the use cases? See USAspending.gov for cases now in use. Contractors should visualize data using the FPDS and any other public dataset that can be assimilated.3

Input:

Must all versions of Excel documents need to be supported?

No, but assume that most users have Excel 2007. Others may be offered to increase value.

1 http://usaspending.gov/sites/all/themes/usaspendingv2/Archives_Data_Feeds_Data_Dictionary.pdf.

2 https://www.fpds.gov/wiki/index2.php/EzSearch_FAQ.

3 http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ss/taxonomy.html

What about csv files? Contractors should plan for Excel to keep the design simple.

What about Excel alternatives (OpenOffice, Google Docs)?

Because most users use Excel, it must be the prime solution, but this does not preclude making available additional solutions as a way to deliver great value.

Output:

What format is expected for the output?

Data tables must be available in Excel, at a minimum. Visual aids can be in Excel, PDF, or both.

For large results, is FTP one time unique URL, how long does it stay valid?

Should be unique to each “call” and be accessible for a reasonable period (i.e., 48 hours).

Database:

What is the current provider (MSSQL, Oracle)? There is no current provider. You are free to design the architecture using your preferred database software.

How do we synchronize the data? See USAspending.gov for API instructions.

How often must the data be synchronized? See USAspending.gov refresh rates.

Answer10: Embedded in the questions above.

Question 11. Are there any specific technology requirements for this effort?

Answer 11: No.

Question 12. The RFQ mandates contractors adhere to FAR 52.212-1 and -2 in the response.

Offerors must register with ORCA (https://www.unitedstatesbusinessregistration.us/register-or-renew-online) and include items in paragraph (b) of FAR 52.212-1 OR include items in sections

(c) through (o) of the same with no electronic registration required. Can you confirm this is correct, and if not, provide specific guidance?

Answer 12: This is correct.

Question 13. What is the total amount of daily data throughput expected?

Answer 13: See answer to question 5.

Question 14. What is the estimated amount of daily requests anticipated?

Answer 14: See answer to question 5.

Question 15. Is there specific meaning to the term “commercial terms”? And if so, what is that meaning for contract purposes?

Answer 15: See FAR Part 2.101 Commercial Item for a full definition.

Question 16. If the finalized visualizations are not selected until 60 days, how will the government gauge contractor deliverables 30 and 45 days? Are the visualizations due at 30- and

45-days submission at the discretion of the designer/developer or will the government provide initial specification at contract award?

Answer 16: Correct. Formal inspection of the entire service will occur at 30, 45 and finalized at 60 days after contract award. Per PWS 3.1, the “contractor is required to submit a proposed ‘response’ based on a ‘call’ attached to the solicitation.” Specifically, the contractor should show how their service would respond to sample calls in Attachment B of the solicitation.

Attachment B identifies a number of visualizations that are possible using the data in USAspending.gov (e.g., small business bar chart, competition trends chart, place of performance map).

Question 17. ACCESSIBILITY: Section (3.1) (Page 3) specifies that “No design will require user authentication or credentials….” However, presumably, the system would suffer performance issues if allowed public access. Does the government envision defining user groups for accessibility? For example, restricting access to .mil or osd.mil users only?

Answer 17: This should definitely be considered in your design since service level tiers within your architecture reflects enhanced value to the core customers who fund this effort.

Question 18. Section (3.2) Page 3 specifies that a “Service Level Agreement” is to be submitted by the contractor. Yet there is only a vague description of what the Service Level Agreement is or requires. What is required to properly specify a Service Level Agreement?

Answer 18: Contractors should propose SLAs based on their own capabilities and approach.

Minimum expectations are based on establishing threshold and objective performances based on metrics identified in PWS 3.2. The Government is not defining SLA parameters because this is an RFQ that relies on the commercial market to provide the best solution at the best value.

Question 19. Will there be accommodations made if the response is larger than 2 MB? I.e. can the RFP response be sent to an FTP site if the response is greater than 2 MB?

Answer 19: Yes. If the technical solution quoted provides value, then accommodations will be considered as part of best value determination. The general technical framework required for successfully delivering the services in the PWS, though, remains unchanged.

Question 20. We are assuming CLIN 0001 is for leasing charges associated with the product?

Answer 20: The Department expects the price of CLIN 0001 to reflect costs incurred for custom designing and retaining services in the first year of operation. Subsequent option years (CLIN 1001 and 2001) should reflect costs to retain services specified in PWS 3.0. The Department expects licenses to include the latest version of this commercial solution for all contract years.

Question 21. Is there a past performance requirement? The instructions did not specify for submission of them.

Answer 21: Past Performance is not part of the evaluation.

Question 22. Can you help us better understand clin 1? We are assuming the cost for this clin is for facilities and licensing, but not for development. Is this the correct assumption?

Answer 22: See answer to question 20.

Question 23. If we create a website back end or php script on a server to address the task is this cost rolled into the rates? After the contract is over is it expected that the service would be stopped when the period of performance has ended?

Answer 23: Contractors should use their judgment to decide how to depreciate and allocate costs over the expected life of their solution. The ending of the Department’s contractual relationship does not terminate a commercial provider’s right to offer the service to other customers.

Question 24. Are the capability timelines prescribed in the pws negotiable?

Answer 24: No.

Question 25. -- Section 2.0: "The contractor will help the Government achieve these objectives by providing a service that lets users call the contractor’s copy of the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) database using an email with an attached Excel file of unique identifiers. A unique identifier (or combination thereof) is any data attribute or attributes that can be used to filter results for desired elements within the FPDS (e.g., contract number, DUNS, PSC)."

-- Section 3.0: "In order to be successful, the contractor must become familiar with FPDS; the primary database for this requirement."

-- Section 3.2: "The contractor will manage both their FPDS data feed (“API”, “ATOM”, etc.)

and copy of the FPDS database"

These section excerpts make specific reference to using the FPDS as the "primary database" and using a FPDS data feed. However, there are the following:

-- Section 3.0: "Contractors may freely access and download publicly available FPDS data at USAspending.gov."

-- Section 3.1: "- Data Import and Export Process ... o Extract, Transfer, Load a syndicated feed (i.e., ATOM) from USAspending.gov"

These section excerpts make similar statements, but are with respect to using USAspending.gov data and a USAspending.gov data feed.

There appears to be a contradiction in these statements. Can you please clarify which set of data and feed is expected?

Answer 25: FPDS.gov is the federal government’s central depository for contract data. Access to FPDS.gov is limited. Contract data housed in USAspending.gov, though, reflect publicly releasable data from FPDS.gov. The most significant difference is the ninety-day, rolling lag of contract actions funded by the Department. USAspending.gov combines contract data with other sources (i.e., grants, loans, etc.) as part of an effort to increase the transparency of dollars spent across all agencies/departments. This includes making available an API to the public.

Question 26. Is it required to track and report what is served as the response to the user's request ("call")? If so, what is the required detail of the report, such as, the number of rows in data or the size of the file, etc.?

Answer 26: No. The contractor will not be expected to track and report what is served. The contractor should, though, randomly sample reports and keep statistics on their users (i.e., who, what, when) as part of its own quality verification and validation efforts.

Question 27. Is it required to archive every response of the user's request ("call") for tracking and reporting purpose?

Answer 27: No. See answer to question 26.

Question 28. Is there a preset threshold on the number of rows data or the size of the file to be returned in response to the user's request ("call")? Or should the system allow the user to request all the data in the database?

Answer 28: In general, the purpose of this service is not to transport all of the data in the database to the user since that capability is already provided by USAspending.gov. Instead, this service is intended for users to easily acquire subsets of data from a master database and to visually depict trends that would be of interest to certain categorized users (e.g., program managers, contracting officers, small business specialists, competition advocates, the public, the Congress). More specifically, users should be able to select whether they want “Charts” or “Data & Charts”. If the user submits a “call” that exceeds 25 MB, then the service should provide an FTP method, otherwise the response should return an attached Excel “response” to the sender. FTP users should be advised that files larger than 25 MB may take some time, and that several options are available to scale down their request into manageable blocks. For instance, users can submit “calls” in multiple, smaller batches (e.g., instead of “Air Force”, users can identify a major sub-organization like “Air Force Space Command”). The “call” template could also allow users to control the number of years of data to download.

Question 29. Should the new system keep all data available in the FPDS system or could it apply archiving or data retention policies to save the space and cost?

Answer 29: No. The system should not retain old FPDS data. Once USAspending.gov provides a new, refreshed data set, the old records are no longer needed. The “call and response” service should provide users only the most current data from USAspending.gov.