Amendment to Solicitation.doc

Amendment to Solicitation—HSFELA-09-CCR-0318 The Agency received a timely question from a potential vendor.

More time was required to consider the inquiry than anticipated. The CO has determined that any clarification given at this point would preclude timely compliance with the original proposal deadline.

In order to allow all potential contractors to take into account the following inquiry and Agency response, the due date for the submittal of proposals is hereby extended to Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at 12:00 noon CDST.

Agency Acquisitions appreciates that some proposals have already been received at, or are en route to, its office at the time this amendment issues. Acquisitions will accommodate contractors’ determinations whether to withdraw a proposal and submit a revised version, submit addenda to be integrated in the original parts of the proposal, or to treat the initial proposal as the final proposal. Acquisitions would appreciate receiving email feedback from those solicited as to the method they wish to pursue.

The inquiry is set out below, followed by the Agency’s response:

Question:

For the purposes of this proposal, would it be possible to forward a copy of the required forms that need to be submitted for each building to assist us in developing the cost proposal for this project?

Response:

Paper forms are relatively irrelevant to the time it would take to record the buildings, as the data is entered digitally and downloaded at the end of each day. The “forms” are contained within the program that is used for data input.

There are three digital “documents” that describe the basic data collected in the field using the GPS units. The file “Katrina Survey v5.ddf” is the actual data dictionary used, readable in Pathfinder Office; “Katrina Survey v5.txt” is a txt file export from the data dictionary which shows the fields and drop down selections;, and “Attribute Definitions bldgs.doc” defines the fields where data are entered. The software also permits entry of field notes in an assigned digital field.

In all, the work may include collecting up to 40 separate pieces of data based on their assessment of each individual building. Note, again, that this is not on paper forms, but entered directly into the GPS unit. This takes a few minutes, especially if the surveyor has to wait for an adequate GPS reading (occasional).

In addition to collecting the above fields for each building in the GPS unit, the surveyor takes four (4) photos which are recorded on a standard photo log. The photos are taken at each point and must be recorded in the log.

This type of work, to obtain digital information, is standard in the field and a contractor would not need to see any particular “form” to estimate the cost of the work to be performed.