Responses to Questions.pdf

HSTS07-11-R-00011

Questions and Answers

1. Section B, paragraph B.2, page 5; minimum contract amount/maximum quantity.

Question 1. Are the minimum and maximum ordering obligations, $120,000/2,500,000, annual rates for the base and each option year?

Government Response: The minimum and maximum obligations are for the entire contract, not each ordering year.

2. Section C-III Basic Requirements, paragraph C, CISM and Suicide Training:

Question 1. Will all the training requirement listed in paragraph C, eg. Peer Support, CISM Basic, CISM Advanced, CISM refresher, and Suicide Prevention/Intervention/Postvention have 100-130 participants?

Government Response: Yes

Question 2. Does the agency require that participants attending CISM Basic and Advance Training be certified by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation?

Government Response: No

Question 3. Paragraph C.3 – CISM Advance: Can you clarify what you meant by “utilize experienced professional role players”?

Government Response: The use of people who have practices skills and strategies of particular issues or concerns that when introduced into a training scenario depicts real workplace situations.

3. Section C, III - Basic Requirements, paragraph B - Field Office Training:

Question 1. Can we assume an average of 20 participants per Field Office Training class at each facility? If not, can you provide an estimate?

Government Response: The organization has a dynamic workforce, making it hard to know exact numbers. Numbers of participants may vary from one class to another. However, for purposes of this solicitation you may assume an average of 20 participants.

4. Section C, III - Basic Requirements, paragraph D. - Emergency Call Center:

Question 1. Can you clarify what you mean by “provide an alternative avenue of assistance for employees in immediate crisis?

Government Response: Alternative avenue refers to providing telephonic crisis intervention, immediate notification of FAMS Headquarters CIRP, notification of local authorities, etc.

Question 2. What is the agency past history on the number of immediate crisis cases per year?

Government Response: As pointed out in the solicitation, the anticipated number of critical incidents is six per year. This estimate is based, in part, on past history.

Question 3. Emergency callers in acute crisis requiring immediate referral and counseling must be referred for services. Should we refer these cases to FOH or to our own licensed specialists for intervention? If we refer to our own specialists how would we bill for services rendered by our licensed specialists?

Government Response: These cases should be referred to FOH.

4. Section C- Statement of Objectives; Section V-Requirements for Handling Sensitive..................Proprietary Information; paragraph 3. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - No PII shall be generated, collected, or stored as a result of performance under this contract.

Question 1. It would be unethical to not collect personal information such as name, telephone and address from individuals calling the Emergency Center in acute or immediate crisis., especially in life threatening circumstances where the location of the caller is necessary for potential life saving.

Government Response: The services to be provided are assessing and referring in nature, it is not treatment oriented; therefore, it is not unethical not to keep this information. It should be noted that employees may call the Emergency Call Center anonymously, where a name or address may not even be provided.

Question 2. Can you clarify whether we will be allowed to collect, store and manage PII such as name, address and telephone number consistent with DHA and TSA policies and confidentiality laws?

Government Response: No PII shall be collected, stored, or managed in the performance of this contract.

5. SOO Section 3.D, page 9: On average, how many calls can we anticipate the Emergency Call Center will receive monthly?

Government Response: The Government is not able to estimate the monthly average number of calls.

6. Section B, page 2: Would the Government consider travel/ODCs as a cost reimbursable CLIN, versus bundling these costs into the training? Because of the emergent nature of the Critical Incident Response services, it may be in the best interest of the Government to have these as reimbursable costs.

Government Response: No, a cost reimbursable CLIN will not be utilized for the travel.

7. Section L.5.1, RFP states: “The proposal shall be segmented into four volumes: 1. Technical Approach, 2. Past Performance, 3. Price, and 4. Offeror Representations and Certifications.” Is it acceptable to include each volume into a single 3-ring binder, and separate them by a blank tabbed page?

Government Response: No, all proposals must be emailed in accordance with the instructions contained within the RFP. No hard copies will be accepted.

8. Section L.5.2 requires an outline of each course’s curriculum. We respectfully request that these outlines be excluded from the page count of the technical volume, since they will take up many of the 15 allocated pages.

Government Response: The Government will exclude the outline of the course curriculums from the page count.

9. Section H.5, page 21, RFP includes instructions for security of systems handling personally identifiable information. However, this requirement seems to be in conflict with the SOO that states multiple times that “No personally identifiable information will be generated, collected, or stored…” Please clarify.

Government Response: Clause H.5 was included in the RFP because it, in part, addresses breaches of PII.

The RFP requires that no PII will be generated, collected, or stored; however, in the event that there is a breach of PII the terms of H.5 shall be adhered to.