Proposal_Management_System_Q A_Amendment__2.docx

Proposal Management System – HU0001-16-Q-D049 Solicitation Amendment #2 Q&A from interested parties Q1) Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this?

(like,from India or Canada) A1) Foreign companies may bid on this proposal. However, they will at a minimum need a national agency clearance. In light of the threats which DoD systems face and that domestic offerors will be required to provide cleared personnel for this work, if a foreign vendor is selected USU will be required to conduct a more thorough review of all vendor supplied code and / or any changes suggested for the system(s). The vendor will be required to remedy any issues identified in such review, and the cost of additional projected government work will be factored into the best value assessment.

Q2) Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

A2) Travel need to comply with JTR and be built into budget.

Q3) Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (from India or Canada) A3) Need to clarify, system must be hosted in a DOD network enclave, personnel would need to work through USU staff which would be regarded as an increased cost of staff time in evaluating the proposal.

Q4) Can we submit the proposals via email?

A4) Yes Q5) Has a contractor performed similar work to this for the government in the past? If available, please provide the incumbent contract number.

A5) YES – HU000115M0370

Q6) There are references to “pre-proposals” and the USU 3208. Is it USU’s desire to collect all the information currently in the 3208 form as part of the pre-proposal process?

A6) Yes Q7) Could some detail be provided related to the “Support sponsored program lists” requirement?

A7) The consultant would provide support to assist customization of field options from "out of the box" responses to USU/VPR specific field options Q8) There are two requirements related to management of workflow. Our workflow currently allows end users to add staff at four levels (example: division, parent division, financial, and upper management) which could be used as desired. It also allows for directing approvals to finance in the case of x amount of cost share or x amount of unrecovered F&A. Would that meet the requirements of this project and if not what further management requirements would need to be addressed?

A8) Yes - the workflow as described above would meet the requirements.

Q9) The system can “Track committed effort” both in detailed budgets as well as the award record itself. This term may imply tracking for purposes of Effort Reporting. Could more detail on the requirement be provided to assure we properly understand what is required?

A9) Current award records exist with effort data in the award information, but with no detailed budgets. New records may exist with effort data tracked in both the detailed budget and in the award records. We need the ability to create a report of committed effort from either or both types of records.

Q10) There is a requirement to “Enable submission directly to sponsors”. Our system currently only allows direct submission through federal agencies through Grants.Gov or Research.Gov, does this meet the requirement or are submissions to private entities required as well?

A10) Yes submission to federal sponsors through grants.gov or research.gov would be acceptable. We would also like the ability to submit to private for-profit and non-profit sponsors ("non-federal sponsors" in general) --- this would include sub-award proposals to universities (or other entities) preparing their own proposals directly to a federal sponsor. Requirements for submissions to non-federal sponsors may not include direct electronic submission, but should include the ability to collate a proposal in the system, and then output a full proposal (preferably in pdf) for submission to the non-federal sponsor outside of the system.

Q11) There is a requirement that refers to tracking “Lab Space”. We require more detail on how USU would like to track Lab Space so we can understand if the system would provide enough support or a customization would be required to meet this requirement. Currently lab space could be tracked at a unit level as a percentage as a “credit split” within the system. If more detail is required we would need to better understand the process to determine an approach.

A11 - There are different ways to go about this and I'm not sure how/if we can incorporate space survey information, but the ability to automatically develop research$/lab space reports would be extremely useful. I would answer that proposals should include 15 hours of support regarding space allocation/credit splits. We will determine the approach for those hours after consultation with the successful bidder.