ITS81 Q&A 3.5.24 (2).pdf

Question No. Question Subject Question Answer

1 Bidder Conference No 2/15 conference dialin information is not provided in

Commbuys and the RFR documents. Please provide the registration / dialin information.

In RFR section 1.2 the third cell down on the right, the word ZOOM has a link attached that should link you to register for the conference. if there is a problem please let us know.

MA Department of Revenue Tax Compliance Certification

What exactly do bidders have to submit for this line item from the Bidder Response Form checklist?

RFR section 3.5.1 a financial statement of their gross revenue for FY 2022, section 3.5.2 a list of any outstanding contingencies such as lawsuits or other claims or charges against the bidder related to performance of the services sought under this RFR. Please review these sections for full text.

Categories Don't

Match

The Bidder Response Form lists 5 categories on the Bidder Profile & Quals tab. But the RFR only has 4 categories. Please advise.

The Bidders Response Form has been corrected proposal Requirements

For each category that we submit, how many project descriptions are required/allowed?

RFR section 3.2.1.1, If bidding on categories 1, 2 or 3 then two project descriptions are required. If bidding on category 4, section 3.2.2.2 three project descriptions are required. Please review the relevant sections for details and requirements for their respective project descriptions

Proposal Requirements

Please confirm: For each project that is submitted, provide a customer reference letter.

RFR Section 3.2.1.1 each project description must include a client reference letter relevant to the project being described and written on the reference letter template provided in COMM buys. Please review this section for further details and requirements

6 (blank)

1. Should the Environmental Practices Form be broken out as a separate Excel file for submission as indicated on the

Submission Checklist or just included with the tab in the Bidder Response Form?

The Environmental Practices Form has been broken out and is now a separate document located along with the other attachments in this bid.

7 (blank)

2. Are we to submit both the SDP tab on the Bidders

Response Form and the separate SDP_Plan_Form~8?

The SDP form that was included in the Bidders Response Form has been removed

8 (blank)

3. Are we to submit a separate proposal document (outside of the Bidder Response Form) containing the information requested in Section 3 Bidder Qualifications (3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5)?

section 3.1 Business background and years in industry can be answered in the Bidders response form, Company Org Chart can be submitted as a separate document. Section 3.2 requires the submission of separate project descriptions and client letters, please refer to the RFR for details and requirements. Section 3.3 can be answered in the bidders response form, you do not need to provide the coop plan at this time, but rather identify if one is currently in place. Section 3.4 is informational there is nothing to submit. section

3.5 requires submission separate from the bidders response form

9 (blank)

4. Please clarify, if we are submitting for all categories (1- 4), will we need 2 project descriptions per category 1-3, plus 3 for each GIS Category or 3 total for Category 4?

RFR section 3.2.1.1, If bidding on categories 1, 2 or 3 then two project descriptions are required. If bidding on category 4, section 3.2.2.2 three project descriptions are required.

Please review the relevant sections for details and requirements for their respective project descriptions

10 (blank)

5. What kind of response is required for 3.4 Emergency Response Capabilities? A confirmation that we will meet this requirement or something more?

This is informational no response or submission is required

Years of experience

From the RFR, regarding 3.1.2 Years in the industry of the Bid: By the estimated contract start date well have been in business 18-months and we are not the product of a merger, acquisition, or spinoff. However, our core team has over 10 years of relevant industry experience delivering work similar to the work described in ITS81.

Will the state accept extensive experience from the firm?s core staff as sufficient? If so, what additional information will be important for us to include in Section 1 ? Company Information or elsewhere in our response?

Per RFR section 3.1.2 Bidders must have been in the business of providing IT Project Services and or GIS for at least the two most recent consecutive years prior to the RFR submission deadline. Interested parties should continue to monitor the contract in the coming years for reopenings for additional vendors and/or categories.

12 Vendor Code for

PPD

On the Prompt Pay Discount form, what should we put on the Vendor Code (VCUST) field and where can we find it?

it is your vendor number from the state if you are unsure you can leave it blank.

13 FY2023 revenues From the RFP, section 3.5.1 Financial statement, can we provide FY2023 revenues instead of FY2022?

The language in section 3.5.1 has been updated please refer to the RFR for requirements and details

14 Reference letter Template

After the sentence- Please choose the category which best describes the project the Bidder performed for your agency:- there is a shaded field. Should there be a drop down list of the categories or can we type in the category name?

you can type the category name

Request for Conference details Could you please share the Conference details?

Assuming you mean the bidders conference, it is being held on 2/15/24 at 1PM EST. The link is attached to the word zoom in the RFR section 1.2. The conference will be recorded and as soon as it is available the recording will be posted to the bid in Commbuys.

RFR Scope for IT consulting services

ITS74 included consulting-based IT services with subcategories including CyberSecurity, IV&V, Project

Management, Software, Website and Systems Development, and Systems Integration/Networking.

ITS81 is much more technical and focused on software design, development, implementation and operations.

With ITS81 focused on system integration (SI) work, will the agency release a separate RFR for consulting categories / subcategories that previously existed in

ITS74 since ITS81 is to be a replacement RFR?

We will not be releasing a separate RFR. Cybersecurity is covered under

ITS78, IV&V and website and systems development are under category 3, as Project Management is a broad term the SST concluded that each category incorporates project management, data integration falls under category 1 and software development and systems integration networking all fall under category 2

Experience for related consulting services

Can vendors show experience and bid on specific subcategories/services within a category included in

ITS81 that are comparable to the subcategories within IT Project Services from the existing ITS74 (specifically, including CyberSecurity, IV&V, Project Management, Software, Website and Systems Development, and

Systems Integration/Networking)?

Yes they can show experience and bid on specific subcategories or services. Cybersecurity is covered under ITS78, IV&V and website and systems development are under category 3, as Project Management is a broad term the SST concluded that each category incorporates project management, data integration falls under category 1 and software development and systems integration networking all fall under category 2

Reference letter

Template

Thank you for your response. As an FYI, although there is no drop down arrow, by double clicking in the field, the items in the drop down list appear however they are from the RFP for the ITS 74 contract. The responder can delete the field and write in the category number.

Thank you for bringing that to our attention the corrected categories have been applied and uploaded into Commbuys

Q&A extension Due to the upcoming holiday, would the State be willing to grant a two business week extension on the Q&A?

There are no current plans to extend the Q&A deadline

ITS81 and National

Use

Several bids (nationally) get piggy backed onto other state contracts. Several ITS contracts over the years have been used by other states. Do we know, as of yet, if ITS81 will have that capability?

Please refer to section 1.3.7 of the RFR for entities eligible to use the resulting contract.

Bidders

Conference, Zoom

Recording

Will you please make the recording from the Zoom Bidders

Conference available?

For the link to the bidders conference recorded video please see the link on the top of the first page of the bidders conference PowerPoint slide deck

Services clarification

We are on ITS75 Cat 1 and submitting a response to be on Cat 4 too, so can you please clarify how the IT services in this contract differ from the services in ITS75?

ITS81 is solely a services contract that may include SaaS, PaaS and IaaS as a service please refer to section 4 and 5 of the RFR for details and requirements

23 DP Plan Form

The SDP form on the portal is an excel document. The naming convention listed on the bidder instructions is

CompanyName_SDPform.doc rather than.xls. Should we change the naming convention to

CompanyName_SDPform.xls or are you posting the form in .doc format?

the naming convention is not correct, sorry for any confusion please use the excel format

Environmental Practices Form

On the submission checklist the naming convention is CompanyName_Eppform.xls The spreadsheet posted is in xlsx format similar to the bidder response spreadsheet.

When saving it to the .xls format, microsoft office displays a message that some functionalities will be lost. Do you want the file saved as .xls or should it be saved as .xlsx?

please use the .xlsx format

Powerpoint presentation of bidders conference

Thanks for the answers to the other questions. We'll use the file format of the files posted. Thanks also for posting the powerpoint. The link at the top isn't set to a hyperlink.

Can you please add the link? Thanks.

I have included the full link text to the last page as well

26 MNDA

In order to release financial information, we need an MNDA signed. Is this possible and who can I send the

MNDA to?

No we can not sign an MNDA because of the limited exceptions to the massachusetts public records law, please note that we are only asking for a statement of the gross reported value for FY22 as is stated in

RFR section 3.5.1

Naming convention for

Category Project Description #2

Thanks for your response to the previous questions. For the naming convention for Category (1, 2,or 3) project description #2 - remove () and include category # - the file name assigned is CompanyName_Cat(#)ProjDesc1.pdf which his the same as the file name for Project description 2. Please confirm that the file name for

Project Description 2 should be CompanyName_Cat(#)ProjDesc2.pdf.

the number after the portion of the naming convention that reads

ProjDesc would indicate which project description it is. As an example for the category 4 project description 1 then the end of the file name would be Cat4ProjDesc1.pdf and for category 4 project description 2 the end of the file name would read

Cat4ProjDesc2.pdf if it required a third project description as is the case for the GIS category then the end of the file name would read Cat4ProjDesc3.pdf

Naming convention for

Client Reference letters

For the client reference letters, we are asked to replace "#'s with corresponding category and document numbers. Are the document numbers the project description numbers? For example: if the reference letter is for category 1 project description 1, the file name would be CompanyName_ClientCat1RefLetter1.

Correct

29 Financial Statement

The information listed for the Financial Statement is that Bidders must provide their gross reported revenue for

FY2022 as a standard indication of company/organization size. Is there a particular format you'd like or can we just list the FY2022 Gross Revenue on a document and upload as a PDF?

per the request of this same submitter as stated in question 31 sent on 2.18.24, this question has been disregarded.

30 Categpru Response Form

For the field Category Description pertains to: do you want us to enter which types of services in the category pertain to the project we are describing? For example:for category 2 Software Operations and support services - if we are describing a project that involves system integration, does system integration go in this field?

please respond with a category number and name so we know which of the 4 categories the description pertains to.

Financial

Statement Q29 please disregard

Please disregard Q29. The answer is on the bidder response form stating a financial statement for the most recently completed fiscal year should be uploaded including the annual gross reported revenue.

disregarded as requested

32 Bidder Response Form

Section RFR 7.2 Bidder Repeat Business section and Government business section. The section asks for the project manager for repeat business projects and government business projects. Not all projects have a client project manager just our project manager. Should we list our project manager's name in this field? If not, how you would like the field completed?

If the client did not have one of their employees managing the project directly then include the contact information for the employee or manager of the client, that had direct knowledge of and can speak to the roles, responsibilities and work product of the bidder and that was responsible for the management of the overall project from the clients perspective or the portion of the project that the bidder was contracted to work on.

33 GIS Category Can a vendor use a subcontractor to meet all of the GIS qualifications and experience?

Please refer to section 4.11 Subcontracting for requirements and expectations

34 SDP Spend Does the prime vendor spend for SDP in Massachusetts only have to be with government or can it be spend using

SDP's for private companies in Massachusetts.

spend does not have to be with govt rganizational

Chart

In reference to RFR Section 3.1.3 Company Organizational Chart, Page 10: Could the OSD please clarify where we should provide our firm?s high-level organizational chart (e.g., should it be uploaded as its own document and added to the Submission Checklist)?

It can be included as part of the Financial Statement, the Submission

Checklist has been amended to reflect this

File Naming Convention

In reference to the Bidder Response Form, Submission Checklist Tab: Text at the top reads ?Bidders must follow the file naming convention specified in RFR Section X.X.X File Naming Convention,? but there does not appear to be a section with that title. Could the OSD confirm that documents shall be named according to the guidelines in the Submission Checklist?

Yes, Documents should be named according to the guidelines in the submission checklist

37 COOP

In reference to Bidder Response Form, Bidder Profile & Qualifications Tab: Under ?Company Experience,?

number 6, there is text that reads ?Provide Bidder

Instructions for this section here.? To clarify, do we simply need to confirm whether or not we have a COOP in place?

Correct, all that is being requested is a confirmation as to if there s currently a COOP in place or not.

There is no need to submit the details of the COOP.

Tax Compliance

Certification

In reference to the Bidder Response Form, Submission Checklist Tab: One of the required documents in the

Submission Checklist is the MA Department of Revenue Tax Compliance Certification. Could the OSD please clarify the specific form we must provide to meet this requirement?

A Department of Revenue Certificate of Good Standing will meet this requirement. you can obtain instructions and all related links by going to Mass.gov and searching for, DOR certificate of good standing

Repeat Business and Government

Experience

In reference to the Bidder Response Form, Business Info Tab: Our firm has hundreds of clients for whom we have provided repeat business, including government clients.

May we provide a representative list of clients for the Repeat Business and Government Experience sections?

Yes, representative list of clients will work, with a preference toward a list of the most recent and relevant

Staffing Retention

Rate

In reference to the Bidder Response Form, Business Info Tab: Under Staffing Retention Rate, what time period would the OSD like us to provide an average for? For example, would it be acceptable to provide our average employee retention rate for the last three years?

Yes the rate for the last three years would be acceptable

41 SPD PLAN FORM

SPD Form indicates it should be submitted as an Excel file. However, Bid Response Form checklist indicates the file should be a Word (.doc) file. Please clarify file format.

please submit as an excel file, the checklist request for a doc for this file is incorrect

Bankruptcy, litigation and contract defaults Statement

Bidder Response Form, Bidder Profile & Qualification, #7 Line 39 - Since NA is acceptable entry, is it acceptable on the Submission Checklist to enter NA in the Submitted section of Line #16 and no file would be submitted.

Assuming that the bidder does not currently have any outstanding contingencies, such as lawsuits or other claims or charges against the bidder related to performance of the services sought under this RFR, then yes a response of NA would be acceptable

43 Reference Letter Template

On the Reference Letter Template, there appears to be several cases where there are duplicate checkboxes. For example, Fixed Price Project, Met Expectations, Overall performance Excellent. Was this intentional and if so, can an guidance be provided as to how the client reference is to use these. Also, it appears that the checkboxes don't work properly, should the client reference just place an X beside the appropriate box.

The box duplication was an error those that apply and are affirmative can be checked ignoring the extra box. if they are unable to check the box an x beside the appropriate box will suffice

Category 4: GIS Geospatial Information

Systems

Are contractors required to bid on both subcategories (5.1.5.1 General GIS Services) and (5.1/5/2 Open-Source

Web Map Services and Clients Maintenance and Enhancement) OR are contractors allowed to bid on just one GIS subcategory as in the previous ITS74. If contractor is allowed to bid on one GIS subcategory, do bid documents need be submitted in a particular manner in order clearly indicate the subcategory.

Bidders are able to bid on any category as long as they are able to provide at least one of the services or subcategories listed within that category. The indication of subcategory can be noted in the project descriptions.

RFR Sections 3.2.2.1.3

Required Bidder Qualifications &

3.2.2.1.4 Preferred Bidder

Qualifications

Are these Bidder Qualifications meant to be subs under section 3.2.2.1.2 (Web Map Services or Client

Maintenance and Enhancements) OR qualifications for the entire 3.2.2 GIS category?

They are intended to be qualifications for the entire 3.2.2 GIS category

Systems

Integration / Networking

ITS81 is being used to replace ITS74. ITS74 specifically called out Systems Integration / Networking services as included. There does not appear to be a section of the

ITS81 RFR that calls out Systems Integration / Networking specifically as eligible services this time. Will these services be eligible in ITS81?

Software development and systems integration networking all fall under category 2

47 5.1.1 General Exclusions

Microcomputer, server, or switch deployment, relocation, or configuration are not allowed under ITS81. Does this exclusion apply to more complex network implementations that might include design, configuration, testing and integration with existing infrastructure that are project based? These more complex projects are not T&M based and include specific milestones and deliverables. If these services are not allowed under ITS81, under which contract(s) are performance of these services allowed?

ITC73 and ITT72 category 2 through 9 may be more appropriate but for a full list of current contracts please go commbuys home page and under statewide contract purchasing you will find a link to the contract user guides

48 5.1.1 General Exclusions

Deployment or certification of cable installations is excluded by this RFP. Does this include all cabling work, or just a project that is exclusively cabling? For example, can a cable run be replaced under ITS81 if new Wireless

Access points are being deployed and a single run, or does existing cabling needs to be replaced where the cabling is part of a larger Infrastructure rollout and not the main focus?

ITC73 and ITT72 category 2 through 9 may be more appropriate but for a full list of current contracts please go commbuys home page and under statewide contract purchasing you will find a link to the contract user guides

49 5.1.3.2 Systems Integration

Allowable services under this section include ?Integrate virtual and physical components of an application and/or infrastructure, so that all work together in a manner consistent with the organization?s enterprise architecture.? Does this mean that design, configuration, deployment and testing of new physical infrastructure is allowable? This seems to conflict with one of the General

Exclusions section 5.1.1 that lists ?Microcomputer, server, or switch deployment, relocation, or configuration are not allowed under ITS81? Please explain

ITC73 and ITT72 category 2 through 9 may be more appropriate but for a full list of current contracts please go commbuys home page and under statewide contract purchasing you will find a link to the contract user guides

50 Use of Categories by Awardee

If awarded a contract for ITS81, are we able to provide services under any of the categories, or just those categories we specifically bid?

Yes, Please review thoroughly the RFR section 2 ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION ON PROCUREMENT

SCOPE

Procurement of Products under

ITS81

Are there ANY products or licenses that can be procured thru the awarded vendor thru ITS81? If yes, explain. If no, how does 5.5.2 ?Required Environmental Specifications?, ?A number of environmental product or service specifications have been designated as either mandatory or desirable for the Product/Service category by the EPP

Program?? apply for engagements performed under

ITS81?

When part of a service or services procured through the ITS81 contract products and or licenses can be procured as long as they meet the RFR requirements and follow the guidance of EO 515 or as viewed in the minimum environmentally preferable products and services specifications guide. For further details and requirements please refer to section 5.5 of the RFR

5.6.1 Fixed-Price

Fees

If fixed pricing for each phase of a multi-phased project can be provided, is it allowable to bill that project on a milestone basis as opposed to only when the entire project is completed?

Please refer to section 5.6, Post ITS81 contract award, the compensation structure will be according to individual projects as described and agreed to in the SOW and the accepted bidder response between the vendor and the hiring eligible entity

5.6.2 Time and

Materials / Hourly

Rate Work

This section states that T&M rate work is allowable when ?the Contracting Department requires assistance from an

ITS81 Contractor to prepare bid specifications? If we provide this assistance, are we still allowed to bid on that bid if we helped prepare it?

consultants who provide services that are directly tied to the creation and submission of a Request for Quote would not be permitted to bid on that resulting RFQ.

5.6.2 Time and

Materials / Hourly

Rate Work

Confirming...NO hourly rates need to be provided in our bid response?

NO hourly rates need to be provided in your bid response

SaaS, PaaS and

IaaS exhibits

Please confirm that Exhibits 1, 2 and 3 for SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, respectively, are informational and are not required as part of the RFR submission documents.

confirmed, exhibits 1, 2 and 3 for SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, respectively, are informational

56 SDP Form in Excel

Please update the Submission Checklist within ITS81 Bidder Response Form with the correct file format. For example, the SDP Form is now in Excel (not Word) so this should be .xlsx instead.

The submission checklist has been updated please download the most resent file

57 Final docs in PDF For all Word documents (.docx) provided with this RFR, please confirm that they should all be submitted as PDF files when uploading final versions to COMMBUYS.

Confirmed, all word documents should be submitted as a PDF file when uploading the final version into

COMMBUYS

Dunn &

Bradstreet Are there any requirements in the Bid for contractors to request info from Dunn & Bradstreet? No

In the project description form, one of the fields reads

"Category Description pertains to:". What does this refer to? Or is this a heading for the form questions below it?

please respond with a category number and name so we know which of the 4 categories the description pertains to.

Should each client reference letter be submitted as its own PDF document, or should it be combined into a single document with its corresponding project description?

They can be combined into one document with its corresponding project description

61 Are our client references required to fill out the reference letter template or can clients use their own formatting? Please use the templates provided

62 Are we required to fill out the project description template for each project or can we use our own formatting? Please use the templates provided

Should each project description be its own document of at most 3 pages? Or should both project descriptions for each category be a single document of at most 3 pages?

Or should all project descriptions for all categories be a single document of at most 3 pages?

Each project description should be its own document of at most 3 pages

64 Can Prompt Payment Discounts be fractions of a percent, or can they only be whole percentage points?

Bidders and or contractors have the flexibility in determining the actual percentage discount offered to the commonwealth

Does OSD contemplate having a way for us to amend our contract terms? Or, if we get on the ITS81 contract, is there no way to alter the terms for the next 10 years?

It is our intention is that terms would remain the same during the life of the contract. If certain terms become problimatic the parties may mutually agree to amend the contract.

66 Government Business

Could you please clarify the Government Experience evaluation component in 7.2. Are you seeking the vendor project manager name and contact information or the client project manager? And are you referring to government work done in the Commonwealth under the ITS74 IT Project Services contract?

We are looking for the client project manager. It does not need to be government work done under the ITS74 IT Project Services Contract.

67 Repeat Business

Could you please clarify the Repeat Business evaluation component in 7.2. Are you seeking information on repeat business a vendor completed under the ITS74 IT Project

Services contract?

It does not necessarily need to be repeat business under ITS74

Application

Support Certification

Could you please clarify what is meant by the Applicable Partnership and Certified Application Support evaluation component in the Business Info tab in the Bidders Response XLS Form?

The Intent is to give bidders the opportunity to list if they have any partnership or any certification for application support. For example, if they have a partnership with a particular software company to provide professional services or if they are certified to provide professional services for a particular software company.

69 Scope of Services

In reference to RFR 5.1 Service Specifications, Page 22:

As a firm who has done work under the ITS74 contract, we noticed that the services in ITS81 are significantly different from ITS53 and ITS74. Does the OSD intend to issue a different solicitation for services such as project management, IV&V, IT strategic and systems planning, and business process management?

We will not be releasing a separate RFR. CyberSecurity is covered under ITS78, IV&V and website and systems development are under category 3, as Project Management is a broad term the SST concluded that each category incorporates project management, data integration falls under category 1 and software development and systems integration networking all fall under category 2

70 cope of Services In reference to RFR 5.1.4.1, Page 24: Could the OSD please clarify whether IV&V services are only needed for user-centered design and development?

Vendors interested in specifically providing IV&V as a service should apply under category 3

Bidder Response Form, Submission

Checklist tab

The last item in the checklist (row 17) is a MA Department of Revenue Tax Compliance Certification. There is no reference to this requirement in the RFR, please advise if the checklist item is an error or if this is a requirement for submission?

RFR Section 3.5 is being updated, this can be satisfied with a certificate of good standing

Bidder Response Form, Bidder

Profile & Qualifications Tab

Item 3 of the Bidder Profile the Commonwealth has requested that the bidder, ?provide a contact who can be available 24 hours a day or as close to 24 hours as possible?, please provide some detail regarding the

Commonwealth?s expectation for what the role/responsibility of the Emergency Contact is?

The expectation would be a contact person that if an critical issue arises outside of normal business hours would be available to report that issue to so that they can triage the issue and potentially resolve it so the reporting agency doesnt have to wait until regular business hours to report and or resolve an issue with the intent of arriving to a solution in a more timely manner.

Bidder Response Form, Bidder

Profile & Qualifications Tab

Question 7 (row 38) requests bidders provide, ?Financial statement for most recently completed fiscal year uploaded/submitted Including annual gross reported revenue as a standard indication of company/organization size.? RFR Section 3.5.1 states, ?Bidders must provide their gross reported revenue for

FY2022 as a standard indication of company/organization size. Does providing the total gross revenue for the most recently completed fiscal year satisfy this request?

Yes, a simple providing the total gross revenue for the most recently completed fiscal year as a statement will satisfy this request. We are not requesting any official financial documents or reports. Simply providing the number of the total gross revenue in a written statement on letterhead and signed is an acceptable response to this request.

Bidder Response Form, Business

Info Tab

The spreadsheet requests, Repeat Business ?Bidders must submit a list of companies, groups, entities in which they have provided repeat business as part of the evaluation process? and Government Business ?Bidders must submit a list of their government experience as part of the evaluation process?. Is it acceptable for the same organizations and projects to be included in both sections?

Yes

RFR Section 5, Compensation

Structure/Pricing

Section 5.6.2, states, ?Time and materials / Hourly Rate Work is allowed under three circumstances:1) Bid

Preparation Consulting Services, 2) Software Support:, and 3) Not-to-Exceed?. Item 3) Not-to-exceed, provides examples of projects for when this circumstance can be applied. Are Agile projects (ones that include ongoing prioritization, refinement of backlog items and adjustments to deliverable timelines as part of the normal course of execution) another example of when the not-to-exceed model may be applied?

for NTE, the RFR says "includes well-defined tasks whose resource requirements for completion are uncertain." It is the SSTs position that development projects could fall under this description, as the backlog and workflow are not defined at the SOW level. But, this is also able to be accomplished on a FFP basis, as a vendor could also just price out the time commitment of the resources used on the project. For Agile projects, it is our understanding that the vendor can list out the milestones and price out the amount of resources needed for each milestones, so it could be fix price

Categories and number discrepancy between Bidder

Profile & Qualification and the RFR docuement

When filling out the Bidder Response Form ITS81, there seems to be a discrepancy between the tab "Bidder

Profile & Qualifications" and the ITS81 RFR document in terms of the number and categories. The tab "Bidder

Profile & Qualifications" in the Bidder Response Form ITS81 has 5 categories, while the ITS81 RFR document only has 4 categories. Please clarify which set of categories is accurate. Categories in the Bidder Response

Form ITS81, tab ? Bidder Profile & Qualifications? - Category 1: Data Analytics - Category 2: EDM (Enterprise

Data Management) - Category 3: Software Operations and Support Services - Category 4: User-Centered Design and Development -Category 5: GIS Services Categories in the ITS81 RFR document, 4 categories: - Category 1: EDM (Enterprise Data Management) Data Analytics - Category 2: Software Operations and Support Services - Category 3: User-Centered Design and Development - Category 4:

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

This error was brought to our attention and was corrected in the latest Bidders Response form that has been uploaded into Commbuys.

Letters of recommendation

vs. client references

The ITS81 Evaluation Criteria (slide 13) lists three components. The first is ?Project Experience and corresponding Client References.? The third, ?Other Evaluation and Components,? includes ?Company Experience & Letters of Recommendation.? Are the letters of recommendation in the third component different from the client references in the first? If they?re different, is there a template for the letters of recommendation?

The addition of Company Experience & Letters of Recommendation in the other evaluation components was an error and should not have been included in that list as it was covered in the first bulletpoit, project experience.

Business continuity and disaster recovery

In section 4.25 ?Business continuity and disaster recovery? of the ITS81 RFR doc, do all vendors need to provide a Disaster Recovery Plan, or is this requirement only applicable to SaaS vendors?

It applies to all RFR bidders.

Pricing for Time and Material services

Do we need to provide pricing for Time and Material services? No

80 Broken link

In section 5.5.2 ?Required Environmental Specifications?

of the ITS81 RFR doc, the link provided does not work:

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/09/wf/epp-specifications_0.xlsx

Section 5.5.2 Required Environmental Specifications, an updated link for Environmentally Preferable Products and Services Specifications Guide was added

81 EPP

specifications

The ITS81 Evaluation Criteria (slide 13) lists ?EPP specifications? as part of the evaluation criteria. Would vendors respond to this criteria by filling out the ?Env Practices Form? as part of the Bidder Response Form

ITS81? If not, how should vendors respond to this?

Vendors should respond to this criteria by filling out the ITS81

Environmental Practices Form that is included as an attachment in the bid on Commbuys.

82 Category 2 Can Systems integration and networking the only point we bid on?

Bidders can bid on any category for which then are able to provide one or more services listed under that category

83 Font

Section 3.2.1.1, Page 5: The RFP requires Bidders to respond using 12 point font. May Bidders use a smaller, still readable font for each of the following: a) headers and footers b) requirement text c) exhibits/figures/graphics d) tables

For project descriptions the size 12 font is a requirement, as is stated in

RFR section 3.2.1.1, Responses submitted with a font size of less than 12 will have the font size adjusted to meet the size 12 font requirement and the three (3) page limit rules will apply to the final product, submissions exceeding a total of three (3) pages will have points deducted from the score potentially leading to disqualification.

Financial

Statement

Section 3.5.1, Page 8: Given the length of our audited financial statements (more than 200 pages), can Bidders provide these documents by URL only?

Financial documents are not being requested but rather a just a declaration of their gross reported revenue for FY2022. this can be accomplished by submitting a word document with a

Project Experience Terms

& Conditions

Section 3.2.1.1 (Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, Section 3. Contractor Payment Mechanism): Will the

Commonwealth please consider to modify the payment terms to render payment within 30 days following receipt of a properly submitted invoice?

Payment terms are set by policy of the office of the comptroler and apply to all vendors

Terms &

Conditions

Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, Section 4.

Contract Termination Or Suspension: Will the

Commonwealth please consider providing the Contractor with the ability to recover reasonable unamortized and wind-down costs associated with the Commonwealth opting to terminate the contract for its convenience and not due to the fault of the Contractor?

Acceptance of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions is a required specification of the RFR. However, apparent awarded vendors will have an opportunity negotiate clarifications and/or non-conflicting/non-diluting terms regarding notice and process requirements.

erms &

Conditions

Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, Section 11.

Indemnification): Will the Commonwealth please consider limiting Contractor's indemnification obligations to claims directly caused by Contractor?s own breach of contract, negligent acts or omissions, willful misconduct, or failure to perform?

Acceptance of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions is a required specification of the RFR. However, apparent awarded vendors will have an opportunity negotiate clarifications and/or non-conflicting/non-diluting terms regarding notice and process requirements.

Terms &

Conditions

Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, New Language Consideration:Will the Commonwealth please consider adding a reasonable limitation on Contractor?s liability such that actual direct damages will not exceed the total value of the applicable SOW, as well as include a mutually beneficial exclusion of indirect, consequential, and special damages provision in the final contract?

Acceptance of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions is a required specification of the RFR. However, apparent awarded vendors will have an opportunity negotiate clarifications and/or non-conflicting terms/non-diluting regarding notice and process requirements.

89 Environmental Plan

Section 5.5.5, Page 28: Can the State clarify whether a written response is necessary at this point for requirement 5.5.5, other than the Environmental Practices Form required for 5.5.4?

A written response is not being requested at this point, section 5.5.5 is intended to be informative and to set future expectations

90 Project Experience

3.2.1.1, Page 11 Can the State please clarify whether the page limit is 3 pages per project or in total? The 3 page limit is Per Project

91 Project Experience

Sec 3.2.1.1, page 11 For ongoing Software Maintenance and Support projects, can the State please provide guidance for what it expects under ?End Dates? and ?Outcome of completed work? as the nature of these type of contracts is ongoing work?

For software maintenance and support, there should still be a start and end date. It could be 1 year, 3, years, 5 years or even longer. There should be a timeframe, so the vendor can provide pricing. The outcome of completed work may include number of bug fixes, customer satisfaction, and mean time to repair

92 Terms & Conditions

Sec 3.2.1.1: Can the State provide top 3 or 5 Ts&Cs, exceptions to which will be deem the bid nonresponsive and likely to be disqualified?

Acceptance of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions is a required specification of the RFR. However, clarifications and additional terms that do not conflict with or dilute the Commonwealth Terms and

Conditions may be negotiated.

Decisions on disqualifications due to exceptions to the Commonwealth Terms and conditions are made on a case-by-case basis.

93 Environmental Practices Form

The drop down list in the column that states ?Indicate ?Yes? or ?No? below? is not populated. When we manually try to enter ?Yes? or ?No? it gives an error message. Can the State please correct the Excel worksheet so we can complete the requested information for the RFR submission?

I just downloaded the document and checked the cells and I didn't have the same issue, you may want to download a new copy from the attachments in Commbuys and let us know if there is still an issue.

94 RFR Section 3.1.3

There is a requirement for an organizational chart in Section 3.1.3, but we do not see a placeholder for it in any of the provided response templates. How/where should me include it?

It can be included as part of the Financial Statement, the Submission

Checklist has been amended to reflect this

95 Submission Checklist

The Environmental Practices Form and SDP Form are listed on the submission checklist as a standalone documents, but are both currently included as a tabs in the Bid Response Form. Would you like us to remove those tabs from the Bid Response Form and provide as standalone only, or should we duplicate the form in both the Bid Response Form and as a standalone document?

Please just utilize the Environmental practices form that is included in the attachments and disregard the Environmental Practices Form in the

Bidders Response Form.

RFR Section 3.5.1 and Bidder

Response Form Tab "Bidder

Profile & Qualifications"

Presidio is not a publicly traded company and does not regularly disclose our Financial Statements. However, is

Massachusetts OSD willing to sign an NDA so that we can provide our financial statements in our response? If so, please provide an email/POC where we can send it.

No we can not sign an MNDA because of the limited exceptions to the massachusetts public records law, please note that we are only asking for a statement of the gross reported value for FY22 as is stated in

RFR section 3.5.1

In section 3.2.2.1 Company Qualifications (p.5), the RFR states, "Bidders must also describe and document (e.g., current formal agreements and/or attestations of existing or past project work in the past three years) existing relationships (domestic or international) with other companies that extend their capacity for delivering the services being sought in a category." This sentence can be understood that other companies with which we have partnerships or relationships that extend our abilities must be described and documented. If the partnerships or relationships with other companies do not pertain to the projects referenced nor the services being sought with this RFR, do those partnerships or relationships need to be described and documented?

any partnerships or relationships that are complimentary to the services being offered and or sought after under ITS81 and would be beneficial knowledge for contract users to best identify vendors post award.

In section 3.2.1.1 Project Experience (p.5), the RFR States, "Engagements which the vendor presents as projects in their RFR Response must have a minimum value of $20,000." Elsewhere in the RFR in section 3.2.2.2, it states, "Engagements which the vendor presents as projects in their RFR Response must have a minimum value of $2,500." Can additional guidance be provided on the minimum value of the project work (i.e., is there is distinction within the two sections)?

Section 3.2.1.1 is for the project experience requirements for categories 1, 2 and 3 section 3.2.2.2 is for the project experience requirements for category 4 GIS

In section 3.2.2.2.1 Category General GIS Services (p.6- 7), the RFR solicits pricing for the setup and monthly hosting of small, medium, and large municipality parcel data. It is assumed that these costs should be inclusive of hosting of data, monthly maintenance of data, hosting of web mapping interface, maintenance of web mapping interface (e.g., appropriate 48 hr or 60 day notifications), and the resonable and applicable provision of reliability (e.g., 99.0% uptime) and security for the site. It is also assumed that this pricing is exclusive of any custom data manipulations or transformations, internal/external system integrations, specific automated workflows, or other required customizations. Can these assumptions be confirmed?

Yes, all assumptions in this section are confirmed. Costs for set up and hosting is exclusive of any custom data manipulations or transformations, internal/external system integrations, specific automated workflows, or other required customizations.

Reference Letter template checkboxes

Some of the selection options within the Reference Letter Template contain duplicate check boxes. Please clarify how clients are to complete these items or update the

Reference Letter Template form so that the appropriate version is sent to clients for references. If a new form version is required, we respectfully request this be made available prior to other Q&A amendments so that we can get them sent out as soon as possible.

The box duplication was an error those that apply and are affirmative can be checked ignoring the extra box. if they are unable to check the box an x beside the appropriate box will suffice

Submission

Checklist

Please confirm that the SDP Form should now be submitted as an Excel file. The checklist currently has it listed ad a WORD document submittal.

confirmed please submit as an excel file

Commonwealth of

Massachusetts, "Standard

Contract Form Instructions and

Contractor Certifications

"Do Not Complete Until Instructed" Why is the form watermarked like this?????? How should this be handled?

As is stated in the title of the document, this is a reference document. Awarded vendors will receive a blank standard contract form to be filled out after they have been awarded.

Embedded URLs in documents.

Are these embedded URL's informational only, or are there additional forms to be filled out?

The only forms to fill out are those suppled as the Bidders response form or as attachments in the Commbuys bid

SDP PLAN.

Minimum commitments' and 'bid total evaluation points'

I understand the minimum commitment of 1%. The 'bid total evaluation percentage of 25%, how is this further broken down within the SDP? Is it quality, quantity or both etc? The zoom meeting covered much ground on this section and outlined the many different resources available for inclusion, but how is it weighted?

The two main pieces that are evaluated are the percentage and the partners listed.

SDP PLAN.

Minimum commitments' and 'bid total evaluation points'

I understand the minimum commitment of 1%. The 'bid total evaluation percentage of 25%, how is this further broken down within the SDP? Is it quality, quantity or both etc? The zoom meeting covered much ground on this section and outlined the many different resources available for inclusion, but how is it weighted?

The two main pieces that are evaluated are the percentage and the partners listed.

106 Embedded URLs in documents.

Are these embedded URL's informational only, or are there additional forms to be filled out?

The only forms to fill out are those suppled as the Bidders response form or as attachments in the Commbuys bid

107 Offshore Can the services delivered in a hybrid mode onsite and offshore? Or do we need to deliver services from on-site?

Please refer to RFR section 4.4 Data Location in its entirety for requirements and restrictions.

108 Scope of Services

In reference to RFR 5.1 Service Specifications, Page 22:

Must we agree to provide all of the services listed under each category, or may we choose to offer only one or some of the services in a category (such as Data Strategy under Category 1)?

You may we choose to offer only one or some of the services in a category

(such as Data Strategy under Category 1)?

Subcontracting How much of a project may be subcontracted? Please refer to section 4.11

Subcontracting for requirements and expectations

110 Bid Question Could you please clarify whether it is mandatory for us to submit for every category or if we can bid on select categories of this RFP?

Please review thoroughly the RFR section 2 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON PROCUREMENT SCOPE, Bidders will not be limited to doing business in the category or categories that qualified them for an award.

111 Maps on Bidder Response Form

ITS81 Bidder Response Form 2.16.24 contains 2 maps at the bottom of the Bidder Profile & Qualifications tab. Are both needed? Will the "squeezed" image be removed on an updated Bidder Response Form?

The squeezed one will be removed

Company

Organization Chart

RFR 3.1.3 Company Organization Chart asks for a high-level overview of your organizational chart representing the organization's structure, highlighting the different jobs, and departments. Where should bidders include this organizational chart?

It can be included as part of the Financial Statement, the Submission

Checklist has been amended to reflect this

113 References for Category #3

For Category #3 specifically, would Service Desk and/or NOC references be applicable to this category?

Those services may be better applied to the Statewide Contracts ITS77 and or ITC73. Please refrence the Contract User Guides available on the OSD website for a current list of Statewide Contracts.

114 Extension for submittal

Will there be an extension granted based on when the Q&A responses come back?

There are no extensions planned, please refer to the RFR section 1.2 for the estimated procurement calendar

115 Business Background

RFR 3.1.1 Business Background asks for foundational information about the bidder?s organization to provide insight into its history, function and company design.

Where should bidders include this detail?

The information pertaining to this section will be derived from the bidders…