Vendor_Questions_ _Answers.pdf

NEA RFP 15-09 DATA VISUALIZATION SERVICES

VENDOR QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. Why was the last RFP cancelled and a new one created?

This was done to make general revisions/updates to the RFP in order for it to accurately reflect the needs of the NEA at this time.

2. What are the differences between the last and this current RFP?

General updates/revisions were made.

3. So, to clarify, the only thing changed is the due date and the small business-set aside requirement?

General updates/revisions were made. The small business set aside was in effect even with the original

RFP.

4. Is this a new requirement, or is there an incumbent?

This is a new requirement.

5. Has this work been issued previously under a different contract?

No.

6. Are travel costs for the Visual Narrative Project kick-off in addition to the budget?

No, the budget includes all costs.

7. What are the goals for the Visual Narrative Project option years?

To develop visual graphics that feature and support the agency's communications and program goals.

8. The Visual Narrative Project visual tools are intended for a number of uses. Are some of these meant to be static versions of the interactive components?

They can be. We will rely on your recommendations on the best ways to develop the components so that they are informative and engaging.

9. The messaging will be completed in late February 2015, around the same time as the end of the

Visual Narrative Project period. Will there be any opportunity to preview the messaging so as to take it into account when making a recommendation?

Absolutely.

10. How many profiles beyond the first three are anticipated to be completed during the base year?

From the RFP: "Up to two to three (2-3) visually compelling ADPs per quarter."

11. What are realistic turnaround times for feedback/pass-backs? Can we assume that all feedback will come only from the project director/co-director?

The project director will gather feedback from relevant internal stakeholders during that time. A realistic turnaround for feedback/pass-backs is about one week (5 business days).

12. Are resumés required for the proposal, in addition to employee qualifications addressed in the

Personnel Qualifications section?

No, but the agency would like to understand the qualifications of the proposed personnel in order to make a well informed decision. To that end, the required information should be conveyed thoroughly and concisely.

13. Does SAM registration need to be completed by the proposal submission date?

No. It is acceptable for SAM registration to be 'in progress' at the time of proposal submission.

14. On page 10 of the solicitation the following statement is made "The design of all elements/visuals in the repertoire must use cohesive visual language, original art (not stock), work across a variety of digital platforms (including Drupal), and include the NEA logo.

Is the original art to be provided by the client (NEA) or is this a request for all graphic elements to be uniquely illustrated.

All graphic elements will be uniquely illustrated.

15. For Task II - The interactive data visualization for Art Data Profiles. We note that these services are to provide 2-3 ADPs every quarter. Do you anticipate that these would be

1) kicked off all at once but produced in a staggered manner, or

2) kicked off all at once and produced all at once, or

3) requested on an on-demand basis

The pattern of the work shall most closely resemble option 1 stated above. The vendor's timeline of deliverables, to be approved by the contracting officer will ensure that the NEA has the option of releasing 2-3 ADPs to the public every quarter.

16. Is there an incumbent vendor who is currently doing the same or similar work for the NEA?

17. If there is a current vendor, are they invited to submit under this RFP?

There is no current vendor.

18. Is this a small business set aside or a set aside in any other way?

Page 2 of the RFP states that this is a 100% small business set-aside.

19. Is there an estimated budget for tasks I & II for the option years?

For OPA, a rough estimate of the budget for the option years is $50,000 per year. However, it is possible funding in higher amounts may also be available, so this should be treated as a ballpark rather than a hard upper limit.

For ORA, the NEA is asking the contractor to complete approximately the same number of ADP's as the first year of the contract on a delivery schedule similar to that of the first year. So, the budget should allow work on 8-12 data sets each option year. Vendors may use the data-sets provided in the RFP for reference while drafting a budget.

All budget figures provided are purely estimates and subject to change depending on several factors, including available funding, agency priorities, etc.

Technical:

20. Do all the interactive and motion graphics need to be browser based?

Yes, including video and/or animation that can be embedded on the NEA website (the NEA embeds from

YouTube).

21. What level of backward compatibility with browsers is required?

Current n-2.

22. What materials does the NEA currently use to tell the big-picture story? Can we see them?

We use data compiled by our Office of Research and Analysis, information from our grantees on the impact of their grant on local communities, among other pieces of information. This project will help us identify other materials in our agency that are relevant and useful to telling our story.

23. Can you give an example of a Task I deep-dive story?

Our goal is that during the discovery phase of this project, the contractor will work with us to develop the narrative to be visualized. The deep dive stories will come from our message testing, as well as from the discovery phase. Examples of a deep dive story could include how the NEA supports/impacts arts education which results in a more creative workforce, more creative workers and more participatory citizens; how the arts and NEA’s support contribute to making communities and neighborhoods

(downtown areas) more vibrant and economically stable; or how NEA grants are considered and awarded

(a panel of discipline experts and a lay person from across the nation review and recommend projects that will have the greatest positive impact in a community, the National Council on the Arts reviews those recommendations and either accepts or rejects, final review to the Chairman of the NEA).

24. Sections C.3.4.1 and C.3.4.2 state that the contractor develop a work plan and timeline as part of the services they perform for Tasks I and II respectively within the contracted project. Section L regarding the Instructions to Offerers asks that the proposal provides work plans and timelines with specific milestones. Can you describe the level of detail being asked in the proposal versus within the contracted services?

For the proposals, the NEA would like to understand how the contractor shall approach this project. What is the first step, what needs to be accomplished to get us to the next step, and so on. It's intended to be an overall look at how the NEA and the contractor will work together and the steps proposed by the contractor that will accomplish that goal for the NEA.

The description in C.3.4.1 and C.3.4.2 is different in that the contractor will have completed the discovery phase and the work plan and timeline will describe the steps for how the actual designed materials will be developed and finalized for the NEA.

25. What kind of interaction does NEA envision for the ADP visualizations?

We will rely on options proposed by the contractor, relative to each dataset and/or set of research findings being featured. As far as the work-flow/process, it is anticipated that the contractor shall largely, if not solely, work with an ORA analyst. The contractor may also interact with the NEA's OPA and ITM

(Information & Technology Management) offices from time to time.

26. Do all visuals and multimedia require a written text description for assistive technology?

Yes.

27. Do all visuals and multimedia require an audio description for assistive technology?

28. What other technical specifications are typical required by this agency for Section 508 technical standards?

As a federal agency we must meet all of the Section 508 standards.

29. Does the NEA have an extensive archive of photographs and video that could be used for the visual narrative without having to pay a licensing fee?

The NEA has some that can potentially be used. However, the contractor shall need to obtain other materials as necessary.

30. We understand that we are responsible for the user interface design for Task II. Who is responsible for implementing the user interface design for your web site (e.g. programming interactivity)?

Interactivity via the NEA website (which uses Drupal) will need to be coordinated closely with the NEA's web design and maintenance team. The vendor is responsible for ensuring that the data visualizations incorporate a user-friendly interactive design fully and easily compatible with the NEA's website, while the NEA will take responsibility for actual integration with the website.

Regarding TASK I, “Design/create a visual narrative project for the Office of Public Affairs"

31. Page 7 of RFP, §C.2.1, Task 1: Visual Narrative Project. Does the NEA already have a Brand

Guide in place to follow for design purposes?

The NEA has requirements for use of the agency logo, website, etc., but not a brand guide per se.

32. Page 7 of RFP, §C.2.1, Task 1, Second Bullet. We understand that the NEA has separately contracted for message testing services. Two questions related to this:

32a. Does the NEA intend to share the full results of this RFP with the awarded vendor?

Yes. However, this is subject to change as needed for agency requirements.

32b. What kind of message testing was involved? (Especially as it relates to Task 1 and Task 2 of this

RFP.)

Qualitative and Quantitative (focus groups, in-depth interviews, and an online survey).

33. Page 7 of RFP, §C.2.1, Task 1: Visual Narrative Project. How will any motion graphics be used?

For example in a wide variety of mediums such as web, PowerPoint or at any large gathering event, presentation ceremonies?

Yes, all of the above.

34. Ibid. Is the NEA looking for a cohesive design approach to correlate between Tasks 1 and 2?

Not necessarily, although the agency doesn't desire them to be extremely apart in look and feel.

35. Ibid. Can the NEA provide an estimate as to the number of Visual Narrative Project(s) the awarded contractor can generally expect per year?

No. Once there is an agreement on the visual narrative story, and the types of infographics that will best bring that story to life, the agency will choose the recommendations that can be carried out within the available budget.

36. Ibid. Is there the need for a PR component to help garner greater awareness around the new visual narratives?

37. Page 9 of RFP, §C.3.4., Deliverables. How do you define "success" for the contractor deliverables and for the project as a whole?

Success for the NEA will be a having a suite of appealing, easy to understand infographics that we can use in a variety of ways and across a number of platforms to tell our story and engage more and new audiences in how the work of the NEA makes a difference in communities across the country.

38. Ibid. How will you measure success of the deliverables?

See question # 37.

39. Page 12, §G.1.3, Project Director. We understand the NEA will assign a Project Director upon contract award. However, can you tell us who the main contact/project manager candidates are for Task

1; i.e., what role/position title(s)?

The main project director for Task 1 shall be a member of the NEA's Public Affairs office.

40. Page 10, §C.3.4.1, Task 1: Visual Narrative Project Performance. How many business stakeholders (from the NEA or otherwise) will be part of Task I?

There will be an internal team of about 10 people representing departments within the NEA that will provide materials for the contractor to review to develop the narrative and other stories. The Project

Director will lead that team and will work closely with the contractor in the development of the narrative.

41. Ibid. At what points, or milestones, will business stakeholders be involved in the process?

Internal stakeholders will have limited involvement in the process during the discovery phase.

42. Ibid. Is there a centralized approval process?

43. Ibid. What roles or deliverables (beyond client direction/review) will the Office of Public Affairs

(OPA) play or provide? For example, Office of Research & Analysis (ORA) will provide the data, we presume.

The OPA will lead the effort, and be coordinating the project amongst various offices within the NEA.

44. Page 10, §C.2.1, Task 1 and page 8, §C.3.1, Services Outline. Will OPA be specifying which

"deep-dive looks at selected aspects" of the NEA or wanting the contractor to recommend (or is that contractor’s role)?

The OPA will provide what it believes to be the aspects worthy of the deep-dives, particularly related to what information is gleaned from the message testing. However, we appreciate and expect the contractor to disagree or come with additional thoughts.

45. Ibid. Will all of the data visualizations be specified up front for us, or determined by the

OPA/contractor team as part of the development of the story?

While the OPA has ideas, the agency would like the final tools to be determined by the OPA/contractor team as part of the development of the story.

46. Page 9, §C.3.4., Deliverables, first bullet. For Task I, will a work plan be created each quarter or for entire year at beginning?

Following discovery, the contractor will develop a storyline/visual narrative recommendation that will include a work plan to cover the remaining period of the contract. The work plan should be for the entire year. The contractor shall develop and supply weekly progress reports as well as graphic story boards for each recommended element.

Regarding TASK II, “Design/create visualizations of Arts Data Profiles for the Office of Research &

Analysis”

47. Page 12, §G.1.3, Project Director. We understand the NEA will assign a Project Director upon contract award. However, can you tell us who the NEA contact/co-project manager candidates are for Task 2; i.e., what role/position title(s)?

The main co-project director for Task 2 shall be a member of the NEA's ORA office.

48. Page 10, §C.3.4.2, Task II: Arts Data Profiles (ADPs) Project. How many business stakeholders will be part of Task II? That is, which positions/titles/departments will or are projected to be involved in the creation of deliverables for this Task II?

The NEA's ORA, including the director and analysts, and, in a largely consultative capacity, staff from the OPA and possibly the Office of Information Technology Management. It is possible, furthermore, that some of the ADPs will be based on content generated by other NEA vendors or partners, in which case the data visualization vendor may be expected to work with them, under the coordination of the NEA.

49. Ibid. At what points, or milestones, will the whole group of business stakeholders be involved in the process?

To be determined.

50. Ibid. Is there a centralized approval process? If yes, what is the centralized approval process?

Yes. The NEA's ORA will grant final approval of any satisfactory deliverables.

51. Page 10, §C.3.4.2, Task II as it relates to Page 18, §3, Description, first bullet. Regarding

“sample dashboards,” on page 18, is it correct to understand the deliverables on page 10 for Task

II as “dashboards?”

Vendors are encouraged to think of those deliverables as corresponding with the entire phrase cited from page 18, and not just "dashboards." The entire phrase is "sample dashboards and/or interactive visualizations of large, complex datasets."

52. Ibid. Assuming the answer to our question 5/Task II above, is it correct to think of the Task II deliverables as being 8-12 dashboards a year, including a redo of the 3 ADP dashboards already in place?

That is acceptable, notwithstanding the previously stated reservation about using the word "dashboards" in isolation as representing the deliverables.

53. Page 17, §L(b)1, third bullet. How do you define "successful" work for the contractual work involved in Task II?

The final ADPs will be inviting to arts practitioners, policy-makers, journalists, educators, and the general public, as evidenced ultimately by web traffic and linkages to the data/ADPs from other websites.

54. Ibid. Given the response to our question above, how will you measure success (i.e., what are the metrics you use to judge success)?

Ultimately the NEA intends to track usability of the data visualizations through website metrics and informal means of gathering feedback. However, vendor-proposed metrics and solutions are highly welcome.

55. Page 9, §C.3.4., Deliverables, first bullet. For Task II, will a work plan be created each quarter or for entire year at beginning?

A work plan will be created for the entire year at the beginning, but this is subject to change depending on unknown contingencies arising with availability of data-sets and resulting ORA analyses.

56. Given the large number of questions we are submitting, we request a one (1) week extension of the proposal deadline to Monday January 12 2014 at 5pm ET.

The proposal submission date shall be extended to Monday, 5 PM EST, 12 January 2015.

57. Who is the incumbent? If none, which company, if any, has performed this or similar work for NEA in the last 12 month?

There is no incumbent.

58. How many stakeholders will the offeror interface with to fulfill contract requirements?

The contractor shall attend a kick-off meeting with a team of NEA staff, and following that will interface with a number of people from the OPA and ORA. Depending on the need, there may be just one or two stakeholders, or at times there may be more. The contractor will have main points of contact, so we don’t envision a variety of staff or stakeholders interfacing with the contractor unless the issue warrants a specific expertise.

How many stakeholders will be responsible for approving the offeror’s work?

Approximately 3 people will approve. Senior management will be apprised.

Will a committee review the offeror’s work or will only one person be involved?

See answer above.

What will the ORA Director’s relationship be with the offeror during contract performance?

The ORA will work directly on Task II and will be available if and when necessary for Task I.

How many NEA employees work in ORA?

Currently, six.

59. When did OPA publish its communication plan?

In September 2014.

Is the plan a one, two, or three-year plan? If none of these, how long does it forecast?

It is a 3 year plan.

Which if any company or consultant helped OPA create the plan?

It was developed by the NEA.

What if any key performance indicators (KPI) is OPA using to measure progress?

Most of them are based on analytics regarding our digital properties.

Can the offeror view the communication plan?

The communications plan, along with other materials will be made available to the contractor.

60. Does NEA expect each option-year budget to be consistent with what it listed on page 8 of the solicitation?

See question # 19.

Additionally, the 'Services Outline' tables for Task I and II (see pages 8 and 9 of RFP) includes guidance for the type of activities anticipated for the option years. Contractors are encouraged to use this information when crafting pricing for the option years.

61. Per Section L, which if any of the following sections are excluded from the proposal’s page limit:

a. Title page

b. Cover letter

c. Table of contents

d. List of exhibits

e. Administrative compliance information (for example, SAM registration and DUNS number)

D and E.

62. Can the proposal use smaller font sizes for tables, figures, and graphics? May the proposal use larger font sizes for section headings? In Section L (b), “Submission of Offers,” the solicitation states the written proposal should be “in 12-point font.”

63. Do you have a sense as to how many other firms/studios/etc. we may be bidding against? We understand that proposals aren’t due until January but from a resource and prioritization standpoint, it would be helpful for us to understand the competitive landscape.

The NEA expects to receive proposals from a number of offerors, possibly 10 or more.

64. Will we have the right to put work we do with the NEA into our portfolio?

65. Who would be the team on the NEA side that we would be working with? We’d like to get a feel for how big the team is and who the primary decision-makers are.

The primary person and decision maker will be the project director and the project director's assistant. In addition, the project director will have a team of people that the contractor may or may not work with.

66. How much creative freedom would we have? To the best of your knowledge, are there any creative constraints?

The contractor shall have a good amount of creative freedom. We do want to be fun, interesting, and innovative, but as a federal government agency, the work we put out must be appropriate and accessible – both in format and concept – to the widest possible audience.

67. What data is currently publicly available for us to evaluate for task 1? Also, how are your datasets being stored and how would they be accessible to any visualization. Specifically, are there already

APIs in place to pull the information directly from a data warehouse?

Please see pages 6, 7 and 9 of the RFP for the currently and publicly available datasets on our website.

Separately, the NEA currently has a relationship with an academic institution that houses a major repository for research, and it is expected that ultimately some of the data stored there would also be linked to the Arts Data Profile pages.

68. How much flexibility is there in the budget? Quite a number of our larger projects run at a higher budget than this RFP so we wanted to see if this was a hard budget. This will help us assess scope.

The budget may have a small amount of flexibility; however, the current stated budget is a very good estimate for the amount available for this project.

69. Although the budget covers all of 2015, what are the timelines for task 1 and task 2? We don’t foresee either project lasting through the entire year.

At this point, the project timeline is projected to end in December 2015. It is possible that active work may not be required of the contractor during the entire base year.

70. Page 7 – For Task I, in addition to the big picture, how many deep-dive perspectives do you anticipate being included in year 1?

That will depend on the contractor's recommendations and the budget.

71. Page 7 – For Task I, how much NEA staff time will be available for collaborative input?

As much as necessary, as this project is a priority for the agency.

72. Page 9 – For Task II, we understand the contractor will design an interface for public queries to arts-related datasets. Who will program the actual database queries?

The parameters for the data queries will be identified by the vendor in collaboration with the NEA analyst(s) working on the products.

73. What are some effective digital visual narratives that the NEA has delivered in the past?

The agency has not done this in the past.

74. Regarding C.3.4.1 Task I, point five states that a solution be designed for "NEA's Drupal platform and all social media platforms."

a. Should this be interpreted as the solution must exist and fit within the 620-pixel wide shell that is currently used for content within the NEA's website and maintain the existing shared headers and footers, or should the site be designed to be a standalone experience which can be linked to and from the NEA's

Drupal CMS and various social networks?

b. If the Visual Narrative is to be integrated into the existing Drupal framework, will the content used for the narrative need to be searchable, or will the narrative, and the content therein, exist as a singular entity?

As a single entity.

75. Regarding C.3.2 Task II, "Up to two to three (2-3) visually compelling ADPs per quarter (for all option years). This would translate to an estimate of 8-12 ADPs per option year."

a. Would new ADPs in subsequent years use identical data sets as their predecessors?

No, it is expected that Arts Data Profiles in subsequent years would be based on unique datasets, unless significant revisions or updates have been made to the originally featured datasets.

b. If (a) is yes, would the initial ADP visualizations need to be built to accommodate identical data sets from multiple years, or exist as standalone profiles?

The answer will vary by dataset/topic to be featured by the Arts Data Profile. For example, a time series of data may well be the focus of a particular ADP, while another may focus on a given year of the data collection. These factors will be determined by the ORA analyst(s) in collaboration with the contractor.

I. If (b) requires a single interface for multiple years' datasets, would the expected profile visualization need to leverage multiple data sets across subsequent years to visualize year-over-year changes or demographic shifts?

See answer above. The answer again will depend on each particular ADP and will originate with the ORA analyst(s) working in collaboration with the contractor.

70. Understanding the scope, does the NEA currently use a Business Intelligence platform (e.g. Oracle, MicroStrategy, or Tableau) which include data visualization capabilities?

If so, has the NEA evaluated how this project could be supported using an existing tool and resources?

The NEA does not currently use a data visualization platform, but have conducted marketing research on such tools and resources.

71. Does the NEA expect the data required of Task 1 and 2 to be from static excel files or simple database table extractions (e.g., Microsoft SQL, Oracle, etc.)?

The NEA will convey the data primarily via static Excel files or statistical software data files.

72. Once the Narrative is created for Task 1 or for the ADPs in Task 2, will the data need to be refreshed on a schedule (i.e. connected to a database) or remain static?

Ideally the proposed solution will include an easy method for uploading automatic updates of the new data as they become available (e.g., via Census Bureau website),but where this is not possible, NEA analysts should have the ability to update the data easily, without software programming knowledge.

73. Will NEA be responsible for supplying all the data files necessary for the visualization or the contractor need to extract/produce them from one or more data sources?

The NEA will supply the data files.

74. Does the NEA plan to deploy these visualizations primarily for desktop based analysis since mobile often requires a different design approach?

Yes, although people may try to view the visualizations on mobile platforms as we expect the designs to be on social media platforms as well as the website.

75. Is NEA looking to consolidate management and deployment of all ADP based visualizations from a single software solution or individual ADP based solutions?

For now, the goal is to seek a single visualization-solution provider.

76. Since budget has been allocated across the entire year, does NEA wish for the project to be spread across the year or delivered ASAP?

The NEA would like to have the tools as soon as possible. With that said, the agency doesn't plan to release them all at once, so the agency would like the overall narrative to be first and soonest, with others to follow over the year.

77. Will you share the project budget expectations for the option years?

See question # 19.

78. Are monthly invoices required under this Fixed Price contract or should invoicing be based on a schedule from the identified deliverables?

Contractor are encouraged to provide a 'deliverables based' payment schedule. However, it is possible this may need to be adjusted after award through discussion between the contracting officer, the project directors, and the contractor. Yes, it is possible that monthly invoices may be utilized; it is more likely, however, that a 'deliverables based' payment schedule will be utilized.

79. Please confirm that product deliverable for Task 1: Visual Narrative Project (OPA), Design/Execution of the NEA Visual Narrative Elements will be one of the selected deep dive stories.

There will be an overall narrative and then deep dive stories that illustrate a specific point we want to highlight.

a. How many of these Elements or “select” stories will be required for this part of the deliverable?

The contractor will recommend elements based on our budget, but we are hoping for at least

3-5.

b. Is each delivery its own stand-alone delivery or do they have to exist within a framework?

Each element will be stand-alone, but should have the same or similar look and feel and if used together to tell a larger story, it should be obvious that they relate.

i. Are these to be separate files or do we design the page where they live?

Separate files.

ii. Should not part of the branding be how they are incorporated into the webpage design. Are we redesigning the whole web site or just the look/feel of the imported graphics.

The contractor shall be re-designing the look and feel of imported graphics.

80. Is the delivery to be reactive to various platforms?

If the use of the term 'platform' here is synonymous with 'devices/operating systems', then yes. Cross platform is required.

a. Is there a list of targeted platforms?

If it is for a web application it should work with web browsers on all mobile platforms, or if it is for a mobile application, it should minimally include iOS, Android and Windows Mobile.

Graphics – please clarify

a. RFP implies that all graphics are supplied for OPA

b. Graphics are to be created in ORA

The contractor will design all graphics.

81. ORA - data stored

a. on various platforms or is it all static?

On various platforms.

b. Do we need to build mechanisms to pull in data structures (Data in a structure is required for drill down)

The ADPs would be based primarily, if not exclusively, on structured data.

82. Current ADPs – do they represent the type of information that make up a minimum representation of acceptable elements?

Yes, except that we anticipate that an interactive visualization component, or a public "sandbox" for cross-examining the variables, would be at the core of the user-experience for the new (and improved)

Arts Data Profile series.

83. 508 Compliance

a. How is this measured and enforced?

The NEA will review materials for Section 508 compliance.

b. Is the vendor responsible for representing compliance is met?

84. For OPA and ORA:

a. Is a style and vision document part of the deliverable?

It will be helpful, since this is the first time we are doing this, to have a document that explains the parameters and characteristics that define how we tell our story through visual means.

b. Do you also expect to receive templates?

i. If so, how many?

Not necessarily.

85. Are we correct to assume that this RFQ (Tasks I & II) outlines an initiative to work with NEA to define requirements, recommendations and detailed work plans/costs that will inform and enable implementation of a long-term, sustained program of highly branded, compelling, valuable and memorable interactive communications?

Yes. The 'defining and recommendation process" is the discovery phase. As part of this contract we also expect to have the recommendations implemented, per our budget.

86. As part of the electronic proposal submission, will the government accept Word documents with embedded Flash (.swf) elements in support of the requirement to demonstrate previous work samples?

Since most of the work will need to be web-ready, web-based demos would be preferable. A PDF with embedded .swf would be acceptable, presumably, and a better option than a Word doc with embedded

.swf.

87. Please confirm that you are running Drupal version 7? Is this core Drupal?

This is correct.

88. What theme are you using for your Drupal installation?

Omega.

89. For your Drupal installation, please confirm your database backend for dynamic content?

MySQL.

90. Does your Drupal installation include chaos, view, field group, backup and migrate, job scheduler, schema, feeds, node import, migrate, data and other graphic support modules enabled for display of dynamic content? Would you be open to enabling these modules if you have not yet done so?

Installation includes all of the above except schema. Yes, we would be open to enabling new/necessary modules.

91. Do you have published web development guidelines and how would they be accessed?

The NEA doesn't have published guidelines, but the contractor must meet all federal accessibility requirements. Products will be integrated into pages conforming to the current website look and feel, headers, footers.

92. Has your Drupal installation been configured to work with IIS and MS SQL?

No. We are configured with Apache and MySQL.

93. Would you be willing to grant permission for the contractor to directly import/export tables from the database in support of dynamic data content? Alternately, would your Drupal team accept mySQl scripts of proposed data tables that they could then execute on the database after assuring themselves that the script was well formed and appropriate?

The NEA prefers to receive MySQL scripts.

94. Does the government prefer that the contractor be assigned editing privileges on their Drupal installation to generate and place new data profiles, or is it preferred that we provide an export script of our views accompanied by a listing of any needed fields that must be created to accommodate the data and functionality?

The NEA prefers export scripts.

95. Does the NEA have an internal usability standards review group or test group?

96. The proposal states that the ORA will produce the content in the form of datasets for Task 2, does this include the formation of data structures and schema to support the proposed display template or would that responsibility reside with the contractor? If with the contractor, will the datasets be relayed in .CSV format or in Excel? If in Excel, will a unique, 1-1 correspondence, obtain between the variable header and the data columns?

The NEA analyst/s will determine this information in consultation with the vendor. The NEA would convey the data primarily via static Excel files or statistical software data files (largely structured data sets). The remainder of this question is unclear.

97. Reviewing some of the proposed data sets/documents to be represented, will the ORA provide additional guidance at project start regarding specific indicators of interest for inclusion?