Amendment_2_to_RFP_NIH-NICHD-2018-09.pdf

Amendment 2 to RFP NIH-NIAAA 2018-09, “Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS)”

AMENDMENT 2

Request for Proposal (RFP) NIH-NICHD-2018-09 entitled, “Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System

(AEDS)”

Amendment Number: Two (2)

Amendment Issue Date: June 28, 2018

Proposal Intent Response Sheet Due Date: July 2, 2018

Proposal Due Date: July 13, 2018 (unchanged)

Issued By: Daniel Federline

DHHS, NIH, NICHD

Office of Acquisitions

NIAAA CMB

Point of Contact: Daniel Federline Contact Email: daniel.federline@nih.gov

THIS AMENDMENT IS ISSUED TO ALL POTENTIAL OFFERORS:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth below. The hour and date specified for receipt of proposals has NOT been extended. Offerors must acknowledge receipt of this amendment by identifying this amendment number and date on each copy of the offer submitted. Failure to receive your acknowledgement may result in the rejection of your offer.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the RFP remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT:

1. To provide an updated SOW based on the questions received. Specifically, 3) 5.a. was clarified as there are no specific hardware and software requirements for this acquisition. Further, 3) 3. was clarified to encourage meetings by teleconference rather than in-person, with the exception of the Planning Meeting.

2. To provide answers to the RFP questions submitted by June 20, 2018. Specifically, the answers are below:

mailto:hanacekp@mail.nih.gov

General Questions

1. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like, from India or Canada)?

Yes, the Government will accept proposals from vendors outside the United States. However, the Offeror must be able to meet all the requirements of the Statement of Work, including, but not limited to, the requirement of in-person computer programming and data analysis in the United States, as well as attending the in-person Planning Meeting.

2. CSR Inc is the incumbent contractor performing this task, what is their contract value?

The total Estimated Contract Amount (total base and all options) is $6,561,926.

3. I noticed that CSR has been providing support for AEDS in the past 3 decades, is there any other contractor ever supported AEDS before? if there is any, who is it?

Yes, a contractor other than CSR has supported AEDS. Under Contract N01AA20001 Cygnus Corporation administered the AEDS contract for NIAAA.

4. Is the incumbent contractor, CSR, Inc., eligible to bid on this opportunity?

Yes.

5. Has the government specified a place of performance for this opportunity (on-site at an NIAAA facility vs. remotely at the contractor’s location, assuming they’re close enough to meet regularly at NIAAA headquarters)?

The work will not be performed on-site at an NIAAA facility. The work is to be done at the Contractor’s location.

6. Will NIAAA provide a single point of contact for the contractor’s project manager to communicate with?

Yes, a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) will be designated on this contract.

7. Is there a page limit or any style restrictions (other than the writing sample) to the proposal response?

Per Section A of the RFP - Proposal Page Limitations: None. However, see electronic size limitation in Attachment 1 of this RFP entitled, "Packaging and Delivery of Proposals for Use with the NIH electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) Website”.

8. In anticipation of the government possibly making multiple awards for this solicitation, does a respondent’s proposal have to address every task in the SOW, or may they respond only to the specific tasks for which they are qualified?

The Government anticipates a single award for this solicitation. The awardee must be qualified to perform all tasks of the Statement of Work.

Technical Questions

1. Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

The Government has amended the Statement of Work to encourage teleconference meetings.

There is still a requirement to attend the Planning Meeting in-person.

2. Can we perform the tasks (related to the RFP) outside USA (like, from India or Canada)?

The contractor may need to access restricted data that requires in-person inspection in the United States.

3. Will the AEDS be considered big data? If yes, what is the expected volume, velocity, and variety of data expected?

No – it will not be considered big data.

4. In addition to the reports listed in the RFP, are there other reports that must or may be produced in one contract year?

No.

5. How many public use files are expected annually?

The contract does not produce public use data files except for a file containing data for the annual Surveillance Report on Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends (https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance.htm)

6. In paragraph A2 of the Technical Requirements in the statement of work (SOW), the

Contractor’s surveillance responsibility is defined to include “periodic tracking of selected data” for monitoring progress towards alcohol-related health outcomes at the national level. Is the data tracking requirement referenced here limited to the topics outlined in paragraph D1 of the

SOW?

Yes.

7. In paragraph F regarding storage of prior reports, is the Contractor permitted to store these items offsite? Are the publications to be cataloged? Can you provide an estimate of the volume of materials to be stored?

The items are to be stored offsite. No cataloging of the publications is anticipated at this time.

There are approximately 11 pallets of prior reports currently being stored. No additional https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/surveillance.htm storage items are expected to be generated under this contract.

8. As noted in paragraph A9, licenses for STATA is not being provided under the contract. Are there tasks assigned that the contractor will be required to use STATA, or can the contract use other statistical software packages?

The contractor may use other packages appropriate for analysis of complex survey designs.

9. How many FTE and total hours are anticipated for this effort?

The Government has not provided anticipated FTE or total hours for this effort. The Contractor should propose based on their approach to the Statement of Work.

10. Is the total effort in terms of manhours anticipated to stay the same, decrease or increase in the option years?

It is anticipated to stay the same or decrease.

11. What is the size of the data sets?

Analyses will use public use data. Offerors can go to the websites of the datasets listed in the Statement of Work to find information about the size of the datasets. Analyses will typically combine 10 or more years of data to produce adequate sample size for analysis, for example from NHANES or NHIS. However, some data sets may include millions of observations such as the NEDS (National Emergency Department Sample https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nedsoverview.jsp)

12. What is the format of the data sets, Excel, Oracle, Flat File, …?

Offerors should go to the websites of the datasets listed in the SOW to find information about data format. The contractor is expected to have the skills to work with whatever format the public use data file is in.

13. In the Statement of Work, under 3) Technical Requirements, A) Project Management; 5 a) requests presence of a SUN workstation at contractor site. Later, in the same section, 3) Technical Requirements; A) Project Management; 9) notes: There are no specific hardware and software requirements. Please clarify if a specific piece of hardware (a SUN workstation or similar) is required to be on site at the contractor site.

A SUN workstation is not required. The SOW has been clarified.

14. In the Statement of Work, under 3) Technical Requirements, paragraph F) Storage of Prior Reports: Are there any activities other than storage (e.g., disbursal, cataloging, scanning, etc.)

anticipated for the prior reports?

https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nedsoverview.jsp https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nedsoverview.jsp

15. Does this include fulfillment as well? (SOW, 3.F Storage of Prior Reports)

Yes.

16. The RFP requests a writing sample from staff who will be responsible for writing deliverables on the contract. If there are multiple staff members who will be responsible for writing these deliverables, will NIAAA allow the bidder to submit a writing sample from each writer?

Up to 3 writing samples may be submitted.

17. Will Word/Office files be the only deliverable formats, or will there be other accessible formats, such as PDF and HTML, required for the NIAAA web site or other online venue?

Other accessible formats, such as PDF and HTML will be required for the NIAAA web site.

18. SOW, Task 2, Page 8 - Does the scope of report creation in task 2 include the creation of data visualizations and/or data dashboards?

Slides for staff presentations may be created in PowerPoint and graphs/charts for data analyses may be created in the statistical package used for data analysis or in Excel or created using other appropriate software. The contract does not include a data dashboard.

19. If so, does NIAAA currently license software to support this effort? If NIAAA does not have this type of software, will the implementation of this type of solution be part of the scope of this project?

Not applicable.

20. SOW, Task 2, Page 11- Does NIAAA have a service level agreement in mind for technical support requests?

The NIAAA does not have a service level agreement in mind for technical support requests.

21. SOW, Initial and Final Transition, Page 11 - Will either the initial or final transition have an overlap between the incoming and outgoing contractors?

22. If so, how much time will NIAAA allow the contractors to hand off information and documents?

There is no overlap between the incoming and outgoing contractors. The handoff of information and documents will proceed as described in the Statement of Work, Initial Transition.

23. SOW, Initial and Final Transition, Page 11 - In the event of an initial transition into this contract, will the awardee be responsible to transferring any live assets from the incumbent’s server(s) into a new hosting environment?

The Government does not anticipate transferring any live assets from the incumbent’s servers into a new hosting environment.

Business Questions

1. Can we submit the proposals via email?

No, proposals must be submitted according to Attachment 1 - Packaging and Delivery of Proposals for Use with the NIH electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website.

2. Is there a contract ceiling price or minimum/maximum award price associated with this contract?

No, there is not a set contract ceiling price or minimum/maximum award price associated with this contract.

3. Should potential contractors propose a budget in the business proposal for just the base period, or for the base period and all option periods?

Offerors should propose a budget for the base and all option periods.

4. The link for Attachment 6: HHS Section 508 Product Assessment Template goes to http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/contracting/technology/vendors.html which states:

“This page contains information that is not current. The current guidance can be found on the “contracting” link on the navigation bar. The forms on this page should only be used for contracts executed before January 1, 2018.”

Please confirm we are to use the new Version 2.1 dated March 2018 as found in the redirected link.

The new Version 2.1, dated March 2018, found via the redirected link, is the requirement for this award.