OAA-24-00171 RFI.pdf

Department of Labor - OSPE Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Notice

Telecom Service Data

SPECIAL NOTICE: SOURCES SOUGHT & REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. This notice does not represent a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for information received as a result of this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and any follow-up information requests to include an invite to further explain/demonstrate aspects of their proposed approach. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. Information provided in response to this RFI is submitted voluntarily and is not being requested as part of a solicitation for actual pricing.

PURPOSE OF RFI:

The purpose of this RFI is to gather information about potential vendors to obtain current monthly wireless and wireline telecommunications service plan pricing.

Responses to this RFI will be reviewed by DOL for their applicability to the Government’s need and determined to be “Relevant” or “Irrelevant” to the above problem. Offerors of “Relevant” responses may be requested to demonstrate their approach and/or product to a Government panel of Subject Matter Experts to help DOL determine the best approach.

BACKGROUND:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has an ongoing interest in market data with which to analyze, evaluate, and improve the indexes it produces. Specifically, the BLS is seeking detailed data for wireless and wireline telecommunications service plan prices as listed in the Scope of Work. BLS would like to wholly purchase this data, as opposed to a temporary lease of the data.

The BLS is the principle Federal agency responsible for measuring price changes in the economy and constructs indexes using data collected from both households and business establishments.

Because of the importance of BLS data, it is critical that the component indexes are accurate, timely, and relevant.

SCOPE

The BLS is looking for 4 years (Sep 2024 – Sep 2028 – 1 base year, 3 option years) of telecommunications services data consisting of consumer/residential rates or transaction prices for the following products/services:

• Wireless telephone (talk, text, and data)

• Residential telephone

• Residential and fixed/home wireless internet access

• Live television (cable, satellite, live stream)

• Bundled combinations of these services

• Other TV media/streaming services (streaming that is not live)

We will purchase data for all 6 product categories in the base year. However, the exact products we plan to purchase in the 3 option years may not be all 6 product categories. For each option year, we have specified 3 different product category groups, as we predict our data needs to change slightly.

Below are the product category groups:

A. Wireless phone service, residential wireline services – standalone and bundle plans, streaming/other TV media services, premium TV channel information

B. Wireless phone service, residential wireline services – standalone only, streaming/other TV media services, premium TV channel information

C. Wireless phone service, residential wireline services – standalone only, streaming/other TV media services

It should be noted that only one product group A, B, or C) would be chosen for each option year.

Contract Period of Performance Data Coverage Base period – Product Group A Sep 2024 – Sept 2025 Option Year 1 – Product Group A Sep 2025 – Sep 2026 Option Year 1 – Product Group B Option Year 1 – Product Group C Option Year 2 – Product Group A Sep 2026 – Sep 2027 Option Year 2 – Product Group B Option Year 2 – Product Group C Option Year 3 – Product Group A Sep 2027 – Sep 2028 Option Year 3 – Product Group B Option Year 3 – Product Group C

The necessary variables and a brief description are listed below in Table 1.

Table 1: Variables for Monthly Data File

Variable Description/Scope Month Calendar month (from the period Sep 2024 – Sep 2028) MSA or Market Amarillo, TX Gainesville, FL Phoenix, AZ

Anchorage, AK Greenville, SC Pittsburgh, PA Atlanta, GA Hartford, CT Portland, OR Baltimore, MD Honolulu, HI Provo, UT Baton Rouge, LA Houston, TX Raleigh, NC Birmingham, AL Huntsville, AL Reading, PA Boston, MA Jacksonville, NC Richmond, VA Brownsville, TX Janesville, WI Riverside, CA Buffalo, NY Lafayette, LA Rochester, NY Charlotte, NC Las Vegas, NV Russellville, AR Chattanooga, TN Lincoln, NE San Antonio, TX Chicago, IL Los Angeles County, CA San Diego, CA

Chico, CA Louisville, KY San Francisco, CA Cincinnati, OH Meridian, MS Santa Rosa, CA Clarksburg, WV Miami, FL Seattle, WA Cleveland, OH Milwaukee, WI Springfield, MA Columbus, OH Minneapolis, MN St. George, UT Dallas, TX Moses Lake, WA St. Louis, MO Dayton, OH New York Tampa, FL Denver, CO Ocala, FL Wahpeton, ND Detroit, MI Oklahoma City, OK Washington, DC Flint, MI Omaha, NE Wichita, KS Florence, AL Orlando, FL Wilmington, NC Fort Myers, FL Paris, TX Winston-Salem, NC Frankfort, IN Philadelphia, PA Yuma, AZ

Note: MSAs are subject to change in the future, depending on CPI geographic requirements.

Service/Product • Wireless telephone (talk, text, and data)

• Residential telephone

• Residential and fixed/home wireless internet access

• Live television (cable, satellite, live stream)

• Bundled combinations of these services

• Other TV media/streaming services (streaming that is not live)

Provider/Carrier All available providers operating and offering services in the MSAs/Markets. Data will be kept up-to-date and relevant to each product category’s market throughout the life of the contract.

Monthly maintenance will be carried out to capture any changes to providers such as divestitures, mergers, or acquisitions. Providers and plans included in the data will be updated at regular, agreed upon intervals to reflect the most current market of each within the product categories and DMAs specified.

Plan/Package Name All available plans/packages from providers offering services in the MSAs/Markets

Features Major features of each plan/package, including but not limited to the following:

• For Wireless telephone:

o Amount of included talk minutes, text messages, phone data, hotspot data o Number of lines accessing the plan

• For Residential telephone:

o Type of local calling (unlimited or other) o Type of long-distance calling (unlimited or other)

• Residential and fixed/home internet access:

o Downstream and upstream speeds o Amount of included data (where applicable) o Type of transmission technology

• Live television (cable, satellite, live stream) o Total channels included o Premium channels included (name and number) o Language package o Number and type of included receivers o DVR service fees

• Bundled combinations of these services:

o All of the key features for each bundled service

• Other TV media/streaming services (streaming that is not live) o Advertisement status o Number of accounts and/or devices accessing the plan Equipment and Associated Fees Fees charged for the rental/leasing of equipment necessary to receive the service Plan Pricing Base plan pricing; include annual payment options for streamers Fees and Taxes Activation/install charges, local broadcast fees, local taxes, etc.

Promotions Price/duration/contract terms/eligible customer types/etc.

Total Price Calculation of the total monthly price of the service inclusive of the base plan price, fees, taxes and promotions

Table 2 is a basic example of the structure of the data for wireless telephone services:

Table 2: Example of Monthly Data File

Month MSA Service Provider Plan Name Included Data Number of Lines

Fee per Line

Basic Plan Price

Total Price

2023_03 Chicago, IL Wireless Telephone

Company A 10GB Postpaid Plan

10 GB 1 $40 $10 $50

2023_03 Chicago, IL Wireless Telephone

Company A Unlimited Postpaid Plan

Unlimited premium

2 $60 $10 $130

Potential vendors should be able to complete the following tasks at a minimum:

• Provide monthly data for 48 consecutive months, beginning with September 2024.

• Provide data collected within the first week of the calendar month.

• Provide data for all of the Services/Products listed in Table 1.

• Provide data for all of the MSA/Markets listed in Table 1.

• Provide data for as many Providers/Carriers providing services in each MSA/market as possible.

• Provide data for as many Service Plans/Packages offered by the providers/carriers providing services in each MSA/market as possible.

• Provide data for all of the major features of each service plan/package provided as listed in Table 1.

• Provide data needed to calculate the total price of the service package, including equipment fees, services fees and charges, taxes, and promotions associated with each service plan/package provided.

• Provide data in a spreadsheet format in a standard file type is acceptable (i.e. CSV, SAS, txt, etc.)

• Provide data in a secure electronic manner such as secure file transfer protocol (SFTP).

RFI QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Company description, discussion of company capabilities, and general summary of approach to accomplishing the requirements listed in the Scope section of this RFI.

2. Historical information (description and length of time providing this service, as well as under what North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) XXXXXXXXX) to the public and other federal agencies.

3. Describe your type of business, (i.e., small, small disadvantaged, woman-owned, HUB Zone, serviced-disabled veteran-owned small business, large business, etc.), under NAICS XXXXXXXXX, which contains a size standard of XXXXXXXXXXX.

4. Does your company possess the capabilities to provide the entire range and scope of these requirements (i.e. the listed data variables, the listed MSAs, the data frequency, the price inputs)? If not, please list which requirements your company can provide and those that you cannot.

5. At what frequency is the data collected and processed?

6. How quickly can data be delivered and what is the turnaround time for the most current data (e.g., can April data be delivered in May)? Is there a lag in the data and if so, what is it?

7. In what format(s) can the data be provided?

8. Does your company provide technical support if issues arise with the delivered data? Do you provide continuous customer service with subject matter experts?

9. Do you provide documentation with detailed definitions of all values provided (i.e., a data dictionary)?

10. How do you sample your data? How do you collect your data? Please explain methodology.

11. What potential risks do you anticipate that could impact the requirement, whether it is performance risk, technical risk or cost? Please be specific.

RESPONSES TO RFI

RFI responses shall conform to the format below and provide the following information:

1. Cover Letter – The cover letter must include the following information:

• Company name

• Company point of contact, telephone number and email address

• Date submitted

2. Offerors shall respond to each of the general questions.

3. If the offeror chooses not to respond to a question, indicate “no response.”

4. Submit a capabilities package that include the above considerations that demonstrate capabilities and expertise related to the information outlined. As part of the market research associated with this RFI, we are also seeking pricing information. Any pricing information received is to be Rough Order of Magnitude, and is solely for information-gathering and planning purposes.

5. Marketing and/or reference materials, if included, shall be placed at the end of the response, in an appendix.

6. Responses shall not exceed 30 pages and should be submitted in Microsoft Word .doc or .docx formats, Times New Roman 11-point or 12-point font, with 1-inch margins minimum all around.

RFI SCHEDULE

Responses to the RFI shall be submitted via email to DeCarlo Coleman coleman.decarlo@dol.gov by 11:00 AM EST on Monday, April, 29, 2024.

Contracting Officer – Broderick Morris Email: Morris.Broderick@dol.gov

Questions regarding this RFI shall be e-mailed to the above point of contact by 10:00 AM EST on April, 26, 2024. Questions and answers shall be posted as an amendment to this RFI. The Government reserves the right to edit any questions as needed to protect the identity of the source, but absent this consideration, the Government intends to quote each submitted question verbatim in its response.

DISCLAIMER

This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for information received in response to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Information provided in response to this RFI will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for determining how to proceed in the acquisition process for an agency-wide asset management system and may lead to the development of a Performance Work Statement for the system. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

BASED ON THE RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE/MARKET RESEARCH, THIS

REQUIREMENT MAY BE SET-ASIDE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES OR PROCURED THROUGH FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION, and multiple awards MAY be made.

mailto:coleman.decarlo@dol.gov mailto:Morris.Broderick@dol.gov

Questions regarding this RFI shall be e-mailed to the above point of contact by 10:00 AM EST on April, 26, 2024. Questions and answers shall be posted as an amendment to this RFI. The Government reserves the right to edit any questions as needed to p...