OAM23021S_001.pdf

Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract Form (8-5-2013 Revision)

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT Page 1

1a. 1b. Effective Date 3. Issued By

2a. 2b. Dated

4. For Information, Contact:

4b. Name: 4c. Phone:

4d. Email:

5.

6.

7a. Name and Title of Authorized Signer (type or print) 8a. Name and Title of Contracting Officer (type or print)

7b.

(Authorized Signature)

7c. Date Signed 8b. U.S. House of Representatives

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

8c. Date Signed

U.S. House of Representatives CAO Office of Acquisitions Management 5110 O'Neill House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Office Phone: 202-225-2921

RFP AMENDMENT OAM23021S-001

RESPONSES TO VENDOR QUESTIONS

023 House Compensation and Diversity Study & 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis

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# TEXT REFERENCES VENDOR QUESTIONS HOUSE RESPONSES

1. C.3 5 “The Contractor will conduct background research, collect and analyze relevant survey data…”

Is there a centralized data source for demographic and compensation data within the House of Representatives? Is there an established data-sharing agreement between the Human Resources office and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to share and analyze demographic and compensation data?

The Office of Payroll and Benefits is a centralized data source for demographics and compensation data within the House of Representatives.

The House Office of Diversity and Inclusion does not maintain a formal data sharing agreement with other House offices.

2. E 11 Award Type Is there a price ceiling for this work? Offerors shall submit pricing that will address each of the task outlined in the Section C of the solicitation.

3. E 11 Award Type Is there estimated labor hours for this work? No.

4. Title Page 1 Solicitation Due Date Is there an opportunity to extend the due date for submission to January 9, 2023 or beyond?

No.

5. Solicitation, Offer and Award Form

1 The signature of the Contracting Officer in Block 17 constitutes acceptance of the Offeror’s proposal dated and consummates the contract, which consists of this Solicitation, Offer and Award Form and the referenced proposal.

Will Offeror’s proposal be incorporated into the purchase order?

The technical proposal is normally incorporated into the purchase order. However, some proposal items may be negotiated prior to award.

6. G. Invoicing and Payment:

12 Invoice Information. One invoice will be paid once the final deliverable has been accepted.

Will the Government accept the proposal of an alternate payment schedule to that specified in Section G of the RFQ?

For services less than a year, the payment is normally processed once the final deliverable acceptable. Any alternate terms would need to be reviewed and accepted by the House.

7. Is there an incumbent for this work? If so, who? Yes; ICF.

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8. The solicitation states the offer must be received at the office address in Block 5a. Does this mean a hard copy must be mailed/delivered to this address, or can offers be emailed to Toinetta.Gordon@mail.house.gov?

Proposals should only be submitted via e-mail. A hardcopy is not required.

9. If there was a previous contract for this type of work, what was the period of performance and total award amount?

The House will not release this information.

Some of the requirements have changed.

10. Does any part of this work focus only on Mission Critical Occupations? If yes, which part(s), how many different MCOs, and how many total employees in MCOs?

The term Mission Critical Occupations is not applicable to House employees. We focus on all occupation types in the House: Member Offices, Committee/Leadership, House Officers, and Support Offices.

11. The place of performance states Washington D.C. with some work performed off-site. What percent of the work can be performed off-site at the contractor’s location? Would House ODI consider allowing this work to be performed entirely at the contractor’s location using virtual meetings?

The majority of work can be performed off-site and virtually. There may be a few occasions wherein the contractor will be required to perform tasks onsite. Yes, the House ODI allows the work to be performed at the contractor’s location using virtual meetings, with occasional in-person meetings in Washington, D.C.

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12. Within Section L, File 2 – Technical Proposal, #3. Corporate Capabilities, pages 15 & 16, the following bullet is duplicated. – “ Provide three customer references, preferably in another government agency in which the Offeror did similar work. List the agency name and address, as well as name, title, and telephone number of the client contact.” Please confirm the number of customer references that must be included in the response.

Three (3).

13. Who is the incumbent? See response to question 7.

14. Would the U.S. House of Representatives

(House) consider invoicing equal monthly installments or deliverable‐based installments throughout the contract (e.g., after draft survey instrument delivered, after administration completed, after draft report delivered, etc.)

instead of one invoice once the final deliverable has been accepted?

See response to question 6.

15. Which deliverables would the House like paper copies furnished by the contractor? If any, how many copies of each deliverable does the House want and would these copies be color or black and white?

We may require printed color copies of deliverables. The number of copies will be determined later. The estimated number of copies is 50.

16. Does the House want two reports for the Barrier Analysis (i.e., one for just the focus group findings as described in Task 2 deliverables and a separate full report as described in Task 3)?

We require one full report.

17. We are performing independent research on the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation (OAM23021S).

We would like to know if this is a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services.

If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number?

This is not a brand new contract. There was an incumbent performing the services. The previous contract number is not relevant to Offerors providing a proposal.

18. Are there page limitations for each file of the proposal and within the sections of each file?

No.

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19. Would the U.S. House of Representatives (House) consider invoicing equal monthly installments or deliverable-based installments throughout the contract (e.g., after draft survey instrument delivered, after administration completed, after draft report delivered, etc.)

instead of one invoice once the final deliverable has been accepted?

See response to question 6.

20. Which deliverables would the House like paper copies furnished by the contractor? If any, how many copies of each deliverable does the House want and would these copies be color or black and white?

See response to question 15.

21. Does the House want two reports for the Barrier Analysis (i.e., one for just the focus group findings as described in Task 2 deliverables and a separate full report as described in Task 3)?

See response to question 16.

22. SOO C1.1 4 The study is conducted every two years, in odd-numbered years ODI has used a contractor to conduct the study.

a. Who is the incumbent contractor for the 2021 study?

b. What is the contract number and value of the contract?

c. Is the contractor eligible to bid on this contract?

d. Is there a budget of the 2023 study?

a. See response to question 7.

b. See response to question 2.

c. Yes

d. See response to question 17.

23. SOO C1.2 4 ODI used a contractor to perform a quantitative analysis of data from the House Compensation and Diversity Study and qualitative analysis of data from 20 focus groups comprising House employees.

a. Who is the incumbent contractor for the 2022 qualitative analysis?

b. What is the contract number and value of the contract?

c. Is the contractor eligible to bid on this contract?

d. Is there a budget for the 2024 qualitative analysis?

a. See response to question 7.

b. See response to question 22.

c. See response to question 22.

d. See response to question 17.

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24. SOO

Objective

5 The House Compensation and Diversity Study is conducted every two years, in the odd-numbered years, and the next iteration of this study will be conducted in 2023 as an adaptation and enhancement of 2019 and 2021 House Compensation and Diversity Studies.

a. Can the government elaborate on the required 'enhancement' for the House Compensation and Diversity Studies?

Is the government looking for:

‐ additional information?

‐ higher response rates?

‐ better visualization?

b. In what month(s) is the House Compensation and Diversity Study fielded?

c. What survey platform has the government used to conduct the study in the past?

a. The required enhancement may include but not limited to relevant literature review, additional information, higher response rate, addressing limitations identified in the previous studies, and better visualization.

b. June-July timeframe.

c. Previously, Voxco was used to conduct the surveys for the 2019 and 2021 House Compensation and Diversity Studies.

25. SOO

Objective

5 The House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study is conducted every two years, in the even-numbered years, and the next iteration of this study will be conducted in 2024 as an adaptation and enhancement of 2020 and 2023 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Studies.

Can the government elaborate on the required 'enhancement' for the House DEIA Barrier Analysis Studies?

Please clarify if the House DEIA Barrier Analysis was conducted in 2022 or 2023?

See response to Question 24, part a.

The Barrier Analysis was conducted in 2022.

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26. SOO C3.1

The Contractor will conduct background research, collect and analyze relevant survey data, address limitations in previous House Compensation and Diversity Studies to the extent possible, develop and produce the 2023 house Compensation and Diversity Study, analyze the results, distribute it to the House workforce (in report and briefing formats), and update existing interactive and static data visualization Tableau dashboards.

a. What is the current software platform for the online quantitative study?

b. Does the government have an enterprise license for a survey platform?

c. If so, can the contractors have access to the license?

d. Is the government responsible for purchasing the dashboard software technology license?

e. Will the contractor have access to the government's Tableau platform?

f. Is the government responsible for integrating the data into the existing Tableau dashboards?

a. There is no specific software requirement for the quantitative data analysis. However, we require the use of Tableau for data visualization.

b. No.

c. See response to Question 26, part b.

d. No.

e. No.

f. No.

27. SOO C3.2 2024 House DEIA Barrier Analysis Study - The award of the Barrier Analysis is optional, to be exercised at the discretion of the of the House during

FY24.

Can the government confirm that this is a two-year contract - base plus one option year with different tasks in each period?

The compensation study will be conducted during the base period and the Barrier Analysis during the option. The option will be exercised at the discretion of the House.

28. SOO C3.2 The Awardee shall conduct 15 to 20 focus groups to collect and analyze codes and themes on emergent topics.

Were the 2022 focus groups conducted online or in-person?

Can the government clarify if in-person focus groups are required?

If in-person focus groups are required, will the government provide the facilities for the groups?

In 2022 the focus groups were conducted online.

In-person focus groups are not required.

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29. SOO H The place of performance will be located in Washington D.C.

Additionally, some work may be performed off-site with approval and at the discretion of the ODI Director.

a. Can the government confirm if place of performance is onsite at government or at contractor's location?

b. If onsite work is required, will the government provide the facilities and necessary equipment to conduct the work?

a. See response to question number 11.

b. Yes.

30. SOO I.3 If the House is paying the Contractor on a time-and-materials or labor-hour basis for Key Personnel, the following shall apply:

Can the government confirm if this is a firm-fixed price or time-and-materials contract?

The award is firm fixed price.

31. SOO L 2. Proposed Pricing.

Offeror shall provide a proposed pricing which will address all requirements. Offeror shall breakdown the pricing based on each Task outlined/listed in Section C.4.

a. Does the government have a proposed template for pricing?

b. Will there be a separate line item for other direct costs such as survey platform?

c. Is there a not-to-exceed amount for travel?

a. No, there is no template. The proposed prices proposal must adhere to section L- File 1.2 which states “Offeror shall provide a proposed pricing which will address all requirements. Offeror shall breakdown the pricing based on each Task outlined/listed in Section C.4.”

b. The Offeror may provide this as a separate line item.

c. The Offeror can estimate travel based on the Section C on a separate line item.

32. Solicitation, Offer & Award

Offers must be received

ON OR BEFORE 2:00 PM

December 23, 2002

EASTERN TIME

Will the government grant an extension so that the contractors can incorporate answers into our responses?

See response to Question 4.

33. Would the government extend the submission date to January 6th ?

See response to question number 4.

34. The solicitation states “The Awardee shall conduct 15 to 20 focus groups to collect and analyze codes and themes on emergent topics”. Is it expected that these focus groups are to take place as in-person visits or can these be done through video conferencing?

See response to question number 28.

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35. While the work is to be performed in Washington, DC, is it expected that the contractor staff will sit at the US Capitol or can the work be performed at the contractor site?

See response to question number 11.

36. Can the government provide contract information (contract/task order number and period of performance) for the last contract that was used to perform a quantitative analysis of data from the House Compensation and Diversity Study and qualitative analysis of data from 20 focus groups comprising House employees?

See responses to question numbers 9, 22, and 23.

The time and date specified for receipt of Offers is not extended is extended through

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this Amendment in Block 10 of the Solicitation, Offer and Award Form to be submitted prior to the time and date as amended or specified in the solicitation.

The Contract specified above in Block 2a is modified to reflect the administrative changes (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) set forth in Block 6.

This supplemental agreement is entered into pursuant to:

Other (specify type of modification and authority):

Signature Requirement: IMPORTANT: Contractor is not is required to sign this document and return to:

the issuing office in Block 3 the email address in Block 4d