Attachment 0004-JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix - FINAL.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 87 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Draft Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) Data Readiness Artificial Intelligence Development (DRAID) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- PANROC21P0000001481
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Other files for this federal contract opportunity
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment 0004-JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix - FINAL.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment 0003-JAIC Data BPA-Instructions-Evaluation.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment 0004-JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment 0002-JAIC Data BPA Performance Work Statement V4.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment 0001-JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment 0002a-JAIC Data BPA PWS Appendix A.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Q&A
| JAIC DRAID BOA; Draft RFP Questions / Comments | |||||||||
| Date | Company | No. | DOCUMENT | SECTION | PARAGRAPH | PAGE | QUESTION/COMMENT | GOVERNMENT RESPONSE | ACTION ITEM |
| 12/28/20 | OM Group Inc. | 16 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1. can you let’s know an ETA for RFP to drop? | March 2021 | |
| 12/28/20 | OM Group Inc. | 17 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1. Will this be a multiple award with set aside for 8a or WOSB? | This will be competed as full and open. | Attachment 0003 - Instructions & Evaluations |
| 12/28/20 | OM Group Inc. | 18 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1. Can you consider a 8a sole source award for this? | We are not considering a sole source award for this requirement in any capacity. If the Technical Team determines 8a(s) can complete the work based on the questionnaire, then 8a(s) have the potential to be awarded a BOA. Please note the intention of the acquisition strategy is to award to multiple vendors. | |
| 12/28/20 | OM Group Inc. | 19 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1. Is there an incumbent for this? If there is please let’s know who it is. | This is a new requirement, therefore, we do not have an incumbent. | Attachment 0001 - Questionnaire |
Attachment 0003 - Instructions & Evaluations 12/29/20 Quantitative Scientific Solutions 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A One question, though, on the posting, it says “Rock Island is releasing this DRAFT… for two purposes,” and then goes on to list three, including:
Purpose 3: Conduct market research into which pools in Attachment 0003 – Instruction and Evaluation can be conducted by Small Businesses and which ones have Small Business subcontracting opportunities. For Small Businesses indicate which pools your company has the capabilities to conduct in full and which ones you hold expertise in to perform subcontracting support.
Is the existence of Purpose 3 a mistake? If not, in what form which you like the response from small businesses?
Question 3, regarding small business, is not a mistake. The U.S. Government is interested in small business’ feedback regarding the contents of the draft RFP and if any of the pools can reasonably be set aside. Please include your questions/comments on Attachment 0004 – JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix, included on the RFP draft posting and submit to Contracting Officer, Mark Martinez, and Contract Specialist Meagan Cagle via email.
The window for the draft RFP responses closed at 2pm CST on Friday, 15 January 2021.
| 12/29/20 | NuWave Solutions | 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | we did not notice a page limit for the supporting documentation. We saw the Supporting Documentation Cover Letter has a 2 page limit but nothing on the documentation itself. Can you please provide clarification on this requirement. | Support documentation (Section 3) includes a limit of 12 pages. |
| 12/30/20 | DataLoop | 3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Could you advise if a CAGE code is automatically assigned or do we have to go through a certain procedure? If so, could this detail be provided after the January 15th deadline (if not able to obtain it by such date)? |
Is it required that we go through the process of SAM registration in order to apply for this project? If so, is it required at this stage or can we complete the missing registration after the due date (since it will probably take time to register and activate our SAM account)?
Can our Israeli entity register or would a US company be required?
The DRAID BOA Draft RFP release is for market research purposes only; we are not currently soliciting the requirement. The U.S. Government has released the draft version of the DRAID BOA RFP for industry feedback concerning the documents attached to the posting. If you do have feedback on how we can improve the DRAID BOA for the future RFP release, please include in the Attachment 0004 – JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix, included on the RFP draft posting and submit to Contracting Officer, Mark Martinez, and Contract Specialist, Meagan Cagle via email. However, regarding your other questions, we intend to award to U.S. based companies and SAM registration is required.
The window for the draft RFP responses close at 2pm CST on Friday, 15 January 2021.
| 12/31/20 | Agile Business Concepts | 4 | General | General | General | General | Could you please elaborate more on how sub-contracting works on this opportunity? It is necessary for the sub-contractor to provide corporate experience for any of the pools it is interested in participating? It would be good to know more details. | |||
| Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs). CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. Subcontracting at the call order level will be determined by the ordering activity for that call order. | ||||||||||
| 12/31/20 | Agile Business Concepts | 5 | General | General | General | General | Is there a minimum number of pools that a company should participate in order to be eligible for an award? | No, the BOA has been updated to only establish one pool. The RFP and attachments have been updated accordingly. | Attachment 0004 – LCAT Table | |
| 12/31/20 | Agile Business Concepts | 6 | General | General | General | General | Is it accepted if the sub-contractor submits its experience details for the different pools it is interested in participating? | Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs). CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. | Attachment 0002 – PWS | |
| 12/31/20 | Agile Business Concepts | 7 | General | General | General | General | Is it necessary for the sub-contractor to fulfill the requirements of questions 1-6? | Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs). CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. | ||
| 12/31/20 | Agile Business Concepts | 8 | General | General | General | General | Please confirm that the sub-contractor doesn't need to have the Top secret facility clearance. | If the specific requirement is classified, then all vendors competing for that requirement would be required to be capable of handling/storing information. Unclassified work does not require vendors to be eligible for handling classified information. The JAIC wants to ensure the flexibility of BOA to include both physical and remote data readiness services, depending on the specific need as specified in each individual order. | ||
| 12/31/20 | Performance Bix | 9 | PWS | Section 2.1 | Requires a Program Manager with ten years of complex project management experience, and certain certification (Section 2.1). Please clarify | An experienced project management staffing is required for all call orders. Pending feedback, the exact requirements for this LCAT may change. | ||||
| 12/31/20 | Performance Bix | 10 | PWS | Section 3.1 | Government property must be secured at end of day by a Government POC (Section 3.1), not by contractor staff. Please confirm | Details reguarding distribution of GFE will be determined at the call order level. | ||||
| 12/31/20 | Performance Bix | 11 | PWS | Section 3.2 | Personnel need to have proper security clearance, up to Top Secret (Section 3.2). Minimum of SECRET for Pentagon e-mail. We do not have clearance. Could we qualify? | The exact clearance requirement for personnel may vary by call order. Requirements may include clearance needs to cover projects at all levels from CUI to TS-SCI. There are multiple methods which may be used to satisy these requirements by obtaining necessary clearance or through cleared partnerships. | Attachment 0003 – Instructions & Evaluations | |||
| 12/31/20 | Performance Bix | 12 | PWS | Section 3.2 | "The Contractor’s facility identified in Block 6 in the DD Form 254 shall be cleared as a Top Secret facility at the time of proposal." (Section |
3.2) Apparently this is the address of the Contractor, so we'd need this Performix office to meet Top Secret facility requirements. Dealing with a Top Secret contract can require protecting Top Secret materials, as well as personnel having to get security clearances. Apparently storage of Top Secret material requires an approved storage container which is inspected every two hours, or under an alarm with personnel response within 5-15 minutes. Caution-https://fas.org/sgp/isoo/safeguard.html
| If the specific requirement is classified, then all vendors competing for that requirement would be required to be capable of handling/storing information. Unclassified work does not require vendors to be eligible for handling classified information. The JAIC wants to ensure the flexibility of BOA to include both physical and remote data readiness services, depending on the specific need as specified in each individual order. | |||||||||
| 1/2/21 | OM Group Inc. | 20 | PWS | “The Contractor’s facility identified in Block 6 in the DD Form 254 shall be cleared as a Top Secret facility at the time of proposal. Contractor facility verification is through the Industrial Security Facilities Database (ISFD) using the company commercial and Government entity (CAGE) code submitted with its proposal. In the event that a company has more than one CAGE Code assigned, the CAGE Code submitted with its proposal shall be for the facility where the actual work that is performed in support of this BPA. “Personnel” clearance is different from “Facility” clearance.” | At the call order level, if the specific requirement is classified, then all vendors competing for that requirement would be required to be capable of handling/storing information. Unclassified work does not require vendors to be eligible for handling classified information. The JAIC wants to ensure the flexibility of BOA to include both physical and remote data readiness services, depending on the specific need as specified in each individual order. | ||||
| 1/4/21 | Lambert Enterprises | 13 | Att 03 | 1 | 2 | 3 | *Note: The business size and socioeconomic status of each teaming partner in the cover letter shall be identified based upon self-certification at the time of solicitation closing. |
| Will the Government please confirm that based on the "Note" above, offerors will be able to respond to the solicitation as a team? Will a team be allowed to complete the JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire using by responding with the team's qualifications, i.e., using both the prime and subcontractors qualifications? | Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs) are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. | ||||||||||
| 1/4/21 | Lambert Enterprises | 14 | Att 03 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Is the Government open to vendors establising a Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA) and submittting a bid as a CTA? | Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs) are allowed at the BOA level. | |||
| 1/4/21 | Lambert Enterprises | 15 | Att 03 | 2 | 3 | What is the page limit for Section 2: Completed JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire? | The instructions to complete the JAIC Data BOA Questionnaire (Section 2) is updated. Support documentation (Section 3) includes a limit of 12 pages. | ||||
| 1/4/21 | Deltek | 21 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Would you kindly confirm if this requirement is only for Small Businesses, or can Large Companies compete as well | This will be competed as full and open. | |||
| 1/4/21 | Deltek | 22 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Would you kindly confirm if this is an entirely new effort or is there an incumbent currently providing these services? If so, would you kindly provide the incumbent contract details (contractor name, contract number)? | At the moment, we intend to release the future solicitation as full and open competition and this is a new requirement; therefore no incumbent exists | |||
| 1/4/21 | Neustar | 29 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Is this solicitation intended to award the prime, under which data vendors will be added as and when needed, or is the intent to award the BPA to the prime with the vendors already under the prime as subs | There will be multiple prime awards | |||
| 1/6/21 | Ascolta | 23 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | SAMS has it listed as 15 January but the attachment, 0003 JAIC Data Instructions Evaluation, has it listed as XX March. Could you confirm when the submission deadline is? | The submission deadline for draft RFP questions is 15 January 2021. | Attachment 0003 – Instructions & Evaluations | ||
| 1/9/21 | Stratagem Group | 24 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | Section 2 & Section 3 | 2 | Are there any page limits associated with the responses to Sections 2 and 3? | The instructions to complete the JAIC Data BOA Questionnaire (Section 2) is updated. Support documentation (Section 3) includes a limit of 12 pages. | |||
| 1/9/21 | Stratagem Group | 25 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | Section 3 | 3 | Section 3 says it requires "the requested documentation, by question, in the JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire", what specific data is it referring to? | The requested documentation is detailed as follows: If yes, please provide a contract number (if applicable), period of performance, and Customer/Agency in the table below. Examples may be from previous government work, research, or work in industry. Please also provide support documentation with relevant from the Performance Work Statement or an Unclassified Description of the Work. | |||
| 1/9/21 | Stratagem Group | 26 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | 2. BPA Down-Select Process | D | 6 | This section says "The Government will conduct a corporate experience review based on the contract numbers provided for Questions 7-18. The contract numbers will be reviewed to determine if the referenced contracts have comparable scope to what is being asked in the corresponding question." |
| Much of our past performance comes from the Intelligence Community where contract numbers are classified. Is there a mechanism for being able to take credit for these past performance references | In these cases, an unclassified description of work can be provided. | |||||||||
| 1/9/21 | Stratagem Group | 27 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | 2. BPA Down-Select Process | General | 6 | General question: Can we reference relevant work we performed as a subcontractor? In that case are you looking for the primes contract information or the government. I ask that because in some cases the government doesn't distinguish between prime and subcontractors | Previous work performed as a subcontractor is an acceptable reference. | ||
| 1/11/21 | Booz Allen Hamilton | 28 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1. The announcement on SAM Beta states that questions are due on January 15, 12pm CST. Are the questions on the 15th expected to be questions concerning the full solicitation itself, or should the questions/comments on the 15th be responses to Attachment 001- JAIC Data Questionnaire? |
2. What is the expected due date for the final submission of the above Solicitation? The current documents on SAM Beta only list February/March with no specific dates. What is expected from a respondent in February, and what is expected in March?
3. What is the expected format of the final solicitation submission?
| Questions regarding the draft RFP release are due January 15th. The Instructions and Evaluations document referencing the final submission is a DRAFT version. The Feb/March date for final proposal submissions will be specified in the final RFP release. The final release of the RFP will include submission information for the format. | ||||||||||
| 1/12/21 | Rendered AI | 30 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1) what I submit on or before the 15 January to express interest in the effort | The submission deadline for draft RFP questions is 15 January 2021. | ||
| 1/12/21 | Rendered AI | 31 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2) since our model is to be a sub-contractor, is there a way of making our interests in subbing visible to potential primes? | The BOA awardees will be publicized on either beta.SAM or a public site per the request of the Customer. | ||
| 1/13/21 | Jasper Solutions | 32 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | The section 4 specifically calls for SF1449. Would you be kind enough to provide me with a copy of the SF1449 for submission please | The SF1449 will be provided in the final RFP release. | ||
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 33 | Attachment+0001-JAIC+Data+BPA+Questionnaire | Question 17 | 1 | 2 | Can Government confirm if Offerors should interpret Data Labeling as LACS? | Data labeling should be interpreted as the labeling or annotation of data sets for Artificial intelligence training purposes. The details and methods of execution will be defined in requirements at the call order level of the BOA. | ||
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 34 | Attachment+0002-JAIC+Data+BPA+Performance+Work+Statement+V4 | 3.1 | 1 | 5 | Will the Contractor have access to Government Property and, if so, will that access include Government SCIF spaces? | If the specific requirement is classified, then all vendors competing for that requirement would be required to be capable of handling/storing information. Unclassified work does not require vendors to be eligible for handling classified information. The JAIC wants to ensure the flexibility of BOA to include both physical and remote data readiness services, depending on the specific need as specified in each individual order. | ||
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 35 | Attachment+0002-JAIC+Data+BPA+Performance+Work+Statement+V4 | 3.2 | 1-3 | 5-6 | Will Government pursue co-sponsoring SCIFs proposed by Offeror if already accredited through a separate Agency? | Details regarding specific security requirements will be available at the call order level. At this point, it is not possible to determine if individual requirements will require access to a SCIF. | ||
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 36 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | L | 3.1 | 2 | Information posted to beta.sam.gov indicates, under Purpose 2, that questions/comments on the draft solicitation are to be submitted by January 15, 2021. Although the General Instructions (Sections L & M) state that offerors are to submit one (1) response to the JAIC BPA Questionnaire, we assume (i) that responses to that questionnaire are to be held until our proposal in response to the final RFP is submitted and (ii) only comments or questions in response to the questionnaire and Attachments 0002; 0003 & 0004 are appropriate at this time; please confirm. | |||
| Correct, only questions/comments regarding the draft RFP are due 15 January 2021. | ||||||||||
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 37 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | L | 3.2 Section 2 | 3 | Should offeror's responses to individual questions be provided in-line, below each question, so as to remain compliant with the Section 2 instructions which state that the format shall not be altered? | Correct, responses to individual questions can be provided below each question, to remain compliant with the Section 2 instructions. Instructions have been updated and will be released with the final RFP. | Attachment 0001 – Questionnaire |
Attachment 0003 – Instructions & Evaluations
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 38 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | M | 1b | 5 | Will the final solicitation include specific proposal preparation instructions and proposal evaluation criteria? | Yes, the final RFP will provide proposal instructions and evaluations. | |
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 39 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | M | 2a | 5 | Paragraph 2a, in Section M: Evaluation Methodology, states that Government will utilize Offeror's completed JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire to determine the most highly qualified Offerors for the BPA. Please advise if the formal RFP response requirement will include Technical, Management, and Cost Volumes, or if the extent of the solicitation requirement will only include the four (4) items outlined in section L, paragraph 3.1 General? | The formal RFP will be similar to the contents outlines in the draft RFP Section L, Paragraph 3.1 General. | |
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 40 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | M | 2d | 6 | The Evaluation Instructions state that without an example contract, the Offeror's corporate experience will be rated as unacceptable. Can Government confirm if the following scenario would be acceptable as it demonstrates experience in another area which would necessitate doing such work before selling the data, but no contract for that specific work itself is available from Offeror? Using JAIC Data Questionnaire. Question 15 as an example, if an Offeror has experience with a sole source contract which developed a platform which cross-correlates data from various sources, generating the user-defined statistical information, and provides users with a graphic or intelligence report, would that satisfy the requirement posed by Question 15. The synthetic data is generated out of necessity in a temp file, but that was only a byproduct of the contract and not within the scope of the contract. | All relevant work experience provided for the final RFP will be considered in evaluation of responses. | |
| 1/13/21 | Federal Data Systems | 41 | Attachment+0003-JAIC+Data+BPA-Instructions-Evaluation | M | 2b | 6 | Will awardees be eligible across all areas of technical specialization per the JAIC Data Questionnaire? | The U.S. Government has decided to only establish one pool and is updating the RFP documents to reflect this change. | Attachment 0001 - JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire |
| 1/13/21 | Video Bank Digital | 42 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | My question is regarding the due date. On the Sam listing page (link below), it says the response date is Jan. 15, which is this Fri. |
However, in Attachment 0003, it says submissions are due “no later than 12:00 p.m. Central Time (CT), XX March 2021,” and questions are due “not later than 12:00 p.m. Central Time (CT), XX February 2021.”
Please let me know which one is correct
| Questions regarding the draft RFP release are due January 15th. The Instructions and Evaluations document referencing the final submission is a DRAFT version, and the Feb/March date for final proposal submissions will be specified in the final RFP release | ||||||||
| 1/13/21 | Pandatatech | 43 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Purpose 3 in general information says you are looking to do market research as to what small businesses can do different parts of the requested work. |
| How would you like to receive this information? | Responses to the Draft RFP are to be included on Attachment 0004-JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix and emailed to Mr. Mark Martinez and Ms. Meagan Cagle. | ||||||||
| 1/13/21 | Booz Allen Hamilton | 44 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | (1) If we wish to provide comments, not questions, do we include that in our submission? For example, do we include them as comments in paragraph form alongside questions? |
(2) Which email do we use to submit the questions/comments?
Please include your questions/comments on Attachment 0004 – JAIC Data Draft RFP Questions Matrix, included on the RFP draft posting and submit to Contracting Officer, Mark Martinez, and Contract Specialist Meagan Cagle via email.
The window for the draft RFP responses closed at 2pm CST on Friday, 15 January 2021.
1/13/21 Quantitative Scientific Solutions 45 JAIC DATA BPA Questionnaire Targeted Award Pools for Areas of Technical Specialty Data Integration, Architecture, and ETL 1 Quantitative Scientific Solutions (QS-2), an SBA-certified small business, has extensive experience directly relevant to the Data Ingest, Integration, Architecture and ETL BPA Pool, and encourages the release of this pool as a small business set aside. In particular, QS-2 has managed multiple engagements establishing pipelines for streaming data analysis. These engagements have involved the design and deployment of scalable data architectures to maximize storage and access of data for Artificial Intelligence, Extract Transform Load (ETL), and data integration application and challenges.
| Our pipelines are been built from modular, interchangeable, and reusable components to allow ease of deployment in multiple data science and AI contexts. Each of QS-2’s developed pipelines have the capability for streaming data transformation including but not exclusive to joining, merging, filtering, and performing Change Data Capture techniques on ingested data sets. These pipelines also have very large capacity, scalable data storage systems including secure user and role-based access controls and feed downstream analysis modules via QS-2 developed capabilities to join, filter, and transform data into Machine Learning and AI Feature Sets. | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | |||||||||
| 1/13/21 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions | 46 | JAIC DATA BPA Questionnaire | Targeted Award Pools for Areas of Technical Specialty | Data Accessibility and APIs | 2 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions (QS-2), an SBA-certified small business, has extensive experience directly relevant to the Data Accessibility and APIs pool, and encourages the release of this pool as a small business set aside. In particular we have set up multiple REST API endpoints for customer access and have extensive experience in key and access management. We have set up multiple other customer-facing data endpoints for accessibility including Tableau and PowerBI interfaces as well as streaming dashboards using Elasticsearch and Kibana, a fast, text-based database that is used for handle data storage, queries and custom visualization. | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | ||
| 1/13/21 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions | 47 | JAIC DATA BPA Questionnaire | Targeted Award Pools for Areas of Technical Specialty | Enterprise Information and Metadata Management | 2 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions (QS-2), an SBA-certified small business, has extensive experience directly relevant to the Enterprise Information and Metadata Management BPA Pool, and encourages the release of this pool as a small business set aside. In particular, QS-2 has managed multiple engagements involving the collection and cataloging of all metadata associated with massive data ingests, including providing administrative support for the collection of data element definitions and entity relationships. |
| In particular, these metadata and associated metrics have been formatted and used to facilitate searching, display in, and portability between Enterprise Information Systems. Leveraging data endpoints such as Elasticsearch and Kibana, these collections have been organized in searchable interfaces such that users may be able to easily locate organizational information and metadata. | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | ||||||||
| 1/13/21 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions | 48 | JAIC DATA BPA Questionnaire | Targeted Award Pools for Areas of Technical Specialty | Data Quality, Feature Engineering and NLP | 2,3 | Quantitative Scientific Solutions (QS-2), an SBA-certified small business, has extensive experience directly relevant to the Data Quality, Feature Engineering and NLP BPA Pool, and encourages the release of this pool as a small business set aside. In particular, QS-2 has managed multiple engagements involving data wrangling, feature engineering and Natural Language Processing (NLP), and other advanced Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. |
| In particular, QS-2 has extensive experience developing Data Science and AI features by transforming data sets using programming languages, libraries, and ETL tools, joining and integrating data sources to provide data structures that meet the input needs of downstream ML modules. This has included the bulk processing and analysis of structured and unstructured text data to create feature sets involving preprocessing such as text reduction, extraction, and tokenization. Through these previous efforts, QS-2 maintains an organized library of trained algorithms to facilitate reuse and rapid development of artificial Intelligence solutions including storage structures, maintenance, and documentation including metadata and statistics. These algorithms are developed and customized for pipelines that can be leveraged for multiple projects with flexible tools (including containerized environments and micro-services), allowing for future scale-ability growth, and interoperability. | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 49 | Attachments 0001 and 0003 | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | Section 1 | 3 | Section 3.2 of the draft instructions requires Offerors to include the following in their Cover Letter: "6) Teaming arrangements and/or subcontractors name and 7) Business size and socioeconomic status of prime and any teaming arrangements (if applicable)." Attachment 0001 (JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire) asks questions specific to Offerors' companies (i.e., "Does your company have at least one certified PMP project management professionals on staff?" and "Does your company have prior experience providing Data Readiness and Preparation services to Government Agencies, Higher Education, or Private Industry entities?"). |
| Question: Will the Government please confirm that Offerors' completed BPA Questionnaires may include answers based on their entire team's (prime and proposed subcontractors) experience? | Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs). CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 50 | Attachment 0001 | All | All | All | Attachment 0001 (JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire) requires Offerors to provide, for each category/question, "...at least one but no more than three past engagements including contract number and period of performance in cases of past Government Agency work." |
| Question: Does the Government desire to see a description of each past engagement? If so, can the Government please update the requirement to state: "at least one but no more than three past engagements including a brief description, contract number, and period of performance in cases of past Government Agency work."? | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | Attachment 0003 – Instructions & Evaluations | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 51 | Attachment 0002 | 3.2 Other Security Requirements | 1 | 5, 6 | Section 3.2 states: "Call orders on this BPA can support up to Top Secret (SCI/SAP)." However, later in the paragraph it is stated that "Contractor personnel must have a SECRET security clearance prior to performance on a Call order…" |
| Question: Can the Government please confirm that the minimum security clearance for any personnel performing on a Call order is SECRET? | The minimum security clearance level will vary by call order and the minimum level for all BOA orders may be adjusted based on vendor feedback. | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 52 | Attachments 0002 and 0002a | 3.2 Other Security Requirements | 1 | 5 | Section 3.2 states: "Call orders on this BPA can support up to Top Secret (SCI/SAP)." Attachment 0002a lists all the Labor Categories (LCATs) for performance on the Call orders, but does not list any required clearance levels for each LCAT. |
| Question: Can the Government please update Attachment 0002a to include a column for the required clearance levels for each LCAT? | The Government thanks you for the recommendation and is reviewing the recommendation for a possible change | Attachment 0004 – LCAT Table | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 53 | Attachment 0002 | 1.4 Authorized BPA Users | 1 | 3 | Section 1.4 states: "The OCO is responsible for reviewing the Ordering Guide in its entirety and following all pertinent rules and regulations for awarding a BPA call order against this BPA." |
| Question: Will the Government please include a copy of the Ordering Guide when the next draft or final RFP is released? | The Government is discussing the dissemination of the Ordering Guide. | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 54 | Attachment 0002 | 1.5 Lengths of Agreements | 1 | 4 | Section 1.5 states: "The Government will consider off boarding contractors during this time, if it is determined that it is in the best interest of the Government." |
| Question: Will the Government please define their criteria for "off boarding" and "on boarding"? For example, "Off boarding will be considered when a BPA holder has not proposed against three consecutive Call orders?" | Onboarding and Offboarding language will be included in the final RFP. | RFP | |||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 55 | Attachment 0003 | Section 1 and 2 | 1 | Section 1 references: "Submissions to this solicitation shall be received no later than 12:00 p.m. CT, XX March 2021." |
| Question: Is this a realistic acquisition timeline for the JAIC DRAID effort for RFP due date and planned award? | Yes, this is a realistic timeline. | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Technica Corp | 56 | Attachment 0003 | Section M: Part 1 | 1.e | 7 | Section 5.1.e states: "Although the Government anticipates 15 to 25 BPAs, the Government reserves the right to make more or less than the intended number of awards..." |
Comment: If the Evaluation criteria is based upon unacceptable/acceptable and the Government receives a larger number of offerings, does the Government intend to establish further Evaluation criteria to better differentiate Offerings? The number of awardees is unlimited. The evaluation criteria and Questionnaire has been updated for clarification. Attachment 0001 - Questionnaire Attachment 0003 - Instructions & Evaluations 1/14/21 Technica Corp 57 Attachment 0003 Section 3 All 3, 4 Section 3 requires Support Documentation submitted in a single PDF.
| Question: Support documenation has the potential to result in a large file size. Will the Government provide its file size limitations on their email server, if any? | The Government currently has an attachment size limit of 20 MB. Attachments over this size will have to be seperated into multiple messages. | ||||||||||
| 1/14/21 | Spark Cognition Government Systems | 58 | Attachment 0001 | Question 5 | Question 5 | 1 | Can you elaborate on "managed technology outreach program for a government agency" and provide an example? | Managed outreach programs could include, but are not limited to, programs involving projects conducted in conjunction with higher education organizations, or Kaggle type development competitions. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Spark Cognition Government Systems | 59 | Attachment 0001 | Question 18 | Question 18 | 3 | Can you elaborate on what is meant by "testing or developed tools for AI Security" and provide an example? | Security measures against attacks on AI/ML systems. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 60 | Attachment 003 - JAIC Data BPA Instructions | L. | 3 | 2 | What is the process for announcing and competing Call Orders? | Call Orders will be announced by the Ordering Activity to the BOA holders. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 61 | Attachment 003 - JAIC Data BPA Instructions | L. | 3.1 | 2 | How will Data Services be integrated / aligned with internal testing, assessment, and quality control services being performed at a Mission Initiative (MI) level? | Data Services will be tested independently by separate Testing & Evaluation teams on a project by project basis. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 62 | Attachment 003 - JAIC Data BPA Instructions | M. | 1 | 5 | What is evaluation methodology and criteria for the selection of Call Order awards? | Individual call orders, and the instructions and evaluations of the call orders, will be determined by the ordering activity creating the call orders. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 63 | Attachment 003 - JAIC Data BPA Instructions | L. | 3 | 2 | Will Data BPA Performer be eligible to bid as Prime or Subcontractor for existing or future JAIC Mission Initiative (MI) or other JAIC procurements? | The JAIC does not anticipate any OCI concerns among current procurements. The Government's only consideration is that a Contractor cannot perform T&E services on an AI capability in which that contractor is a prime or subcontractor. The same contractor can hold a T&E BPA, Data BOA, and be a prime on a JAIC contract that provides AI capabilities for any requirement that it is not performing T&E services on. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 64 | Attachment 0001 – JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire | All | 1 - 3 | Can the same contract be applied across multiple questions? | Yes | ||||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 65 | Attachment 0001 – JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire | All | 1 - 3 | Should the Statement or Work / Description of Work reflect the statement of work provided by the customer, or should it be tailored to reflect and substantiate relevance to the question. | The Description of Work should be tailored to reflect and highlight past performance that demonstrates the ability to provide innovative solutions that meet the needs outlined in the evaluation factors questions. All currently provided documents should be considered as draft and are subject to change, | ||||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 66 | Attachment 0001 – JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire | All | 1 - 3 | Can Internal Research and Development (IRAD) projects be used in place of customer projects? | Yes | ||||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 67 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.1.2 | 1 | 8 | Cloud services integration section implies transition to the Joint Common Foundation (JCF) including models, datasets, and source code. What level of experience and past performance with the JCF will be required to support DRAID BPA? Will documentation and standards be provided to ensure all BPA performers have share JCF system design capabilities. | The integration of cloud services may involve many different platoforms. Standards will either be developed, or provided where they exist and are applicable. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 68 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.1.2 | 1 | 8 | This section mentions "data" several times, but doesn't provide detailed specifications. What kind of data (what format, what structure, etc.)? How large is the data? How fast does the data need to be moved? What sources will the pipeline be consuming from (APIs, Databases, File system, etc.)? The paragraph mentions it will be designed as "interchangeable and reusable components." Will this require a microservices architecture? | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 69 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.2.2 | 1 | 8 | Streaming data transformation. Will containerized/microservice-based connectors require an active outbound connection to data APIs? Will these APIs be accessible within JCF environment? | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 70 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.2.2 | 1 | 8 | Request clarification on joining. Does this imply SQL-like joins, or data fusion? What is meant by merging, and how does that differ from joining? What type of level of filtering will be required? Will design standards be defined in Call Orders? | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 71 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.2.3 + 4.2.4 | 1 | 8 | What level and type of persistence shall be required to support 'very large capacity? Will Call Orders define volume / timeframe requirements? The ingest section refers to some sort of automated filtering over streaming data, as well as index/search. | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 72 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.2.3 | 1 | 8 | This section mentions "data" several times, but doesn't provide detailed specifications. What kind of data (domain, format, type, size, etc.) are required? | Repeat of Q68 | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 73 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.3.1 | 1 | 8 | Section states that the contractor shall 'catalog metadata for all data ingested in the readiness effort.' Storing/persisting all metadata for 'very large' streaming data at ingest presents an exponential challenge. Is JAIC interested in recommendations, and best practices to manage the scale? | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 74 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.5 | 1 | 10 | The statement that "this architecture shall not result in reduced performance of data source systems because of increased data consumption workloads," implies that potential need for exponential compute power to keep up with processing demand. Is this acceptable, or is some minor degradation allowable in order to optimize compute resources? | All developed architectures should be designed for scalability, however this level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 75 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.7 | 1 | 10 | Does the requirement for methods to detect and remove data designed to interfere with the training and/or operation of an AI model imply that an adversarial AI defense capability is required? | Yes it does. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 76 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.8 | 1 | 10 | It is unclear what automated capture and collection of data means. Does that refer to a pipeline that taps into device data streams devices or does it refer to a more intelligent capability? | It can refer to both of those scenerios examples would be automated data streams or sensor collection devies as part of those pipelines. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 77 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.9 | 1 | 10 | Is it expected that the system automatically generates labels, or serve as an efficient way to capture input labels from manual labelling efforts? Does system require both automated data labelling, and an automated way to check the accuracy of the automated labelling? Or is a semi-automated capability acceptable? | All of the proposed solutions could be acceptable depending on the call order requirements. The exact details of the requirement would only be available at the call order level and not specified directly in the BOA. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 78 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.15 | 1 | 11 | With respect to applications to tag and label text data, is requirement for full automated labeling or is requirement for an application to support user tagging and annotation? | All of the proposed solutions could be acceptable depending on the call order requirements. The exact details of the requirement would only be available at the call order level and not specified directly in the BOA. | |||
| 1/14/21 | Leidos | 79 | Attachment 002 - JAIC BPA PWS | 4.16 | 1 | 11 | Is there a requirement for how this library of algorithms will be exposed? Will Call Orders call out specific requirements for metadata and statistics? | This level of requirement detail is not available at the BOA level and would be determined for each individual call order. | |||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 80 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | "Section 2" | 3 | The specific instructions for completing the BPA Questionnaire does not include any page count limitations. Please clarify whether the Government desires a concise narrative response to Questions 1 through 6 to be provided in the Questionnaire, in addition to the yes/no response and contract number/POP data. | The requested documentation is detailed as follows: If yes, please provide a contract number (if applicable), period of performance, and Customer/Agency in the table below. Examples may be from previous government work, research, or work in industry. Please also provide support documentation with relevant from the Performance Work Statement or an Unclassified Description of the Work. Support documentation (Section 3) includes a limit of 12 pages. | Attachment 0001 – Questionnaire |
Attachment 0003 – Instructions & Evaluations
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 81 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | "Section 1" | 3 | "Teaming arrangements and/or subcontractors name" | |||
| Please clarify whether the contracts/engagement experience information required by the solicitation is limited to just that of the Prime/Offeror, or may be provided by the Prime and its team members. | Subcontractors will not be allowed at the BOA level unless entering into Certified Teaming Arrangements (CTAs). CTAs are allowed at the BOA level. The non-primary teaming member of the CTA may only submit responses and supporting documentation for the required tasks; Project Management, Software Configuration, and Cloud Integration. | |||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 82 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | "Section 2" | 3 | "BPA Questionnaire shall be completed on the document…" | |||
| Please clarify the Government's intent regarding 'completed.' For example, the Questionnaire requires that the Offeror list engagements and/or contracts (contract number and POP), presumably in the Questionnaire form. Is any other information about those engagements to be provided, for example customer or contract title/name? If the contract number and POP are to be provided in the Questionnaire, what supporting documentation should be provided in Section 3? | Section 3 is the support documentation outlined and requested in Section 2. Per the instructions: Support Documentation Per Attachment 0001 - JAIC DRAID BOA Questionnaire. The requested documentation, by question, in the Attachment 0001 - JAIC DRAID BOA Questionnaire shall be submitted as a single PDF, entitled: Section 3 Offeror Name Support Documentation | |||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 83 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | "Section 2" | 3 | "The format shall not be altered." | |||
| Please clarify whether the Offerors may alter the Questionnaire template to include Offeror's name, date, and page numbers in the headers and footers, without changing material formatting items such as margins, font size, etc. We recommend that the government specify the information to be provided in the headers and footers, which we believe will facilitate its evaluation process. | The Questionnaire and Instructions & Evaluation attachments have been updated to correct formatting requirements. The Instructions & Evaluations attachment and JAIC Data BOA Questionnaire are updated. | |||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 84 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | 3.2 Specific Instructions by Section | "Section 3" | 3 | "The requested information, by question,…" | |||
| Please clarify what information is to be provided in Section 3, versus Section 2. If Section 2 responses include yes/no and contract number and POP, what additional information should be provided in Section 3? For example, contract PWS/SOW, customer name, contract title (if any), task order numbers, award documentation, FPDS reports, CPARS, etc.? | The questions state the additional supporting write-ups needed. Questions that require additional content will state: Provide support documentation with relevant excerpts from the Performance Work Statement or an Unclassified Description of the Work. | |||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 85 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | Section M, Evaluation Methodology | 2. BPA Down-Select Process | 5 | "The Offeror's submissions must include examples or additional information (Section 2 of Offeror's submission),…" | |||
| Please clarify what kinds of substantiating information are examples or additional information, and must be included (in addition to the required contract number and POP) and whether those specific types of information should be provided in Section 2 or Section 3. | The questions state the additional supporting write-ups needed. Questions that require additional content will state: Provide support documentation with relevant excerpts from the Performance Work Statement or an Unclassified Description of the Work. Additionally - Support Documentation Per Attachment 0001 - JAIC DRAID BOA Questionnaire. The requested documentation, by question, in the Attachment 0001 - JAIC DRAID BOA Questionnaire shall be submitted as a single PDF, entitled: Section 3 Offeror Name Support Documentation. | |||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 86 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | Section M, Evaluation Methodology | e. | 6 | "Those vendors found unqualified or unresponsive in one or more pools may still be considered for other pools." | |||
| Please clarify whether the Government desires to make BPA awards to Offerors with broad qualifications across multiple pools. This preference would be conducive to making awards to Other Than Small Offerors. | The BOA has been updated to only establish one pool. The RFP and attachments have been updated accordingly. | Attachment 0001 - JAIC Data BPA Questionnaire | ||||||||
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 87 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | Section M, Evaluation Methodology | d. | 6 | "Acceptable: Meets the requirements of the solicitation. One, but no more than three example contracts are provided and have comparable scope." | |||
| Please expand upon the evaluation criteria to specify whether quality of corporate experience (as substantiated by CPARS) or relevance (similar tools, customers, missions, delivery mechanisms, etc.) will be a consideration in addition to the quantity of example contracts. | Allowable experience and evaluation criteria has been updated. | Attachment 0001 - Questionnaire |
Attachment 0003 - Instructions & Evaluations
| 1/14/21 | NextGen | 88 | Att 0003 BPA Instructions and Evaluation | Section M, Evaluation Methodology | e. | 7 | "…the Government anticipates 15 to 25 BPAs,… |
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