Amendment_01_Q A.pdf

Amendment 01 – PBGC01- RP-15-0038

The purpose of this amendment is to respond to questions from prospective offerors regarding solicitation # PBGC01-RP-15-0038 for Media Monitoring Services.

1) Is this a follow-on requirement? If so, could you please provide the incumbent contract number for this opportunity? If not, is this a new requirement?

Response: Yes, Public Relay, the contract # is PBGC01-PO-14-0090.

2) We respectfully ask that you remove this requirement from the subject RFP:

“Contractor must provide proof of its status as a copyright holder of a News Gathering Service. Proof of Copyright status must be submitted in Memo format and submitted as part of the technical proposal.”

Response: The Government has determined this requirement is necessary for the source selection, the Government does not intend to remove this requirement.

3) “A copyright holder of a News Gathering Service”. Can you please both clarify and confirm this requirement? If the contractor does not meet this requirement, can it utilize the services of a vendor whose services do meet this requirement?

Response: Yes and the vender should possess the legal authority aggregate articles and other media for the agency to distribute to its staff.

4): We need clarification regarding this statement:

“The Contractor should also be able to deliver upon request special reports on issue specific events such as the publication of the agency’s Projections Report or Annual Report. PBGC anticipates the Contractor shall deliver approximately 365 reports.”

Does the 365 report quantity pertain to just the “special reports” or does it reflect the total quantity of both Monday through Friday news clips reports and the special reports (combined)? Additionally, can you clarify if this number (365) is the per year total or is it the running total over the entire duration of the contract (base and option periods).

Response: PBGC anticipates it will need up to 50 special reports a year. These reports will consist of news clips that focus on a single news event such as the release of the Annual Report or other special reports that are released throughout the year. Additionally, PBGC expects that the vendor will produce a daily news clips report on all days that the government is open. We will make allowances for specific holiday schedules that are used by the vendor

5) Is the PBGC looking for a vendor’s software-generated report or does the PBGC anticipate a formal, tailored, human-edited & styled morning news briefing (formatted and styled in Microsoft Word or similar format)?

Response: PBGC will provide an example of its current clips format. At present this format consists of a preview page in which readers can see a summary of the article and have the option to view the entire text within the body of the report to click on a link to view item on the Web.

We expect the vendor will find appropriate articles using the topics and guidelines established by

PBGC.

6. What time are the clips due to the client?

Response: 9 a.m. EST.

7. In what format should the clips be?

a. Summary + Link to article?

b. Full text of article?

Response: An example of PBGC current clips format is provided in this solicitation. At present this format consists of a preview page in which readers can see a summary of the article and have the option to view the entire text within the body of the report to click on a link to view item on the Web.

8. Should the clips be formatted to be readable on a variety of devices (computer, Blackberry etc?)

Response: The clips should be mobile friendly.

9. Is there a requirement for long term or trend analysis?

Response: PBGC would like the vendor to analyze the number of hits on a particular story, the number of impressions, and offer an analysis of the tone of the stories. Additionally, PBGC may ask the vendor to perform an analysis of how the tone of a particular storyline changes over time.

This time frame could be limited to three to six months or more than a year.

10. How many people will be on the distribution list?

Response: Approximately 25 People

11. Should the analysis include recommendations for communications engagement?

Response: Yes

12. Please clarify the length of the technical and price proposal sections?

Response: The Technical Proposal Part I is limited to Twenty (20) pages in length including past performance. The Price Proposal, Part II is limited to Ten (10) pages in length. The SF 1449 is excluded from the page count.

13. How many “Special Reports” are expected to be required during the course of the year?

Response: See response to question #4

14. What is the anticipated length of those reports?

Response: The special reports are comprised of articles on a particular topic such as stories on the agency’s Annual Report. The length of the reported is dictated by the number of articles that are written. If, for example, the Associated Press writes a piece we do not expect you to print all the outlets that ran the AP story – but it would be nice to know how many outlets ran the story.

15. What is the anticipated content of those reports?

Response: The special reports are comprised of articles on a particular topic such as stories on the agency’s Annual Report.

16. What is the anticipated frequency of those reports?

Response: The need for special reports are infrequent and is driven by the importance of news events.

17. What is the expected format of those reports?

Response: The format is the same as the daily clips report. The only difference is that instead of publishing a report on a range of topics, special reports focus on single news event.

18. What Social Media platforms are to be monitored?

Response: At the moment, Facebook and Twitter.

19. Are there specific foreign media outlets to be monitored?

Response: The Financial Times.

20) Under the Section 3, Specific Tasks, bullet #3 ‘Provide analysis of PBGC coverage in terms of negative versus positive news stories.’ Please define or clarify with examples of negative versus positive news stories.

Response: PBGC will work with the vendor to create a framework upon which to analyze the tone of news stories.

21) Please clarify or provide examples of how each daily report is expected to visually look (e.g.

Newsletter format?), length of pages and any other relevant details?

Response: An example of a News Clips is attached to this solicitation.

22) Please clarify ‘Special Reports’ from line item 0001, 'The Contractor shall provide news gathering service for the production of the daily news clips and other special reports in accordance with the attached Statement of Work (SOW).’

Response: See response to question #14

23) For copyright compliance, how many people would be receiving the daily news clips on a daily basis?

Response: Approximately 25 people.

24) For copyright compliance, clarify if the daily news reports must include full-text articles?

Response: The clips should include full text articles

25) What time should the daily news clips be delivered?

Response: 9 a.m. EST.

26) Could the government provide a few sample terms that are of interest for media analysis reports?

Response:

Multiemployer Pension Plans Retirement Planning Defined Benefit Plans

27) Is the sentiment requirement for special reports only or for daily news clips reports as well?

Response: It you’re referring to the tone of the stories, we would probably want that on a case by case basis, and not for the Daily Clips. It’s most likely we would want a tone analysis for articles compiled in a special report.

28) Would the social media impact analysis be part of the daily news clips reports or special reports or both?

Response: Social Media analysis would most likely be requested for special reports.

29) How many special reports per month would the contractor be expected to provide?

Response: At most, we would need up to 50 special reports a year. There will be months when no special reports would be needed.

30) . Would the PBGC consider using the more expansive NAICS code of 519130 or 519190?

Response: The Government will accept NAICS Code 519190, “All Other Information Services”.

31) Is PBGC expecting to receive an on-deadline sample briefing, due with the each vendor’s 9/11 response, so PBGC can judge the quality and understanding of each proposal?

Response: No.

32) Does PBGC want the daily briefing to include more than just the Headline and Link of the selected stories, so that the reader is presented with a concise synopsis of each story, written to extract the important information to PBGC that reduces the need of readers to read through pages of full text articles?

Response: An example of our News Clips is attached to this solicitation.

33) Found on Page 10, Statement of Work, subsection: “Deliverables and Delivery Schedule” Could you provide more details around the requirement for ‘special reports’ particularly the comment found in the RFP that states “…PBGC anticipates the Contractor shall deliver approximately 365 reports.” Could the special items be simply incorporated into the daily briefing or are these indeed, separate and unique reports?

Response: See response to question #4

34) How many pages are the technical proposal and the price proposal? Page 12 indicates that the technical volume should not exceed “ten (20)” pages, and the price proposal should not exceed “three (10)” pages. Which is correct?

Response: Paragraph 4, on Page 12 should read “The Technical Proposal shall not exceed Twenty (20) pages in length. The price proposal shall not exceed Ten (10) pages in length.

35) Please clarify the anticipated number of reports. Page 10 of the RFP says the contractor should deliver a news clips report each morning (Monday – Friday), but PBGC also anticipates the contractor to deliver approximately 365 reports, which implies delivery of a report every day including Saturday and Sunday. Is 365 reports an accurate estimate?

Response: See response to question #4

36) In section 4 – General Instructions, page 12, the instructions state:

• Technical Proposal (Part I) shall not exceed ten (20) pages in length.

• Price Proposal (Part II) shall not exceed three (10) pages in length.

Is Part I limited to 10 pages or 20 pages? And does the page limit include the past performance references?

Is Part II limited to 3 pages or 10 pages? And does the page limit include the completed SF1449 which is 4 pages in length?

Response: See response to Question 12 and 35 above. The technical page limitation includes the Past Performance references. The SF1449 is excluded from the Price Page limitation in Part

II.