AnswerstoQuestionsOCT4.doc

Answers to Questions

RFP DTNH22-08-R-00085

“MEDIA SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITIES”

Oct 4, 2007 Note: In some cases, questions have been paraphrased for brevity purposes or in order to protect the identify of those parties submitting questions.

QUESTION 1. Can you please advise as to whether there is an incumbent contractor for this requirement? If so, could you please provide the contractor name and the contract number that was awarded?

RESPONSE: NHTSA contract number DTNH22-04-C-05030 was awarded to the Tombras Group, which is the incumbent contractor. (Reference: C.4.7.1 of the RFP).

QUESTION 2. Regarding Section C.3.3, “ Conduct national and local media buys” how many spots annually?

RESPONSE: NHTSA purchases national advertising three times each year. Local media buys are dependant on the number of demonstration projects underway each year and can range from 8 to 15 local buys three to four times each year.

QUESTION 3. Regarding Section C.3.7, “Develop a national media buy plan for each cycle of paid advertising and place advertising, once approved” are the cycles January – December? If not, when are the cycles?

RESPONSE: The national media buy supports the high visibility enforcement campaigns conducted each May, August and December. Each buy runs for approximately 14 – 17 nights.

QUESTION 4. Regarding Section C.3.10, “Provide technical assistance in planning and implementing the Office of Communication’s National Strategic Communications Forum and Communications Workshops to NHTSA’s Regional Offices and highway safety advocates as appropriate” how many workshops?

RESPONSE: Four workshops each year.

QUESTION 5. Regarding Section C.3.11. “ Conduct meetings, conference calls and otherwise provide all support in accomplishing the statement of work as outlined in this contract in a timely manner. How many meetings?”

RESPONSE: Weekly 30 minute update meetings, up to 4 conference calls each month.

QUESTION 6. Regarding Section C.4.2.5 “Provide support for NHTSA’s website” what are the estimated hours to re-design NHTSA’s website?

RESPONSE: The wording, as it currently exists in the RFP, may have overstated the requirements as they relate to a website re-design. Any major re-designs would be performed in-house. Section C.4.2.5 will be amended to reflect a less significant role this requirement has in the overall contract effort.

QUESTION 7. Regarding Section C.4.2.7.1“Planning and conducting news conferences, to include news releases and presentations and collaboration with partners to increase media support; How many news conferences and where?

RESPONSE: Up to 5 national events in locations TBD and 2 local events at locations TBD.

QUESTION 8. Regarding Section C.4.2.7.2 “Generating broadcast and print media beyond events…” how many tours and where?

RESPONSE: Up to 5 tours each year primarily out of Washington DC

QUESTION 9. Regarding Section C.4.2.7.4 “Participate in national and State highway safety conferences…” how many conferences and where?

RESPONSE: Up to 4 conferences in locations TBD.

QUESTION 10. Regarding Section C.4.7.2 “Bi-Annual Conference,” how many speakers? How should we estimate pricing on supporting materials, workbooks, conference reference materials? Quantity?

RESPONSE: The conversion of this contract type from cost-reimbursement to time-and-materials resolves this issue. The costs associated with the Bi-Annual Conferences have been pre-defined and are is included as part of the “Other” cost category listed under “Other Direct Costs” (Reference: B.3.1 and B.3.2 of the RFP.).

QUESTION 11. Regarding Section L.9 Business Management proposals Instructions, as it relates to travel costs, how are we to estimate travel for each year of the contract? How many trips? Where to? Average stay? Per diem rates are only released annually, how do we estimate this cost?

RESPONSE: The conversion of this contract type from cost-reimbursement to time-and-materials resolves this issue. Travel Costs have been pre-defined and are presented in the Price Schedules, Section B.3. (Reference: B.3.1 and B.3.2 of the RFP).

QUESTION 12. Is there a ceiling price or target price for this cost-plus fixed fee contract?

RESPONSE: The RFP has been revised to reflect a time-and-materials type contract vs. cost-reimbursement. The ceiling amount for the contract will be established at contract award and will be based upon the information provided by the offeror in the Price Schedules, Section B.3 (Reference B.3 of the RFP.)

QUESTION 13. With all components of the proposals (including Oral Presentations) due on October 18; it possible that additional questions will arise during the preparation process. Would DOT/NHTSA consider allowing for a second question submission date, allowing respondents to get answers to these “in-process” questions?

RESPONSE: Amendment 00001 to the Request for Proposal extended the due date for the written portion of the proposal (see Section L.7.1.a, L.7.1.b, L.7.1.c, and L.7.1.d) to October 25, 2007. The Oral Presentation portion of the technical proposal is not due on October 25, 2007; rather, the material to be used during the Oral presentation portion of the proposal is due on the 25th of October. The due date and time for the Oral Presentation portion will be determined by NHTSA in accordance with Section L.8.2. of the RFP.

This procurement is being processed under a very aggressive and accelerated timeline. As such, only one round of pre-proposal questions and answers is envisioned at this time.

QUESTION 14. Standard forms SF-LLL and SF-LLL-A are missing from the appendix. All versions of the RFP that I have downloaded end at page 67, the conclusion of Appendix 1. Can you please provide us with these forms?

RESPONSE: Amendment 00003 includes a revised Section J to the RFP as well as Standard Forms SF-LLL.

QUESTION 15. I am writing to seek your consideration of changing the type of procurement under solicitation no. DTNH22-08-R-00085 from cost-reimbursable to either firm fixed price or time-and-material, or a hybrid of these two types of procurement. The services of all major and a multitude of small public relations firms are covered by the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule for “AIMS.” The services are priced by GSA on either an hourly basis per labor category or fixed price for specific products or packages. GSA’s long-standing experience with the public relations professional community has been successful through this type of pricing. As you may know, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, at Section 8.404(d) establishes that, with respect to sservices offered on the schedule, priced either at hourly rates or at a fixed price for performance of a specific task, GSA has already determined the prices under schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable. Therefore, according to the FAR, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing.

In our view, cost-reimbursable procurements are much more complex to administer, from both the Government’s and the contractor’s involvement. As a general rule, our Government engagements are always on a time-and-material or fixed-price basis, and we would ask you to reconsider the current pricing arrangement described in the solicitation.

RESPONSE: The contract type has been changed from cost-reimbursement to time-and-materials. Attachment 2 to the RFP has also been amendment to waive the requirement for an itemization of proposed loaded labor rates if those rates are the same, or less than those rates included in the offeror’s GSA Schedule contract and if that contract covers the Period December 2007 through December 2012.

QUESTION 16. Regarding L.7 Proposal Submissions (General Information); Required Written Material and Required Hardcopy Material, how many copies of each of these documents under this section are required?

RESPONSE: Originals of documents identified in Section L.7.1.a of the RFP are required. Seven (7) CD- Rom copies of documents listed in L.7.1.b are required. Eight (8) CD-ROM copies of documents listed in L.7.1.c are required. Seven copies of documents listed in L.7.1.d are required. (Reference Section L.7.1 of the RFP.)

QUESTION 17. Concerning Section C.4.7.1 “Kick-Off Meeting: ‘Within seven days following contract award… discuss the terms and conditions of this contract as well as to plan for a transition of services provided by The Tombras Group under NHTSA contract DTNH22-04-C-05030’” are we to assume that The Tombras Group cannot, or will not, re-bid or re-compete for this contract?

RESPONSE: This procurement is open to all parties under full and open competition.

QUESTION 18. Regarding Section L.4. “Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest” where it calls out the insurance industry as a potential conflict, could clarify conflict of interest at it relates to the insurance industry? For example, we do enjoy a relationship with a large insurance provider (including auto insurance), and a part of this effort has even included work on their very active program to educate teens about the dangers inherent in drinking and driving. As such, we see these activities as being very complimentary with NHTSA's goals rather than a conflict. Can you please clarify the conflict of interest issue here?

RESPONSE: Section L.4 requires that offerors disclose potential conflicts of interest. This section also allows offerors to explain why certain business relationships do not constitute a conflict of interest. A business relationship with the insurance industry does not automatically constitute a conflict of interest if the offeror can explain, satisfactorily, why a conflict of interest does not exist.

Question 19. Can you disclose any of the following information regarding the Media Support for National Communications Activities requirement: Place of Performance; Potential Contract or Ceiling Value; Incumbent Information; Program Manager or COTR?

RESPONSE: In reference to these question:

· The RFP and any resultant contract covers media support that is national in scope; therefore, the offeror’s chosen place of performance should support the national scope of the Statement of Work.

· Regarding potential contract ceiling, see response to Question 12 above.

· Regarding incumbent information, see response to Question 1 above.

· Regarding the Program Manager or COTR assigned to this procurement, that information is not released to insure all inquires regarding this procurement are submitted to a single point of contact (i.e. NHTSA’s Office of Acquisition Management) and that responses to these inquires are disseminated as appropriate.

Question 20. Production of Ads: In each twelve (12) month period—up to three(3) ads. Where will these ads be placed (Local, if so, where, or national?)

RESPONSE: See question 2 above.

Question 21. Media Buy: In each twelve (12) month period—three (3) national campaigns and media buys in up to 50 local markets. Where are the 50 local markets?

RESPONSE: Markets are not identified at this time. They are identified when working with the states on demonstration projects.

Question 22. Events/Earned Media: In each twelve (12) month period—up to six (6) national press events, up to three (3) local press events,…Where will the local press events take place?

RESPONSE: NHTSA cannot identify the local market where press support will be needed.

Question 23. In B.3 Price Schedules—the table requires “Loaded Hourly Labor Rate.” Does this include all hard costs (material, printing, shipping, etc.) associated with each Functional Area line item, as Ad Production, Creative Collateral Material, Media Buy (actual buy in addition o the labor) etc.?

RESPONSE: The composition of Loaded Hourly Labor Rates is defined in Attachment 2 to the RFP. Loaded Hourly Labor Rates are hourly rates for labor only, plus the offeror’s indirect cost rates and profit. Materials, printing, shipping, etc are not to be included in the labor rate; rather, they have already been accounted for within the “Other Direct Costs, Other” portion of each price schedule.

Question 24. Does this RFP fall outside of the GSA Contract? The reason we ask is that our GSA contract is based on negotiated hourly rates and this RFP requests that price proposals be submitted as cost-plus-fixed-fee. If this contract falls under GSA, could you provide guidelines on how we can convert our GSA-approved hourly rates to cost-plus-fixed-fee?

RESPONSE: The conversion from a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to time-and-materials should alleviate this problem. Also, as it relates to GSA Schedule Prices, refer to the “Special Notes” included in Sections L.9 and Attachment 2 of the RFP (as amended per Amendment 003).

Question 25. Can you clarify what you mean by “national campaign?” Is the intent to run the campaign in every media market across the US, or are there key markets throughout the country that you wish to target?

RESPONSE: NHTSA buys national advertising at the program/network level. NHTSA buys markets only when supporting state/local demonstration projects.

Question 26. Are there cities/states/regions that present a particular problem in terms of seat belt compliance and DUI?

RESPONSE: Offerors should review the NHTSA website, www.nhtsa.dot.gov, for background information related to this procurement.

QUESTION 27. The RFP mentions the importance of “not going dark” between enforcement periods, and that there are pre-existing advertising campaigns that are currently being run during major enforcement periods throughout the country. How does this initiative relate to what’s already out there? Are you looking for an advertising agency that will develop a communications program that will fill in the gaps between enforcement periods, only? Or will this contract include activities related to both special enforcement and non-enforcement periods?

RESPONSE: This contract supports initiatives that are already underway. Communications activities will support the existing high visibility enforcement campaigns as well as non-enforcement periods.

QUESTION 28. An assignment like this could be executed at a range of budget levels. And it will be extremely difficult to provide firm fixed prices for work that is indeterminate in nature. Even with the "optional items" excluded, there remains uncertainty. Can you provide any guidance on what budget range is realistic for planning purposes? Or can a precise scope be provided to allow meaningful prices to be submitted?

RESPONSE: The conversion of this procurement from cost-plus-fixed-fee to time-and-materials may help to alleviate uncertainties regarding the scope of work in that levels of effort and certain other direct costs have now been included in the RFP. The total budget for this project will depend upon the result of price negotiations held with the successful offeror.

QUESTION 29. Obviously there are many advertising materials that currently exist for both the Click It or Ticket and Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest programs. Can you provide a sense for how much new creative will be needed for both programs under this contract?

RESPONSE: It is likely that at least one new ad and related collateral will be created for each of the two campaigns.

QUESTION 30. Travel costs will be extremely difficult to estimate for five years given current uncertain conditions. Can you provide a preliminary framework on which we can base our estimate?

RESPONSE: The conversion from a cost-plus-fixed-fee to a time-and-materials has alleviated this concern.

QUESTION 31: Will there be any preferences for small business participation?

RESPONSE: Refer Section I of the RFP, specifically Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses 52.219-4 “Notice of Price Evaluation for HUBZone Small Business Concerns (JUL 2005)”; 52.219-8 “Utilization of Small Business Concerns (MAY 2004)”; 52-219-9 “Small Business Subcontracting Plan (SEP 2007)”; 52-219-16 “Liquidated Damages—Subcontracting Plan (JAN 1999)”; and 52-219-23 “Notice of Price Evaluation Adjustment for Small Disadvantaged Business Concerns (SEP 2005).”