Questions SMART Opp Day 170504.pdf

Q: Is an active duty individual eligible to apply?

A: Active duty must be transitioning out of active duty in order to be eligible to be awarded a

SMART scholarship. Veterans are eligible to apply for the SMART scholarship. National

Guard or Reserve duty may result in a leave of absence from the program.

Q: Is 5 years by degree?

A: Up to 5 years per scholarship award.

Q: Will the recipient develop and manage the application?

A: Recipient will be working closely with Government in the development and maintenance of the application portal and all other web enabled efforts. The Recipient will be hosting application and other efforts on their servers.

Q: What is your anticipated award date?

A: 31 October 2017.

Q: What is the Government perceiving as a reasonable transition plan?

A: Applications will outline a reasonable timeframe to which they can complete a successful transition of all aspects of the fundamental elements of the SMART Program. The Government will look for the applicant to use their knowledge and subject matter expertise in this area to provide an aggressive, yet feasible timeline to transition.

Q: Is it reasonable to expect the transition period to have no break in service?

A: Yes. The SMART Program can not experience a break in service during the transition period. This means that while the transition occurs, the application cycle, payments, and all other aspects of the SMART fundamental elements must continue to be administered.

Q: Who is the incumbent?

A: American Society for Engineering Education, Contract #: HQ0034-16-C-0008

Q: For how long would you expect the recipient to monitor the post service of the scholar?

A: The recipient is expected to monitor all scholars, to include those in Phase 3, for the entire period of performance.

Q: What information is unique that isn’t already in the databases? (Context: Application and award document generation)

A: The database currently has all necessary information needed to administer the program.

However, it is up to the applicant should they propose any new functionality, to identify any new information needed.

Q: Would this be developed behind the DoD network?

A: This will not be developed on the DoD network. This will be developed as a subsite on the current website, which is hosted by the recipient. However, the website must be accessible from the DoD network.

Q: You’re looking at recruiting and retention….how would you benchmark success? More applicants or more awardees?

A: Number of applications is a metric we have traditionally used. The budget determines number of awardees so that is not a viable metric. We are also looking for proposed new metrics to be used for assessing the success of the SMART program.

Q: Space limitations or page limits on applications?

A: This will be addressed in the FOA.

Q: Examples of credentials for evaluation factor

A: Personnel resumes and qualifications are some examples to support an individual’s credentials, but not the only ones which may be appropriate. This factor really speaks to the personnel the applicant will be proposing to complete the fundamental elements in the FOA.

Q: Any other industry days?

A: No, this is the only industry day. However, you do not have to have attended the industry day to apply to the FOA.

Q: Co-recipient or prime-sub relationship

A: There is no restriction on how the applicant will accomplish the effort needed to fulfill all of the tasks to complete the fundamental elements. If there are multiple organizations involved in this effort in one application, there needs to be a lead or prime and only one application should be submitted for that team of organizations. The management of the effort and different organizations should be thoroughly explained and will be assessed in the management evaluation factor.

Q: Is this a total rebuild of the program?

A: This is not a total rebuild of the SMART program. The recipient will be building upon the current program in close collaboration with the Government.

Q: Funding levels vs revenues for small businesses?

A: The estimated funding levels set forth in the FOA account for approximately 90% of the tuition and stipends to be provided to eligible SMART scholars, with the remaining 10% anticipated to be applied for program management costs.

Q: Domain and data GFE?

A: Yes, the smartscholarship.org domain and data are both government owned.