RFP 24-09 - Amendment No. 2.pdf

STATE OF WASHINGTON

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY DIVISION

RFP 24-09

WASHINGTON STATE PUBLIC LIBRARIES SURVEY COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

AMENDMENT NO. 2

(July 22, 2024)

SUMMARY

This Amendment No. 2 to RFP 24-09: (1) amends the CONTRACTOR ELIGIBILITY clause on the first page of the solicitation and (2) compiles all the questions received from vendors during the Preproposal Conference on July 15, 2024, and provides OSOS official answers to each of the vendors’ questions.

CONTRACTOR ELIGIBILITY

The first sentence of the CONTRACTOR ELIGIBILITY clause on the first page of the solicitation is hereby superseded and replaced in its entirety by the following:

The contract that would result from this solicitation has an initial estimated value less than $150,000.

Per RCW 39.26 and Enterprise Services Policy No. POL-DES-090-06 Section C.4, OSOS intends to award the contract to the highest-ranked responsive and responsible small business (as defined in RCW 39.26.010(22)(a) or veteran-owned business, unless there was no responsive and responsible proposal from a small or veteran-owned business.

LIST OF QUESTIONS & ANSWERS FROM PREPROPOSAL CONFERENCE

Q1: Is there is any additional information or clarification you'd like to provide beyond what's included in the RFP document?

A1: No. All information required for this RFP will be posted on Washington’s Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) or on the Washington Secretary of State’s Current Procurements webpage (https://www.sos.wa.gov/current-procurements).

https://www.sos.wa.gov/current-procurements

Q2: How long do vendors have to submit questions about this RFP?

A2: Questions may be submitted to the RFP Coordinator, Kathleen Sullivan, kathleen.sullivan@sos.wa.gov, or 360-570-5577, through August 5, 2024.

Q3: Can you confirm the deadline for submitting proposals?

A3: The deadline for proposals is 4 p.m. Pacific time, August 29, 2024. The original deadline of August 22, 2024 was moved back to allow vendors adequate time to access Exhibit attachments, which were at first not accessible due to technical problems.

Q4: Can we get the recording of the July 15, 2024 preproposal conference?

A4: We don’t make a conference recording available. This document covers all questions and issues discussed at the conference, as well as those received by email or telephone.

Q5: We can’t access the RFP’s Exhibit B & C attachments.

A5: These attachments are now posted in the WEBS listing for the RFP, as well as on the Washington Secretary of State’s Current Procurements webpage. (The attachments did not download properly at first, when the RFP was posted on July 8).

Q6: How do I find this RFP listing in WEBS? Searching “RFP 24-09” doesn’t yield clear results.

A6: Once you are logged into WEBS, click Search for Solicitations from the lefthand menu. From the Search for Solicitations page, select Organization name: Secretary of State, Office of;

Solicitation Status: Posted; and Solicitation Type: RFP. Click Search. You should see a result for Washington State Public Libraries Survey Collection Instrument (RFP 24-09). Click the title to be taken to the full listing and information.

Q7: I’m having trouble with WEBS – getting registered, setting up email notifications, searching content, etc.

A7: Please review resources and contact information on WEBS’ Contact Us page. This includes a User Guide for vendors, an email (WEBSCustomerService@des.wa.gov) and a form for contacting WEBS technical support.

Q8: How does Washington state’s new supplier diversity initiative affect evaluation of proposals?

A8: Please see modifications to CONTRACTOR ELIGIBILITY clause herein.

Q9: Can you describe the general process for the annual Public Libraries Survey?

A9: Please refer to the RFP, including 1.1 (Purpose and Background) and 1.2 (Objective). You may also visit the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ webpage about the survey.

Q10: Can you say more about the current structure of the State Library’s survey instrument – a particular off-the-shelf product, or custom built?

A10: The current instrument is a proprietary custom build.

Q11: What format is required to confirm that a vendor does not require its employees, as a condition of employment, to sign or agree to mandatory individual arbitration clauses or class or collective action waivers (Executive Order 18-03)?

A11: Please review appropriate section and include this information in the Contractor’s Certification document (Exhibit A-1), which is part of the proposal submission.

Q12: Exhibit A-1 in the RFP displays another RFP number and date. Should we use this, or wait for a corrected sample document?

A12: Please use this Exhibit A-1 format, and substitute the erroneous RFP number with the correct one (RFP 24-09) and original posting date (July 8, 2024).

Q13: The WEBS listing for this RFP shows an Estimated Initial Contract Value of $50,000. Does that amount include fees for hosting or backup?

A13: The estimate is meant to provide a ballpark figure for the initial one-year contractual period of performance. Vendor proposals should detail all costs, including fees for hosting or backup, for the initial contract year, and also separately for each of the potential four one-year renewal terms. Proposals are not limited to a not-to-exceed amount. Please see Section 3 of the RFP for more on proposal contents, including Cost Proposal.

Q14: The RFP has a Period of Performance beginning in early October, while describing a survey development process that normally begins around November 1 of each year. What accounts for the difference in dates?

A14: Work on each year’s survey generally starts in early November, but a contract should be in place before that work begins. The target for having a contract in place and starting the Period of Performance is October 7, 2024. This October date also allows extra time for migration of past survey content, if necessary.

Q15: What format is the past survey content in? What else can you tell us about factors that might affect the ease or difficulty of migrating the data?

A15: Each Washington public library system has records of its previous survey responses for the years 2000 through 2023. Each year’s survey is stored in a PDF format, showing questions, answers and annotations. The State Library also has each year’s full set of survey responses (from all public libraries), for the years 2000 through 2023. Each year’s survey is stored as a spreadsheet.

Q16: The RFP’s Section 3 says vendors should not submit “unsolicited material.” What would be an example of such material?

A16: We are just emphasizing that we only want material related to the request.

Q17: We are a Washington state minority-owned small business. Most of our employees are in Washington state, but some employees work remotely in other states, or in other countries. Any problems with using work from employees in other states or other countries?

A17: Any employee of the vendor, so long as the vendor is a WA small business as defined in RCW 39.26.010(22)(a), may participate in the contract work. Please provide information about the team and any subcontractors, as requested in the RFP.

Q18: Does this work require in-person meetings?

A18: No in-person meetings are required. Work can be done remotely.