Amendment0004QuestionsandAnswers(Q A's)ArtsFestivalSurveypdf.pdf

Questions and Answers (Q & A) RFP 08-04 Conducting a Study of Outdoor Festivals in the United States

Q1: Regarding the cover page - i.e SF30 or SF1449 for the solicitation. Per FAR52.212-1, I do not see one, are you going to provide one or should we do a contractor developed cover?

A1: SF30’s were issued as an amendment of solicitation. All the revisions in the Amendments supersede the previous solicitation issued. Offerors must acknowledge receipt of amendments. In accordance with FAR 52.212-1 (b) Submission of Offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation.

Offers may be submitted on letterhead stationery.

Q2: On the Reimbursable Travel Costs shown in Section F - are those to be figured after award or figured before and included in the section F as well as B?

A2: Travel costs should be figured in before the award and should be included in the budgets submitted by applicants.

Q3: Can you clarify the meaning and the scope of what will be involved in the following task element - "the study cohort will include any model of sponsorship including non profit and for profit organizations"? Will there be established guidelines for the definition of an "arts festival" for the conduct of this evaluation.

A3: The phrase “the study cohort will include any model of sponsorship including nonprofit and for profit organizations” simply means that we will be considering all types of festival organizations and are not limiting the study to nonprofit festival organizers.

The RFP outlines the definition for “arts festival” being used for the study.

Q4: Per the schedule, the survey task (C.3.6) is to be completed within 10 months of the start of the contract. Given the tight timing, the expediency of OMB clearance (6 months at minimum) takes on critical importance. Can you clarify whether this will be a new OMB clearance (as opposed to part of an Omnibus clearance that NEA may have currently in existence) and the extent to which the contractor is expected to assist in the development and delivery of an OMB package?

A4: This will be a new OMB clearance package and we expect to work closely with the contractor in developing the language for the package. If OMB clearance is delayed significantly, we will push back the delivery date of task C.3.6.

Q5: In the pilot test, section c.3.3, you mention that "sponsor approval has been obtained" for 10 festivals to participate in pilot testing the survey. For the full survey of festival organizers, will there be a need for sponsor approval before a festival participates? Furthermore, the Paperwork Reduction Act requires that OMB Clearance be completed before any federally-sponsored data collection with more than 9 entities (e.g., subjects) takes place. Are we to assume that the pilot test will be conducted with 9 of these 10 festivals?

A5: Sponsor approval will not be needed for festival organizers participating in the full survey. The survey instruments will be piloted with the maximum number of subjects allowed before OMB clearance is required (i.e. 9 entities).

Q6: With respect to Section c.3.4.a and b., detailing the development of the mailing list for the survey, can we have some clarification on what the contractor will be receiving with respect to the lists (i.e., electronic or paper files, et al) and the level of effort expected for the list development? Do the address lists that will be supplied by the NEA include the email addresses and telephone numbers?

A6: The contractor will receive electronic versions of the mailing lists. The quality of the lists varies, and the email addresses and telephone numbers are not available for all festival organizers.

Q7: For Section c.3.8., can you clarify what is meant by "a representative sample of audience members" for the on-site survey (as sampling is not normally a part of on-the-spot recruitment as anticipated here). Can you also provide some more information as to whether, and to what extent, the survey, focus groups, and key informant interviews at the site visit will address different areas of interest to the

NEA?

A7: As much as possible, individuals should be picked at random for participation in the audience survey; however, the sampling may not be a true representative random sample.

Please see the addendum for topic questions to be addressed by the case studies. The NEA has not determined which questions/topics should be addressed by which instrument and will rely on the contractor to assist in this process.