Survey Based Research Platform and Platform Mgmt Tool SAM RFI.doc

36C10B27Q0046

Request for Information for

Software as a Service Survey-Based Research Platform And Platform Management Tool Introduction:

This is a Request for Information (RFI) 36C10B27Q0046 only issued for conducting market research. Accordingly, this RFI constitutes neither a Request for Quote (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP), nor a guarantee that one will be issued by the Government in the future; furthermore, it does not commit the Government to contract for any services described herein. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not, at this time, seeking proposals or quotes, and therefore, will not accept, review, or evaluate unsolicited proposals or quotes received in response hereto. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted because of this request. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred for responses to this RFI. The information provided may be used by VA in developing its acquisition strategy and Performance Work Statement (PWS) or Product Description (PD). Any information submitted by respondents to this RFI is strictly voluntary; however, any information received shall become the property of the Government and will not be returned to the respondent. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted, or competition sensitive information contained in their response. This is a request for information and does not obligate the Government in any way, nor does it commit the Government to any specific course of action. Product information, brochures, part numbers, and/or other description information may be included with the submission.

Requirement:

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Acquisition Academy (VAAA) has a requirement for a Software as a Service (SaaS) survey-based research platform and platform management tool to enable VAAA to easily and securely collect responses to a competency survey the Academy is piloting as part of acquisition human capital planning efforts. The required SaaS survey-based-research platform and platform management tool shall include software subscriptions, maintenance, and support.

The Contractor shall provide required SaaS Survey-Based-Research Platform and Platform Management tool as listed in table below. The period of performance is a base period of 12-months and four (4) 12-month option periods.

Please provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for your product as is needed to meet the salient characteristics listed in the System Capability below.

System Capability Requirements:

All data shall be encrypted at all times both at rest and in transmission using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a key length of 256 bits. Data shall be enciphered with a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic library. All files shall be encrypted with a unique cryptographic key.

The platform shall be completely online, support all major web browsers, and require no downloads or installations.

The data collected in other languages should be compiled into the same data set as all other survey response data.

Surveys should be able to easily comply with Section 508 standards for electronic and information technology.

Surveys should be natively responsive and/or adaptive to mobile devices.

The platform should allow surveys to be imported through a file.

The platform should offer interactive question types for increased responses.

The platform should support multiple choice question types that allow for both single answer and multiple answer options.

The platform should support matrix table question types with options for single answer, multiple answer, text entry, dropdown, profile, constant sum, rank order, and MaxDiff.

The platform should support text entry question types

The platform should offer a global resource library of surveys, questions, and images that can be used for survey creation. The platform should also allow company users to save and reuse their own created surveys.

Rank order question types should allow respondents to categorize the items they are ranking.

The platform should support drill down question types

The platform should support side-by-side question types that allow multiple questions to be presented as one.

The platform should offer a Net Promoter Score question type out of the box.

The platform should support the ability for respondents to upload files into the survey.

The platform should support capturing metadata about the respondent's browser and machine.

The platform should allow for labels to be added above scale points for easy referencing.

The platform should offer a built-in rich text editor for formatting questions, choices, headers and footers.

The platform should allow text to be formatted with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The platform should offer dynamic text and personalization capabilities within the survey.

The platform should offer dynamic text and personalization capabilities within the survey.

The platform should allow for images, videos, and other multimedia to be inserted into both answer choices and survey questions.

The platform should offer custom branded themes or survey templates that can be applied to any and all surveys.

The platform should allow survey themes to be modified using custom CSS or linking to an external CSS file.

The survey themes provided by the platform should be mobile responsive.

The platform should offer a progress bar to indicate the respondent progress in the survey.

Survey questions should be able to be made mandatory for the respondent to answer.

Survey should be able to offer prompts to the respondent to answer seen but unanswered questions without requiring a response.

The platform should support content validation on text fields for character ranges, email addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, dates, numerical values, and non-numerical values.

The platform should handle complex boolean logic with both AND if and OR if statements.

The platform should handle true randomization, balanced randomization, and subset randomization.

The platform should support A/B and multivariate testing.

The platform should be able to base quotas on survey questions, meta information, or other quotas.

The platform should be able to schedule quotas to start, restart, and end on specified dates.

The platform should be able to send email digests on a recurring basis and include a summary of each individual response since the last email digest.

The platform should be able to recode seen, but unanswered, questions for better analysis.

The platform should automatically show respondent scores and grades after every survey question or at the end of the survey.

The platform should track the total response time for each respondent.

Does your platform allow us to control how long a respondent stays on a page?

The platform should be able to capture the meta information about the respondent (e.g. Browser, Operating System, Screen Resolution, etc.).

The platform should be able to capture the language in which the respondent took the survey.

The platform should keep a history of survey versions during the build process.

The platform should handle real-time changes and updates to surveys.

The survey should allow respondents to save their progress and finish the survey where they left off at a later time.

The surveys should be able to prevent respondents from completing the survey multiple times.

Surveys should be able to direct respondents to different end of survey messages.

The platform should offer a built-in table of contents for surveys that allows respondents to jump to different sections of the survey.

The platform should provide a built-in spell check feature for designing a survey.

The platform should support anonymous surveys that do not collect personal information.

The platform should be able to set survey open and close on specific dates and times.

The platform should provide a built-in mailer for sending surveys via email invitation.

The platform should allow surveys to be distributed from the client's servers.

The platform should assign a unique link to each individual to whom the survey is sent and associates their personal information with their survey response.

The platform should be able to customize email messages with recipient names and personal information.

The platform should be able to brand and format email messages using a built-in rich text editor or with HTML.

The platform should enable us to translate email messages and subject lines into multiple languages, including double-byte and right-to-left languages.

The platform should automatically include an opt-out link in all outbound invitations to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

The platform should automatically provide a message health score to indicate the probability of your message being flagged as spam.

The platform should provide panel management capabilities.

The platform should have the ability to set interaction frequency rules such as limits to the number of survey invitations and/or emails any one respondent can receive within a specified period of time.

The platform should provide a history of email invitations and reminder messages.

The platform should provide an option for respondents to retake surveys with their previous responses pre-populated.

The platform should display information on the number of emails sent, emails failed, emails bounced, surveys started, and surveys completed.

The platform should allow in-line question response.

The platform offers several different types of web intercepts, including a pop over, slider, banner, pop under, embedded survey, and persistent feedback button.

The platform should support the ability to embed a survey into a web page.

The design of the intercepts should be done in a point-and-click, drag-and-drop interface that requires no programming or coding.

Intercepts should be automatically deactivated when the survey quotas have been met.

The platform should allow visitors to be targeted based on a variety of items, including device type, URL contents, session history, referrer information, page count and time on site, and their arrival time (e.g. day, date, and time of day). The platform should also allow visitors to be targeted based on Adobe and Google Analytics.

The platform should support surveys taken through Short Message Services (SMS).

The platform should provide a mobile application for surveys to be collected offline on a mobile device with no internet connectivity.

The platform should integrate with social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.) for easy survey distribution.

The platform should automatically generate a QR code for all surveys.

The vendor should provide survey respondents through a panel service.

The platform should offer an API call for sending automated distribution.

Survey data should be downloaded in the following formats: a .csv file format for compatibility with Excel, Access, and similar programs; .tsv file format; .sav file format for SPSS compatability; fixed-field-length format (.txt); JSON; XML; HTML

Data pulled from other surveys or sources should be imported into the platform

The platform should allow surveys, messages, and libraries to be collaborated or shared with other users.

Collaborated content should be edited by multiple users simultaneously.

Platform must be able to reach respondents through a variety of mediums including web, mobile, and social.

Responses:

Please submit a capability statement describing your company’s ability to meet the overall requirement described and responses to the questions below. The capability statement shall be limited to 10 pages. Responses to this RFI shall be submitted via email amber.quivers-davis@va.gov and joseph.jones6@va.gov no later than 2:00 PM EST on October 20, 2026.

1) Provide a brief summary of your technical approach for meeting the requirements for SaaS – Survey Based Research Platform specific to the following:

2) Has the above System Capability Requirements section provided sufficient detail to describe the technical and functional requirements that encompass the desired solution?

______ YES

______ NO

a. If “NO”, please provide your technical and functional comments/recommendations on elements of the requirements that may contribute to a more accurate quote submission and efficient, cost-effective solution.

3) Are there any specifications that you believe are unachievable by industry? If so, please state why.

4) What additional information would be needed to provide a firm fixed price quote for each item/task?

5) Include the following identification information:

a. Name of Company

b. Address

c. Point of Contact

d. Phone Number

e. Fax Number

f. Email address

g. CAGE/Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number

h. Company Business Size and Status for North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

i. VA anticipates that this effort would fall within NAICS Code 541519, Other Computer Related Services, which has a size standard of 150 employees. If you believe there is a more appropriate NAICS code, please provide that to the Government with your rationale.

j. Any Schedules held on General Services Administration (GSA), Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) held on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, or any other schedule not mentioned above to assist in determining acquisition strategy if you are included in one or more. Please also include Contract Number, expiration date, etc.

k. Socioeconomic data: If you are a small business, what type of small business are you? Are you able to comply with FAR 52.219-6 and 52.219-14 in execution of this effort? Are you able to comply with 852.219‑73 – VA Notice of Total Set‑Aside for Verified Service‑Disabled Veteran‑Owned Small Businesses and with subcontracting limitations in 13 CFR 125.6 in execution of this effort?

6) Is your company currently providing similar services to any Government agency or other non-government customers? If so, please identify the agency or non-government customer. If you are unwilling to share your customers' identity, please address whether your company offers the same or similar services, commercially (outside the federal government).

Post RFI Phase

VA envisions that once RFI responses are reviewed, select responders may be invited to provide a face-to-face or telephonic briefing and/or demonstration to VA personnel to answer additional questions with respect to the response given. VA retains sole discretion of whether any post RFI briefings and/or demonstrations are warranted, and which industry partners may be invited to provide additional market research information.

OFFERORS ARE ADVISED THAT THIS REQUIREMENT MAY BE DELAYED, CANCELED, OR REVISED AT ANY TIME.