Vendor Q and A Enhanced Weather Forecasting Services B-36429 Addendum 1.docx

Enhanced Weather Forecasting Services B-36429

Addendum # 1 Response to Vendor Questions

· Addendum # 1 is to answer all vendor questions submitted.

· The vendor questions listed below specifically pertain to the solicitation document.

· Vendor Question 1 IFB Doc: Is there a pre-submission conference?

· Answer Question 1 IFB Doc: No, there is not a pre-submission confernence

· Vendor Question 2 IFB Doc: Premium Service- Is this an add-on cost? For example, does each district choose basic or premium? Or can a district add premium on top of their basic?

· Answer Question 2 IFB Doc: Each option would be stand alone. A district could have just one or both at the same time. Premium is not an add on cost to the base line standard as the premium prices would be used when only the premium service is desired. The Department will determine which service or service selections each district will have based on the desired functionality.

· Vendor Question 3 IFB Doc: In your pricesheet, what do you mean by total loaded cost per month? Should it read "service option A and B" to include max services?

· Answer Question 3 IFB Doc: No, or is correct. The total loaded cost is not necessarily equal to the max cost of the contract. The max cost of the contract will consider additonal options not included in the loaded cost. The loaded cost is used to determine cost for a service and a video option that includes the higher option of each. It takes into account that two services may not be available or used concurrently and the cost of the higher use video option.

· Vendor Question 4 IFB Doc: In the price sheet, for Bi-weekly videos. Is the request for videos 2x per week or every other week?

· Answer Question 4 IFB Doc: The request is for 2x per week.

· Vendor Question 5 IFB Doc: How many and what type of mobile RWIS data are desired to be shown on a mapping layer?

· Answer Question 5 IFB Doc: 12 mobile RWIS units. Data elements - location data, road condition, road temp, ambient temp, water film height, dew point temp, relative humidity, ice percentage, friction

· Vendor Question 6 IFB Doc: Does the type or number of training sessions vary by district, depending on whether Baseline or Premium weather forecasting service is selected?

· Answer Question 6 IFB Doc: No, training will be provided on a statewide basis with up to two training of each utilized service per year. If training is conducted online, a recording of the training would be desired.

· Vendor Question 7 IFB Doc: Can you expand on what RWIS locations alerts are?

· Answer Question 7 IFB Doc: This RWIS location alerts are intended for monitoring the health of our RWIS network. Desired alerts would indicate when element parameters are in error, out of an acceptable range, or when data gaps exist and information on which sensor has an issue. The purpose of the alert is to create awareness of possible RWIS issues. It is desired that the alerts would include a weekly summary report communicated via email. The summary report would include statistics such as number of errors, type of error, and down time for each RWIS location. An alert would be beyond just viewing a current data page of RWIS data and would include automatic outreach such as email or text notificaitons.

· Vendor Question 8 IFB Doc: Should this read "All Districts (D1-D9)"?

· Answer Question 8 IFB Doc: That is correct. The wording should read "All Districts (D1-D9)

· Vendor Question 9 IFB Doc: Are all requirements which make up the premium services in this IFP labeled with the word "desired" in other sections?

· Answer Question 9 IFB Doc: That is correct. If there are multiple service options available then the baseline shall have all the required parameters and any desired requests deemed included in the baseline pricing. If there is a higer level service beyond the requirements and with additoinal features that would necissitate a higher cost then this product would be referred to as a premium service. The Department will use at least the baseline servcie for each district. Depending on the premium service, the Department may choose to use the premium service instead of or concurrent with the baseline service on a district by district basis. (Monthly charges for a given district could be for baseline service only, premium service only, or both baseline and premium service.) The use of concurrent services will depend on the amount of overlap between services.

· Vendor Question 10 IFB Doc: How should one-time configuration charges be represented on the price sheet for the premium weather service?

· Answer Question 10 IFB Doc: The charge should be all inclusive in the monthly fee.

· Vendor Question 11 IFB Doc: How many simultaneous users for the premium service?

· Answer Question 11 IFB Doc: 20 users per active district + 10 additional users for CBO/as needed use. For example, if only D2 was utilizing the premium option = 20 + 10 = 30 total users. If D2 and D5 were both utilizing the premium option = 20 + 20 + 10 = 50 total users.

· Vendor Question 12 IFB Doc: What layers and usage levels does ILDOT desire?

· Answer Question 12 IFB Doc: The potential use of the GIS layers is optional based on what may be available, need, and cost. The information is being considered for inclusion in the GPS/AVL solution. Layers of interest are radar/storm tracking, prediction modeling/accumulation summary, and weather alerts.

· Vendor Question 13 IFB Doc: An advanced MDSS system can provide a forecast and treatment recommendations for a route. If ILDOT decides to chose the premium service with route forecasts, how many routes would be desired for each district?

· Answer Question 13 IFB Doc: 20 routes.