Interconnected Factors that Influence Health, Experiences and Needs (IF THEN) Survey of 10, 000 vets

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

PAGE

OF PAGES

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

BPA NO.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

CODE

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the

offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR

ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY

is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV. 11/2016)

is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not,

A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made

by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received

prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

BY

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

(Type or print)

(Type or print)

(Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code)

(If other than Item 6)

(Specify type of modification and authority)

(such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

(Signature of Contracting Officer)



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NONE

00240E

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Health Administration

Service Area Office (SAO) East

323 North Shore Drive, Suite 500

Pittsburgh PA 15212-5319





00240E

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Health Administration

Service Area Office (SAO) East

323 North Shore Drive, Suite 500

Pittsburgh PA 15212-5319

To all Offerors/Bidders























36C24E18Q0013











X







x

1

































x

-1-

The purpose of this modification is to answer questions which were submitted in response to the solicitation. See

attached.





















Elaine DiBucci

Contracting Officer













Can the solicitation be extended?

At this time, an extension is not anticipated.

Will the VA cover the costs of obtaining an ATO as an ODC, such as servers or software licenses, or should that be built into our price?

These costs should be included in your price.

Will the VA cover the costs of printing and mailing the survey packets and postcards, as well as the opt-out number, as an ODC, or should that be built into our price?

These costs should be included in your price.

Does the reference to a 25 page limit refer just to the narrative, or to the narrative, cost proposal, and other required forms? Are the SF 1449, cover page, table of contents, resumes, and past performance information, included in the page count? Does the government desire staff resumes and if so do they count against the page limit?

Your proposal submission is limited to 25 pages including all forms and documents needed to support your submission.

Is there an incumbent for this project? If yes, can you provide the name?

This is a new project.

Have the survey questions been created and approved or is the vendor responsible for creating the survey questions and designing the survey instrument? What guidance is being given for the development of the survey questions? Please provide information about what has been done to develop the survey thus far, and what will be the responsibility of the contractor under this task

The survey has been developed and approved, so the vendor is not responsible for creating the survey. The contractor s responsibility is to format, print and administer the developed survey and to conduct data entry of survey responses for analysis.

Would an environment that meets the FIPS 140-2 encryption requirements satisfy the FISMA 140-2 High compliant requirement? A.5., page 5, A.5.14, page 6, A.9, page 7

No, FIPS 140-2 is not equivalent to FISMA High. We refer you to VA handbook 6500.

Please provide justification for a FISMA High designation. We have done work at the VA similar to this and have only ever been required to obtain FISMA Medium designation.

A FISMA Medium may be sufficient, but final determination will be made upon review of submitted bids.

Will the opted out sample members be replaced with additional sample? What is the anticipated number of opt-out telephone calls? A.5.4, page 5 Sample members that opt out will not be replaced, unless the opt out rate is much higher than expected.

Would an 800-number with an IVR system be acceptable for handling inbound opt-outs to the survey? Yes.

Is the postcard black print on colored cardstock or color print on white cardstock? A.5.5, page 5

The postcard color and printing choices are negotiable.

What response rates should be used for estimating purposes for the first and second survey mailings? A.5.7 and 5.9, page 6

The response rates achieved in the bidder s most recent mailed surveys should be used. If the bidder has experience surveying Veterans and/or individuals with serious medical/mental health conditions, these response rates should be included.

Other than the date of completion, are there any write-in comments or other-specifies on the survey? If so, what is the expected rate of completion? A.5.8, page 6

No.

Are there any other incentive stamp requirements other than Forever military theme? A.5.8, page 6

Given that Veterans are the survey respondents, it is acceptable to use stamps with a military or patriotic theme.

Would we be able to get more details on the actual questionnaire?

Specifically, how many total questions? ~130

How many open ends? None other than the date of survey completion.

Any other additional information about the survey itself would be helpful in determining effort required. We believe that the survey can be formatted for printing to be no more than 6 double-sides pages (12 sides total).

Will we get a list of veterans to mail to all at once, or will lists be provided periodically through the year? This can be negotiated to be provided as a single list all at once or as a list provided in staggered segments if the mailing will be done in waves over multiple weeks.

Would weekly meetings be held via phone? Weekly meetings by phone is expected.

Can you please clarify the 4x forever stamps as an incentive? Are they to cover the cost of mailing the survey back, or are they intended to be kept by the Veterans? The 4 forever stamps will be provided in the initial mailing to all Veterans as an incentive. They are intended to be kept by Veterans, not to be used to mail back the completed survey.

Will the VA be providing the contact information and profiles of the nationally representative Veterans that are to be contacted for this effort, or will the offeror be expected to identify them? Yes, the VA will be providing all contact information needed to administer the mail survey.

Is the goal of the effort to receive 10,000 responses, or just to send 10,000 survey packets? For example, if 50% of the initial sample opts out, would the VA attempt to identify another 5,000 participants, or just send 5,000 packets?

The goal is to send 10,000 survey packets. Patients who opt out will not be replaced unless the opt out rate is higher than expected.

What is the response format of survey questions?

Multiple choice. It is negotiable whether scannable or non-scannable forms to be used.

Are the 6-8 pages of the survey packets 6-8 separate sheets of paper or 3-4 sheets printed double-sided?

We believe that the survey can be formatted for printing to be no more than 6 double-sides pages (12 sides total).

Will the responses be sent to a VA facility or the offeror s facility?

The responses will be sent to the offeror s facility for data entry. At the completion of data entry on all respondents, completed surveys will be returned to the VA facility.

What are the physical security requirements for the responses?

The physical surveys must be housed in a secure environment (i.e., locked cabinet, locked door).

What pieces of information outside of the EHR is the VA trying to obtain?

A variety of short questionnaires about health and current functioning.

Are survey management systems and data management systems the same or different systems?

Survey management system refers to the tracking database, data management system refers to the data sets that will be created via entry of survey responses.

There does not seem to be a task or associated deliverables for the actual collection of data in the specific mandatory tasks though the activity is referenced in the Scope of Work section. Please clarify. Specific Mandatory Tasks and Associated Deliverables (SOW Section C.)

It is expected that the offeror will receive returned surveys in order to enter data from the returned surveys for the purpose of analysis. The offeror will return the entered data in electronic format to the VA facility for analysis.

Will the contractor be responsible for printing all survey- related materials (the post cards, survey cover letter, survey booklets, etc) or will the government be responsible for providing these materials? Yes, the contractor will be responsible for printing all survey-related materials.

Please clarify if this task requires the transfer of completed surveys or surveys what are returned as undeliverable, or both. Section A., Scope of Work, 5.15 5/76

This task requires transfer of completed surveys and surveys that are returned as undeliverable.

Please confirm that the VA will provide the sample of 10,000 veterans to be surveyed. How will that information be delivered to the contractor? SOW Section A. Scope of Work, 5.5 5/76

Yes, the VA will provide contact information on the 10,000 Veterans needed to administer the mail survey. Information will be delivered to the contractor in a secure electronic manner.

Please confirm that complete addresses will be provided for all veterans and that no tracing of veterans will be required for this contract if mailings are returned undeliverable. SOW Section A. Scope of Work, 5.5, 5/76

Addresses will be provided. No tracing is required. If the contractor chooses to include tracing of Veterans, that is allowable.

Are there data analysis requirements for the collected information? SOW Section A. Scope of Work, 5.13, 5/76

No.

What is the timeline between submission of wave 1 and wave 2? SOW Section A., Scope of Work, 5.13, 5/76

To be negotiated with the contractor.

Is the intent of the survey management system to focus solely on the mailings or more broadly used for end to end management of the project?

The contractor should use their discretion about survey management for the purposes only of the mailing or more broadly for end to end project management.

On page 7 of the SOW, (Task 1: Personnel), the government states that personnel working on the contract should have experience in areas including research involving sampling design . Will the vendor be developing a sampling plan, or conducting sampling or weighting the data? The SOW reads as though the VA will simply provide the list of sampled persons, which would suggest no sampling would be conducted by the vendor.

The VA will simply provide a list of sampled persons. Sample design and weighting will be conducted by VA directly.

Does the vendor need to have an existing ATO with VA and be capable of hosting a FISMA-high project at time of award, or can these credentials be obtained at some point after award?

An existing ATO or temporary ATO will be given preference.

The design calls for all 10,000 sampled Veterans to receive an invitation/opt-out postcard prior to the survey. Since the number of Veterans who opt-out has bearing on the number of survey booklets that will be mailed, can VA give an estimate as to how many Veterans it expects to opt-out?

We do not have an estimate, but expect the opt out rate to be low.