The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth below: Add the following sentence to the cover letter of the RFP: THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO MAKE AWARD WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS and include questions asked by offerors and responses provided by the government. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram, letter or e-mail, provided each telegram, letter or e-mail makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.
Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the RFP document NIH-NIAID-DAIDS 99-22 remain unchanged and in full force and effect.
The hour and date specified for receipt of offers is NOT extended.
Offerors must acknowledge receipt of Amendment #2, by the following method:
By acknowledging receipt of the amendment on each copy of the offer submitted.
Failure to receive your acknowledgment of this amendment may result in the rejection of your offer.
PURPOSE: To amend the RFP by adding the following sentence to the cover letter:
THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO MAKE AWARD WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS
and the following questions asked by offerors and responses provided by the Government.
On Page 2 of Ms. Brenda Velez’s letter of introduction to the subject Request for Proposal (RFP), she states that the Scientific Review Program is to receive fifteen (15) copies of the offeror’s Technical Proposal at an address listed in ATTACHMENT D. However, on Pages 25 and 26 in Item No. 5. , PACKAGING AND DELIVERY OF THE PROPOSAL/NUMBER OF COPIES/COPIES TO, there is no mention of fifteen (15) copies of the Technical Proposal being required, the Scientific Review Program, nor an address for it.
Response:Please submit all originals and copies as requested in Ms. Velez's letter to the Contracts Management Branch, address listed in Attachment D. The Scientific Review Program 's proposals should be packaged separately from the Contract Management Branch's.
From ATTACHMENT C: TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA: Section B. Personnel: Page 18, Item No. 2. , Other Staff. Is the listing of senior and mid-level professional staff in this section to be interpreted as an expansion of the listing that appears in ATTACHMENT D: SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS AND PROVISIONS: Page 24, Item No. 2. , ESTIMATE OF EFFORT?
Response:The estimate of effort in Attachment D is not considered restrictive for proposal purposes. The Evaluation Criteria in Attachment C regarding Personnel is specific for proposal purposes and award will be based on these evaluation criteria.
In compliance with the requirement for fair and open competition, is it possible for bidders to review the publications and materials developed by the previous/incumbent contractor? Can a reading room be made available at NIH for the referenced review?
Response:NIAID would like the offeror to be creative and provide their best attempt at producing a product. An example of the archive of MACS' yearly publication can be accessed at: http://www.statepi.sph.jhu.edu/macs/macs.html (select MACS under Current Projects then select MACS Archives). The information provided on the public webpage listed above is sufficient to provide the offeror the information to respond to the solicitation.
What was the amount of the previous contract award?
Response: The total amount of the current contract is $2,552,733 for five years. The Work Statement for RFP DAIDS 99-22 is not the same as the current contract, however,
What was the amount of direct costs associated with the previous contract?
Response: This information is not releasable.
Who will be the sponsoring entity for Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits?
Response:Most of our meetings do not require CME credit but in the event that a meeting may, the contractor should be able to design the credit form, collect the information and send out the certificate. And in some cases only collecting the information may be necessary. Please see Note #6 in the Work Statement.
With regard to Task I, ("Provide Scientific Meeting and Conference Support"), who will be responsible for the arrangement and payment of conference participant travel expenses (airfares, per diem, ground, etc.)? If the answer is the "Contractor", please provide an estimate of how many of the 40 to 200 projected participants will need said services and support.
Response:Currently, our investigators use their own budgets to support travel but in the event that Program may need to support quest speakers, the contractor will be responsible for airfares, per diem, ground, etc. For proposal purposes assume 12 people at 2 meeting(s)/year needing such support.
With respect to Task III, ("Provide Archives of Publications and Abstracts"), will a specific task be issued to cover the costs associated with acquiring publications and accessing data base services for literature searches, etc.? How has this function been managed previously?
Response:90 to 95% of the publications will be provided to the contractor. In the past, NIAID manufactured the Publication Notebooks and the contractor produced the author index and shipped the notebooks to participants. Please assume for budgetary purposes the contractor shall do all aspects of the notebook production.
For bid purposes, are you going to provide a "type" meeting with x participants, x days, at x location, etc., so that each bidder is providing comparable costs or should we assume a type/size meeting?
Response:In the Work Statement, Note 4 to the Offerors provides information on scientific meeting support. Because of the variability that has occurred historically on meetings, the ranges were given in Note 4. No specific "type" of meeting is really applicable. However, for proposal purposes only, assume $200,000 total costs for the five years of the contract for scientific meetings and conferences.
The same information above is required for conference call parameters, specifically, number of persons involved, duration of call.
Response: Similarly, Task II in the Work Statement provides information on the conference calls. Again, because of the historical variability of the number of persons involved, and duration of calls, no other parameters can be provided. However, for proposal purposes only, assume $330,000 total cost for the five years of the contract.
Could you clarify the number of copies for the technical proposal? At one point you request 15 copies, then later in the proposal you only require 5 copies.
Response: The original and five (5) copies of your Technical Proposal are requested for the Contract Management Branch. Additionally, fifteen (15) copies of your Technical Proposal are requested in the RFP for the Scientific Review Program.
Do you have a list of questions that have been asked by other contractors that you are going to share with everyone?
Response:Please see the rest of this amendment for the list of questions and answers.
Are you going to provide a list of contractors that filed the "Proposal Intent Response Sheet"?
Response: No.
Has this contract been set-aside as an 8(a)?
Response: Yes, this procurement has been set-aside as an 8(a). Please see Amendment #1.
Page 26 of 31 states that the proposals are to be sent in split shipments to (2) locations, however, only one address is provided. Is there another address, or is this instruction referring to the requirement of providing separate packages for the Contracting Officer and the Scientific Review Program?
Response: Please see response #1 to this Amendment.
Please match the labor categories provided (pg. 25 of 31) with the defined roles as outlined in the evaluation criteria (pg. 18 of 31). Page 18 refers to a Meeting Planner Executive, Conference Call Coordinator, Data Coordinator, etc. but page 25 uses different labor categories.
Response: There is no requirement for matching the direct labor. (Please see the response #2 to this Amendment.
In note 10 on page 11, it is stated that the Offeror will be responsible for creating and distributing 25-30 publications/notebooks per year/cohort study. Approximately how many pages per notebook?
Response: The number of pages vary by publications per year by the study. For example, in 1996 72 articles were published; in 1997 47 articles were published; and in 1998 approximately 63 may be published. This number includes all the articles published for a particular year plus a bibliography and author index. For proposal purposes only assume 1 five inch binder per study of pages. For a sample of the publications, please see the MACS Website listed in Response to Question #3.
Is it expected that the printing and reproduction needs will fall within Government Printing Office (GPO) requirements? Was the GPO typically used for this contract is the past?
Response: Yes, it is expected that the printing and reproduction needs will fall within GPO requirements. The GPO was not used for this contract in the past.
The following questions all relate to Task III.A.
Are study specific publications referred to in the RFP original documents created by each study site?
Response: Yes, the study specific publications in the RFP are original documents created by each study site.
Is the contractor required to write abstracts for study specific publications?
Response: No, the contractor is not required to write abstracts for study specific publications.
The RFP states that abstracts, reprints and other appropriate documents for each study are to be kept in the database file. Does it mean that the database file will contain the full text of these documents? Can you provide an estimate of the average number of pages?
Response: The database will include full text and/or abstract, but it depends on Program's needs at the time. Full on line text provided by various scientific journals could be used to develop the database. As to the number of pages, please see Response to #17.
Does the current contractor already have a database established & needs to be maintained or does the new contractor need to create such a database? If so, what software is currently being used? Is it possible to see a sample record?
Response: The new contractor needs to create such a database. Consequently, the software question does not apply. Offerors are encouraged to make recommendations for software. Please visit the MACS public webpage to see the list of publications for developing a notebook. The response to #3 provides the website.
The following questions all refer to Task III. B.
How extensive are the literature searches? Are they general background searches related to the studies or are they topic specific searches based on specific requests from the study sites and management & analysis centers. Will the contractor conduct these searches periodically (every 8 weeks) or in response to specific requests from the study sites and management & analysis centers.
Response: The literature searches are not very extensive. The contractor will only be required to do literature searches on those articles not provided to the contractor. NIAID anticipates 5 to 10% will need literature searches. NIAID will provide nearly all the publications when possible. The literature searches will be study publication specific. These searches will be conducted only upon request.
Most online bibliographic databases provide abstracts of the publications indexed in their database. When a commercially available abstract is provided, can it be used for this project?
Response: Yes, commercially available abstracts can be used and full on line text which is provided by various scientific journals. The contractor is not expected to provide the abstract.
Do study sites have their own videoconferencing equipment? Is there a specific objective the Government is trying to achieve by conducting videoconferences (i.e. cost savings, more frequent meetings)? Is there an estimate how many videoconferences will be conducted in a year?
Response: Currently, a few sites have the capability. As the technology improves (i.e. computer conferences, video conferencing, etc.) this may be the wave of the future and subject to changes. The newer technology may serve as a cost saving measure instead of large expensive site meetings. When the technology is available, 1 to 2 meetings a year could be conducted this way.
Sincerely,
/s/
Carl R. Henn
Contracting Officer
Contracts Management Branch
National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, NIH
