MODIFICATION
R -- Amendment 0002
- Notice Date
- 8/1/2005
- Notice Type
- Modification
- Contracting Office
- WASO-WCP Denver Contracting & Procurement P.O. Box 25287 MS WCP Denver CO 80225
- ZIP Code
- 80225-0287
- Solicitation Number
- A9560050009
- Response Due
- 8/16/2005
- Archive Date
- 8/1/2006
- Point of Contact
- Del McCann Contracting Officer 3039876738 Del_McCann@nps.gov;
- E-Mail Address
-
Point of Contact above, or if none listed, contact the IDEAS EC HELP DESK for assistance
(EC_helpdesk@NBC.GOV)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- Total Small Business
- Description
- Listed below are technical questions and answers that may help you in preparing your solicitation. The technical requirements are listed after the questions. To see the Lessons Learned marketing plan, please go to: ftp://ftp2.fs.fed.us/incoming/nartc/Lessons_Learned_Center/ (It is in the documents folder) Are there required programming and/or server technologies that are required? Windows based operating system. (See attached requirements). Can this be chosen by the contractor? No, this is already in place. What is the current platform (Windows or Linux) and what languages were used in developing the current website? Windows Microsoft.net language Where are the conferences and meetings typically held, and what is the typical (or expected) duration? Approximately two face to face meetings per year and monthly update conference calls. Face to face meetings will be all day meetings and monthly conference calls should be 2-3 hours in length. Is the travel and conference usually per diem or fixed price part of the contract? Travel and conference should be Government per diem rate for the location. This can be billed separately after completion of requested travel. Are we to create, present and/or staff a display for marketing at the conferences? No, the Wildland Lessons Learned Center display will be used. In Benchmark Research and Safety's work, did they do any budget projections? Yes, they did both budget and manpower projections as part of the proposal they submitted for the prototype work. Place of performance is stated as "Boise, ID," will all staff be located there? No. A portion? No. Can this work be performed from another location? Yes, the contractor can perform their work from a remote location. The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center staff is located in Tucson, AZ. The RFP is titled "Lessons Learned Website design and maintenance", though the tasks list doesn't specify many design-related tasks. In reviewing both sites, we have a number of design, user interface and user experience improvements we are interested in proposing -- we feel that there are a number of aspects of the sites that will be detrimental to their popularity as well as the amount of publicity and interest they receive. To what level is the NPS open to redesigning these web sites, reimplementing some of the dynamic features, and improving the overall structure and information architecture of these web sites? The Lessons Learned Center staff is open to improvement to the visual design and dynamic features of the site. The Web Site is centered around a knowledge management system culture for community of practices rather than on a architecture driven system. Is this RFP for Phase 2 only, or Phase 2 and beyond? The RFP is for all phases. What are the current technical requirements of the web sites -- e.g. what database(s) does it use, what middleware or web applications technologies does it employ (we noticed ASP is being used)? See Web site requirements attachment. Is the "Copernic Enterprise Search" software housed locally on the current server, and if so does the NPS own the license for it? Yes, the Copernics Enterprise Search is housed on the current server. No the NPS does not own a license, Copernics is free for up to 5,000 documents. With regards to these technologies, is the NPS open to augmenting or replacing them with equivalent or better technologies? Similarly, we infer from the use of ASP that these sites are likely hosted on a Windows platform. Technologies permitting, is the NPS flexible on the platform these sites are hosted on? Please see Web site requirements attachment. Would you be able to provide a synopsis of the overall mission and goals of the web sites? This is described in detail at: http://www.wildfirelessons.net/AboutLLC.aspx What sort of impact have these two sites had on the wildfire community to date? The Lessons Learned Center is three years old. The widlfirelessons.net site will be operational for three years in Sept. 05. The myfirecommunity.net has been operational for one year. The two sites combined receive an average of 500 visitors daily. What sort of traffic levels do these two sites currently see? 500 visitors per day (combined) With regards to the fire science editor, will this position be managed by the contracting firm or by the NPS? The fire science editor will be managed by the contractor. Will it fall under the budget of the contracting firm or the NPS? It should be in the contractor's budget. Are there requirements for it being contracted, part time or full time? The contracted position should be full-time if possible, part-time as an option. How much space do the two sites require on their respective servers? See web site requirement attachment. Please provide some details on the ways in which parts of wildfirelessons.net are generated from "the KMS database." Our understanding of the term KMS database is the Key Management Service in Windows, but to the best of our knowledge that doesn't provide any content generation services. KMS stands for Knowledge Management System. The MyFireCommunity database is on Sequel. To clarify, the hosting portion of this RFP requires purchase, configuration and hosting of a dedicated server? The contractor should include the monthly hosting costs in their proposal. The hosting fees include a service agreement with Empire Data Technologies. Is the NPS open to options regarding this as well? For example, we may recommend evaluation of the current traffic and processor loads on the server in order to ascertain whether a full, dedicated server is indeed necessary. Today's servers are quite powerful and capacitous, and can be overkill for any site that is not subject to very large traffic loads. This has already been analyzed and evaluated. First, I'm unclear as to whether you're looking for a redesign of these web sites or for additional functionality to be added to the existing sites. Our feeling is that we could make some significant improvements to the design, but I wanted to get a sense for what the NPS is open to within the scope of this RFP. The Lessons Learned Center is not looking for a redesign of the prototype website but is open to design and functionality improvements. One thing I noticed was that the "Place of Performance" was Boise, ID. Does this mean we would have to be on site? The work can be done from a remote location with the exception of two face to face meetings per year. These meetings can be billed separately from the proposal at completion of requested meeting, following Federal Per diem rates. Is it your intent to provide a new form SF 1449 to replace the cancelled SF 1449 under N9560050009? If not, can we assume based upon FAR 52.212-1(b) that the items 1 thru 11 can be provided either in our Response or in our cover letter? This is a combined Synopsis/Solicitation. There will be no new SF1449. Responses should include a separate package for pricing and another for the technical proposal. Also, where would you like the price (dollar amount & breakdown) submitted? Does that price breakdown go on SF 1449, or can we simply add it to our Response? It is not typically our experience to include the price in the Response, but rather cost bids are sealed in a separate envelope. Therefore, we are just verifying that our interpretation of the price submission procedure is accurate, and that including it in our Response is appropriate. Pricing should be separate if possible, making clear pricing proposals for each line item requested. Is there a particular format you would like us to use for our response; are there any forms you would like us to fill out? No particular format required. Is there a budget target or budget range for this project? Approximately $330,000 per year. Is there an incumbent contractor for this project or was the work on Phase 1 done internally? Benchmark Research and Safety, Moscow ID was awarded the Phase 1: Initial Pilot Project. Are you envisioning two full time positions: a fire science editor/analyst and a content developer/MFC website promoter/spokesperson Fire science editor/analyst would be preferred full time, other positions focused on the communities of practice/web site work can be part-time. Do you want these people to be government employees or our employees? Contract employees, and included as part of your proposal. Do you have determined GS levels or salary ranges for these positions? You are free to pay your staffing as you deem appropriate. No mandatory wage rates apply since these positions are professional in nature. Is attending 4-5 meetings in Great Basin and Southern region the scope of the marketing/promoting the website activities or would you like to see a plan for further promotion ideas? This is within the scope of the communication/marketing plan. Are there custom applications that are on the server that will need to be migrated? Not unless servers were changed. The Lessons Learned Center does not anticipate this happening in the near future. What 3rd party software needs to be supported or installed on the server? What 3rd party services are integrated into the site? What platform is the site currently hosted on? What type of database is being used for the website? What scripting languages are being used on the website? Will email hosting need to be included as well? See website requirements attachment. Is there a content management system in place? Yes, it is already in place in MyFireCommunity.net Who will have access to the webserver? Contractor and Lessons Learned Center staff. Vendors, etc. What type of access is required? What type of search engine is in place on the website? Copernics. How many decision makers will be involved on this project? Two. The Lessons Learned Center manager and assistant manager, both located in Tucson, AZ. If more than one, will they be in different geographic locations? What do you envision as success for this site? Increasing number of wildland fire communities of practice use the sites. What do you wish to achieve/accomplish with and through the Web site? Improve safe work performance through organizational learning. Improve knowledge sharing and exchange among wildland fire professionals. Will we have access to gain knowledge from the contractor who conducted the pilot project to ensure a streamlined transition to the full project? Yes. Do you have a budget for this project? Proposed budget is approximately $330,000 per year. It is our assumption that this project will include enhancements and additions to the current www.myfirecommunity.net. Is this correct? Yes. Do you have a preference for a Content Management System? This is already in place. How much content do you have? Approximately 1300 documents. Can you describe your content? How is it categorized? What format is it in (video, audio, PDF, etc.)? This can be seen at: http://www.wildfirelessons.net/Library.aspx Format is pdf, jpeg, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, video clips in the near future. Do you need to manage documents (files) as well as text? Yes. How many people will add content to the site? Mainly the Assistant Center Manager and Center Manager but also MyFireCommunity.net users once they have signed in with a password. Most content will need to be approved by the Lessons Learned Center before posting. Does this person(s) know HTML? Assistant Center Manager is trained in HTML. Do you need any kind of workflow? Do they plan to migrate content? If no, what particular areas will not be migrated to the new site? Most migration has been accomplished. How do you currently manage the password protected areas of the site and how do you intend to manage this? For example: how will you handle tasks such as: creating new accounts, changing passwords, sending password reminders, removing permissions, etc. This was set up in the Phase 1 contract and the contractor would continue with these tasks in Phase 2 and beyond. Do you have any third parties that provide content to the site and/or do you syndicate content? Yes. Community of practice members will provide content as described above. Do you need the contractor to host your site or do you plan on hosting it internally? Contractor will continue to host the sites. If you will host the site internally, please specify the Internet technology that your ISP currently provides. (e.g. Unix, Windows, Apache, IIS, PHP, MySQL, ColdFusion) Do you know the version numbers? For example ColdFusion MX or ColdFusion 4.5? N/A. Will our technical team have full access to the server for the pilot project site? Yes. Is their current database solution integrated with the Web site? If yes, what is the current system? If not, would you like that capability included with the redesigned site? Yes. Please see web site requirements attachment. Do you have any current data in a system? If so, do you want that migrated to the new system and will you require any data services such as de-duplicating and other list cleaning services? Data is already in the MyFireCommunity database. Data services may be needed intermittently. Do they have any audio/video needs? Yes. We want to be able to post video clips on the Web sites. Do they have audio/video on the current site? No. What formats do they need (Windows/Real/QuickTime)? Windows. Who are their target audiences and what are the messages to be conveyed to each? The specific target audiences are described in each Phase. The general target audience is the wildland fire professional. If there are multiple target audiences what is the priority ranking? Phase 1) What meta fields would you like the "advanced search" to be able to query? The fields already set up in the Copernics advanced search engine. Phase 1) How many categories of content are there? This can be viewed at: http://www.wildfirelessons.net/Library.aspx Is there any relationship between content categories (e.g. sub-categories) or are they separate entities? Subcategory content is also included in 1st level category content. 2.2.3) Please describe in further detail the needs for the Marketing Tool Kit. Is this for the contractor to develop from scratch or is there already a structure in place? If so, please elaborate? What types of "marketing activities" do you want to perform (i.e. advertising, email campaigns, send-to-friend games, etc.)? See Communication Plan attachment. 2.3) Are the MyFireScience library and knowledge products just content or are you looking for a more involved process/function that allows the research community and fire management practitioners to communicate (e.g. workflow, broadcast, etc)? Proposal is for content products and tools. 2.3.1.1) What types of reviews will end users be providing? Text feedback? Rankings? Etc. Primarily text feedback on the fire science documents. 2.4) What is your "Communications & Evaluation Strategy"? See Communication Plan attachment. What are the goals of this strategy? Will you need a CRM system? No. Regarding "creating new video venues." Is venue a location not found within www.myfirecommunity.net requiring a new URL? No. Video clips should be part of the current Web sites. Will wildfirelessons.net require alterations to the design and interface during the "Enhanced Integration" of wildfirelessons.net and myfirecommunity.net? No. If I read the RFP correctly, the base year is FY2005, which will end September 30, 2005. Given that proposals are due July 15, when does NPS expect to announce awards? It seems there will be a compressed time period in which to accomplish the base year tasks; we'd like to get a better sense of how compressed the base year will be. Base year will be awarded in FY 2005. Completion will be into the next fiscal year. Will you be serving as the POC for technical and business questions regarding the RFP, or is there someone else we should contact to pose such questions? All questions should be directed to me at dell_mccann@nps.gov How many unique visitors access both sites per month? Approximately 500 unique visitors per month for both sites. Will help us plan for the hosting infrastructure. What are the traffic projections for the next 1-3 years? 600-800 visitors per day. What was the contract value of the pilot project? $232,000. Is Benchmark, Research and Safety bidding on this solicitation as well? They are free to bid on this solicitation if they desire. Are there any SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for program support and hosting? The agreement is with Empire Data Technologies. Can we send the proposal via email? Yes, proposals can be submitted via e-mail to dell_mccann@nps.gov by Aug. 16, 2005. Do you have a strict schedule for the rollout of each phase? If so, please provide. Each phase should be completed within 10 months of task and funds allocation. Could you provide the exact weighting of importance for each Factor described in the RFP (percentages)? (If defined) As stated in the RFP, the non-price factors are approximately equal. Price is less important than the combined non-price factors. Please provide technical details, at your discretion, about the current myFireCommunity.net website (i.e., server setup, database used, data structure, architecture, programming languages used). Please see Web site Requirements attachment. Do you have a defined budget for each phase of the project. If not, provide any additional budget requirements, if any. Approximately 330,000 per year for all tasks in each Phase (if funding is received). How do you prefer we break out our budgets? By Phase? By Overall Task, i.e. 2.1, 2.2? Please break out by Phase, Task and Sub-Task. In developing the My Fire Science Library and knowledge products (task 2.3), is the expectation that the material will be mostly previously published, mostly commissioned by us, or some combination? If it is a combination, approximately what percentage is expected to be new material? All knowledge products will come from fire science research community. It will all be new material for the Web sites. Will the contracting agency provide the contractor access to contacts on existing FUMTs, IMTs and other teams, or shall the contractor reach out through the existing site and/or other means to recruit new site users and contributors? Lessons Learned Center staff will provide access to the Incident Management Team and other wildland fire personnel. Regarding task 2.3.2, is the Editor/Analyst expected to be a full-time hire by the contractor? Can this person be issued a subcontract? Preferably full-time, hired and managed by the contractor, in cooperation with the Lessons Learned Center. Again regarding task 2.3.2, how will the determination be made each year as to whether one or up to four online distance learning tools is developed for the coming contract year? The determination will be made jointly by the Contractor, Fire Science Editor and Lessons Learned Center staff based on needs of the fire community. Regarding task 2.4.3, is content-sharing the intended result of creating partnerships with journals or other web references? Yes, improved knowledge sharing is the intended result. If not, what is the intention? Regarding task 2.5, do you expect wildfirelessons.net to be moved to the same server as myFireCommunity.net (if not already on the same server). Please provide technical information on the wildfirelessons.net site. Both Web sites are currently on the same server. Please see Web site Requirements attachment. Regarding task 2.5.1, provide details on the KMS database (is it an SQL database, structure, where it lives, etc.) SQL Server 2000. Please see Web site Requirements attachment. In the tasks for the web development project, I noticed this statement: "Upgrade the Search engine capacity to 10K documents. " Are these web pages, or some other type of document? (PDF, DOC, etc) Documents are pdf, jpeg, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, video clips will be added in the near future. MyFireCommunity.net Requirements Server Configuration Requirements - Pentium 4 processor (2.4 GHz or greater) Server - 2 GB RAM - 3x300 GB Dedicated Hard Drive (Running RAID5). - RAID Controller - Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition - IIS 6.0 - Microsoft FTP Server - 100 Mbps Ethernet Connection - 2 IP Addresses - 400 GB monthly Traffic - 24x7 Support Firewall Technology - Network traffic scanning and filtering by Netscreen firewalls which will provide the first layer of defense for the server. - Email traffic protected by antivirus and anti-Spam firewalls - Servers must run antivirus to protect against viruses. Network Environment and Facilities The current hosting site is a Microsoft Certified Web Presence Provider that specializes in hosting web applications on Microsoft Platforms, including Microsoft FrontPage, ASP, ASP.NET, and SQL Server 2000. Their IBM-Certified data center is a state-of-the-art facility, including 18-inch thick steel-reinforced concrete walls and multiple redundancies at every level. The data center security system includes extensive camera surveillance, controlled access and biometric hand-scanning technologies, a dry-chemical fire-suppressant system, a controlled temperature and humidity environment, and a 24x7x365 Network Operations Center staffed with Cisco, Juniper, Microsoft, IBM, and Linux certified engineers. The data center features multiple OC-3 Internet connections, multiple metropolitan OC-48 SONET rings and multiple electrical power feeds with additional backup power generation. They have multiple, isolated, redundant connections directly to internet backbone providers, and they use Border Gate Protocol (BGP) on our redundant routers. This configuration allows the facility to insure that a failure within the network backbone provider is automatically detected and re-routed with minimum packet loss and transparency to the end user. Any future hosting solution will meet similar requirements. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (01-AUG-2005); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
- Web Link
-
Please click here to view more details.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOI/NPS/APC-IS/A9560050009/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Park Service National InterAgency Fire Center 3833 S. Development Avenue Boise, ID
- Zip Code: 837055354
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 837055354
- Record
- SN00859860-F 20050803/050801213314 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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