MODIFICATION
99 -- Question and Answer
- Notice Date
- 6/10/2009
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, ATTN: MCMR-AAA, 820 Chandler Street, Frederick, MD 21702-5014
- ZIP Code
- 21702-5014
- Solicitation Number
- W81XWH09T0288
- Response Due
- 6/22/2009
- Archive Date
- 8/21/2009
- Point of Contact
- Ryan Jorgensen, 301-619-2359<br />
- E-Mail Address
-
US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity
(ryan.jorgensen@us.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 1. Is there a requirement for hosting and support? Not during the first Phase. 2. If there is not a hosting/support requirement, how will progress demonstration reviews and performance evaluations be conducted? The government team will review progress reports on a monthly basis and evaluate the system demonstration at the conclusion of the effort 3. If there is a hosting/support requirement, will it be for the duration of the entire project or only for the duration of the environment evaluations? If so, what is the anticipated time period for the evaluation? No hosting requirement during Phase I. 4. Will any hardware purchased become the property of the government if the proof of concept is approved? Yes all hardware purchased will be the property of the goverment 5. Is it the contractor's responsibility to find evaluators for the VR environment or will the evaluators be determined by USAMRMC? The evaluators will be determined by MRMC. 6. Is there a requirement for avatars to display amputee conditions, such as wheel chairs required, loss of limb, etc? Can you clarify the level of detail requested for the pilot program? The level of detail should be dictated by the level of ability of the contractor. 7. If the contractor will be hosting, who will own and maintain the IP (Trademark) rights to the domain name that will be used to host this site? To be determined. 8. Will counselors and clinicians need to be available to participate in the evaluation phase for the proof of concept, or will their availability and contributions be simulated? In other words, does the contractor need to provide counselors / clinicians who know the environment to be part of the evaluation? Phase I will focus on the development of the virtual environment. Future phases could include further and more in depth evaluation. 9. Will users with amputations be using the system as part of the evaluation? If so, do we need to provide an adaptive interfaces? Phase I will focus on the development of the virtual environment. Future phases could include further and more in depth evaluation. Questions: With the solicitation, Paragraph 1.1. Background states, This Request for Proposals seeks to determine the best Virtual Reality Environment (VR) capabilities to develop a best of breed proof of concept VR environment platform in which to support the year one effort of creating the infrastructure of an environment for amputee support groups. This effort will leverage the lessons learned from past efforts and demonstrate the extension of the virtual world environment into telemedicine and provide a standardized platform of tele-health constructs. This project will focus on the development of a support group environment for amputees and their families. The paragraph above seems to outline four requirements. 1.Develop, build and deploy a social networking website to support peer-to-peer networking, mutual support, information and tool to aid with rehabilitation, health services, career service, economic and family stability, etc., information exchange and communication between members. 2.Conducting research, investigation and experimentation to determine the best Virtual Reality tools and environment. 3.Develop a proof of concept Virtual Reality environment. 10. Is this an accurate interpretation of the requirement? If not, what parts are accurate and what parts are not? Please provide detailed clarifications. Yes, that is accurate. 11. Please provide details on the level of effort for the research phase to be conducted prior to developing the actual proof of concept. The offeror's technical/management approach must be sound and demonstrate that the contractor has a thorough understanding of virtual world environment development requirements. The offeror's plan should clearly address their capability to analyze, plan, and implement support in accordance with the stated requirements listed below. The offeror should include a discussion in their proposal that addresses the following requirements and their approach to each requirement: a. Controlled Access b. Expansion Capability c. Multi-location access d. Real time communication e. Multiple in-world geographical settings and Avatar movement among them f. Private patient/group treatment areas g. Public interaction areas h. Avatar Customization i. Capability for a standalone virtual world j. Ability for scene/session replay k. External application implementation within the VR environment l. Technical support and user guidance during evaluation of anew VR environment typical for the demands of new user involvement m. Ability for avatar movement, gestures, and actions modeled after real world behavior 12. Without knowing the results of the research, it is difficult to scope and price the proof of concept deliverable. Please provide anticipated level of effort and scope as possible to enable development of a realistic bid submission. Phase I of the effort is solely to develop the virtual world platform and demonstrate the aforementioned requirements. Within the solicitation, the Requirements state: 3.1. Develop a scalable multi-user, multi location Proof of Concept Virtual Environment platform that allows secure authorized anonymous access. 13. Assuming this requirement is looking to build or leverage existing technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, what type of simulation is envisioned? A simulated real world or an imaginary world.? This is to be determined by the contractor. 14. What type of user interface is envisioned? Standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal devices such as a wired glove? This is to be determined by the contractor. 15. The solutions should seek to stimulate which senses? Sight, sound? This is to be determined by the contractor. 16: Assuming users will make use of avatar in the virtual environment, how is it envisioned the users avatars will communicate? Through text chatting or real time voice chat? It is required that the communication be both text chatting and voice chat. 17: Is it envisoned that this will be a solution that will runs on a browser without any need to install special software? 18: Is the environment to be 2D or 3D? This is to be determined by the contractor. What commercially deployed virtual reality envirmentent best demonstates the vision of the what the effort seeks to create, SecondLife.com, Military.com, Facebook.com, other? The virtual world environment should allow users to move their avatar among multiple locations. 3.2. Provide an extensible standardized platform that will allow expansion and continued development of a robust VR environment. 19: How many users require for proof of concept VR environment? This proof of concept will only need to be demonstrated to the govt team. 20: How many users if scaled to maximum estimated user population? This will not be determined in Phase I. 21. What kinds of tools are required within the virtual reality environment? a. Controlled Access b. Expansion Capability c. Multi-location access d. Real time communication e. Multiple in-world geographical settings and Avatar movement among them f. Private patient/group treatment areas g. Public interaction areas h. Avatar Customization i. Capability for a standalone virtual world j. Ability for scene/session replay k. External application implementation within the VR environment l. Technical support and user guidance during evaluation of anew VR environment typical for the demands of new user involvement m. Ability for avatar movement, gestures, and actions modeled after real world behavior 3.3. Provide real-time communication and collaboration through standard forms of information exchange. 22: What kind of communication and collaboration tools? Voice of IP, Video Teleconferencing, discussion boards, member profiles, blogging, other? This is to be determined by the contactor, but the minimum requirement is to allow voice and text real-time chat. 23: Please define and provide examples of standard forms of information exchange. Minimum requirement is to allow voice and text real-time chat. 3.4. Provide capability for peer support groups to meet and interact within the virtual environment. 24: Please define the type and level of sophistication of virtual environment you would like participants to be able to participate in virual peer support groups. Does this require realtime group meetings? For example, a discussion board would allow participants to interact virtually at the time and place of their choosing. A video teleconference would require participants to have a webcam equipped computer to participate at a specific time. A true virtual reality environment like SecondLife would employ the use of avatars, i.e. an online a movable three-dimensional image used to represent somebody in cyberspace. Or, is there a mix of two or more of the above technologies? This is to be determined by the contractor. 3.5. Provide technical support and user guidance during evaluation of new VR environment typical for the demands of new user involvement. 25: What level of technical support? Helpdesk support via email within 24 hours of query? 24/7 Realtime support via chat? 800 phone call center? Other? This is to be determined by the contractor, however, this is more a focus for the evaluation and deployment phases 26: How is success in to be measured for each deliverable? What criteria for success? The contractor will need to ensure all requirements are met and these requirements will be evaluated by the technical team. Again, those requirement are: a. Controlled Access b. Expansion Capability c. Multi-location access d. Real time communication e. Multiple in-world geographical settings and Avatar movement among them f. Private patient/group treatment areas g. Public interaction areas h. Avatar Customization i. Capability for a standalone virtual world j. Ability for scene/session replay k. External application implementation within the VR environment l. Technical support and user guidance during evaluation of anew VR environment typical for the demands of new user involvement m. Ability for avatar movement, gestures, and actions modeled after real world behavior 27. Who (in addition to the amputees & their families) is the intended audience This is the main focus for this phase. 28.: What is the end goal / mission for this site (other than providing a VR for the audience)? The main goal is for it to be tested and fielded as a support network for amputees and their families. 29: What are the portals security, domain and hosting requirements? The environment must be secure, but the exact methodology of security and hosting requirements will be determined in future phases. 30: Who will be given access and how will that be controlled? Amputees and their families. It is dependent on the contractor to determine how they can best secure the environment to their capabilities. 31 If verification of identity, status and eligibility is required and handled by the contractor to allow an individual to establish an account, will the contractor be given access to the appropriate database to execute verification? This will be discussed in possible future phases. 32: Will this be hosted on DOD servers in the.mil domain, DOD servers with.com domain, the contractors server with.mil domain, or contractors server with.com domain? This will be discussed in possible future phases.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USA/USAMRAA/DAMD17/W81XWH09T0288/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity ATTN: MCMR-AAA, 820 Chandler Street Frederick MD<br />
- Zip Code: 21702-5014<br />
- Zip Code: 21702-5014<br />
- Record
- SN01840911-W 20090612/090610235022-300603efca085cf7c812e1af55c6ba4c (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |