RFP 97-004 Attachment L TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS 1GENERAL Award Period The initial award shall obligate the government only for the first 12-month performance period. The contract resulting from this procurement may be renewed for four (4) additional 12-month periods contingent upon the government's need, and the availability of funds. The requirements for the renewal periods shall be similar to the requirements outlined in the contract for the initial period of performance, with the exceptions noted in Section V. RENEWAL OPTIONS. Reference Materials ED has established an RFP Reference Library for this solicitation to assist Offerors in preparing proposals. The contents of this library are listed in Attachment C. 2WRITTEN PROPOSAL 2.1 The written technical proposal shall contain the following sections: Table of Contents; (1) Introduction; (2) Statement of Work; (A) Management Plan (B) Quality Control Plan (C) QAP Workbook (D) Training Workshops (E) Technical Assistance (F) Data Analysis Reports (3) Qualifications of Project Staff; (Resumes for Proposed Project Staff) (4) Other Special Contract Requirements; and (5) Corporate Experience and Capabilities. Each section must be well organized, technically accurate and to the point. In addition, each section of the technical proposal shall be marked with a tabular divider. The required content of the written technical proposal is described, on a section by section basis, in the section below entitled, "Content of Technical Proposal". The written response, together with the oral presentation, must be fully responsive to the requirements of the RFP. 3ORAL PRESENTATION Offeror(s) shall present portions of their Technical Proposal by means of an Oral Presentation to the Technical Evaluation Panel. 3.1 The Offeror must address the following Evaluation Criteria in detail as part of the Oral Presentation: (1)Introduction (2)Statement of Work (A) Management Plan (B) Quality Control Plan (C) QAP Workbook (D) Training Workshops (E) Technical Assistance (F) Data Analysis Reports (3)Qualifications of Project Staff (Proposed Key Personnel and important project staff must be present during Oral Presentation) (4)Other Special Contract Requirements (This section is presented as part of the Written Proposal and does not have to be presented as part of the oral presentation) (5)Corporate Experience and Capabilities 3.2 The Offeror will be allowed a maximum of three hours to make its presentation to the TEP, which will include a Question and Answer Session. The TEP will have reviewed the written material, therefore, it is strongly urged that the offeror not restate written information. 3.3 The Offeror should understand that the Oral Presentation will not constitute discussion as defined in FAR 15.601 and 15.610. The Government shall ask questions only for clarification 3.4 The Offeror should understand the Oral Presentation shall not encompass price or cost and fee. The Oral Presentation shall only encompass Technical Factors. 3.5 The Oral Presentation shall be conducted in person at the U.S. Department of Education, 7th & D Streets, S.W, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202. The Government will provide a room to conduct the Oral Presentations. 3.6 Presentations will be scheduled to begin one week after the receipt of proposals. Once notified of their presentations date and time, offerors shall complete their presentations on the scheduled date and time. The order in which offerors will make their presentations will be determined by the Contracting Officer. 3.7 The Offeror will be responsible for providing any equipment needed to conduct their Oral Presentation. 3.8 The Oral Presentation will be recorded with an audio cassette recorder provided by the Government. The issues which are to be addressed as part of the oral presentation are described, on a section by section basis, in the section below entitled, "Content of Technical Proposal". The oral presentation, together with the written response, must be fully responsive to the requirements of the RFP. 4CONTENT OF TECHNICAL PROPOSAL The offeror must demonstrate in the technical proposal (oral and written) its understanding of the requirements of this procurement and its capability of performing the work. The technical proposal (oral and written) must contain a complete and detailed plan for achieving the objectives, analyses, products, and tasks which are included in the RFP. All information submitted shall be current, specific, and complete, and shall meet all the requirements of this RFP. ED will evaluate the text of the written proposal and the content of the oral presentation for firm evidence that the offeror understands the requirements for quality work, including appropriateness of style, grammatical correctness, and data integrity for the writing necessary for the project. Table of Contents The Table of Contents must provide the reader a means of easily identifying and locating major topics. 1.Introduction Written Technical Proposal The Offeror shall provide a written outline of the introduction as part of the written technical proposal. Oral Presentation Details of this section shall be presented as part of the oral presentation. The Introduction must show the offeror's understanding of the Title IV programs and the QAP, as well as quality control and its application to Federal student aid delivery. This section must demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the project objectives and must include a discussion of the major project products, their relatedness and importance. 2.Statement of Work Written Technical Proposal The written response to this section shall include an outline of the offerors oral presentation, the outline shall include a outline of the offerors presentation for each product. Oral Presentation The Oral Presentation for the Statement of Work section of the proposal must discuss and expand on all the tasks and products associated with each phase of the project, in sequential order. This section should be a complete and detailed design and implementation plan for achieving objectives and sub- objectives. This section must provide sufficient, substantive details to clearly demonstrate the offeror's capability to satisfactorily perform required tasks. The Statement of Work section of the proposal must identify anticipated problems and suggest solutions for each task and product, as appropriate. The offeror is expected to show ingenuity and creativity in devising specific improved approaches to economically accomplish the tasks and products. All procedures must be clearly specified, with statements on how the particular procedure will improve the project, or assure the successful completion of project outcomes. The offeror must demonstrate and document its ability to meet all project schedules and major milestones, under stringent time frames, and solve anticipated problems, with the assurance that the quality of project activities and products will not be sacrificed. In addition, any materials or services that ED must provide must be identified in this section. In addition to overall instructions provided above for the Statement of Work section, several products must be described with additional details. The management plan must describe who will be committed to execute the project, the extent and character of their commitment, how the work will be managed, and the time schedule for getting it done. An organizational chart showing lines of authority and responsibility for this project must be included. This section must also include both the chronological listing and the graphic display of the tasks. The quality control plan must demonstrate the offeror's philosophy of quality management and describe a quality control philosophy which will encompass the spectrum of activities and tasks which are required in this RFP. The plan must specify that all materials and products submitted to ED for approval are technically accurate, complete, logical, editorially and grammatically correct, and clear in format. The revised QA Workbook section must demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the requirements necessary to complete the tasks and product. This section must also demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the Title IV programs and Federal verification, Total Quality Management and QC principles and their application in the methodology as described in the QA Workbook. The Electronic/On-line version of the QA Workbook section must reflect the offeror's thorough understanding of the purposes and objectives required to complete this tasks. The offeror must describe the major types of work to be performed and include practical plans for performing the work. The offeror must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the purposes and objectives of training. The offeror must describe their understanding of what is required to successfully arrange and conduct training workshops for both new and continuing participants, and a national conference. The offeror must describe their understanding of the resources and staff qualifications necessary to successfully complete the tasks and products required in technical assistance and support. The offeror must describe its understanding of the requirements necessary to successfully arrange and conduct the Recognition and Awards Program meeting. The offeror must also describe its understanding of what is required for the satisfactory performance of technical assistance and support. The offeror must describe in the Data Analysis Report section the purposes, objectives and audiences for the reports. The offeror must provide a clear description of the plan for conducting data analysis and selecting critical indicators and addressing comparative issues. The offeror must demonstrate an understanding of the issues in order to successfully produce reports that fully document both the conduct and the findings of the analyses. 3.Qualifications of Project Staff Written Technical Proposal Resumes of proposed Key Personnel and for all key offeror staff, including consultants, must be submitted as part of the written technical proposal. Oral Presentation The Oral Presentation should discuss the overall strengths of the project personnel team and how they will meet the needs of the Department. The offeror shall also discuss the qualifications of the key persons proposed in the project, and document that they possess the qualifications discussed in Section IV. SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS. Evidence of staff commitment to responsibly manage, control, and coordinate a project of this scope must be included. Percentages of full time equivalent (FTE) of key persons who are designated as project staff. The offeror shall outline all contractual obligations existing during the anticipated course of the award for key persons assigned to this project. The funding sources for other projects and the percentage of time allotted to those projects by key persons committed to this project shall also be included. If consultants are to be used in the project, they must be identified as such in the management plan, and their qualifications listed in this section. Resumes which list qualifications and experience that directly relate to the tasks and requirements of this project must be included for all key offeror staff, including consultants. Offerors should note that the rating of proposed Key Personnel and the project personnel team will be determined, in part, by the knowledge and skills that they demonstrate during the entire oral presentation. 4.Other Special Contract Requirements Written Technical Proposal This section shall be addressed as part of the written technical proposal. In the Other Special Contract Requirements section the offeror must assure their availability to ED staff for consultation, meetings and follow-up, and monitoring visits by ED to the offeror's work site. In addition, assurance must be provided that all project staff will comply with ED's IT (Information Technology) security requirements and the Privacy Act of 1974. The offeror must assure their assistance and cooperation in making the transition to a successor offeror. 5.Corporate Experience/Commitment Written Technical Proposal The written proposal must include a list of the offeror's (and if applicable, subcontractor's) previous projects which are similar in scope and nature to the work described and required in this RFP. Such information must include: (1) project name; (2) period of performance; (3) brief description of major tasks; (4) products or tasks in the project(s) that are similar to products or tasks which are contained in this RFP; and (5) a brief statement of accomplishments. Oral Presentation The Corporate Experience/Commitment section must include evidence, other than staff competencies, of corporate experience related to the purposes, objectives, and tasks of this project. Evidence of corporate commitment to successfully complete projects is particularly important. In the oral presentation, the offeror must carefully describe the capabilities of its organization in terms of the resources necessary to perform the work of this project. The offeror must document the availability of facilities and equipment critical and necessary to project performance. Documented assurances of support from cooperating agencies, groups, individuals, etc., if they are necessary for the successful implementation of the project, shall be included. QUALIFICATIONS OF PROJECT STAFF The qualifications listed below will be considered by the Government when determining the strengths and weaknesses of proposed contractor staff. None of the qualifications listed below should be considered as mandatory requirements. PROJECT DIRECTOR The Project Director shall have the following qualifications: a college degree in a course of study directly related to the requirements of this contract, or the equivalent experience. Other qualifications include, but are not limited to: Demonstrated successful experience in managing contracts and directing projects; Knowledge of the history, legislation, regulations, and related policy issues in student financial aid, and related implications at the institutions of higher education; Demonstrated experience in quality control operations, and Total Quality Management (TQM) Principles; Experience in managing PC-based software development projects and operation of computer and software systems; Experience in applying statistical methods, such as pareto analysis, sporadic and common cause, and sampling procedures; Demonstrated experience in conducting management and analytic studies, including analyzing facts, drawing conclusions, and developing recommendations and potential solutions. SENIOR PROFESSIONALS This position requires a diverse range of skills. It may take more than one person to fulfill the stated qualifications: a college degree in a course of study directly related to the requirements of this contract, or the equivalent experience. Other qualifications include, but are not limited to: Demonstrated knowledge and successful experience with the history, legislation, regulations, and related policy issues in student financial aid; Demonstrated experience in Total Quality Management (TQM) and quality control principles; At least two (2) years of demonstrated successful experience working with Federal student aid programs and institutions of higher education; Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate to groups, in writing and as a speaker; Demonstrated ability as a trainer; Experience and/or knowledge of personal computer operations, and telecommunications; Experience and technical mastery in the field of statistics, including statistical analysis, research design, sampling design, and evaluation; and Demonstrated expertise and experience in the application of statistical theory and methodology as part of the development or modification of policies or programs, either private sector or governmental, having a large-scale impact. JUNIOR PROFESSIONAL The Junior Professional shall have the following qualifications: a college degree in a course of study directly related to the requirements of this contract, or the equivalent experience. Other qualifications include, but are not limited to: Demonstrated knowledge of state-of-the-art software packages, including their applications; Demonstrated knowledge of Title IV programs and their application in the financial aid office of postsecondary education institutions; Demonstrated knowledge of systems analysis; application of statistical methods, and data analysis; Minimum of two (2) years experience in writing technical and analytic reports that are readily understood by laypersons, senior managers, and the general public; and Demonstrated successful experience in coordinating and planning training workshops and meetings for large groups from across the country. COMPUTER PROGRAMMER The Computer Programmer shall have the following qualifications: an associate college degree in a course of study directly related to the requirements of this contract, or the equivalent experience. Other requisite qualifications include, but are not limited to: At least five (5) years experience in computer programming, program design and development, and database applications; Demonstrated experience in evaluating and modifying existing programs to implement changes in processing; and analyzing and defining individual program requirements; Experience in developing new programs; preparing record and report layouts; and documenting programs, procedures, files, and reports; Demonstrated knowledge and practical experience in using state-of-the-art software, including compiling program codes; Extensive experience in writing software documentation and users' manuals; Demonstrated experience in structured system testing procedures and other software testing applications; Experience in conducting software applications training; and Experience in providing technical assistance to software users. CLERICAL/SECRETARIAL SUPPORT Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of one (1) year demonstrated successful experience with the operation of word processing equipment and related software packages. Personnel proposed for this category must have specific experience in producing documents, reports, briefing materials, etc., using word processing and graphics equipment and software. Specific experience must include independent operation of word processing equipment and software, special page formatting, graphics, charts, tables, and page/document adjustment. If consultants or subcontractors are to be used during the performance period, they must be chosen based on their documented, specialized experience and qualifications.