Questions and Answers

1.	Question: Through Pricing Schedule A and B the Department of Education (ED) has tried to establish a split between fixed and variable cost items. We strongly recommend that the following cost items be added to Schedule A since they are fixed expenses to the contractor and would not vary (higher or lower) based on the actual quantities delivered. This approach is best for the government as it precludes overcharging for fixed costs as quantities increase over the quantity levels stated in the answer to Question 1 of the Amendment.

Facility Rent, Utilities, and P.O. Box

Equipment (computers, warehouse, telephone, etc.)

Project Management and Core Operations Staff

Transitions Costs

Systems (software, LAN, Internet, fax, e-mail, etc.)

Messenger service (daily)

Answer: With the exception of transition costs, the Department assumed that many of these would be direct costs which would be figured in the firm fixed price tasks under Schedule A. The One Pubs contractor shall prepare inventory for transport and transport approximately 2,500 pallets of information products from the current warehouse to its warehouse facility during the transition period of November 3, 1997 to December 31, 1997. The contractor shall work with the incumbent mail fulfillment contractor and ED staff to ensure a smooth transition of services. A category entitled Transition Costs is added to Schedule A for the base year only.

2.	Question: Schedule B is presently designed to collect quantities on an annual basis with payment at the end of each 12 month period. Although you suggest that progress payment may be requested (question 33) this arrangement is not equitable and may limit competition for this procurement.

It would be more reasonable for you to permit Schedule B to be modified to reflect monthly quantities and monthly invoices. This arrangement is more traditionally used by other federal agencies for IDIQ type contracts.

Answer: In the interest of time, offerors should bid on current pricing schedules. Please note Clause L.2 General Instructions states that an offeror may submit alternate proposals or proposals which deviate from the requirements provided that it submits a proposal for the performance of the work as specified in the RFP . Therefore, an offeror may submit an alternate pricing schedule based on monthly quantities provided that it also submits pricing schedules given in Amendment 1.

3.	Question: Schedule A should be invoiced at 1/12 of the negotiated value.

Answer: An offeror may propose a progress payment schedule in its cost proposal which will be an item for negotiations if the offeror makes the competitive range.

4.	Question: Ref:	Pricing Schedule B

We request that you add a column to each Schedule B to provide for an offeror's minimum monthly charge. We believe this is justified since there can be a wide variance of the quantities on this contract. For example, you specify in Amendment 1 that the projected volume for schedule B.1 is 100,000. However, the Schedule B.1 quantity range is from 1 to 200,000. Certain fixed charges such as storage space and mail handling equipment have a minimum monthly cost which must be allocated over the processing volumes. This change will be in the best interest of the government since offerors will be able to provide more competitive prices on higher volume unit prices. If this cannot be done, we request an additional CLIN be added to the Schedule B to cover these fixed costs.

Answer: ED will not guarantee a minimum monthly minimum quantity to any of the pricing schedules under Schedule B since we do not know how many calls, written requests, the number of publications that will be produced yearly, or the demand for such publications. We provided our best estimates on previous workload and anticipate that demand for publications will increase with center marketing efforts, increased departmental public relations activities, and more efficient, one-stop information and referral service the One Pubs center will deliver. For evaluation purposes to arrive at an evaluated price, Schedule B.2 Order Filling states that offerors should estimate 100,000 calls. The lowest range for Schedule B.2 is 1 to 200,000. Please note that under additional cost proposal instructions in Amendment 1, we state that if an offeror finds that the government's proposed range does not accurately reflect economic order quantities, it should discuss this in its cost proposal and suggest alternative ranges. This applies to all pricing schedules. Please see answer to question 1.

5.	Question: Amendment 1, response to question 1 furnished a breakdown of fulfillment by videos, cd roms and posters. Will this material be furnished prepackage or will the contractor be required to purchase package material and insert this product.

Answer: Please refer to Amendment 1, answer to question 33 - after existing ED stock of envelopes, boxes, mailing tubes, etc. is exhausted the contractor will supply packing materials. The contractor is responsible for inserting the product into package material.

6.	Question: Ref:	Price Schedule B.3

Estimated quantities are provided for unit 1-50; however, no estimates are provided for unit over 50. Estimated volumes for these other units are needed.

Answer: Please see column >50 (greater than 50).

7.	Question: Ref: Price Schedule B.4

Estimated quantities are provided for 1 item and self mailers for units 51-250; and 2-5 items; 6-15 items, and 15+ items for units 0-50; however, no estimates are provided for other units. Estimated volumes for other units are needed.

Answer: Please see estimated workload given in the statement of work. Amendment 1, answer to question 1 provided estimated quantities for an award purpose to obtain an evaluated price.

5.	Question: Ref: Amendment 1, response to question 23

Please furnish the historical cost of annual packing supplies used to support this contract.

Answer: This cost information is not available.

6.	Question: Ref: Amendment 1, response to question 1

The estimate volume of pallets to be stored is stated as 2,500; however, the SOW indicates a monthly average of 3,835 pallets (see SOW paragraph 100.5). Please explain this significant difference and confirm which estimate is correct.

Answer: As Amendment 1 stated ED plans on destroying or recycling publications which are no longer requested or are outdated to reduce warehouse storage space needed. Presently, we have a monthly average of 3,835 pallets. As stated in answer to question 1 above we expect to transport approximately 2,500 pallets to the new warehouse facility. This is only an estimate since ED will be actively working on recycling many of their outdated publications during the new few months. Schedule B.5 requires offerors to provide unit price per ranges of pallets.

7.	Question: Ref:	Amendment 1, answer to question 1

a.	We understand Section B.4 applies to bulk mailing, but we are confused concerning the reference made in this paragraph to a customer's request. Do customers in this context apply to Education offices?

Answer:	One Pubs will have internal and external customers. Internal customers are ED employees, external customers are the public, educators, researchers, etc.

Question:

b.	Please confirm your estimate of 200 names per mailing list. If you have 1 million addresses this means you have 5,000 mailing lists. Is this correct?

Answer:	No, the number of names on a mailing list can vary greatly. We estimated that an average mailing list contains 200 names. ED wants to reiterate that this number is only an estimate. Currently ED has a very decentralized mailing list system, with each PO maintaining their own information.

8.	Question: a)	The response to question #1 states that the 3,150,000 1 item per address "distribution runs" are the result of "a department employee submits a mailing list and each address on the mailing list will receive one copy of the product." Is the 3,150,000 also inclusive of single item requests received through other means or is it just items sent out as a result of the submittal of mailing lists? If it is inclusive of all single items, what subsets are sent out as a result of mailing lists versus other single items requests?

Answer:	The 3,150,000 estimate was inclusive of items sent out as a result of the submittal of mailing lists and single item requests received through other means. There is no historical data that tells us what subset are sent out as a result of mailing lists versus other single items requests.

Question:

b)	Is the 3,150,000 estimate inclusive of the mass mailings for the Office of Postsecondary education (OPE)? If not:

What is the average number of address on an OPE mailing list and how many runs per year should be assumed for evaluation purposes?

Answer:

ED assumed that about 45% of the 7,000,000 (rounded up from 6,933,350) information products disseminated would be single item orders. In addition, OPE does 150-200 mass mailings per year ranging from 200-25,000 addresses on a given mailing list. For award purposes, the evaluated cost will consist of multiplying the unit price for the column 51 to 150 by 3,150,000.

Question:	Where should the cost for the OPE mailing be reflected in Schedule B?

Answer:	The cost for OPE mailing should be reflected in unit prices.

9.	Question: In Question 23 response, can the government be more specific in the size and types of containers which will be required?

Answer: We expect that normal business packaging will be used.

10.	Question and answer: An offeror questioned that there seems some inconsistencies between historical workload data, estimates given for award purposes to evaluate costs, and quality assurance surveillance plan. The Department has made its best effort to gather historical workload data and then to provide offerors with a pricing scheme. The numbers under Quantity of Work Performed under the Quality Work Surveillance Plan should not have bearing on offeror's estimated workload or proposed price - historical workload is more reliable. These Quantity of Work Performed will be changed prior to award to be more in line with historical workload.

11.	The wage determination attached to Amendment 1 was incomplete. Attached is the complete wage determination.