MODIFICATION
B -- Focus Group/Usability Tests and Interim Redesign of FirstGov.gov
- Notice Date
- 12/19/2001
- Notice Type
- Modification
- Contracting Office
- General Services Administration, Office of Government-wide Policy, Office of Acquisition Policy, 1800 F Street NW Room 4012, Washington, DC, 20405
- ZIP Code
- 20405
- Solicitation Number
- GS00A02PDR0001
- Response Due
- 12/28/2001
- Archive Date
- 1/12/2002
- Point of Contact
- Michael Jackson, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 208-4949, Fax (202) 501-3161,
- E-Mail Address
-
michael.jackson@gsa.gov
- Description
- Questions about the solicitation for Focus Group/Usability Tests and Interim Redesign of FirstGov.gov We received many questions about this solicitation. We have condensed some of the questions, eliminated redundant questions, and put what was left into categories. Proposal Submission Date There are two submission dates in the requirement, 12/19 and 12/21. What is the correct date you want the submission of the response? The two submission dates of 12/19 and 12/21 was an error that was corrected by Modification 1 to this solicitation. Modification 1 made it clear that the correct submission date was 12/21. However, GSA has decided to extend the date for receipt of proposals from 12/21/01 to a new date of 12/28/01 by 3:00 pm, EST. Electronic submission (e-mail) of proposal is preferred. The e-mail address is Michael.Jackson@gsa.gov. However, if an offeror does not possess e-mail capability, please send the hard copy of the proposal to Michael O. Jackson/MVF, General Services Administration, Office of Acquisition Policy, 1800 F Street, Room 4006, Washington, DC, 20405. The hard copy of the proposal must reach Mr. Jackson by 3:00 pm, EST, December 28, 2001. Are you expecting actual proposal responses to this presolicitation notice by 12/21/2001, or will there be an actual RFP (etc.) released? If an RFP is forthcoming, when do you anticipate its release? Proposals are due by 12/28/01, 3:00pm, EST. The requirement was published as a ?combined synopsis/solicitation?; therefore the notice constitutes the solicitation also. Award Date When is the estimated award date? January 2002 Deadline for Questions Is there a deadline for submitting questions? The deadline for submission of questions is 3:00 pm, EST, Wednesday, December 19, 2001. Contract Duration What are your desired completion dates for each of the two major project tasks: 1) Focus Group/Usability Tests, 2) Interim Redesign of FirstGov.gov? The performance period in the combined synopsis/solicitation notice is modified as follows: Work on the focus group and usability tests and the attendant report and recommendations must be completed 60 days after award of the contract. Preliminary design plans must be submitted within 90 days after the award. Work on the redesign plan must be completed within 6 months after the award. Contract Process and Management Are services required to be performed on site full time or will point of contact via the project manager suffice? The contractor should propose the strategy he/she feels most appropriate to meet all of the Government?s requirements. Although the link to the FAR is a dead link, we did find the Reps and Certs. Are there any other business proposal instructions that we should be aware of? See various Q&As throughout this modification. Do you want the proposal delivered in paper or electronically? If paper, how many copies? If electronically, will Word and Excel work? File size limitations? Proposal should be delivered electronically in a Microsoft Word document. Microsoft Excel is also acceptable. Printed, hard copy of technical proposal cannot exceed ten pages. This ten-page limitation does not include attachments for resumes and past performance. Each offeror is requested to provide three past performance references for similar work. As well as a brief summary of each reference, please provide names and current phone numbers for each of the three past performance references. There is no page limitation for the price proposal. What is the expected level of participation of FirstGov staff? Specifically, how many resources, what general skills, and what time commitment can we expect to support joint project tasks? Full participation from project leader, with other resources and skills as needed. What is the decision process for a contract award (oral presentations, reference demonstrations, etc.)? There are no oral presentations or reference demonstrations planned. The Government will evaluate written proposals only and make award based on a best value decision. Were any companies specifically asked to respond to this requirement? How many? No. Our company is in the process of obtaining a GSA schedule. Do we need to have that in place in order to be eligible for this contract? No, this will be an open market award made under FAR Part 12 ? Commercial Items and FAR Part 13.5 ? Simplified Acquisition Threshold procedures and not an order placed against a GSA schedule. What weight is given to each of the evaluation factors listed? Price. Evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Although Price is not a weighted factor, its importance cannot be ignored; the importance of price in selection will increase as the quality difference between proposals decreases. The final award will be based on the best value to the Government. Best value is defined as the offer that results in the most advantageous acquisition decision for the Government. This analysis will be performed through an integrated assessment and trade-off analysis between technical (e.g., technical and management approach and past performance) and price/cost factors. Technical quality is much more important than price/cost. Price/cost is not a weighted factor and is less important than the total evaluated rating for all of the other evaluation factors combined. Once the technical proposals have been evaluated and a rating assigned, the rated technical proposals shall then be compared to the price/cost proposals as submitted to determine the best overall buy for the Government. However, in the case of essentially equal technical proposals, cost may be the determining factor for contract award. The Government reserves the right to award after initial evaluation and to award without holding discussions. Is there an incumbent contractor involved with Firstgov.gov? No. Is there a required format to follow in submitting a technical proposal or should the offeror simply develop a format that encompasses the tasks, deliverables and evaluation factors? No required format, but offerors must respond to all requirements. Will the questions and answers be provided to prospective bidders? Yes. Is there some process where we have to register with the GSA before we can submit the proposal? No. Will the awardee of this task be conflicted out of further work on the FirstGov Portal? No. Will the contractor who is awarded the work as a result of this solicitation be precluded from bidding on and/or developing the redesigned FirstGov site? No. Is the government requiring a detailed budget or simply a fixed dollar amount to complete the entire project? The contract award will be firm-fixed-price. The degree of detail provided in the price proposal is left to the discretion of the offeror. What is the desired format for the fixed price budget? Do you require labor, odc, and loading detail? We leave this to the individual offeror, give us as much cost detail as you believe is necessary. We also leave it up to each individual offeror their proposed format. Are there any Small Business considerations involved with this solicitation? Yes, the Government estimate for this effort falls under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold of $100,000 so it is automatically reserved for small business only. Can your office provide clarification as to which, if any provisions of FAR 52.212-5 are applicable to this solicitation and more specifically if this is a HUBZone Small Business Set-Aside procurement? This is NOT a HUBZone Small Business Set-Aside. This procurement is reserved for small business utilizing simplified acquisition threshold procedures. If this is not a HUBZone Small Business Set-Aside already, we respectfully request this procurement and solicitation be amended to be converted a total HUBZone Small Business Set-Aside since it meets the requirements for such a designation in accordance with the law, FAR and established government tests. The estimated amount for this acquisition falls under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold; therefore it is reserved for small businesses only. Is the contract a set-aside for small or small, disadvantaged businesses? The government estimate is below the simplified acquisition threshold. The simplified acquisition threshold reserves requirements for small business. Have you selected a CMS or do you have a narrowed list of content management products that you will be making your selection from? What is your expected goal/use of this system? Procurement is underway and we cannot release sensitive information. When does GSA plan on purchasing a content management system (CMS) and what are the CMS' being considered? See answer above. Report What is the approval process for the Usability Report and Recommendations before beginning Task 2? Will the government agree to sign off on a final report? Oral briefing of findings followed by submission of draft findings. After review, we will sign off on a final report. When is the Final Usability Report due? Is it expected that the Usability Report be finalized before starting Task 2? The report is due within 60 days after contract award. We expect the report to be complete before contractor starts Task 2. A heuristic evaluation - do they define this as the report for the website developer which is different than the report for the management staff. Only one report as described in the deliverables. Results and recommendations should also be reported verbally or by e-mail as a work in progress so that we learn as we go along. As a frequent user of FirstGov.gov, I have numerous very specific suggestions for its improvement. How can these ideas be incorporated into deliverables to GSA? These comments should be included as part of the recommendations, but they should be highlighted outside of the usability tests, for example, expert opinion. Focus Groups/Usability Tests What is the expected format for the Usability Tests/Focus Groups? We are flexible. We define usability tests as one-on-one usability sessions at computers with single users as well as small group sessions with usability functions to be performed at computers. We define focus groups as sessions with fewer than 10 people who respond largely to design and service questions on paper. What is the scope of what they define as "usability tests"? Focus groups for content, one-on-ones for usability, videotaping, etc. See definitions above. Videotaping is optional. Are both Usability Tests and Focus groups to be conducted, or does the contractor have an option of which to conduct? We expect both types as defined above. Do you have users ready to participate in the usability study or is there a pool of people already identified by FirstGov, to recruit from? If not, who is expected to evaluate and recruit testers? No, we do not have a pool of people. We expect the contractor to evaluate and recruit participants. Are the "stakeholders" employees of FirstGov? Will they be interviewed for their "insider perspective"? FirstGov employees are among our stakeholders and they may be interviewed. We will provide guidance at the time of the contract award. What type of Focus Group/Usability Tests are you anticipating? For example, do you want a single user to go through a list of tasks online to evaluate the site (Usability Test) or are you expecting an open forum, group discussion of the site functionality, including layout and look of the site (Focus Group)? We expect both approaches. Were you considering the use of facilitation software to manage the process and maintain anonymity? If so, what software will you use? No, it is not required. If you have this kind of software available we would appreciate hearing about it in your proposal. Are the groups based upon the three primary customer channels: Government to Government, Business to Government, Citizen to Government? Would the focus groups mix users from each customer channel? Yes. You can do both ? mix users and do separate sessions. Are there multiple markets they would like the tests to be conducted in or is a single market adequate? Two markets: east and west. We can offer government facilities in the Washington, DC. area. Bidders may propose additional sites and attendant costs in west or Midwest. Will the government provide a location for the interviews and/or testing? We can provide facilities within the Washington, DC area and expect that at least half the testing will be done is this area. If outside the DC area, the contactor must provide the facilities and should reflect these costs in the proposal. Will you require and authorize by the task order the use of GSA workspace, computer support, equipment and software that can be used to conduct the Focus Group/Usability tests? If so, can the furnished supplies and services be provided in Denver so a contractor based there can cost effectively complete the task? Yes. Furnished supplies and services will not be provided in Denver. See above questions and answers. Will the government provide facilities for the group sessions or is the contractor to provide the facilities? Ideally, this would entail not only space but also multiple Internet-connected computers and video recording equipment to capture both participants' comments and computer screens. In the Washington, DC area, GSA will provide equipped computer learning centers, but NOT video recording equipment. Video recording is optional. Are focus groups synonymous to usability tests? Are a total 3 focus groups/usability tests to be conducted? No, they are not the same. We expect three focus groups and/or group usability tests as defined above. We expect up to three one-on-one usability tests, and four interviews with stakeholders. Do you envision Usability Tests will be performed with participants who are familiar with FirstGov.gov or participants who are not familiar with the site? Usability tests should include those participants familiar with the site and those unfamiliar with the site. Do you envision Usability Tests that are paper tests or are actual usage of the site online? All usability tests will be actual usage of the site online. Some focus groups may require paper tests. What are GSA's demographic specifications and how many participants will you require in each focus group. Demographics will be given at award based on FirstGov web site statistics. The number of participants in each focus group should be less than 10. Can the facilitator, observer, and note taker roles all be performed by the same person? Can the tests be conducted sequentially so that a single person can effectively perform the requirements of this task? We do not believe that one person can do all the jobs effectively if there are several participants tested at once. The contractor should use his discretion to propose the methodology that best meets the Government?s requirements. Does the government have a list of potential or actual ?key stakeholders? that are currently identified? If so will the government provide this information to prospective offeror/bidders? Yes, but we will make this list available at the time of the award and will seek the advice of the contractor on the final list. We do not have specific individuals identified, only groups.
- Record
- SN20011221/00008727-011220091111 (fbodaily.com)
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