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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF JUNE 05, 2016 FBO #5308
DOCUMENT

R -- Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Support Services - Attachment

Notice Date

6/3/2016
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541690 — Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
 

Contracting Office

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs;Strategic Acquisition Center;10300 Spotsylvania Ave;Fredericksburg VA 22408
 

ZIP Code

22408
 

Solicitation Number

VA11916R0179
 

Response Due

6/10/2016
 

Archive Date

7/10/2016
 

Point of Contact

Charisse.jJames2@va.gov
 

Small Business Set-Aside

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
 

Description

The following are the Government's answers in response to questions raised by industry: Question 1:How are these services currently being performed? Under contract? In-house? Answer 1:Services are currently being performed under contract. Question 2: If these requirements are currently being performed under a contract, a.Who is the Contractor? b.What is the contract number? c.When does the contract expire? d.What is the current contract value? Answer 2:a.K-Force Government Solutions, Inc. b.Information will not be released. c.Information will not be released. d.Information will not be released. Question 3: What is the anticipated RFP release date? Answer 3:Request for Proposals (RFP) will be released by July 1, 2016. Question 4:Is there an anticipated release date for the Data Analytics Support Services RFP? Answer 4:See Answer 3. Question5:Can you provide details on the timeframe for solicitation release, if it has been determined? Answer 5:See Answer 3. Question 6:PWS Paragraph 5.1.5. The Government states that interactive dashboards will be built using "visual analytics tools in use at FSC." In order to propose the correct labor categories and skill levels, could the Government provide the name and version of the visual analytics tools in use at FSC. Answer 6:The Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Services Center (VA-FSC) is currently using Tibco Spotfire, version 7.0. Question 7:PWS General - In order to propose the optimal staff with appropriate skill sets, could the Government explain what they anticipate to be the usage patterns for models and reports i.e. how many users, how frequently will they access? Answer 7:Currently, users access developed products at unspecified intervals. The primary types of users include oversight bodies, mid-level managers, and senior leadership. Products are built and tailored to the specific roles required for the product. Further, product views are tailored organizationally. Delivering a strong analytic program consisting of a range of products at the enterprise level (i.e., across the entire VA) is a central objective. Question 8:Would there be different roles and end-users for the respective business lines? Answer 8:Yes Question 9: In order to assess the risk associated with the 'Liquidated Damages for Data Breach Clause, will the contractor that performs this work have access to sensitive personnel information (SPI) or personal health information (PHI)? If yes, a. Please clarify number of records. b. Please clarify which specific PWS tasks have the potential for exposure to Personally Identifiable Information (PII)/PHI. c. Will the team have access to SPI data in production environment? OR How will the contractor be required to handle the SPI/PII data? Answer 9:a.Record size varies by product requirement and can range from thousands to millions of records/product. b. All tasks that include the concepts of extract, transform, and load (ETL), data mining, development/ delivery of analytic models, data analytic reporting, health data, and business intelligence. c. Yes. PII/PHI data handling will follow VA/VHA/Federal rules and locally developed procedures for masking/aggregation/test/dev and so on. Question 10: PWS Paragraph 10.1 - Booz Allen and VHA have a National Business Associate Agreement (BAA) signed and currently in place. This National BAA takes precedence over any locally signed agreement. Booz Allen has been advised by VHA not to sign local agreements for the same services without first contacting the VA's Health Information Access/National Data Systems office. Please advise if Booz Allen provides a fully executed copy of this agreement, if this will satisfy the requirement for the resultant RFP. Answer 10:The BAA you are referring to is between Booz Allen and VHA. FSC does not fall under VHA. Question 11:With respect to meta data management and master data management, will the Government describe the tools VA is currently using for Master Data Management (MDM)? Examples may include Informatica, RiverSand, Tibco, Oracle, Microsoft MDS, Talend or others. Answer 11: The government currently uses Informatica and is evaluating integration possibilities with Tibco, SAS--further work with Informatica is under evaluation. Question 12:Currently the market offers a number of Open Source advanced analytics. What is the VA's position with regard to utilizing these Open Source components? An Example would be Open Source analytics libraries for R. Answer 12: FSC routinely uses R and considers open source components as integral to the use of the primary Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) tool; FSC also looks to use of additional open-source applications subject to technology and security constraints. Answer 13: With respect to the evolving world of analytics and Big Data, has the VA planned for additions to the Technical Reference Model (TRM) to utilize specialized hardware and software to accommodate highly scalable and advanced analytics? Examples would be Nutanix, Mongo DB, Neo4J, or potential Open Source components. Answer 13:FSC is closely working with Information Technology (IT) on the appropriate architecture (to include open sourced environments) given growing demand, complexity and size of data. Structuring architecture for analytics requirements is recognized as a critical enabler. Question 14: With regard to data types and data sources, we suggest the VA be more explicit on the types of data to be used within the solicitation. For example, will analytics data be comprised of patient medical records, epidemiological, pharmaceutical, scheduling, financial/accounting, inventory and vendor, human resources, email, etc.? Answer 14:Data types/sources: Primarily Structured Query Language (SQL) based and includes operational/transactional data in financial and healthcare systems. Business contexts include data associated with commercial payments, payroll, human resources, finance/accounting, vendors, purchase card transactions, timekeeping, federal grants, healthcare resources, patient demographics/density, provider/other resource density, and other related areas. Question 15: Does the VA plan on utilizing any Open Source data that can be combined with internal (proprietary) data to perform advanced surveillance analytics? For example, monitoring of social feeds, blogs, or news sites. Answer 15:Yes Question 16:The PWS indicates 8-12 projects of (small - large). Can the Government provide some examples of complexity or otherwise provide an indication of the historic level of effort? Answer 16:Yes. Complexity of work is driven by a number of factors, including current level of analytic maturity in the organization; staffing levels; staff competencies; staff experience; programmatic infrastructure; linkages with data management; and a host of other factors. A solid framework for analytics has been built with delivery of proofs of concept focused on one of our core product areas (e.g., purchase card analytics). With recognition that the greater operational environment is not in a fully mature state, the complexities of product development and implementation interact with the greater environment. Optimal and rapid delivery of products require ongoing attention to change management activities, recognition that analytics requires strong work with business units (particularly action/oversight bodies), integration of agile methods into the product development process, and ongoing program maintenance/management of contract resources. The products are frequently interrelated and require the ability to integrate common elements while delivering defined solutions for customers, often given rapidly changing and fuzzy requirements. Question 17:PWS General - To better enable the vendor to forecast the optimal Level of Effort (LoE). Could the Government please confirm whether the VA intends to release requirements documentation with the final solicitation of the PWS that quantifiably articulates the number of analytics, metrics, reports, and interfacing systems? Answer 17:Aside from the summaries and high-level product areas already described and the responses in this document, VA does not plan to release specific information on products, metrics, reports and related BI&A components. Question 18:PWS General. Will the Government confirm if the project will require a FISMA-medium rating? Answer 18:FSC's supporting IT and ISO experts provide a framework for ensuring compliance with FISMA. Activities supporting the development, implementation and sustainment of analytics will comply with VA 6500, FISMA and coordinating instructions/regulations, and so on from FSC's supporting IT organization. Data analytics works closely with IT to ensure compliance with requirements under the Act. Given the nature of the data that we routinely work with, we view the classification as FISMA-high. Question 19:What EDI formats and exchange versions is the VA currently using and which third-party EDI services (providers or clearinghouses) is the VA dependent? Answer 19:FSC use the HIPAA mandated X12 5010 and National Council of Prescription Drug Program (NCPDP) D.0 versions. X12 and NCPDP are the data standards and 5010 and D.0 are the versions of those standards. FSC also uses Health Level 7 (HL7) version 2.4 but HL7 is not a HIPAA mandated standard but it is widely used in the industry. NCPDP: use for Outpatient Pharmacy Claims transactions. HL7: use for Insurance Verification transactions. X12: used for claims, remittance, EFT, EOB, insurance verification, referrals. Regarding Clearinghouses: FSC uses Change Healthcare (formerly known as Emdeon) and TransUnion. Change Healthcare handles claims, remittance, insurance verifications, and Pharmacy Claims while TransUnion is only of Insurance Verification. Question 20:Could the PWS be modified so that an offeror is permitted to meet the capabilities provided by the specific tools mentioned, but perhaps through different software that performs functions that are same or similar to the specified tools rather than expertise in the precise tool(s) specified? Answer 20:The PWS cannot be modified to reflect a tool-agnostic (or tool-other) approach since specified tools are in fact utilized by the team. Clearly, expertise in the methods used in the tools currently utilized (e.g., analytic methods, graphical methods, integration of analytic/graphical methods, multi-system data integration, etc.) is expected and description of this expertise coupled with a demonstrated ability to use tools occupying the same analytic space-if not the ones specifically identified-would be important. Question 21:The PWS mentions that some staff may be approved for "telecommuting". Could the PWS provide greater information regarding the proportion of tasks that may be conducted through telecommuting staff, versus the proportion on-site? Answer 21:The degree to which an individual teleworks depends upon mission requirements and the extent to which the requirements call for on-site work for the particular staff member. In some cases, contract staff are required to conduct work that calls for more face-to-face coordination and analytic work onsite. No hard and fast proportions can be determined beforehand because of the drivers of the need to work on-site versus telework are variable. Question 22:Section 5.1.5, mentions the requirement for interactive dashboards. What software is currently being used or is preferred to display data? Answer 22:The software currently being used is Tibco Spotfire, which can display data in a wide range of formats (graphical, numerical, etc.). Question 23:Past Performance Requirements, What are the specific past performance requirements; within the last 5 years? Or will you refer to CPARS record? Do individual staff project experiences count toward the past perf requirements? Do past perf from teaming partners count? Answer 23:See Section E.6 FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items - Addendum. Question 24:Will the solicitation be released on a schedule such as MOBIS or will it be open? Answer 24:The solicitation will be set-aside to SDVOSB's only and posted on www.fbo.gov. See Standard Form 1449, Block 10. GSA MOBIS will not be utilized. Question 25:Could you please provide the incumbent contract number? If not, is this a new requirement? Answer 25:See Answer 2. Question 26:Are all SAMS registered firms eligible to respond to this opportunity, or is this specifically a SDVOSB set aside? Answer 26:See Answer 24.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/adc4b01cbb4e78c7cc8ae5451264e5c6)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: VA119-16-R-0179 VA119-16-R-0179_3.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2774650&FileName=VA119-16-R-0179-015.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2774650&FileName=VA119-16-R-0179-015.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN04138424-W 20160605/160603234824-adc4b01cbb4e78c7cc8ae5451264e5c6 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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