THIS AMENDMENT IS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS RECEIVED AND EXTEND THE SOLICTATION PERIOD. ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS REMAIN THE SAME.
Q. Has the Government commissioned earlier versions of this work or portions of this work before from Contractor(s) or had this or similar work done by Government employees? If so, please explain. If some portion of the work was performed by some contractors, please provide the contract numbers associated with those portions of work.
A) There is a good discussion of the CCC work completed in the park in the Cultural Landscape Report for Vicksburg National Military Park. The intent of this contract is to use the CLR as a foundation and supplement it with a thorough level (not exhaustive level) of research in archives to fill in gaps.
Q) PWS Part 2(B): Does the Government have a specific list of non-Park repositories (beyond NARA or local/state archives) that the contractor is expected to visit, or should the contractor assume full identification and scoping of all off-site repositories?
A) No, the contractor should identify and scope these. However, the contractor may find that NARA and state archives are sufficient.
3) PWS Part 2(B): Will Park staff provide any introductory letters or assistance for accessing privately held archives or special collections, or should the contractor budget time and effort for gaining access independently?
A) No, the contractor should gain independent access. The park can make an e-introduction to Taylor Hegler, the former VICK employee who conducted her master's thesis if need be. Please note that the budget for this project is limited, so the contractor will need to balance budget constraints with thorough-level research; again, it is anticipated that most of the needed information is already included in the CLR and can be used as a foundation for this report.
Q) PWS Part 3(A): For the multi-chapter study, is there a preferred approximate word count or page count for the final narrative, or will the Government accept any length that sufficiently covers the required topics?
A) No, this is up to the contractor to decide length based on information in the CLR and found in other archives.
Q) PWS Part 4(A): Does the Government have any preferred design templates or formatting guidelines for the waysides beyond text/image content (e.g., required color palettes, layout dimensions), or does ¿design¿ simply refer to suggested textual and visual content?
A) NPS uses standard waysides templates with an NPS arrowhead and black banner. These templates can be found on the NPS Harpers Ferry Design Center website and will be provided to the contractor by the park after contract award.
Q) PWS ¿Submittals & Reviews¿: Does the Government have any target range for length or word count so that contractor and Government expectations can be aligned with respect to thoroughness, etc.?
A) No, the government does not have a target range for length.
Q) Price Schedule: Is there a recommended format or template to present the detailed cost breakdown (labor hours, travel, etc.), or should offerors simply provide a line-item cost proposal with sufficient narrative detail?
A) A simple price table was provided in the solicitation. However, if that is not sufficient you may submit your own pricing schedule.
Q) Proposal Submission: Is there a maximum page limit or file-size limit for the technical proposal, including font size restrictions, etc?
A) All proposals are being submitted electronically; please ensure that file sizes are kept within standard email limits to avoid delivery issues.
Q) Submissions: Besides the submission of the Experience & Past Performance form, is the Government expecting any other narrative document, for example a separate narrative Technical Proposal? If only the Experience and Past Performance form is requested from offerors, then where would offerors proposed "work plan" be placed? (Award process section states, "The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotations: 1. Technical capability of the quoter ... and merits of the work plan."
A) In addition to the required Experience and Past Performance form, offerors are encouraged to submit a separate technical narrative, as it may help strengthen their proposal
Q) RFQ Clause 52.212-2(a) (¿Technical Capability¿): Does the Government want a detailed staffing plan showing each labor category and estimated hours, or is a general description of the team¿s roles and responsibilities sufficient if it meets PWS qualifications?
A) A general description is fine
Q) RFQ Clause 52.212-2(b) (¿Past Performance¿): Will the Government consider academic publications or publicly available historical research as part of past performance, or should references be limited to formal contract-based work?
A) Formal contract base work is preferred, but all credible and relevant experience will be considered.
Q) Past Performance Form p.1 (¿Project Name/Value¿): Is the Government expecting offerors to submit both this form and a separate past-performance narrative in the proposal, or is completion of the form alone sufficient?
A) The form is sufficient
Q) Past Performance Form p.1 (¿Number of Projects¿): Are all projects used as past performance to be those of the Prime contractor and subcontractor companies? Or can past performance also be from staff being proposed?
A) Past performance may include relevant projects by the prime/sub/or key personnel, as long as the experience clearly demonstrates the capability to perform the work
Q) Past Performance Form p.3 (¿Key Personnel Qualifications¿): If the same individual will serve as both Principal Investigator and Project Historian, should we list that person twice on separate forms or combine those roles on a single entry?
A) As long as it is clearly identified, a single entry is sufficient
Q) Segregated CCC Camps: Sources indicate certain CCC companies at Vicksburg were racially segregated¿should the contractor¿s contextual study discuss segregation policy and its local effects in detail, or is a brief acknowledgement of separate camps sufficient?
A) A combination of both approaches is preferred. This is an area of unexplored history in the park, so the contractor will need to address both.
Q) Depth of Economic/Social Analysis: Period documents show that CCC activity boosted Vicksburg¿s businesses (e.g., supplies, labor)¿does the Government want a fully researched economic impact study using local records, or just a high-level overview of typical New Deal benefits?
A) A high-level of typical New Deal benefits is preferred, with 1-2 specific examples at Vicksburg is fine.
Q) Old Administration Building Relocation: Some references mention that the CCC-built administration building was later relocated¿should the contractor investigate and document those engineering/relocation details, or only provide the building¿s basic historical context?
A) The Old Administration Building that was built by the CCC has not been relocated and remains in its original location. The building has a double-level concrete basement, so there is no way the building could have been moved. Original construction drawings from the 1930s, clearly show it in its current location. It was common for the CCC to build and move their own administration buildings, but that is not the focus of this study.
Q) Comparison with Other Civil War Parks: CCC programs at Shiloh, Chickamauga, and other sites show similar work¿should the contractor conduct a detailed comparative analysis or just a concise summary of how Vicksburg¿s program fit into broader New Deal-era projects?
A) Concise summary is preferred. The budget for this project is limited.
Q) Local or Family Records: Some families in the region may have diaries, letters, or secondhand accounts of CCC camp life¿should the contractor seek out these privately held sources (e.g., via genealogical societies), or rely solely on archival/official documents already known to the Park?
A) Official archival documents are preferred. The budget for this project is limited.
Q) Archival Photographs & Permissions: There are 1930s photos of CCC enrollees building roads, dams, etc.¿should the contractor perform in-depth provenance and usage-rights research for each image, or simply incorporate any available images with standard citations?
A) Please incorporate any available images with standard citations.
Q) Technical vs. Historical Erosion Control Details: CCC enrollees performed large-scale erosion control on Vicksburg¿s loess slopes¿should the contractor include technical data (e.g., soil types, slope stabilization methods), or only a historical narrative of why erosion control mattered?
A) A historical narrative of why erosion control mattered with 1-2 specific examples of what was performed at VICK will suffice.
