AN11--Amendment for Solicitation 36C24E26Q0043 - Survey Services for EVOLVE for Women's Healthcare

Amendment for Solicitation 36C24E26Q0043 Survey Services for EVOLVE
This solicitation is being amended for the following:
1. Deadline for quotes is extended to 06/05/2026, 3:30 PM Eastern Time.
2. Answers are provided to timely received questions.
Questions and Answers
Q1: Is this a brand new contract or is/was there an incumbent performing these services?
A1: This is a brand new contract.
Q2: Does VA have an estimate or past data on the percentage of the 3,600 completed surveys by mode - web and phone?
A2: This is a new survey; therefore, past data are not available. The goal of 3,600 completed surveys allows for a response rate as low as 24% while still achieving our desired sample size. Based on prior studies we anticipate a response rate of 40%.
Q3: Does VA have an estimate or past data on the number of women Veterans who call 800# requesting a phone survey during Task 5?
A3: This is a brand new contract so no estimate or past data is available.
Q4: Can VA provide a copy of the survey? Will the final survey instrument be available to the vendor upon contract award? If not, please indicate when the final survey instrument is expected to be provided.
A4: The survey questions will be provided by the study team upon execution of the contract and a signed and finalized DUA.
Q5: Does the survey have open-ended questions? If yes, how many? Will VA want verbatim responses to be coded by the Vendor?
A5: No open-ended questions are included in the survey, with the exception of approximately 50 fields in which participants are invited to elaborate briefly (a few words maximum) when selecting the response of Other.
Q6: The SOW states: Vendor must have a minimum of 3 years of experience setting up and managing secure texting for multimodal VA surveys for Veterans. Would the Government consider this requirement satisfied if a vendor has comparable experience setting up and managing secure texting for multimodal surveys conducted outside of VA, such as surveys performed for the Department of Defense or Defense Health Agency (DHA)?
A6: One of our requirements is that the vendor has experience working with the VA population thus we cannot accept substitute experience.
Q7: May required experience (e.g., secure texting for VA surveys, multimodal VA survey experience) be met through the experience of proposed subcontractors or key personnel?
A7: One of our requirements is that the vendor has experience working with the VA population thus we cannot accept substitute experience.
Q8: The SOW requires that the Vendor must be able to host web surveys via a VA domain that is mobile friendly and 508 compliant. Please clarify whether the Government intends to: Provide the Vendor access to an existing VA platform (e.g., VA Qualtrics) for survey programming and hosting; or Require the Vendor to program and host the survey on the Vendor s own secure platform?
A8: Vendor will program and host the survey on Vendor s own secure platform.
Q9: Can you please explain the significance of the two recruitment strata described in the SOW, including how they are intended to be used in the study design and reporting?
A9: The RFQ is for survey services is to conduct a one-time survey, obtaining survey responses from approximately 3,600 reproductive-age female Veterans and VA Puget Sound will provide the participant list divided into two strata. The purpose of the two recruitment strata is to achieve statistical power to detect disparities in certain Veteran characteristics.
Q10: Beyond the two defined strata, are there additional demographic considerations (e.g., age bands, geography, race/ethnicity, service era) that vendors should be aware of in planning recruitment strategies to achieve the targeted number of completes within each stratum?
A10: No. The two defined strata are the requirement.
Q11: In what language(s) is the survey required to be administered? Please confirm whether English only administration is acceptable or whether additional languages (e.g., Spanish) are required.
A11: Only English.
Q12: The RFP references managing secure texting for multimodal surveys in the vendor characteristics, but the scope refers to sending Veterans text messages for surveys (which is different from secure messaging services used by VA). Can secure texting in this context be interpreted as sending text messages in a secure environment?
A12: Yes.
Q13: Is complex logic required in the survey program?
A13: Yes, about 2/3 of the questions in the survey involve skip logic. Most do not involve complex skip logic.
Q14: Is there a pricing template the government would like us to populate?
A14: See 1.0 Supplies/Services, pages 2-3 of 36C24E26Q0043.
Q15: Re: CLIN line items 0001 0008. Should the eight tasks be priced as discrete FFP line items invoiced upon CLIN completion, or as components of an aggregate FFP price invoiced on a milestone or monthly basis?
A15: Line items are paid in arrears for services performed.
Q16: How long does Task 6 last? Specifically, once telephone follow-up begins for non-responders, how long can the vendor continue with telephone follow-up before VA provides "... a second participant list consisting of approximately 3,000-6,000 Veterans."?
A16: Timing of the provision of a second recruitment list (if one is needed) will be determined collaboratively between the Vendor and VA study team. The timing will depend on the Vendor and VA study team s assessment of recruitment progress.
Q17: Re: Salient Characteristic Vendor must have a call center that is available to make calls in the evenings and on weekends (non-business hours) in all United States time zones. What inbound call volume should Vendors assume for pricing the 800# operations (incoming opt-outs, questions, inbound survey completions)? Should pricing assume a defined IVR menu and after-hours voicemail-only window, or live-agent coverage during all evening/weekend hours?
A17: Vendor should prepare for the response volume to obtain the minimum of 3,600 responses from the participant list (470 from stratum 1 and 3,130 from stratum 2).
Q18: Re: SOW Scope, paragraph beginning VA Puget Sound will provide a participant list of approximately 9,000 Veterans If a meaningful share of the 9,000-record sample frame is unreachable (disconnected phone, deceased, hard refusals, ineligible), will VA replenish the frame to preserve stratum minimums (470 / 3,130), or does the Vendor bear the response-rate risk?
A18: If the minimum of 3,600 responses is not achieved from the participant list of 1,200 Veterans in stratum 1 and 7,800 Veterans in stratum 2 for a total of 9,000 Veterans records, VA will provide a second participant list consisting of approximately 3,000-6,000 Veterans (400 in stratum 1 and 2600-5200 in stratum 2). Vendor will conduct recruitment efforts until a minimum of 3,600 responses have been obtained (470 from stratum 1 and 3,130 from stratum 2).
Q19: Re: SOW Scope, sentence The participant list will be supplied to the Vendor via a study VA Box.com account before survey recruitment efforts begin. When will the 9,000-record participant list be transferred to the Vendor at contract award, at DUA execution, or after IRB clearance?
A19: Vendor must be able to execute a Data Use Agreement (DUA) with the VA upon award and prior to survey launch. The participant list is VA data, the survey questions are VA data. The DUA must be executed prior to the provision of participant lists or survey questions.
Vendor will independently apply for an IRB determination from their own IRB of record prior to beginning data collection. The participant list will be supplied to the Vendor upon execution of a DUA and subsequent IRB approval.
Q20: Re: Salient Characteristic Vendor must be able to launch survey within three months of contract execution, read together with Deliverable 1 ( Within 1 month of date of award Obtain IRB determination from Vendor s IRB of record ). Does the 3-month launch clock include the IRB month, or does the clock start at IRB approval? If inclusive, is parallel-pathing IRB and recruitment-material development acceptable?
A20: The Vendor must be able to launch the survey within 3 months of contract execution and a signed and finalized DUA (not IRB approval). Parallel-pathing IRB approval, survey programming, recruitment material development and staff training (Tasks 1-4) are expected.
Q21: Re: Salient Characteristic Vendor must be able to support and comply with IRB requirements (including reliance agreements or vendor IRB review, if required) prior to survey launch, read together with Task 1 ( The Vendor will independently apply for an IRB determination from their own IRB of record prior to beginning data collection ). The two clauses appear to offer alternative pathways. Does VA prefer a Vendor IRB determination, or will VA execute a reliance agreement with the VA Central IRB under IRBNet ID 1829172?
A21: Vendor must independently apply for an IRB determination from their own IRB of record. The final versions of the recruitment materials under Task 3 require review from both VA CIRB and the vendor s IRB of record.
Q22: Re: SOW Scope, paragraph beginning If the minimum of 3,600 responses is not achieved from the participant list, VA will provide a second participant list Is recruitment against the second list (3,000 6,000 additional records, 400 800 in stratum 1 / 2,600 5,200 in stratum 2) included in the base FFP price for CLINs 0005 0006, or should it be priced as a separately-invoiced option?
A22: Recruitment and data collection is part of Task 5 that aligns with Line Item 0005 Task 5 Recruitment and data collection.
Q23: Re: Task 2 (Survey Programming): The survey will consist of 140-170 questions. Vendor will conduct rigorous testing to ensure the survey is programmed correctly. Will the instrument be locked at contract award, or subject to revision after programming begins? What is the change-control process and pricing mechanism if VA adds or modifies questions after Task 2 begins?
A23: The survey instrument will not be subject to revision after programming begins. Survey questions will be provided by the Study Team per Task 2. The survey will consist of 140-170 questions. Vendor will conduct rigorous testing to ensure the survey is programmed correctly. In addition, Vendor will provide VA team access to online survey so they may test and confirm it is programmed correctly. Line Item 0002 Task 2 Survey Programming is priced to cover Task 2.
Q24: Re: Task 3 (Developing Recruitment Materials): provide final versions to study team so the study team can submit the final versions for VA CIRB review and approval. What is the VA Central IRB s anticipated review-and-approval turnaround for the recruitment materials package? This drives the Task 4 training-and-soft-launch start date.
A24: In our experience with this project, VA CIRB review and approval of project amendments has taken less than two weeks. Training and soft launch may take place concurrently with IRB review.
Q25: Re: Tasks 5 6 (Recruitment and Data Collection / Telephone Follow-up). The SOW does not reference participant incentive payments. Is VA assuming incentives will be offered (and if so, at what amount per respondent and through what payment mechanism), or is the recruitment protocol non-incentivized?
A25: Incentives are not part of this RFQ and will be disbursed by the VA study team.
Q26: Re: subsection VA Form 10-0593 Assignment of Functional Categories, including Vendor staff are required to complete the VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior training and Privacy and HIPAA training. Vendor will need to set up TMS accounts in order to complete these trainings. Must Vendor staff complete these requirements before contract award, before survey launch, or before any Veteran contact? What is VA s typical TMS account provisioning timeline for contractor staff after award?
A26: VA required trainings are to be completed upon contract award and prior to survey launch. Trainings will be coordinated by the VA Station POC/COTR. Under 1.1 Statement of Work (SOW) on pages 19-20 #9 Training (b) copies of training certificates and signed Contractor Rules of Behavior for each applicable employee are due within 1 week of the initiation of the contract and annually thereafter as required.
Q27: Can the government confirm if the government would like to see Key Personnel resumes submitted with the proposal?
A27: Key Personnel will not be named in the contract
Q28: Will the government please confirm if there are any overall page limitations or other instructions for the proposal?
A28: Instructions to the Quoter start on page 21.
Q29: Will the government consider teaming subcontractors' CPARs for Past Performance?
A29: There is no subcontracting on this RFQ. It is 100% set-aside for small business concerns vendors.
Q30: The solicitation does not specify the number, type, or relevance criteria for past performance references. Can you please clarify?
A30: Past Performance will be based on the most current CPARS Report. (Lack of past performance with government entity will be rated as neutral .)
Q31: In cases where CPARS is unavailable (e.g., for non Federal or older contracts), may vendors submit alternative past performance documentation, such as Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs) or client references?
A31: Past Performance will be based on the most current CPARS Report. (Lack of past performance with government entity will be rated as neutral .)
Q32: Could the government confirm if CPARS are the only past performance required, or if the government would like to see specific examples of projects of similar size and scope?
A32: Past Performance will be based on the most current CPARS Report. (Lack of past performance with government entity will be rated as neutral .)
Q33: Re: the Deliverables table (which keys deliverables to Y1Q1 Y1Q4) and Period of Performance section ( 12 months from the time of contract award ). What is VA s planning date for contract award?
A33: Anticipated contract award is as soon as possible upon receipt and evaluation of any capable and qualified quotes.