County of Alameda, General Services Agency – Purchasing
RFP No. 900977, Addendum No. 2
COUNTY OF ALAMEDA
ADDENDUM No. 2
to
RFP No. 901164
for
Computer Software Training
Specification Clarification/Modification and Recap of the Networking/Bidders Conferences
Held on August 19, 2013 and August 20, 2013
This County of Alameda, General Services Agency (GSA), RFPAddendum has been electronically issued to potential bidders via e-mail. E-mail addresses used are those in the County’s Small Local Emerging Business (SLEB) Vendor Database or from other sources. If you have registered or are certified as a SLEB, please ensure that the complete and accurate e-mail address is noted and kept updated in the SLEB Vendor Database. This RFP Addendum will also be posted on the GSA Contracting Opportunities website located at .Alameda County is committed to reducing environmental impacts across our entire supply chain.
If printing this document, please print only what you need, print double-sided, and use recycled-content paper.
RFP No. 900977, Addendum No. 2
Page 1
County of Alameda, General Services Agency – Purchasing
RFP No. 901164, Addendum No. 2
The following Sections have been modified to read as shown below. Changes made to the original RFP document are in bold print and highlighted, and deletions made have a strike through.
PLEASE NOTE:
EXHIBIT A HAS BEEN DELETED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND REPLACED WITH A REVISED EXHIBIT A, INCLUDING A REVISED BID FORM, WHICH IS ATTACHED TO THIS ADDENDUM.
Responses to Questions
Q1)Can a SLEB bid as a prime and as a subcontractor with a non-SLEB prime vendor?
A)Yes.
Q2)Does the County require a subcontractor to submit a separate response from the Prime’s or should the sub-contractor work with the Prime to submit one proposal?
A)A subcontractor is not required to submit a separate bid response. See Exhibit A (Revised) included in this addendum for specific instructions for subcontractors.
Q3)How will the County ensure that SLEB goals are met?
A)It is the Primes responsibility to ensure that the SLEB commitments are met. The County monitors the compliance through the use of the Elation System.
Q4)If a Prime is a SLEB and the subcontractor is not a SLEB, does the Prime still have to meet the 20% SLEB requirement?
A)No.
Q5)Can a subcontractor subcontract with more than one Prime?
A)Yes.
Q6)Will the County require bidders to bid on all items?
A)No.
Q7)How does a student sign up for a class – individually or referral by their supervisor?
A)A student can sign up for a class either by themselves or with their supervisor’s approval. Their department does pay for the training because it oftentimes is a requirement for the job. The County also provides training to employees from other cities.
Q8)Will the County describe the range of computer skills of the students?
A)Most students are at the beginning/intermediate skills range, e.g., beginning Word, Excel, andOutlook. There are not as many requests for advanced courses. What the County has done in the past is to modularize the requests into a “tips and tricks” type class, e.g., a half-day class on Excel pivot tables. The County would like to supplement this with online/e-learning courses.
Q9)Is the County looking for recommendations on how to shorten full-day classes to “tips and tricks” type classes?
A)The County is looking for both full and half day and modularized classes. The County has found it to be more cost effective and efficient to have shorter classes than a full-day class.
Q10)Will the pricing be a flat fee or per student?
A)The pricing will be a flat fee for either a full day or half day.
Q11)Is the County expecting the workbooks to come from the vendor or are the workbooks coming from the County’s Training and Education Conference Center (TEC)?
A)The County’s TEC buys the workbooks directly from the supplier and requires that the vendors use them. If a vendor has its own workbooks, the County asks the vendor to allow it to copy the workbook(s) orto provide the workbooks as an exception for a modularized class. Fees for vendor provided workbooks must be indicated in bid.
Q12)For the modularized classes, is the County expecting the vendor to streamline the existing workbooks or bring in their own to use?
A)The County is open to either option – whichever one is more expedient and/or cost effective.
Q13)Does the County want pricing for the workbooks included on the proposal?
A)Yes. The vendor may provide pricing for the workbooks as part of their bid proposal.
Page 6 of Exhibit A, Informational Pricing states:
In the event the County chooses the vendor to provide educational materials, please provide an estimated cost for Participant Workbooks at $__ per book.
The vendor should include the cost of the workbooks and the topics covered in those workbooks. The County strongly encourages vendors to include any pricing breaks for the workbooks and any other material.
Q14)Is the County looking for theContractor to help with marketing materials around the training or is this something that the County would like to own it in-house?
A)Because of the number of vendors that the County utilizes, the County would like to own the material so as to not brand any training with a specific vendor. The County is open to marketing ideas but cannot use any one vendor’s branded material.
Q15)How many vendors will be in the pool?
A)A maximum of ten (10). More importantly, the County would like a breadth of software training available.
Q16)How many vendors are the County using currently?
A)Two vendors, with subcontractors and staff.
Q17)How will the County distribute work between vendors after the contract is awarded? Is it through a competitive process (i.e., cost) or will the TEC divide out the work based on vendor’s expertise and/or capabilities?
A)The pricing for the training is set after the vendor submits their proposal. After that, the County will distribute the work as equally as possible amongst all the qualified vendors for a particular subject. Sometimes, a particular department may ask for a specific vendor to teach a particular class.
Q18)Is the County looking for vendors with complimentaryskill sets or a pool of vendors that have similar skill/tool sets?
A)Both.
Q19)How much in advance would a vendor know about the rollout of a program over a period of a month?
A)The TEC Department usually gets together with the vendors in the fall to plan for the upcoming year based on the training needs of the County. The actual calendar is published quarterly (about two months before a quarter) to County employees.
Q20)If a vendor already has a contract with another County agency, how does this impact the pricing of this RFP?
A)If a County agency requested a specific vendor that they have a contract with from the TEC, then this vendor will be billed from the TEC contract and TEC will bill the agency accordingly.
Q21)Can the County provide the fee schedule and workbook costs from the current contract?
A)Yes, please email Nicholas Roberts for that information: .
Q22)How will the County measure the quality of the training, beyond what’s already listed on the RFP?
A)Students are given an evaluation to fill out after every class. What TEC is looking for, on a scale of 1 – 5, is an average rating of 4 or higher. In addition, past references, vendor’s approach to training, and presentation skills are some of the things that the County will look for at the vendor interview portion of the RFP process.
Q23)Will the County explain the difference between coaching and consulting?
A)An example of a consulting service is training an internal customer on the use of proprietary software. In this case, the vendor must be able to understand then develop/design a training specific to that piece of software. In addition, the vendor must scope the work (but not change the pricing) and estimate how much the project will cost the internal customer for the training. There may be more than one vendor interested in this project so the customer will be the one who’ll choose which of the bids they will take. Consulting services is not often requested. Coaching usually is done on a one-to-one or small group basis, where users need extra help to learn the software.
Q24)What percentage of the training will be outside the TEC?
A)A very small percentage, approximately 10%. For computer trainings, most will be held at the TEC. There may be times where trainers are asked to train at a different location.
Q25)Where would a vendor put on the bid form pricing for e-learning or public classes?
A)See the revised bid form in Exhibit A (Revised) included in this addendum.
Q26)Would the County also like to have open enrollment/public/offsite classes offered by the vendor?
A)No. The County would not encourage students to attend offsite classes if they were already offered onsite. However, if there was a class that only one person wanted to take and a vendor could offer that class at a discount, the County may refer that student to the vendor.
Q27)Would the County advertise offsite trainings offered by the vendors?
A)No, however, if a student asked for a class that was not offered through the County, TEC will refer them to a vendor who had that training available.
Q28)Page 8 of the RFP, Section D (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), item 13 states:
13. If damage is done to the computer lab site and requires readjustment and/or resetting, Contractor will be charged $85.00/hour for work required to repair the lab. This is non-negotiable.
Can the County clarify what this means?
A)This usually occurred with the software, where the vendor changed the setting or configuration of the computer. The County asks that vendors work with the County’s Information Technology department if they wish to change the configuration or setting for a training.
Q29)In addition to the Microsoft suite of software listed on pages 6 and 7 of the RFP, Section D (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), will the County clarify what other trainings the County wants to see?
A)On page 6 of the RFP, Section D. (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), Item 2, the County would like to see training on Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft Project, and Visio. Item 2 is the new, emerging technology that the County would like to provide.
Q30)Is the County looking for a vendor who can train in everything listed on page 6 of the RFP, Section D, (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS)?
A)No, at a minimum vendors are required to be able to train on the Microsoft Office Suite products.
Q31)Page 8 of Exhibit A (REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION AND SUBMITTALS), Item 4 (Description of the Proposed Curriculum and Educational Materials) states:
4. Bid response shall include a description of the proposed curriculum, as it will be taught during the term of the contract. The description shall specify how the proposed curriculum will meet or exceed the requirements of the County and shall explain any advantages that this proposed curriculum would have over any other curriculum. The description shall include any disadvantages or limitations that the County should be aware of in evaluating the proposal. Please include samples of pertinent workbooks to be provided at the choice of the County.
Is the County asking for the actual physical workbooks or will a table of contents suffice?
A)The County is looking for actual workbooks. Vendors will be asked to train using workbooks that the County will supply. However, there may be cases where the training is so specific that the County will not have workbooks; in that case, the vendor will be asked to supply their own workbooks. The County wants to see a sample of that work.
Q32)Page 9 of Exhibit A (REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION AND SUBMITTALS), Item 7 (Implementation Plan and Schedule) states:
- The bid response shall include an implementation plan and schedule which includes bidder’s approach to working with the TEC in scheduling classes and projects. The plan for implementing the proposed training and services shall include a County Acceptance Test Plan (ATP).
Can the County explain what an ATP is?
A)See Exhibit A (Revised) included in this addendum. The ATP requirement has been removed.
Q33)Page 9 of Exhibit A (REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION AND SUBMITTALS), Item 6 (Description of the Training Experience) states:
- Bid responses shall include a description of previous experience in training for any indicated courses. Describe the training techniques utilized in courses. Describe the use of social learning if utilized.
Can the County clarify what “social learning” means?
A)Social learning is using social media for pre or post training, i.e., application of learning using social media techniques. An example is using social media technology to follow up on a class.
Q34)Can a prime and its subcontractor combine their references?
A)See Exhibit A (Revised) included in this addendum.
Q35)Can a prime and its subcontractor combine their instructors?
A)See Exhibit A (Revised) included in this addendum.
Q36)Page 13 of the RFP, Section III.G. (EVALUATION CRITERIA/SELECTION COMMITTEE), Evaluation Criteria Debarment and Suspension states:
Bidders, its principal and named subcontractors are not identified on the list of Federally debarred, suspended or other excluded parties located at .
Do both the prime and the subcontractor have to be cleared?
A)Yes.
Q37)Are primes limited to a set number of subcontractors?
A)No. There are no limits to the number of subcontractors that a prime may have. However, managing a large number of subcontractors may get complicated.
Q38)Page 7 of Exhibit A (REQUIRED DOCUMENTAITON AND SUBMITTALS), Item 2.(c)(2) states:
(2)Bidders are to provide a list of five (5) current and five (5) former clients.
Is the County asking for five unique current and former references?
A)Yes.
Q39)Will the County require the vendor to be responsible for any curriculum development over the course of the contract?
A)Possibly, by request.
Q40)Page 7 of the RFP, Section D (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), item 6 states:
6.All instructors shall use the methods suggested by the training protocols established and updated by the TEC such as maintaining and updating each training syllabus, introducing and following objectives for each class, completing training as described, and utilizing training materials/workbooks and visual aids such as the projection system.
Does this mean the vendor/instructor must follow TEC teaching methods only or as long as the objective(s) are met and TEC approves the training method of the instructor?
A)Protocols are guidelines that allow for flexibility and as long as the guidelines are met instructors may use other methods of instruction.
Q41)Page 8 of the RFP, Section D(SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), item 11 states:
11.Classes will be provided at an estimated range from nine (9) to fifteen (15) training days per month or ninety-six (96) to one hundred eighty (180) training days per year, to be shared among a pool of trainers per their expertise and availability (to be scheduled at discretion of TEC).
Does this mean the vendor cannot send an instructor for scheduled classes unless TEC has approved the vendor first or is there a pool of instructors (unknown by the vendor) that TEC can schedule (within the 96 – 180 training days per year?)
A)TEC will select a pool of vendors and each vendor should have designated a list of instructors they will use for the County. TEC will ask each vendor to teach specific courses per their expertise and distribute requests as evenly as possible based on the comparable talent of the instructors. Sometimes customers will ask for specific instructors and TEC would like to honor those requests as much as possible.
Q42)Page 8 of the RFP, Section D (SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS), item 12 states:
12.Contractors will provide an estimated 96-160 hours a year consulting on, customizing or coaching their curriculum. (See Exhibit A Bid Form.)
Are these hours (96 – 160) outside of the 96 – 180 training days per year or are they included with the original training days?
A)The hours can be either.
The following participants attended the Bidders’ Conferences:
Company Name / Address / Representative / Contact InformationA Hand 'n Hand Inc.
5980 Stoneridge Dr., Ste. 110
Pleasanton, CA 94588 / Sharon Van Brunt / Phone: 925-523-3594
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor:
Subcontractor:
Certified SLEB: Yes
The English Center
66 Franklin St.
Oakland, CA 94607 / Lynne Wilkins / Phone: 510-836-6700 x105
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: Yes
Subcontractor: No
Certified SLEB: Yes
Quickstart Intelligence
2665 N. 1st St., Ste. 214
San Jose, CA 95112 / Tony Schulte / Phone: 314-604-0092 (c)
408-570-9755 (w)
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: No
Subcontractor: Yes
Certified SLEB: No
Jackson Project Services
43575 Mission Blvd., #126
Fremont, CA 94539 / Larry Jackson / Phone: 510-770-9341
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor:
Subcontractor:
Certified SLEB:
iService Globe
160 Franklin St., Ste. 202
Oakland, CA 94607 / Brian Rikuda / Phone: 408-507-9627
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: No
Subcontractor: Yes
Certified SLEB: Yes
Quickstart Intelligence
160 Pine St., Ste. 530
San Francisco, CA 94111 / Frank Chow / Phone: 408-570-9755
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: No
Subcontractor: Yes
Certified SLEB: No
Learn It!
33 New Montgomery, Ste. 300
San Francisco, CA 94105 / Courtney Durso / Phone: 415-946-6490
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: Yes
Subcontractor: No
Certified SLEB: No
Mouton Training
PO Box 5688
Hayward, CA 94545 / Cheryl Mouton / Phone: 510-593-3782
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor:
Subcontractor:
Certified SLEB:
Company Name / Address / Representative / Contact Information
CMC Training & Consulting
1530 Graff Ave.
San Leandro, CA 94577 / Catherine Wool / Phone: 510-357-3535
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: Yes
Subcontractor: No
Certified SLEB: Yes
US Computers, Inc.
2913 Saturn St., Ste. G
Brea, CA 92821 / Saleem Sheikh / Phone: 714-528-0514
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: Yes
Subcontractor: No
Certified SLEB: No
The English Center
66 Franklin St.
Oakland, CA 94607 / Jennie Mollica / Phone: 510-436-4968
E-Mail:
Prime Contractor: Yes
Subcontractor: No
Certified SLEB: Yes
RFP No. 901164, Addendum No. 2