Second Round, Questions and Answers
RFP #PA160614, Badger Exam; Social Studies
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
June 5, 2015
Question #1: As per Question #20 in the Soc Studies Q & A. "Cost proposal, Part A2, 2.1
Reporting - Please confirm that the reference to "interim assessment" reports is in error and that
interim assessments are not in scope of this contract". Answer "See the amended cost proposal".
Yet in the amended cost proposal, it is exactly the same as the old one (interim is still included).
Nothing has changed. Please clarify.
Answer #1: See Amended (2) Cost Proposal. The Cost Proposal has been corrected. Proposers
shall use Amended (2) Cost Proposal.
Question #2: sec. 5.1 and answer to #7. As this link shows WKCE SS only being administered
in the fall of 2015 by the existing contractor for the WKCE
(http://oea.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/oea/pdf/oeanwltrmay15.pdf) and not any social
studies operational testing in the spring of 2016, please confirm that the first operational
administration of the social studies assessment for this contract will be in spring of 2017.
Answer #2: See RFP Section 1.1: In the 2015-16 school year, the new summative assessment
will replace the current Wisconsin Knowledge & Concepts Examination (WKCE) tests in Social
Studies for grades 4, 8, and 10.
Question #3: Answer to #28 on item analysis and scale development. As the item analysis and
scale development with CTT and IRT activities have been affirmed in DPI's answer to question
#28, where specifically (i.e., in what subsection of the proposal response) does the DPI suggest
prospective contractors provide their description of these psychometric services.
Answer #3: Per RFP Section 5.2.5, the vendor shall propose a valid appropriate scoring model.
The description of psychometric services should be included in relevant sections of the proposal
such as 5.2.7 for research and the explanation of the proposal scoring model in section 5.2.5.
Question #4: General. Given that WI DPI currently uses DPI WISEdash to store historical
student assessment data, can the DPI clarify the difference between WISEdash and the Data
Warehouse they require as part of this procurement?
Will the requirement to provide capacity for ad-hoc reports (3rd bullet under section 5.2.19) be
satisfied by the Contractor loading assessment results data into the WISEdash data warehouse?"
Answer #4:
 DPI WISEdash is the data analysis tool (front end) and the data warehouse is the back
end where data displayed in WISEdash is stored. See Proposal Amendment #1, dated
May 19, 2015-Section 5.2.6.2.
 See RFP Section 5.2.19, bullet point 3. This is a separate requirement.
Question #5: General. Is there a supplier diversity subcontracting goal for prime contractors
that are not Minority/Veteran/Woman-owned businesses to meet by subcontracting with
Minority Business Enterprises, Veteran-owned Businesses, Wisconsin Disabled Veteran
Businesses, or Woman-owned Business Enterprises, or do the supplier diversify requirements
only pertain to primes who are Minority Business Enterprises, Veteran-owned Businesses,
Wisconsin Disabled Veteran Businesses, or Woman-owned Business Enterprises? If there is a
subcontracting goal that prime contractors who are not Minority Business Enterprises, Veteranowned Businesses, Wisconsin Disabled Veteran Businesses, or Woman-owned Business
Enterprise need to meet, what is the goal/requirement?
Answer #5: This goal is not applied for the subcontractor. The goal for primary certified
Minority Business Enterprises and Wisconsin Disabled Veterans is 5%. The goal is not set for
the subcontractor.
Question #6: Revised Cost Sheet for Social Studies and The answer to Question #17.
The revised Cost Sheet for Social Studies place the Help Desk under heading 1.14 on the Cost
Sheet and Program Management under 1.15. However, the answer to Question #17 states that
meeting costs should be placed under “Cost Proposal section 1.14.
Should the costs for meeting be placed under section 1.15 of the new cost proposal sheet? Also,
should the standard setting meeting costs (scope made explicit in the answer to Question #28) be
included on the same line as the other meeting costs (e.g., item review) or on some other line?
Answer #6:
 Yes, this is included in 1.15.
 Yes, the standard setting costs shall be included along with 1.15.
Question #7: Appendix H, Liquidated Damages. The last three deliverables have the liquidated
damage listed as “10% of total contract”, can you confirm whether that is total value of all the
years of the contract or the total value of the contract for the year the event occurred leading to
liquidated damage?
Answer #7: The liquidated damage for a year for this deliverable will be 10 % of the total
contract cost.
Question #8: Appendix H, Liquidated Damages. The third item from the end in the
“Deliverable” column which reads:
Any system component identified in this RFP is unavailable due to
•
Hardware utilized/provided by Contractor; or
•
internet services utilized/provided by Contractor; or
•
software utilized/provided by Contractor, or
•
network security or other security related issues.
Contractor shall not be liable for scheduled downtime or downtime caused by a force majeure
event.
and has a liquidated damage of 10% of the total contract seems to cover similar items in the
“Deliverable” column such as “During the testing window, the testing or reporting system is
down due to Contractor’s hardware problems, software problems, or security issues” which has a
daily liquidated damage amount. Can you clarify whether events such as a hardware problems,
software problems, or security issues will be subject to more than one category of liquidated
damages?
Answer #8 See Appendix H for Liquidated damages. Yes, the same event will be subject to each
line item that applies.
Question #9: 5.2.10 File Volume and Retention Requirements, as amended:
Question: The fourth bullet reads: The proposed system shall provide data to the current DPI
WISEdash to store historical student assessment data. The proposer shall directly load the data
files to the state data warehouse, and .csv files for data checking and short turn¬around trouble
shooting. ¬ Could you please provide details related to the access rights the Contractor will be
given to the state data warehouse in order to directly load the data files? ¬ Could you please refer
potential bidders to documented procedures to follow in order to accomplish the direct load of
data files to the state data warehouse? ¬ Could you please provide documentation of any
Application Programming Interfaces provided by the state data warehouse which the Contractor
will be required to use to directly load the data files? ¬ Would it be acceptable for the Contractor
to provide the data files to DPI personnel via a secure FTP process, who would then load the data
into the state data warehouse?
Answer #9:
 The contractor will not have direct access to WISEdash database.
 Yes. See RFP Section 5.2.4.2: The proposer shall produce data files in a transportable
manner for example CEDS compliant XML. It is acceptable for the proposer to transfer files
via secure file transfer to DPI.