J6 - Vendor Questions and Answers Amendment 2.xlsx
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- Solicitation number
- 030ADV22R0079
- Issued by
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Library of Congress
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| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 030ADV22R0079 0002.pdf | ||
| 030ADV22R0079 0001.pdf | ||
| J6 - Vendor Questions and Answers.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| J1 - Agile Software Development IDIQ Labor Categories - Amendment 1.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| J7 - Selected Library of Congress Regulations.pdf | ||
| J1 - Agile Software Development IDIQ Labor Categories.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| 030ADV22R0079.pdf | ||
| J3 - Agile Methodology.pdf | ||
| J4 - Questions 030ADV23R0079.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| J2 - Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.docx | DOCX document | |
| J5 - Past Performance Questionnaire.docx | DOCX document |
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Questions
| J6 - Questions and Answers for Solicitation 030ADV23R0079 |
| Agile System Development Support Services IDIQ |
Questions and Answers
| Questions which were substantially the same from multiple vendors may have been consolidated into a single answer. | |||||
| Question # | Page # | Section Number | Reference Text | Questions or Other Observations | Library of Congress Response |
| 1 | Is this a new requirement, or a recompete? | This requirement is substantially similar to the Library's existing multiple-award Agile Development and System Integration IDIQ. There are some differences in scope between this requirement and the existing Agile IDIQ, but the Library's expectation is that much of the work which would have been competed and awarded under the existing Agile IDIQ will instead be awarded under the new multiple-award IDIQ resulting from this solicitation. The Library is soliciting a new multiple-award IDIQ because the Library has nearly reached the ordering ceiling of the existing IDIQ and will be unable to place new orders once that ceiling is reached. | |||
| 2 | Who are the incumbants and what are their contact numbers? | Agile Development and System Integration IDIQ awardees: |
Artemis Consulting, Inc. - LCLOC20D0007 Accenture Federal Services LLC - LCLOC20D0012 Ad Hoc LLC - LCLOC20D0013 ClearAvenue, LLC - LCLOC20D0014 Deloitte Consulting LLP - LCLOC20D0015 Slalom, LLC - LCLOC20D0016 NIC Federal, LLC - LCLOC20D0017
| 3 | Could the Government confirm that RFP No. 030ADV22R0079 is the recompete for the current Agile Development and System Integration IDIQ (No. LCLOC20D00XX)? | See questions 1 & 2. | |||
| 4 | General | Can the Government confirm this is a follow-on contract to the "Agile Development and System Integration IDIQ" (Solicitation #030ADV20R0100, awarded 09/28/2020)? | See questions 1 & 2. | ||
| 5 | What was the period of performance for the prior contract or contracts? | The ordering period for the IDIQ contracts listed above is 9/30/2020 - 9/29/2025. | |||
| 6 | What was the value of the prior contract or contracts? | The shared ordering ceiling between the IDIQ contracts listed above is $75,000,000.00 | |||
| 7 | 4, 74 | B.3.2; M.1 | "This is a multiple-award IDIQ." |
| "Award will be made to the offeror whose proposal is determined to represent the “Best Value” to the Library" | Can the Library confirm that this will be a multiple award IDIQ? | The Library anticipates awarding this IDIQ contract to multiple vendors. See clause FAR 52.216-27 in section L and B.3.2. | ||||
| 8 | 4 | B | B3.3 | What is the projected number of awards anticipated for this competition? | The Library has not identified a target number of awards for this IDIQ contract. See FAR 52.216-27 | |
| 9 | N/A | N/A | Award date | What is the timeline for awarding this contract? | The Library aims to award the contracts resulting from this solicitation in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023. | |
| 10 | N/A | N/A | Awardees | This is a MAS Contract. How many contractors is the agency considering awarding? Is there a breakdown on how many small businesses will be awarded since this is unrestriced? | This is not a Multiple Award Schedule contract. This is a multiple-award IDIQ contract consistent with FAR part 16. |
For number of awards, see question 8.
For small business awards, see question 17.
| 11 | Could you please provide a list of all the roles currently working under this contract. | See attachment J1 - Agile Software Development IDIQ Labor Categories. | ||||
| 12 | N/A | N/A | N/a | If this requirement is a recompete, can the government please tell us how many Task Orders have been released on the current IDIQ and the dollar threshold? | 31 task orders have been issued under the current Agile Development and System Integration IDIQ (see questions 1 & 2) with a total value of $62,155,993.27. | |
| 13 | 5 | B.3.4 | Minimum and Maximum Amounts | Can the government provide any details on the anticipated average size of task orders in terms of dollar value? | The nature of an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract is such that the Library will not speculate about future needs it has not yet defined. The contracts listed in question 2 were used to issue task orders at a wide variety of dollar values. | |
| 14 | Provide details on yearly spend for the existing contract by role/task area/services and incumbent? | The Library has chosen to provide the level of detail given in question 12. | ||||
| 15 | What is the estimated level of effort for this contract? | The minimum order amount for each awardee will be $50,000.00 and the shared ordering ceiling for all awardees is $450,000,000.00. The total level of effort will be determined by the orders competed and awarded under this multiple-award IDIQ. | ||||
| 16 | N/A | General | N/A | When does the Library anticipate releasing the first task order on this IDIQ? | The Library anticipates placing orders as soon as the ordering period begins. | |
| 17 | - | - | - | Does the LOC anticipate setting aside any spots on the IDIQ for small businesses? | No. The Small Business Act and other statutory references in FAR Part 19 do not apply to the Library. | |
| 18 | N/A | N/A | N/a | Will there be a mix of size and socioeconomic standards involved in the awards? | Businesses of all sizes and socioeconomic classifications are welcome to provide proposals. There are no set asides for size or socioeconomic status, for the reasons given in question 17. | |
| 19 | 6 | C.3 | The Library is obtaining non-personal services under this IDIQ contract and all task orders under this contract. | How many Task Orders does the agency anticipate? | The nature of an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract is such that the Library will not speculate about future needs it has not yet defined. | |
| 20 | 1 | SF1449 | Block 10 | What is the established NAICS assigned to or to be assigned supporting the SOW elements? | 541519 - Other Computer Related Services | |
| 21 | General | Will the Library off-ramp IDIQ awardees who do not consistently bid on task order over a period of time? | ||||
| Will the Library off-ramp IDIQ awardees who never win any work on the IDIQ? | No. | |||||
| 22 | 13; 16 | C.6; F.3 | Location of Performance | What is the Library's current return to work policy? | See section F.4. | |
| 23 | N/A | General | N/A | Are Contract Teaming Agreements under FAR 9.601 (1) authorized and if so, is a copy of the Teaming Agreement required to be submitted with the proposal? | The use of CTAs is acceptable. See added requirements for teaming agreements in section L. | |
| 24 | N/A | General | N/A | If a CTA under FAR 9.601 (1) is used for the bid, will the Library require a single point of contact for invoicing and task order bid negotiation and processes? | Yes. | |
| 25 | 12 | C.5.2, C.5.2.1 | Key Personnel | Is the Program Manager billable or Non-billable? | Non-billable. | |
| 26 | 12 | C.5.2, C.5.2.1 | Additional Key Personnel may be identified on individual task orders. All key personnel must be approved by the Contracting Officer prior to the start of any task. | Do we need to propose additional Key Personnel at the task order level or will the Government share the list of Key Personnel for the task order once the IDIQ is awarded. Please Clarif | There are currently no task orders associated with this IDIQ. Over the course of the ordering period defined in B1, orders will be placed. Those orders may call for key personnel, which must be defined in the Statement of Work for that task order. |
The Program Manager is the only key personnel which must be defined in the proposal for the IDIQ contract.
| 27 | 12 | RFP C.5.2.1 | The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the Contractor when the program manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer | Do offerors need to identify an Alternate PM as a "Key Personnel" and if so do offerors need to provide a name and resume for the Alternate PM? | The Alternate Project Manager is not key personnel and no resume should be provided for the alternate. |
| 28 | 12 | C.5.2 | Key Personnel | Please clarify if the Program Manager Alternate is considered a Key Personnel. | See question 27. |
| 29 | 12 | C.5.2 | Key Personnel | Does the Library of Congress require resumes from both the Program Manager and Program Manager Alternate? | See question 27. |
| 30 | 12 | C.5.2 | Additional Key Personnel may be identified on individual task orders. All key personnel must be approved by the Contracting Officer prior to the start of any task. | LoC has specified minimum eligibility criteria for the Project Manager position. Is there a minimum eligibility criteria especially with regard to citizenship for the additional key personnel that the contractor may propose? | Additional key personnel do not need to be proposed at the IDIQ level. The requirements for key personnel at the task order level will be defined in task order level solicitations. |
| 31 | 7 | C.3 | As outlined in the list of labor categories in attachment J1 the Library anticipates that in most cases the work/labor required at the order level will not principally be for Service Contract Labor Standards covered labor/labor categories. However, this contract includes the clause 52.222-41 and to all other applicable provisions of 41 U.S.C. chapter 67, Service Contract Labor Standards, and regulations of the Secretary of Labor (29 CFR Part 4) which may be applicable to particular orders. In such cases where the Library determines the Service Contract Labor Standards are applicable to a particular order based on its principal purpose (considering the anticipated labor categories to be used as outlined at attachment J1) the Library will note its applicability at the order level. | Given that the Service Contract Act has specific wage and fringe benefit requirements, the IDIQ pricing provided needs to include consideration of these requirements. Without receiving a wage determination for specific labor categories, it is not possible for offerors to provide SCA-compliant IDIQ rates. Therefore, please provide information on which IDIQ labor categories the SCA applies to so that offerors can provide SCA-compliant rates as part of the proposal. | The Library expects that all or nearly all of the work performed under this IDIQ contract will be exempt from the SCLS. Under the prior contract no orders include SCLS requirements. The section of C.3 which relates to the SCLS identifies the procedure which would be used in the unlikely event that this IDIQ were used to solicit a task order where the principal purpose is not consistent with any of the exceptions to the SCLS. No labor categories have been identified as non-exempt based on category description alone. To better understand the rates that may apply you may view the current rates at https://sam.gov/content/wage-determinations and consider these along with your assumptions of labor market trends in the pricing of your categories. It is noted that the SCLS rates are set by DOL to reflect the labor market. |
| 32 | C.3 | As outlined in the list of labor categories in attachment J1 the Library anticipates that in most cases the work/labor required at the order level will not principally be for Service Contract Labor Standards covered labor/labor categories. However, this contract includes the clause 52.222-41 and to all other applicable provisions of 41 U.S.C. chapter 67, Service Contract Labor Standards, and regulations of the Secretary of Labor (29 CFR Part 4) which may be applicable to particular orders. In such cases where the Library determines the Service Contract Labor Standards are applicable to a particular order based on its principal purpose (considering the anticipated labor categories to be used as outlined at attachment J1) the Library will note its applicability at the order level. | Please confirm that if a Task Order is released where SCA applies, contractors will be permitted to submit revised IDIQ-level labor category rates based up the wage determination provided with the Task Order request in order to meet federally-mandated SCA standards. | All awardees will be required to use the prices they provide in J1 when they choose to bid on task orders. |
See question 31.
| 33 | J.1 | Does the Government anticipate any of the labor categories will be subject to SCA or can bidders assume there are no SCA Lcats? If the Government anticipates applicability of SCA, can it please clarify to which Lcats in J.1 it would apply? | See question 31. | ||
| 34 | 7 | C.3. | Scope - Last Paragraph | The Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLA) if applied in any individual task order may be challenging at times. Will the Library provide a change order if during the execution of the contract and a specific awarded task order, the Department of Labor releases a revised version of the minimum wages to accommodate all the changes to the candidate wages and benefits. The reason for this question is that this can happen and is beyond the Offerors control, then how does the Library intend to address such cases. | See questions 31 & 32. |
| 35 | 7 | C.3. | Scope - Last Paragraph | We anticipate most of the human capital will be exempt and the SCLA may not apply. Is our understanding correct? | See questions 31 & 32. |
| 36 | 7 | C.3. | Scope - Last Paragraph | If there are well liked incumbent SCLA personnel currently performing work at the Library and the Library expects that the Offeror upon award of a task order has to transition these resources to the Offeror, then will the Library provision the anniversary dates and contact details of such personnel. | No. There have not been any SCLS covered orders under the prior contract. |
| 37 | 12 | C.6 | The Library may provide the contractor a temporary work space and other support services for performance of this contract. However, this does not imply any responsibility on the part of the Library to provide them either during or after the life of this Contract unless specified in this contract or on individual orders. Specific workspace or GFP will be identified in individual orders. The contractor shall not make use of agency computer equipment or supplies for purposes other than the performance of this contract as required by the statement of work. Security procedures established by the Library for access to computer systems will be communicated to the contractor by the COR. The contractor will be required to adhere to these set procedures. | Please confirm that proposed rates should accommodate the potential of offerors providing staff office spaces as well as associated IT systems at Contractor location. | Individual task orders may call for remote or in-person services and the offeror's proposed rates would be used as the pricing basis in either case. |
| 38 | C.4.2; C.4.2.2 | Ancillary Services, C.4.2.2. Business Analysis and Requirements Support Services states: “NOTE: Contractors performing this service will incur a conflict of interest in software development services related to applications for which they supported requirement definition that may prohibit them from participating in orders to obtain such products or services pursuant to LC52.209-1.” Yet C.4.2, states, “Services under the ancillary performance areas may be ordered under this contract as part of an order for services under the principal performance areas, but may not be ordered as standalone services under this contract.” | Can the government clarify how performing this ancillary service can present a conflict of interest if performed as part of one of the principal performance areas? | The Library believes C.4.2 is sufficiently clear about the narrow circumstance in which the performance of Business Analysis and Requirements Support Services could create a conflict of interest. | |
| 39 | 43 | I.4 52.216-18 | Ordering | Will the library provide laptops for the contract personnel? | See C.6. |
| 40 | 1 | SF-1449 | Offer Due Date/Local Time: 01-06-2023 18:00 EST | Since the due date for the proposal and past performance questionnaires is just after the winter holidays, would the government consider granting an extension on the proposal due date? | The proposal due date is extended until Noon ET on 1-13-2023. |
| 41 | 4 | B | SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICE/COSTS |
B.1 PRICE/COST SCHEDULE We understand that hourly rates are required to be included within Attachment J1 - Agile Software Development IDIQ Labor Categories. How ever at this stage of submission, TO level scope is undefined, rates within Section B.1 Price/Cost Schedule
| Kindly elaborate on how to include price/costs within B.1 Price Schedule? | Offerors do not need to fill out section B.1 Price Schedule as part of their proposal. At award, B.1 will be filled out by government to reflect the order minimum defined in B.3.4. | |||||
| 42 | 4 | B | B.1 Item Information (CLIN 0001) | Are offerors to complete and fill in the corresponding Unit Price and Amount areas (underlined)? If so, how do we calculate these amounts given that the J1 attachment only indicates fully loaded rates? | See question 41. | |
| 43 | 4, 7 | B.3.6 | Open Market Items: "Open Market Items that are incidental to a task order solution but not included in the IDIQ price schedule J1, such as those under section C.4.2.1, may be included in task orders if their total price is less than $25,000.00. Inclusion of open market items may only occur pending a determination that the open market items are offered at a fair and reasonable price and that their inclusion in a task order is in the best interest of the Library in order to complete associated requirements." | |||
| There are sometimes licensing costs that need to be included that are not as small as $25,000 to allow for a complete solution with licenses and/or company hosting, and for multi-year contracts. |
How would the government accommodate this requirement?
| Can the open market limit be increased to allow for more than $25,000 per task order, or exclude hosting costs or software licensing costs from the limit? | No. This IDIQ is principally for services. Opportunities which require substantial COTS spending may be appropriate for other vehicles. | |||||
| 44 | 4 | B.3.3 | Orders shall be placed for defined requirements that are fulfilled utilizing the incorporated labor categories and rates in section J. In the event that a task order period of performance crosses fiscal or accounting periods as defined in section J, task order labor rates must comply with the annual price that is current at the time the order starts. | Please confirm that for a base 3-year task order, a vendor will not be locked into the IDIQ rates that were in force at the start of the 3-year task order. This clause should to be revised by the Library to reflect normal escalations built in every year for a multi-year task order. | See question 48. | |
| 45 | 7 | C.3 | "Orders under this contract may include the purchase or lease of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware or software | |||
| for the Library, but only to the extent that such requirements do not exceed $25,000.00." | Does the $25,000 cap refer to the one-time purchase of the COTS hardware/software or does it include all costs (e.g., licenses, upgrades, etc.) that impact full life cycle costs of maintaining the system(s)? | The exactly delineation of the $25,000.00 threshold is fact-specific and will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer at the task order level, consistent with the Library's competition requirements. | ||||
| 46 | 5 | B.36 | Open Market Items | Please confirm that contractors will be allowed to procure items from GSA Schedule in excess of $25,000 if required for performance of the task order. If so, we recommend it be included as an amendment to the solicitation. | See question 45. | |
| 47 | 7 | C.3. SCOPE | Orders under this contract may include the purchase or lease of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware or software | |||
| for the Library, but only to the extent that such requirements do not exceed $25,000.00. | During the execution of work associated with this requirement, an opportunity may arise to interject innovation through the implementation of a new hardware or software product. The value proposition could result in significant savings through the consolidation of disparate systems and/or tools, or the streamlining of processes to eliminate redundancy. Can the Government describe the rationale for limited the dollar amount to $25K when a compelling business case for introducing a new component has yet to be defined? Would the Government consider revising this section of the solicitation to remove the dollar amount limitation and add verbiage to indicate that addition of new products would be elevated on a case-by-case basis and as determined/informed by the associated business case? It truly be unfortunate if the Government missed an opportunity to save money in the long run or work better/faster as a result of this limitation. | See question 45. | ||||
| 48 | 4 | B.3.3 | B.3.3. Orders shall be placed for defined requirements that are fulfilled utilizing the incorporated labor categories and rates in section J. In the event that a task order period of performance crosses fiscal or accounting periods as defined in section J, task order labor rates must comply with the annual price that is current at the time the order starts. No blended rates will be authorized at the order level. | Given this is a 5-year contract and a Task Order could span multiple fiscal/accounting periods, this clause, as written, would prohibit offerors from proposing escalated prices on Task Orders across subsequent years. We recommend this be revised by the Library to reflect "rates can be escalated on an annual basis according to the IDIQ rates in effect on the task order anniversary date." | See revised language in section B.3.3 of Amendment 1 (030ADV22R0079 -0001). | |
| 49 | 4 | B.3.3 | B.3.3. Orders shall be placed for defined requirements that are fulfilled utilizing the incorporated labor categories and rates in section J. In the event that a task order period of performance crosses fiscal or accounting periods as defined in section J, task order labor rates must comply with the annual price that is current at the time the order starts. No blended rates will be authorized at the order level. | Please confirm that for the purposes of pricing and task order planning, that "order start" refers to when the contract performance starts as opposed to the contract award date. | "Order starts" refers to the beginning of order's period of performance. | |
| 50 | 1 | SF 1449 | In which Volume should the completed and signed SF 1449 be included? | The signed SF 1449 should be provided with an offerors proposal as a separate document, outside any of the proposal volumes. The signed SF 1449 does not count against any of the volume page limits. | ||
| 51 | 49 | Section K | Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors | In which Volume should our completed Section K be included? | The representations, certifications, and other statements in section K should be provided with an offerors proposal as a separate document, outside any of the proposal volumes. They do not count against any of the volume page limits | |
| 52 | Will the government accept a statement that all relevant representations and certifications are up to date within the SAM registry in lieu of long form formatted reps/certs submission? | Yes | ||||
| 53 | 49 | Section K | SECTION K - REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS | Will the Government permit offerors to submit all information pertaining to Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors or Respondents as a seperate document exempt from page count? | See question 51. | |
| 54 | 49 | Section K | SECTION K - REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS | Will the Government permit offerors to submit a copy of our annual representations and certification in the System for Award Management (SAM) in lieu of completing Section K? | See question 52. | |
| 55 | 49-70 | SECTION K | Representations, Certifications and Other Statements of Offeror | For Clarification, should Section K be completed if this information has been updated in the annual Sam.Gov registration? | See question 52. | |
| 56 | 1 | A and K | [General Question] | Please also confirm the Section K and SF1449 documents are excluded from any stated page counts. | See questions 50 & 51. | |
| 57 | 49-70 | Section K | Part IV - Representations and Instructions Section K - Representations, Certifications and Other Statements of Offerors | Please confirm that offerors should submit their completed Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors or Respondents as an appendix to the Technical Approach Volume. | See question 51. | |
| 58 | Are there any specific naming formats offerors should apply to submitted proposals and attachments? | See section L. | ||||
| 59 | 21 | H | Special Contract Requirements | Which specific Section H clauses are offeres required to complete and acknowledge for submission with our proposal package? If there are specific clause formats we must submit, where in the proposal response should these be placed? | No clauses in section H need to be submitted as part of the proposal process. | |
| 60 | 47 | I | Contract Clauses | Which specific Section I clauses are offerers required to complete and acknowledge for submission with our proposal package? If there are specific clause formats we must submit, where in the proposal response should these be placed? | No clauses in section I need to be submitted as part of the proposal process. | |
| 61 | 49 | K | Representations and Instructions | Which specific Section K clauses are offerers required to complete and acknowledge for submission with our proposal package? If there are specific clause formats we must submit, where in the proposal response should these be placed? | Offerors should complete all provisions in section K and submit them as described in the government's answer to question 51. Also see question 52. | |
| 62 | 31 | H.16 | (e) The contractor shall sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/Interconnection Security Agreement (ISA) with the Library of Congress in accordance with NIST SP 800-47, Security Guide for Interconnecting Information Technology Systems. This may be an addendum to the contract between the Library and the Contractor. | Will this be provided by the Library when applicable? | Yes. | |
| 63 | 33 | H.18 | (c) The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance of placing any subcontract or modification thereof, and shall report all subcontracts related to performance of this contract to the Contracting Officer within 30 days of contract award and annually within 30 days of the anniversary date of contract award during performance of this contract. The notification shall include: |
| iv. Subcontract price. | This is a competitive procurement in which the government is being provided the contractor's pricing proposals and the government is able to select among competitive bids. Therefore the request for subcontractor data is an improper request for cost and pricing data in a competitive procurement. Would the government kindly remove this clause from the contract? | The solicitation includes a number of clauses in sections G, H, and I which are not applicable directly to the content of the IDIQ contract. The incorporation of these clauses into the IDIQ applies them to relevant task orders under the IDIQ contract through the order of precedence clause at the order level. No information described in sections G, H, or I needs to be provided as part of the proposal process, with the exceptions of the key personnel names for H.9 and the contractor point of contact information for G.1. | ||
| 64 | 33 | H.18 | (c) The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance of placing any subcontract or modification thereof, and shall report all subcontracts related to performance of this contract to the Contracting Officer within 30 days of contract award and annually within 30 days of the anniversary date of contract award during performance of this contract. The notification shall include: |
| iv. Subcontract price. | How will the subcontractor price data requested in this clause be used by the Library for IDIQ evaluation and under which factor will this data be used? | See question 63. | ||
| 65 | 33 | H.18 | (c) The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance of placing any subcontract or modification thereof, and shall report all subcontracts related to performance of this contract to the Contracting Officer within 30 days of contract award and annually within 30 days of the anniversary date of contract award during performance of this contract. The notification shall include: |
i. Legal name of subcontractor.
ii. Type or form of subcontract.
iii. Description of the supplies or services to be subcontracted.
| iv. Subcontract price. | As written, it appears the provided subcontractor information will be included in the final contract, to include pricing. As the contract could potentially be subject to FOIA requests, we request this information not be requested or included at the IDIQ level. | See question 63. | ||
| 66 | 33 | H.18 | (c) The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance of placing any subcontract or modification thereof, and shall report all subcontracts related to performance of this contract to the Contracting Officer within 30 days of contract award and annually within 30 days of the anniversary date of contract award during performance of this contract. The notification shall include: |
i. Legal name of subcontractor.
ii. Type or form of subcontract.
iii. Description of the supplies or services to be subcontracted.
| iv. Subcontract price. | Would the government please explain its need and intended use of competitive cost and pricing of the subcontractor price data? | See question 63. | |||||
| 67 | 45 | I.10 | The Library is considering issuing additional logical follow-on task orders (related to the work performed under this order) on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(C). The contractor must demonstrate satisfactory performance during the execution of previous related task order(s) in order to be eligible for logical follow-on task orders. | When issuing a logical follow-on task order, please confirm that the government will solicit proposal pricing from the contractor based on logical follow-on requirements. | Correct. The Library does reserve the right to issue orders unilaterally should be agreement not be reached. | ||
| 68 | 22 | H.6 | H.6 | LC52.204-4 CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE FITNESS (JAN 2022) | Please confirm that overseas companies (non-US based) and their overseas-based staff will not be permitted to work on this contract due to Security reasons. | Non-US vendors are not prohibited from submitting proposals. Offerors are required to provide personnel who meet the requirements described in H.6 LC52.204-4. Some key personnel at the IDIQ level or task order level may be required to be US citizens. | |
| 69 | 26 | H.8 LC52.209-1 | LC52.209-1 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (OCT 2013) | Please confirm the “conflict of interest” restriction also applies to work performed under other contracts (i.e., other IDIQs or other contract awards outside of this specific IDIQ). |
Specifically, please confirm that companies and their subsidiaries and teaming partners that have previously supported user outreach, strategy development, and requirements analysis will be excluded from bidding on software development work related to the program areas in which they conducted the previous work (e.g., USCO ECS User Outreach, and Organizational Change work). LC52.209-1 requires contractors to identify any conflicts of interest, actual or potential, regardless of source.
Contractors who wish to bid on work which represents a conflict of interest must provide a mitigation plan consistent with the requirements under LC52.209-1. It is solely within the discretion of the Library to determine whether or not a conflict of interest exists and whether any mitigation plan submitted by the contractor mitigates a conflict.
70 26 H.8 LC52.209-1 LC52.209-1 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (OCT 2013) Given companies often times have a number of legal entities under the same corporate umbrella that use common office systems and back office support as well as share staff across owned corporate entities, please confirm the designation of a subsidiary to perform such work does not suffice for an OCI mitigation strategy.
Reference:
“NOTE: Contractors performing this service will incur a conflict of interest in software development services related to the application for which they supported requirement definition.” Conflict of interest mitigation plans will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer. It is solely within the discretion of the Library to determine whether or not a conflict of interest exists and whether any mitigation plan submitted by the Contractor mitigates a conflict.
| 71 | 27 | H.11 | (n) | The Contractor shall ensure that all Contractor personnel sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). | Is this an NDA provided by the Library or are offerors to use a corporate provided NDA? | Offerors may use their own NDA. |
| 72 | 29 | H.13 | The information technology identified in this contract is subject to Assessment and Authorization (A&A) prior to connecting the system(s) to the Library of Congress Network, and updated prior to deploying any significant changes to the system(s). |
(d) The contractor shall conduct independent Security Testing & Evaluation. Evaluation. Contractor personnel conducting this evaluation shall have no stake or responsibilities concerning the system, including those who directly designed/integrated/implemented the system for any IT System categorized as Moderate or High impact. The Contractor shall perform the Security Test & Evaluation on test equipment configured per the ITS hardening guidelines for that particular platform, either in the Library of Congress lab or on a system completely isolated from the Library of Congress Data Network. The Library will provide the hardening guidelines on request from the contractor.
(h) The Contractor shall ensure that the IT system is not connected to the Library of Congress Data Network until accredited. This requirement is overly broad and is not applicable at the IDIQ level.
This is because:
- the contractor doesn't have control over when an application or system is connected to the Library's network. Usually, the Library makes that decision.
- the contractor cannot assume that for a task order, they will be allowed to add pricing for additional "independent" IT security personnel to conduct "Independent Security Testing & Evaluation" as part of their staffing. Sometimes, the developers do this work as part of the A&A Support process.
- For task orders, there are additional contractor costs when the contractor has to add system engineers to undertake the tasks to set up the application in a "Library of Congress lab" or a "system completely isolated from the Library of Congress Data Network." These additional costs cannot be specified at the IDIQ level, and should be required requirements in Task Orders that a contractor will respond to at the Task order level, and add appropriate levels of IT security staffing and engineers who are not developers but system administrators.
We do not believe this clause can apply at the IDIQ level (since no systems are being built at the IDIQ level) and should be invoked, when applicable, at the Task Order contract level.
| Therefore, we recommend removing this language or including additional language in the IDIQ solicitation clarifying applicability only to agile development Task orders where the agile development Task order can support additional staffing costs to support A&A requirements, additional ST&E work, and setup work in new environments outside of the software development environment. | See question 63. | |||||
| 73 | 30 | H.14 | The information technology identified in this contract will be subject to review and approval of Assessment and Authorization (A&A) prior to connecting the system(s) to the Library of Congress Network. | We do not believe this clause can apply at the IDIQ level (since no systems are being built at the IDIQ level that connect to the Library of Congress network) and should be invoked, when applicable, at the Task Order contract level. | ||
| We recommend additional language in the IDIQ solicitation clarifying applicability to Task orders issued under this IDIQ not to the IDIQ itself. | See question 63. | |||||
| 74 | 25 | H.8 | H.8 | LC52.209-1 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (OCT 2013) | ||
| The Contractor must identify to the contracting officer any conflicts of interest, actual or potential, that may reasonably be expected to arise in performance of this contract. The contractor must provide a detailed written description of the conflict of interest and a plan explaining any and all steps the Contractor will undertake to avoid or mitigate the conflict. Failure to disclose actual or potential conflicts of interest may subject the Contractor to corrective action including but not limited to termination of this contract, debarment of the contractor, and/or other appropriate civil or criminal actions. | Would Prime contractors on the Library of Congress IT Management and Governance BPA have a conflict of interest proposing as a Prime or Subcontractor on the Agile Software Development IDIQ? | The Library has not identified an inherent conflict of interest created by a vendor holding both an IT Management and Governance BPA and an IDIQ contract resulting from this solicitation. In the event a contractor’s work under that BPA created a conflict with work under this IDIQ, the vendor’s obligations are defined in LC52.209-1. | ||||
| 75 | 22 | H.3 | LC52.204-1 | Are there any personnel or physical security requirements that would require more than a Public Trust level clearance review? | The Library does not anticipate any orders under this IDIQ contract which would require a clearance above Public Trust. See H.6 LC52.204-4 for information about the Library's background investigations process. | |
| 76 | 23 | H.6 LC52.204-4 CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE FITNESS (JAN 2022) | The solicitation states: "Work under this contract is unclassified. However, the Library of Congress has a contractor employee fitness program, | |||
| which includes background investigations of contractor personnel who will have 1) regular, ongoing, unescorted access to the Library’s buildings, grounds, or collections, 2) access to Library information technology systems, and/or 3) access to Library information not available to the public including information determined to be Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to ensure they meet basic standards of honesty and trustworthiness pursuant to Library regulations." | Are personnel required to have a certain clearance level at the time of the start of the contract? | Contractor personnel are not expected to possess any clearances at the time of this IDIQ contract’s award. Background investigations will be performed as described in LC52.204-4 for personnel on new task orders, and personnel introduced to existing task orders. | ||||
| 77 | Attachment J1 | Agile Software Development IDIQ Labor Categories | What level of security clearance will personnel be required to have or obtain in order to perform the services outlined in the Scope of Work, including badging, training etc? | See question 75 and see H.6 LC52.204-4. | ||
| 78 | 23 | H.6 LC52.204-4 CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE FITNESS (JAN 2022) | The solicitation states: "Work under this contract is unclassified. However, the Library of Congress has a contractor employee fitness program, | |||
| which includes background investigations of contractor personnel who will have 1) regular, ongoing, unescorted access to the Library’s buildings, grounds, or collections, 2) access to Library information technology systems, and/or 3) access to Library information not available to the public including information determined to be Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to ensure they meet basic standards of honesty and trustworthiness pursuant to Library regulations." | If a certain clearance level is required, would the Government allow personnel to obtain the clerance or accept a certain status clearance within 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, etc. after the start of the contract? | See questions 75 & 76. | ||||
| 79 | 23 | H.6 LC52.204-4 CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE FITNESS (JAN 2022) | The solicitation states: "Work under this contract is unclassified. However, the Library of Congress has a contractor employee fitness program, | |||
| which includes background investigations of contractor personnel who will have 1) regular, ongoing, unescorted access to the Library’s buildings, grounds, or collections, 2) access to Library information technology systems, and/or 3) access to Library information not available to the public including information determined to be Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to ensure they meet basic standards of honesty and trustworthiness pursuant to Library regulations." | If a SECRET clearance level is required, is a public trust acceptable? | See question 75. | ||||
| 80 | 14 | D.2. | LC52.231-1 PAYMENT OF POSTAGE FEES (MAY 2015) | What type of postage fees is anticipated? We request this clause be deleted if the Library does not anticipate any postage fees. | See question 63. | |
| 81 | 46 | I.11. | LC52.217-1 ORDERING BY LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AGENCIES (FEB 2017) | Will the Library request the ordering legislative branch agencies for a fee for using this IDIQ contract, such as an IFF applied by the GSA GWAC? | No. | |
| 82 | 44-45 | I.7 | The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within the period of performance. | Please confirm that if this clause is invoked for a task order that it will be invoked within the period of performance of that task order. | Correct. | |
| 83 | 7 | C.3. SCOPE | The scope of services and products to support these services required includes: Agile Software Development; Systems Integration, DevOps and Continuous Delivery; and User Experience and Interface Design Services. | In other solicitations for other perspective customers, we have seen the use of "pools" to categorize and segregate the scope of work, allowing vendors to submit a single response to one or more areas or "pools" of work. This allows for increased vendor responses, facilitating more competition. This also allows for vendor to craft responses that focus on their specialty, the work that they do best. Would the Government consider revising this solicitation to separate work into "pools" and allow vendors to respond to one or more areas? | No. See section M. | |
| 84 | 11 | C.4.2.2. Business Analysis and Requirements Support Services | NOTE: Contractors performing this service will incur a conflict of interest in software development services related to applications for which they supported requirement definition that may prohibit them from participating in orders to obtain such products or services pursuant to LC52.209-1. C. | As stated in a previous question, we have seen the use of "pools" to categorize and segregate the scope of work, allowing vendors to submit a single response to one or more areas or "pools" of work. This approach also reduces the likelihood of a conflict of interest as firms may chose to respond to User Experience and Interface Design, but not Agile Software Development, for example. Would the Government consider revising this solicitation to separate work into "pools" and allow vendors to respond to one or more areas in order to potentially mitigate the risk of interjecting a conflict of interest from the onset? | No. See section M. | |
| 85 | 71 | L.2.5.3. Technical Approach | Offerors must describe an approach or process to fulfill task orders in each of the principal performance areas described in C.4.1, each of the ancillary performance areas described in C.4.2, and each of the elements of contract performance described in C.5. | As a small business, it would be difficult for our company to respond to each area. Would the Library of Congress consider bids from small business contractors who can only fulfill a subset of the requirements and labor categories? If so, could then this be allocated out to vendors as a small business set-aside? | The Library will consider proposals from vendors of any size, though all vendors will be assessed using the evaluation criteria provided in section M. |
See question 17 regarding small business set asides.
| 86 | 72-73 | L.2.5.1, L2.5.2, L2.5.3 | Referenced paragraphs each discuss a table of contents( TOC), Attachments, resumes, and appendices for each volume of the proposal and exempts them from page count. | Please confirm that offerors are only required to submit a (one) master table of contents for all volumes. | Offerors may submit one master table of contents or a table of contents for each volume. | |
| 87 | 72 | L.2.4. Ground Rules, Assumptions, Exceptions or Deviations | Offerors must include any ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, or deviations as part of their proposal. | Please confirm that ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, or deviations should be provided in the Pricing volume. | There are are no requirements regarding which volume must contain ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, or deviations. They should be labeled clearly where they are included. | |
| 88 | 71 | L.2.4 | L.2.4. | Ground Rules, Assumptions, Exceptions or Deviations | Please confirm that any submitted Ground Rules, Assumptions, Exceptions or Deviations will be outside page count. | Ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, and deviations will count against the page limit of the volume in which they are included. |
| 89 | 72 | L.2.4. | L.2.4. Ground Rules, Assumptions, Exceptions or Deviations | If the Contracting Officer does not accept a Ground Rule, Assumption, Exceptions or Deviation, will the Contracting Officer inform the Offeror and will the Offeror be provided an opportunity to make necessary adjustments to the proposal? If not, how does that impact the evaluation of the Offeror's response? | Not necessarily. Ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, and deviations are considered as part of the overall proposal. Their contents will be evaluated consistent with section M. Like other elements of the proposal, ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, or deviations may be a subject in vendor discussions, if such discussions take place. A proposal may be eliminated from competition if its ground rules, assumptions, exceptions, or deviations cause the proposal to fail to meet the requirements of the solicitation. | |
| 90 | 73 | L.2.5.4. Price Proposal | Price proposals shall be submitted in Microsoft Excel format. Attachment J1 provides a template which all offerors must use to provide their fully-burdened rate for each category as well as annual rate escalations. | Please confirm that vendors are also permitted to submit a Word document writeup to support the pricing information in the Excel. | Offerors are required to submit a Microsoft Excel format price proposal (see L.2.5.4). While offerors must use the template in attachment J1 to provide their fully burdened rates, they may provide additional information on other tabs / pages of their Microsoft Excel format price proposal. | |
| 91 | 73 | L | L.2.5.4 Price proposal | Is Attachment J1 the only item to be submitted in order to satisfy the requirements for the Price Proposal? There are no other clearly defined submission elements. | See section L.2.5.4 and question 93. | |
| 92 | 73 | L.2.5.4. Price Proposal | Will the Government consider allowing the submission of a narrative to accompany the pricing information to be submitted with the J.1 response? | See question 90. | ||
| 93 | 73 | L.2.5.4. Price Proposal | The current pricing template and direction only allow for government site rates. Would the government consider allow the submission of contractor site rates? | Awardees will be required to use the prices provided in J1 when bidding on task orders, regardless of the location of performance. The Library anticipates that the majority of the work under this task order will be remote. | ||
| 94 | 72 | L.2.5.1. | Past Performance |
The past performance volume shall include either two or three references for the offeror’s past performance. At least two of the references provided in the past performance volume must be able to comment on contracts provided as examples in the corporate experience volume. All references provided must be able to comment on
| work the offeror has performed, at least in part, within the last three years. | May we use a team members' past performance? | See question 125. | ||||
| 95 | 71 | L.2.5.2 | The past performance volume shall include either two or three references for the offeror’s past performance. At least two of the references provided in the past performance volume must be able to comment on contracts provided as examples in the corporate experience volume | Please confirm that at least two of the three past performances and past performance questionnaires must be for projects where the offeror was a prime contractor. | See question 125. | |
| 96 | 71 | L.2.5.2 | The past performance volume shall include either two or three references for the offeror’s past performance. At least two of the references provided in the past performance volume must be able to comment on contracts provided as examples in the corporate experience volume | Please confirm that at least two of the three past performances and past performance questionnaires must from the prime contractor of the proposed offeror team. | See question 125. | |
| 97 | 72 | L.2.5.1. | Corporate Experience |
Offerors shall describe their experience with requirements which involve work in one or more of the principal performance areas described in C.4.1. Offerors should include any information which is necessary to understanding the relationship between their corporate experience and the principal performance areas. Offerors should provide enough detail for the Library to determine its level of confidence in the ability of the offeror to complete task orders under this IDIQ. Examples of corporate experience may be from the private or public sectors. The work in each example of corporate experience must have taken place, at least in part, within the last three years.
Offerors’s corporate experience volume shall include no less…
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