RFI_STREAMLINED_SOLICITATION_4-26-2017.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

FEDERAL ACQUISITION SERVICE

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND HUMAN CAPITAL CATEGORIES

Disclaimer: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. It does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. Further, no proposals are sought at this time. Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the potential respondent’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. The information provided will be utilized for preliminary planning purposes by the Government to facilitate the decision making process and will not be disclosed outside of the Government. All data received that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary information will be fully protected from release outside the Government.

Background

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is taking steps to make it easier for qualified vendors to submit offers to the Professional Services Schedule (PSS) by streamlining the solicitation. The current solicitation is 167 pages long with 17 sections and more than a dozen appendices and templates. The sheer volume and complexity of the solicitation asks vendors for redundant information and adds confusion to an already complex process of providing services to the federal government.

GSA plans to reduce the solicitation to three major sections:

1. Significant Changes and Refresh Number

2. Provisions (Vendor Instructions) and Evaluation Factors

3. List of Attachments including the 1449; Clauses Document; SCLS Wage Determinations

(Non-Standard); SCLS Wage Determinations (Standard); and any special terms and conditions applicable to particular SINs or groups of services.

With this effort, GSA aims to:

● Provide clear and concise instructions

● Eliminate repetition in solicitation requirements for the Offeror https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4272dfc640ae6cf7b306323d608b08e6&tab=core&_cview=1 https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4272dfc640ae6cf7b306323d608b08e6&tab=core&_cview=1

● Consolidate all pertinent information applicable to the specific section

● Allow customization of instructional provision unique to the commodity by other MAS programs

● Remove all unnecessary/obsolete/conflicting clauses

For federal agency customers, the draft PSS streamlined solicitation will include a clause matrix that will help agencies quickly identify applicable clauses and determine whether those clauses apply only to the Schedule contract or flow down to the Task Order. The PSS solicitation streamline will also benefit GSA by reducing the length of time and cost it takes GSA Contracting Officers to screen, review, and award each offer.

Request for Information

The Office of Professional Services and Human Capital Categories is seeking industry feedback on the draft streamlined PSS solicitation format. Interested parties are requested to respond to the questions identified below under the section titled “Questions for Industry - Feedback on Draft Streamlined PSS Solicitation”.

Responses in Portable Document Format (PDF) compatible format are due no later than 5:00 PM EST, May 26, 2017. It is requested responses be limited to the number of words identified for each question and submitted via e-mail to streamlinepss@gsa.gov. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

Draft Streamlined PSS Solicitation

Please see Attachment A for the draft streamlined PSS Solicitation.

Questions for Industry - Feedback on Draft Streamlined PSS Solicitation

1. Draft Streamlined PSS Solicitation (see Attachment A for full details): Please provide overall feedback on the draft streamlined PSS solicitation (limit 500 words).

Please also address the following two questions :

a. What improvements, if any, could we make to any of the proposal instructions sections of the SCP-FSS-00P provisions (Administrative, Technical, Pricing), to streamline the offer COMPLETION process for prospective contractors? (limit 250 words)

b. What improvements, if any, could we make to any of the proposal instructions sections of the SCP-FSS-00P provisions (Administrative, Technical, Pricing), to mailto:streamlinepss@gsa.gov streamline the offer EVALUATION process for the PSS Contracting Officer?

(limit 250 words)

2. Consolidation of Instructions: Is it helpful to combine SCP-FSS-001 and SCP-FSS-002 into one provision (SCP-FSS-00P)? If not, why not? (limit 250 words)

3. Readiness Assessment: The draft streamlined PSS solicitation encourages Offerors to complete the Readiness Assessment, but Offerors will no longer be required to complete

it. Do you believe not requiring the Readiness Assessment will adversely affect a prospective contractor’s ability to understand what is required of them as a Schedule contractor, including the requirement to meet the minimum sales criteria? (limit 250 words)

4. Audited Financial Statements: GSA often receives financial statements with incomplete or inaccurate information. To address this issue, the draft streamlined PSS solicitation requires independently audited Balance Sheets and Income Statements. What impact will this have on industry? (limit 250 words)

5. Past Performance: The draft streamlined PSS solicitation no longer requires the Open Ratings Inquiry (ORI). In lieu of this document, GSA requires three (3) past performance reports from CPARS/PPIRS or (if unavailable) three (3) completed Past Performance Questionnaires.

a. Do you believe directly submitting completed Past Performance Questionnaires from your customers versus the current process of a mandated Open Ratings Inquiry order will save Offerors time? If not, why not? Do you believe it will save time for the Contracting Officer reviewing your offer? If not, why not? (limit 250 words)

b. Do you believe getting completed Past Performance Questionnaires directly from your customers (versus using Open Ratings in which all individual survey results are confidential and not shared with anyone) will impair the objectivity of the survey? (limit 250 words)

c. Do you recommend including ORI as an alternative for Offerors to use in lieu of CPARS/PPIRS or Past Performance Questionnaires? (limit 250 words)

6. Savings on Time and Cost: The draft streamlined PSS solicitation has been identified as a “Making it Easier” (MIE) initiative to improve the offer submission process within the Multiple Awards Schedule Program. Our focus and goal is to reduce and/or consolidate many of the requirements, that include:

● Requiring only one project experience/Statement of Work is required per Schedule Item Number (SIN)

● No longer requiring industry to obtain an Open Rating Inquiry (ORI) report

● No longer requiring invoices at time of initial offer submission (note - Invoices may be requested at a later time as additional pricing support).

Please provide an estimate of the time and / or cost savings your company will realize by submitting an offer or modification under the draft streamlined PSS solicitation. Please also identify the specific metrics that were used to calculate these estimates. (limit 500 words)

6. Contractor Success: Currently, approximately half of the PSS contractors do not meet the minimum sales criteria requirements. Are there ways in which the draft streamlined PSS solicitation could be improved upon that would lead to greater contract success (i.e.

meeting the minimum sales requirement)? (limit 500 words)

7. Overall Readability: How easy is the draft streamlined PSS solicitation to follow? What changes could GSA make to improve readability? (limit 500 words)

Industry Discussions

GSA may or may not choose to meet individually with potential firms responding to this RFI.

Such discussions would only be intended to further clarify potential feedback provided.

Questions

Questions regarding this announcement must be submitted in writing by e-mail to streamlinepss@gsa.gov . Regrettably, phone calls cannot be responded to.

Attachment A: Draft Streamlined PSS Solicitation Attachment B: Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) mailto:streamlinepss@gsa.gov