1. GLOBALCAP Industry Q&A #2.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 22 KB Posted May 18, 2022

Attached to: GLOBALCAP Questions and Answers Federal contract opportunity
Solicitation number: Not on record
Issued by: Department of State Office of Acquisition Management

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File	Type	Posted
3. GLOBALCAP Interested Parties List.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	May 18, 2022
2. GLOBALCAP OCI Clauses and Provisions.docx	DOCX document	May 18, 2022

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GLOBALCAP Q&A #2

Number	QUESTIONS	DOS ANSWERS
1	Is the Government receiving acquisition support for either the GLOBALCAP or the Global Advisory Services contracts during (i) acquisition planning or (ii) proposal evaluation stage? If so, what company or companies are providing this support to AQM, AF/RPS, or PM/GPI? Will they be considered ineligible to serve as prime or subcontractors under GLOBALCAP?	The Department is receiving acquisition support from Logistics Management Institute (LMI). LMI will not be eligible for an award on either the GLOBALCAP and/or Global Advisory IDIQ.
2	RFP’s QA1 OCI provisions indicate that an offeror can choose to bid on either GLOBALCAP or Global Advisory, but not both. Can the Government confirm that this is because it views the work under these contracts as creating potential OCI concerns if the same entity were performing under both contracts? If not, why does this restriction exist? If so, what type of OCI risks does DoS foresee without this restriction?	Yes. Please reference the revised GLOBALCAP OCI clauses and Provisions attached, "H.XX ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST – GLOBALCAP AND GLOBAL ADVISOR PROGRAMS clause" for further clarification.
3	RFP’s QA1 OCI provisions address OCIs that may arise under GLOBALCAP during performance of task orders under those contracts, but seem to ignore significant OCI risks at the IDIQ contract competition level itself. In various combinations, State’s current Advisory Service contractors under the AF/RPS and PM/GPI advisory contracts participate in Capacity Building contractor-to-Government meetings related to planning, coordinating, and executing the work which is done using the Capacity Building contractor’s proprietary supply sources and methods, logistics strategies, technical workforce composition, and management approaches. From directly assisting the Government, the Advisory Services contractors also have insight into Capacity Building contractor performance information and assessments as well as the Government’s approaches to evaluating and awarding Capacity Building contracts and task orders. Cumulatively, knowledge of this nonpublic information gives the Advisory Services contractors an unfair competitive advantage over other competitors in numerous aspects of GLOBALCAP proposal preparation, including technical and management strategy, as well as the specific effort to complete the RFP’s sample task(s).

a. Given the unfair competitive advantages that would arise in the GLOBALCAP IDIQ contract competition from having access to this nonpublic, competitively-sensitive information, is it the Contracting Officer’s understanding pursuant to FAR 9.505-4 that Advisory Services contractors now seeking to bid for GLOBALCAP will be precluded from award of an IDIQ contract unless the OCI risks are mitigated by ensuring that all applicable employees are firewalled from participating in GLOBALCAP proposal preparation?

b. What other steps will the Contracting Officer require prior Advisory Services contractors to undertake to mitigate these OCI risks if they now wish to pursue GLOBALCAP instead of Global Advisory Services?	"Please reference attachment GLOBALCAP OCI clauses and Provisions, "H.XX ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST – GLOBALCAP AND GLOBAL ADVISOR PROGRAMS clause" section d.1.B.
	4	The Government’s proposed OCI provisions in QA1 appear to limit the expected future OCI analysis during task order competitions to an assessment of whether an offeror has performed related work within the same country and within the prior 1-year period. However, significant FAR 9.505-4 conflicts prevail across all countries because Capacity Building contractors typically use the same methods across all task orders, no matter where the work is performed. Furthermore, because Capacity Building contractors typically use the same methods during the entire period of performance of the contract, significant FAR 9.505-4 OCI concerns prevail for an entire contract term, well beyond just 1-year. How does the Contracting Officer plan to resolve OCIs created by an offeror having had access to proprietary information and methods that would be useful in all performance locations over the life of the GLOBALCAP contract?	Please reference attachment GLOBALCAP OCI clauses and Provisions, H.XX ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST – GLOBALCAP AND GLOBAL ADVISOR PROGRAMS clause section d.1.B. Contractors may not use non-public information in the performance of related task orders. However, Contractors may apply general expertise.
	5	The Government anticipates soliciting capacity building large businesses and small businesses from the same GLOBALCAP solicitation. In question #5, the Government has indicated its intent to have a partial small business set-aside based on a dollar value threshold. This indicates the Government solicits task orders based on their appreciation for the differences in size/magnitude. In the past, the Government has used a low dollar threshold on corporate experience contracts, just so small businesses could qualify. Instead of lowering the standard for large businesses to qualify, the solicitation should contain two different sets of corporate experience evaluation criteria for size/magnitude of cited reference contracts. Likewise, the Government should consider different standards for recency, scope, and complexity when evaluating large and small businesses as follows:

The Department is deliberating thresholds for small business set-aside within the Department and with the Small Business Administration. The Government will consider contractor feedback during deliberation.
6	Can DOS please confirm that the Global Defense Reform Program (GDRP)/Global Advisory Support Services Contract (GASS) IDIQ is not in direct conflict with GLOBALCAP?	The Global Advisory and Global Advisory and Support Services (GASS)” has the same meaning as “Global Advisory” in the first draft of the OCI clauses and provisions at Attachment QA1. The definition of “advisory task order” within the H.XX ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST – GLOBALCAP AND GLOBAL ADVISOR PROGRAMS clause is revised for clarification purposes.
7	If bidding as a JV, if all member companies have an FCL, will that meet compliance requirements to bid at the IDIQ and TO level?	This arrangement would appear to meet FCL requirements but the Department will make no guarntees prior to proposal receipt.
8	Is the GLOBALCAP opportunity being consolidated from the AFRICAP, GPOI, and ACOTA opportunities due to an issue with the work on those efforts, or was it just a way to proactively increase efficiency and consolidate the similar requirements across DOS AF?	The GLOBALCAP IDIQ is anticpated to be a consolidated effort including elements from both histrocial AFRICAP III and GPOI/ACOTA IDIQs. Active Task Orders will not be recompeted prior to Task Order expiration.
9	Are there any updates to the previously shared notional acquisition timeline?	The Department anticipates changes to the notional timeline that was socialized at the December, 2021 industry day event. Internal approvals are pending and once those are received, an updated notional timeline will be communicated.

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File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated May 18, 2022.