Solicitation QandAs pdf.pdf

Solicitation 11-223-SOL-00119 Questions and Answers

Question 1: How are these services currently performed (in house, contractor)?

Answer 1: These services are primarily performed via contractor support.

Question 2: If by a contractor,

a. What is the Contractor Name?

b. What is the Contract Number?

c. When was the contract awarded?

d. When does the contract expire?

e. What are the contract Period of Performance terms? (i.e. base and 4 one-year options, etc.)

f. What type of Contract was awarded (Firm Fixed Price, ID/IQ, etc.)

g. How was the contract awarded (Full & Open, HubZone set-aside, Small

Business Set-aside, Sole Source, etc.)

h. What is the current contract value or ceiling?

Answer 2: The award most similar to the Sample Task Order is:

a. Contractor Name: Singhal & Co., Inc.

b. Contract Number: HHSF223200730012C

c. Contract Award Date: 02/23/2007

d. Contract Expiration Date: 11/25/2011

e. Period of Performance Terms: Base and Four One-Year Options

f. Type of Contract: Time and Materials

g. Contract Method: Sole Source 8(a)

h. Ceiling: Approximately $3.0 Million

Question 3: Is this under the Office of Shared Services?

Answer 3: No.

Question 4: Can you share estimated workload, such as frequency and number of requests that will be made to provide AV services by each location?

Answer 4:

IDIQ:

Services may be requested up to the funding threshold indicated in the contract.

Existing contract services for A/V services for specific buildings generally require 10 to 12 hours of coverage every workday to cover meetings that may occur early in the day and meetings occurring later. Service requirements vary by location due to variations in user friendliness of equipment and by A/V competence of individual customers.

Non-recurring events, such as public meetings held at Government buildings and at commercial locations, may occur on average one per month or more often.

Sample Task Order:

The sample task order involves the ongoing A/V services for the White Oak Conference Center and the meeting rooms in Building 1. Requirements for A/V services occur throughout the day with the primary demand occurring in the morning, with preparation for the next days event occurring after meeting have adjourned in the morning or afternoon. A/V requirements may vary in complexity, but may also include troubleshooting equipment malfunctions.

Question 5: How many FTEs do you estimate will be required for the different locations:

a. Operations Manager

b. Lead Technician/Post Production Specialist

c. Video Teleconference Technician

d. Junior Video Teleconference Technician

Answer 5:

For smaller locations with populations of less than 1000 personnel, two personnel are normally required to ensure coverage throughout the day. These locations may include multiple buildings where staff may need to walk from one location to another to provide services. The competency level of the personnel will be specified through individual task order. Generally, smaller locations can be supported with one Video Teleconference Technician and one Junior Video Teleconference Technician although this may vary by location and by task order.

Sample Task Order:

The White Oak Conference Center is presently operating with one Operations Manager, three Video Teleconference Technicians and three Junior Video Teleconference Technicians. Consistency in staffing, and coverage of operating hours must be maintained. For this task, the need for a lead technician/post production specialist position has was recently identified and added to this requirement.

Question 6: Is this the equipment that is in the training rooms now? For which you are seeking technical expertise or equipment to be acquired as part of the offer’s proposal?

Answer 6:

Task order specific.

Sample Task Order:

Equipment listed in the task is presently on site and in use and will remain Government property.

Question 7: Are travel cost to be included in T&M invoicing? Can subcontractor companies near remote locations be used in conjunction with traveling Washington area Staff to provide support, consultation and man-hour support? If yes, will the submitted contract hourly rates apply for sub-contracted subject matter experts?

Answer 7: Section G.11 outlines allowable travel costs; invoicing procedures will be specified at the task order level. Pursuant to 8(a) contract policies, subcontracting is allowed, provided the awardee is performing at least 51% of the direct labor. All services provided to the Government shall be provided at the established labor rates within the contract.

Question 8: What are the CONUS and OCONUS locations included in the agreement?

Answer 8: The Food and Drug Administration has the potential to require services in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories.

Question 9: How many anticipated concurrent meetings and locations are expected to be manned at a busy, moderate and slow period?

Answer 9:

With few exceptions, meetings are typically not “manned” in the sense that an A/V technician is expected to sit in on a meeting throughout its duration. Meetings are typically supported in advance of its start time and are available to respond in the event of problems malfunctions. Meetings may have low, medium or high level of technical demand for technicians. Through evaluation of schedules and by planning in advance, technicians are responsible for managing time periods where there may be multiple requirements for their services. Under extreme circumstances, technicians are expected to inform customers of conflicting requirements in advance and communicate the time by which they may expect their arrival and service. Non-recurring meetings will often require advance planning and organization of logistics prior to the actual meeting and in addition to time required for the meeting.

Sample Task Order:

The White Oak Conference Center supports 60 meeting areas in four buildings.

The majority of meetings start between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., placing a high demand on staff resources. Throughout the day, second and third meetings may be scheduled for rooms. Staff are on hand at all times to ensure successful start to meetings and availability in the event of equipment or software problems.

Question 10: Are any personnel to be declared essential employees during COOP exercises or responses?

Answer 10:

Task order specific.

Sample Task Order:

No, they are not. On occasion, during significant Public Health concerns the Conference Center may extend weekend support to Agency response teams.

These teams typically include the Senior Management of the Agency. The White Oak Conference Center is located adjacent to FDA’s Emergency Management Center, where in the event of a major health crisis operations in the conference center would be curtailed and conference center technicians may be assigned to support emergency operations.

Question 11: Are vendor hardware and software maintenance agreements and extended maintenance agreements to be coordinated through this contract, and funded as part of T&M task orders?

Answer 11:

Yes.

Sample Task Order:

Yes.

The task order type will be determined as a part of the task order issuance process.

Question 12: In lieu of the unavailability of maintenance agreements on older equipment, will equipment be replaced?

Answer 12:

Task order specific.

Task Order 1:

Yes, subject to the availability of funds.

Question 13: Are subject matter vendor authorized experts to be contracted at the subcontractor’s billed T&M rates, and invoiced as task orders?

Answer 13: All services provided to the Government shall be provided at the labor rates established in the contract. Invoicing procedures will be established at the task order level.

Question 14: What are the scope boundaries for installing, managing, and upgrading data processing and telephone systems?; LAN/MAN/WAN?

Answer 14:

IDIQ and Sample Task Order:

All telecommunications and IT systems are managed through the FDA Office of Information Management (OIM). Any modifications of LAN/WLAN/WAN systems must be coordinated through OIM and performed by technicians authorized by

OIM.

Question 15: Is there a Service Desk application in use and does it have an asset tracking system to record system status of individual service contracts, hardware and software.

Answer 15:

A/V services and equipment are not integrated into FDA’s Service Desk system.

The White Oak Conference Center uses the Event Management System, a web based scheduling system, for scheduling rooms and where customers may specify the need for equipment and services. Equipment is in constant use and maintained routinely. Equipment service is tracked through monthly reports provided by vendor.

Question 16: Are source files and backup configuration data available for maintenance of equipment such as for Extron Switchers and AMX Controllers?

Answer 16:

Generally no, but may vary by task.

No.

Question 17: Are electronic system blueprints available for each system to be managed?

Answer 17:

Task order specific.

As built/installed are available.

Question 18: Is this contract to provide the primary management of conference room and equipment scheduling and coordination, or will the contractor provide support to government staff to aid in scheduling software troubleshooting?

Answer 18:

Task order specific.

Sample Task Order:

Contractor shall provide technical and non-technical support for meeting rooms and will provide assistance and support to government staff responsible for scheduling and for scheduling software.

Question 19: In Section C.2.2.2 Furnish, is it implied that the contracted be required to procure at the governments expense the proper equipment to fulfill a request for meetings at remote and local sites if it is not already provided by the government. Is there a situation where the contractor will be required to provide equipment or software that is non-reimbursable to the contractor?

Answer 19: The contractor shall provide necessary equipment as established in a Task Order award. Equipment pricing shall be agreed by both parties prior to task order issuance.

Question 20: Is there a provision for training and continuing education of contract staff for new versions of hardware and software to provide technical capabilities to support new and upgraded systems, or support of specialized proprietary systems and configurations currently deployed?

Answer 20: If the new versions of hardware and software are solely unique to the Food and Drug Administration, training may be allowed as a direct cost. However, if the training and continuing education pertains to hardware and software that are routinely serviced by the contractor, this cost is no longer solely allocable to this contract and therefore will not be directly reimbursed.

Question 21: Do I need a NAICS 561210 to be a subcontractor for a Prime that is an 8(a), NAICS 561210?

Answer 21: Since the subcontract will be held between the Prime and the Subcontractor, the NAICS requirement of the contract between the Government and the Prime would not be applicable in the subcontract.

Question 22: How many staff is the contractor currently providing on-site? How many do you expect the contractor to provide with the new contract?

Answer 22: Please see Question 5.

Question 23: What positions on the current contract are exempt and non-exempt?

Answer 23: All positions on the current contract for similar services are exempt.

Question 24: For the non-exempt positions, what is the average number of hours of overtime per year for these positions?

Answer 24: Since all positions are exempt, this question does not apply.

Question 25: Is there an SLA for Video Infrastructure (Bridges) managed by Verizon?

Answer 25: Audio and videoconference bridges are managed by FDA’s office of Information Management. FDA on occasion makes use of the National Institutes’ of Health audio and videoconference bridge. FDA’s bridge is an ISDN RichMedia bridge, NIH provides us access to an IP bridge.

Question 26: Will FDA have a VOIP infrastructure or plan to move in this direction in the near term?

Answer 26: FDA is presently operating from a VOIP infrastructure, all phones are CISCO IP phones and all videoconferencing internal to FDA is done via IP.

Videoconferencing with external connections require ISDN connections through the NIH bridge.

Question 27: The RFP states VTC should be run on the FDA internal network, does this mean there is an internal network that connects international sites already in place? If not, has network federation (DMZ) been established?

Answer 27: To connect internationally, we have two options. One option is via ISDN directly to the external number. If the international site cannot accept ISDN, we have to go through the NIH bridge to connect IP

Question 28: How many FDA employees are currently being supported on campus?

Answer 28: There are approximately 5500 employees presently located at the White Oak site, the site is scheduled to grow to nearly 9000 personnel on site.

Question 29: Are there any 508 compliancy requirements? Specifically are you using the FED VRS system?

Answer 29: We are required to be 508 compliant. We are not using the FED VRS system.

Question 30: Are there any telework mandates?

Answer 30: No.

Question 31: How many and what external vendors are currently involved in collaboration with video conferencing? What is their role?

Answer 31: Please see Question 2 for contractor information.

Question 32: Will there be any desktop video conferencing requirements under this effort?

Answer 32: Not presently, but they may not be ruled out in the future.

Question 33: Is the Project/Operations Manager the only key personnel for which a résumé is required to be submitted with the proposal?

Answer 33: Résumés for both the Project/Operations Manager and Lead Technician/Post Production Specialist are required to be submitted with the proposal. Résumés for Video Teleconference Technicians and Junior Video Teleconference Technicians are useful but not required. The Solicitation has been modified to reflect the required résumés.

Question 34: Are we to submit each volume separately, 5 copies of each (50 binders), or Volumes I-X to be combined and submitted in one binder (5 binders)?

Answer 34: Volumes I-X may be combined and submitted in one binder, for a total submission of 5 binders.