Question_from_Soliciation_Applicants_-_5.3.19.docx

OVC Program Review Solicitation No.:

1145PC19Q0023

Amendment 002

Peace Corps OVC Review Solicitation Responses to Questions from Applicants

1. Page 1: CLIN 2 – is for travel. Shall the contractor include travel for CLIN 3 in CLIN 2? Or shall CLIN 3 include travel for each additional country in the fixed price estimate?

· See Section 1.0, Note 2 of the PWS.

2. Page 2: The SOW references the “evaluation team” is this intended to be a mixed internal /external evaluation that involves Peace Corps staff? Are the OVC Program Specialist and the Supervisory Public Health Analyst to be considered part of the evaluation team or does this reference refer to the contractor’s evaluation team?

· See Section 2.2 of the PWS for evaluation team members.

3. Page 5 states “There will be no travel reimbursement to the Contractor for travel within the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.” This stipulation makes it difficult for non-DC based small businesses to compete for this contract. Cost savings and best value for the government can be achieved through other methods than restricting travel reimbursement for travel to Washington DC. Can the Contracting Officer kindly consider removing this provision?

· The referenced language has been revised. See Sections 1.0, Note:4, 2.8 of the PWS and Section 9.2 Instructions

4. On Page 2: One of the tasks is to “Assist in drafting the program review work plan, preliminary findings presentation, and draft program review report.” Does this mean that the contractor would not lead the drafting process? Given that these are contract deliverables it will be difficult for the contractor to assist rather than lead this process.

· The Contractor is responsible for leading the drafting process. See Section 2.4 of the PWS. .

5. On Page 5: The deliverables section refers to “draft review/evaluation protocol and interview guide/questionnaire”. Kindly confirm that the draft review / evaluation protocol is the equivalent of the “Program Review work plan” referenced on page 2. Kindly also confirm that the contractor will not assist but will lead that process.

Section 2.9 it states that the work plan is a timeline of all the varying tasks to be that the contractor proposed for the program review including the protocol. The actual protocol is a deliverable to be completed as part of the RFQ.

Yes the Contractor will be leading the process. The completion of all the deliverables are the responsibility of the Contractor.

· The Program Review is the entire work plan. The protocols for interviews etc are a part of the entire work plan for the review.

· The Contractor is in charge of producing the deliverable. The Contractor will work with the program and training specialist and the supervisory analyst to discuss findings and develop recommendations. However, the final completion of the deliverable is the responsibility of the Contractor.

6. On Page 6 there is no “preliminary findings presentation” deliverable. Will the preliminary findings presentation be considered a contract deliverable?

· Yes, See Section 2.10 of the PWS.

7. On Page 6: In the final report there is a requirement to provide “A Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map per country demonstrating PC OVC program locations, overlaid with other Unites (sic) State (sic) Government partners, PEPFAR Priority Sub National Units, and other relevant data.” Kindly confirm that Peace Corps will provide geo-coordinates to use for mapping purposes. Kindly also confirm that geo-coordinates of other United States government partners will be provided. If these data will not be provided – does the Peace Corps expect the contractor to collect these data?

· While the Peace Corps may provide geo-locations for PC specific sites and access to additional non PC locations that have been provided with us, it is the responsibility of the contractor to gather such information.

8. Page 8 states “The Vendor shall submit invoices monthly and render an electronic copy to the COR.” Kindly confirm that invoicing can be deliverables based rather than monthly.

· See Sections 4.4 and 9.2 (Factor 3: Price) of the RFQ

9. Page 8 states that “Evidence of actual expenses invoiced (receipts)” is required for invoicing. Kindly confirm this is only for CLIN 2 – travel, as this is a fixed price award.

· Yes, CLIN 0002 is for travel; however, the CLIN type has been changed to Time & Materials. See Section 1.0 of the RFQ.

10. Page 15-16 states “The personnel specified below are considered to be essential to the work being performed under this contractual arrangement. During the first ninety (90) calendar days of performance, the Contractor shall make no substitutions of key personnel unless the substitution is necessitated by illness, death or termination of employment. The Contractor shall notify within 15 calendar days after the occurrence of any of these events and provide the information required by paragraph (b) of this clause. After the initial 90-calendar day period, the Contractor shall submit the information required by paragraph (b) to the Contracting Officer at least 15 calendar days prior to making any permanent substitutions.” We kindly request that this stipulation be removed unless the award date can be clarified and certain. We suggest that paragraph b on Page 16 remain and govern the replacement of (to be named) key personnel if required.

· This referenced language will remain as a requirement.

11. Page 27: Kindly confirm in which volume the Administrative Information should appear. As item viii contains financial information – kindly confirm that Administrative Information should appear in Volume 3 – Price.

· The administrative information cover sheet is a separate stand-alone document and shall not be included as part of a Volume.

12. Page 27 states “The Vendor’s technical approach shall also include a resume for the proposed Key Personnel that meets the requirements in Section 2.7 of the PWS as well as an evaluation/program review work sample (i.e. survey/protocol, writing sample related to an evaluation/program review that was completed within the last three years, or any programming guidance related to OVC, HIV/AIDS prevention and or adolescent sexual reproductive health technical areas).” Kindly confirm that the contractor may submit more than one resume if working as a team to complete the SOW? Also – kindly confirm that the contractor may submit an “abbreviated” survey/protocol or writing sample – as these documents can be quite lengthy.

· The vendor may submit resumes for all key personnel as resumes are excluded from the page count.

· Abbreviated survey/protocols or writing samples may be submitted as long as they provide enough information to evaluate. .

13. Page 29 states “The Government intends to award a firm-fixed price (FFP) contract to the responsible Offeror who submits the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) offer.” Kindly confirm, is the lowest price on CLIN 1 and CLIN3 (the fixed price parts of the contract)? Page 8 of the solicitation states “CLIN 002 shall be invoiced as a separate line item and will be paid on a reimbursable basis.” Kindly clarify how travel costs will factor into the evaluation criteria.

· CLIN 0002 will be evaluated based upon the not-to-exceed amount in the Price Table ($25,000). CLIN 0004 will be evaluated for any non-local travel and based on the amount quoted by the vendor.

14. Kindly consider a 10 day extension of the submission date until Monday 13 May at 12:00 PM Eastern time to give small business bidders adequate time to understand answers to questions and write a high quality proposal for the Government.

· The submission due date has been extend to Friday, May 10, 2019 at 12:00 pm local time.

15. I am experienced in conducting mixed-method evaluations, but am struggling to understand the scope of work outlined in the RFQ. The in-depth interviews in section 2.5 are clearly described, but section 2.4 (p. 3) also mentions surveys and Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and there are multiple references to quantitative data analysis. Conducting a large enough survey (in 3 countries) to allow meaningful quantitative analysis would be a significant amount of work. So I am requesting clarification if a survey (and FGDs) are part of the scope of work so that I can provide an accurate quote. Alternatively, could you provide any information on the expected level of effort (days of effort) for this project?

· The Contractor should propose methodology that will enable them to complete objectives of the OVC Review. We will utilize the Contractor’s expertise to help OGHH identify which methodologies would be appropriate for the sample and number of countries we are proposing. FGD, interviews and survey were examples of methodologies that could be utilized for the program review.

· It is the responsibility of the Contractor to determine the expected level of effort based on the requirements of the PWS. The Period of Performance for these services is located in Section 3.2 of the PWS. It should be noted that Peace Corps does not anticipate that the completion of these services will require a full time effort over the performance period.

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