Questions_and_Answers_12318718R0001_30_MAR_2018.pdf

12318718R0001 0002 Employee Relations and Anti‐Harassment Program Support

Q&A

Questions and Answers

NOTE: This is not a training contract. Training is a very limited portion of this requirement.

Q1. Can you please expand on "Use existing electronic systems and tools and develop additional tools necessary to track the work performed and to provide needed reports"?

What are the existing tools in use and what new tools would the Forest Service like the contractor to develop?

A1. The contractor will use the CRM AH database and will need to develop additional reports/tools to track the work performed. Those reports and tools would most likely be developed using the MS office Excel and PowerPoint programs. The contractor will also need to become familiar with and use Tableau. They need to understand the Tableau dashboard reports for AH in order to make suggestions for improvement/enhancement etc. The Forest Service can provide basic orientation to Tableau.

There may be limited need for the contractor to access and use the Labor and Employee Relations Information System (LERIS) the tool that is used to track all disciplinary actions. Should that access be necessary, the Forest Service will provide orientation to the system.

Q2. Is an Employee Relations Management software package in use? If no, does the Forest

Service want the contractor to help select, implement, or build such a system?

A2. See LERIS in answer 1 above.

Q3. Does the Forest Service want the contractor to provide training analytics reports (i.e.

training completion rates, breakdowns by department as well as staff type, etc.)?

A3. This may be necessary for training related to anti‐harassment/employee relations specific training. However, this will be limited to 1‐2 courses per year. This will mostly be tracked and reported by others through the FS on‐line training application (currently it is AgLearn) and the contractor may need to do some basic analysis and breakdown of

AgLearn reports for the 1‐2 courses per year.

Q4. In addition to the Harassment Reporting Hotline, is there an online reporting system? If no, does the Forest Service want the contractor to select, implement, or create an online reporting system?

A4. No, this is being handled under another contract.

Q5. Will the Forest Service or contractor be responsible for storing the investigation data? If the contractor will be responsible for storing the data, can you kindly clarify the storage requirements (e.g., cloud‐based system that encrypts the information)?

Q&A

A5. All reports will be stored in the existing AH CRM module and also within LERIS. There is no need for the contractor to store those packages separately.

Q6. Are any e‐learning harassment sensitization and prevention courseware products in use? If no, does the Forest Service want the contractor to help select, implement, or construct any e‐learning courseware?

A6. Note, training is a very small part of this requirement. Yes, there are some existing courses.

Q7. Solicitation Pg 27: Subfactor 1 a) addresses the Prime's Past performance capabilities.

Question: Is there a limit on how many Past Performance examples from the Prime?

A7. There is not a limit on the number of projects which may be used to establish the breadth and depth of relevant capabilities and experience. Please note that the specific past performance examples are to be provided under Factor 2, subfactor 2. The solicitation has been amended to read: “Offerors may provide (3) for the prime and (2) for teaming partners, if teaming partners are included in the organizational staffing approach.” The past performance of the Prime contract is substantially more important than that of any proposed teaming partners.

Q8. Solicitation Pg. 27: Subfactor 1 b) addresses the teaming partners Past performance capabilities. Question: Is there a limit on how many Past Performance examples from the teaming partners?

A8. There is not a limit on the number of projects which may be used to establish the breadth and depth of relevant capabilities and experience of subcontractors. Please note that the specific past performance examples are to be provided under Factor 2, Subfactor 2.

Q9. Solicitation Pg. 27: Subfactor 2 addresses Past Performance Summaries and

Questionnaires. Question: Are the 3 Past Performance summaries to be submitted from the Prime examples only or can these include the teaming partners as well?

A9. The Past Performance Summaries may include teaming partners as well. Please note that Under Factor 2, Sub‐factor 2, Past Performance of the Prime is substantially more important than Past Performance of teaming partners.

Q10. Solicitation Pg. 27: Sub‐factor 1 states offerors are to provide resumes for Project Managers and Senior Consultants and the page limit for Factor 1 is 15 pages. Question:

Can the Project Manager and Senior Consultant resumes be exempt from the 15 page count of Factor 1?

A10. Yes. The solicitation has been amended to change the page limitations as follows:

15 Page Limit for Factor 1 and Factor 2, including Executive Summary and Table of Contents, excluding resume’s under Factor 1 Subfactor 1. Resumes are also limited to 15

Q&A pages. Past Performance Summaries and CPARs reports are not included in page count.

Q11. PWS para 4, scope: Tasks 2 and task 3 state contract inquiry officials (Task 2) and contract investigators (Task 3) must either be certified in accordance with the requirements listed in 29 C.F.R Part 1614 or provide proof they were certified by and conducted misconduct investigations for USDA or other department level government agency within the past 3‐years or provide proof that they have 5‐years of experience in Employee Relations work for the Federal government. 29 C.F.R Part 1614 provides no certification requirements for inquiry officials or investigators. Question: What are the certification requirements for the Inquiry Officials and Investigators?

A11. The requirements for investigations in Management Directive (MD) ‐110 must be met.

See attached.

Q12. PWS, para 4: Task 1.5 requires a proposed quality control plan. Question: Is there a requirement to submit the quality control plan to the COR for approval and, if so, how many days after contract award

A12. Yes. The solicitation has been amended to require delivery to the COR 15 calendar days after contract performance begins. See PWS para 1.5.

Q13. PWS, para 4: Task 2.1 states that the Contractor shall conduct management inquiries in accordance with the Forest Service Guide to Conducting Management Inquiries, FSM

1765.09 Anti‐Harassment Inquiry/Investigation Requirements, and any applicable collective bargaining agreement. Question: Will the government provide a copy of these documents or URL links to them so that offerors may review the documents prior to the proposal submission date?

A13. Yes, it is an attachment to Amendment 2 to the solicitation.

Q14. PWS, para 4: Task 3.1 states the Contractor shall conduct misconduct investigations in accordance with the Department Personnel Manual 751 Sub‐Chapter 3, USDA Misconduct Investigations Handbook, FSM 1765.09 Anti‐Harassment Inquiry/Investigation Requirements, and any applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Question: Will the government provide a copy of these documents or URL links to them so that offerors may review the documents prior to the proposal submission date?

A14. See references attached in Amendment 2 to the solicitation. The Misconduct Investigations Handbook will only be provided after contract award and will be available to the contractor on a need to know basis, including to each contract investigator.

Q15. PWS, para 4: Task 6.1 states the Contractor shall work with the incumbent Contractor to transition tasks and data at the beginning of the contract within agreed upon

Q&A timeframes. Question: Will the government provide the name of the incumbent contractor and provide the details of the contract or make a copy of the current contract available?

A15. The current contract includes a different Performance Work Statement (PWS) from the PWS in this solicitation. The scope has changed. However, some of the work is the same and this contract will replace the existing contract. Contractor: The Clemons Group, approximately $3.5M over five years.

Q16. PWS, para 4: Task 6.1 states the Contractor shall work with the incumbent Contractor to transition tasks and data at the beginning of the contract within agreed upon timeframes. Question: Will the government provide a copy of the incumbent contractors Transition Out Plan and identify how much time will be allocated for the Phase In period?

A16. At the time of the current contract, the USDA Forest Service was not certain there would be a follow‐on contract and did not require the delivery of a transition plan. The current PWS states the following as it pertains to Transition Services:

“For Transition Services, the Contractor shall:

5.1 Work with the incumbent contractor to transition tasks and data at the beginning of the contract within agreed upon timeframes.

5.2 Transfer knowledge, workload and case data to Government employees upon a drawdown of Contractor support.

5.3 Document processes, as needed, for transitioning services to Government employees.”

The Government would like to have an overlap of at least two weeks for transition from the current contract to the follow‐on contract. This may or may not happen based on variables outside of the contracting officer’s span of control.

Q17. PWS, para 6: Paragraph 6.2, INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE, states the Government will perform inspection of the deliverables and services received from the Contractor in accordance with the contract Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). Question: Will the government provide a copy of the QASP for the offeror's review prior to the proposal submission date?

A17. No, inspection and acceptance will be done in accordance with the standards listed in the performance work statement and in accordance with Department Personnel Manual 751 Sub‐Chapter 3, USDA Misconduct Investigations Handbook, FSM 1765.09 Anti‐ Harassment Inquiry/Investigation Requirements, and our collective bargaining agreement. See references attached in Amendment 2 to the solicitation.

Q18. PWS, para 6: Paragraph 14, SECURITY REQUIREMENTS, states in subpara 1. that the

Contractor shall comply with Personal Identity Verification (PIV) policies and procedures established by USDA Directives 3800 series. However, per the USDA link https://www.ocio.usda.gov/policy‐directives‐records‐forms/directives‐categories, this series either does not exist or is unavailable to the public. Question: Will the

Q&A government provide the PIV policies and procedures or a URL link to them for the offerors' review prior to the proposal submission date?

A18. This is an implementation of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD‐12), Policy for Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors, August 27th, 2004. The directives will be made available to the awardee.

Q19. Section L states: 15 Page Limit for Factor 1 and Factor 2, including Executive Summary and Table of Contents. Past Performance Summaries and CPARs reports are not included in page count. Question: Is an Executive Summary a requirement?

A19. No, an executive summary is not required.

Q20. PWS, Task 5: Task 5, 5.2 states: Develop training course materials, including detailed instructor guides, based on approved topics.

Question: Is there a target or estimate of how many courses will be developed and on what desired topics?

Question: Is a list of desired courses available? Are any of these currently developed? If so, which?

Question: Who (Labor Categories) currently performs these functions?

A20a. The amount of need has not been determined. Potentially, 1‐2 courses per year on various anti‐harassment and employee relation emerging trends/topics.

A20b. No, see above.

A20c. Our current contractor performs this function along with agency employees. This is a very limited part of the performance work statement.

Q21. PWS, Task 5: Task 5, 5.4 states: Develop a schedule for conducting the training sessions in coordination with Employee Relations and other leaders. Question: For ILT courses, what are the desired locations for the courses and what is the annual frequency?

A21. Potentially, 1‐2 courses per year. Location will be determined based on needs. Training may also be required to be delivered in a virtual way using existing Forest Service systems and equipment.

Q22. PWS, Task 5: Task 5, 5.5 states: Conduct training sessions, in‐person or via video‐ teleconference equipment (Forest Service will supply the equipment).

Question a: What is the desired delivery method for each course (Instructor‐Led Training (ILT) in Classrooms, Online Synchronous/Asynchronous training, webinars, etc.)

or blended?

Question b: Is there any intent or desire to transition live training to Distance Learning (dL)? Question c: For video‐teleconference or webinar training, what Interactive Multi‐ Media Instruction (IMI) level is required or desired for each?

A22a. See above. Training is only a very limited part of this solicitation. The main focus is on management inquiries and investigations.

Q&A

Q23. PWS, Task 5: Task 5, 5.1 states: Recommend training topics that address gaps in the knowledge and experience of the Forest Service managers and employees responsible for work environment matters related to Employee Relations and Anti‐Harassment.

Question: Can you provide the expected experience level of the students with the subjects intended to be taught?

A23. Training needs have not been determined. Training will be to audience as described.

These are practitioners and managers who may need help in addressing gaps in knowledge or to help standard approaches to addressing related matters.

Q24. Question: Who is currently providing IRB/HUC review and other actions?

A24. This is not a research effort. This requirement is for operational work and all data and metrics collected and reported will be based on the actual work performed.

Q25. Page 3, Pricing Structure: The government has already pre‐populated hours for the labor categories (LCs) associated with Tasks 2 & 3 with the Investigator and Inquiry Official LCs. Is the government again requesting the offeror to provide a firm fixed price for Tasks 2 & 3, that is separate from the Investigator and Inquiry Official labor categories?

A25. Yes. In the event that services are required from that labor category outside of the scope of the firm fixed price line items, we want a labor hour rate for the labor category.

Q26. Page 3, Pricing Structure: Based on the hours provided in the LCs, there are 14 FTEs.

Can the government indicate which FTEs will be required to work in the DC office and which ones will be allowed to work from offeror's office? May investigations be done remotely or must they be done onsite? Can the investigations be done by telephone, interrogative, affidavits, etc as well as on site?

A26. The program manager and the executive consultants will be required to perform in the Yates Bldg. in Washington D.C. approximately 1 to 2 days per week. They may perform from locations approved by the contractor on the other days.

Q27. Pricing: May the offeror submit the same pricing data using an Excel?

A27. Yes. The solicitation has been amended to require submission of pricing in the Excel spreadsheet attached to Amendment 2.

Q28. Pricing, Page 29: Can the government clarify the approximate number of inquiries IAW

(Task 2) and investigations IAW Task 3 per month?

A28. Some of this scope is a new contracted effort for the FS/USDA and sufficient data does not exist. However, the pricing structure provides an estimate of what may be expected in support of the USDA Forest Service.

Q29. Pg. 32, Past Performance: Will the government accept similar work done for commercial section?

A29. Yes. However, it may be determined to be less relevant than past performance to a US

Federal Government organization.

Q&A

Q30. Page 28, Past Performance: Please confirm the government is accepting a total of 3 past performances, including those from subcontractor(s).

A30. Offerors may submit 3 past performance references for the prime and up to 2 additional for teaming partners. Offers will not be downgraded for not proposing teaming partners. The solicitation has been amended in amendment 2 to reflect this change.

Q31. Page 8, Transition Services: Can the government provide the name of the incumbent and contract value?

A31. Note. The current contract contains a different scope and magnitude of effort than that in this solicitation. Incumbent Contractor: The Clemons Group, Approximately $3.5M over five years.

Q32. Page 14, Key Personnel: Please confirm in addition to the PM as key personnel, the government also considers the 3 Sr. Consultants to be key.

A32. Ultimately, the contactor is responsible to determine who they want to propose as Key

Personnel within the guidelines requested in the solicitation. More definitive Answer:

Yes, and we would also consider the lead contract person who will perform as the Government POC over all inquiries and investigations be a Key Personnel as well.

Perhaps this role would be accomplished by the PM but that is up to each contractor to develop and propose their organizational approach.

Q33. What is the Forest Service currently using to capture data to identify trends? Are you using a specific case management database, MS Excel, SharePoint?

A33. The USDA and Forest Service systems are continually evolving over time and will be coordinated with the contractor.

Q34. How is the planned anti‐harassment awareness training for March‐May 2018 scheduled to be delivered? In person, webinar, multi‐modal?

A34. To date, this has been provided through live presentations and webinars delivered by Forest Service leadership.

Q35. Per 1.4 of the PWS, the capture, record retention and transfer of PII is very specific and requires the use of various levels and types of encryption based upon agency policy. Does the Forest Service intend to provide the awarded contractor with an encryption key or will FS provide an encrypted SharePoint site or One Drive to access and transfer PII?

A35. The Forest Service will provide a secure method of transferring PII.

Q36. Per 2.1 of the PWS, does the Forest Service have more than one master collective bargaining agreement besides the agreement with NFFE‐FSC? Are there any other

Q&A collective bargaining agreements with any other unions for which the contractor should be aware?

A36. The Master Agreement is attached in Amendment 0002 to the solicitation. However, there are other regionally based agreements.

Q37. Per 2.6 of the PWS, regarding the deadline of three business days from assignment, does the first business day begin from the day of the case transmittal notice or from when the draft inquiry plan is approved?

A37. Three business from the case transmittal notice.

Q38. Per 3.2 of the PWS, does the Forest Service want a point of contact from the contractor for all misconduct investigations, separate from the point of contact for management inquiries?

A38. No.

Q39. Per 4.1 of the PWS, what are the existing systems and tools the Forest Service is presently using to track work performed and provided needed reports? Are their additional tools/modules not presently being used that the Forest Service is interested in the awarded contractor developing under the existing program? If so, can an ODC pool for costs be included in the pricing structure?

A39. The system will be Government provided.

Q40. Per 6.1 Table of Deliverables and 2.7, Supplemental Inquiries/Reports, what constitutes a supplemental inquiry or report?

A40. When an additional issue is identified after the initial report has been delivered.

Q41. Per 6.2 Inspection and Acceptance of the PWS, will the Forest Service please provide a copy of the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan?

A41. The Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan is still being drafted and the final version will be coordinated with the successful contractor.

Q42. For Task 5: Training and Mentoring, the RFP states that we should “Serve as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to mentor employees working in the Employee Relations and Anti‐Harassment on a daily basis as assistance is requested.” Do you anticipate the creation of a formal mentoring program, or just informal mentorship and guidance to supplement the training?

A42. Not known at this time.

Q&A

Q43. Section 4.4 states that we should “Participate in process improvement events and working groups and make recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Employee Relations/Anti‐Harassment Programs.” Approximately how many of these events should we anticipate participating in throughout a given year?

A43. That is unknown. Much of the program is new and the need for new or revised standard operating procedures has not bee determined.

Q44. Approximately how many standard operating procedure documents will be drafted for this effort?

A44. Unknown

Q45. Is prior work with the Forest Service acceptable to be included as past performance?

A45. Yes.

Q46. Are resumes included in the 15‐page limit for the Technical Proposal?

A46. The solicitation has been amended to provide a separate page count for resumes. See Solicitation Section L.

Q47. In Schedule B – Pricing Structure, there are labor categories for the both Investigator and Inquiry Official to be priced separately by hourly rate. In the Line Item Definition table, Firm Fixed Prices are requested for Investigations and Inquiries. Please define the differences in the roles that the Investigator and Inquiry Official depicted in the Labor Category table would perform from the Firm Fixed Price Line Items of Investigations and Inquiries.

A47. The labor categories may be used to augment an action which falls outside the scope of what is anticipated under the firm fixed price line items or other work which is determined to be within the scope of the overall PWS.