SOLicittion_1231ME18Q0021__Question_clarification_Contracing_Officer.pdf

Questions Submitted by vendors and Contracting Officer’s clarifications.

1. Is there currently an incumbent contractor performing these services?

ANSWER: No there is not an incumbent. New requirement.

If so, what is the contract number, and are they performing these services with the same amount of personnel as requested in the PWS? See answer Above.

2. Is the estimated value for this project greater than $250K?

ANSWER: Yes

3. Can the Government confirm that they are asking for 1 year of pricing when the period of performance is for 3 years?

ANSWER: Three performance periods of pricing broken out for each period of performance with escalation for each period.

4. Can the Government clarify the number associated on the CLINs in the solicitation and SF1447 are meant to be 001, 002 and 003?

ANSWER: The contracting writing system that RD uses is IAS/Prism. The system will not let RD use CLIN Structure with four positions. So the CLINS were built to Show the CLINS 1,2, &3 as 101, 102 & 103 So an Subclin line could be matched to each Clin in the Solicitation. This will be used throughout this IDIQ.

5. Can the Government specifically provide what needed to be submitted for the proposal response other than price and FAR provisions?

ANSWER: Price and Technically Capabilities to meet the Solicitation and PWS. The vendor if so inclined would submit resumes of the personnel it would like to use to support the requirement.

6. On Page 12 of the document 'PMO_Solicitation_2018_(4)' it states: "All Offerors shall submit the following: 2 copies of the SF 1447 with blocks 27 completed, along with 2 copies of the offeror's proposal to include pricing." It also states: "All Offer's shall be sent to the Rural Development Business Center, United States Department of Agriculture, via e-mail in PDF copy of the submittal documents/proposal to: marshall.ritchey@ky.usda.gov." QUESTION: Does this mean that we should submit two identical PDF files of the 1447, proposal, and pricing, or, was sentence one included in error?

ANSWER: Vendors if submitting an e-mail response can submit one copy of their proposal.

7. On page 5 of the document 'PWS_for_PMO_Contract_Support_3yr_IDIQ_(1),' in Exhibit 1, Schedule of Deliverables, there are listed deliverables not elsewhere described in the PWS. PWS paragraph 2.1 states that the requirements will be more fully defined in the task orders.

QUESTION: Should Exhibit 1 be moved to the first Task Order?

ANSWER: The Exhibit will be included in the TASK Order.

8. ) On page 6 of the document 'PWS_for_PMO_Contract_Support_3yr_IDIQ_(1),' under the QASP, for the attendance criteria, the AQL states "Personnel shall not be absence more than 2% of the required work hours (1920)." 2% is approximately 38 hours. This means that an employee must not be permitted sick leave, bereavement leave, jury duty, and/or vacation time that, when combined, exceeds five total days. QUESTION: Would the government consider increasing the absence rate to 5% (96 hours), which would allow for 12 total absences out of 240 likely workdays per year?

mailto:marshall.ritchey@ky.usda.gov

ANSWER: NO

9. What are the page limits for each section of the proposal, if any?

ANSWER: There is no page limits, But I recommend submitting substance and not fluff in your submitted proposal. Great number of pages does not mean Quality submission.

10. Is there a deadline for when questions are due?

ANSWER: There is no Deadline for questions from the vendors during the submission period. But After the September 25, 2019, the contract officer will not answer any more questions concerning this solicitation.

11. Is there an incumbent(s)? If so, what company/companies, and what are the corresponding contract numbers. Has the labor mix changed, and if so how?

ANSWER: No incumbent New requirement.

12. . Page 4 of the RFP under Knowledge Skills Abilities Required {underline added} calls for a “…Senior Level Acquisition/Program Specialist with a minimum of 10 years’ experience and qualification of Comparable FAC II or CPM certification in contracting and Quality Assurance.” Please clarify if it is required that a candidate must have a FAC-C II certification in Contracting and some other certification in Quality Assurance, or if a FAC-C II certification alone will be sufficient.

ANSWER: The candidates must have an certification granted by an association, School or Training program, which is comparable to FAC II certification.

13. Page 12 of the RFP requests two copies of the SF 1447 and proposal. If Offerors send their proposals via email, will one attached copy of the SF 1447 and proposal be sufficient?

ANSWER: Yes, one copy via e-mail will suffice.

14. Please clarify that this is a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) opportunity. On page 5 of the solicitation it notes that this will be Best Value, however in the same paragraph, price is listed as being most important along with technical capabilities.

Based on this, we assume this is LPTA and not “Best Value” given that price is the driving factor.

ANSWER: Lowest Price Technically Acceptable.

15. The PWS (page 2) identifies the Ordering Period as:

Ordering Period 1: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019

Ordering Period 2: October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020

Ordering Period 3: October 1, 2010 – September 30, 2021

The Solicitation (page 4) identifies the Ordering Period as:

Ordering Period 1: October 1,2018 - September 30, 2019

Ordering Period 2: October 1,2019 – September 30, 2020

Ordering Period 3: October 1,2019 – September 30, 2021

ANSWER: Page 4 is a misprint, It should be October 1, 2020.

16. Page 5 of the solicitation discusses both Best Value and LPTA, Please clarify.

Award shall be made to the offeror whose proposal offers the best value to the government, considering technical capability, past performance, and price. The government will evaluate information based on the following evaluation criteria: IAW FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation commercials Items based on following factors listed in order of priority: Lowest Price and Technical Capability demonstrating ability to provide services described in the PWS, with acceptable or better performance ratings in CPARS.

ANSWER: Lowest Price Technically Acceptable is the evaluation Criteria.

17. What level of Security clearance is required, Page 4 of PWS?

ANSWER: Public Trust

Contractor Personnel Must Obtain the following before commencement of work:

o Security clearance will be required (Public Trust) o USDA IT security training required

18. Please confirm that resumes are not required in the response?

ANSWER: See Contracting Officers response to Question 5.

19. Please confirm that there is no page count restriction or special instructions in terms of fonts, etc.

ANSWER: See Contracting Officers response to Question 9.

20. Are Resumes required? If so, how many and is there a max page count per resume?

ANSWER: See Contracting Officers response to Question 5.

21. Page 6 of the PMO Solicitation states, “Award shall be made to the offeror whose proposal offers the best value to the government, considering technical capability, past performance, and price.”

How many references/past performances are we required to submit? Will three (3) references within the past five years suffice or does the Government need additional references?

ANSWER: Yes

22. Is there a total maximum page count for the Proposal response? And will that page count exclude the resumes (if required) and the offeror cover transmittal letter?

23. ANSWER: See Contracting Officers response to Question 9.

24. Is there an incumbent? If so, who is the incumbent and how long have the staff been onboard?

ANSWER: No incumbent. New Requirement.

25. Are you demanding 1st right of refusal to the successor?

ANSWER: No incumbent Question not relevant.

26. Can you provide instructions to industry regarding the information you require to be responsive to your request? i.e. Management Plan, Quality Control, Staffing Plan, etc.?

ANSWER: Vendors are required to submit the best proposal to the government request. Since we are looking for expert help with this requirement, do think the information above is important, then I would include it.

27. If you do not require details from question 2, do you only require pricing?

ANSWER: See Question 26.

28. Can you provide evaluation criteria details?

ANSWER: See question 16.

29. With the questions that we have proposed, will the Government consider a 1- week extension to revise our proposal based on your response?

ANSWER: NO

30. Please confirm that this is a stand alone IDIQ and not under any other contracting vehicle.

ANSWER: YES

25. Please confirm the contractor can propose multiple labor categories to best meet requirements under this

IDIQ.

ANSWER: Vendor may propose multiple labor categories.But , the Government reserves the right to select what best fits the needs of the requirement.

31. Vendor currently has ongoing contracts with USDA Rural Development. If the firm were to bid on this opportunity, would our current USDA RD projects be affected?

ANSWER: No, new requirement and there is no foreseen conflict of interest.

32. Will the Government please clarify who the incumbent for this opportunity is?

33. ANSWER: No incumbent. New Requirement.

34. Combined Synopsis, Page 2, Services – Can the government confirm that CLIN 001 corresponds to line item 101 and CLIN 002 corresponds to line item 102, etc?

ANSWER: Yes

35. Combined Synopsis, Page 5 – Given that this an IDIQ requirement, how will the government determine technical acceptability in an offer? This will help ensure our proposal is properly structured.

ANSWER: YES

36. Combined Synopsis, Page 5 – Will the government consider changing the evaluation from lowest price to best value trade-off?

ANSWER: NO

37. Combined Synopsis, Page 12 – Since this is an electronic submission, should only one copy of the pdf file be submitted?

ANSWER: Yes only one electronic copy will suffice.

38. Combined Synopsis, Page 12 – Should the technical and price proposal be submitted as separate pdf files?

ANSWER: It would be easier for the Government, but it is not a requirement.

39. PWS, Page 4 – Will the Government please clarify if all staff outlined in this opportunity will require to have public trust clearance upon commencement of work.

ANSWER: Yes

40. For Proposal submission does the Government require both hand delivery and email submission?

ANSWER: No either one will suffice

41. In addition to pricing and completion of SF1447, the solicitation/PWS does not identify specific information (Technical, Past Performance, etc.) required in Contractor's Proposal. Please provide what criteria/information is required or is it up to the Contractor what information to provide within our proposal?

ANSWER: It is up to the vendor to provide what they think is there best proposal for the requirement.

42. We are preparing to submit a proposal for the USDA solicitation SOL 12-31ME-18-Q-0021 PMO Program Support, and wanted to clarify that in the task order ordering periods listed on page 4 of the combined synopsis/solicitation, ordering period 3 is intended to be Oct 1, 2020- Sept 30 2021, and not Oct 1, 2019- Sept 30 2021 as its currently listed.

ANSWER: Correct the Ordering period is from 1 October 2020 to September 30, 2021.

43. Our company is interested in responding to Solicitation # 12-31ME-18-Q-0021 . Will the government provide any specifics in proposal response as it relates to format or capability requirements? Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

ANSWER: See answer provided in question 41.

44. For the proposal, is it only the cover letter and pricing? I did not see a requirement for technical or resumes.

ANSWER; See answer provided in question 5 .