Amendment_0003.pdf

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. Name and Title of Signer (Type or Print) 16A. Name and title of Contracting Officer (Type or Print)

JANA KOLB 757-441-3344

CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. Contractor/Offeror 15C. Date Signed 16B. United States of America

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. Date Signed

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 30-105 STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

PREVIOUS EDITIONS UNUSABLE Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

1. Contract ID Code Page of Pages

1 9

2. Amendment/Modification No. 3. Effective Date 4. Requisition/Purchase Req. No. 5. Project No. (if applicable)

0003 08/21/2018 NFFN7300-17-00187

6. Issued By Code AJ930073 7. Administered By (If other than Item 6) Code

NOAA/EAD SEE BLOCK 6

200 GRANBY STREET, SUITE 815

NORFOLK, VA 23510

JULIA KLOTZ 757-441-6577 julia.callahan@noaa.gov

8. Name and Address of Contractor (No., Street, County, and Zip Code) (X) 9A. Amendment of Solicitation No.

X

1305M2-18-R-NFFN-0002

9B. Date (See Item 11)

JULY 16, 2018

10A. Modification of Contract/Order No.

10B. Date (See Item 13)

Code Facility Code

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

X The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended X is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning 1 copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDG-

MENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT

IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. Accounting and Appropriation Data (if required)

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACT/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

(x) A. This change order is issued pursuant to: (Specify authority) The changes set forth in item 14 are made in the Contract Order No. in item 10A.

B. The above numbered Contract/Order is modified to reflect the administrative changes (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

Set fourth item 14, pursuant to the authority of FAR 43.103 (b)

C. This supplemental agreement is entered into pursuant to authority of:

D. Other (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

c

14. Description of Amendment/Modification (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

Amendment 0003 is issued to (1) Provide Contractor Questions and Answers; (2) Amend the RFP in accordance with the answers to questions; (3) Amend Attachment 3 to remove language from the Observer Coordinator description; (4) Amend Attachments 7 and 8 to reflect the September 6, 2018 proposal response date; and (5) Amend Attachment 10 to provide the most recent Wage Determinations.

1305M2-18-R-NFFN-0002/Amendment 0003

Answers to Vendor Questions

1. Please confirm that Attachment 10 is the most recent wage determination that should be used to develop pricing.

Attachment 10 is updated to reflect the most recent Wage Determination (WD) 2004-0287, Revision 28, Revised 07/03/2018, which should be used to develop pricing.

2. Volume III. Price Proposal, L.7 Potential Conflict of Interest. Subclauses (a) and (b) seem to imply that organizations that have held this contract in the past or currently hold the contract would be deemed to have a conflict of interest, which would disqualify them from bidding on this upcoming solicitation. Under subclause (e) the Operational Conflicts of Interest are outlined in (1)-(9). However, subclause (c) states the organizational conflict of interest clause may be modified or deleted during negotiations. Could you identify under what circumstances subclauses (a), (b) and (e) would supersede subclause (c)?

Offerors that have held, or currently hold, a contract for these services are not disqualified from submitting proposals on the current contract.

3. Attachment 10 - Wage Determination (WD). The only listed WDs are for the three fishery observer positions. I have been unable to find any WDs for the Data Entry Operators on the WDOL.GOV site. Because the Data Entry

Operator III position is not subject to the SCA, I am unsure how to find a wage determination for this position.

The Data Entry Operator I and II positions are listed in the Wage Determinations for each location, accessible at https://www.wdol.gov/sca.aspx and within Attachment 10. The Data Entry Operator III position is not subject to Service Contract Act (SCA).

4. B.3.1 & C.4.3.4 Travel Reimbursement - States all travel will be reimbursed at the Federal Travel Reg (FTR). The program is not setting a minimum distance to travel before observers qualify for travel?

Section I.27(c) requires that “No authorized travel shall exceed the Government’s per diem rate as published in the Federal Travel Regulations and NOAA Travel Handbook.” Per Chapter 11 of the NOAA

Travel Handbook, per diem may not be collected unless the following conditions are met:

“Per Diem Entitlement. Employees are entitled to per diem when all three conditions are met:

i. When the travel performed is more than 50 miles from the vicinity of your official duty station

(corporate limits of the city or town in which employee is stationed), and

ii. When the travel performed is more than 50 miles from your residence (place from which employee commutes daily to their official duty station), and

iii. When you are in a travel status for more than 12 hours. To determine whether the employee has met the 12-hour requirement, the clock starts when the employee departs his/her residence or duty station, whichever is later, performs the mission at hand, and returns back to his/her residence or duty station. That entire span of time must exceed 12 hours in order to be eligible for per diem.”

5. B.3.2 Are all hours incurred by observers to be billed at the Observer I-III rates, or when observers are completing land based tasks or traveling would the time is billed at the Obs data entry rate?

All work done by an observer is billed at that observer’s rate (e.g. an Observer II is always billed at the

Observer II rate). Data Entry Clerks are separate positions, and only personnel employed in that position are billed at that rate.

6. Schedule of costs refer to a line item as ODC, what does ODC stand for?

ODC stands for “Other Direct Costs”.

https://www.wdol.gov/sca.aspx

7. C.4.2.2.5 refers to a Statement of no Criminal Conviction history and H13 refers to the release of information for a government background check. Will the government conduct background checks? Does the Statement of no

Criminal Conviction stem from Federal Regulation 679.50 (i)(2)(x)(A)(1)(iv)?

Yes, the Government will conduct background checks for proposed contractor employees through the security clearance process. Furthermore, the Contractor must certify that the Observer candidate has no criminal conviction history

We are unable to locate the citation referred to in the question. Neither Title 41, Public Contracts and

Property Management, nor Title 50, Wildlife and Fisheries, has a Section 679.50 that extends to paragraph

“i”.

8. C.4.3.8 - Are Vaccinations reimbursable or should they be included in overhead costs?

Vaccinations are reimbursable when required by the contract. FAR 52.212-4 Alt I (i)(ii)(D)(1) has been updated to include vaccinations.

9. Accounting Questionnaire - “Provides internal audit reports”. As a small business we do not have an internal audit department to complete internal audit reports. Are internal Audit reports required?

Accounting Systems are required to meet the requirements in I.29 – Accounting System Administration, specifically section (C)8.

10. Accounting Questionnaire -“Tracking of uncompensated overtime” – Does this refer to salaried employees? All

Service Contract Act (*SCA) employees must be paid their overtime at time and half over 40 hours, they should not have uncompensated overtime.

Per the FAR, “‘Uncompensated overtime’ means the hours worked without additional compensation in excess of an average of 40 hours per week by direct charge employees who are exempt from the Fair Labor

Standards Act.”

11. Factor 3 - Observer Support Services Approach, (2) The Offeror Shall Describe Its Proposed Approach To

Training Requirements. Will it be considered acceptable, or counted against the Offeror as redundant, to also include this answer under Factor 2 - Operational Requirements Approach, (1) Observer Recruitment & Retention

Plan, as this seems to be an important component of both Factor 2 and 3, or are we misunderstanding something here?

The Offeror may include training information in both Factor 2 and Factor 3; however, all text will count toward the page limitation.

12. Pg 18, F.3.8 – Please clarify the conflicting information: “Received within 4 business days of the trip landing.

Received within 2 calendar days (48 hours) of the trip landing.”

F.3.8 has been updated to remove “Received within 2 calendar days (48 hours) of the trip landing” in accordance with C.4.2.3.

13. Is there a font requirement?

Section L.6 Proposal Preparation has been updated to include the following language, “The proposal shall be prepared on standard 8-1/2” by 11” paper, single spaced, using Times New Roman and no less than 11 point font.” Text contained in tables may use a smaller point Times New Roman font.

14. Please confirm that all Plans can be included as attachments and do not count against the page count.

Section L.6 identifies the documents that are not included in the page count: “resumes, schedules, drawings, Past Performance Information Sheets, and front matter consisting of cover pages, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, acronym list, tab separators, and reference sheets are not included in the page count limitation.” Therefore, plans are included in the page count.

15. Please confirm that there are no page counts for Volumes I and III.

There are no page counts for Volumes I and III.

16. Pg 65, L.6 (b) (i) (b) - What should be included in Section B.2 Schedule of Items in Volume I, and does the

Government anticipate that the pricing spreadsheet would be included here in Volume I as well as Volume III?

Section L.6 (b) (i) (b), has been updated to remove “Section B.2, Schedule of Items” from Volume I. Section

B.2, Schedule of Items must be fully completed on the provided Excel spreadsheet and included in Volume

III.

17. Pg 8, C.4.2.2.5 – Please confirm that the current background check process provides the required certification.

The Government’s security clearance process does not provide the required certification. Prior to presenting candidates to the Government for security clearance, the Contractor must certify that the

Observer candidate has no criminal conviction history.

18. Pg 68, L.7 (d) – Please confirm whether you want fisheries related contracts that were active in the past two years or ALL contracts that were active in the past two years?

Per Section L.7 CAR 1352.209-70 Potential Organizational Conflict of Interest (d), offerors “shall supply a list of ALL prior and active contracts, grants, and business interests, going back to a period 2 years prior to

July 16, 2018.”

19. Section C.4.1.3 Coordinators describes the role of coordinators. Are these coordinators the same as the coordinators associated with each program and identified in the pricing schedule? Are the coordinators, assistant coordinators, and data entry clerks provided work space in each lab?

Yes to both questions.

20. Section C.4.3.2 states that an observer’s first deployments (the specific number of deployments determined by the specific Observer program) and the resulting data shall be immediately edited and approved after each trip by

NMFS prior to any further deployments by that Observer. Can the government provide the specific number of

“training trip” for each of the programs?

No, the Government cannot provide the specific number of training trips for each program as that number has not been determined.

21. Section 4.3.2 states The Contractor shall submit to the COR, at least ninety (90) calendar days (unless an exception is granted by the CO) before the beginning of each training event. From our experience hiring staff that far in advance usually results in some of them dropping out or finding other work. Why are candidates names required 90 days prior to training?

Due to new security procedures related to the completion of background checks, Candidate’s names are required 90 days prior to training. It routinely takes 60-90 days for background checks to be completed under the new procedures.

22. Can the government provide the number of trainings and observer attendees that were conducted for each of the past 3 years for each of the SEFOP programs.

Generally one (sometimes two) new-hire classroom training and one refresher training per year.

23. What was the total hours and overtime hours for each program in 2016 and 2017?

The Government does not have that data available.

24. How many sea days were accomplished for each fishery in 2016 and 2017?

The Government is only able to provide the information for the programs identified below. The other

Programs do not have that information available.

Year Program Days

2016 Miami 1,959

2017 Miami 1,302

2016 Galveston – Shrimp 2,174

2017 Galveston – Shrimp 2,113

2016 Galveston – Reef 1,352

2017 Galveston – Reef 465

25. Will the government provide onsite office space at each of the science centers for program management and administrative staff assigned to this contract?

Yes, the Government will provide onsite office space.

26. Where will government assigned gear and equipment be stored and who will be responsible for issuing the gear to each observer?

Government furnished equipment will be issued to the Contractor by the Government. As stated in the

PWS Section C.4.3.3., the Contractor shall maintain the gear. Per PWS Section C.4.3.6, the Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators may issue supplies to the Observers.

All gear and equipment not assigned or issued to the Contractor will be stored at the Federal facility until it is issued to the Contractor by the Government.

27. Vessel Safety and Deployment - If an observer is, severely, taken ill or injured and a vessel must stop fishing to return the observer to port, is the fair reimbursement for a vessel’s fuel cost a reimbursable expense?

If this circumstance arose, the Government would be responsible for direct reimbursement to the vessel.

28. Are aerial surveys typically conducted exclusively in one of the four fisheries, or all four and, proportionally, to what degree?

Aerial surveys are only conducted by the Platform Removal Observer Program (PROP).

29. All observer time and coordinator time is to be billed hourly, including time on the vessel?

Yes, all time is to be billed hourly. There is no “sea-day rate” associated with this contract.

30. When does the observer’s billable time begin and end on deployments? On Travel? When waiting for assignments?

Billable time is for time actually worked. It begins when work begins and ends when work is concluded.

Observers are not paid for time they are on “stand-by” at home. The current practice is that billable hours begin when observers begin travel for official business for deployments (e.g. when they depart their home or duty station).

31. C.3.1 Policies and Regulations, the last paragraph refers to a National Observer Program Safety Program

Compliance Action Plan, is this different than the Emergency Action Plan required under section C.4.1.7, and if so, where do we find the standards to which the Action Plan must meet?

Section C.3.1 is updated so that the final paragraph reads: “The Contractor shall submit a Safety

Compliance Action Plan to the CO and COR at proposal submission. Updates to the plan are required to be submitted to the CO and COR within 30 days after official notification of changes to policies or procedure by the government. The Safety Compliance Action Plan shall be a comprehensive safety plan that addresses and complies with all areas of the PWS and all applicable laws and regulations.”

F.3.23 description is updated to read “Safety Compliance Action Plan” and due date is updated to read “At proposed submission; approved plan to be incorporated into the contract. Updates required within 30 days after official notification of changes to policies or procedure by the government.”

H.22 Safety Program is updated to read “The contractor shall abide by the established safety policies at

NOAA offices and those on NOAA-owned vessels and aircraft, as well as all applicable laws and regulations during performance of the contract. Specific safety policies applicable to a given location or vessel will be provided upon written request to the Contracting Officer’s Representative. As safety policies are updated, the contractor shall abide by the updated safety requirements. The contractor shall abide by the approved

Safety Compliance Action Plan at all times.”

L.6(b)(ii)(III) – Factor 3 – Observer Support Services Approach, Section 8 is updated to read: “(8) The

Offeror shall include a Safety Compliance Action Plan.”

32. C.4.2 Is the 2016 or 2017 sea day schedule available for viewing? RFQ includes 2015 sea day numbers.

The Government is unable to provide the 2016 or 2017 sea day schedule. Any available historical data is presented in the response to Question 24.

33. C.4.2- Have the sea day schedule overall seaday numbers been constant over the past 5 years or has there been a large variance?

The overall number of seadays have not been constant over the past five years and has been dependent on several factors.

34. C.4.2- Is the sea day schedule yearly totals for this contract anticipated to be similar to 2015 numbers provided?

Are there any anticipated coverage increases or decreases that could alter numbers in this next contract?

The Government does not expect the total yearly sea days moving forward to be the same as 2015, which was higher than usual. However, the Galveston shrimp and reef programs may be relatively similar to the

2015 data.

35. C.4.2- What is the sea day schedule publishing timeline? What date each year is the contractor provided the yearly sea day schedule? When does the sea day schedule year begin?

Sea day schedules are not published or mandated for the SEFSC Observer Program.

36. C.4.2- “Observers shall be deployed, in accordance with sea day schedules or other effort measures developed by

NMFS or the Contractor, to vessels, which may use any of several types of fishing gear or, in the case of the

PROP, vessels which perform oil field or explosives related work.”- Can you explain what “other effort measures” could include?

Sea day schedules or level of effort may be based upon number of permits issued to vessel owners, vessel availability, funding levels, etc.

37. C.4.2.3 (c) and F.3.6 and F.3.7 refer to the submission of paper and electronic data within 4 business days. Is there a current or preferred method for submission of data? If so please provide information on the current system?

Does the government pay for data mailing costs or should the Contractor include in overhead costs?

The Programs mail the completed data forms to the applicable facility (currently using UPS); therefore, the costs are covered by the Government. In some instances, data is recorded onto CDs and the CDs are mailed to the facility along with original copies of the data forms.

38. C.4.2.3(L) refers to the submission of Observer data. “The Contractor shall work with the Federal Task Managers to establish the appropriate means to transfer the electronic data to the Federal Task Managers and/or to establish a shared network database.” Please provide more information on current methods of transferring observer data.

Do the different programs have different systems for spending in electronic data?

The observer programs do not collect data electronically. Currently, observers collect data and record the information on data forms or photos of animals/biological samples are taken when applicable. The PROP

Observers record raw data on paper forms and send completed trip reports electronically. As stated in the

PWS, the Contractor shall work with the Federal Task Managers to establish appropriate means to transfer electronic data.

The programs are currently operated separately; however, information is shared among all programs when innovations are available. The goal is not 100% electronic data collection; however, the data collected is entered into existing databases. There is no established transition period for going from paper to electronic data.

39. C.4.3.1- “The Contractor shall provide complete logistical and operational support for Observers. Such support shall include, but is not limited to, training and travel to land-based assignments and vessel deployments.”- Would there be additional land based assignments other than training, in-person debriefing/refreshers or exit interviews?

Yes, there may be occasional attendance at scientific conferences, picking up samples, and conducting vessel inspections; however, all of those are relatively infrequent.

40. C.4.3.2- Is all observer travel and salary for travel to and from trainings (to include initial training) reimbursable?

The last paragraph under Section C.4.3.2 provides information as to what training costs are reimbursable.

41. C.4.3.4- “A Government vehicle may be provided and shall be used for individual task orders when necessary.”-

Can you give example of task orders this would apply to?

This would only apply to the Panama City, Miami, and Galveston locations. Occasionally contract staff use the GOV pool vehicles to pick up local supplies and equipment, meet observers at boats, etc.; however, this is not very frequent.

42. C.4.3.5- “NMFS will select vessels for deployment.”- Can we have further clarification on vessel selection process? Is there a pre-trip notification system or call in system? Is first communication of vessel coverage selection made by NMFS to vessel? Are any trips set up through trip solicitation or dock intercept?

Once vessel owners receive permits, they become eligible for the selection process. NMFS sends selection letters to vessels which require them to call in to the Program office in advance of every trip during the selection period. Depending upon the coverage needs at the moment as well as availability of an observer, an observer is assigned. The vessel selection process is discussed in detail during the kick off meeting;

historically the vessel selection process has been conducted by the government and has not had an impact on the cost of the contract.

43. C.4.3.5- “Once a trip departure date and location have been identified, the Contractor or Observer Coordinator will be notified to provide an Observer.”- Please provide information on vessel selection timelines and the communication timelines to contractor? If there are call in or pre-trip notification systems in place, what are the notification timelines vessels are required to adhere to?

The following information is dependent upon circumstances, and the timelines are not definitive:

Miami Vessels are required to provide trip notification 5 days in advance of a departure.

However, if a shorter notification comes in and an observer is available and can make the vessel’s preferred timeline, the observer is assigned

Galveston 48 hours generally

Panama City The time period may vary; however, the notification time is typically 5 days or less

PROP Observers must be available at all times. Notification time may be 24 hours or less

44. C.4.3.8- “Food is provided for the Observers and must be equal to the food being served to the rest of the crew.”-

Are vessels to be reimbursed for meals? If yes, at what rate?

Meal reimbursement is paid directly by the Government to the vessel.

45. C.4.3.8- “Observers shall be compensated for days ashore when traveling in the course of their duties and when in port awaiting their next deployment.”- (a) Do observers waiting in their home port qualify for waiting pay, or do observer have to meet a minimum travel requirement when awaiting the next deployment? (b) What constitutes travel for an observer? (c) Is there a mileage or minimum time traveled to qualify for travel? (d) Is compensation for “days ashore” at the Observer IIII (sic) rates?

(a) Observers are not paid for waiting in their home port while waiting for their next deployment.

Observers typically begin their deployment from their home or their duty station depending upon the circumstances and they are not paid while waiting for their next deployment.

(b) Official travel for an observer is travel required under the contract for deployments or other activities such as participation at events (e.g. meetings) in accordance with the Contract and the FTR.

(c) This is circumstantial depending upon whether or not the travel is considered local travel or TDY. For local travel there is no minimum mileage or minimum travel requirement; however, only mileage may be paid, and only if approved in advance. M&IE cannot be reimbursed for local travel. For TDY travel, the 50 miles/12 hour rule is applicable.

(d) There is no Observer IIII rate.

46. Gear - Galveston-item line 6-what is a suit hanger?

Item used to hang the immersion suits.

47. Attachment 3- “Observer Coordinator: The Observer Coordinator shall oversee and manage the program by managing the day-to-day operation, generate a list of commercial vessels for observer coverage, arrange logistics of observer coverage, perform database management, and work with NMFS senior scientists, enforcement, Coast

Guard, the commercial fishing industry and administrative personnel and staff from other NMFS divisions.”-

Please provide more information regarding the of Coordinators requirement to “generate a list of commercial vessels for observer coverage”?

Attachment 3 has been updated to remove “Observer Coordinator: The Observer Coordinator shall oversee and manage the program by managing the day-to-day operation, generate a list of commercial vessels for observer coverage, arrange logistics of observer coverage, perform database management, and work with NMFS senior scientists, enforcement, Coast Guard, the commercial fishing industry and administrative personnel and staff from other NMFS divisions” since this is not currently a requirement for any program, as federal employees perform this task.

48. Attachment 3- #5 Fishery Observer I- “May use interpersonal and communication skills to contact fishermen and schedule observer sampling trips”- Does this communication refer to trips previously selected by trips or are there situations when the observer is first contact at the dock or via phone in selecting a vessel for coverage and setting up trips, ie dockside solicitation?

“May use interpersonal and communication skills to contact fishermen and schedule observer sampling trips” refers to trips previously selected.

49. Attachment 3- #7- Fishery Observer 3 (Lead Observer)- (a) Is this position anticipated to be a full time deployed observer, maintaining a minimum 12 sea days per month? In the past we have used this observer grade as

Assistant Coordinators, which completed a dual role as part time observers and part-time coordinators. (b) Does

NMFS have a preferred/anticipated monthly deployment days for this position?

(a) No.

(b) No.

50. Is it correct that each page should be inserted into the Volume II of our technical proposal?

Attachment 7 should be filled out for each reference and included in Volume II.

As Attachment 8 is to be sent directly from the reference to the Contract Specialist, the Government will attach the copies of Attachment 8 that it receives to Volume II.

51. Is attachment 7 supposed to go to the Client along with Attachment 8 or just send the client attachment 8?

Attachment 7 is part of what the Contractor submits to the Government and does not need to be sent to the reference.

52. Part two of the form has three statements. A check box precedes two of the statements and a line precedes the third statement.

a. If we check the first box do we still send the client the questionnaire?

No, if this box is check, no questionnaire is required since the Government can pull the required information from CPARS.

b. Is the second checkbox part for the second and third statement in section 2?

If you check the questionnaire box, mark an X or check mark indicating that you have sent the reference a copy of the questionnaire

53. The space available for a brief description is insufficient to identify how the project relates to the solicitation.

May we add a text box to page two of the form to provide the description?

Yes, you may add additional pages to adequately describe how the project relates to the RFP.