14-233-SOL-00141_0001.pdf

(x)

14-233-SOL-00141

x x 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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 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.

x

DAM

Rockville MD 20857 12501 Ardennes Avenue Twinbrook Place, Suite 400

DHHS/PSC/SAS/DAM

04/16/2014000001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

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

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

03/18/2014

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

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

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

See Attached Questions and Answers.

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

NATHANIEL MIZZELL

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

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.

Electronically Signed 04/16/2014

Questions/Answers RFP No. 14-233-SOL-00141

April 16, 2014

Pursuant to Section 12.2 Inquiries in the subject Request for Proposal, please find answers for all questions received prior to 4:00PM EST, April 4, 2014. All answers are highlighted in red.

1. Is Futrend the incumbent contractor for the Accounts Payable/Obligations Support requirement? I found a contract with them set to expire on June 6, 2014 which aligns with the award estimate in the pre-solicitation notice, HHSP233201100015A.

Yes.

2. I found the above pre-solicitation on FedBizOpp. Can you tell me if the above is a new contract for services or if there is already a company performing these services. If there is a company are you able to provide their name and if they are eligible to bid on the solicitation.

The subject requirement is a follow-on contract. The incumbents are Futrend Technology and TFC Consulting, Inc. The Government believes the incumbents are eligible 8(a) concerns and, therefore, eligible to respond to the solicitation.

Futrend is the incumbent for the commercial and travel payments activities (contract HHSP233201100015A). In addition, Futrend is the incumbent for funds control and grant obligations activities which are performed under a separate contract (contract HHSP23320100001SC). TFC Consulting is the incumbent for all IPAC activities (contract HHSP233201400005C). DFO recently reorganized so tasks were realigned for this solicitation.

3. Regarding the records management responsibility and protecting sensitive information, should we anticipate a clearance requirement in the RFP? If so, what level?

Yes. See Section 3.7 HHS-Controlled Facilities and Information Systems Security of the

RFP.

4. Concerning the subject solicitation to provide accounts payable/obligations support to the PSC, can you tell us what the estimated level of effort may be for the resulting contract?

See the response to question 11.

5. What is the current value of that contract?

The current value of contract HHSP233201100015A is $4,050,178.90 inclusive of all options.

6. Will you elect only one contractor or multiple contractors for upcoming RFP?

The government anticipates awarding only one contract as a result of this solicitation.

7. Is there sub-contracting available in this RFP?

It is the responsibility of the offeror to determine how it will satisfy the requirement and whether it will propose subcontracting in compliance with FAR 52.214 Limitations on Subcontracting.

8. Is the funding available for the contract - both for this FY and four option years?

Funds have not been committed for this requirement. A contract will only be awarded if and when funds are made available.

9. Wanted to see if you could let us know if any chance the solicitation could be let as Small Business vice currently identified as 8a set aside?

This offering has already been accepted into the Small Business 8(a) set-aside program.

As such it must remain within the 8(a) program.

10. When would a proposal response be required to be submitted?

The RFP will be amended and the due date for proposal submission will be changed to 4:00PM EST, April 23, 2014.

11. What is the expected Level of FTE Support?

The Government anticipates that the following labor categories and estimated level of effort will be required for the six-month base period. These estimates are furnished for offerors information only and are not considered restrictive for proposal purposes. The offeror is expected to make an independent assessment of the resources required to perform the tasks set forth in the Statement of Work

Staffing/Resource - Base Period FTE Hrs - Base period (6 mos.)

Total

LOE

Project Manager (key personnel) 1 960 960

Technical/Reports Lead 1 960 960

Accounts Payable Analyst 1 960 960

Accounting Technician 11 960 10560

General Clerk III 3 960 2880

Jr. Financial Analyst 2 960 1920

Estimated Total Level of Effort ** 19 5760 18240

Currently, all of the activities in the statement of work are performed by the staff indicated above. Staff may perform tasks in more than one area. The technical/reports lead does not work solely on reporting and handles other statement of work responsibilities approximately 75% of the time.

**In addition, 3 FTE’s (level of effort is 1920 hours annually for each FTE) work on grants and funds control obligations which phase in on 12/11/2014. The 3 FTE’s are analysts or accounting technicians. As set forth in the solicitation, the obligations related activities become effective on 12/11/14.

Overtime needs for obligations tasks have been small (approximately 24 hours per person) and are solely related to fiscal year end. Overtime has not been necessary for the other activities in the statement of work.

12. Where is the work to be performed?

Please see Section 5.2 of the RFP.

13. What type of contract will it be, FFP, T&M, LOE?

Please see Section 12.6 of the RFP.

14. Can you tell me if the current contract with Futrend was an 8(a) sole source or 8(a) competitive bid?

It was an 8(a) sole source.

15. a. REFERENCE 1: RFP page 3, paragraph 2.1, CONSIDERATION AND PAYMENT, states: “…The government anticipates a firm-fixed price contract for severable services...” and RFP page 31, paragraph 12.6, FAR 52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984), states: “…The Government anticipates award of a Firm-Fixed-Price contract resulting from this solicitation.”

QUESTION 1: Although the government provides “workload” information for many of the tasks contained in the SOW, there remains significant ambiguity concerning the overall level of effort required to accomplish all required tasks. E.g., in paragraph 2.2.4.5 Tax, sub-paragraph 2, the RFP states: “…The Contractor may be required to identify/develop processes and best practices for reporting requirements that do not currently exist or where it is determined by federal management that it is needed…” Such undefined / open-ended requirements do not lend themselves to a firm-fixed type contract. Will the government consider using a time and materials contract for this solicitation?

No. The vast majority of the tasks in the statement of work, aside from the IPAC requirements, have been successfully performed under fixed price contracts.

Tax laws change frequently; however, most changes do not require a significant level of effort. We will need the service provider to understand and expect that we are not interested in modifying the contract for some small changes in the tasks due to updates to policy/regulations for our requirements. If any new requirements would require a significant change to the level of effort, we would modify the contract.

Currently, we have no 1042 process so one must be developed by the contractor. We do not believe that developing a process should require a significant level of effort and will give the contractor ample time to develop and implement a process.

Reconciliations such as for ARRA/Grants, are required infrequently and require about 30 minutes of effort. The last ARRA reconciliation was performed in November. There may be another program that requires reconciliation at some future date. We do not expect to modify the contract for small new requirements/reconciliations associated with our tasks that require minimal amounts of effort which should not impact the contractors performance.

b. REFERENCE B1: RFP, page 21, paragraph 8.4 HHSAR 352.270-5 KEY PERSONNEL (JAN 2006) states:

“…The individuals cited below are key personnel:

Name Title

TBD Project Manager…”

REFERENCE B2: RFP page 33, Sub factor 1 – Staffing Plan and Key Personnel, states:

“…The Government will evaluate Staffing Plan and Key Personnel to the degree to which the Offeror’s Staffing Plan satisfies all the requirements in the Statement of Work and its resourcing approach is logical and technically effective. The Government will evaluate the degree to which the Offeror’s proposed Key Personnel exhibit skills and experience commensurate with the requirements in the Statement of Work. Proposals will be judged on the Offeror’s ability to provide a staffing plan that provides an appropriate mix of key individuals, skills/experience and staff that meets DFO’s needs, and accomplishes the work. (emphasis added)…”

REFERENCE B3: RFP page 29, Factor 2 – Management Approach, Sub factor 1 – Staffing Plan and Key Personnel, Instructions, second paragraph, states: “…The Offeror shall identify personnel it expects to assume responsibility for performance of specified tasks and shall submit resumes demonstrating ability to perform those tasks. The Offeror shall identify and submit resumes for Key Personnel…”

QUESTION B1: Please provide the current labor categories and corresponding annual level of effort (LOE) in terms of fulltime equivalents (FTE) for each labor category

Please see response to question 11.

QUESTION B2: Reference 2A states the only Key Personnel is the “Project Manager.”

Reference 2B, however, states: “…provide(s) an appropriate mix of key individuals, skills/experience and staff that meets DFO’s needs, and accomplishes the work.

(emphasis added)…” Will the government please confirm the Project Manager is the only key personnel?

The Government anticipates the Project Manager to be the only key personnel. The offeror may propose more key personnel.

QUESTION B3: If the government identifies other contractors as key personnel, however, please identify the additional government designated key personnel by labor category to include LOE in terms of required FTEs.

See response to question B2 above.

QUESTION B4: Since the resultant contract from this solicitation will be subject to the Service Contract Act (SCA) – and any qualified incumbent contractors will have the right of first refusal should the government select a new contractor – does the government deem all incumbent contractors “qualified?”

Work is currently being performed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. The government does not supervise or assess the performance of individual contractor employees.

QUESTION B5: If the government believes all incumbent contractors are “qualified” – and will therefore be offered the right of first refusal, suggest the government require bidders to only provide a resume for the Project Manager and not provide resumes for any other proposed contractor personnel.

See answer to question 17 below.

c. REFERENCE C1: RFP page 29, Factor 2 – Management Approach, Sub factor 2 – Management Plan, Instructions, states: “…The Offeror shall provide its contract phase-in/transition plan (including the phase-in of activities which commence on 12/11/2014)...”

QUESTION C1: Why will phase-in activities commence on 12/11/2014 when the government expects the resultant contract to start well before 12/11/2014?

Due to a re-organization in the Division of Financial Operations, there is another contract that will end soon and those tasks, related to obligations, are included in this statement of work. Those activities will commence on 12/11/2014.

d. REFERENCE D1: RFP pages 13 and 14, paragraph 3.9, QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP) makes numerous references to various performance standards “…effective 12/11/2014…”

QUESTION D1: Is the statement accurate that various performance standards are effective 12/11/2014 – and not at contract start?

Yes.

QUESTION D2: If the date 12/11/2014 is inaccurate, what is the correct date for the performance standards to become effective?

The date is correct.

16. What level of background check do contractor’s employees need to have or at what level of the hiring process do these potential employees need to obtain their background check in order to work in government site and to access confidential data?

See Section 3.7 of the RFP.

17. How many key employees does the contractor need to submit this proposal? Does the government need their resume(s), and would a contingent offer letter suffice.

The Government anticipates the Project Manager to be the only key personnel. The offeror may propose more key personnel. A contingent offer would suffice but if the proposed individual is not available, the contractor would be responsible for providing an individual with comparable skills and ability. Resumes for non-key individuals may be submitted, but are not required. While resumes are not required, an offeror should demonstrate that it is proposing the skills and qualifications necessary to perform each task of the statement of work.

18. If the Reps and Certs are already online in ORCA does the contractor need to fill the same forms attached with this solicitation?

Refer to Attachment 3 of the solicitation, “Offeror Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items (Nov 2013).

19. In reference to the administration of the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans (QASP), would the contractor be given an adequate hearing to state their side of the story before a punitive action be taken against them if the government were to find them at default per the terms stated?

20. Is there a minimum page limit or not to exceed page limit required in reference to the Technical Proposal.

No.

21. Will the submittal date be able to be extended?

The Government will extend the submittal date to Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

22. Will some employees be allowed to work remotely if the contractor follows DHHS security requirements? If so, what percentage? We plan to use Returning veterans as much as possible.

The Government’s expectation is that all staff will be working in the office. We have permitted episodic telework due to government shutdowns or inclement weather. The Government has granted the current contractor some flexibility for staff to work remotely occasionally; however, the Government needs to protect personally identifiable information (PII) so it may not be appropriate for some tasks to be performed remotely.

23. Can a contractor who is currently handling grants management at DHHS bid on this proposal?

24. Can you give specifics on A-123 level of effort requirement and Audit support?

A-123 has required a minimal amount of effort and our internal control procedures are normally adhered to by the staff. Pulling required samples does not typically require a lot of effort because we are mostly paperless.

25. You are requiring candidate to work on Oracle Financials and other high level Accounting requirements under the Fund Balance with Treasury initiative, reclassify funds and disbursements made from an incorrect common accounting number- Can you -provide labor category requirements/ descriptions for this category?

Labor categories are provided in the response to question 11. This will be a financial services contract and our expectation is that the offeror will be providing individuals that understand that in accounting there are basic reconciliations that are performed as part of the job all the time. Accounting reclassifications are done to correct errors and are performed routinely. They usually take approximately 2 minutes each to process.

26. Evaluation - Section 13.2: Basis for Award (Pg. 32) states that Technical Merit, Past Performance, and Price will be evaluated. However, the factors and their corresponding weights on Section 12.3 (Pg. 29) do not include Past Performance or Price.

Past performance will be evaluated only for those offerors whose proposals are found to be technically acceptable. See Section 13.3.2 for detailed explanation of how Past Performance will be evaluated.

27. SOW Task 5.6.1, Pg. 5: What is the automated process management system the invoices are scanned and indexed into?

Invoice Scanning and Imaging System (ISIS). We also refer to this as “eFlow.”

28. SOW Task 3.6.5.5, pg. 8. TAX

a) Can you please provide a summary write-up of the desk procedures or other additional information about the work flow and nature of the transactions that lead to the tax filings?

b) What are the reports used and elements reconciled?

c) What is the workload in terms of number of transactions per day for correspondence?

d) How often are journal entries posted for these transactions?

e) What software does the Government use to prepare the 1099s and W-2s?

f) How many contractor staff members currently perform this function?

PSC issues payments to individuals and commercial vendors for services, contracts, interest (on late payments per the Prompt Payment Act), travel relocation, scholarships, loan repayment programs, employment settlements, and health benefit claims. As a result, DFO is required to furnish information returns to the recipients of these payments in accordance with the IRS regulations. Payments are processed in the accounting system manually and through various accounts payable interfaces. Existing custom reports provide all cash disbursements made for the calendar year and are used to reconcile and validate against source documents to ensure accuracy and that only applicable and reportable payments will be used for tax reporting.

PSC files Forms 941’s (Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns) and remits withholding taxes via EFTPS for scholarships and loan repayments made on behalf of its customer agency. W-2 forms are issued for such payments as required by the IRS and annual filing is done electronically in accordance with applicable IRS regulations. PSC issues approximately 2000 IRS 1099-MISC and 1099-INT forms and 5000 W-2 forms per year. This tax work is not done on a daily basis but rather on a quarterly and annual basis. There are very few IRS correspondences as they are normally related to errors from EFT payments or from the 941’s. On occasions, some entries are required to be posted for adjustments due to rounding or time differences between reporting periods.

29. SOW Task 3.6.5.2, pg 8 (last bullet in the section). IPAC CHARGEBACKS /

RECONCILIATION

Tax related reconciliations do not apply to IPAC. That bullet is an error.

The questions below do not pertain to IPAC processing.

a) Can you please provide a summary write-up of the desk procedures or other information about the work flow and the nature of the transactions that cause the tax related reconciliations?

b) What are the reports used and elements reconciled?

c) What is the workload in terms of number of transactions per day for correspondence?

d) How often are journal entries posted for these transactions?

e) What software does the Government use to prepare the 1099s and W-2s?

f) How many contractor staff members currently perform this function?

30. In the event that less than three (3) business days are available to submit a response, from the time the questions and answers are released, can you please extend the deadline for proposals to at least three (3) business days after the release of the questions and answers, to allow offerors sufficient time to respond?

The solicitation will be amended and the proposal submittal date will be extended to Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

31. Section 13.2 Basis for Award on pg. 32 states that technical and past performance when combined are equal to price. Section 13.3.3 Price Evaluation Factor on pg. 36, states the price is not point scored, but will receive equal consideration with technical and past performance combined. Does this mean that in the overall consideration technical is 1/3, past performance is 1/3, and price is 1/3? Please clarify.

No. The Government is concerned with striking the most advantageous balance between technical merit, past performance and price.

32. 3.6.1 General/Administrative Requirements

a) Are any of the current employees covered under the SCA wage determination?

b) What is the expected level of effort?

Please see question 11.

c) Is the only resume required for the specified key personnel (Project Manager)?

Please refer to question 15.b.2 above.

d) Which specific governmental guidelines will be applicable to Accounts Payables?

Please see Section 3.5.

e) What is the estimated time to support COOP exercises and attend PSC/DFO meetings in terms of FTEs and FTE hours?

This is very minimal. We update the plan annually and we have fire drills once every few months.

f) What is the complexity and estimated time required to process 52,000 invoices in terms of FTEs and FTE hours?

We have approximately 10 FTE’s associated with processing the invoices for commercial payments and they do this along with all of the other associated general and administrative, troubleshooting and tracking, and tax related tasks that are indicated in the statement of work and related to commercial payments. This also includes the reporting/analysis, any reconciliation and training requirements.

Most of the scanning and indexing activity is currently handled by general clerks.

g) What is the estimated number of IRS Form 1099-M and W-2 forms to print and mail annually?

There are approximately 2,000 1099’s and approximately 5,000 W-2’s. Our contractor staff completes the tax related cyclical tasks as part of the level of effort indicated in the response to question 11. They complete the forms while they continue to make payments and handle the additional tasks associated with commercial payments indicated above in (g).

h) What is the level of effort for Help Desk support in terms in quality, average time resolve effectively and FTE hours required?

This is very minimal and would not require a significant amount of effort.

i) Which roles are currently done remotely and how many?

No task is performed only remotely.

33. 3.6.2.1 Audit Support

a) Are the audit support personnel staffed in a full-time capacity or are they seasonal to correspond with the A-123 requirement?

Our audit support requirements are minimal and periodic but are important.

Occasionally, there will be an audit request that requires a fast turnaround. Since we are mostly paperless at this point, providing the requested information is normally fairly easy and the federal staff works to assist/ensure that the audit requests and time to respond are reasonable and can be accomplished with minimal impact to the other work requirements.

b) Will the contractor be required to perform and issue the audit report, or, are they assisting a 3rd party entity that is responsible for the A-123?

The Contractor will not be expected to provide an audit report. They would be assisting a third party.

c) If a third party performs the A-123, what is their name?

GMG Management Consulting currently performs the A-123 work under contract.

34. 3.6.3 Written Procedures, Training and Training Materials

a) Is the contractor responsible for the printing of the training guides/materials or for delivery of the product in a PDF or similar printable format?

The contractor will not be responsible for printing. See Section 9.2 of the solicitation.

b) If the contractor is responsible for printing the materials, how many training guides are anticipated?

N/A

35. 3.6.4 Payment Processing

a) How many contractor technicians are currently in place?

Please see response to question 11.

b) Are any of these individuals covered by the SCA and entitled to protection/consideration under Executive Order 13495 – Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers?

Yes. Please see response to question 11.

36. 3.6.4.1 Commercial Payments

a) The SOW refers to 52,000 vendor invoices and 71,000 purchase order lines. Is this an increase over previous years or consistent with the historical volume?

This is fairly consistent with our historical volume.

b) The SOW refers to “Contractor Technician” singular. Does this mean the expectation is for 1 person to fulfill the requirement?

That is referring to the skillset of the individual. The alignment of tasks can be proposed.

c) How many Contractor Technicians are currently performing this requirement?

d) What system(s) are currently used to match invoices or is this a completely manual process?

This is a manual process.

37. 3.6.4.2 IPAC Payments

a) The SOW refers to “Contractor Technician” singular. Does this mean the expectation is for 1 person to fulfill the requirement?

See b below.

b) How many Contractor Technicians are currently performing this requirement?

The workload associated with the IPAC’s to be equivalent to about 4 FTE’s.

c) Is the iProcurement system in this SOW the same as the Oracle based system?

iProcurement is a module within the ORACLE UFMS environment that allows users to create, submit and approve requisitions.

38. 3.6.5.2 IPAC chargebacks/reconciliations

a) How often do chargebacks occur?

b) Is there an estimated number of transactions on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?

There are about 25-50 per month.

39. 3.6.7 Troubleshooting/Tracking Issues

a) Does the Agency use a ticketing software program to track and monitor inquiries?

We have an internal Systems Accounting Branch ticketing system(TMT) which is used by systems staff only. No software install or license is required.

b) Aside from the noted travel advances, how often do AP payment discrepancies occur?

Regularly.

c) Is there an estimated number of transactions on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?

Monthly, for commercial and travel, there are typically less than 250 invoices on hold including those for treasury cancellations, receiving issues, supplier holds, etc.

For IPAC, there are approximately 200 per month. The contractor tracks the status of IPAC payables. IPAC bills include centralized costs for various sub-agencies within the Department. The contractor shall maintain a record of how much is outstanding on an

IPAC bill and which internal sub-agencies owe the money. This is essentially a breakdown of the IPAC accounts payable list by internal sub-agency.

40. 3.6.8.1 Monthly and Ad-hoc Reports/Analysis

a) What are the current software tools/platforms that are in place to meet this requirement?

We use EXCEL and Oracle reports.

b) Does the Agency have standard reporting or a universal reporting format or will the contractor be allowed to use their own tools to provide reports?

Our quality and timeliness report is generated from Oracle.

41. Would you need price of each item separately (i.e. invoices processed; W2/1099; IPACs processed) in SOW or total per hour?

42. How many weeks per FY and hours per week you foresee contractor working?

43. Please confirm whether the RFP for FMS DFO AP & Obligation Support Services is an existing or new requirement?

All of the requirements exist and are currently performed under 3 different DFO contracts. See response to question 2.

44. In accordance with FAR Clause 52.222-41, Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires, provide the applicable labor categories and grades of positions subject to the Service Contract Act (SCA)?

Employee Class Monetary Wage Fringe Benefits Project Manager GS-13; $34.69/$34.69 OT 36.25% Technical/Reports Lead GS-11; $24.34/$33.23 OT 36.25% Jr. Financial Analyst GS-11; $24.34/$33.23 OT 36.25% Accounts Payable Analyst GS-9; $20.11/$30.17 OT 36.25% Accounting Technician GS-8; $18.21/$27.32 OT 36.25% General Clerk III GS-5; $13.28/$19.92 OT 36.25%

45. Please provide an estimate of Full-Time Equivalent contractor personnel currently working tasks specified in the RFP?

46. What is the Government proposed timeframe to allow transitioning for SOW tasks from existing services to vendor selected for award?

3 months.

47. Section 5.2 (p 15/36); The RFP specifies the place of performance is designated at the Government work site in Rockville, MD; however, Section 3.6.1 (p 5/36) references “procedures for working remotely shall be established by the contractor and approved by the COR”.

a. Please provide clarification whether work will be performed solely at the Government work site.

We expect office coverage in Rockville, but do expect the offeror to submit a plan for inclement weather, government shutdowns, or other work they wish to do remotely on an episodic basis.

b. If allowed, specify which SOW tasks the Government will authorized to be performed from a remote location.

Most of the tasks can be performed remotely. Our concern is for personally identifiable information (PII). We do not want documents containing PII removed from the Rockville worksite. To be clear, we do not expect the individuals performing the work to be working remotely more than they are at our Rockville location.

c. Does the government anticipate all of the Project Manager (PM) hours to be performed on-site?

No.

48. Section 3.9 (p. 15/36); Will the Government require the use of agency predefined formats for tracking reports specified in the reports/deliverable schedule? If so, will the Government provide sample formats as addendum to the RFP to provide relevant information for pricing services? If not, please clarify which reports in the applicable deliverable schedule are preexisting reports or whether the contractor will be required to develop a new report format for Government approval.

There is no predefined format at this time.

49. Section 8.6, (p. 22/36); Provide clarification that Government-issued laptops will be used onsite exclusively and not off-site at a contractor facility.

The laptops can be taken offsite. Please see Section 8.6 of the solicitation.

50. Section 8.6 (p.22/36); Will the Government provide the PM a designated space for discussing performance and administrative matters with contractor employees?

This can be performed in our existing conference rooms with an appointment. We routinely allow our contractors to meet at the Rockville worksite.

51. If there is an incumbent, will there be a transition period? If so, how long?

The Government anticipates a 3 month transition.

52. What is the budgeted contract amount?

The Government will not release the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE).

53. 3.6.1, p.4;5 - For the areas described in this work area, other than IRS forms, mail sorting and the 52,000 invoices processed annually, what is the estimated or current level of effort to complete these tasks? Is there an estimated number of customer calls/inquiries per day, month or annually?

Please see the level of effort and description of the current skill set requirements in the response to question 11.

54. 3.6.2 - Will the Government clarify whom shall be responsible for providing audit samples to federal manager/auditors, upon request, and will the Government provide a request-to-response timeliness matrix so that the contractor can appropriately prioritize ad hoc requests relative to its other performance requirements?

Yes.

55. Will the Government please clarify the overall expected level of effort in estimated FTE, or labor hours per labor category so as to preclude any unfair competitive advantage from existing with either an incumbent contractor, or program support contractor that may have obtained information regarding the Government’s IGCE?

The Government does not believe any contractor knows the IGCE for this acquisition.

Please see the response to question 11.

56. 3.6.2.1; p. 5 - There is an asterisk at the end of the description. Was there additional

The asterisk is an error and should be ignored. The solicitation will be amended to remove the asterisk.

57. 3.6.3 (SOPs) - What SOPs have not been developed?

We have SOPs, at least in draft, for all of our current processes except for 1042’s. We update these quarterly, as needed. If we have new requirements or system changes, we may require new SOPs.

58. 3.6.3 (2nd bullet; 3rd bullet) - What is the anticipated level of effort for the training support and training materials?

This level of effort should not exceed 100 hours annually.

59. 3.6.3 - The first sentence states that “requirement for obligations related activities will be effective on 12/11/2014”. Is this sentence applicable as it applies to training support and training materials?

We have a contract for obligations activities that extends until 12/10/2014 which covers this area. There will be no training or training materials requirements for obligations activities until 12/11/2014.

60. 3.6.4.2 (First sentence) - Approximately how many direct obligation numbers are created annually?

Approximately 3,000 for IPAC transactions.

61. 3.6.5.1 - What is the current level of effort required to provide this support?

This element is an overview of the general accounting requirements in the SOW.

First bullet is a general work requirement and covers our general expectations.

Second bullet is a general work requirement and covers our general expectations.

The third bullet is another general accounting requirement/expectation which is also covered in 3.6.8.1as part of the analysis of performance in commercial payments activities. The total automation and reports activities are approximately 25% of one FTE for a qualified individual. This particular bullet has a LOE of about 24 hours per month.

The fourth and fifth bullets are a part of the ongoing operations and standard protocol.

Procedures must be followed to minimize and eliminate out of balanced schedules.

For the month end out of balance report, this requires the contractor to run a Discoverer report and annotate it with section and staff names. Most of the information carries over from the prior month so it should only take about 2 hours to complete.

62. 3.6.5.2 - What is the current level of effort required to provide this support?

See response to question 38.

63. 3.6.5.4 - What is the current level of effort required to provide this support?

5 hours per month

64. 3.6.5.5 - What is the current level of effort required to support these tasks?

See response to question 88.

65. 3.6.5.4 - Is this work area to be effective 12/11/14 or as of contract award? The QASP chart on p.13 notes it as 12/11/14? information to be provided by Government?

Obligations activities phase in to this contract on 12/11/14 because that section will be merged into Accounts Payable once that contract ends. This is due to an internal DFO re-organization.

66. 3.6.2.1; p.5 - What is estimated level of effort required to respond to this task?

Please see response to question 11.

67. 3.6.2.2; p.6 - What is the estimated level of effort required to respond to these tasks?

Our office has not had any internal control issues in over 2 years. If procedures are not followed and a corrective action plan is required, this would be determined at that time.

The rest of this requirement is a part of the normal day to day procedures and the level of effort is minimal. If a new policy/regulation impacts one of the areas in the statement of work, the contractor will be responsible for implementing procedures to comply.

68. 3.6.5.4 - What is the current or anticipated level of effort required to provide this support?

5 hours per month

69. 3.6.7; #1 - What is the average # of AP payments that can’t be processed or are on hold in a given week?

See response to question 39.c.

70. 3.6.8 - What level of effort is anticipated to support these tasks?

25% of one FTE for a qualified individual.

71. a. 3.6.5.5 Will Tax withholding information be provided by a Payroll Clerk in a report form/accessible electronically or will it need to be calculated/determined by the AP contractor?

Tax withholding information is provided to the contractor in order to prepare the reconciliation. We require the contractor to recalculate during the reconciliation process as a check and balance.

b. Will the payroll tax reconciliations be performed to system generated data or raw data?

Both.

c. Are Payroll taxes the only payroll function expected from the contractor?

Yes.

72. Are you currently creating and maintain all your documents, correspondence and forms in-house?

Yes. We are mostly paperless and scan in documents.

73. Is it taking too long to develop document applications like forms, correspondence and other documents?

No.

74. Are the current document creation/deployment and document maintenance labor costs to high?

No.

75. Are you maintaining multiple development tools for document creation and deployment?

No.

76. 3.6.1 What is the volume of reports, documents and copies of invoices that will be required upon request or in response to FOIA or other ad hoc requests?

We receive about one FOIA request per year. We try to respond to the FOIA and other ad-hoc requests during slow periods. Examples of ad-hoc requests are status of an invoice, questions about how much money remains on a purchase order, questions about receiving on a contract. This is all a part of our typical customer service in the payment area and part of the day to day experience.

77. 3.6.1 To what extent is the contractor response for records management? Does a records management system currently exist?

We follow National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) guidelines and maintain records as directed.

78. 3.6.1 What is the breakdown of 7,000 IRS Forms 1099 and W-2 forms to be printed and mailed?

2,000 1099’s and 5,000 W-2’s

79. 3.6.2.1 Audit Support, 1st Bullet:

Does the asterisk at the end of the map to post payment volume at the bottom of the page?

The asterisk is an error and will be removed.

If not, what is the volume of audit samples and answer follow-up questions to be processed?

For post payment audit of travel vouchers, the “600 level of effort” is the maximum that would be required. We are required to do 50 per month in travel and currently our contractor is performing 50 post payment audits every other month (a federal resource is completing the other half of what is required). This is what is required for one resource:

• Preparing the Monthly Post Audit spreadsheet and selecting the random samples would take about 3 hours

• Printing the 50 samples vouchers, authorizations and receipts could take between 4 hours to 8 hours

• Conducting post payment audit research of 50 samples could take about 2 days

80. 3.6.2.2 3rd Bullet: What is the level of effort is required for this function?

See response to question 67.

81. 3.6.3 Written Procedures, Training and Training Materials

Does this task require a full time trainer? If not, what is the level of effort for these tasks?

No, a full time trainer is not required. For example, once in a while there may be a site visit to a customer required and in other circumstances a powerpoint presentation might be required. We estimate the level of effort to be about 100 hours.

82. 3.6.4.1 Commercial Payments, 1st paragraph:

How many data reconciliations are performed annually?

Please see solicitation Section 3.6.4.1 Commercial Payments

83. 3.6.4.1 Commercial Payments, 3rd paragraph:

What is the average number of errors to be resolved?

Please see solicitation Section 3.6.4.1 Commercial Payments

84. 3.6.4.2 IPAC Payments, 5th paragraph:

What is the volume of manual AP invoices (non-IPAC/Government AP transactions)?

8,200 manual invoices

85. 3.6.5.1 General Accounting Requirements.

Please provide volume for the first four (4) bullets.

The Contractor shall process approximately 750 G schedules annually, including those associated with the Managing/Accounting Credit Card System (MACCS).

86. 3.6.5.2 IPAC Chargebacks/Reconciliations

Please provide volume for all three (3) bullets.

Bullet 1, 25 to 50 IPAC chargebacks per month

Bullet 2, refer to 3.6.4.2

Bullet 3, tax reconciliations are not applicable to IPAC – this was an error

87. 3.6.5.4 Grants Reconciliations

What is the number of grants that these tasks have to be performed on monthly?

Please see response to question 68.

88. 3.6.5.5 Tax

Does the task require a full-time equivalent analyst? If not, what is the level of effort?

About 240 hours for the entire year or 12% of an FTE. This does not include the 1042 process which needs to be developed.

89. 3.6.6.1(a)(b)(c) Please provide volume or level of effort for these tasks.

(a) Weekly Purchase Order (PO) Clean-Up;

Level of effort is about 2 hours per week for one resource.

(b) Monthly Direct Obligation Review;

Level of effort is about 4 hours per month.

(c) Quarterly Review of Open Documents.

The level of effort is 10 days to two weeks for 3 staff/resources each quarter.

90. 3.6.6.2 Grants and Letter of Credit Obligations Processing

What is the historical volume of this requirement?

The Government anticipates the level of effort to be approximately 3-4 hours per day for one resource. This covers UFMS and PMS errors, tracking and following up with emails.

91. Are the incumbent employees SCA and will they be afforded the First Right of Refusal upon award?

Yes

92. Given the extensive number of requirements devoid of volume and a number of “as requested” requirements, would the Government reconsider its requirement for a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) proposal?

The government will not reconsider its requirement for a Firm Fixed Price proposal. We have been operating under a firm fixed price contract for most of the tasks in the SOW, except for IPAC, for several years.

93. Is there a desire increase the level of personalization in internal and external communications, such as emails and mailings?

No.

94. Are the customer support costs high due to ineffective or difficult to understand constituent documents?

No.

95. Is there a desire to move to a single platform to produce the traditional mail and electronic mail communications?