Answers_to_RFP_Questions.doc

Responses to RFP Questions

Can SBA approved Mentor Protégé 8(a) Joint Venture (JV) firm prime this bid?

Yes, an SBA approved Mentor Protégé 8(a) Joint Venture may bid on this requirement.

Can each member of SBA approved Mentor Protégé 8(a) JV firm use its experience and past performance as Prime?

Yes, each member of SBA approved Mentor Protégé 8(a) JV firm can use its experience and past performance as Prime.

When is the due date of the Past Performance Questionnaire?

The past performance questionnaires are due with the complete proposal on July 27th at 12 PM.

What is the page limit for Volume II – Management Approach?

The Management Approach volume has a 25 page limit not including resumes.

What is the page limit for Volume III - Relevant Experience?

The relevant experience volume has a 10 page limit.

What version of Word and Excel would be acceptable?

There is no specific Word or Excel requirement for the proposal.

What version of PDF would be acceptable?

There is no specific PDF requirement for the proposal.

Can a site visit be made available to potential bidders to allow them to see the facility?

There will be no site visit for this requirement but the government has produced sample equipment that represents the conference rooms that need to be maintained.

Can an equipment list be provided, by building/room, to allow potential bidders to see the type of AV equipment they will be operating and maintaining?

Please see attached Equipment List sample for Buildings 1 and 2.

Building 1 Conference rooms – nine (9) conference rooms with one combined room.

Building 2 Conference Rooms – twelve (12) conference rooms with two combined rooms.

There are 84 conference rooms with systems comparable to Building 1 conference rooms in the SW Quad buildings 52,71,72,75.

There are 10 conference rooms with systems comparable to Building 2 conference rooms on the Bldg 32 ground floor.

What software does the FDA currently use for the ERIC system?

The ERIC system is a FDA Information Technology ticketing software that is accessed through the FDA network.

The offeror is instructed to provide “resumes of 5-7 AV technicians that demonstrate the Offeror’s capabilities.” Please clarify if these resumes are limited to the following labor categories from the list of support personnel on pages 12-13: Audio Visual Support Technician Senior, Audio Visual Support Technician Junior, Audio Visual Installation Technician, and Audio Visual Service Technician?

Offeror’s must supply three (3) Audio Visual Support technician Senior resumes only.

Additionally, the evaluation criteria in Factor 2, Management Approach, on Page 80 does not describe if or how the non-key AV Technician resumes will be evaluated. Please clarify.

All technicians will be evaluated on experience and qualifications based on labor categories requirements in Attachment B and SOW.

In Section 6.1. Key Personnel, it states that the Program Manager, Program Planner, and Operations Manager should be considered key personnel for this contract. Under the Instructions for the Management Approach (Volume II), offerors “shall provide a list of Key Personnel for IDIQ and for Task Orders 1 and Technical Scenario (i.e. proposed Project Manager and Operations Manager).” Please clarify the key personnel.

Program Manager and Program Planner should be considered key personnel for Task order one and the offeror shall identify at their discretion the key personnel for IDIQ level and the technical scenario.

The Operations Manager role is responsible for production coordination, planning, organizing, directing, controlling, financial management, and marketing assistance. The CTS and MCTS do not appear directly relevant to this position, as it does not appear to be a technical position. Will the government consider removing the CTS and MCTS certification from the Operations Manager labor category?

The labor categories are amended. CTS certification is not required. AVT certification is required. See the changes to certification levels in the labor categories.

The Audio Visual Support Technician Senior and Junior both require AMX and Crestron certifications, which are typically installation or programming certifications. This should be removed as it is not aligned with the role of supporting and maintaining the system.

The labor category is amended. The Audio Visual Support Technician Senior and Junior do not require AMX and Crestron certifications. See changes to certification levels in labor categories.

The Audio Visual Installation Technician labor category description currently requires a PMP certification. This individual is a technician rather than a program manager. Will the government consider removing the PMP certification from the Audio Visual Installation Technician labor category?

The labor category is amended. The Audio Visual Installation Technician does not require PMP certification. See changes to certification level in labor categories.

Several of the labor categories require Tandberg certifications, which are out of date, as Tandberg was acquired by Cisco several years ago. Is there another certification in lieu of this one that would be more accessible?

The labor categories are amended. This solicitation no longer requires the Audio Visual Design engineer and Audio Visual Support Technician to be Tandberg certified.

Are the Electrician and Carpenter labor categories expected to be full-time at FDA facilities or only utilized on an as-needed basis? Are there any particular industry standards, certifications, or qualifications that FDA requires for these labor categories?

The electrician and carpenters are not expected to be full time at the FDA facilities. The electrician and carpenter labor categories are required on an as needed basis specific to task order requirements. The electrician and carpenter shall have appropriate and valid state licenses based on the location of the task order.

Section 1.1 of the sample Task Order states that “All other employees furnished under this contract shall have a minimum of three-years of AV, IT, and/or Telecommunications experience.” This contradicts the minimums of section 6.2 of the Audio Visual Support Technician Senior and the Audio Visual Support Technician Junior. Which is correct?

Where no minimum years’ experience is listed in 6.2, is the minimum experience required three years?

The Program Manager and the Program Planner for Task Order 1 are required to have a minimum of three years of AV, IT and/or Telecommunications experience. The Labor categories require the Audio Visual Support Technician Senior to have four years minimum experience and the Audio Visual Support Technicians Junior to have two years minimum experience.

In accordance with FAR 52.222-42, Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014), please identify the classes of service employees expected to be employed under the contract and state the wages and fringe benefits payable to each if they were employed by the contracting agency subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5341 or 5332. Otherwise, offerors will have no consistent, comparable way of pricing, which will affect the government’s price evaluation and overall compliance with the Service Contract Labor Standards referenced in FAR 52.222-41.

FAR 52.222-42 has been added to identity the classes of service employees expected to be employed under the contract and the wages and fringe benefits payable based on Wage Determination WD 15-4281.

In the format instructions on page 72, the instructions specify that the proposal shall consist of four separate volumes. On page 77, under the Instructions for Price, it lists the price volume as a separate volume. Could the Government please clarify if the proposal should consist of four or five volumes (i.e. is the Price volume a separate volume)?

This has been corrected to state five separate volumes. Price is a separate volume.

In the first full paragraph the need to address SOW “(sections 2 through 7)” is discussed; however, there is no section 7 within the SOW. Should this portion of the instructions read: “...in the IDIQ Statement of Work (sections 2 through 6)”? The same question pertains to the language under Evaluation of Offers, Subfactor 1, IDIQ.

The instructions to offerors, Instructions for technical proposal (Volume I) has been corrected to identify Section 2-6 in the SOW.

In the second to last sentence of the first paragraph on Page 76, it indicates that experience should cover SOW “(sections 2 through 7)”; however, there is no section 7 within the SOW. Should this portion of the instructions read: “...cover the entire Work Requirements (sections 2 through 6) in the IDIQ SOW...”? The same question pertains to the language under Evaluation of Offers, Factor 3, Relevant Experience.

The SOW has been corrected to state sections 2 through 6 throughout the solicitation.

Instructions for Past Performance state that this volume should include the following:

Acknowledgement of the solicitation and any amendments.

A narrative detailing any assumptions not addressed elsewhere in the proposal.

Copies of any subcontracts among the Prime Contract and proposed subcontractors.

A narrative description of how the Offeror will comply with the limitations on subcontracting clause (FAR 52.219-14) incorporated into this solicitation and the resultant contract.

A completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items, as specified below.

As these components are often included in a Business or Price Proposal, please confirm that these elements should be included in Past Performance (Volume IV).

The section has been corrected and these components are to be included in the Price proposal Volume V.

Also please clarify the requirement for “Copies of any subcontracts among the Prime Contract and proposed subcontractors.” Since award of a prime contract has not yet occurred, there are no existing subcontracts among the prime and proposed subcontractors for the proposed effort. Is the government requesting a copy of the draft subcontract document template that would be used in the event of a future prime contract award?

Language has been changed for clarity as follows: Copies of any subcontracts currently held or proposed subcontracts for which the Prime offeror is considering for using for this requirement.

Please confirm that past performance references may be commercial, state, and federal government references.

Past performance references may be commercial, state, and federal government references.

The first sentence of the pricing instructions indicates that “This area of the technical proposal shall be clearly marked as Section V. Does the government want pricing to be included in the same physical volume as the Technical Proposal, or should price be contained in a separate document/file or combined with past performance, as implied on Page 72 under Format? Please clarify.

Please provide all pricing in Section V. The information was corrected throughout the document to show pricing should be included in Section V - Pricing Volume.

Paragraph (2) on Page 79 indicates that Past Performance will be given a rating of “Low Risk, Medium Risk, or High Risk.” The second sentence of the second paragraph under Evaluation Approach on Page 80 indicates that past performance information will be given a rating based on “Low, Neutral, or High.” Please clarify the discrepancy between “Medium Risk” and “Neutral” ratings—which rating is the government going to use to assess past performance risk?

The past performance risk assessment was corrected to include the following: High Risk, Medium Risk, Low Risk, or Neutral Risk.

Additionally, although the government provided definitions for the adjectival rating terms for the Technical Proposal, no such definitions were provided for the risk assessment ratings for Past Performance. Please provide narrative definitions of the risk assessment ratings.

An adjectival rating and definitions table was added for clarity in the Past Performance assessment.

Please provide instructions for the past performance questionnaires provided in Attachment D.

How many questionnaires need to be sent to references?

One questionnaire is to be sent per reference.

When are the questionnaires due to the Government?

The questionnaires are due on or before the proposal due date 7/27/2016 at 12pm.

Are questionnaires only used in cases where PPIRS submissions are not available?

The offeror must provide three (3) questionnaires and they will be used along with PPIRS information.

Will offerors be able to blend Contractor-site rates with Government-site rate to customize a technical approach that represents a higher value to the government?

The offeror shall provide both fully loaded government site rates and fully loaded contractor site rates for the IDIQ. Please see updated price spreadsheet. In addition, the offeror can provide a blend of offeror and government site rates for evaluation of the technical scenario and future task orders but the offeror shall only provide government site rates for Task Order 1.

Will Key Personnel of the overall contract award also be considered for the Key Personnel for Task Order 1?

Program Manager and Program planner will be Key Personnel in task order 1.

Is this a new contract or is there an incumbent? If there is an incumbent, who is the vendor and what is the contract number?

The incumbent is Singhal Company Inc. - Contract # HHSF223201210001I

What is the historical or anticipated value of this contract?

The anticipated value of this contract is $40 Million.