16-233-SOL-00337-000001.pdf

(x)

16-233-SOL-00337

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

HHS

Rockville MD 20850 540 Gaither Road

AHRQ - DCM

HHS

Rockville MD 20850 540 Gaither Road

AHRQ-DCM

05/23/2016000001

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

05/23/2016

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.)

The purpose of this amendment is to incorporate responses for Questions #1-5.

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)

DAVID D. MORGAN

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.

Question and Answers - 16-233-SOL-00337

1. Question: For all of our previous ACL cooperative agreements and both grants.gov and sam.gov registrations we have registered our organization under NAICS Code 541110, “Office of Lawyers”, which is described in the NAICS listings as “This industry comprises offices of legal practitioners known as lawyers or attorneys (i.e. counselors-at-law) primarily engaged in the practice of law. Establishments in this industry may provide expertise in a range or in specific areas of law, such as criminal law, corporate law, family and estate law, patent law, real estate law, or tax law”.

The Solicitation for this new contract states that “The NAICS code for this acquisition is 541199, “All Other Legal Services”, which is described as “This industry comprises establishments of legal practitioners (except offices of lawyers and attorneys, settlement offices, and title abstract offices. These establishments are primarily engaged in providing specialized legal or paralegal services”.

Eleven of our current sixteen staff members are attorneys, and we are about to hire two more attorneys so the number of attorneys will then be thirteen out of eighteen, and the attorneys will do all of the substantive work under this contract other than the communications and web-site functions. It seems that NAICS code 541199 excludes attorneys and applies to other forms of legal services, so I want to confirm that this is the correct code for the contract.

If that is the case then I’d also like to know if we need to update our sam.gov registration to change our NAICS code to 541199 in order to be eligible to apply for this contract.

Response: No, you are eligible for award with current registration.

2. Question: Am I correct in assuming that we need to develop separate time and materials budgets for each of the 14 tasks listed in Section 5.3, pp. 24 and 25 of the Solicitation, and also that any subcontractors also need to develop separate budgets for any work they will do under each task? If so, I would assume that you would then also want a combined time and materials budget for the entire contract, summarizing the line items of all the individual time and materials budgets, and I want to confirm that these budgets can be submitted as a single Excel spreadsheet, with separate tabs for the overall budget and all of the individual task budgets.

The Solicitation also references budgeting line items by CLIN, Contract Line Item Numbers. All I can find under FAR part 4.10 is that “Contracts may be identify the line items or services to be acquired as separately identified line items”. I haven’t been able to find any list of specified numbers to designate categories of line items. If there is such a list could you provide us with a reference to it?

Personnel costs will be the biggest expense of the project. Our intended line items for personnel costs include attorney time, communications time, and administrative time, all listed by hours per task. We would like to know whether to budget expenses for benefits and payroll taxes as a line item separate from salaries, even if they are folded into the “fully loaded rate per hour” for billing purposes. Other line items will be for out-of-pocket costs such as printing, conference calls and travel costs, and indirect costs according to our approved Indirect Cost Rate Agreement with the Administration on Aging.

For indirect costs we’d also like to know whether they should be folded into the “fully loaded rate per hour” for various personnel, as described in Section 1.5 on p. 1 of the Solicitation, or listed as a separate line item, as seems to be described in Section 11.3.b.3 concerning “Material Indirect Costs”.

Response: Yes, the budget can be submitted as a single Excel spreadsheet with separate tabs. Please disregard any references to CLIN for the purpose of creating your budget. Benefits and Payroll taxes can be included in the fully loaded rates, as well as indirect costs. However, please note your indirect rates in the budget.

3. Question: Section 5.3 states that all written deliverables for the contract need to be submitted in MS Word 2003. All of our staff use Word 2013 and I’m not sure Word 2003 is even available anymore. Will it be acceptable for us to submit documents in Word 2013, including the three separate volumes of our quote?

Response: Yes.

4. Question: Section 11.6 states “respondents will be evaluated on past performance under existing contracts and on prior contracts.” Most of the work we do is under grant funding and cooperative agreements – would it be appropriate to submit our 3 performance references from these sources?

For the reference itself, is my understanding correct that the reference provides a 2-page about our past performance and we provide the write-up of each reference including contacts and other info specified in 11.6?

Also, would you recommend additionally providing references for our proposed subcontractors? If so, would it be the same guidelines of 3 references each?

Response: For the purpose of this requirement we will accept responses from grants and cooperative agreements. The 2-page limit is for each reference, inclusive of write-ups. It is the contractor’s decision on how many of the 3 references will be submitted by subcontractors.

5. Question: One additional question we have is about billing for ongoing activities that are part of Objectives 1 and 2. We see a need for ongoing work on project management and promotion. For example, the work plans and tools we create will need to be updated as we move through the project, the website will need to be updated, promotional materials will need to be updated and disseminated on an ongoing basis. In section 5.3, however, only Objectives 3-6 are indicated as ongoing. We would like to be able to include in our bid a similar approach for Objectives 1 and 2. Can we include in our budget ongoing activities in Objectives 1 and 2?

Response: Yes.