Q&A_2.docx

Question:

How many awards does the Government intend to make on this IDIQ contract?

Answer:

Minimum of 3.

Question:

Will a SBA Mentor Protege Joint Venture (JV) offeror receive a "Pass" evaluation if each of the entities of the JV have facility clearances at the Secret level or higher. If so please confirm that such a JV, if selected for award, will be sponsored by DoS for Top Secret FCL.

Answer:

If both entities and the JV already possess a Secret FCL, they may be sponsored for a Top Secret FCL.

Question:

Will the government consider award to a joint venture who’s entities possess TS FCLs but who’s joint venture does not possess an FCL?

Answer:

No

Question:

Will the government provide a list of the 275 posts locations?

Answer:

To be provided at task order level.

Question:

Which positions will be station in the Washington, DC area?

Answer:

To be provided at task order level.

Question:

Which, if any, personnel will be permanently stationed outside abroad?

Answer:

To be provided at task order level.

Question:

Please confirm that subcontractor past performance references can be included in the PAST PERFORMANCE AND EXPERIENCE section of offeror’s proposal and it will be evaluated per Section M of the RFP.

Answer:

Subcontractor past performance references can be included.

Question:

How many total IDIQ positions are likely to be fulfilled in a year?

Answer:

To be provided at task order level.

Question:

Are worldwide positions accompanied or unaccompanied?

Answer:

There are no dependent allowed for these positions, especially the OCONUS positions.

Question:

Is the Government stating that the JV members must produce 1-5 prime contract references in total for all members combined?

Answer:

All members combined, minimum of 1 to maximum of 5.

Question:

Task Order will be issued using either a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable process or a Tradeoff process. Industry would like to know what is the standard being used for the Tradeoff process?

Answer:

Task Order will most likely be issued using LPTA process.

Question:

Section M - Evaluation Factors for Award pg. 68 – Under this section there appears to be a slight disconnect under M-001 “Evaluation Factors” and “Technical Proposals Evaluation”. Under M-001 is states that Evaluation factors are listed in descending order of importance. The list includes the following:

Technical Factor 1: Facility Clearance (FCL) Technical Factor 2: Technical Capabilities Technical Factor 3: Quality Control Program Technical Factor 4: Past Performance and Experience Price However, under the very same section “Technical Proposals Evaluation” price is removed from the Technical Factor 4:

See the below table:

So our question is simply this…was this an oversight on the governments behalf or was price intentionally removed?

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL EVALUATION

Technical proposals will be evaluated based on the following technical evaluation factors.

Technical Factor 1: Facility Clearance (FCL) Technical Factor 2: Technical Capabilities Technical Factor 3: Quality Control Program Technical Factor 4: Past Performance and Experience Answer:

Price is not part of the technical evaluation factor but under a separate evaluation call Price Evaluation.

Question:

Can you identify which positions, if any, are subject to the Wage Determination?

Answer:

The only position that is subject to Wage Determination is Administrative Assistant.

Clarification:

The 1 hour Qty is use to establish ceiling price for the hourly rate, if selected for award, task order’ hourly rate can’t be higher than what is in the original IDIQ.

Question:

"In no event shall costs associated with employee commuting be reimbursable as direct cost under this contract" - While this is acceptable and usual practice, but in case of TDY travel, employees do incur costs to travel both direct & indirect to go from Temporary Lodging to the work site / post not incurred during regular commuting while not on TDY. How will the govt reimburse such costs when incurred in the performance of DoS directed TDY?

Answer:

It will be reviewed/approved on a case-by-case basis.

Question:

Monthly Activity Reports & Final Activity Report - Will the govt. outline format / contents of these mandatory reports that is required to be submitted?

Answer:

Instruction will be provided at task order level.

Question:

What is "ProjNet"? How do we access this?

Answer:

There is no need to access ProjNet.

Question:

Will the govt. consider providing a Fair & Transparent Methodology to implement this giving the employee and fair opportunity as is afforded to a Govt. employee working in the Govt. site? Will the contractor be allowed to conduct a fair enquiry before terminating the employee to ensure that due process and fairness has been provided to the employee in question?

Answer:

It will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Question:

Will "Non-American Citizens" - Local Nationals / Third Country Nationals be allowed to work on this contract in overseas posts? Will US Permanent Residents aka "Green Card Holders" be allowed to work on this contract both Stateside and OCONUS and if OCONUS be treated at par with US Citizens? How will the Non Citizens be provided Limited Access Authorizations should a Security Clearance be required of allowed to work on this contract?

Answer:

Only US Citizens with Security Clearance will be allowed to work on this contract.

Question:

Page - 45 of 71 - 52.216-24 Limitation of Government Liability (Apr 1984) - (b) The maximum amount for which the Government shall be liable if this contract is terminated is $1,000.00 dollars. This seems to be in contradiction to the minimum IDIQ amount of $20,000 as per B-004 MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM CONTRACT AMOUNTS (Indefinite Quantity Contract) Page 24 of 71. Will the govt. kindly clarify?

Answer:

$1,000.00 dollars will be the maximum amount which the government shall be liable if the contract is terminated. $20,000.00 dollars will be the minimum amount which the contractor will get as a result of getting the award.

Question:

Is it still required if Reps & Certs have been uploaded via SAM? Format for completing Paragraph (b) on Page 51 and identifying applicable paragraphs at (c) through (t) of this provision that the offeror has completed for the purposes of this solicitation only, if any)? Will the govt. kindly clarify as this is confusing?

Answer:

A copy of the most recent SAM registration will be sufficient.

Question:

Since this is a Non-Personal Services Contract, interview of contractor personnel may not be allowable as that would be an indicator for a Personal Services Contract. Therefore, will the govt, remove the sentence - "The Government may request an opportunity to interview any proposed substitution'?

Answer:

This statement can be removed from the SOW.

Question:

Since this is a Best Value Trade-Off procurement, will the govt. clearly outline the criteria that the contractor needs to demonstrate to be able to earn the Highest Rating of Superior Vs other lower ratings like Acceptable, Marginal, and Unacceptable.

Answer:

Please refer to Section M - Evaluation Factors for Award.

Question:

Will all labor categories require personnel at the TOP SECRET level?

Answer:

All personnel performing under this contract shall be U.S. Citizens with a security clearance at the SECRET or TOP SECRET level. Required labor categories and respective position clearance level will be identified in the task order request.

Question:

Will the govt. allow bi-weekly invoices to coincide with the bi-weekly payroll cycle of the employees for a small HUBZone firm to be able to better maintain it's cashflow as is / has been allowed on other contracts of DoS and other Govt. agencies?

Answer:

No. Invoices shall be submitted on a monthly basis.

Question:

Since the govt requires the contractor to provide Program Management. will the govt. directly reimburse the contractor for such Program Management costs? Will the govt. give access to Contractor Management personnel to be able to provide effective Program Management / Supervision of employees working at Govt. sites and be made privy to the work activities that the employees are working on?

Answer:

No, the Government will not directly reimburse. The Government does not intend to provide general access to the facilities to the PM, however, is willing to assist (e.g. escort) the PM for QC purposes. The PM will need to coordinate scheduling for this with the COR.

Question:

As per SOW - "The Contractor must be able to fill these positions for the duration of the task order and must be able to maintain a pool of qualified alternates to minimize delays in providing qualified contractor personnel to fill the positions in a timely fashion". While we appreciate the need to minimize delays in providing qualified contractor personnel to fill the positions in a timely fashion, how does the govt. realistically expect a small HubZone firm to be able to maintain a pool of qualified alternates? How does the govt. plan to reimburse the small HUBZone contractor the costs for maintaining such a pool of qualified alternates including associated payroll costs when such alternate pool of candidates are not billable on a direct task be available anytime that the govt, appears to expect? Moreover as per NISPOM, contractors are not allowed to - Per NISPOM – Chapter 2, Section 2. Personnel Security Clearances – D. “Request for PCLs shall not be made to establish ‘pools’ of cleared employees”.

Hence in accordance with NISPOM, since the Contractors CANNOT maintain pools of alternates as is being requested in this solicitation unless NISPOM is violated, will his requirement "to maintain a pool of qualified alternates be" removed?

Answer:

We do not expect the contractor to hire a pool of personnel (on payroll). However, we do expect the contractor to conduct recurring recruiting efforts to maintain a list of viable candidates.

Clarification:

Hazardous duty premium pay can be burdened with any indirect costs (e.g. overhead, G and A) or fee/profit.

Clarification:

No reimbursements for any costs associated with medical examinations to the contractor will be made.

Question:

While it is not any contractor's intention to replace personnel working on a task without a justified cause, nevertheless will the govt recognize that for this Non-Personal Services contract, the contractor is the employer and not the govt.? Therefore the right to hire and fire any employee rests with the contractor and not with the govt. Consequent to this right, written consent of the Contracting Office should not be necessary for any personnel action taken by the contractor on it's employees as it is a Non-Personal Services contract. Correct? Of course the contractor will still be responsible for the work deliverables for reasons within it's control and shall always strive to meet / exceed the quality and work deliverables to the highest standard.

Answer:

Any change in personnel should communicate beforehand and with consensus from all parties involved.