Engineering Solicitation Questions 19AQMM21R0103 revised.pdf

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

DOS/OBO ENGINEERING IDIQ QUESTIONS 19AQMM21R0103

1. QUESTION: RFP Section L.2.1 says proposals must be received by Noon, April 29th, 2021.

However, in the “Synopsis” document, the due date says 3pm, April 20th, 2021. Please clarify.

ANSWER: Due date is 12:00 pm, June 20, 2021.

2. QUESTION: RFP Section L.2.1 talks about submitting hard copies of the proposal, in person. Then in Specific Instructions of L.2.1.1 it refers to Originals and copies, and CD-

ROMs – is it the intent of the government to have Offerors submit pdf’s by email or hard copies in person? Please clarify.

ANSWER: Hard copies no longer a requirement. Please submit proposal as a PDF by email.

3. QUESTION: Is this IDIQ a new requirement or are there incumbents? If there are incumbents, who are they?

ANSWER: It is a re-solicitation of a soon to be expired IDIQ.

4. QUESTION: RFP Section L.2.2.4 (Subfactor C-2 Past Performance). If there are no final performance evaluations (or CPARS) on file, can the Offeror use a Past Performance

Questionnaire (PPQ) to determine if the contractor fulfilled contract requirements? If so, will the government furnish a PPQ template to use?

ANSWER: Yes, the Government will use a Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) to determine if the contractor fulfilled contract requirements. Do you have a copy of a PPQ template?

5. QUESTION: Will the government provide an Excel Pricing Template to provide IDIQ Labor

Categories and corresponding fully burdened hourly rates?

ANSWER: See Section B.5 for pricing tables.

6. QUESTION: RFP Section L.1, Is there a requirement for providing a Small Business

Subcontracting Plan in the proposal? .

ANSWER: Yes, please see updated subcontracting plan in section L1.

7. QUESTION: Per RFP Section H.81 General and the A001 Q&As, Question 2, the answer indicates a Top Secret facility clearance is required, can the government provide the way the

Offeror demonstrates their possession of this requirement?

ANSWER: The offeror should provide their CAGE code (along with the entity’s other identifying information, such as name and address) for verification of their facility clearance by the Diplomatic Security.

8. QUESTION: Given the remaining unknowns like the approach to Pricing and Facility

Clearance requirements as examples – will the government respectfully grant a 10-day extension?

ANSWER: No. Proposal Due date is June 30, 2021.

9. QUESTION: Please confirm page count of the Small Business Subcontracting Plan and whether the Government would prefer to see the plan as an Appendix to the proposal.

ANSWER: Please fill out the updated subcontracting plan in section L1.

10. QUESTION: Small Business Subcontracting Plan Goals currently represent FY 2012.

Please confirm if there will there be an update to these percent goals reflecting current FY?

ANSWER: Please see updated subcontracting plan pages in section L1.

11. QUESTION: Will Offerors be provided with a copy of the applicable DD form 254, referenced in the RFP solicitation as an attachment, prior to proposal submission?

ANSWER: Yes, the Government will provide a copy of the applicable DD 254.

12. QUESTION: As a result of the Government’s intent to issue up to two (2) awards to Small

Business firms, will Large Business firms still be required to submit a Small Business

Subcontracting Plan (SBSP) in accordance with FAR 52.219-9? If so, which Volume and section in their proposal submission, should Offerors include their SBSP plan?

ANSWER: Yes. Please see updated subcontracting plan pages in section L1.

13. QUESTION: As a result of the Government’s intent to issue up to two (2) awards to Small

Business firms, will Large Business firms still be required to submit a Small Business

Subcontracting Plan (SBSP) in accordance with FAR 52.219-9? If so, which Volume and section in their proposal submission, should Offerors include their SBSP plan?

ANSWER: Yes. Please see updated subcontracting plan pages in section L1.

14. QUESTION: With respect to FAR 52.203-13, the Government is asking for the company business code of ethics and conduct, which is typically an existing internal document not constrained to a certain page count. For the ability to comply with the requirement, will the government allow for a summary of this document to meet the two-page requirements, or would the government allow this to be provided as an addendum outside of page count?

ANSWER: The government will allow a summary of this document to meet the two-page requirements.

15. QUESTION: Would the government consider allowing smaller than 12-point font for graphics and tables if they are considered readable?

ANSWER: Yes. No smaller than 11-point.

16. QUESTION: The Government states that, “the offeror shall provide a spreadsheet that list his lines of business…” Does the government prefer to have this submitted in a separate excel file spreadsheet as an addendum to the proposal? If this is the case, would this then be considered outside of page count for the purposes of the CD-ROM submission? Clarity is requested to ensure the CD-ROM submission also resembles the “ENTIRE PROPOSAL” submission of the hard copy of the volumes?

ANSWER: Provide a spreadsheet that list the lines of business as stated in the solicitation.

17. QUESTION: Subfactors A-2 and A-6 of the Technical Volume requires information typically reserved for a Price Volume submission. Would the government consider moving these to the Volume One requirement? And if the government does decide to move these due to the use of pricing information, would the Government provide what sections these would be within Volume One?

ANSWER: Please submit as requested.

18. QUESTION: This reference addresses travel as “... air and ground transportation, lodging, meals and incidental expenses, and passport/visa costs.” In today’s travel arena COVID 19 testing is mandatory for international travel and becoming more widespread for domestic travel. Has there been any consideration to include this cost, ~$150.00 to $300, in this list as a reimbursable cost?

ANSWER: Yes

19. QUESTION: Section B.5 CLIN Structure for Base Year and Option Years includes CLINs for COLA and Post Differential; however, there is no CLIN listed for Danger Pay. How will Offerors factor Danger Pay direct costs into their task order proposals for posts that list

Danger Pay as an allowance?

ANSWER: CLIN 003 will include Post Differential and Danger Pay amounts.

20. QUESTION: Section K.4 references completion of a table identifying the categories of employees who would be employed on the resultant contract, including numbers for each category. Given that staffing levels for the IDIQ contract will be defined at the task order level, Offerors do not know what staffing numbers will be. As such, will the Government remove this requirement from Offeror’s proposals in response to this RFP?

ANSWER: Please identify categories and state "number unknown”

Will the Government accept submissions earlier than April 29?

ANSWER: Proposals must be received by 12:00 pm, EST on June 20, 2021.

21. QUESTION: Section L.2.1.1 under “Special Instructions” states that “Volume 1 shall include a completed copy of Section A (Standard Form 1442).” Section A (Standard Form

1442) is not included in the RFP. We request the Government please provide SF-1442 for inclusion in offeror proposals.

ANSWER: 1449 is all that is needed. 1442 request has been removed.

22. QUESTION: Section L.2.1 states that “the alternate program manager shall have a minimum of 1 years of experience in each of the areas listed in 15.1.3.” The RFP does not have a section 15.1.3. We request the Government provide section 15.1.3 or correct the

RFP Section L.2.1 as appropriate.

ANSWER: 15.1.3 should read L.2.2.1 and not 15.1.3.

23. QUESTION: Section L.2.1.3 states “the offeror shall provide his quality control plan for the services required herein. Limit = 2 pages.” Section 8.4.2.1 states however that “The contractor shall submit a copy of the quality control plan to the Contract Manager for acceptance within 30 days of task order award.” Please confirm the Quality Control Plan is due post award per Section 8.4.2.1 and not as part of the Offeror’s proposal in response to this RFP.

ANSWER: The contractor shall submit a copy of the quality control plan to the Contract

Manager for acceptance within 30 days of task order award.”

24. QUESTION: Section L.2.1.2 states that “if the Government were to directly employ individuals to perform the services being solicited, the base pay would not exceed the individuals’ most recent rate of pay and would fall within the following pay bands:

Degreed Engineer with less than 10 years of experience - $103,690 to $134,798 per annum.

Degreed Engineer with more than 10 years of experience - $122,530 to $159,286 per annum.”

Does the Government prefer or require two sets of price tables in Section B to reflect the two pay band ranges listed above?

ANSWER: One set of price table should be included as stated. Pricing should reflect minimum and maximum amounts.

25. QUESTION: Section L.2.4.1 includes a table that includes a Base Year and Option Years

1-5.

a. QUESTION: Also, do offerors need to fill out the table listed in Section L.2.4.1 in addition to Section B, or is it purely an example?

ANSWER: Yes, table should be completed.

b. QUESTION: Does the Government intend for offerors to include pricing for

Base Year and Option Years 1-5 as stated in Section L.2.4.1, or Base Year and

Option Years 1-4 as stated in Section B?

ANSWER: Pricing should include Base Year and Option years 1 – 4.

26. QUESTION: Under the proposal requirements, the solicitation indicates that the offeror shall provide a description of all foreign deployment projects that he has supported in the past three years and which are similar to those that he will be supporting under this contract.

Would you like to receive all past performance for all contracts within this period?

ANSWER: Please provide a description of all foreign deployment projects supported in the past three years as stated in the solicitation.

27. QUESTION: Under the proposal requirements, the solicitation indicates that the offeror shall provide a description of all foreign deployment projects that he has supported in the past three years and which are similar to those that he will be supporting under this contract.

Would subcontractor teammates need to also provide all projects within the past 3 years?

ANSWER: The subcontractor would not need to provide that information.

28. QUESTION: Kindly, define the position for Project Controls Engineer.

ANSWER: Full gamut of construction project controls report drafting and production (MS

Office Suite), cost management, schedule management (Primavera), change order management, submittal management, and commercial construction experience required.

29. QUESTION: Why is max price amount on life of contract and max ceiling price different amounts?

ANSWER: The ceiling price is for the option year and the max price includes all option years.

30. QUESTION: Are travel costs estimated as accepted govt per diem rates for lodging and travel to and from the project site? Are these submitted as separate line items in the proposal?

ANSWER: Yes. They should be included in the travel CLIN.

31. QUESTION: For clearances, Secret, Interim TS or TS required at time of proposal as outlined in this section, are these clearances required for all employees or “Key Personnel” as defined by the contract?

ANSWER: Yes

32. QUESTION: Will Task orders include a Commissioning Agent acting in the interest of the

Government? Would this Commissioning Agent be assigned to the Home office of the contractor, deployed to the project site at Post, or both? Would this Commissioning agent be part of the design phase of the project?

ANSWER: No

33. QUESTION: B.5 Price/Costs: Instructions state “Offerors shall provide the fully loaded hourly rates for personnel meeting the requirements of Section C.2 for the Base Year and

Option Years 1-4 in the tables below.” However, the Schedule B requires us to provide a single “Unit Price (not to exceed)” for all labor rates and categories. Please clarify how we are to provide fully loaded labor rates for the personnel meeting the requirements of Section

C.

ANSWER: Please provide fully loaded labor rates in the table listed in B.5.

34. QUESTION: B.5 Price/Cost: the government has included estimated values for the Travel and Other Direct cost CLINS in the base and option years. Please confirm that these are for price evaluation purposes only and are not the not to exceed values for those CLINS in the base and option years.

ANSWER: These amounts are for evaluation purposes only

35. QUESTION: B.7.1 Other Direct Costs – Please confirm or clarify that the “extraordinary costs associated with certain posts shall be included as line items in the ODC category” applies to the individual task order and NOT the price we are to submit as part of this IDIQ response.

ANSWER: This amount applies to individual task order and not the price submitted as part of the IDIQ response.

36. QUESTION: Statement 9 on page 9 says “ The Government will not pay for a Contractor employee's travel time that is outside the employee’s regular working hours during the employee's normal workweek. A normal workweek is defined in Section B.6 (m).” There does not appear to be a section B.6 (m). Please clarify.

Section C.4 states “the base workweek for this task order is 50 Hours. Overtime shall be paid beginning with the 51st hour worked between 00:01 Monday and 23:59 Sunday and will be paid at the same hourly rate as base pay.” Please clarify if overtime starts with the

51st hour, is there not to be an increased overtime rate associated with these hours (and shall be paid at the same hourly rate”)? Please clarify that the 50 hour base workweek includes work in the US and US Outlying areas governed by US labor laws?

ANSWER: The base workweek under this IDIQ is 50 hours. Section B.6 (m) is incorrectly referred. A normal workweek is defined in Section C.4. Overtime shall be paid beginning with the 51st hour worked between 00:01 Monday and 23:59 Sunday and will be paid at the same hourly rate as base pay. 50-hour base workweek includes work in the US and US outlying areas.

37. QUESTION: L.5 states “The Government contemplates award of multiple indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity firm-fixed-price contracts, however, the Government reserves the right to issue labor-hour, time-and-materials, and cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders.”

Please clarify if the travel and ODC CLINs in a Task Order will be FFP or Cost

Reimbursable lines.

ANSWER: These amounts will be FFP.

38. QUESTION: B.5 Price/Costs – the labor hours the government provides for the base and option years (22,800 hours) does not allow for a whole number of personnel to be derived from it: 22,800/ 50 (hours) / 52 (weeks per year) = 8.769 people. Respectfully request the government changes the pricing table and allow CLINS for the 11 individual disciplines with associated estimated hours per position.

ANSWER: The labor hours provided remains as stated.

39. QUESTION: B.5 Price/Costs – Are the labor hours the government provides for the base and option years (22,800 hours) include the hours expected for the key personnel or is that labor to be included in the “Other Direct Costs”

ANSWER: No. Those labor hours do not apply to Key Personnel.

40. QUESTION: Section C.3 States “Each employee is expected to perform at least one year from the date of deployment” Does this “one year” include contractor vacation periods or does the government expect personnel to be on site for a year before departing?

ANSWER: The “one year” includes vacation periods.

41. QUESTION: Section C.3 states “For all High Threat High Risk (HTHR) posts, the following training is required: the Foreign Affairs Counter-Threat (FACT) OT611and High

Threat Security Overseas Seminar (HTSOS) HT401courses are required prior to travel.”

And continues “costs associated with this training shall be included in all firm fixed task orders.”

Are the FACT OT611 and the HTSOS HT401 courses government provided / Government instructed courses of instruction?

If so, where and how often does the government conduct these courses?

As we are to include the costs associated with the training in our FFP Task Order, will the government provide us with the cost of the courses?

ANSWER: These are government provided/government instructed training. These courses are offered in the Washington DC area. There are usually several offerings a month, at least six classes and are usually wait listed as maximum enrollment per class is 16. Cost associated with the training should be included in the FFP task order and the government will provide cost of the courses.

42. QUESTION: Section C.3 page 12 states, “The contractor is responsible for all costs incurred in deploying personnel to their work sites with the exception of mandatory

Department of State training requirements which shall be included in the contractor’s cost proposal.” Please confirm what mandatory DoS training is required for the typical post as well as what additional training is required for the High Threat location, the duration of mandatory training for each, and the location of the training for cost accuracy.

ANSWER: ProjNet has been identified as a mandatory DoS training for all Posts. FACT

OT 611 and HT 401 courses are offered for High Threat locations. This information is task order specific and will be provided in individual task order solicitation.

43. QUESTION: Section E.3 page 22 “Organization Structure” states “The FSO shall be an employee of the company other than the key personnel identified in Section H.7.” As H7 is the key personnel section, is the government stating that the FSO must be an employee of the offeror/prime OR is the government stating the FSO must be an employee of a different company than the prime? Please clarify.

ANSWER: The FSO must be employed by the Offeror/Prime.

44. QUESTION: H7 – Key Personnel – When must the Key Personnel we propose have their

Secret clearance? Prior to the submittal of the proposal? Prior to award of the IDIQ or prior to award of the first task order?

ANSWER: Key Personnel proposed must have their clearances at submittal of proposal.

45. QUESTION: L.1 Small Business Subcontracting Plan – When are we to provide the Small

Business Subcontracting Plan to the government?

ANSWER: The solicitation has been updated to include the DOS subcontracting plan.

Please complete in its entirety.

46. QUESTION: L.1 Will the government provided updated subcontracting goals for 2021?

ANSWER: Yes it has been updated within the solicitation.

47. QUESTION: L.1 if the offeror is a Small Business are we still required to submit a Small

Business Subcontracting Plan?

ANSWER: No

50. QUESTION: L.2.1.2 Page 70 states “If the Government were to directly employ individuals to perform the services being solicited, the base pay would not exceed the individuals’ most recent rate of pay and would fall within the following pay bands:

Degreed Engineer with less than 10 years of experience - $76,219 to $111,930 per annum.

Degreed Engineer with less than 10 years of experience - $94,064 to $138,137 per annum”

Would the government please clarify how it derived these “pay bands”? What type of “degreed engineer” did the government use in this assessment and for what area of the country/world the rates are based?

ANSWER: We mirrored the salaries of degreed engineer direct hire personnel performing similar duties on projects to be supported worldwide.

51. QUESTION: H.7 Key Personnel – please confirm there are no minimum education requirements for any of the 4 key personnel positions.

ANSWER: The requirements are as stated in the solicitation.

52. QUESTION: L2.2.1 states that “the Alternate Program Manager shall have a minimum of 1 years of experience in each of the areas listed in 15.1.3”. Please provide this reference.

ANSWER: 15.1.3 is incorrectly stated. The alternate program manager shall have a minimum of 1 year of experience in each of the areas listed below.

Name Position Clearance

Program Manager Secret

Alternate Program Manager Secret

Human Resources Manager Secret

Recruiter Secret

The offeror’s program manager shall have experience in the following areas:

Personnel Management – 5 years minimum;

Financial Management – 5 years minimum;

Program Management – 5 years minimum;

USG Contract Management – 5 years minimum.