QsAs_for_19CH5018R2000_Qset2.docx

Solicitation Number: 19CH5018R2000 LE Staff Health/Life Insurance Questions and Answers 2

1. Q. Offerors are advised the benefits and terms and conditions within this solicitation are required and as such, all interested offerors are advised to review all these requirements in determining their proposed firm fixed priced premiums for the base year and each option year...However, if an offeror believes it is necessary to have a copy of the current contract to include the benefits therein, it can request a copy through the FOIA at the link below: https://foia.state.gov/Request/”

We have made the request through FOIA State for the benefits, terms and conditions of current supplier from the government for this contract. We did this on May 15 however the FOIA State Dept. has not been able to give us any kind of timeline or expectation that we would be able to receive this information before the deadline in June. Is it possible if you can send us the information directly before the June deadline or can you extend the deadline to take into account State FOIA processing times?

A. The Government is not going to delay the proposal due date. Offerors are advised the benefits in the current contract are the same as the current solicitation but the Government does not believe obtaining the current contract is necessary for any offeror to submit a proposal or to develop its proposed prices. Rather, each offeror is responsible to ensure all costs are included for successfully providing these services overseas and for the premiums they propose after their independent review of the benefits and terms and conditions within this solicitation as well as any other factors which must be considered into developing their proposed premiums. The Government has provided the overall premiums paid out as well as claims data under the current contract. However, under no circumstances shall the Government be liable for this data nor to the extent it may or may not be used by an offeror.

2. Q. In the event a delay in the deadline cannot be granted we understand under FAR 15.208 Submission, modification, revision, and withdrawal of proposals. Subpart (2) However, a late modification of an otherwise successful proposal, that makes its terms more favorable to the Government, will be considered at any time it is received and may be accepted.

Does this mean once we make our formal submission of our bid to you before the deadline and should we obtain the information we requested through State FOIA after the deadline is passed we are still allowed to modify the prices in our formal bid to you under 15.208(2) if it offers an even more favorable pricing to you?? This way we don't have to delay the deadline, we can submit the best pricing we have with the current information and once we obtain the information we requested from State FOIA and that information allows us to adjust our bid prices even more favorably to the Government, you will allow a late submission of a modification of the bid price? Is this interpretation correct?

A. No the interpretation provided above is not correct. Any modification to a proposal including prices must be received on or before the proposal due date and time to be considered timely, or if written negotiations are conducted, received on or before the proposal revision due date and time to be considered timely. If any modification, regardless of the circumstances is received after the proposal due date and time or if written negotiations are conducted, if received after the proposal revision due date and time, it will be considered late.

A late offer or proposal may only be considered if the CO determines accepting the late offer or proposal would not unduly delay the acquisition and it was a modification to the otherwise “successful” offer, which would be at the time of award. As such, this does not mean a late proposal can be substituted for a timely proposal and then the late proposal will be evaluated.

3. Q. In the file <QsAs_for_19CH5018R2000.docx> the Question 1 provides claim amount in the past three years. However this data has a discrepancy from the data that was in the previous year's solicitation # SCH500-17-R-2000 that this contract is replacing.

Can you please give us confirmation that the current figures you provided are correct? Are we allowed to use the past year's figures in our calculations of pricing or will you only allow us to use the information you provided in the current solicitation 19CH5018R2000?

A: Yes, it is correct. The following are premium and claim amounts we provided in the first set of questions and answers:

a. three + years premium paid A: The record of total premium for both health and life insurance is RMB 7,758,424 (2015), RMB 8,489,111 (2016), RMB 9,071,829 (2017), and RMB 4,524,257 (Feb-July 2018, six months).

b. three + years number of incurred claims A: No information available.

c. three + years amount of incurred claims A: Please see below table. This information is provided by the current vendor.

(Through March 2018 )

d. three + years total number members on June 30. For Health insurance Membership is the total number of employees + spouses + dependents on June 30 of each year. For life insurance total membership is the number of employees on June 30th of each year.

A: The current contract year is from February 1 to January 31 of the following year. Please see solicitation section J.

Regarding claims data incurred under the existing contract, please be advised this data may not be indicative of future claims. Therefore, it is each offeror’s decision on whether to use or not to use this information. However, under no circumstances shall the U.S. Government (USG) be liable for this data or shall it become the basis for a request to adjust the premium rates once the contract is awarded. Rather, offerors are advised any adjustments to contract premium rates shall be in accordance with the Price Adjustment clauses B.4. and B.8 Also, any historical data incurred under the current contract is provided for informational purposes only as it may not be indicative of future data. Furthermore, the total premiums paid out under the contract for each year of performance were based on the contractor’s independent assessment of the benefits and terms and conditions of the solicitation as well as any other factors which would have impacted the proposed premiums, again at that point time for the previous solicitation.

4. Q. On Page 8-9 of the solicitation document the chart has “Bi-Weekly Rates per Employee Estimated Payroll [(Bi-Weekly in Thousands) = 5438]” We take this to mean each individual employee makes 5,438,000 CNY bi-weekly. This amount seems high for each employee's bi-weekly salary. Can you please confirm this data is correct?

A: The correct bi-weekly average salary amount is CYN 5,438 (five thousand four hundred and thirty-eight CYN), or CYN 5.438 bi-weekly in thousands. Please be advised that a correction has been made in SF30 Amendment 0001 to Solicitation 19CH5018R2000.