19GE5020R0070 Q A.pdf

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

Language Assistant Services 19GE5020R0070

US Embassy Jerusalem

Questions and Answers

Q1: Does the Government anticipate making multiple awards or will this be a single award?

A1: It is intended to award the contract to a single contractor.

Q2. CLINs 0003, 1003, 2003, 3003 and 4003 (pages 4-8) are duplicated such that there are two of each. Was this intentional or an oversight?

A2: The CLINS 0003, 10003, 2003, 3003 and 4003 are referring to the Translation Service

Hebrew/English and are different than the successive CLINS that are referring to

Interpretation services Hebrew/English. There is no duplicate service.

Q3. Are offerors required to propose a ceiling price for CLINs X006, DBA Insurance, in the tables on pages 4-8?

A3. No, it is not required to propose a ceiling, this will be a cost reimburse clin.

Q4. Under B.3(d), the RFP states that “Price adjustments are authorized only in clause below”.

Given that FAR 52.229-6, Taxes-Foreign Fixed-Price Contracts, does allow for price adjustments, can the Government please clarify the intent of this sentence?

A4. Any change in host Government legislation or taxation will be reviewed and if appropriate, reflected in a modification of the contract.

Q5. Under B.3.2, Contract Minimum and Ceiling, it states that “The maximum dollar value of all task orders is $3,000,000.” The number of hours in each contract year is 42,624 and for all five years, the total number of hours is 213,120. When we subtract the $25,000 per year for travel costs, that leaves $2,875,000 for labor hours. Considering there are 213,120 hours across all 5 years, that would result in a fully-burdened composite labor rate of $13.49 per hour, including

DBA and VAT. Is it the Government’s intent that the $3,000,000 is for the Base Year only?

A5: The maximum ceiling amount is not referring to the Base Year but to the total duration of the contract.

Q6. Section C, paragraph 17.0(a) requires that the contractor provide any official bonds required, pay any fees or costs involved or related to the authorization for the equipping of any employees engaged in providing services specified under the contract, if they are legally required by the local government or local practice. How is the contractor reimbursed for such costs?

A6. The contractor should calculate all the costs related with the execution of the service and include them in their hourly rate. No further reimbursement will be made.

Q7. Section C, paragraph 4.1 states “This contract does not provide for travel outside the local area. (e.g. Jordan, Europe, or the U.S.)”; however, Section C, paragraph 21.0(f) states that “the

Government will only reimburse the Contractor for economy (coach) class airfare for all travel conducted under this contract. Any airfare costs beyond economy class will be at the Contractor’s own expense and shall not be directly reimbursable under this contract.” Please clarify this apparent conflict.

A8. The travel outside the local area as defined in the Solicitation will be reimbursed by the government. Language on Section C has been modified.

Q8. FAR 52.225-5, Trade Agreements, has been included in FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items. The

Trade Agreements clause is applicable to the acquisition of supplies and the acquisition of services involving the furnishing of supplies. This solicitation appears to require only the acquisition of services and excludes supplies of any kind. Please clarify if supplies will be provided under the contract; if not, please delete FAR 52.225-5. We note that neither FAR 52.232-33 (Payment by

Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management) nor FAR 52.232-34 (Payment by

Electronic Funds Transfer—Other than System for Award Management) are not checked in FAR

52.212-5. Please clarify how payments will be made.

A8. FAR 55.212-5 has been modified to include 52.232-33 and to deselect 52.225-5.

Q9. FAR 52.216-18, and FAR 52.216-22(d) states that the ordering period until May 14, 2025.

Please confirm that this date will be adjusted to correspond to the end date of the overall IDIQ contract.

A9. Yes, upon award of the contract, the period will be adjusted to reflect the start and end date of the IDIQ contract.

Q10. DOSAR 652.232-70, Payment Schedule and Invoice Submission, is included on page 36 and states that “the firm fixed-price stated in Section B of this contract” will be paid for all work required, performed and accepted, and further provides that payment will be made to the contractor’s address, implying that electronic funds transfer will not be used.

a. This clause has been tailored to remove the original paragraph (b), which is used “only if partial payments apply.” Please clarify how the contractor will be paid, especially in light of the

Government’s intent to issue orders.

b. Does the Government intend to pay the Contractor only after completion of each full year awarded in Section B?

c. Does the Government intend to issue payment via means other than electronic funds transfer?

d. This clause seems to conflict with paragraphs (g) and (i) of FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items.

A10: Payment will be made against completion of individual task orders. It is not the

Government’s intention to issue payment via means other than electronic funds transfer.

Q11. On page 59 of the RFP, under #2, Section 1, Pricing, subparagraph b. states “Complete the

Pricing Summary”. Please clarify what the Pricing Summary is and what it is required to contain.

A11: “Pricing Summary” is the table present on page 11, under as B3.1. PRICING

SUMMARY. This table shall be completed with the estimated total price for every year, plus the estimated grand total (base + all option years). The table has also a dedicated space to indicate what is the currency used in your proposal.

Q12. FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, paragraph (a) on page 64 of the

RFP states that “…the small business size standard for a concern which submits an offer in its own name, but which proposes to furnish an item which it did not itself manufacture, is 500 employees”.

However, the NAICS Code identified in Block 10 of the SF-1449 identifies the NAICS Code as

541930, which has a small business standard of $8.0M. Please clarify the correct small business size standard.

A12. This action has not been set aside. This Solicitation is open for full and open competition.

Q13. Are the services required in this solicitation provided to the US embassy today? If so, what was the dollar value of these services in previous years?

A13. A similar contract was awarded last year. Due to the changes in the requirements, the value of this contract cannot be used as a reference for the current Solicitation.

Q14. Do you prefer that the contractor be an American entity? Do you have preferences for a specific type of entity?

A14. The Government has no preference regarding the nationality of the contractor, nor the type of the entity.

Q15. Would it be possible to postpone the offer due date by a week or two? Currently, it is the holiday period in Israel.

A15. It is not the Government’s intention to extend the due date for proposals.

Q16. Regarding Section 5 - Should we attach a written general acceptance form as shown in the pre-proposal conference and sign it? What kind of Representations and Certifications should be attached? Do all 74 pages of this solicitation need to be signed and sent as well?

A16. The vendor should complete all the sections that requires to be completed in the

Solicitation, including the Representation and Certification section.

Q17. W-14 Please confirm that this form should not be filled out by non-US companies.

A17. The W-14 form applies to non- US companies and shall be completed and sent with the proposal, as indicate by FAR 52.229-11 and 52.229-12.

Q18. Regarding blocks 19-24 - Should we refer to the price tables (pages 4-8) when filling out these blocks?

A18. Yes, the price table at pages 4-8 is a continuation of the blocks 19-24.

Q19. In the pre-proposal conference, we were asked to fill out block 12. Can you please clarify how to fill it out?

A19. The block 12 is not necessarily required to be filled out.

Q20. Which currency do you prefer?

A20. The Government doesn’t have any preference regarding the currency. The vendor shall state the currency in which the proposal is submitted.

Q21. Please confirm that the maximum dollar value of all task orders indicated - $3,000,000 - is per year.

A21. See answer 5.

Q22. Please confirm that the hourly rate should include local transportation (West Bank and

Israel) and that the contractor will not be reimbursed for local travel expenses.

A22. The contractor will not be reimbursed for travel within the Local Area. All the cost should be included in the hourly rate.

Q23. Are the amounts indicated for each year are per year or for all 5 years (including options)?

If the amount covers all 5 years, then the sums listed per year in each table should be divided by

5, otherwise the pricing summary in clause B.3.1 would be incorrect.

A23. From page 4 to 8 the tables are referring to a specific year, as indicated at the top of the table. Every table requires the price of the services listed, based on the estimated amount of hours per year. There is a table for each year.

The Pricing Summary shall sum up the estimated total cost for every year, considering all the CLINS listed for each year. Vendor shall indicate what will be the estimated Grand Total for base year + option years.

Q24. Does the document translation service (estimated at 16,896 hours) require the translator to come to a specific location? If so, where? Alternately, do you send documents via e-mail and have the contractor mail them back?

A24. For written translation, documents are either handed over, if it’s not available on a digital copy or emailed. For written translations is not necessarily required to the translators to be in a specific place. However, in some cases, i.e. training, they may be required to be with the instructors to make certain they understand the objective.

Q25. What security process do employees undergo before being qualified for the work? Who performs this review process?

A25. For Screening and vetting, there is one paerformed at the US Embassy and another one with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, and as needed with the Israeli side, through

Coordinator of Government Activities. This process is completed for Interpreters who attends official meetings with the Palestinian Security sector and government staff. The same is completed if there is an engagement with the Israeli side. To process the security clearance, a copy of ID, and passport will be required.

Q26. As a company that provides language services at a large scale, we perform many contracts/projects and not all projects include each service. For example, a project may only include document translations or only interpretation/simultaneous interpretation services. As we understand it, attachments 2 and 3 will include clients for whom we have performed some of these language services in the past 3 years. However, as a company, we offer the full suite of language services requested in the RFP. Did we understand this section correctly?

A26. Please include Past Performances and Experience List that refers to the different requirements of this Solicitation, to demonstrate your experience in the different areas requested to performance the service.

Q27. 2.1 Work Schedule. Is any over-time work or holiday work anticipated? If so, how is this charged to the contract?

A27. The requirement for overtime work or holiday work is unknown. Should this become necessary, pre-approval will be required from the COR at which time an overtime hourly rate will be agreed upon.

Q28. 3.0 Place of Performance. Will any LAs be required to carry out services in Jerusalem locations? If so, will this be reflected for transportation/travel allowances under Section 4.1?

A28. Requirement to support engagements in Jerusalem is limited. Most of the Operation is in the West Bank, mainly Ramallah, on a daily basis. Jericho is also a key location for operation that has more frequency than other governorates like Bethlehem, Nablus, Hebron, Salfeet, Tubas…etc. however, service will be required in all locations, the difference is in the frequency. Jerusalem is considered as Local Area. Movement within Israel and West Bank is required.

Q29. 3.0 Place of Performance. Will any work from home be authorized during Covid quarantine or travel restriction periods?

A29. Work from home may be authorized. It will necessitate coordination and approval by the COR.

Q30. Medical Certificates. Will LA’s be required to have negative Covid tests prior to starting work on the contract? Will there be any requirement for temperature testing or Covid testing during the course of the program?

A30. There is no requirement to have negative Covid tests prior to starting work on contract.

However, there is a need to follow host country Department of Health safety guidelines, in this case Israel and Palestinian Authority. For example, wearing a mask when attending a meeting, keeping social distance, and sanitizing. For temperature test, all local counterparts, prior any meeting do a temperature test before proceeding to the meeting room.

Q31. 6.1 Language Assistant: LA Minimum Requirements. Would USG accept the Palestinian

Authority Ministry of Justice license to practice sworn and certified translation as applicable proficiency certification?

A31. Any official document for a certified translator will be accepted. However, input and assessment on performance will be critical to determining the quality the first three months of the contract. This will be coordinated with the COR.

Q32. 6.4 Program Manager (PM). Is the PM required to perform and translation and/or interpretation on this contract?

A32. The Program Manager is required to coordinate logistics and administrative work, and not necessarily conduct translation work. The Program Manager shall be available to coordinate assigning Language Assistants to location, divide the translation work, follow up with Simultaneous translators and be ready to document LAs activities and performance.

The Program Manager is the team lead for coordinating Interpreters and translators work

Q33. Program Manager(PM). Is the PM time to be invoiced as per a line item or wrapped within the firm fixed price?

A33. PM cost should be burdened on the hourly rate.

Q34. 6.4 Program Manager (PM). Is it anticipated the PM position is to be a full time dedicated position?

A34. It is up to the contractor how they plan on managing the coordination of the work. The

Program Manager is critical and must be available all the time to coordinate and respond to requests. This can be done in a team of two or one person available to coordinate the effort.

This can be done though a focal email address that goes to more than one person to coordinate the effort. It’s the contractor responsibility to provide service in a timely manner with excellent quality. Post shall have a point of contact that is able to resolve problems should they arise with regards to the contract. This can be the Program Manager.

Q35. 11.0 Contractor Furnished Equipment (CFE). The Solicitation states the contractor is responsible to provide all supplies, materials, tools and equipment….. Will the USG provide any

Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) at the work sites such as desks, workspace, etc.?

A35. Interpreters and Translators will not operate in USG facilities. The Interprets will support meetings or workshops at host country locations. USG will not provide GFEs.

Q36. Observance of Legal Holidays and Administrative Leave. This section lists the US holidays observed by the US Embassy. Are any local holidays (Israel or the West Bank) observed?

A36. Official holidays are discussed and approved with the COR. A balance between local holidays and US embassy holidays is agreed upon where the holidays do not exceed certain days per year.

Q37. 3) Past Performance Information b.) References. Will USG accept CPARS report in lieu of

Questionnaire sent from contracting personnel?

A37. Yes it can be accepted.