Addendum 2 Attachment - Response to RFP Questions.xlsx.xlsx
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- Attached to
- Overseas Logistics and Staff Augmentation Services Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 1-JV79-P-00090-00
- Issued by
- Department of Energy Office of Science
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RFP Q&A
| ADDENDUM 2 ATTACHMENT 1: RESPONSES TO SOLICITATION QUESTIONS FOR ARGONNE RFP NO. 1-JV79-P-00090-00 | ||
| RFP SECTION | QUESTION | ARGONNE RESPONSE |
| RFP Letter | Is this a new requirement or is there a current BOA that supports this Program? How has Argonne been satisfying this requirement prior to this RFP? | There is an incumbent currently providing these services |
| RFP Letter | Will Argonne National Laboratory consider an extension to the deadline of the proposal to Wednesday, April 7th in order for sellers to develop more thorough, considered bids to the government’s benefit? | Extended to April 3, 2021 as noted in the addendum |
| RFP Letter | Is there is a requirement to provide each of the people with laptops and peripherals for working remotely? | The requirement would be identified at the work order level |
| 1C/Appendix B – Statement of Work | What is the estimated mix of US expatriates, local nationals, and third country nationals? | Approximately 1/3 of each |
| 5 – Instructions for Preparation of Proposals | Does the government have page count limitations for either the 'Part I- Technical Proposal' or the 'Part II -Cost/Price and Business Management Proposal'? | There is no page count limitation but as stated in Paragraph I of Enclosure No. 5, "should be prepared with maximum economy, consistent with this particular procurement, to ensure that the resources of both offerors and Laboratory evaluators are efficiently utilized". *Note that Argonne National Laboratory should not be referred to as Government. Argonne National Laboratory is a Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC |
| 5 – Instructions for Preparation of Proposals | Are resumes required for the technical proposal and do they count against any page count maximum arrived at? | Per section III. A. (4) of the evaluation criteria, resumes can be provided when discussing certifications of the personnel you propose. See response to above regarding page limits. |
| 5 – Instructions for Preparation of Proposals | The offeror is to provide a narrative on the “nature and size of your business total number of customers”. Will Argonne confirm that this is to be a general overview and the offeror is not required to list contract value by each customer? | This can be a general overview |
| 5 – Instructions for Preparation of Proposals | The solicitation states that the computation of amounts due to the Contractor for services rendered will be computed by multiplying the hours actually worked by the agreed hourly rate. In Enclosure 3, the fees are requested as either monthly, single lot, or percentage-based. Will Argonne confirm that the amounts due to the Contractor will be based on the corresponding unit measure of the services presented in Enclosure 3? | This refers to the fact that billable hours are based on the number of hours provided in that month. We will not be reimbursing at a fixed monthly rate. Also see article 56. Consideration and Allowable Costs of Appendix “A”. |
| 5 – Instructions for Preparation of Proposals | The Government states, “The Laboratory may award more than one Basic Ordering Agreement resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offerors whose proposal conforms to this RFP and represents the best value after evaluation in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in the solicitation. After awards are made, any future requirements will be competed between the BOA holders.” How many BOA awards does the Government anticipate making? | One but there is a potential for multiple vendor BOA |
| 4 – Evaluation Criteria | With the requirement to provide our “Experience in Performing Similar Work: Discuss the amount, relevance, quality of experience, and certifications of the personnel you propose to furnish in response to requirements as specified in Appendix “B”, Argonne National Laboratory, Statement of Work, dated November 30, 2020,” should the Offeror provide resumes and/or experience of candidates for these positions? If so, which positions in which labor categories? | Resumes and/or narrative would be acceptable; however, this would be for the personnel who would be administering the BOA to demonstrate experience in performing similar work. |
| General | Could the government verfiy security clearance requirements (individual and facility level)? | There are no security clearance requirements in the solicitation |
| General | Will the Government please provide the likely nationalities of persons hired for this effort, i.e., US citizens, Local / Host Nationals, and/or Other (Third) Country Nationals and list of historical counties of citizenship? | US, Canada, France, UK, New Zealand |
| General | What is the anticipated Project start date? Is there a likely Transition period, if so, how long? | The Basic Ordering Agreement start date would be May 1, 2021, unless this date is later extended by the Laboratory. Appointments would not be transitioned to the new Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) until they need to be renewed. New appointments would be awarded under the new BOA as soon as the BOA is effective. |
| General | Is there an incumbent contractor? Are offerors expected to hire any personnel already supporting the effort that are part of an incumbent and/or otherwise already in country? | Yes, there is an incumbent contractor. Yes, incumbent personnel will need to transition to the new Basic Ordering Agreement once the individual work orders needs to be extended after the existing BOA expires. |
| General | Does the Government anticipate any scope growth to countries not identified in the pricing request? If so, what is the general lead time for establishing capabilities in that new country of performance? | There is potential that new countries will need to be added to the contract. The lead time will depend on how quickly we need the individual's appointment to start and will be identified at the work order level |
| Enclosure+1C- Appendix+B-Statement+of+Work | Broadly, what type of work will these people be engaged in and can the Government provide more details about the expected labor categories and duty descriptions? Are they desk-bound knowledge workers, or will they be working on industrial premises, or undertaking work with physical risk, or doing any work that would require specific licences / qualifications / insurance for these individuals? | Research and development work. Every work order will include a more specific statement of work with the position description. Most appointments are desk-bound knowledge workers in the area of R&D work. If work will need to take place in a laboratory or industrial site, the SOW will state this at the work order level. |
| Enclosure+3- Pricing+Proposal+Format | Does the Government anticipate a single person supporting the hours per country, i.e., will multiple Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) be used to support the total hours - for example, regarding 2080 hours per year, will that ever use 2 people at 1040 hours per year each or will it always be a single FTE performing the entire 2080 hours? | Each work order will be a single person placement. |
| Enclosure+3- Pricing+Proposal+Format | What is the expected level of effort? Does the government expect multiple individuals per country? | Since each work order is a single person placement the level of effort will vary. Yes, there could be multiple individuals per country. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | Does the government expect contractor to pay employees in local currency? | It is between the employer and employee and the quote to Argonne would need to be provided in US Dollars |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | The “Fee for Statutory Contributions (5)” states that it is “variable rate, % of gross income applied monthly”. Will Argonne confirm that the values entered in this column should be percentages and not a dollar value? | Percentage that should also be calculated for the net amount |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | The “Fee for Statutory Contributions (5)” states that it is “variable rate, % of gross income applied monthly”. Will Argonne confirm whether gross income is base compensation only or includes allowances? | Gross income is base compensation only |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | The “Fee for Employer Services (6)” states that it is a “% of gross payments (payroll, benefits, allowances) applied monthly”. Will Argonne confirm that the values entered in this column should be percentages and not a dollar value? | Percentage that should also be calculated for the net amount |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | For countries where the estimated hours are less than a work year, should Offerors assume the individual lives in the country fulltime and only works on contract part time, or that the individual is only in country for the same period of time as the work hours indicated (local labor and taxation regulations in many countries are dependent on number of days in country, which impacts technical approach)? | This is on a case by case basis |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | For US expats, should “uplifts” such as COLA, Hardship, and Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) be included in the quote under the “Fee for Allowances” column of the pricing table? | Subject to regulations on cost allowability, these fees would have to be itemized in the quote and substantiated. Note that the “Fee for assisting with locating housing” column of the pricing table is for concierge services of locating housing, not for the cost of housing. Therefore, Living Quarters Allowance should not be included in the pricing proposal. Argonne doesn’t supplement housing costs. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | If the above should be included, does Argonne desire Offeror’s rely on Dept of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR) rates for these uplifts? | DSSR may be utilized. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | Is ANL providing required rates by country or are these sample rates? Is the company to use these as guide posts/target rates? | The rates in Enclosure 3-Pricing Proposal Format are average rates. When Argonne requests a quote for each work order we will indicate what the agreed upon rate would be for that position. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | For the third column that lists average salary, we would like to confirm that those salaries would be prorated for the number of estimated hours and that it is meant to be a fixed hourly salary. | The hourly rate would be fixed for the term of the work order regardless of the number of hours worked |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | Will Argonne clarify or confirm that the “fee for assisting with locating housing (1)”, as shown in the second table, is the offeror’s fee for services and does not include the direct cost of the housing? | Correct. Complete the conditions/assumption section to indicate what services are included in the fee. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | Will Argonne clarify or confirm that the “fee for assisting with obtaining health insurance (2)”, as shown in the second table, is the offeror’s fee for services and does not include the direct cost of the health insurance? | Correct. Complete the conditions/assumption section to indicate what services are included in the fee. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | Will Argonne clarify or confirm that the “fee for assisting with individual tax filings (3)”, as shown in the second table, is the offeror’s fee for services and does not include the direct cost of the individual’s taxes? | Correct. Complete the conditions/assumption section to indicate what services are included in the fee. |
| 3 – Pricing Proposal Format | In the second pricing table there is a column for “Fee for Miscellaneous Services/Other Direct Costs (4)”. Without knowing the types of services that Argonne will include in this category, estimating the support costs to include in the fee is difficult. Will Argonne specify what services or other direct costs will be required through this fee? | This can be for other Argonne-directed costs such as attending a conference, etc. and will be considered for payment on a case-by-case basis. |
| Enclosure+1F- Appendix+G+-+Foreign+Government+Talent+Recruitment | With reference to the 'Foreign Government Talent Recruitment' document, can we get the list of Foreign Countries Of Risk to the DoE? | Argonne will provide upon request in the event onsite R&D tasks are assigned. |
| General | What is the meaning of ‘allowances’? We understand JTR/JFTR per diem rates, but are there any other "allowances" permitted to bill under this contract? If so, please clarify. | Allowances are references Argonne sponsored travel expenses for reimbursement in accordance with Argonne's travel policy |
| General | Will employees have shadow-tax needs (i.e. will they be moving from country-to-country mid-tax-year)? | A new work order will need to be processed to move from one country to another |
| General | As our employees will need to register for local in-country tax ID numbers, does the project allow for the time that this will take (varies greatly country-to-country)? | Yes |
| General | Historically, have all personnel required visas and work permits or have some personnel not required those measures? For example, has a person with EU citizenship every been hired to work in the EU, and thusly, did not require VISA and/or work permit? If this is the case, can the Government clarify which positions are generally staffed by a qualifying "local" national for the respective work location? | Not everyone will need a VISA sponsorship. It is rare that we recruit a new appointment local in another country. Most of the appointments previously worked for Argonne and moved from the U.S. to another country or a new hire that is pending relocation to the U.S. |
| General | How long will each of these people be in these countries for? | Variable; 6 months to 1+ years |
| General | Will these people be on full-time permanent employment agreements, or will some be part-time, as some of the annual hours imply? (part-time contracts can be challenging for immigration requirements for some countries) | Some of the work orders will have variable hours. In those cases, you may have to establish a contractor relationship vs. employment relationship |
| General | Are the housing needs temporary (i.e. short-term) or long-term? Will the Government please provide an average or range of dates required for the housing support requests / relocation assistance? | |
| Argonne doesn't supplement housing costs. If relocation costs will be required a separate contract will be issued. There is an expectation that your firm will provide advice or resource to help the person identify local housing. Argonne won't be covering the relocation costs. | ||
| General | Is there any guidance on standards of housing required, budgets/allowances? (It would be helpful to know if there's a need for high-end housing) | |
| The individual is responsible for housing costs and will vary by work order. | ||
| General | What does the government expect to see on the 'process flow document and expected turnaround time for placements'? | Your key milestone process to fill each appointment and the typical turnaround time needed |
| General | In the event that an employee must be terminated, will the Government treat any remaining compensation and benefits payable to the Employee as an ODC? The termination risk (and subsequent required reserves) could be substantial and - if not treated as an ODC - might lead to a severe imbalance in pricing assumptions amongst the offerors. | FAR 31.205-6 (g)(6) Under 10 U.S.C.2324(e)(1)(M) and 41 U.S.C.4304(a)(13), the costs of severance payments to foreign nationals employed under a service contract performed outside the United States are unallowable to the extent that such payments exceed amounts typically paid to employees providing similar services in the same industry in the United States. |
Severance may be treated as ODC as long as this practice is consistently followed.
| General | Has termination of employees, and the subsequent payment of remaining benefits under the contract, occurred historically at any meaningful level? If so, can the Government clarify how these situations were handled, with regards to the remaining contract obligations required by host nation employment law? | Termination of appointments has not occurred historically at any meaningful level. |
| General | What are the anticipated contract pay cycles, bi-weekly, monthly? | Depends on each Offeror's payroll policies |
| General | What does the Government anticipate for payment terms, i.e., Net+30, Net+45? Will the Government honor more rapid payment terms for a small business awardee, i.e., Net+15 or Net+25? | Net 30 for large business or Net 15 for small business |
| General | Will the Government consider including FAR 52.219-4 Notice of Price Evaluation Preference for HUBZone Small Business Concerns, as prescribed in FAR 19.1309(b)(1) for solicitations and contracts for acquisitions conducted using full and open competition? | No |
| General | What is the approximate value of the current contract or anticipated value of the recompete? | We cannot provide this information |
| General | Who is the current incumbent? | This information can't be disclosed |
| General | Is this a set aside? | No, this is not a set-aside |
| General | What is the current headcount of the contract? | Ten to fifteen appointments |
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