20-FDA-SOL-1211384 Questions and Responses.pdf

Question and Response FDA Solicitation Number: 20-FDA-SOL-1211384 Cybersecurity Capabilities Projects IDIQ

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Document /Section Page Solicitation Language/Section

Question Government Response

Attachment E – Evaluation Criteria 6 Evaluation Factors – Phase I Qualifications, Factor 1 – Relevant Experience

May an offering entity meet this requirement in the form of a CTA or JV arrangement?

The PRIME, whether it is a JV or CTA, must be the qualified 8(a) company and perform at least 50% of the work.

20-FDA-SOL-1221384

Attachment_E_Evaluation Instructions_and_Criteria.pdf / Factor 1 – Relevant Experience

6 Projects of similar complexity and size for cybersecurity capabilities include…

Will the Government reconsider the $8m total contract award value requirement in order to allow past performance references that are $1.6m in annual value ($8m aggregated over 5 years)? This would support the intent and spirit of the SBA 8(a) sole source requirement in which awarded contracts are sub $4m in value. Being an 8(a) set-aside, we believe this would create a more fair competition allowing additional qualified vendors to participate and provide the best value and solution to the Government.

The Government will not consider reducing the total contract award value requirement based on the maturity of the FDA Cybersecurity program.

Addendum to paragraph one of Factor 1 – Relevant Experience At least one (1) of the projects must have a total award value of $8 million over the life of the contract.

20-FDA-SOL-1211384

SF1449

1 Offer Due Date:

08/21/2020

If the consideration to change past performance requirements are made, will the Government please allow an additional 5 day extension to the Phase 1 response due date?

The Government will not extend the due date for Phase I response.

Att E 1 Gen Requirement and Information

Is there any incumbent to this Solicitation?

Yes, Contract # 75F40119C10145, awarded to Copper River Cyber Solutions, LLC

Att E 1 Phase-I Line 5 What are the benchmarks for "Confidence Rating" Describe Criteria?

Per Attachment E, page 8, confidence rating is defined.

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Question Government Response

Att E 1 Phase - I Line 13 Offerors who are not advised who may proceed to participation, Can they compete in solicitation and overcome to win the award ?

Per Attachment E, page 1, “Offerors who are not amongst the most highly rated will be advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors with the general basis for the Government’s advisory recommendation. The intent of this advice is to minimize development costs for those offerors with little to no chance of receiving the award.”

Att E 6 Eval Factors Is the government willing to reduce the past performance contract value of $8 million to a $1Million or so, to increase competition, as it seems to be geared to benefit a specific contractor. There are very few 8(a) with three $8million contracts in past performance in the last 60 months as per SBA data.Is government reconsidering to reduce the amount to increase competition?

The Government will not consider reducing the total contract award value requirement based on the maturity of the FDA Cybersecurity program.

Addendum to paragraph one of Factor 1 – Relevant Experience At least one (1) of the projects must have a total award value of $8 million over the life of the contract.

Att E 6 Eval Factors/Factor 2 Is an NDA or offer to collaborate from Splunk, McAfee DLP,Palo Alto, McAfee CASB, Netwitness, Suricata, Kryptowire suffice?

An NDA or “offer to collaborate” is not equivalent to an industry partner program. The Government will assess the offeror’s ability to leverage existing business and technology relationships and certifications with manufacturers.

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Question Government Response

Att E 6 Eval Factors/Factor 1/Factor 2

Can the past performance and relevant experience be of a Non 8(a) partner as per Attachment E, permissible to compete?It does not specify any.

The PRIME offeror must be the qualified 8(a) company and perform at least 50% of the work.

SF1449 2 Instructions to Offerors The Solicitation seems to be rushed which a span of 5 days, Is the government willing to extend each date in each phase, by 15 days to increase competition?

Per Attachment E, page 2, “For the purposes of preparing proposals, offerors should assume an award time-frame of September 2020.”

Attachment E; Phase II – Request for Proposal; Oral Presentation Guidelines and Instructions

5 The offeror may only attend ONE oral presentation, whether as the prime or the subcontractor for another firm.

Would the Government confirm that other than SBA certified 8(a) subcontractors may not attend oral presentations?

The five (5) maximum attendees are determined at the discretion of the Prime offeror. The only mandatory offeror attendees are the proposed key personnel.

20-FDA-SOL-

1211384+Cybersecurity+Capabilities+Projects+IDIQ;

Instructions to Offerors

2 Proposal and question due dates for Phase II will be provided per the instructions in Attachment B.

Would the Government confirm that Offerors will be able to ask questions about Phase II after the submission of Phase I?

Yes. The information will be provided in the notification.

Attachment E; Evaluation Factors; Phase I – Qualification Evaluation Factors; Factor 1 – Relevant Experience

6 Total contract award value shall be at least $8 million for services performed. Any hardware or software purchased thru the contract will not be considered towards the $8 million

Would the Government confirm that all projects submitted that contain less than $8 million for services performed will not be considered under Phase I? If any submitted projects is not considered due to lacking relevancy or recency, would the Government lower the confidence rating of the Offeror?

The Government will not consider reducing the total contract award value requirement based on the maturity of the FDA Cybersecurity program.

Addendum to paragraph one of Factor 1 – Relevant Experience At least one (1) of the projects must have a total award value of $8 million over the life of the contract.

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Question Government Response

Attachment E; Evaluation Factors; Phase I – Evaluation of Qualifications; Factor 1 – Relevant Experience

8-9 Performed as the PRIME contractor on the projects. Projects submitted where the offeror was not the prime contractor will not be evaluated.

We assume the Government wants to evaluate the capabilities of the Prime Contractor. Considering the Government will not accept past performance from non-prime contractors, we recommend that Subcontractors are not allowed to present as one of the five (5) maximum attendees for the oral presentation.

The five (5) maximum attendees are determined at the discretion of the Prime offeror. The only mandatory offeror attendees are the proposed key personnel.

Attachment E; Phase II – Request for Proposal – Oral Presentation Guidelines and Instructions

5 The presentations will be no longer than 1.5 hours at which time the Government moderator will promptly end the meeting.

Does the 1.5 hours allotted for the presentation include the time for the questions the Government will issue one (1) hour prior to the scheduled presentation? Will addressing the scenario also be included in the 1.5 hours for the presentation? Would the Government clarify the requirement?

The 1.5 hours is inclusive of the time allotted for the Government questions and scenario that the Government will issue. The Government expects no more than 30 minutes is necessary for the question and scenario response.

ATTACHMENT E EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS AND

CRITERIA

6 The offeror shall provide three (3) projects performed as the prime contractor that indicates your experience with projects of similar scope, complexity and size.

Does the "offeror" imply the 8(a) firm submitting a bid, or can past performance eligibility be from any team member who is a subcontractor for this opportunity?

The 8(a) offeror submitting the proposal shall provide three (3) projects performed as the prime contractor.

20-FDA-SOL-1210258

Cybersecurity Capabilities Projects IDIQ

2 All proposals for Phase I must be submitted via email to the point of contacts listed below on or before August 21, 2020 by 2:00

PM EST

Given that the response period to Phase 1 is short including Q&A, we would like to request an extension of Phase 1 due date by one week, to August 28th 2020.

The Government will not extend the due date for Phase I response.

ATTACHMENT E EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS AND

CRITERIA

Past Performance Will they accept commercial past performance?

Yes.

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Question Government Response

ATTACHMENT E EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS AND

CRITERIA

Past Performance Does each past performance example need to have a minimum contract value of $8 M? Or, will the contracting office accept 3 past performance examples that total at least $8 M?

The Government will not consider reducing the total contract award value requirement based on the maturity of the FDA Cybersecurity program.

Addendum to paragraph one of Factor 1 – Relevant Experience At least one (1) of the projects must have a total award value of $8 million over the life of the contract.

--- --- --- How many FTEs are expected for this requirement? How many annual hours of support do they anticipated will be needed for this contract?

The Government will evaluate proposals based on the technical and business approach.

--- --- --- We are requesting an extension for questions and answers for this solicitation.

The Government will not extend the due date for Phase I questions.

--- --- --- Can the Government provide a timeline for phase 1 notification, Phase 2 proposal submission, evaluation, oral submission and award?

Per Attachment E, page 2, “For the purposes of preparing proposals, offerors should assume an award time-frame of September 2020.” Offerors should anticipate no more than 10 business days for phase II proposal submission but the time could be less at the discretion of the Government.

--- --- --- Is there a separate ability to pose questions for phase 2 if a bidder is selected to proceed?

Yes. The information will be provided in the notification.

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Question Government Response

ATTACHMENT E EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS AND

CRITERIA

--- --- Attachment E, Page 3-4, There are instructions for Oral Presentation, but there is no mention of the written technical response?

See attachment E, page 4, for the instructions on what needs to be submitted in written format. The oral presentation is the technical response for evaluation factors 1 and 2 for Phase II of the evaluation process.