S06 - RFP 36C10A24R0004 A00003 Conformed Copy Questions - Answers.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 17 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- 36C10A24R0004
About this file
This document is a set of questions and answers related to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Equipment and Services, Solicitation Number 36C10A24R0004, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center Austin.
The RFP is for multiple commercially available fixed and mobile LEO satellite internet service providers to support disaster recovery, emergency management, and rapid deployment across the VA enterprise. The RFP includes requirements for equipment, subscriptions, transmission facilities, installation, maintenance, and 24/7 support. The VA is considering Starlink and other LEO platforms, and will award up to 3 IDIQ contracts, with one reserved for a small business. Pricing is required to be FOB destination and include one-time costs. Key details include a response due date of June 14, 2024, and the RFP being amended to extend the due date to June 21, 2024. The incumbent contractor is SpaceX under Contract Number 36C10A22P0027.
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Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| S06 - SF 30 36C10A24R0004 0003.pdf | ||
| Amendment A00003_Conformed Attachment 1 Price Evaluation.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Amendment A00003_Conformed RFP_36C10A24R0004.pdf | ||
| Amendment A00002_Conformed Attachment 1 Price Evaluation_.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Amendment A00002_Conformed RFP_36C10A24R0004.pdf | ||
| S06 - SF30 36C10A24R0004 A00002.pdf | ||
| S06 - Amendment A00001_Conformed RFP_36C10A24R0004.pdf | ||
| S06 - SF30 36C10A24R0004 A00001.pdf | ||
| S06 - RFP 36C10A24R0004 A00001 Questions - Answers.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| S02 - RFP_36C10A24R0004_FINAL 5.20.24.pdf | ||
| 36C10A24R0004_2.docx | DOCX document | |
| S02 - Attachment 1 Price Evaluation LEO.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Sheet1 Note: The answers provided below are for informational purposes, to assist potential Offerors in preparing proposals, and such answers do not themselves constitute a part of any future Request for Proposal (RFP). To the extent that any answers provided below conflict in any way with the future RFP and any Amendments, the final RFP takes precedence.
| Solicitation: 36C10A24R0004 - Questions and Answers | |||
| Question # | Section | Question | Response |
| 1. | General Question | What is the existing contract/incumbent contract award ID number for this contract? | Space Exploration Technologies Corp. SpaceX |
Contract Number: 36C10A22P0027
| 2. | General Question | Who is the incumbent contractor for this posting? | Please refer to answer to number 1 above. |
| 3. | General Question | Is this a follow-on/recompete to an existing contract? | Please refer to answer to number 1 above. |
| 4. | General Question | We respectfully request an extension to the response due date of at least 30 days from the date the responses to questions are received by the offeror. This ensures a complete response which considers items that have been left out, as well as responses to questions. | The RFP will be extended to 21 June 2024. |
| 5. | General Question | Can the government please provide Attachment A – as referenced in Section D, PWS 4.2 (Place of Performance)? | Attachment A was incorporated in para 5.2.1, reference will be removed from solicitation. |
| 6. | General Question | Can the government please clarify the section numbering in Section D, PWS 5.0? This numbering does not appear to be sequential. | The solicitation table of contents will be renumbered to reflect the correct page numbers in the contents of the solicitation. The correction will be included in the amended solicitation. |
| 7. | General Question | Can the government provide the page number in the RFP for Section D, PWS 5.2.1.1? Section D PWS 5.2.1.1, referenced in E1(I)c (Volume I – Technical item ‘c’), does not appear to be included in the 21 May 2024 release of the RFP. | Section E regarding Volume I-Technical will be updated to correct references. |
| 8. | General Question | In reference to Section E1(II) – Can the government please define “case study?” | The “Case Study” verbiage has been removed from the solicitation and will be reflected in the solicitation amendment. Please see solicitation amendment for update to Section E, Volume I. |
| 9. | General Question | Can the government confirm if there will be additional on-ramps where offerors will be |
allowed to respond to this solicitation for this IDIQ? If so, can the government please clarify
| when those additional on-ramps will occur? | No additional on-ramps are planned. | |||
| 10. | General Question | Can the government confirm the primary use cases for the services delivered within this solicitation? Some examples may be sending medical imaging, staff communication (email and voice), telehealth, or distance training provided by video streaming. | The VA intends to use the services for any VA applications which may vary from site to site. | |
| 11. | General Question | We would like to know if this is a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. | Please refer to answer to number 1 above. | |
| 12. | General Question | If not brand new, could you please provide the current / previous contract number? | Please refer to answer to number 1 above. | |
| 13. | RFP page 1 | Due Date 6-14-2024 1300 CST - as VA requesting SLA-based services With regards to Starlink & Starshield (Best Effort commerical services) request additional 2wks for Vendor to provide updated inputs. |
| Rationale: Starlink, Starshield Best Effort service w/o guaranteed MIRs/CIRs. Contractor requires additional time to discuss SLAs w/SpaceX. | Please refer to answer to number 4. | ||
| 14. | RFP - Section B page 4 | initial CLIN table 0001-4018 - can VA provide total qty? | |
| Rationale: please provide additional insite into make up of CLIN sheet. Attachment 1 does not nomenclate quanties for terminals and stops short of the indicated 18 annual CLINs in RFP document. | Please reference B.1 Schedule of Supplies and Services which states "The Government will place orders based on prices identified in Attachment 1 – Price Evaluation-Low Earth Orbit Satellite Equipment and Services, Schedule B Pricing….". Known locations and quantities are listed at paragraph 5.2.1of the PWS. The VA may isue task orders for services at any VA facility as stated in paragraph 4.2 of the PWS utilizing B.3 Ordering Procedures. | ||
| 15. | RFP - FARs page 4 - | procedures for selecting contractors for task order awards under LEO Satellite Services are governed by FAR 16.505 - how many contracts will VA initally award IDIQ? |
| Rationale: RFP mentions up to 3 - one being SB. Currently no SBs are authorized as resellers of Starshield and Starlink to the US Government - will the VA rule of twos apply for this contract? | Please reference E.10 FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation Commercial Products and Services Paragraph A, which states "Award will be made to up to three (3) awardees, with one award reserved for a small business." | ||
| 16. | page 9 | Firm Fixed Price. All task orders awarded as a result of RFQs listed under this contract will be Firm Fixed Price based on previously established prices contained in the ID/IQ contract" |
| Rationale: Contractor assumes pricing only to include service and hardware support. Travel, shipping, one time costs will be nomenclated in individual TOs (rationale - contractor cannot provide a FFP for multiple travel to multiple sites over a 5 year IDIQ period at the IDIQ level). | The VA requires FOB destination pricing that includes one-time costs. Please see paragraph 5.3.4 Equipment Shipment of the PWS. Contractor should price ordering periods accordingly. | ||
| 17. | RFP - PWS page 29 | Services encompassed in this requirement include Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Internet Services for both mobile and fixed sites throughout the VA enterprise that includes equipment and services for 11 existing StarLink, six (6) Hermtac mobile cases and one (1) Compact Rapid Deployable (CRD) mobile case |
| Rationale: is the contractor required to support hardware external to Starlink & Starshield terminals contained in the Hermtac & CRD kits? | Awardees are not required to support hardware external to Starlink and Starshield terminals contained in the Hermtac & CRD kits. | ||
| 18. | RFP - PWS - Scope page 32 | Provide continued maintenance and support for existing VA equipment. |
| Rationale: Please define existing equipment outside of Starlink and Starshield equipment. | All existing equipment are listed in 5.2.1 of the PWS. | ||
| 19. | RFP - PWS - Scope page 32 | Services shall include any special items, equipment, wiring or infrastructure to ensure the contractor's solution is compatible with the Government's current telecommunications infrastructure at the VA facilities |
| Rationale: please define the demarc. Starlink, Starshield are fully available, mature best effort communication transmission solution. Contractor recommends demarcation at modem port of terminal kits. | The Demarc is defined at Physical Handoff/RJ45 located in paragraph 5.2.1 of the PWS. | ||
| 20. | page 37 | Contractor shall provide the LEO Satellite Internet Services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year |
| Rationale: Starlink & Starshield best effort commerical communications solution w/o quarenteed MIRs & CIRs. | Page 37 has been revised to align with paragraph 5.2.1 Availability of the PWS. | ||
| 21. | RFP - 5.2 LEO Services | Contractor shall ensure the existing equipment and services for 11 existing StarLink, 6 Hermtac mobile cases and 1 CRD mobile case are operational. |
| Rationale: Can VA provide make up of Hermtac & CRD - if not recommend Contractor only responsible for Starlink, Starshield hardware & services. | Contractor needs to maintain all existing hardware listed in 5.2.1 of the PWS. VA may elect to award some, all or none of these services to one or more awardees. | ||
| 22. | RFP - 5.2 LEO Services | Contractor shall ensure the existing equipment and services for 11 existing StarLink, 6 Hermtac mobile cases and 1 CRD mobile case are operational. |
| Rationale: Please provide type of Starlink terminals: Commercial HP or Flat to include router. | All existing Starlink equipment utilized by the VA are commercial High Performance. | ||
| 23. | RFP - 5.2 LEO Services page 38 | Contractor shall offer commercially available tiered data packages to include unlimited data at a fixed rate for both the fixed and mobile sites. The Contractor shall allow for flexibility between data packages at no additional cost to the Government. |
| Rationale: Please define no additional costs - does this imply no activation fees when upgrading monthly service? | The VA is requesting pooled data plans. | ||
| 24. | RFP - 5.3.2 Site Survey page 41 | Contractor shall perform an onsite survey as part of installation for fixed sites and mobile services at locations upon VA request. Site survey’s will at a minimum identify equipment, ancillary equipment, and specific installation needs. |
| Rationale: Contract assumes this price to be provided for specific TOs and not at IDIQ level. | Contractor should utilize this information to establish their pricing provided in Attachment 1 "Price Evaluation-Low Earth Orbit Satellite Equipment and Services" | ||
| 25. | RFP - 6.5 - SLA page 50 | SLAs in this document represent a minimum level of service acceptable to the government unless otherwise specified at the TO level. The VA recognizes that LEO Satellite Internet Services performance is likely to vary depending on location as well as the technical specification and capabilities of the deployed infrastructure. The Contractor shall provide the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which shall govern the LEO Satellite Internet Services offered to the VA. |
| Rationale: Starlink and Starshield are best effort service offerings w/o guaranteed MIRs or CIRs. A range of MIR & CIR anticipated and expected, latency as well as link availability will be provided. | Please refer to answer to number 20. | |||
| 26. | General Question | VA has designated this RFP as FFP, ID/IQ. However, the technical requirements and pricing CLINs are specific to one vendor (i.e., Starlink). Is the Government only considering Starlink’s LEO technology? If the VA is open to other LEO platforms, will the VA allow bidders to bid equipment and services that are not Starlink specific? | Please see paragraph 3.0 of the PWS "VA, OIT, CCS, CPMS requires contractor services to provide brand name or equal LEO satellite equipment…." | |
| 27. | General Question | If other LEO products are provided rather than Starlink, some product/service line items on the Pricing Evaluation Excel file are Starlink specific and become inapplicable for a non-Starlink solution. Can those lines be left empty and replace with new and comparable line items? For example can a Mesh Wi-Fi Router for non-Starlink LEO platform be provided? Another item is Masonry Routing Kit which is specific to Starlink and not needed in other LEO platforms. | Please refer to number 8 in the "instructions to offerors" tab of Attachment 1 "Price Evaluation-Low Earth Orbit Satellite Equipment and Services" | |
| 28. | General Question | In order to include the full features and capabilities of our LEO solution, can we add optional items in the Pricing Evaluation Excel file? | Please refer to answer to number 27. | |
| 29. | General Question | Will the VA consider extending the deadline by 2 weeks to give bidders more time to put together a competitive proposal? | Please refer to answer to number 4. | |
| 30. | General Question | VA has a requirement for multiple commercially available fixed and mobile Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Internet Service providers for the purpose of disaster recovery, emergency management, and rapid deployment as required throughout the VA enterprise. Amend002 no longer lists existing 12 Starlink terminals and 6 Starshield terminals w/service start date 1 Agu 2024. Are these units no longer part of this IDIQ? | Correct. | |
| 31. | RFP - PWS - Scope page 32 | provide continued maintenance and support for existing VA equipment. With removal of previous GFE 18 Starlink/Starshield terminals; please provide list of existing equipment required to support. | RFP has been updated and will be removed from resultant award. | |
| 32. | RFP - PWS - Scope page 32 | contractor services to provide multiple, commercially | ||
| available LEO satellite equipment, subscriptions, all transmission facilities, materials, travel, installation, and deinstallation/removal of hardware along with optional accessories, testing, maintenance, 24/7/365 monitoring and support for new mobile and fixed sites. Does VA require mulitple LEO offerings (e.g. Starlink, OneWeb, Lightspeed) or mulitple exisiting products and services (e.g. StarLink)? | Yes. | |||
| 33. | RFP - PWS - Scope page 32 | Provide continued maintenance and support for existing VA equipment. With removal of previous GFE 18 Starlink/Starshield terminals; please provide list of existing equipment required to support. | RFP has been updated and will be removed from resultant award. | |
| 34. | RFP - 5.2 LEO Services page 37 | Contractor shall provide the LEO Satellite Internet Services 24 hours a day, 7 days | ||
| a week, 365 days a year at an availability rate greater than or equal to 99%. Starlink & Starshield best effort commerical Satellite Internet solution w/o quarenteed MIRs & CIRs and no service guarentees, (latency, availability). | Noted. | |||
| 35. | RFP - 5.3.2 Site Survey page 39 | Contractor shall perform an onsite survey as part of installation for fixed sites and mobile services at locations upon VA request. Site survey’s will at a minimum identify equipment, ancillary equipment, and specific installation needs. Contractor assumes this price to be provided for specfic TOs and not at IDIQ level. | RFP has been updated and site survey needs to be priced as part of equipment delivery and installation. | |
| 36. | Attachement 1 Pricing Sheet - Ordering Period Tabs | Row’s 37-40 CLINs 0015AA through 0015AD as well as all remaining ordering periods equation does not take into account Column E (12) e.g. 35 Estimated Quantity, 12 Number of Months, Unit of issue (months), unit price (assuming month) Equation only computes 35 x unit price verses 35 x 12 x unit price. This error is replicated in CLINs 0016AA through 0016AD. Will VA correct Attachment 1 Price Evaluation or will VA allow contractor to correct/change equation H column to reflect correct quantities? This error will result in significanlty lower evaluated price than actual. | Attachment 1 Price Evaluation has been updated/corrected. | |
| 37. | Attachement 1 Pricing Sheet - Instruction to offers | All offerors shall multiply the estimated quantity by the number of months times the unit price, which shall result in the extended unit price. Will VA correct Attachment 1 Price Evaluation or will VA allow contractor to correct/change equation H column to reflect correct quantities? This error will result in significanlty lower evaluated price than actual. | Attachment 1 Price Evaluation has been updated/corrected. | |
| 38. | RFP - E.1 - Instructions to Offerors | If the Offeror submits annexes, documentation, attachments or the like, not specifically required by this solicitation, such will count against the Offeror’s page limitations unless otherwise indicated in the specific volume instructions below. |
VOLUME VI – SOLICITATION, OFFER AND AWARD DOCUMENTS AND CERTIFICATIONS/REPRESENTATIONS
Certifications and Representations - An authorized official of the firm shall sign all certifications requiring original signature. An Acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission. The solicitation provides a table that lists the titles and page limit requirements for each volume. Although the solicitation has a requirement for a Volume VI - Solicitation, Offeror and Award Documents and Certifications/Representations, this volume is not included in the table in E.1, Section 2.c.
Can the government clarify what the page limitation is for Volume VI? RFP - E.1 Volume VI has been updated and no limitation on the total number of pages for solicitation, offer and award documents and certifications/representations.
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