Question and Answer - Final.pdf

Question and Answer

Question: Is there an existing contract in place for this particular ASL service? If so, what's the contract number and award amount?

Answer: See page 3 of 8 on the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation: Previous contract number awarded for this requirement is 36C10E23P0001. The total awarded amount is $339,761.80.

The award date was 10-01-2022. The contract is for a base and 4 option years. The first option year was not exercised because the requirement has significantly changed. A 52.217-8, 6-month extension was used to extend to 3/31/24. No other details shall be provided on the previous contract.

Question: Does the estimated number of hours (6,500) include just the estimated time for the 3 ASL interpreters?

Answer: The estimated 6,500 hours is made up of 2,080 hours (40 hours x 52 weeks) for each of our three (3) deaf employees that require these services. Plus, an additional 260 hours to help cover possible overages when a situation requires multiple Interpreters for each employee.

Question: Is there a percentage for the amount of ASL services needed onsite versus Virtual?

Answer: This is dependent on Denver’s building’s operational status and will change in the future. Currently, the percentage may be around 70/30 for virtual/onsite due to employees currently working on “max” telework and only coming into the building on an as needed basis.

Most likely, in the middle of this year it will change. By July they may be mandated to return to the office twice a pay period. This could later change to full time in person at the Denver Regional Office, based on operational status. Right now, there are virtual services needed, but Interpreters should also be prepared for full time on-site services if needed.

Question: How many times per week or month will additional ASL work be needed outside the normal work hours?

Answer: There really should not be very many instances where additional ASL work will be needed outside the normal work hours. It would probably average out to once a month for any outreach/Regional Office events.

Question: How often will all 3 ASL interpreters be required for use at the same time?

Answer: The Denver Regional Office has three (3) Deaf employees who each require their own separate services. At minimum three (3) interpreters will be needed an estimated amount of up to 40 hours a week. Each Deaf employee will need 6-8 hours of services per day. Some situations may necessitate multiple Interpreters required per employee. The industry standard rule in the interpreting field is that the length of the assignment and complexity of the assignment will dictate whether two interpreters are need at the same time, or only one. For example:

Assignments lasting more than 1 hour to 1.5 hrs. could take two interpreters. It is possible that on a specific day/ time a total of 6 interpreters could be needed (for that hour or 1.5 hrs.)

Question: Please confirm the page limitations for both Factors 1 and 2 are combined ten (10) pages total for both

Answer: When combined the vendor’s technical and experience shall not exceed ten (10) pages.

Question: Please confirm the page limitations for Factor 4/Price.

Answer: There is no page limit for Price.

Question: Our understanding is the Government intends to incorporate Service Contract Agreement FAR clauses into the solicitation. The labor categories present in the Wage Determination do not align to the scope of work. This offeror notes there are no labor categories that map directly to Interpreters. Please remove the SCA/Wage Determination FAR clauses from the solicitation.

Answer: Wage Determination 1988-0742 (Rev. 59), dated 01/04/2024 is replacing Wage Determination 2015-5419 (Rev.25), dated 12/26/2023 in this solicitation. Wage determination 1988-0742 (Rev. 59), dated 01/04/2024 is now incorporated in solicitation number 36C10D24Q0090.