36C10X18R0171-0001005.docx

5. PROJECT NUMBER (if applicable)

CODE

7. ADMINISTERED BY

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER

CODE

6. ISSUED BY

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NUMBER

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED

PAGE

OF PAGES

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED

BPA NO.

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

FACILITY CODE

CODE

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

E. IMPORTANT:

is extended,

(a) By completing Items 8 and 15, and returning __________ copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted; or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA

(REV. 11/2016)

is required to sign this document and return ___________ copies to the issuing office.

is not, A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

15C. DATE SIGNED

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER

BY

Contractor

16C. DATE SIGNED

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

STANDARD FORM 30

PREVIOUS EDITION NOT USABLE

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.243 (Type or print) (Type or print) (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

(Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (If other than Item 6) (Specify type of modification and authority) (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.)

(If required)

(SEE ITEM 11)

(SEE ITEM 13)

(X)

CHECK

ONE

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer) A0001 8/1/2018 Strategic Acquisition Center - Frederick Department of Veterans Affairs 321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125 Frederick MD 21703 Strategic Acquisition Center - Frederick Department of Veterans Affairs 321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125 Frederick MD 21703 To all Offerors

36C10X18R0171 07-18-2018

X x x Thursday, August 9, 2018, 12:00 PM, ET Please see the CONTINUATION PAGES for details of this Amendment.

Allen L. Smith Contracting Officer

CONTINUATION PAGES

The purpose of amendment A0001 is the following:

1. The hour and date for receipt of offers has been extended. All submissions are due no later than Thursday, August 9, 2018 at 12:00 PM, EDT.

1. To provide interested Vendors all of the questions submitted along with the subsequent Government Responses. Please note that the time to submit questions for this requirement has passed.

1. Based on the questions and Government responses, changes to the Request for Proposal (RFP) have been made. Please see the attached document 36C10X18R0171 Conformed for A0001. All changes and additions are highlighted in yellow.

1. Attachment F, Labor Category Spreadsheet, has been revised due to a formatting issue. Please see and use the attached Attachment F, Labor Category Spreadsheet Conformed for A0001.

1. Attachment G, Compensation Excel Spreadsheet, has been revised to remove erroneous language and add pertinent language. Please see and use the attached Attachment G, Compensation Excel Spreadsheet Conformed for A0001.

1. Attachment H, Wage Determination, has been added to the RFP and is attached to this Amendment.

Vendor Questions / Government Responses (Q&A)

1. Is this opportunity still in pre-solicitation phase? This is unclear from the associated attachments. If yes, when do you anticipate the final RFP to be released?

Government Response: No, 36C10X18R0171 is the actual solicitation. It was posted on July 18, 2018.

1. Is there a requirement to send you an intention to bid notice that is due today?

Government Response: Bid intentions were due no later than July 30, 2018 at 2:00 PM, EDT. However, vendors who did not submit bid intentions are not precluded from submitting a response so long as they meet the criteria set forth in the solicitation.

1. Is there an industry day scheduled? If yes, when?

Government Response: No industry has or will be scheduled.

1. When is the absolute last date for submission of rfp response on the above referenced opportunity? Is an extension expected?

Government Response: As listed on the SF-30, responses are now due on Thursday, August 9, 2018, at 12:00, EDT.

1. Since this is firm fixed contract, will awardee invoice Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) a fixed amount based on B.2 Price/Cost Schedule or actuals? For example, during days 31-60 of contract, item number 0005, will awardee invoice the calculated fixed amount regardless of claims reviewed? Or is the firm fixed amount an estimate “not to exceed” and awardee should invoice actuals (hours worked)?

Government Response: The number of claims to be reviewed per week is an estimate for the purposes of the ramp up. Actual claims reviewed will likely be slightly more or less than this estimated amount. Note that failure to substantially meet the anticipated ramp up schedule may be identified through the QASP as a performance issue. With respect to billing, the Contractor will invoice monthly in arrears using its awarded weekly unit price for the time period, not hours worked or price per claim review.

1. Are offerors expected to provide resumes (program manager and paralegals) in their proposal or after award?

Government Response: Resumes shall be provided for Program Manager, Paralegal Level 1, and Paralegal Level 2 (max 2 pages each) in the proposal. These will be evaluated to ensure personnel meet the minimum qualifications required in the solicitation as described in section E.3 of the solicitation, Proposal Evaluation.

1. How long is the Claims Review Support Training?

Government Response: Initial Claims Review Training will be two weeks with periodical refresher training of 1 day based on review of contractors’ work. The need for refresher training will be determined by agreement between the Board and vendor’s Program Manager per the terms of the PWS.

1. May offerors provide CPAR evaluations in lieu of past performance questionnaires?

Government Response: Contractors shall make every effort to provide the PPQ to respective POCs for return to the Government. In addition, if desired, Contractor may identify in Section 1 of VOLUME 2, as j) under the Contract Description that “Official CPARS available in PPIRS”.

1. Does BVA have a preference of work location for this effort?

Government Response: The Board does not have a preference on location as long as it is within the continental United States. If within the DC Metro area, the Board would be open to scheduling possible on-site training either at Offeror’s facility or at the Board. So, in the event Vendor would find such training advantageous locating contractors in the DC Metro area may be in the interest of the Offeror. That being said, the Board will not take location into consideration when evaluating offers.

1. May offerors locate personnel in multiple locations or should all work be done in one location?

Government Response: Offeror’s personnel need not be in a single location presuming the Offeror establishes in their offer, to the Board’s satisfaction, that they will be able to appropriately manage their personnel from multiple locations and protect PII.

1. May offerors submit multiple price proposals based on different delivery options?

Government Response: Yes

1. My company is interested in this opportunity and would like to know whether this is a brand-new requirement or is there a current incumbent taking care of these services? If there is an incumbent, what is the name of the prime contractor?

Government Response: This is a new requirement. As such, there is no incumbent taking care of these services.

1. Page 1 or 72, SF1449 box 20. The government has defined the solicitation as 100% set-aside for all VOSB including SDVOSB. Did the government conduct VA Rule of Two market research as prescribed in 38 U.S.C. 8127(d) to determine that there are two or more verified and capable SDVOSBs?

Government Response: VA conducted the necessary Market Research, including release of a publicly available RFI, to determine whether it could have a reasonable expectation that two or more SDVOSB firms verified in Vendor Information Pages were likely to submit offers and an award could be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the United States. The results included at least two verified VOSB firms, but not two or more SDVOSB firms.

1. Pages 6 through 8 of 72, B.2 Price/Cost Schedule. Although this is a firm fixed price contract, will the government provide a CLIN for pricing government approved overtime rates?

Ref B.3.1 – “…there are approximately 460,000 legacy system appeals…”

Government Response: The Government does not intend to include a CLIN for overtime rates.

1. Pages 6 through 8 of 72, B.2 Price/Cost Schedule. Will the government add OPTIONAL CLINS to Table B.2, that the government can elect to exercise to address the excess number of claims beyond the approximately 155,000 (1000 / week) defined by this PWS?

Government Response: The Government does not intend to include a CLIN to address an excess number of claims beyond the quantities listed in the PWS.

1. Page 12 of 72, section 5.2 Task 3 – Weekly Reporting. 5.2 requires the Weekly Report to be “delivered by 5:00pm EST Friday of each week”. Will the government change this requirement to read “Eastern Time (ET)” to automatically adjust for changes due to Daylight Savings?

Government Response: Changed per request.

1. Page 12 of 72, section 5.2 Task 3 – Weekly Reporting. What is the “week ending” day for the Weekly report? If the report includes work performed on Friday, at what time of day is the cutoff period of the report?

Government Response: The report delivery time is changed to 12:00 PM, ET Monday of each week.

1. Page 13 of 72, section 6.1 II Review for Unaddressed Administrative Action. 6.1.II states, “…Contractor shall flag all incomplete items and notify Board co-located Administrative Support staff so they can act to complete the package”. Are the “Administrative Support staff” a different team than those supporting this contract?

Government Response: Yes. The Contractor shall primarily interact with the COR and Board Program Manager (in the event that person is different from the COR). The Contractors work is being done to support Board attorneys in their drafting of draft decisions. Board attorneys are supported by an Administrative Support staff whose job includes resolving any of the administrative actions identified in the PWS and attachments that could hold up the processing of the case.

1. Page 13 of 72, section 6.1 II Review for Unaddressed Administrative Action. How / through what mechanism does the government receive notification of these incomplete items? Is it an automated process through the review software?

Government Response: At this time notification is done through two actions a shared mailbox is emailed describing the problem while the case is transferred (i.e. responsibility for the case is moved) to the Administrative Support staff using a Board propriety software for tracking appeals cases. The Board is in the process of having all this functionality migrated to the program used to review the documents in the file so that a user would notify the Board in the same program they are reviewing the documents in. We anticipate this new functionality being available at the time we anticipate work starting on this contract or shortly thereafter. Either method requires contractor to take action to indicate to the Board of these incomplete actions.

1. Where is the Board located?

Government Response: 425 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20001.

1. Page 14 of 72, section 6.1. 6.1 requires the List of Completed Claims File Review to be “delivered by 5:00pm EST Friday of each week:”. Will the government change this requirement to read “Eastern Time (ET)” to automatically adjust for changes due to Daylight Savings?

Government Response: Changed per request.

1. What is the “week ending” day for the Weekly report? If the report includes work performed on Friday, at what time of day is the cutoff period of the report?

Government Response: The report delivery time is changed to 12:00 PM, ET Monday of each week.

1. Page 15 of 72, section 6.11 Quantity. 6.1.1 Quantity states, “A claims file can range from 100 documents to 1,000 plus. Last measure the average electronic claims file included 243 documents”. For the documents in the claim file, we know they average 243 documents per case file - what is the average number of pages per document?

Government Response: Regretfully, the Board does not have the ability to measure the average number of pages in a document. We often state that a claims file can have anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 pages but this is anecdotal.

1. Page 15 of 72, section 6.11 Quantity. Does the claims management software allow multiple users into the same record, or does it lock out other users?

Government Response: Multiple users can be in the same record.

1. Page 15 of 72, section 6.11 Quantity. B.3.1 states, “At present, there are approximately 460,000 legacy system appeals. Until these legacy appeals are resolved, the Board will have to work both legacy appeals and new appeals in tandem”. 6.1.1 states that the RFP requires the offeror to “review approximately 1,000 file claims a week.” The number of claims reviewed after the 36-month period of performance is approximately 155,000. Is the offeror to understand that the total backlog of legacy claims will not be completed within this contract’s period of performance?

Government Response: Most likely. Once the new appeals system is in place there will be mechanism by which Veteran/appellants with legacy appeals can opt-in to the new system. However, it is unlikely the Board productivity compiled with the opt-in mechanism will resolve all of these claims by the end of the option years. Assuming the Board chooses to pursue the option years, we will use the last option year to review they legacy appeals inventory, the success of this program to determine, and available resources to determine if we will pursue a similar contract following the last option year.

1. Page 15 of 72, section 6.11 Quantity. How does the government anticipate resolving the approximately 305,000 outstanding backlogged claims in the legacy system?

Government Response: Through a combination of adjudicating the claims and giving Veteran/appellants the opportunity to opt-in to the new system. As noted above, it is unlikely all legacy claims will be resolve by the end of the final option year.

1. Page 15 of 72, section 6.11 Quantity. How does this contract support the additional 305,000 outstanding backlogged claims?

Government Response: It doesn’t. Assuming the Board chooses to pursue the option years, we will use the last option year to review they legacy appeals inventory, the success of this program to determine, and available resources to determine if we will pursue a similar contract following the last option year.

1. Does the government anticipate a surge in the number of claims that are required for contractor review beyond the 460,000 legacy system appeals?

Government Response: No. Assuming the Secretary of VA is prepared to certify that VA is prepared to handle appeals under the new law the new system of appeals would become effective February 14, 2019. From that time any claim filed would be filed under the new law and be appealed under the new appellate procedures. Legacy appeals could still be filed for one year from that date but only on claims adjudicated a year or less prior to that date.

Even if an unforeseen event caused a delay in implementation of the new law VA does not anticipate a surge in the filing of legacy appeals as we have not seen such a surge since passage of the law in August 23, 2017.

1. Page 19 of 72, section 7.4.6. Ref 7.4.6 – Please confirm that the government will provide the required “VA-approved antivirus (AV) software”, if needed.

Government Response: 7.4.6 refers to use of non-VA owned equipment and includes the statement “All of the security controls required for GFE must be utilized in approved other equipment (OE) and must be funded by the owner of the equipment.” Therefore, the Board cannot confirm that the government will provide “VA-approved antivirus (AV) software” on any non-VA owned equipment, if needed.

Please note, the government will provide government furnished equipment to contractors, including laptops that will have VA-approved antivirus (AV) software.

1. Page 19 of 72, section 7.4.6. Please confirm that the government will provide the required “personal (host-based or enclave based) firewall that is configured with a VA-approved configuration.”

Government Response: 7.4.6 refers to use of non-VA owned equipment and includes the statement “All of the security controls required for GFE must be utilized in approved other equipment (OE) and must be funded by the owner of the equipment.” Therefore, the Board cannot confirm that the government will provide “personal (host-based or enclave based) firewall that is configured with a VA-approved configuration” on any non-VA owned equipment, if needed.

1. Page 21 of 72, section 7.6.4. 7.6.4 states, “Based on the determinations of the independent risk analysis, the Contractor shall be responsible for paying to the VA liquidated damages in the amount of $37.50 per affected individual to cover the cost of providing credit protection services to affected individuals consisting of the following”. Please confirm that the $37.50 per affected individual covers the entire cost of liquidated damages.

Government Response: $37.50 per affected individual is the amount required under this contract. However, it is the policy of VA to forgo liquidated damages in the event the Contractor provides payment of actual damages in an amount determined to be adequate by the Agency.

1. Page 22 of 72, section 7.8.4. 7.8.4 states “In the event Contractor has, or choses to establish, a telecommute program, prior to telecommuting, in addition to any training conducted by Contractor, Contractor personnel shall complete necessary VA telework training as identified by the COR”. What is the estimated time (duration) needed to complete the VA telework training course?

Government Response: Approximately one hour. There are two to three other trainings (also approximately one hour each) that must be taken prior to starting telework (those are mentioned in 7.8.1) but these have to be taken even if the employee does not telework.

1. Page 22 of 72, section 7.8.4. What requirements are needed to access the training module?

Government Response: Access to the VA network, which would mean a person trying to take the training had their user account set up, PIV badge issued, and government furnished laptop. All of which will be provided as part of the onboarding process.

1. Page 22 of 72, section 7.8.4. Is the VA Telework training available online to contractors via TMS?

Government Response: Yes.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. 8.2 states, “VA shall provide access to VA specific software needed to complete the Tasks listed in this PWS such as VACOLS and Caseflow Reader, including appropriate seat management and user licenses, depending upon the level of security clearance access granted”. Will the contractor act as the VACOLS administrator of our resources?

Government Response: No. The VA IT will act as VACOLS administrators for contractor personnel. All requests for access or for changes in user permission or similar system administration activity would be passed to the COR who would then work with our IT administrator to establish the necessary access.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Will the contractor be responsible to add/delete our users from VACOLS or is there another party (govt or contractor) who performs this role?

Government Response: The role of VACOLS system administrator is handled by VA OIT. All requests for access or for changes in user permission or similar system administration activity would be passed to the COR who would then work with our IT administrator to establish the necessary access.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Does the case management system (VACOLS and Caseflow Reader) query the content within claim documents (files stored within the applications database)?

Government Response: Caseflow Reader is the software used to view, review, and tab documents. Each document is its own link in the system. A user can view the documents by clicking each link one by one and reviewing the documents or by choosing a view that places the documents in order and essentially makes it one big document (so a person does not have to click each document link individually).

At the time the document is scanned into the system it is assigned one of numerous predetermined labels based on its content. Some other metadata is gathered such as date the scanning occurred. However, the system does not query, pull, or capture any specific information from within the documents themselves.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Does the document management feature of the application allow the user to sort documents chronologically? For example, the CaseFlow program has multiple locations (tabs) for information to be stored - Is the review also segmented so that documents must be reviewed by the tabs?

Government Response: By default, documents in Caseflow Reader will be sorted in reverse chronological order by the date the document was received by VA not by any date written within the document. This can be changed to sort in chronological order by receipt date. There are a few other ways to order the documents if a user desires such as in alphabetical order based on the document name within the system.

Caseflow does not have multiple locations or segments and the use of the word tab may be causing some confusion. Each document is its own link in the system. A user can view the documents by viewing a list of these links and clicking each link one by one and reviewing the documents or by choosing a view that places the documents in order and essentially makes it one big document (so a person does not have to click each document link individually).

There are a series of colored flags that can be added in the system to any document and will appear by the documents name from then on. There are ones for medical evidence, procedural documents, etc. We call these tabs in reference to a time when we had paper files and literally inserted colored tabs or stick notes in the paper file to flag documents.

Once these tabs/flags are added to the documents a user can sort the file by those tabs/flags (e.g. shown me only documents with the medical evidence tab/flag). That being said, when a user initially opens a claims file it will just be a list of links for the document that they can chose to go through one by one or view as one big document there is no separation or segregation of the documents beyond that.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Do all documents/attachments in the claims systems have unique identifiable document name and page numbers (so we can refer to “key evidence” in our summary by a doc/page identifier)?

Government Response: All documents are assigned a document name when scanned in to the system based on their content. However, the categories do overlap and any single document is not completely unique. An example, a VA Rating Decision would be labeled VA Rating Decision. There could be multiple VA Rating Decision within a file. As such, it is customary for the Board staff to refer to a documents title as well as the date of receipt when referencing a document from the claims file. Then if necessary a user could further reference a page number within the document, e.g. Veteran has already been granted a 30% rating for her knee, see 6/28/2018 VA Rating Decision page 3. This process provides sufficient granularity for attorneys to communicate with Veterans Law Judges. We expect it will be satisfactory for the paralegals to communicate as well.

Claims files are note Bates stamped so that each page in the file has its own unique page number. Page numbering is internal to each document. Some document such as hand-written notes by a Veteran may not have page numbers.

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Is there a tag that is applied to “key evidence” documents/pages?

Government Response: Not specifically. For key evidence there are 4 tags, which related to the big categories of evidence such as medical evidence or procedural documents. However, a user can leave comment specific to a document in addition to adding a tag. So, a user could tag a 50-page medical record document with the medical evidence tag then leave a comment saying, “Page 17 contain a doctor’s opinion that appears favorable to appellant.” Comments are associate with a specific page in a document but can be viewed from outside of the document. A subsequent user will see both the tag and comment. In a Review Memo the user could then state something along the lines of “6/28/2016 medical record contains evidence that merits attention see comment.”

1. Page 23 of 72, section 8.2. Can those documents be retrieved with a search for review in completing the Review Memo?

Government Response: You can search by document title. Additionally, you can filter the documents by tag/tab assigned to the document. You can filter by multiple tag/tabs at the same time if you so desire.

1. Page 24 of 72, section 9.1. 9.1 states, “Once contract personnel have completed VA information security privacy training, they shall attend and successfully complete Government held training on the task of claims file review support. Training includes orientation and familiarization with VA systems and standard operating processes”. How many hours are required to complete the respective training?

Government Response: The information security privacy training consists of approximately two-hour long trainings. Initial Claims Review Training will be two weeks with periodical refresher training of 1 day based on review of contractors’ work. The need for refresher training will be determined by agreement between the Board and vendor’s Program Manager per the terms of the PWS.

1. Page 24 of 72, section 9.1. What requirements are needed to access the training module(s)?

Government Response: Access to the VA network, which would mean a person trying to take the training had their user account set up, PIV badge issued, and government furnished laptop. All of which will be provide as part of the onboarding process.

1. Page 24 of 72, section 9.1. Is this training available online?

Government Response: It can be completed online but is not available outside of the VA network.

1. Page 24 of 72, section 9.1. Is it self-paced training, or instructor led?

Government Response: The training is instructor led.

1. Page 26 of 72, section 11.3. 11.3 states, “Internal Customer Service - On occasion, personnel within Board shall contact the Contractor, in writing, with inquiries regarding claims files. Contractor shall respond in writing to such inquires within one (1) business day. All inquiries shall be directed to the Contractor’s Program Manager”. What are the type of occasions that the government will conduct communications through the contractor’s Program Manager?

Government Response: The Board is expected that occasionally Board staff may have questions about tags/tabs or a Review Memo such that it would be best to seek clarification from the paralegal through the Contractor’s Program Manager. The Board intends to use most paralegal work product as is but wanted to leave open the possibility to reach out to paralegals through the Contractor’s Program Manager when we think it necessary.

1. Page 26 of 72, section 11.3. Should offerors assume that communications from the government regarding case files will be directly with the contractor’s PM or another designated POC? Or, does the government plan to work/interact with the Paralegal staff?

Government Response: The Board expects to direct all communication through the PM or other POCs designated by Contractor.

1. Page 26 of 72, section 11.3. Can the government provide examples of the nature and frequency of these communications to the Contractor’s Program Manager?

Government Response: The Board is expected that occasionally Board staff may have questions about tags/tabs or a Review Memo such that it would be best to seek clarification from the paralegal through the Contractor’s Program Manager. The Board intends to use most paralegal work product as is but wanted to leave open the possibility to reach out to paralegals through the Contractor’s Program Manager when we think it necessary.

1. Pages 30 through 32 of 72, C.10.(b).(6) and C.10.(c).(2). Item (b).(6) references “52.204–14, Service Contract Reporting Requirements” and Item (c).(2) reverences “52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards”. Are contractor resource compensation rates for this contract protected by the Wage Determinations of the Service Contract Act (SCA)? If so, which Labor Categories?

Government Response: Paralegal Level I and Paralegal Level II/Team Leads are not exempt. The Program Manager position is exempt. Any other proposed labor categories proposed outside of what is listed above may or may not be exempt.

1. Pages 33 and 34 of section C.10, Contract Terms.

[X] (2) 52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards (MAY 2014) (41 U.S.C. chapter 67).

[X] (4) 52.222-43, Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Labor Standards—Price Adjustment (Multiple Year and Option Contracts) (MAY 2014) (29 U.S.C. 206 and 41 U.S.C. chapter 67).

[X] (9) 52.222-62, Paid Sick Leave Under Executive Order 13706 (JAN 2017) (E.O. 13706).

Confirm that this opportunity is governed by SCA, and if so, then provide the appropriate DOL Wage Determination(s).

Government Response: This opportunity is governed by SCA. A wage determination for the District of Columbia is provided. In the event the place of performance is outside of Washington, DC a wage determination for that locality will be provide at time of award. See attachment H, Wage Determination.

1. Page 35 of 72, section D.1. Is there a mechanism to put a claim file on “hold” while questions are being asked or clarifications being sought?

Government Response: If you are simply reaching out to the Board with a question or clarification about a case you need not put the case on “hold” as the Board will not work the type of appeals being sent to the paralegals for review until paralegal review is complete.

However, if by question or clarification you mean you have sent the case to our administrative personnel to have an unaddressed administrative action resolved per PWS section 6.1(II) and Attachment A Standard Operating Procedures the case will be places on “hold” by the administrative personnel if necessary contractor need not take any additional action to place such a case on hold.

1. Page 35 of 72, section D.1. Ref: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

Upon first review of the claims file, a QC is performed to establish there are no issues. If there are issues, and the file is sent for corrections, then does all work on that file terminate or is the file reviewed, evaluated and summarized still?

Government Response: The Board expects that contractor will find all existing issues addressed in Attachment A in their first pass through the case. For example, if there is both an untranslated document and no hearing transcript despite there being a hearing the Board wants both those identified on the first pass through. As such, it is expected that just because contractor found one Attachment A issue with the file they would still review the remainder of the file to look for any others.

Regarding tagging/tabbing, if an Attachment A issue has been found there is technically no need to continue tagging/tabbing as once the Attachment A issue identified is resolved by the Board the case will go back for distribution to the paralegals again for a new review. If the Contractor wants to get a jump of this second review by continuing to tag/tab the case file while looking for other Attachment A issues it is at their discretion.

It is expected a Review Memo will be completed even for cases being sent to the Board to resolve one or more Attachment A issues. Please note in case it is not clear in the PWS, when an Attachment A issue is found, the Contractor will get credit for a completed review both the first time when they find the one or more Attachment A issue is found and the second type when the complete review is completed.

1. Page 35 of 72, section D.1. If the file work does not continue, how many average QC issues are there?

Government Response: Not all cases with have an Attachment A issue that needs to be resolved. Of those that do, the Board does not have an estimate of how many of such issues happen in those cases.

1. Page 35 of 72, section D.1. The PWS states “For purposes of this list, “the record” is VBMS, VVA, and the paper file; it is not VACOLS”. Can the government please define VVA and its role, use or purpose relevant to this project?

Government Response: Virtual VA (VVA) also known as Legacy Content Manager (LCM) is an electronic document repository separate from VBMS for storage of document related to a Veteran/appellant’s claim or appeal. The vast majority of documents are stored in VBMS, however, VA continues to maintain VVA/LCM because of requirements surrounding documents containing Federal Tax Information, of which Contractor will not have access to.

The distinction between VBMS and VVA is essentially irrelevant to Contractor because their employees will be provided the Caseflow Reader software that pulls all existing documents for a Veteran/appellant from VBMS and VVA, except Federal Tax Information documents and similar increased security documents.

The Board does not expect Contractor to review case files for appeals where such sensitive documents are relevant. They will be screened out of the work sent to Contractor.

1. Page 35 of 72, section D.1. Is there a procedure or ordered list of tasks/steps for the pre-adjudication process? If so, then can the government provide a documented list of the tasks/steps?

Government Response: The Board can provide no more detailed list of tasks/steps or the order in which they must be resolved preadjudication than we have already provide as Section D.1 Attachment A.

1. Page 38 of 72, section D.2. Ref: D.2 Attachment B: Tagging and Tabbing Procedures,“Identification of Duplicate documents”. How does VA define a “duplicate document”?

Government Response: A document that is the same in content and appearance as another document in the claims file.

1. Page 38 of 72, section D.2. What is the criteria to be used in identifying document duplicates?

Government Response: When the Board talks of duplicates in this context we are talking about exact duplicates, i.e. same content and appearance). The Board has no specific criteria beyond that.

1. Page 38 of 72, section D.2. Does the program allow the contractor to identify substantially similar documents (eg text analytics)?

Government Response: The Board would have to review how Contractor defines substantially similar and the method by which Contractor makes that determination. Then the Board would have to analyze if there is any advantage to having such documents identified and, if process is in anyway automated, any possible legal impact before authorizing it. That being said, the Board would be open to looking into such possibilities with Contractor.

1. Page 45 of 72, section E.2.1. Section E.2.1 states “The Offeror’s proposal shall consist of the following five (5) volumes:” but the table following contains only four items (Volumes I – IV). Can the government please clarify if there are only four (4) volumes, or if there is a 5th volume not specified by the table?

Government Response: There are only four volumes. Section E Updated accordingly.

1. Page 46 of 72, section E.2.1, Table. Row 1 of the table states “25 Pages (excluding (resumes, the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, and the Staffing Plan)”. Is it the GOVERNMENT’s intent for the offerors to provide a Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) as outlined on pg. 48 of 72 in “Factor 1. Technical/Management Approach,” subsection “H. Ensuring Quality,” not a QASP, which should be defined and provided by the government?

Government Response: It is the GOVERNMENT’s intent that Offerors provide a QAP. As noted in the PWS, page 11 of 72, 5.2 Task 2 Project Management Plan/Monthly Reporting, for the offeror whose bid is accepted the QAP shall serve as the basis for the Government’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP).

1. Page 52 of 72, section E.3.B, Factors to be Evaluated. Will the government modify the Evaluation criteria to include a Factor 4: that provides SDVOSB prime contractors a more favorable evaluation than non-SDVOSB bidders?

Government Response: The Government does not intend to apply such a factor in this acquisition.

1. Page 53 of 72, section C.1.f, Key Personnel. C.1.f is titled Key Personnel and includes Program Manager, Paralegal Level I and Paralegal Level II. Please confirm the Key Personnel (roles/titles) for which the offerors are to provide resumes. There will be a significant number of Paralegal Level I staff to accomplish the tasks in this contract. Are the offeror’s required to provide resumes for the Program Manager, Paralegal Level II, and the total quantity of Paralegal Level I?

Government Response: Offerors shall submit resumes for the proposed Program Manager, and the Paralegal / Team Leads in their RFP submission. After award, the Government may or may not require resumes for the Paralegal I positions.

1. Page 53 of 72, section C.1.f, Key Personnel. C.1.f. If the government requires offerors to submit Paralegal Level I resumes, then can the government extend the due date for proposals by two-weeks to provide a reasonable amount of time to validate our team’s resumes to the solicitation’s requirements?

Government Response: Please see the Government response to question 62.

1. Attachment F, Cell C5. Cell C5 includes a “pop up comment” with no content or instruction. Is there instruction missing in Attachment F - Cell C5 or can bidders ignore this comment box?

Government Response: Offerors should ignore this empty comment box.

1. Attachment F, Labor Breakdown. Cells C5 through J5 state “Insert Proposed Labor Category” but other instruction to offerors on the worksheet are to enter data into the yellow cells. Can the government please clarify if offerors should edit the contents of Cells C5 – J5, and if so, what should be entered into these cells?

Government Response: Offerors shall enter the proposed labor categories it will utilize and that it is using to develop its line item pricing. Examples will include Program Manager, Paralegal I, Paralegal II, and any other labor categories the Offeror plans to leverage for any of the work.

1. Attachment F, Labor Breakdown. The worksheet provides eight (8) columns, with headers in cells C5 to J5, for bidders to enter Labor Categories and rates. However, the PWS provides only three (3) Labor Categories. Can the bidder propose additional Labor Categories other than the three (3) defined in the PWS?

Government Response: Yes, other labor categories may be included within the pricing basis.

1. Attachment G, Sheet 1. The instructions state: “This worksheet requires two sets of data: 1) information regarding the minimum compensation rates to be paid by the offeror to any Counseling or Employment Specialists professional in this labor category/CLIN for the specified Regional Office…”

If this contract is governed by SCA, there is a different pay rate for each region from each WD chart. What determines the region? For which Regional Office is Attachment G referring?

Government Response: The spreadsheet and instructions have been revised. The language as originally listed was for a different solicitation.

1. Is there an incumbent contractor providing the same or similar work (claims adjudication) to the BVA?

Government Response: No

1. If there is an incumbent contractor, is their workforce governed by the SCA? If so, then under which DOL wage determinations?

Government Response: N/A

1. If there is an incumbent contractor, what is the name of this contractor?

Government Response: N/A

1. If there is an incumbent contractor, are they eligible to bid on this solicitation?

Government Response: N/A

1. If there is an incumbent contractor, what is the contract number of that work?

Government Response: N/A

1. If there is an incumbent contractor, do they use telecommuting (work from home) resources?

Government Response: N/A

1. Will the government grand a two (2) week extension of the due date to allow bidders sufficient time to respond?

Government Response: While the Government will not extend the due date for two (2) weeks, the due date for responses has been extended until Thursday, August 9, 2018, 12:00 PM, EDT.

Revised/New Attachments:

1. See attached document: 36C10X18R0171 Conformed for A00001.

1. See attached document: ATTACHMENT F LABOR CATEGORY SPREADSHEET Conformed for A0001.

1. See attached document: ATTACHMENT G Revised for amendment 0001- COMPENSATION EXCEL SPREADSHEET.

1. See attached document: ATTACHMENT H- WAGE DETERMINATION.