47QTCB20R0005 Questions and Responses_4.pdf

8(a) STARS III Questions and Responses Number 4

Thank you for your interest in the 8(a) STARS III GWAC. GSA is providing the following responses to questions received regarding RFP 47QTCB20R0005. Please review all amendments to the RFP as well as the STARS III Highlights posted with the pre-solicitation notice on Jun 22, 2020, and the previous question and response documents posted on beta.sam.gov. We continue to receive questions which are clearly addressed in documents already available to potential offerors.

In addressing questions it is the Government’s position that if the response to a question is self-evident in the Request for Proposals (RFP), the response to a question may simply be that the RFP already addresses the matter in the manner the Government intended for it to be addressed, or “The RFP is clear”.

While hundreds of questions have been submitted and considered, a response will not be provided for every question received. Only questions which were deemed frequently asked and/or those deemed to benefit the procurement process are shown. Where the response to a question indicates the reader should consider the response to a previous question, that reference encompasses both the previous question and the response to it, not just the response. While these responses may include one or more specific RFP passages, interested parties are reminded that the RFP, including all attachments and amendments, serves as the official guidance regarding STARS III proposal preparation.

Questions and responses are organized into the topic areas shown below. Interested parties stand to benefit from reviewing all questions and responses, including previous question and response documents.

● Eligibility

● Relevant Experience

● Past Performance

● Price

● Evaluation Criteria

● General topics

Questions regarding STARS III may still be sent to S3@gsa.gov for potential inclusion in a future Questions/Responses document. However, also refer to L.7.2 regarding questions submitted after July 29, 2020 at 3:00 PM EDT.

The deadline to register for the Offer Portal as stated at L.6.2 and Amendment 01 has also passed. The offer portal is the ONLY method of proposal submission. Please follow offer submission instructions in Section L as well as the STARS III Offer Portal User Guide (v2) provided as an attachment to the STARS III RFP on beta.Sam.gov.

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Eligibility

Question Response

Q1.1) Can a non-8(a) company acting as a Mentor for a STARS III offeror also be a proposed subcontractor for a different offeror?

Q1.2) Can an 8(a) firm offering as a STARS III Prime contractor use a Joint Venture in which they are a member as a proposed subcontractor?

Q1.3) Can a company serve as a Mentor on two different SBA approved MP-JVs submitting for the STARS III contract award?

Our understanding is that SBA has no restriction on a Mentor company supporting multiple Protégé companies.

There is no specific prohibition in the RFP in regards to this. Refer to L.10 for special instructions for proposed subcontractors and H.12.3 for related contract performance requirements. There may, however, be relevant terms or conditions within your JV and/or Mentor-Protege agreement which you need to consider.

Additionally, while GSA will determine if an offeror is qualified for award based upon the solicitation’s requirements, SBA plays a vital role per FAR 19.805-2(b), by verifying the 8(a) eligibility of 8(a) organizations. Offerors should be familiar with SBA’s requirements, e.g. 13 CFR 124.507 and 13 CFR 124.513 and direct eligibility-related questions to their supporting SBA District Office.

Q2) For a Mentor-Protege or other JV, is a subcontractor letter of commitment required from other than the managing member?

Members of a Joint Venture are part of the same legal entity so subcontractor letter(s) of commitment are not required.

Relevant Experience

Question Response

Q1) Will the government allow offerors to use the experience, systems, and certifications from within a corporate structure by way of a Meaningful Relationship Commitment Letter

(MRCL)?

There are no provisions in the RFP for MRCLs. When a prospective offeror lacks the required relevant experience, the teaming arrangements outlined at L.9 and L.10 may be used.

Q2) Can an offeror submit a SBIR project as evidence of relevant experience for an emerging technology?

There is no specific prohibition in the RFP in regards to submitting a SBIR project for relevant experience. Also refer to L.17 and L.18.

Past Performance

Question Response

Q1) One of our commercial customers is unwilling to sign the past performance survey (Attachment J-8), but is willing to speak to GSA in regard to our past performance. How should we submit the customer’s contact information?

If an offeror faces a circumstance where its client/customer refuses to provide a completed survey back to them and the offeror depends upon that past performance survey, the offeror can document the facts surrounding the situation using the Adverse Past Performance Narrative outlined at L.18.5 and submit that with their offer. Also refer to L.18.2 and M.5.3.

Price

Question Response

Q1) Will the government provide a range of acceptable rates for each labor category?

See Q&R 3, Evaluation Criteria Q3. Also, offerors may consider contract pricing on other GSA GWACs (e.g. VETS 2) as rough yardsticks.

Q2) Would the government provide the years of experience and/or education required for each LCAT description listed on Attachments J-2 and J-9?

The labor category descriptions are stated as intended, and are consistent with FAR 39.104 as they are expressed in terms of competency and responsibilities, and not minimum education and experience.

Q3) May offerors include any narrative with their Pricing in order to provide background on the information sources and methodology used to develop fully burdened labor rates?

A narrative is not required or desired. Refer to L.19 and only enter data in the yellow cells as all other fields are locked.

Q4) The Proposal Format Table in Section L.12.2 specifies a ".xls" extension for the Price Proposal file extension format; however, the Attachment J-9 provided is a ".xlsx" file.

Can the Government confirm we can submit our Price Proposal as a .xlsx file?

Amendment 2 changed the file type for the completed J-9 to at L.12.2 to .xlsx; but .xls is also acceptable.

Evaluation Criteria

Question Response

Q1) Is there any proposal response scoring advantage, in favor of one over the other, if an offeror decides to submit as an 8(a) Joint Venture vs. 8(a) Mentor-Protégé arrangement

vs. 8(a) Prime with Subcontractors?

There are no evaluation criteria evident in the RFP related to a teaming arrangement selected by an offeror to respond to the RFP.

Refer to M.3

Q2) Please clarify under which evaluation criteria the Cybersecurity and SCRM assessment falls.

The Cybersecurity and SCRM assessment will be evaluated as a matter of responsibility.

Q3) The evaluation factor at M.5.3 contravenes section M.4.2

The RFP is clear. M.5.3 speaks to past performance, M.4.2 speaks to relevant experience.

General Topics

Question Response

Q1) The work statement on a project we intend to submit is classified. How do we submit it with our offer?

The Offer Portal is an unclassified system. Do not upload classified documents to the portal.

Q2) Can we submit an encrypted file, providing the file either separately from the proposal or within the proposal that can be opened with a separate password.

Do not password protect or otherwise encrypt any of the files uploaded to the offer portal.

Q3) Can we use Arial Narrow font within our offers? Some of the embedded fonts in the GSA provided templates are not Arial 10.

The font guidance at L.12.1 applies to ‘offeror created’ content such as the optional cover page, subcontractor letter(s) of commitment, the cybersecurity and SCRM assessment, an adverse past performance narrative, the professional employee compensation plan and the uncompensated overtime policy. It does not apply to embedded fonts on GSA provided attachments (J-6, J-7, J-8 or J-9) which need to be completed and returned with the offer or “existing” supporting documents required by L.17 and L.18.

Q4) We have a DUNS number but have not yet received a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

Many of the forms within the STARS III RFP ask for our UEI. What should we do?

The DUNS number to UEI transition date has been delayed. Ignore all references to UEI and use your DUNS number.

Q5) There is no specific spot on the SF33 for our DUNS number. Where should we enter it? Where should we enter our CAGE code?

Enter your DUNS number in block 15A along with your address. Enter your CAGE code in the “code” box within block 15A.

Q6) When I log into the Offer Portal, the DUNS number listed after my company name is not correct. How do I get it corrected?

If the DUNS number is missing a zero as the first character, no action is needed. If the number is incorrect in some other way, email S3@gsa.gov and identify the error.

Q7) Please provide any applicable file size limits.

The portal will accept individual files of 50MB.

Contact s3@gsa.gov for additional guidance if this does not support your submission requirements.

Q8) If an offeror meets all RFP requirements but does not bid on either of the two sub-areas, are they eligible for an award?

Experience in the scope sub-areas is only required to be considered for an award in a scope sub-area.

Q9) Several GSA-provided templates have changed. Which ones should we submit with our offer.

Either version of Attachment J-6 is acceptable as long as the offeror identifies the names of all files being submitted.

Either version of Attachment J-7 is acceptable.

The original version of Attachment J-10 should not be used.

Q10) Please clarify which files you would like us to combine/keep separate, which documents should be submitted for each member of a JV rather than the entire JV, and whether you would like us to use the file name conventions in the table.

L.12.2 provides file naming methodology.and identifies when documents should be combined into a single file for submission.

JVs should also refer to Q&R 3, Eligibility Criteria Q3 and Q4 for further guidance.

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