Addendum 1.doc

Debbie Dzialo Procurement Specialist II

Financial Management and Procurement Services Procurement Department

Argonne National Laboratory

9700 South Cass Avenue, Bldg. 201

Lemont, IL 60439

630/252-4325 ddzialo@anl.gov

July 18, 2024

TO ALL OFFERORS:

Subject:

Request for Proposal (RFP # 4-B156-P-00236-00) Addendum No. 1 Attached herewith for your information and use in preparing your proposal for subject project is one (1) copy of Addendum No. 1.

Kindly acknowledge receipt of this Addendum via email at ddzialo@anl.gov.

Sincerely, Debbie Dzialo Procurement Specialist II

Procurement Department

Addendum No. 1

TO

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL – RFP # 4-B156-P-00236-00

FOR

International Employer of Record (EOR) Service

July 18, 2023 This addendum is being issued to modify the subject FORMDROPDOWN as follows:

Submitted Questions

1. Question: Are you able to provide details of the types of work to be performed by the worker:

Argonne Response: The work is scientific/technical in nature, but it is work that can be performed at the person's private residence. We do not require the contractor to provide access to workspace.

2. Question: Are these US Citizens or local nationals? If so, will some of them have work authorization already, or will each onboarding need to obtain a visa/permit?

Argonne Response: Almost all of the cases are non-U.S. citizens - Argonne does not routinely post U.S. employees abroad. Sometimes the individual is a citizen or national of the country of placement and sometimes they are not, so sometimes immigration sponsorship is required.

3. Question: Will these workers be hourly or salary? If hourly, will they work variable hours?

Argonne Response: The default position is salary, unless local laws require hourly payment. If hourly the schedule is typically fixed, but Argonne may request ad hoc hours occasionally.

4. Question: Will there be any Independent Contractor/Agent of Record needs, or will the support be limited to EOR?

Argonne Response: Argonne desires support for both Employer of Record and Independent Contractor placements, where both are available under local law.

5. Question: Do you require talent sourcing to be part of your vendor’s services, or will the Laboratory be sourcing and providing its own talent?

Argonne Response: We do not require sourcing.

6. Question: Will any standard allowances be offered? A. If so, which locations? B. What type and how much?

Argonne Response: No.

7. Question :Will supplemental health benefits be offered? If so, in which locations?

Argonne Response: No.

8. Question: Will travel be required? A. If so, how frequently? B. What are the typical trip durations? C. Will work be conducted during travel, or is travel for conferences, meetings, training, etc.?

Argonne Response: Yes, the contractor must be able to accommodate business travel. The need varies by placement. Examples of past travel requests include attending conferences and short visits to the Argonne site to conduct experiments. Argonne does not require every individual to visit campus, for example for training.

9. Question: The SOW provides that an offer letter to the individual with work order terms and conditions documents, return executed Argonne contract-required supplements such as conflict of interest disclosures. We appreciate that compliance is a priority for Argonne. What flexibility will the Contractor have here to be able to incorporate our own employment terms and local legal required clauses (where applicable)?

Argonne Response: The vendor may include their own employment terms and local legal required clauses where applicable, subject to all items confirming with the overall Terms & Conditions of the Contract with Argonne (and applicable Appendices).

10. Question: Will Argonne be the sole / end user of the workers employed via an employer of record? Or will these workers be working for, or providing services to clients of Argonne, on behalf of Argonne? This question is important due to staff leasing restrictions in some countries. For example, in Germany, the worker cannot be employed via an employer of record on behalf of Argonne if the employee is, in actual fact, providing services to another client (who would be deemed as a fourth party) that has commercially engaged Argonne for these services.

Argonne Response: Argonne will be the sole/end user of the workers employed in all cases.

11. Question: The RFP states that the date of the contract being awarded is anticipated to be September.

What is the anticipated start date of the commercial contract between Argonne and the awarded Offeror?

Argonne Response: October 1, 2024, if contract negotiations are completed by then.

12. Question: Can Argonne confirm if it will need recruitment services for all, some or none of these roles. Our general understanding is that Argonne will source the workers, however some aspects of the language allude to the need for the EOR to source some workers.

Argonne Response: Argonne anticipates that we will not need any recruitment services. We have not required any recruitment services in the past.

13. Question: Broadly, what will the roles and responsibilities of these workers be? Are they desk-bound knowledge workers, or will they be working on industrial premises, or undertaking work with physical risk, or doing any work that would require specific licenses / qualifications / insurance for these individuals?

Argonne Response: The work is scientific/technical in nature, but it is work that can be performed at the person's private residence. We do not require the contractor to provide access to the workspace. We do not anticipate work that requires specific licensure, insurance, or other qualifications beyond traditional education.

14. Question: In the Statement of Work, Argonne National Laboratory states that it has 15 workers under Employer of Record employment across 7 countries. Can Argonne give an estimate of its estimated EOR headcount over Year 1 and Year 2 of this project?

Argonne Response:

This is difficult to estimate. This is a service that is currently only used for specialty situations. It is more common that new cases arise out of unforeseen delays in processing a U.S. visa stamp to be able to come to the U.S. and work.

15. Question: In Enclosure 4 - Evaluation Criteria, page 3, Argonne requests “Sample Reports”. Can Argonne please elaborate on the contents of the Report Sample that it would like to see in the Statement of Work under section 4, Reporting, Argonne mentions reporting as roster-type reports (employee name, country, employment dates) and Weekly Utilization Reports (e.g. hours worked, hours worked per project, current rate of pay). Are these the desired reports?

Argonne Response:

Yes, those are the basic desired reports. But please feel free to submit any sample report that you feel is appropriate to represent your offering.

16. Question: Enc No.5; pg. 3, section e - Argonne will favor proposals in which their hiring of the Contractor’s employees would be free. Can Argonne confirm that said section requests that Argonne can release the Personnel employed by the Contractor on behalf of Argonne can subsequently be directly employed by Argonne? Example: an employee employed by the employer of record on behalf of Argonne is relocated to the US to be directly employed by Argonne.

Argonne Response: Yes. Note that many of these placements originate from the situation where the individual has accepted an offer of direct employment from Argonne but cannot enter the U.S. pending delays in U.S. visa processing.

17. Question Enc. No 1.(D) Appendix C, Rate Schedule This document lists 13 countries. The SOW confirms that Argonne currently hires employees in 7 countries. Can Argonne confirm that the 13 countries listed in Enclosure No. 3 - Pricing Proposal Form are the countries it intends to hire in? Will Argonne limit hiring to these countries only?

Argonne Response: The list of 13 countries includes the 7 countries of current placements, plus additional countries where we think it is most likely that we will seek placements in the future. But we seek the ability to employ individuals in as many countries as possible. If we add additional countries in the future, we will amend the Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) to include those countries.

18. Question: Confirmation of rates of pay to be used for the pricing proposal: Ecl No. - Instructions for Proposal states that “the cost section will be evaluated using the “provided average hourly labor base/raw rates and average estimated number of hours per country, per year.”, while in the Enclosure No.3 - Pricing Proposal Form, Argonne have input $100,000 as the example to be used. Please can Argonne confirm if:

- The Offeror is to provide calculation based on each individual country’s average hourly wage and working hours, OR

- $100,000 as a gross annual salary, with the costs of, but not limited to, additional employer taxes and benefits to be covered by Argonne

Argonne Response: $100,000 as a gross annual salary. Please complete all columns to provide a subtotal for each country and to provide rates for the other direct costs (ensure that all columns/rows are completely filled out).

19. Question: Working Hours & Billing - Are we correct in understanding that there will be a preference for hourly workers in countries where this is compliant?

Argonne Response: No, there is no preference.

ALL OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE ABOVE REFERENCED RFP REMAIN THE SAME.

U. S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC

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