A17 Clarification 63NLRB22Q0003 final.pdf

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

REQUEST FOR QUOTE 63NLRB22Q0003

COURT REPORTING SERVICES

1. 3.4. FACTOR 2 – Past Performance: I do not see Attachment 2 - Past Performance Worksheet

- as an attachment in SAM.gov. Can you re-attach? Attachment 2 has been uploaded to SAM.gov.

2. 3.5.7. Hearing and Deposition Estimates: do you have historical information regarding the average number of proceedings per region/sub-region per year?

The following table provides an approximate number of ULP and representation proceedings in each Region for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 (October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2022):

Region Hearings FY 2021 Hearings FY 2022 1/34 21 12 2 14 9

3, 3 ALB 15 15

4 13 19

5, 5 WDC 22 35

6 14 4

7, 7 GRA 13 14

8 6 16 9 20 11

10, 10 BIR, 11, 26 NAS 24 18

12, 12 JAC, 12 MIA, 24 13 15

13 13 9

14, 17, 17 TUL 8 12

15, 26, 26 LRO 19 9

16, 16 HOU, 16 SA 14 19

18, 18 DES, 30 8 9

19, 19 ANC, 36 30 49

20, 37 18 13

21, 21 SDO 18 16

22 12 16 25, 33 12 7 27 15 10

28, 28 ABQ, 28 LV 28 19

29 23 10 31 9 8 32 13 10

3. Can you provide an anticipated percentage of in-person versus remote proceedings per year?

The Agency is unable to predict the percentage of work that will be virtual. The Agency’s preference is to have in-person proceedings; virtual proceedings occur only upon showing of good cause.

4. What percentage of the work is currently virtual (as opposed to in-person)?

The Agency does not track this information.

5. What do you estimate this percentage of virtual work will be over the course of the contract?

See response to question 3.

6. Please provide the rate sheets of the incumbents or provide their rates for every category listed on Attachment H, Schedule of Rates. This is proprietary information and cannot be provided.

7. Regarding Attachment H, line items 19 & 20 regarding "Contractor-scanned electronic copy Exhibits" and "Exhibits electronic submission digitally marked by Contractor":

a. Can Contractor submit a per page rate for line item 20, rather than a per exhibit rate?

No

-When Contractor receives electronic copies of exhibits, they still often have to be converted to PDF, then they have to be merged to create one cohesive document based on party, then they have to be marked and bookmarked, and finally a cover page needs to be added. The process is very time-consuming and often even more time-consuming than when Contractor is provided with hard copies to be scanned. If we can submit a per page rate for Line 20, we can be certain to cover our costs.

b. If this is not acceptable, can NLRB please provide the expected average number of pages per exhibit?

The Agency is unable to predict the number of exhibit pages in future litigation.

8. If a hearing is cancelled, postponed or settled after the reporter appears in-person, will NLRB pay for the cancellation/settlement fee, plus an attendance fee of a four hour minimum up to the number of hours the reporter actually is required to wait, to cover Contractor's costs for sending a reporter?

No, all costs associated with cancelled hearings are covered by the cancellation fee.

9. Can Contractor provide separate pricing for in-person vs. remote hearings?

Yes

10. Regarding Section 25, the Optional Line Item:

a. The quantity per year is listed as 5. Please specify 5 of what? Is NLRB looking for a price per remote hearing or per hour of remote hearing, which would likely be the way such a service would need to be billed, since a dedicated tech person would be required for each hearing.

Five is an estimate of the number of possible instances per year where the court reporter would be required to host the hearing.

b. What is the average number of participants for each remote hearing?

The Agency is unable to predict the number of participants in future litigation.

c. Can Contractor add a line-item price for the file sharing system per volume (megabytes)? If not, can NLRB please provide an approximate volume of files per hearing?

Yes

d. Can Contractor add a line-item price for document storage per volume, since this is a cost to the contractor?

No

e. Can Contractor add a line-item price for storage of audio/video of the hearings per volume, since this is a cost to the contractor?

No

f. Regarding file sharing:

-Does NLRB want user limitations for the file sharing during the conference; should all participants be permitted to share files or only certain approved users?

Only certain approved users

-Does NLRB need users to be able to retrieve audio and video in the Client Portal?

Yes

11. In the Statement of Work Document, Section 1a, for the regions, can you differentiate between Region 21 (Los Angeles) and Region 31 (Los Angeles)?

Region 21 services Imperial, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego Counties, plus a portion of Los Angeles County south and east of Harbor Freeway and South Gaffey Street, south and east of Pasadena Freeway and Arroyo Parkway, and sought of Foothill Freeway and Baseline Road (State Route 30). Region 31 services Inyo, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura Counties, plus those portions of Los Angeles County not serviced by Region 21.

12. Can you advise what the Not-To-Exceed (NTE) ceiling is for each contractor selected for each period of performance? This will be done at time of award based on locations to be serviced.

13. In the Statement of Work Document, Section 3e, it requests transcription services for “All other miscellaneous conferences and meetings, such as press conferences, advisory panel meetings, etc.” yet does not provide a spot in the Schedule of Rates for these types of proceedings. Conferences and Meetings are much more difficult to transcribe than hearings, depositions, or audio files and as such court reporter’s fees are higher for same. Would you be willing to include a CLIN section for All other miscellaneous conferences and meetings, such as press conferences, advisory panel meetings, etc.?

Yes.

14. Can you advise, either by number or percentage, how many times in the last 12-month period that transcripts were requested not to be transcribed for each of the following:

A. Hearings B. Depositions C. Tape Transcription D. All other Miscellaneous conferences and meetings

None

15. It is boilerplate language in most Government RFPs that court reporting firms will be given 3 business days’ notice to handle depositions, and this has not been updated in decades.

However, the current reality of the situation is that there is a nationwide court reporter shortage, and many court reporters are still refusing to handle depositions in-person due to Covid.

Therefore, 3 business days is not sufficient time to procure a quality court reporter in some instances. Considering the fact that most deposition witnesses are given 30 days notice prior to the deposition, and hearings are generally scheduled well in advance to accommodate hearing officers and parties, it seems like it would be an easy fix to notify the court reporting firm 2 weeks’ prior to depositions or even 1 week, would be an improvement and more in line with the current market. Obviously, in some instances short notice cannot be avoided, but it would be less of a hardship to contractors to not be penalized or bound by all requests being on 3-days’ notice. Would you be willing to modify this? Without it actually being in the contract, it is difficult to change the culture or practice of only notifying the court reporter three days before when there is no requirement or incentive to do so by the orderers.

Up to five business days for depositions only.

16. Can you advise, either by number or percentage, how many times in the last 12-month period that court reporters were required to appear in person (as opposed to remote methods such as Zoom, Webex, etc.) for the following?

A. Hearings B. Depositions C. Tape Transcription D. All other Miscellaneous conferences and meetings

The Agency does not track this information.

17. Is there any sort of plan or mandate that proceedings must be held in person and that the NLRB will phase out remote depositions (i.e., Zoom, etc.) at some point moving forward, or is this a method that you plan to continue to use, especially to cut down on travel expenses for agency attorneys?

No.

18. Is there a way to show discounts on the Schedule of Rates for specific services – for example, if a contractor wants to offer an early pay discount or other discounts that do not apply to all CLINs but only in certain instances, would the bidder put an asterisk next to the rate and show that discount and requirement to receive the discount below?

The contractor may designate discounts with an asterisk.

19. Can you advise how many contractors you anticipate awarding a contract to for these services?

No.

20. Is there a limit to the number of contractors you will award a contract to for these services?

(In other words – if you receive 10 responsive proposals, would you award a contract to all 10 offerors, splitting the work among them, or would you limit the contract holders to 1, 2 or 3 contractors, to ensure that each contractor receives ample work from this contract to justify the volume discount offered?

No, awards will be based on quotes for each Region.