ARFF QandA 7-13.docx

Aviation Research Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting (ARFF) Research & Development Technical Support

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

692M15-20-R-00005

1. Is this effort a new requirement or a follow-up to an existing contract? If the latter, who is the incumbent and what is the contract #? FAA Response: This requirement was part of contract (DTFACT-15-D-00007) previously awarded to CSRA, a subsidiary of GDIT.

2. Please provide a List of Items, Schedule of Requirements, Scope of Work, Terms of Reference, Bill of Materials required. FAA Response: See Section C of the SIR.

3. Please provide a soft copy of the Tender Document through email. FAA Response: All documents are posted on beta.sam.gov and will not be provided through email.

4. Names of countries that will be eligible to participate in this tender. FAA Response: There is no list of countries available, however, the work under this SIR is for Operations and Maintenance and on-site presence will be required. Further, the Offeror and/or Awardee are required to follow all clauses, requirements, prohibitions, restrictions and limitations referenced in the SIR.

5. Information about the Tendering Procedure and Guidelines. FAA Response: All information regarding responses to the solicitation are posted on beta.sam.gov.

6. Estimated Budget for this Purchase. FAA Response: The FAA will not provide this information.

7. Any Extension of Bidding Deadline? FAA Response: Due date for proposals is extended until July 17, 2020.

8. Any Addendum or Pre Bid meeting Minutes? FAA Response: If an addendum is issued, or if a Pre Bid meeting is scheduled, it will be posted on beta.sam.gov.

9. Will the government remove or amend this language in order to comply with referenced Federal and State labor laws and/or Offerors’ HR policies? “If work is required outside of the regular work hours, the contractor may allow comparable time off to keep the hours to a normal 40 hour work week, which can also be averaged out over multiple weeks when necessary, so that there will be no additional charge to the Government.” FAA Response: The SIR states the contractor “MAY” allow comparable time off as an option. The statement is intended to provide flexibility. Overtime MAY be pre-approved by the CO, on a case by case basis.

10. Will the government revise Attachments A and B to provide labor categories and hours for a Technical Editor, Technical Writer, and Senior Technical Writer? FAA Response: No, the FAA will not add additional labor categories.

11. Please confirm that past performance references from contracts performed by a prime offeror’s corporate affiliates (i.e., a company under common ownership and control) can be referenced to meet the Past Performance requirements? FAA Response: Past performance references from contracts performed by a prime Offeror’s affiliates can not be referred to meet the Past Performance requirements.

11. Will it be acceptable to name the files accordingly (i.e.; “692M15-20-R-00005-company name-Vol-I”, “692M15-20-R-00005-company name-Vol-II_AttachA”, “692M15-20-R-00005-company name-Vol-II_Exceptions”, and “692M15-20-R-00005-company name-Annex-1”)? FAA Response: Yes, this is acceptable.

12. As the government is expected to receive sufficient bids to enable cost comparison without seeing the Offeror’s buildup, will the government revise Attachment A to only include Labor Categories and Hours provided by the government for the Offerors to include their fully burdened hourly labor rates, including profit? FAA Response: The FAA determined Offeror’s buildup of labor rates was required in order for the FAA to evaluate Cost/Price proposals for reasonableness in accordance with Section M.

13. Attachment A, Pricing, does not include a field for profit on labor. Will the government unlock Attachment A, Pricing so Offerors may adjust the Burden formulas to match the Offerers Indirect Rate Application Structure and include profit? FAA Response: Please reference updated Attachment A-Pricing Spreadsheet.

14. Will the Government unlock Attachment A, Pricing, to allow the Offerer to adjust the Burden formulas to match the Offerers Indirect Rate Application Structure for ODCs and Travel? FAA Response: Please reference updated Attachment A-Pricing Spreadsheet.

15. Corporate experience - Section L says at least 1, no more than 3 recent prime/major sub experiences. Past Performance – Section L says at least 3 with at least one from Prime (and to show the same ones as in corp. experience). Is the requirement at least one with no more than 3, or is it at least 3? FAA Response: Corporate Experience must include at least 1 and no more than 3 contracts as set forth in Section L of the SIR. Past Performance information must include 3 Performance Evaluation Data Forms for at least 3 contracts and these contracts must include the same contracts as identified in the Corporate Experience section as set forth in Section L of the SIR. Any contracts that are included in the Offeror’s response under Factor 1 Corporate Experience must be included in the Past Performance submittal under Factor 4.

16. The small business size standard stated in the SIR is 1000 employees. As we understand it this NAICS code has an exception for aircraft-related research that raises the small business size standard to 1500 employees. Since ARFF is related to post-crash aircraft fire suppression, does this exception apply to this SIR? FAA Response: The exception for aircraft does not apply to this solicitation. This work is for airport operations, it is not research on aircraft or aircraft parts.

17. We would also like to request an extension until July 14. Can you please provide a little more time for proposals? FAA Response: Due date for proposals is extended until July 17, 2020.

18. Reference Page 5 of 51, Section 3.5: Can the Government provide specific references to other FAA research program areas that may require support in areas not defined in the SOW? FAA Response: The related FAA research program areas can be found at: https://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/. The FAA CO will approve, through a contractual action, any support not defined in the SOW.

19. The Government has defined training requirements under section 3.2, 3.3, 3.13.15 (c), H1. SAFETY and references under Section H8. that the Contractor must provide fully trained and experienced technical personnel with the caveat that training specific to WJHTC will be provided by the FAA. Can the Government provide a comprehensive list of FAA provided training so the Contractor may know what training requirement will need to be addressed by the Contractor? FAA Response: Training to be provided by FAA is indicated in the SIR.

20. Can the Government define which labor categories in the pricing spreadsheet will be consider Government site and which labor categories will be consider Contractor site? Should potential bidders assume all positions with 1880 hours can be considered Government site? FAA Response: Technicians will be on-site employees. All others will be off-site.

21. Will the Government provide the expected award and start dates for the program, and what is the expected timeframe for transition following contract award? FAA Response: Expected award date is NLT September 30, 2020, with a transition period not to exceed 90 days.

22. Per section B of the SIR, this contract will be structured as Time and Materials (T&M) for labor and Cost Reimbursable with no fee for material purchases and travel. However, the pricing spreadsheet provided as Attachment A requires information pertaining to the labor rate build up that is not typically provided for T&M pricing. In addition, the structure of the spreadsheet does not calculate the fully burdened costs in a manner consistent with our approach to burdening costs. We request the Government revise the pricing spreadsheet to allow bidders to submit fully burdened T&M labor rates with direction to provide supporting information concerning indirect rates and total cost build-up (for both labor and other direct costs) in the Cost/Price Volume. Alternatively, we request the Government unlock the pricing spreadsheet to allow bidders to modify the spreadsheet to reflect their approach for building up their fully burdened costs. The following are examples of specific issues with the spreadsheet:

· Column L in the spreadsheet is not a rate, it is a total cost value. A column is needed that shows the fully burdened rate T&M rate by labor category for the contract.

· The burdens (MHX and G&A) for Materials and Travel may not be relevant to bidder’s approach for burdening non-labor costs and/or do not calculate in a manner consistent with bidders’ approach for burdening materials and travel. Requiring bidders to provide supporting information in their Cost/Price Volume concerning indirects applied to materials and travel rather than in the pricing spreadsheet addresses this issue. Alternatively, the spreadsheet should be unlocked to allow bidders to provide an accurate representation of their approach to burdening materials and travel costs.

· The file currently applies escalation to the sum total of fully burdened costs. To accurately reflect year-over-year escalation, an escalation factor should be applied to the direct cost base to be escalated. In addition, changes in year-over-year indirect rates is not determined through escalation but rather through DCAA approved forward pricing rates. Requiring fully burdened labor rates and supporting information concerning indirect rates be provided in the Cost/Price Volume addresses this problem. Alternatively, adding a new column after Column D for the rate + escalation could address the problem as well, assuming the spreadsheet is unlocked to allow bidders to revise the calculations to reflect their approach for building up labor rates.

· The spreadsheet does not provide a way for bidders to include fee on labor. Again, recommend that bidders be required to provide fully burdened labor rates (including fee) and then provide supporting information in the Cost/Price Volume.

FAA Response: Please reference updated Attachment A-Pricing Spreadsheet.

24. While the Solicitation indicates that CLIN 1 - Labor will be awarded on a T&M basis (Section B), the formulas in the required pricing template (Attachment A – Pricing Spreadsheet), which per instructions cannot be edited, do not result in fully burdened (T&M) rates in column L. This appears to be caused by the following issues in the pricing template:

a. The formula in column L is multiplied by the hours in column C, therefore resulting in a total amount of hours x loaded labor costs instead of a fully burdened (T&M) rate; and

b. The formula in column L does not allow for any fee, which would normally be included in a fully burdened (T&M) rate; and

c. Finally, the template allows only one format for the calculation of the indirect cost pool loading, which does not correlate with our company’s indirect cost pool loading structure, and therefore would result in incorrectly fully burdened (T&M) rates for our company even if the first two issues were corrected.

We respectfully request that the FAA either modify the pricing template to address these issues, or allow bidders to edit the template.

FAA Response: Please reference updated Attachment A-Pricing Spreadsheet.