QA_6.13.2024.pdf

Reference:

Paragraph/Sentence Question Answer Date

1 N/A Is this is a new award or a recompete of an existing one? If recompete, who is the incumbent?

The incumbent is ITS America, Contract No.

693JJ319D000062.

6/5/24

2 N/A What is the anticipated award date for this IDIQ contract? 4th Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 6/5/24

3 B.2 2nd paragraph (Page 2)

Task Area B requires experienced professionals who don't easily fit into the labor categories identified in the SOW. As noted in Section B.2, can additional labor categories be proposed as part of the IDIQ and included in the Task 0001 bid?

Section B.2 refers to the resulting contract.

Section L.5 of the RFP requires Offerors use the labor categories provided in Attachment J.1.

6/5/24

4 N/A Can text in tables and figures be smaller than 12 point as long as it is easy to read and legible?

See Section L.4 6/5/24

5 L.7 (Page 67)

Section L.7, page 67 states that offerors should put the disclosure notice on top of each copy of their proposals. Can the disclosure notice be inserted as a footer at the bottom of the cover page of each copy of the offerors' proposal?

No; See Section L.7 6/5/24

6 H.8 (Page 32)

Section H.8 ORGANZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND LIMITATION

ON FUTURE CONTRACTING states the work under this contract may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5 and the selected contractor may be prohibited from future work. On Page 64, Part III of Volume II directs bidders to address any potential conflicts of interest at the BPA level and then again at the task level. Can FHWA confirm that the LOFC will be reviewed on a task by task basis and not at the BPA level?

Per Part III Other Financial/Organizational, Offerors must disclose all past, present or planned organizational, contractual or other interest(s), which may affect the Offeror’s ability to perform the proposed contract in an impartial and objective manner.

OCI will also be reviewed at the Task Order level.

Amendment forthcoming

6/5/24

B2 (Page 2) and Attachment

J.1

B2 SCHEDULE OF RATES on Page 2 of the RFP states "labor categories and hourly labor rate ceilings governing TOs under this IDIQ contracts shall conform to Attachment 1. Can FHWA confirm if only Column A in

Attachment J1 "Direct Labor Rate (Unloaded)" will be capped so that fringe and indirect rates may be updated based on DCAA rate approval changes OR is it FHWA intent to cap the rates in Column L of Attachment

J1 Excel file "Fully Burdened Labor Rate"?

The FFP/CPFF ceiling rates awarded at initial

IDIQ contract award shall serve as the basis for all future year pricing for those ceiling rates and the rates that are proposed and accepted at the time of TO award shall remain in effect with the TO award. Rates may be negotiated and adjusted on a case by case basis.

6/5/24

Attachment J.1

Page 65, Part II of the RFP states Attachment J1 needs to be provided for each subcontractors. For small consulting companies that do not have audited indirect rates, can they propose a fully loaded T&M rate along with confirming it is the most favorable rate that is currently being offered to the Federal government and/or State/Local clients?

Yes. Identify in your proposal that it is fully loaded and complete Exhibit J.1 Labor Rate Schedule.

6/5/24

Attachment J.7

Does the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities only need to be submitted by the Prime OR by the Prime and Subawardees also? The Prime only

6/5/24

(Pages 62, 63, 65)

At several places in the RFP (Pages 62, 63, 65), Task Order 0001 is referred to as Attachment J.4. Probably, the Government intends to say

Attachment J.5, which in fact is Task Order 0001. Please confirm.

Correct, it should say Attachment J.5; amendment forthcoming 6/4/2024

Solicitation Number: 693JJ324R000011

Project Name: Intelligent Transportation Systems Research and Stakeholder Support Services

Evaluation Criteria (Page

70)

Under Evaluation Criteria (Page 70), the RFP states “The evaluation will consist of four factors: Technical, Past Performance, Cost/Price and Small

Business Subcontracting Plan.” However, the RFP does not have any section on Past Performance. Can the Government please clarify the past performance requirement and its evaluation?

See Page 72 for Past Performance Evaluation 6/4/2024

Can the Government please confirm that a Subcontracting Plan is not required from offerors which are small businesses themselves? Small businesses are not required to submit a

Subcontracting Plan. 6/4/2024

Attachment J.5 – Task

Order 0001

The TOPR states the requirements for resume length as three pages on

Page 2 but two pages on Page 3. Can the Government please clarify whether the resumes need to be two pages in the length, consistent with the IDIQ requirement, or three pages in length? Resumes are limited to 2 pages; amendment forthcoming 6/4/2024

Attachment J.5 – Task

Order 0001

The TOPR on Page 3 states “The Offeror shall provide two (2) named Key

Personnel: one (1) Principal Investigator and one (1) Senior Technical

Professional.” However, under section 1252.237‐73 Key Personnel (Page

12), the two key personnel listed are Program Manager and Principal

Investigator. Can the Government please clarify which set of two key personnel is correct, the one on Page 3 or the one on Page 12?

The offerors need to provide the names and resumes of the Program Manager and Principal

Investigator; amendment forthcoming to revise pg#3. 6/4/2024

Attachment J.5 – Task

Order 0001

The TOPR on Page 3 states “The named Principal Investigator must be currently employed by the Offeror/prime contractor at the time the

Offeror submits its proposal.” If the correct set of two key personnel for this TOPR is Program Manager and Principal Investigator, can the

Government please clarify which of the two key personnel needs to be currently employed by the offeror/prime contractor?

The Principal Investigator must be currently employed by the offeror/prime contractor 6/4/2024

Does this contract supplement or replace current support contracts to the ITS JPO (e.g. 693JJ321D000021 and 693JJ321D000022)? Are existing support contractors able to compete on this procurement? See Question 1 6/3/2024

Under the Proposal Content and Configuration Volume I part b indicates that resumes should be provided for all proposed personnel. Is this for

“just” key personnel or all personnel and labor categories. Are we allowed to include resumes for mid and junior staff and if so, is there a limit to the number of resumes allowed?

Resumes are required for all labor categories listed in section C.4 (Labor Categories) of the RFP. 6/3/2024

Since this solicitation period coincides with Memorial Day holiday and we are waiting on question responses to develop elements of our proposal, would FHWA consider extending the due date of proposals to the end of

June?

Yes, the proposal due date will be extended to

06/28/2024; amendment forthcoming. 6/3/2024

Section C –

Description/Specifications/

Statement of Work; C.3

Detailed Requirements;

Page 5: Task Area B

Meeting Planning and

Trade Shows; Item #1

Historically, how many meeting such as workshops, webinars, virtual meetings, working group sessions, and training delivery and Trade Shows

/ conferences, are expected to be supported each year?

Please refer to Section 1.1, Attachment J.5 ‐ TO

0001 for government estimate. 6/3/2024

Section C –

Description/Specifications/

Statement of Work; C.3

Detailed Requirements;

Page 5: Task Area B

Meeting Planning and

Trade Shows; Item #1 Historically, what is the expected number/ attendance these meetings?

For Attachment J.5 ‐ TO 0001, webinars are about

200 people on average; in‐person meetings are about 400 6/3/2024

Section C –

Description/Specifications/

Statement of Work; C.3

Detailed Requirements;

Page 5: Task Area B

Meeting Planning and

Trade Shows; Item #1

Historically, approximately how many will be conducted internationally each year? None 6/3/2024

Section C –

Description/Specifications/

Statement of Work; C.3

Detailed Requirements;

Page 5: Task Area B

Meeting Planning and

Trade Shows; Item #1

Regarding travel reimbursement, are the individuals being reimburse from public agencies or are they US DOT staff?

The Contractor may be asked to arrange for public and private sector stakeholder travel as directed by the Government. Any Contractor travel requested and approved by the government shall be reimbursed by the government in accordance with federal travel regulations. 6/3/2024

Section C –

Description/Specifications/

Statement of Work; C.3

Detailed Requirements;

Page 5: Task Area B

Meeting Planning and

Trade Shows; Item #2 What languages are expected to be requested for translation services? American Sign Language (ASL) 6/3/2024

Page 6: Task Area D:

Education, Training, and

Outreach

Approximately how many training webinars, workshops, peer exchanges, and virtual training events are anticipated each year? This will be specified at the task order level. 6/3/2024

25 Page 6: Task Area D:

Education, Training, and

Outreach

Approximately how many outreach technical documents, fact sheets, and primers are anticipated each year? This will be specified at the task order level. 6/3/2024

Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

“For purposes of planning, the Government estimates that the

Contractor shall support approximately two workshops, and meetings each year, and up to 15 webinars...”

The way this is punctuated seems like they’re saying two workshops, two meetings, and up to 15 webinars, please clarify this.

Government estimate is 2 workshops and 2 meetings. 6/3/2024

27 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

Of the number of events, how many are domes c and how many are international? They are all in the United States of America 6/3/2024

28 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

Are all events generally the same size – in number of attendees and number of days?

Yes, approximately 400 people in person, no more than two days each 6/3/2024

29 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

How many individuals will our team arrange travel for and reimburse? By event? And over the POP? None 6/3/2024

30 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background How many attendees should each webinar be prepared to handle? Estimate about 200 people 6/3/2024

31 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

For onsite audio/visual support, how many sessions are generally supported and are these sessions concurrent? No more than 8 per day 6/3/2024

Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

Are the contractual documents securing space at conference venues part of our proposals or are those arranged by others?

The contractor will sign contracts with hotels, exhibit spaces, AV companies and other vendors.

USDOT will not solicit or sign contracts for events.

Contractual documents do not need to be submitted with proposals. 6/3/2024

33 Attachment J.5 Task Order

0001; 1.1 Background

Do webinar speakers prepare their own materials or is the support team in charge of preparing and/or editing webinar presentations by speakers?

All speakers prepare their own content for our events and webinars. 6/3/2024

RFP Page 64/65

Are sub‐consultant rates to be included under Part IA – IDIQ Price

Information as a separate tab and also as separate individual attachments under b) Part II – Subcontracts/Consultants?

Offeror shall complete

Exhibit J.1, Labor Rate Schedule which shall include a tab for the prime contractor and each proposed subcontractor/consultant and offeror shall also follow the instructions PART II. 5/30/2024

RFP Page 7

Can the agency please confirm the labor category descriptions in Section

C.4? It appears that some of the descriptions don't match the scope of work.

The labor categories in section C.4 are written as intended. 5/30/2024

RFP Page 65

Attachment J.5 pg. 6

Part IB asks to complete the Schedule of Services within Attachment J.4.

Attachment J.4 is about Wage Determination. There is a Schedule of

Services in Attachment J.5 located in page 6. Is this the correct reference? See question 10 5/30/2024

RFP Page 3

IDIQ states: The Contractor shall provide ITS membership and stakeholder engagement, technical information sharing, analytical and communication services, and deployment support for current and potential USDOT ITS activities.

Please define “ITS membership” Members of the ITS industry 5/30/2024

RFP Page 4

IDIQ states: Coordinate and negotiate work by others, such as partners, members, and subcontractors

Please define “members”

Does this assume the contractor is an association with members? See question #37 5/30/2024

RFP Page 5

IDIQ states: The contractor is required to share announcements from

USDOT with their stakeholders and members. This includes posting

USDOT announcements on their social media and distributing USDOT announcements through their email communications.

Please define “their members”

Please define “their social media”

Please define “their email communications”

Does this assume the contractor is an association with members, social media, and email communications?

"Members" are members of the ITS industry, "Social Media" includes any Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets that are operated by the contractor. "Email Communications" includes any email lists that are owned by the contractor. Ideally the offeror should explain the size and scope of their email list, and social media 5/30/2024

RFP Page 6

IDIQ states: The Contractor is responsible for sharing insights with relevant stakeholders including their members and colleagues, which may include government agencies, industry partners, and other key interest groups.

Please define “their members”

Does this assume the contractor is an association? See question #37 5/30/2024

RFP Page 7

IDIQ states: Work with other associations (e.g., ITS state chapters) to identify topics for training.

Please define “other” associations

Does this assume the contractor is an association?

Members of the Intelligent Transportation

Systems industry may include Institute of

Transportation Engineers, ITE, AASHTO, Association of Metropolitan Planning

Organizations (AMPO) 5/30/2024

Is there an incumbent on this contract? If so, please provide the incumbent name, current contract number, Period of performance , value of the contract. See Question 1 5/17/2024