Question and Answers to Solicitation.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 23 KB Posted Mar 19, 2021

Attached to: Cybersecurity Compensation System Support Services Federal contract opportunity
Solicitation number: 70RDAD21R00000001
Issued by: Department of Homeland Security Office of Procurement Operations

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Written by GovTribe AI · Dec 28, 2023

This document contains questions and answers related to a solicitation for Cybersecurity Compensation System Support Services. The Department of Homeland Security seeks a contractor to assist with designing and operating a new Cybersecurity Compensation System, which will be part of the Department's Cybersecurity Talent Management System and enable offering competitive compensation to recruit and retain cybersecurity talent. The contractor will perform tasks such as reviewing the Department's current compensation structure and role definitions, providing recommendations to increase equity and viability, conducting annual compensation reviews for up to five years, and assisting with integrating performance-based pay. The period of performance is one base year plus four option years. The solicitation requests proposals in two phases, with the first phase due by March 22, 2021. Booz Allen Hamilton is the incumbent for related work. The contractor staff will require security clearances, and the contractor may propose alternatives to the staffing plan and labor categories included in the pricing sheet attachment.

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Other files for this federal contract opportunity

Other files attached to Cybersecurity Compensation System Support Services, newest first.
File	Type	Posted
70RDAD21R00000001 Amendment 0001 to RFP.pdf	PDF	Mar 19, 2021
Pre Proposal Conference Recording.mp4	MP4 file	Mar 17, 2021
70RDAD21R00000001 Attachment 1 Labor Categories and Qualifications.pdf	PDF	Mar 16, 2021
70RDAD21R00000001 Final Solicitation RFP.pdf	PDF	Mar 16, 2021
70RDAD21R00000001 Attachment 2 Pricing Table.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	Mar 16, 2021
70RDAD21R00000001 Attachment 3 Non-Disclosure Agreement.pdf	PDF	Mar 16, 2021

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RFP Vendor Questions

	Solicitation or Attachments RFP Section	Paragraph No.	Page No.(s)	Question or Category (Contract or Technical)	Question	Response
1	NDA Attachment 3 & RFP Section 5.9	Section 5.9 - 3rd para. on page	16	Contract	Are signed NDAs (Att. 3) for our key personnel due with the proposal submission or is this a post award activity? If the signed NDA form should be included in our submission, which phase and volume should it be included in? Lastly, would it be considered inside or outside of the page limitation (if applicable)?	NDAs are due at contract award.
2	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	Can the Government provide an extension of the deadline of March 22, 2021 to allow enough time to receive questions and answers?	An extension for Phase 1 is not planned at this time.
3	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	Is there an incumbent currently performing this work for DHS? If so, can the Government provide name?	This contract details a new set of requirements for DHS. Some related work was performed under GS00Q14OADU108/70RDAD18FR0000058 by Booz Allen Hamilton.
4	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	Can the government clarify whether there was any contract resulting from the 2019 industry day regarding CTMS or if the procurement was delayed and this 2021 effort is the entirety of the CTMS contracting effort	The industry day in 2019 was for the CTMS Core project that was awarded in FY20. This is a separate procurement.
5	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	Are there any citizenship, public trust or clearance requirements for contract personnel?	Yes - refer to the section C (SOW): "Requests for Exception to U.S. Citizenship Requirement" and "Post-Award Instructions Regarding Security Requirements for Contracts/Orders"
6	N/A	N/A	N/A	Technical	Is the government seeking a build out of a the taxonomy and hierarchy of the positions within in scope?	DHS is not structuring this work based on traditional jobs/roles. DHS has completed extensive work to define relevant competencies, including proficiency information. DHS has mapped these competencies to different career levels and clusters of roles, including technical, individual contributor roles and leadership roles. DHS is using career levels/clusters of roles to create compensation structures, including those for salaries. DHS is not necessarily focused on "the job," but rather on the career level and level of expertise (including competencies and proficiency levels) of an individual. DHS anticipates Task 1 of the SOW will help DHS pressure test the design work completed to date and identify possible areas of refinement, including in how developed competencies are used to inform compensation. DHS expects any competency refinement work and I/O psychology research to be performed under another existing contract.
7	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	How many cybersecurity roles positions are currently utilized/defined and require reevaluation?	See response to question 6. DHS is focused career levels and clusters of roles. This current model includes approximately 10 career levels, from early-career through executive, with differentiation between developmental, technical, and leadership roles.
8	N/A	N/A	N/A	Contract	Are any roles/positions eligible for remote support and where a remote compensation structure would apply?	DHS is developing the Cybersecurity Compensation System for a cybersecurity workforce that is likely to be concentrated in the Washington, DC area, but will also include employees in various geographic areas across the United States. This may include remote employees as well. Currently, DHS is focused on accounting for cost of labor differences associated with approximately 15 distinct metropolitan areas, but DHS is looking for the Contractor to review and potentially recommend revisions to this approach.
9	N/A	N/A	N/A	Technical	Does the government have established criteria it wants incorporated into the new compensation structure? If yes, please include those in the FRFP.	See response to question 6. In addition, DHS has defined other compensable factors/general thresholds for certain salary levels, such as relative years of cybersecurity experience.
10	N/A	N/A	N/A	Technical	Will the government provide its current compensation structure, role taxonomy and other criteria to the successful offeror?	Yes; as described in Task 1. DHS will provide work completed to date to the eventual contractor.
11	N/A	N/A	N/A	Technical	Does the government want the compensation study to integrate requirements from NIST 800-53, 800-171 or other requirements? Please specific all compliance requirements that need to be covered by the compensation study.

As described in Task 1, DHS will work with the Contractor to scope all research and reports. DHS does not expect requiring analyses specifically focused on NIST 800-53 or NIST 800-171.
12	N/A	N/A	N/A	Technical	Does the government require the compensation study to be performed for specific CONUS and/or OCONUS locations and if yes, please specific the locations?	See response to question 8.
13	Solicitation Section F	1	21	Contract	Can the Government confirm that all the tasks are going to be one year long, i.e. that the period of performance will be four years?	The period of performance for this contract is:

• One twelve-month base period of performance, and

• Four twelve-month option periods.

14	Solicitation Section C 3.1	1	9	Technical	Is the Government seeking a full review and update of the compensation structure, plans, and total reward offerings or a high level review with market driver recommendations on changes?	DHS anticipates Task 1 of the SOW will help DHS pressure test the design work completed to date and identify possible areas of refinement, including potential recommendations for increasing internal equity, external equity, operational simplicity, and long-term viability.
15	Solicitation Section C 3.2	2.1	9	Contract	In the optional task section, the Government request annual compensation review. Is this task intended to be conducted starting in Option Year 1, and for how many years does the Government require support?	The deliverable will be provided each year the task is exercised, up to the base year and four option years.
16	Solicitation Section C 3.1	1c	9	Technical	Is the Government seeking to implement a pay-for-performance pay setting process? If so, is there a viable "go-forward" performance management system in place or does that need to be created as part of this effort?	The Cybersecurity Compensation System is designed to be performance sensitive, with merit-based increases being the primary driver of employee salary progression. DHS has designed a performance management system, which DHS may modify depending on any changes to the Cybersecurity Compensation System merit-increase processes prior to launch. DHS is not looking for the Contractor to design a performance management system, but the Contractor will need to review and provide recommendations related to the Cybersecurity Compensation System's connections between performance and compensation.
17	Solicitation Section C 3.1	1e	9e	Technical	Does the Government have cash based recruiting and retention bonuses in place at the current time?	DHS currently uses a variety of cash bonus tools common across Government agencies. With the launch of CTMS, DHS anticipates using a different system of cash payments for recruiting and retention under the Cybersecurity Compensation System.
18	Solicitation Section C 3.1	1g	9g	Technical	Is the Government seeking benefits prevalence or actuarial-based valuations when determining "total reward offerings"?	DHS anticipates the Contractor providing basic, high-level comparisons that acknowledge some common Federal employment benefits, including using standard amounts/calculations established via existing research, to assist DHS in contextualizing the competitiveness of salaries and common additional compensation (bonuses) under the Cybersecurity Compensation System. Anticipated analyses will not necessarily involve in-depth calculations related to total rewards, such as complex Federal retirement system annuity estimates.
19	Solicitation Section H	3	39	Contract	Can the Government specify if the Contractor staff is required to hold specific clearances to perform this work?	Contractor personnel will undergo a position sensitivity analysis to identify appropriate background investigation; Please see section C (SOW) on "Post-Award Instructions Regarding Security Requirements for Contracts/Orders"
20	Solicitation Section L 4.2	3	70	Contract	Can the Government confirm the Phase 2 PowerPoint deck submission requirement that a 16 font size must be used instead of a standard 12 font size? And the 12 point font requirement for with tables, graphics, headers, and footers being smaller versus the standard 10-11 font size?	Font sizes requirements for the PowerPoint have been updated to size 10 Times New Roman for the slides and 8 Times New Roman for any graphs.
21	Solicitation Section M 2	7	77	Contract	Can the government confirm that the Pricing Table - Attachment 2 should be completed as is with the Government's staffing mix and level of effort estimates?	Language in Section L states that: The government will consider alternatives for use of labor category/level and/or other direct costs (e.g. licenses, surveys, etc.); include rationale for the recommended change and related definitions for labor category."
22	Solicitation	4	22	Contract	May the Distribution contacts be edited where offeror may see best fits?	For each deliverable, the Contractor shall, at a minimum, submit one soft copy via e-mail to the Contracting Officer and the designated Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The contractor may distribute further as needed (e.g. federal program lead, etc.)
23	Solicitation		65-66	Contract	SF-1449 is being requested in phase I and in Phase 2, please clarify if its to be submitted in both volumes	Yes. SF 1449 shall be submitted in each Phase.
24	Solicitation		51	Contract	Will Offerors be required to submit the subcontracting plan as part of Phase 2?	Subcontractor plans shall be due in Phase 2.
25	Attachment - Pricing Sheet	N/A		Pricing	The Project Manager labor category is listed in the RFP however the role isn’t reflected on the pricing proposal sheet. Should Offerors consider the hours of the PM as part of the other key labor category(ies)?	DHS will update Attachment 1 (Labor Categories and Qualifications), no changes will be made to Attachment 2 (Pricing Table). DHS defers to the Contractor on the labor category and level of effort for the PM. The Contractor should describe their staffing strategy in the management approach.

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Performance Work Statement

Section B

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File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated Mar 19, 2021.