Questions_and_Responses_to__Solicitation_70US0919R70090020_8.28.19.pdf

National Recruitment and Advertising Campaign

70US0919R70090020

Vendor Questions USSS Responses

Deadline for questions is stated as 10:00 AM August 27; is this correct?

The current due date for proposal responses on FBO synopsis is 10:00 AM August 29 – Is this the correct date? Please clarify.

Correct, the Due date for Questions is August 27, 2019 at 10:00 am.

Correct, the due date for proposal is August 29, 2019 at 10:00 am.

1. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this?

(like,from India or Canada)

2. Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

3. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA?

(like, from India or Canada)

4. Can we submit the proposals via email?

1. No

2. Yes

3. No

4. Proposal can only be submitted via e-mail to Theresa.Williams@usss.dhs.gov

We understand you have released the above solicitation on 08/26, with submission date of response on 08/29/2019. We are very interested in the above solicitation and submitted our response few months ago. Please verify if the submission date is correct. This only gives 3 days for submission.

Yes, proposal due date is August 29, 2019 at 10:00 am

Who are the primary stakeholders and user groups for the event management software suite?

Will contractor’s be reimbursed for procurement of space required for hosting ELAC’s or does this need to be part of the Firm Fixed Price?

In regards to the Sales Training requirement in the SOW.

- Is there an expectation of how often “new personnel” training will take place?

- Will this training take place in the Washington D.C. area?

1. U.S. Secret Service Program Managers

2. Contractors will be reimbursed 3a. Training is required as requested.

3b. Yes 3c. Government space 3d. No

- Will it take place in government space or will the contractor need to procure space?

Has the government determined their preferred tech stack for use on the updated website?

1. The government is only providing 3 business days to respond to this solicitation, which would severely limit the ability of most firms to respond responsibly and thereby limit competition. Would the government consider extending the deadline?

2. Under the “I. Introduction” section of the solicitation, the government states that the solicitation is “solicited to vendors under the SBA 8a Program.” However, in section 10 of Form 1449 the box for Unrestricted” is checked off indicated this is a full and open solicitation. Please clarify?

3. Can past performance be submitted by subcontractors?

4. Is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these services to the government?

5. Can you please provide additional detail on what the government views as samples of “similar scope and magnitude” Does this mean past performance related to recruitment?

National in scope? Same total budget range?

6. Is there a budget range or ceiling that has been established for this project?

7. What are the U.S.S.S. recruitment goal numbers for, Special Agents, Uniformed Officers, and Administrative, Professional, and Technical positions?

Are there any specific skills/specialties/expertise of focus for the Administrative, Professional, and Technical positions?

8. Are you looking for a vendor to purchase media or pursue donated/PSA time or earned media only? If this requirement is

1. The due date will not be extended, this contract must be awarded by August 29, 2019.

2. This solicitation is set aside for vendors under the 8a Program

3. No

4. Yes, ECU Communication

5. Performance related to recruitment?

National in scope

6. The budget is $10M - $12M for the contract period of performance

7. Goal is to increase footprint of Agency by a few thousand over the next few years

8. Yes, varies dependent on investment and strategy for purchasing media, how much has been allocated/budgeted for paid media?

1. Is this acquisition an 8a set aside?

2. Is the cost of the event management platform (e.g., Yello) to be included in the cost proposal or will it be directly reimbursable or purchased by the Secret Service? If the software cost is to be included in the cost proposal, how many stakeholder licenses should be purchased?

3. How many events are historically attended annually?

4. Are iPads (or similar) to be included in the cost proposal or will they be directly reimbursable or purchased by the Secret Service? How many iPads are necessary? If iPads (or similar) are to be included in the cost proposal, how many will be required upon contract award, and added annually?

5. Historically how many events occur in the same week? What is the maximum number of recruiters at an event?

6. Can we utilize our subcontractor’s past performance or is it limited to the prime’s past performance?

7. Are there any restrictions for the promotional items such as they must comply with the Buy America Act?

8. What is the quantity of the promotional items ordered annually?

9. Is there any existing branding and signage for the Entry Level Assessment that will be provided from the incumbent? If so, please let us know what pieces?

10. Where has the Recruiter Sales Training historically been held?

11. Would the government consider an extension for this request?

12. Any key personnel for this opportunity?

1. Yes

2. Yes (included)

3. Varies but 600+

4. Include in cost proposal

5. Varies on both question

6. Prime’s past performance

7. Must comply with the Buy America Act

8. No, the due date will not be extended

9. Branding exists

10. Washington D.C

11. The period of performance will begin on

August 30, 2019

12. Yes

13. The period of performance will begin on

August 30, 2019

14. Drupple

15. Must have capacity to do so

16. 15+

17. Only recruiting landing page

18. Task orders not issued; guidance provided.

19. Yes

20. No

21. No done internally

22. Yes

23. Yes

24. No

25. ROI through internal process

26. Varies (<20)

13. Page 1 of the Base Period of Performance table reads 06/12/2019;

can the USSS confirm if a new Contract start date will be provided for the base period of performance?

14. What content management system (CMS) is the current secretservice.gov site built on? Is the USSS open to changing to a new CMS as part of the new site?

15. Does the event management platform (e.g., Yello) need to integrate with the reimagined secretservice.gov site?

16. Does the USSS have an estimate for the number of pages within the new reimagined secretservice.gov site?

17. Can the USSS confirm that all pages on the secretservice.gov site will be reimagined or only the recruiting landing pages?

18. Page 11 reads: “Any supplies and services to be furnished under this performance contract shall be ordered by issuance of task orders.” Can the USSS confirm if this is the case for all services detailed in the RFP (i.e., Recruiting, Hosting, Training, Electronic Tracking, Multimedia, Products and Promotional Material and Supplies) or only for software/tools/or products?

19. Does the Secret Service wish to add/edit content and/or landing pages to the site?

20. Does the Secret Service require any hosting or website maintenance to be included in the proposal?

21. Is it intended for the contractor to film the referenced video testimonials? If yes, is there a requirement for how many testimonials will need to be filmed annually?

22. Training - Is the cost proposal to include travel costs or will travel be directly reimbursable?

23. Will the Secret Service provide the classroom environment for the initial sales training or is the contractor responsible for securing the location?

24. Is virtual training acceptable for either the new personnel training or for both the initial sales training and the new personnel training?

25. How are you currently tracking results from recruiting events?

26. How many new recruiter personnel are expected/traditionally hired annually?

1. The solicitation was posted on Federal Business Opportunities at 1:12pm on Monday, August 26, and proposals are due at 10:00am on Thursday, August 29. Would the government consider providing an extension so that competitive bidders have more than 72 hours to price and submit a response?

2. CLIN 0001 on Page 1 of the SF1449 includes the language “Delivery: 06/12/2019”. Is this a typo?

3. RE: Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) / Government Furnished Information (GFI):

Will there be any GFE or GFI provided to the new contractor? If so, what GFE and/or GFI will be provided?

4. The solicitation does not mention a transition period. Does the government anticipate a transition period for a new vendor?

5. Factor 1 – Technical Quotation in the Section “Evaluation Criteria” includes the statement: “Offerors are cautioned to be responsive to all of the requirements annotated in the Statement of Work (SOW) and provide sufficient information to allow evaluation of the proposals per the Evaluation Factors for Award.” However, we do not see a section called “Evaluation Factors for Award.” Question: Should there be a section describing Evaluation Factors for Award or are we correct to assume that there is no evaluation rating scale – either color-based or numerical – upon which proposals will be scored and/or evaluated?

6. Section B “Management Plan” on page 5 states: “Key personnel should be identified along with each member’s contribution to the requirements.” However, there is no description of “Key personnel” requirements. Question: Are

1. No extension will be provided

2. Yes this is a typo it will remove

3. No

4. No

5. See page 1 of solicitation, IV. Structure of

Proposals

6. PM exists

7. No

8. Mission critical personnel require security clearance

9. No

10. Yes

11. Answered in previous question

12. Varies for recruitment and ELAC based on need

13. Varies for hosted events

14. Yes must stay within established brand strategy which will not be provided

15. None

16. This will vary based on need through the

FY which correlates to the number of events

17. Two (2) we correct to assume that there are no key personnel nor personnel qualifications required for this program?

7. Page 10 of 22 provides target groups that the advertising should reach for different Divisions of the USSS. Question: Does the government have information on the these groups that has been collected through research during the current or previous contracts for USSS recruiting and advertising services that we could review, either before or upon contract award?

8. Recruiting candidates who require a security clearance makes the process more challenging and reduces the pool of potential hires. Question: Does USSS work with any other agencies, such as the Office of Personnel Management, for access to potential candidates who have either expressed an interest in, or applied for, positions in the government that require security clearances, such as at the Departments of Defense, Justice or other divisions/agencies at DHS?

9. Page 4 of 22 I. Introduction states: “The Government is soliciting a Firm Fixed-Price proposal”. However, page 10 of 22 states: “Any supplies and services to be furnished under this performance contract shall be ordered by issuance of task orders.” Question: For pricing purposes, can the government elaborate on “task orders”? Specifically, will these task orders only apply to the target groups mentioned on page 10?

10. Page 12 of 22 includes 4.0 Deliverables and the statement: “Monitoring of the contractor’s performance will be tracked at the task order level;” and the first Performance Standard in the Performance Matrix states: “99% Quarterly customer satisfaction rate. Based on COR monthly checklist, per task order (TO) customer surveys. Both ORB staff and contractor will collaborate on methods to capture and improve recruiting efforts. Each TO assessment shall be evaluated using a synergistic campaign perspective. The NRAC objectives will be weighted by the COR and ORB.”

a. Question: Can the government clarify if these performance measures are based on customer satisfaction percentages in which the government (USSS) is the customer; or if these performance measures are based on target customers (target audiences), or some combination of the two? [We are trying to reconcile language in the Performance Outcome column: “Customer satisfaction would include:

Whether the contractor provides skilled personnel together with the supervisory, managerial and administrative services necessary to successfully meet the requirements as described in the SOW” with “These reports may be supported by the applicant surveys, recruiting staff comments and written documents, and by the ORB/ASAIC and/or designated counterpart.”]

b. Question: For pricing purposes, how often will these surveys be conducted – either of the government customer or of the target audience – on a monthly or annual basis and how long will the surveys take (i.e. how many questions)?

11. RE: Recruiting. Page 10 of 22 states: “The contractor shall plan and assist the USSS’s designated staff with the execution of nation-wide special recruiting events that attract candidates with diversity of knowledge, skills, abilities, ethnicity, languages and gender.” Question: For pricing purposes, can the government provide an estimate for the number of recruiting events on an annual basis?

12. RE: Hosting. Page 11 of 22 states: “The contractor shall coordinate and if necessary, procure space at local venues for Entry Level Assessment Centers.” Question: For pricing purposes, can the government provide an estimated number of times that space procurement may be needed on an annual basis?

13. RE: Travel. The solicitation does not reference travel. Are we correct to assume that no vendor travel is required for this program and therefore no travel should be budgeted in our pricing?

14. RE: Multimedia. Page 11 of 22 states:

“The contractor shall reimagine the secretservice.gov website to match our current branding strategy, and reimagine the content layout on our website.”

a. Question: Has the USSS conducted a formal brand strategy (including brand architecture)?

b. Question: Is the current branding strategy publicly available (we found reference in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan)? If not, will this – or any relevant information that the government might have – be made available to the vendor upon award?

15. RE: Multimedia. Question: For pricing purposes, how many five minute videos should we plan on producing each year?

16. RE: Products and Promotional Material and Supplies.

a. Question: For pricing purposes, can the government provide quantities for these materials and supplies? (This is important so the government receives pricing based on the same quantities from all bidders.)

b. The section states: “The contractor shall provide supplies and products that display the USSS logo, such as but not limited to..” Question: For pricing purposes, can the government provide the list of products that we should anticipate distributing at recruitment fairs and ELACs beyond what is provided?

c. Question: For pricing purposes, is it the government’s expectation that these materials and supplies will be stored at the vendor’s facilities or onsite at the government’s?

17. For pricing purposes, how many Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) does the current contract support?

We were super excited to respond to the RFI as an 8(a) firm. Now to see you are giving less than 5 five days to respond is disappoint because this is wired, which means it’s not really a competitive 8(a) after we put so much time into the RFI. This doesn’t seem like a FAIR solicitation or practice.

This is a competitive 8a competition, sorry more time is not given, however; this is a FAIR solicitation and/or practice.