72051421R00005 (01) - Questions and Answers.pdf

72051421R000005 – Monitor Amendment 1

MONITOR Questions and Answers

BUDGET/CONTRACTUAL:

1. The size standard of small business is; 1.9M USD and have 500 employees of more? Page

85, K.2. numeral a, b and c.

52.204-8 ANNUAL REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS (MAR 2020)

Response: This is a FAR Clause that has been incorporated in its totality. No changes are to be made. Please also note that this RFP is limited to local, Colombian organizations. The small business size standards are relevant to U.S. small businesses only.

2. B.4. NEGOTIATED HOURLY RATES (NHR) FOR CLIN 002 (Page 6th).

Salaries for individual locally hired personnel and other non-U.S. expatriates under this contract. a) We would like to know if a Colombian born US Citizen professional will be allowed to work in this project.

Response: Yes, there are no restrictions for foreign nationals to work under this program as long as the organization complies with local labor law and any relevant salary restrictions in the contract. See Section H.5 for more details on potentially relevant salary restrictions.

3. Does the defined budget include taxes such as IVA?

Response: No, USAID/Colombia funds are exempt of taxes, therefore USAID/Colombia will issue a tax exemption letter to the selected contractor. The cost proposal must not include IVA.

4. What is the billing structure? For example:

In the event that a product is delivered for certification tests by the client, but this is not promoted to the production environment, how will it be billed? Is this going to be defined in the workplan?

Response: This will fall under CLIN 002: Labour Hours which will allow the contractor to bill any hours that were expended in producing any work ordered by USAID. All software artifacts and/or work performed by the contractor that has been previously approved by the COR will be subject to billing if it has met acceptance criteria specified in the design. All requirements will be defined on an ongoing and case-by-case basis. The work plan will mainly contain what is specified in Section F.4.3.

5. The requirements that had some progress but were canceled could be billed for the activities carried out?

Response: Yes, see response to Question 4.

6. Will an annual budget be defined? If yes, what happens to the amounts that have not been fully executed? ¿Can they be transferred to the following year?

Response: For CLIN 001, the offeror must provide a 5-year budget that is broken down by specific line items and by each year. Excess funds from one year may potentially be used in future years. For CLIN 002, the $850,000 ceiling amount is for the total five-year period of performance and may be allocated across any or all years, as necessary.

7. Is it possible to define a fixed Representative Market Rate (TRM) for the project? Since the contract period is 5 years, it may fluctuate over time and affect income.

Response: For budget purposes the contractor must propose all costs in dollars. In their cost proposal they must clearly state the exchange rate being used in those calculations. For CLIN

001, the contractor will be reimbursed actual expenses. USAID/Colombia generally uses

COP$3,200/$1 USD. This rate leaves the contract with excess funds at the end of the contract.

Any excessive change in the actual exchange rate can be addressed at that specific time if it has significant impacts on the budget.

8. If required, is it possible to subcontract an entity that is not local?

Response: Possibly. Please review Section H.35 (which has been added in Modification 01 to the RFP) and Section I.7.

9. On March 15/2021, Past Performance Information must be submitted, however, we are not clear about what information should be provided, is it valid to send the CPARS? In what format and how should they be delivered? We appreciate it if you can expand the information on this aspect.

Response: You must use attachment J.2 Past Performance Report that has been uploaded in www.beta.sam.gov

10. Is the budget of $ 850,000 exclusive for the concept of SOFTWARE UPDATE AND

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (CLIN002) and will USAID define, according to the proposals, the budgets of the concepts of SUPPORT AND TRAINING SERVICES

(CLIN001) and IT PLATFORM SUPPORT (CLIN001)?

Response: USAID/Colombia has put a ceiling amount of $850,000 for CLIN 002. The contractor will then be reimbursed for the number of hours of any B.4 position used in completing that specific work that is ordered during the contract period by USAID. The

$850,000 is a ceiling amount for the maximum amount of money that can be spent in performing CLIN 002 work. The contractor’s budget proposal for CLIN 002 work need only be the burdened negotiated daily rates as described in B.4 and L.9, Part 2, CLIN 002.

http://www.beta.sam.gov/

The contractor must propose a detailed CLIN 001 budget that includes all costs required to perform those services.

11. In the pre-application, the indicated budget is between $900,000 and $1,200,000 dollars for the 5 years. This indicates that the budget for the concepts SUPPORT AND

TRAINING SERVICES (CLIN001) and IT PLATFORM SUPPORT (CLIN001) should be in the range $50,000 to $350,000?

Response: That is correct. Please note that amount is just an estimate. Contractors are free to propose whatever budget for CLIN 001 they believe is required to perform those services over the life of the contract. See also the response to Question 10 for more details.

12. For the concepts SUPPORT AND TRAINING SERVICES (CLIN001) and IT

PLATFORM SUPPORT (CLIN001), should the values of Direct Costs, Indirect Costs and Fixed-Fee be broken down? Should the profit obtained by the provider be included in each concept?

Response: Yes, the budget template for CLIN 001 Detailed Budget tab requires detailed information to be broken down.

13. In the NHRs BY LABOR CATEGORIES table, the salary must be filled out for each of the profiles and seniorities, however, the question is, should the benefit burden and administrative expenses of each position be included?

Response: Yes. Please review the first two paragraphs of Section B.4 as well as L.9, Part 2, CLIN 002.

14. Will the deliverables be invoiced according to the established percentage? In the case of year 1, will 28% of the CLIN001 concept be invoiced for the list of reports?

Response: For CLIN 001 costs, the contractor will submit a monthly voucher (See Section G.2) to be reimbursed for all actual costs spent during that month. In their cost proposal, the offeror must also propose a fixed fee (profit) for the CLIN 001 (See also the budget template at Section

J.4). The contractor will be reimbursed for a percentage of the fixed fee (profit) total amount in accordance with the delivery of specific reports and deliverables in accordance with Section

F.5.

Please also note that for any CLIN 002 work, the contractor will be reimbursed for the number of hours completed multiplied by the negotiated labor rate of the position. Those negotiated labor rates must be “burdened” which means they include the fee/profit for that specific work included in the rate. See the first two paragraphs of Section B.4 and L.9, Part 2, CLIN 002 for more details.

15. Is a candidate with a postgraduate degree in project management eligible, with a PMP certification valid until February 2020?

Response: The person proposed for the Program/Project Manager must meet all minimum qualifications listed in Section F.6.1. However, USAID encourages the selected key personnel to maintain current and valid certifications.

16. Will DBA Insurance be covered by USAID? Will it be included as a specific concept within the budget and billing?

Response: The proposed budget should cover all costs needed to cover all the requirements outlined in the RFP. Offerors are free to propose any costs they deem necessary. Please also review Section H.6.

17. Should any registration be made on sam.gov or on some other official website?

Response: The official website to find contract opportunities is www.beta.sam.gov. All entities must have a current DUNS, NCAGE and be registered in SAM in order to be eligible for contracting with the U.S Government. USAID is prohibited by federal regulation to award a contract to a company without a DUNS number, a completed NCAGE registration, and a completed SAM registration.

18. Can you confirm if the updated form is at https://www.gsa.gov/forms-library/solicitation-offer-and-award and is called SF33-14c?

Response: Yes, that is the updated form.

19. C.2.1 Travel Expenses (Page 9th).

a. What is the statistic of the last 9 years related with travel?

Response: We have not traveled to the field in the past. Everything has been managed remotely. However, in the last two years the Mission has new Implementing Partners that are located in the region so some budget for limited travel is likely needed.

• How many cities are visited each year?

Response: We expect approximately 2 trips/year.

• Which cities?

Response: Main capital cities (e.g. Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Pasto, etc.)

http://sam.gov/

20. As you mention that travel expenses should be included in the proposed budget, but as it is difficult to estimate how many should be required and to which destinations and for what duration, can we include a “budget bag” to spend according to travel needs?

Response: See response to Question 19. Recall that CLIN 001 work will be reimbursable. The contractor will get reimbursed actual expenses incurred during performance of that work.

Based on the information given in response to Question 19, the contractor must give an estimated amount for travel costs but will be reimbursed actual costs under the contract.

21. Section L.5 states that “COMPETITION LIMITED TO LOCAL COLOMBIAN

ORGANIZATIONS”.

a. Is it acceptable for a US company to become the Prime Contractor managing a team of sub-contractors based in Colombia?

Response: No. In accordance with L.5, US companies are not eligible to submit a proposal as the prime contractor.

b. Is it acceptable for a Colombian company to be the prime contractor and subcontract with a US company for services such as cybersecurity and federal contracting compliance?

Response: Please see Section H.35 that has been added to the RFP in Modification 01.

c. Why exclude viable US and Colombian partnerships from submitting a proposal that could result in a best value offering to the Government?

Response: USAID has the authority to limit competitions to local organizations when it is determined to be in the best interest of USAID. More information on USAID’s initiative to work with local entities may be found at: https://www.usaid.gov/npi.

22. What is the maximum budget allocated to this program?

Response: There is no maximum budget. The offeror must propose a budget for all CLIN 001 work. CLIN 002 has a ceiling amount of $850,000. The offeror’s proposed CLIN 001 budget plus the CLIN 002 ceiling of $850,000 will be the total estimated cost of the contract. Please also review the responses to previous questions that give further relevant details on the cost proposal.

https://www.usaid.gov/npi

TECHNICAL:

23. C.1.2 Current Status (Page 8th), specified a list of items available. Additional to these items we would like to know if there are specifics of:

a. Is there a technical document of the source code, design diagrams, process diagrams and data dictionaries?

Response: Yes, USAID will hand over all the existing documentation in order to facilitate a technical understanding of the system. However, we do not have a complete set of the standard technical documents. We will be relying on a sufficient handover time (1 month approximately) where the two contracts (current and new) will overlap in order to guarantee that sufficient information is transferred to the selected contractor.

Also, Section C.2.2.1 states that the selected contractor will need to conduct an

“Information system assessment”, in case that new documentation or diagramas need to be produced. These will be resolved by using the Labor Hours once approved by the

COR.

b. Is there any configuration management policy and log?

Response: Yes, there are policies for logging and configuration that have been established during the Authorization To Operate (ATO) process (e.g. System Security

Plan, User Management, Hosting Server, etc.). However, any new policy that will need to be implemented, will be resolved at the Work Plan level.

24. Missing Numeral in Section F (Page 11th).

• C.2.2.1 Refer to Section F.5.1.1

Response: Replace with F.4.2. See amended RFP in www.beta.sam.gov

• C.2.2.2 Refer to Section F.5.2

Response: Replace with F.4.3. This should be part of the Annual Work Plan. See amended RFP in www.beta.sam.gov.

25. High level functional requirements in Section C.2.2.2 (Page 12th).

Table 1 – Illustrative List of High-Level Functional Requirements.

• What is the average of LOE hours required for these initial requirements?

Response: As it is stated, this list is an “illustrative list and, by the time of award, the priorities may have substantially changed. LOE estimates will be made depending on the complexity of the requirement.

We expect that the contractor will elicit the requirement and estimate the effort required. USAID will provide all necessary information for the contractor to make an informed estimation using its own expertise and internal procedures (e.g. Function

Points, Expert Estimate, Use Case, etc.) that will be defined at the Work Plan level.

• What is the minimum available capacity over which the estimated times or efforts should be assigned to the execution of the requirement of section C.2.2.2.

Response: USAID will rely on the expertise of the contractor to make the estimated effort for the solution of the requirements. For USAID, the core of the contract is having the ability to develop software and deploy frequently.

26. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) C.2.4.3 (Page 17th).

We would like to know:

a. Statistics or Number of incidents per level per month

• Major

Response: One or two per year. Although recently (last two years) we have not filed any.

• Minor

Response: An average of one per month.

• Intrusion

Response: We have detected only two incidents in five years that were successfully contained.

b. Does hours are current hours or business hours?

Response: For System Availability, Major, and Intrusion it will be “calendar” hours.

See amended RFP in www.beta.sam.gov.

27. F.6 Key Personnel. In this section only appear one profile F.6.1 PROGRAM

MANAGER. Contrasting to the description on Section B.4 (Page 5th).

• Project Manager

• Software Developer

• Functional Lead

• Testing

• Software Architect

• Special Testing

a. Does Program Manager is a different position than Project Manager?

Response: No. It is the same role.

b. Do the other positions have a minimum requirement?

Response: No, these are not key personnel positions. The individual proposed for

Program/Project Manager is required to meet the minimum requirements list in Section

F.6. All other personnel, including those that will fill the positions listed in B.4, do not require USAID approval. The selected contractor is responsible for hiring experienced and capable personnel to fulfill the requirements of the contract with the expected quality and timeliness.

These positions require the offeror to propose “burdened rates” for each of these positions in the cost proposal. See Section L.2.c for details.

c. There is a minimum of hours approx. (statistics) for the assignment of this roles?

Response: The contract will contain the agreed upon Negotiated Ceiling Labor Rates.

When the contractor is directed to perform work for those parts designated as CLIN

002, the contractor will be reimbursed for the number of hours at the labor rate designated in Section B.4. Over the course of the five-year contract, the contractor cannot exceed the total dollar amount specified in B.X for CLIN 002 work. However, USAID anticipates that there will be a need for full LOE for 2 Software Developers throughout the life of the contract, but their labor will be ordered when needed.

d. It is possible to add some other roles like Cybersecurity.

Response: For any work to be performed that is labeled as CLIN 001, the offeror may propose any costs, including any labor positions, needed to perform that work. For work labeled CLIN 002 the offeror needs only provided “burdened” labor rates for the positions listed in B.4. If when reading Section C. of the RFP, the offeror believes another position is needed to be included for CLIN 002 work, they may propose the position title to be added to Section B.4 and propose negotiated hourly rates for that position.

28. Among the characteristics, the SSL and WAF services should be considered.

Response: Yes, SSL and WAF have already been implemented. The selected contractor will be expected to continue providing these services as part of the IT Platform Support Services specified in Section C.2.3. (CLIN 001).

29. In the event that there are two technical proposals at the infrastructure level whose difference lies in the services and prices offered, how should they be presented? Can the second technical proposal with its respective economic proposal be presented as

‘ALTERNATE PROPOSAL’?

Response: For the technical approach portion of the technical proposal, the offeror may submit one document listing all the potential service but must clearly delineate all those that are part of the alternate proposal. Additionally, in the cost application, the costs associated with the alternate proposal (the services described in the technical approach) must be clearly marked as costs for the alternate proposal.

30. Should academic information from resources be included as part of the 5 pages?

Response: No, Offerors must comply with the requirement in Section L.8.2. USAID reserves the right to conduct background and reference checks of the proposed Key Personnel.

31. During the execution of the contract, will requirements and budget be considered to carry out compliance activities for the moderate level?

Response: Yes, All applicable effort to comply with the “moderate level” will be analyzed and estimated in coordination with the selected contractor and carried overusing the amount of hours and services contracted. At this moment, USAID/Washington has not conducted the security assessment nor issued any Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&Ms).

32. Per point 1.2 (page 8):

a. Does the current services provider have the source codes, design diagrams, process diagrams, data dictionary? And will these be provided to the successful awardee?

Response: Yes. USAID will be handing over source code, existing diagrams, data dictionary and the current hosting server configuration.

b. Has the policy management and configuration logs been implemented?

Response: See response to Question #23b.

33. Section C.2.2.1 refers to section F.5.1.1 which does not exist. Is that a typo?

Response: Replace with F.4.2. See amended RFP in www.beta.sam.gov.

34. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) C2.4.3 Page 17. Are the hours for help and attention calendar or working hours?

Response: It depends on the specific SLA. See the change to the RFP done in Amendment 1 for details.

35. In section F.6 Key Personnel, the profile for a Program Manager is provided. However, that same profile is not mentioned anywhere else. Is the Program Manager a new add or the same as a Project Manager?

• Project Manager

• Software Developer

• Functional Lead

• Testing

• Software Architect

• Special Testing

Response: The Project/Program Manager is the same position.

36. Regarding section F.6, the key positions,

a. Are there minimum professional requirements needed?

Response: The only key personnel position is the Project/Program Manager. The minimum qualifications are listed in F.6.1.

b. Is there a minimum time assignation for each?

Response: No.