Attachment 2 Questions and Answers.pdf

Attachment 2

Questions and Answers

Solicitation Number 72052321R00002, Amendment 1

ProIntegridad

SECTION F – DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

No. Section Questions Answers

1 F.6.b Please confirm that the last annual report and the final report can be combined.

No, one is the last annual report for the last year and another one for the final report for the whole period of performance.

SECTION H - SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

2 H.15 (b) Section H.15 (b) of the RFP states

“salaries and wages for TCNs and

CCNs for employees shall not exceed, without specific approval by the Contracting Officer, the market rate in the country in which the TCN/CCN is employed”.

Further it refers to the AIDAR

722.170 for obtaining a waiver for

TCN/CCNs who are hired as local employees to be paid in dollars.

In general, the AIDAR 722.170(b) requires that the compensation to

TCN/CCNs may not exceed the prevailing compensation plan, unless authorized by the Mission

Director.

Kindly provide the most recent

Local Compensation Plan.

Labor costs for CCN staff should not be based on the Embassy’s Local

Compensation Plan, but instead it should be based on local market research for similar positions.

3 H.15(c) Section H.15(c) of the RFP holds offerors to 5% annual salary increases. We respectfully request that the above-mentioned salary restriction be removed from the

RFP; it appears to be inconsistent with AIDAR 752.7007 Personnel

Compensation, incorporated in the

Section H.15(c) states that USAID will ONLY reimburse the contractor for one annual salary increase of not more than 5% of the employee’s base salary however, if the Contractor chooses to provide a higher salary increase percentage based on the

Contractor’s established policies and contract under Section I.1, which stipulates that personnel compensation be in accordance with the contractor’s established policies, procedures, and practices, with reimbursement subject only to the

USAID Contractor Salary

Threshold. The salary restriction above may preclude contractors from following their established policies, procedures, and practices, as required by AIDAR 752.7007 procedures, the percentage difference would have to be funded by the

Contractor and not by USAID.

SECTION I - CONTRACT CLAUSES

4 I.4 Please clarify whether Section I.4 should apply to this procurement.

It does not apply and is being removed through Amendment 1.

5 I.14 Please confirm that SF-1034 may be submitted electronically and, if so, please revise Section I.14 accordingly.

Yes, it should be submitted electronically.

SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

6 L.6.b and

L.6.c

Please confirm executive summary does not count towards the 30-page limit for the Technical

Proposal?

Yes, the executive summary is not included in the page limit.

7 L.6.c Please clarify the penultimate item that appears in the bullet list on p.92 (“Small Disadvantaged

Business participation program targets information (per Section

L)”) that deals only with one specific sub-set of small businesses. This seems to be redundant as the required

This will be removed in Amendment

1.

information will be included in the

Subcontracting Plan and will also be addressed in the Small Business

Subcontracting Strategy (per the last paragraph on p.93).

8 L.6.c The Small Disadvantaged Business participation program targets information is listed as not included in the page limitation, but it is not indicated where it should be provided in the Technical

Proposal. Please confirm if Small

Disadvantage Business participation should be in its own separate annex.

This annex has been removed from the technical application requirements.

9 L.6.c.5 It is mentioned that “The PWS must include the following components in the PWS/Technical

Proposal…. A summary chart listing proposed interventions to achieve the objectives, the name of any sub-partner implementing the intervention (if known), period of performance and proposed geography. USAID encourages innovation and new approaches to achieve the objectives and results outlined in the SOO.

At this stage (proposal), is it necessary to show any type of agreement between the prime contractor and potential sub-contractors?

No.

10 L.6.c.5 It is mentioned that “The PWS must include the following components in the PWS/Technical

Yes.

Proposal…For each proposed intervention, additional information as follows…. A plan for coordinating the implementation of the intervention with the GOM at all appropriate levels.”

● Does the above mean that for all interventions the GOM has to be one of the stakeholders or counterparts?

● Could there be interventions in which the counterparts are only

NGOs and/or state governments and/or private sector associations?

Correction made through

Amendment 1.

For each proposed intervention, include “a plan for coordinating implementation of the intervention with the GOM, USAID, and/or other donor activities at all appropriate levels.”

11 L.6.c.5 Is the PWS expected to include any other elements in addition to those outlined on p.93?

Please refer to L.6.c.5 for instructions of what the PWS must include at a minimum.

12 L.6.c.5 Please confirm that no Technical

Approach is required in addition to the PWS.

Technical Approach and

Performance Work Statement (PWS) are considered interchangeable with no distinction made between the two.

13 L.6.c.6 It is mentioned that “USAID neither requests nor desires exclusivity agreements between offerors and proposed individuals and/or sub partners

● Can an individual or sub partner be part of different proposals with different offerors?

14 L.6.c.6 Please confirm that Small Business subcontracting strategy should be in its own separate annex.

Yes, the subcontracting plan should be part of the cost proposal, please see Section L.7.e.

15 L.6.c, L.6.c.6 and M.2

Sections L.6.c and L.6.c.6 require submission of Quality Assurance and Surveillance Plan (Annex A), Mobilization Plan (Annex E) and

Environmental Management Plan

(Annex F), however Section M.2 does not specify under what criteria and how these plans will be evaluated. Please clarify.

The Quality Assurance and

Surveillance Plan (Annex A), Mobilization Plan (Annex E) and

Environmental Management Plan

(Annex F) will not be evaluated.

16 L.6.c. 6 Section L.6.c.6 states “Annex B -

Resumes: Offerors may – though are not required to – provide

Curricula Vitas (“CVs”), letters of commitment, and contact information for the other key personnel positions.”

Please confirm that resumes are required for the proposed Key

Personnel only.

Yes, if the Offeror is naming key personnel at this time. Note, USAID is only evaluating key personnel positions.

17 L.6.c Annex F Annex F- Environmental

Management Plan requires the offeror’s to provide “illustrative budget for implementing the environmental compliance activities.” Please confirm all cost and budgetary notes should be in the Cost Volume and not in the

Technical Proposal.

18 L.6.c and

L.7.e

Please clarify whether the Small

Business Subcontracting Strategy shall be an annex to the technical proposal.

No, the subcontracting plan should be part of the cost proposal, please see

Section L.7.e.

19 L.7.a (6) Instructions for the preparation of the cost proposal requires that

“L.7.a (6) The Offeror must not include burdened rates in its budget or subcontractor budgets.

The Offeror must break down all

This restriction is not eliminated.

Offerors must include unburden rates.

direct and indirect costs to their component parts.”

We respectfully request eliminating this restriction as it would limit our ability to work with small businesses who usually work under firm fixed price subcontracts formed using fixed daily rates.

20 L.6.c.6 Please confirm that each resume in

Annex B is limited to three pages.

Yes, see section L.6.c paragraph IV, resumes should not exceed three pages.

21 L.6.c and

Annex B -

Resumes

Please confirm that submitting resumes (for the COP and any other key personnel) is optional.

Yes, submitting resumes is optional.

22 L.6.C Section D. 4 of the solicitation states that “As laid out in F.6.4 below, the Contractor will prepare the Branding Implementation Plan and Marking Plan as part of an overall communications strategy post award”.

However, Section L.6.c lists

“Branding Implementation Plan and Marking Plan” under the list of

Annexes (IV. Annexes) and further as Annex G on page 97.

Kindly confirm that Branding

Implementation and Marking Plans are not required with the technical proposal and will be required at the post award stage.

Sentence on Section D.4 is being removed through Amendment 1.

23 L.7.c Is a proposed fixed fee schedule required with the proposal?

Yes.

24 L.7.c Would USAID consider allowing offerors to include technical milestones in addition to indicator targets for the purpose of the 75% of the fixed fee payments that are

NOT tied to Section F.6 deliverables?

No, technical milestones may not be used in addition to indicator targets for the purpose of the 75% of the fixed fee payments.

25 L.7.c If a fee schedule is required with the proposal, can offerors submit only a Year 1 fee schedule with the proposal and after award submit a proposed fee schedule annually?

It’s difficult to predict accurate indicator targets for the life of the

Activity this far in advance.

No, the fee schedule should include indicator targets for the life of the contract.

26 L.7.c Please clarify the following statement on p.101: "Grants Under

Contract: The Offeror may propose an alternative form of financing and payment for GUC costs."

For example, some Offerors have a letter of credit and may propose to use this to finance GUCs as well as other methods of financing.

27 L.7.c Section L.7.c. Part 2- Proposed

Cost/Prices” requires submission of “Biographical Data Sheets are required for any individual specifically identified in the cost or technical proposal to allow for a cost analysis of the proposed daily rate.”

Would USAID consider requiring biographical data sheets only for key personnel and not for non-key personnel?

28 L.7.d Requiring all subcontractors to complete Section K would unnecessarily create excessive burden for any smaller Mexican subcontractors who are unfamiliar with USAID. We kindly request that USAID only require completed Section K from major subcontractors.

No.

29 L.7.j Please confirm that per Section

L.7.j Part 9 (Listing of all subcontracts, sub awards and resource partners), offerors should only include their proposed partners for the ProIntegridad activity.

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

30 M.2 Factor 2 of the evaluation criteria mentions “management and staffing plan” will be evaluated.

Section L.6.c.6 does not mention staffing plan. Please clarify if the staffing plan is required as a separate component of the technical proposal?

Yes. The Management Plan and

Staffing Plan are the same as the

Management Plan, which is a separate component of the Technical Proposal.

No distinction is made between the two.

ATTACHMENTS

31 J.1 SOO Page 7 of the SOO states, “The

Contractor must set aside a minimum of 10 percent of its total budget to provide Grants

Under Contracts (GUCs), most of which will go to entities within the local system.” The RFP does not include a GUC earmark. Can

USAID clarify that the GUC resource level should be established by the contractor based on its strategy?

Yes, and as stated in the SOO, the

Contractor must set aside 10% of its total budget for GUCs.

32 J.1 SOO It is mentioned that “the activity will work with select federal

GOM institutions, national private sector associations and civil society organizations and/or networks, and in four to five priority states”. In addition, it is mentioned that “

At this stage (proposal), is it necessary to show any type of commitment from the proposed counterparts (e.g. Memorandum of Understanding, etc.)?

33 J.1 SOO It is mentioned that “USAID expects the majority of the work will take place at the state level”

Is there an expected ratio of the work to be performed at the state level vs national level (e.g. 70% /

30%)?

34 J.2 Budget

Template

The budget template (J.2) does not have a line for grants. Does

USAID have a preference as to which major line item this be added under? Or should it be added as a separate major line item?

Offerors may add a separate major line item.

35 J.2 Budget

Template

The consolidation budget template appears to show a fixed fee of 2% on grants (although the formula is broken). Can offers propose a different fee percentage for grants?

Yes, offerors can propose a different fee percentage for grants. The percentage contained by mistake in the template has been deleted.

36 J.2 Budget

Template

In the consolidation budget incorporating subcontractor costs, how should offerors account for small, fixed-price subcontracts such as office security where we don’t have a detailed breakdown of subcontractor costs by line item since it’s fixed price?

Similarly, how should we account for funds budgeted for future subcontracts where we don’t have a detailed breakdown of subcontractor costs?

Offerors should estimate these costs to the best of their ability.

37 J.2 Budget

Template

In the detailed budget template, line 7 is labeled “Contractual” and includes both Subcontracts and Consultants. In the consolidation and summary

The major category is called

“Subcontracts”, consultants are part of it.

budget templates, it is labeled

“Subcontracts.” Which is correct?

38 J.2 Budget

Template

J 2 Budget Template - If Offerors propose a Grants Program, can the Offeror insert a row in each the Detail, Summary and

Consolidated Budget by Major

Cost Category sheets?

Yes.

39 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section IV Summary Table , should Offerors populate the column “Initial Number

Proposed” with the number of personnel in each position?

Given that there is a column

“Position”, should Offerors insert rows for each position title?

Yes.

40 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section IV, Tables B and C column “Unit Cost (Salary)” – should Offerors complete this column with the proposed annual salary, current annual salary or proposed daily rates?

Offerors must complete this column with the proposed daily salary.

41 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section IV, Tables B and C column “Justification” – Should this column be populated with rationale for the proposed candidate, the proposed rate, or the deviation between proposed and current rate?

The “justification” column is to justify any deviation, if any, between the proposed daily rate and the current market rate for an individual.

42 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section VI, Allowances, Summary of

The unit cost column on the table called “Summary of Proposed

Allowance Costs Per Individual” should contain the cost for life of the

Proposed Allowance Costs Per

Individual – Should this table be populated with the values from

Year 1 or all five years of the contact? If all five years of the contract, should the Unit Cost column be populated with the

Year 1 unit cost or the average over the full five years?

contract (5 years).

43 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section VII, Travel, A. Proposed

Programmatic Travel for Year 1, second table – could USAID confirm the Proposed Cost column is only for Year 1?

Yes.

44 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section VII, Travel, B. Proposed

Entitlement Travel – could

USAID confirm this table is for

Year 1 only?

Table B. Proposed Entitlement Travel is for all years of the contract.

45 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J 3 Budget Narrative Template -

Section VII, Travel, D. Proposed

Other Travel Costs – Should

Offerors complete this table for

Year 1 only or the full 5 year period of performance? If the table covers more than one year, should the Unit Cost column reflect Year 1 or the average unit cost over the period?

Table D. Proposed Other Travel Costs is for all years of the contract.

46 J.3 Budget

Narrative

Template

J.3 Budget Narrative Template-

Section IX Other Direct Costs, Table A Proposed Other Direct

Costs for Year 1. – The row labels do not reflect the budget template exactly, can Offeror’s present this table in the same

Yes, the referenced labels are examples only of what ODCs are.

format and matching order of cost elements as the budget?

47 J.7, J.9, J.11 Could USAID provide the QASP, Subcontracting Plan, and PPI form in Word? (Annexes J-7, J-9, J-11)

Yes.

48 J.10 As the past performance matrix is not printer-friendly (the table stretches over multiple pages and some of its columns would feature disproportionally more text than other columns), please allow offerors to select a different reader-friendly format to present the required past performance information. Please note that we have encountered this past performance matrix requirement on several USAID RFPs both from USAID/Washington and from missions. After pointing out this problem, USAID has always agreed to revise this requirement.

Please use the provided template.

Proposals are to be submitted electronically so it does not matter that it is not printer-friendly.

OTHER QUESTIONS

49 SF-33 Should offerors fill out blocks

12-18 in a blank Standard Form

33 or will USAID provide a

Standard Form 33 with some of the blocks already filled out?

Offerors must complete Standard Form

33, Blocks 12 through 18 as stated in

Section L.4 of the Solicitation.

50 Cover page USAID/Mexico intends to award a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF)

Completion-type contract for a four-year base period from the date of award, with one one-year option period with a total estimated cost of $15 million.

Can USAID please confirm that the $15 million estimated cost includes the option year?

51 Other What is the expected start date?

The anticipated start date is October

2021.

52 Other Could USAID make the current

FSN pay scale available to

Offerors?

Labor costs for CCN staff should not be based on the Embassy’s Local

Compensation Plan, but instead it should be based on local market research for similar positions.

[END OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS]

[END OF ATTACHMENT 2]