RFQ No.72066821Q00038 Amendment P00001 Q&A.pdf

USAID - South Sudan Acquisition and Assistance (A&A) Support Services

RFQ # 72066821Q00038 Questions

# Questions/Comments Answers

1 According section C.2.1 Technical Quote, resumes in the technical proposal are “limited to a length of five pages each. Any pages beyond this will NOT be evaluated. Resumes must be legible, be submitted in either Microsoft Word of

PDF, and include up to three references.

Technical quotes must include a letter of commitment from each proposed Specialist.”

1. What is the page limit for Vol I -

Technical?

2. Will the page limit include resumes?

3. Will the page limit include letters of commitment?

1) Five pages per resume. Note that we have updated the requirements in the

RFQ for the technical quote to include a contractor-proposed work schedule.

2) Yes.

3) No.

2 According to section C.2.2, the total price is not inclusive of travel costs, for which pricing is not requested, and A.4 Place of Performance states that potential periodic travel may be required.

If the Government requires travel, will the

Government provide a cost reimbursable travel

CLIN to reimburse allowable travel costs?

References to travel have been removed as there is no present requirement.

3 The RFQ states that each specialist will provide

40 hours per week of A&A support, and that the total LOE is 2,080 hours per year, per specialist

(40 hours every week, all year--no holidays/vacation/sick leave).

1) Does "2,080 hours (of LOE)" mean productive LOE, or does it include leave?

2) May the contractor provide CO-approved replacement specialists when one of the specialists is on leave?

3) Does the Mission intend to pay for the specialists' time regardless of how much work is sent to the specialists? (e.g., as long as the specialists are available to the

Mission for 40 hours in a given week,

1) Productive. Fringe must be rolled into the loaded rates.

2) Yes. See the revised RFQ.

3) Correct.

they will be paid for 40 hours, even if they actually do less work?)

4 Does the Mission have an anticipated start date for this contract?

July 12, 2021

5 The RFQ states that "Specialists are precluded from additional support services to other clients throughout the term of this purchase order, including any option periods if exercised.":

-Would it be acceptable to the Mission if the specialists had to perform administrative tasks associated with the management of the company, assuming (1) that these tasks would be done outside of the 40 hour work week, and (2) that the other tasks did not involve a conflict of interest?

Yes. The preclusionary language does not apply to the periods outside of the required 40 hours for USAID/South Sudan.

Note that we have updated the requirements in the RFQ for the technical quote to include a contractor-proposed work schedule.

6 The RFQ states that resumes are limited to 5 pages each. The RFQ also requires letters of commitment.

1) Does the Mission expect that the total page limitation of the technical quote will be 5 pages, or is it really the page limit for each CV?

2) If the limitation of 5 pages applies only to each CV, does it include the letter of commitment?

May quoters submit a cover letter, or any other information besides the CVs and letters of commitment?

1) Each CV. Note that we have updated the requirements in the RFQ for the technical quote to include a contractor-proposed work schedule.

2) No, it is not included in the CV page limit.

Will all of the training, evaluation, and analyses referenced in the SOW be done remotely, or does

USAID anticipate one or more site visits to include interviews and documentation reviews?

Remote.

8 Is the contractor prohibited from supporting

A&A activities in other regions for USAID?

The Contractor as a whole, no. The two A&A

Specialists, yes but only during the 40 hours required by USAID/South Sudan.

Note that we have updated the requirements in the RFQ for the technical quote regarding the

40 hour work week.

9 If all the sessions will be remote, what assumptions can the offeror make about system and application configurations of hardware/software in Juba needed for remote learning?

The approved software currently used is the

GoogleMeet but also has access to other applications, like TEAMS, if web-based.

10 Is it anticipated that the spoken language will be

English?

Yes.

11 Does USAID anticipate any face-to-face meetings with the contractor selected, or will those sessions be remote?

Remote.

12 Is there a page limitation on the technical proposal?

See Q&A #1.

13 1). Does the government require a technical approach for the Technical Quote (or just resumes)?

See Q&A #1.

14 Travel.gov has issued a level-4 travel Do Not

Travel advisory for South Sudan (South Sudan

Travel Advisory (www.state.gov). Will travel be required considering this advisory? If so, how many trips does the Government anticipate per year (and during the life of the contract)?

References to travel have been removed as there is no present requirement.

15 Please confirm whether or not any anticipated

TDY travel will be no more than 90 calendar days?

16 Under Section C.2.2. Price Quote states total price quote shall not be inclusive of travel costs.

Please confirm that quoter shall not include travel costs, which is inclusive of the following:

airfare, per diem, taxis, visa, inoculations, security training, and medevac insurance?

17 Under Section A.5.1 Please confirm that access to USAID intranet is not required, and if required, please confirm whether or not USAID South Sudan will assist with gaining access?

Access to USAID Intranet will not be required or permitted.

18 Is there an incumbent? If there is an incumbent, what is the previous contract number and Total

Contract Value of the previous contract?

Field Focus LLC, #72066820P00027, $249,297.00

19 Section C.2.1 Technical Quote, Would the

Government consider 2 pages for the offeror to show its capabilities to manage the 2 Specialists and ability to operate in South Sudan?

No.

20 Under Section C.2.1 Technical Quote, is a Cover letter allowed and does it count against any page count?

No cover letter is required and it will not be evaluated if submitted.

21 Under Section C.2.1 Technical Quote; Is the

Letter of Commitment excluded from the limit of five pages per resume?

See Q&A #6.

22 Can the government please confirm that English is the working language in the Mission?

Correct.

23 “Under A.5.3 Specialist Minimum Requirements:

The following is highly desirable, but not mandatory: Previous experience as a warranted

Contracting and/or Agreement Officer” Only

FSOs (US Citizens) are warranted COs/AO, please confirm if this solicitation is open for

TCNs who are non-warranted?

Yes but neither of the Specialists will be functioning as warranted Contracting Officers.

25 “A master’s degree/JD, or equivalent, in law from an accredited US university” Most of the

TCNs do not have university degrees from accredited US universities, can you please clarify if they are qualified to be presented for those vacancies?

Yes. But note that the quoted test is not a minimum requirement but “highly desirable, but not mandatory”. The RFQ language remains unchanged.

25 Under C.2.2 Price Quote Pg. 21; Please confirm that these positions are remote, therefore, only costs related to salaries and benefits are allowed.

Remote.

26 RFQ page 2, Section A.5.1 asks for 2080 hours for each Specialist. Since the standard annual hours for an FTE is usually 1920 hours (to allow for 2 weeks of Federal Holidays and 2 weeks of

Paid Time Off to comply with Dept. of Labor laws), are we correct in assuming that these are expected overtime hours that will need to be delivered at the same hourly rate?

No. The Contractor will need to provide adequate coverage during which the assigned

A&A Specialists are on leave.

27 RFQ page 2, Section A.5.1 states: "...the

Contractor must ensure that such support services are available for a minimum of four (4) hours each Monday – Thursday during the Juba

Embassy working hours of 08:00 – 17:15 (except for holidays). The Juba Embassy hours on

Fridays is 08:00 – 13:00." Given the potential challenges with meeting the timing using staff working remotely in the US, is there a minimum number of hours required to be provided on

Fridays?

No but note that we have updated the requirements in the RFQ for the technical quote to include a contractor-proposed work schedule.

28 Is there an incumbent contractor currently performing this work? If so, what is the name of the company, what is the contract number, and what is the current staffing level?

See Q&A #18.

29 What is the expected frequency and duration of potential travel to South Sudan?

References to travel have been removed as there is no present requirement.

30 RFQ page 20, Section C.2.2, states: "For the purposes of the price quote, quoters should present fixed loaded daily rates on an hourly basis." Please clarify, when completing the Form

1449 for each Specialist and for each base/option year, should we use "2080" for QUANTITY, "$/Hour" for UNIT, our hourly rate for UNIT

PRICE, and the sum of the QUANTITY and

UNIT PRICE?

Yes.

31 We understand that travel is not to be included in the price quote; however, does the government have an estimated percentage of time for anticipated travel that can be relayed to Key

Personnel?

[END OF AMENDMENT P00001]