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Question and Answer Table Clusters, 2018 – SBA, OED 73351018R0015
| 1-Are all Offerors required to be small businesses for the listed NAICS code? |
| 1-Offerors must be small businesses for the listed NAICS code – and so registered in SAM (System for Award Management) - to be eligible to be the awardee for the two awards that are set-aside for qualified small businesses. However, it is estimated that five other awards will be made that will be competed full and open – meaning, that all offerors, whether big, small, an institution of higher learning, or a non-profit organization, can compete for these additional five awards. Small businesses that do not receive one of the two set-aside awards will also compete for the additional estimated five awards being competed full and open. |
| 2-Is just the continental United States included for the cluster work location or is the possible location the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii? Are territories, such as Puerto Rico, eligible locations for cluster work? |
| 2-Locations are eligible for all states, for Puerto Rico, and for U.S. territories serviced by the SBA. |
| 3- Offeror’s non-profit is registered for a different NAICS code than the one cited in the Combined Synopsis / Solicitation. This offeror non-profit is registered for the NAICS code for Manufacturing Research. Is this non-profit eligible to reply to this solicitation? |
| 3- The non-profit organization would be eligible to reply to this solicitation only if it adds the NAICS code 541690 to its representations and certifications found in SAM (System for Award Management). If the non-profit organization adds this NAICS code, it would be eligible for one of the awards being competed full and open. Note that the SBA has awarded cluster contracts in the past to institutes of higher learning and non-profit organizations that were registered for this NAICS of 541690. |
| 4-Is a cash match required for this solicitation? If so, what percentage or amount? |
| 4-No cash match is required for this solicitation. In fact, a cash match is not understood in the context of this solicitation. This solicitation is for a firm-fixed, not-to-exceed priced contract. |
| 5-Vendor has registered its email on fbo.gov. Will vendor receive email update? |
| 5-The SBA is not sure if vendors who register on the fbo.gov website receive email updates. The SBA recommends that vendors/offerors check this announcement regularly to be sure it has not been modified. |
| 6-Is it correct that the SBA is looking to create new Cluster Service Centers? |
| 6-SBA is not sure of the specific meaning for “Service Centers” as the performance-based statement of work (SOW) does not use that terminology. Please read the OVERVIEW section of the SOW (p. 1) to see what the SBA means by “cluster initiatives.” The SBA is seeking to award 7 proposals for cluster initiatives with the award going to the offeror who will be the leader of the cluster initiative. |
| 7. Does the SBA have material from the other clusters that offerors could use or borrow in order to create a proposal? Is there a template for these proposals? |
| 7. The SBA does not have the requested material to make available nor a template to provide. Please write the proposal to the SOW. Also, look carefully at the Provisions which tell how the proposals will be evaluated. |
| 8-Can a non-profit organization submit a proposal and be an awardee? |
| 8-Yes, a non-profit organization is not a small for-profit business, and it can propose for the five awards that are being competed full and open. |
| 9-How should a proposal be structured? Is there a document that explains how to format a response? |
| 9. There is no document as to how to format or structure a proposal. Please write to the SOW requirements and also consider how the proposal will be evaluated. Evaluation is explained in the Provisions of the Contract Clauses and Solicitation Provisions document. |
| 10-According to p. 7 of the #4 document (Solicitation provisions), “any exceptions or changes to the contract terms and conditions – one copy” need to be submitted as part of the proposal. Please confirm that this requirement applies only to the documents published with the solicitation. Are there any additional terms that an offeror needs to be aware of? |
| 10-If the offeror cannot agree to a statement in any of the published solicitation documents posted with this combined synopsis/solicitation, it should be stated in the exceptions or changes document. The documents to be looked at for this part of the requirement are the SF1447, SOW, any SOW attachments, the contract clauses, and any statement in the pricing schedule – as all of these documents will be part of any award. There are no other terms and conditions being referred to that are outside of the published documents. |
| 11-Is a budget justification or narrative required with the proposed pricing schedule? |
| 11-The Pricing Schedule has no page limitation to allow for “Cost Descriptions (Tasks to track Contractor’s Technical Approach) –include labor categories and rates, and other direct costs – as relevant”. A narrative or justification that breaks down the tasks the offeror intends to perform for the base year by estimated pricing will be helpful to the Government reviewers of the proposal. Prior to award the Government must find the pricing to be fair and reasonable. The Government is awarding the Awardee a not-to-exceed price of $500,000.00. Offeror should provide enough detail so that the Government reviewers can review the elements of the $500,000.00 price and determine if the pricing elements match the technical approach. A better proposal will provide relevant details. For instance, if the fees and rates are audited by HHS and come from the latest audit, please state that in the narrative. The offeror need not provide detail for the option years as that pricing remains unknown. |
| 12-Is it a requirement for the contractor to subcontract with small businesses if the proposed services can be provided by the Offeror in-house – by contractor staff? |
| 12-It is not a requirement for an offeror to subcontract with small business. It is a requirement to disclose what offeror intends to do in terms of subcontracting in the base year. Stated another way, if offeror is an other than “small for-profit business”, then the offeror must submit a subcontracting plan, as that is required by the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation). Offeror should state its estimated intentions for subcontracting with small business for the base year. There is no minimum-maximum requirement, but disclosure is required. A complete proposal from an offeror that is not a small for-profit business will include a subcontracting plan. |
| 13-What is the expected format and content of a subcontracting plan? |
| 13-There is no format and required content for a subcontracting plan. The requirement can be met by a simple statement and an estimated amount for subcontracting, if any, in the base year. |
| 14-Can an institution’s policy as it relates to subcontracting serve as the subcontracting plan. |
| 14-Yes, such a subcontracting policy can serve to inform the subcontracting plan as an attachment, if it is in document form, or as a statement in the subcontracting plan document. |
| 15-Is it necessary or desirable for partners to fill out the past performance form? |
| 15-It is not necessary for entities other than the offeror to fill out the past performance form, but it may be desirable that potential subcontractors fill out past performance / past experience in that additional good past performance information can make the proposal stronger. |
| 16-For this contract, is there a specific percentage of the award or a dollar range required for the number or amount of money that must be contracted to small business? |
| 16-There is no percentage or amount that must be subcontracted to small business if offeror is other than a small for-profit business. Only disclosure of the plan to subcontract is required. Zero is an acceptable amount of subcontracting, if that is the plan. A proposal with zero subcontracting will not receive a lower or different rating because of a subcontracting plan with zero amounts. |
| 17-A specific regional cluster effort composed of businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations has been operating together as a region for several years. Will the SBA support institutionalizing such an effort? All of the effort thus far by this cluster effort is outside the regional clusters currently under SBA contract. Please confirm that this partnership could be an acceptable offeror and that the partnership does not need to be within one of the existing SBA clusters. |
| 17-Yes, the partnership described could be an acceptable offer. As noted in the SOW under 3B, CLUSTER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE, page 5, “a proposal will be ranked more highly that focuses on a regional cluster not being currently supported through active SBA contracts. SBA is looking for proposals that either embody a different sector or a different region than those initiatives currently being supported”. |
| 18-Are the required forms available as fillable pdf forms? |
| 18-No, such fillable forms are not available. |
| 19-Can you provide any guidance or any specifications for the narrative component of the proposal, such as spacing, margins, font size, page numbering, and any other requirements. |
| 19-All guidance for the formatting of the proposal is provided in the published Provisions. Proposals should be readable. 12 point font in a standard text such as Times Roman is a good choice. Any margins are acceptable. Spacing can be single or double. Please print on only one side of the page. |
| 20-Assume that an offeror organization has been incubated inside another organization, and has now spun out to be an independent organization with its own board of directors. Assume that this newly independent organization has not received its tax designation as a 503c3 organization. Will the fact that the tax designation is pending affect the rating of that offeror’s proposal? If so, should that offeror submit under the umbrella of a “fiscal agent”, and, if so, how is this procedure done? |
| 20-SBA doesn’t know about the fiscal agent method mentioned in the question, so don’t submit that way, but, rather, offeror should submit as its own entity. In its proposal, the offeror should provide honest information as guided by the SOW statements (in particular in 3B, CLUSTER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE, beginning on page 5 of the SOW). The maturity of the offeror’s organization, as shown by the statements in the SOW, may affect the rating offeror’s proposal receives by the evaluation committee. Tax status can be shown as pending for the 503c3 piece, and the proposal will not be rated less due to that component. |
| 21-This solicitation requires that offeror be registered in SAM for NAICS code 541690, Other Scientific and Other Consulting Services, in order to receive an award. Can a higher learning institution or non-profit organization register for this NAICS? Instead, can those organizations be registered for a different NAICS, such as a different but similar NAICS code in the 541 NAICS code family? |
| 21-An institution of higher learning or a non-profit can register for the required NAICS code. In order for an offeror to receive an award it must be registered in SAM for the required NAICS code. |
| 22-Can the project manager and project associates, in addition to the project management G&A-funded contract management requirement, also provide personal services outlined in the technical approach that can be directly billed to the contract? |
| 22-This method of pricing is not preferred because it can lead to abuse as to the decisions as to when personnel bill directly as opposed to being a part of the offeror’s overhead. If you choose to do this, be clear as to when a staffer is part of overhead and when the staffer’s time can be billed. Also, a better proposal would make clear what measures are in place to prevent any abuse. |
| 23-Can grant money be used at the discretion of the contractor intermediary to aid individual emerging businesses within the cluster in manufacturing a prototype? |
| 23-This action is a contract, not a grant, and no funding under this contract may be given directly to a small business other than under a subcontractual relationship to provide cluster initiative services towards this effort. The cluster initiative could, for example, subcontract with a prototype manufacturer and create a competition whereby a winning business could receive prototype services with the subcontractor. |
| 24-On the pricing schedule, should labor rates detail personnel’s fully burdened rate (e.g. hourly rate + fringe + G&A, or is listing the fully-burdened rate along with their estimated time working on the cluster sufficient? |
| 24-Either way of pricing will work. Remember that the awardee’s invoices must follow the method chosen. A better proposal will be clear and include sufficient detail so that the evaluators can determine that pricing is fair and reasonable. |
| 25-In the SOW, Section 4 – Key Personnel, it says the Technical Proposal shall identify “the estimated percentage of a full 40 hour work week each key personnel will work on this technical proposal.” Does “work” as it is used here refer to the general percentage of work the project manager, for instance, performs on the contract during its period of performance, or in drafting the technical proposal document submitted for solicitation? |
| 25-This requirement has nothing to do with time spent drafting the technical proposal. The SBA Program Office assumes that an awardee may have more than one client or piece of work. The SBA is interested in knowing the estimated percentage an awardee’s various key personnel will spend on the SBA cluster work, given the overall workload of the awardee. |
| 26-Is the NAICS code requirement specific to the 2 small businesses eligible for set-aside awards or all 7 awardees? And, similarly, is the $15M size standard only refer to the 2 small business awardees? |
| 26-Each Government acquisition has one main NAICS code with a size standard. The size standard for each NAICS code is officially determined and published. The NAICS code for a solicitation applies to all awardees. All awardees must be registered for the proper NAICS code in its representations and certifications. The size standard associated with a NAICS code assists a for-profit business in determining if it is small. |
| 27-Does an applicant who is not a small business, but rather competing for one of the full and open competed awards, still need to be registered for the 541960 NAICS code in SAM.gov. |
| 27-Yes. All awardees must be registered for the published NAICS code in SAM. Before award, the awardee’s representations and certifications will be checked to verify that the awardee is officially registered for this NAICS code. If the entity is not registered for the proper NAICS code, the award will go to a different entity that is so registered. |
| 28-There are a wide variety of services this entity could offer as a regional cluster initiative. Should this entity show everything it could do from early stage to incorporation, from large to small – or is it acceptable to focus on specific life cycle stages? |
| 28-The SBA Program Office cannot advise offeror how to write a clear and meaningful cluster proposal. Please review the SOW and respond in a manner that details what the cluster is about and how it can further small business development and the nation’s economy. |
| 29-Please advise on preferred formatting for the technical proposal and other submission documents in terms of font size, line spacing, margin, and so forth. |
| 29-See pages 7 and 8 of the Provisions. Please use a 12 point font and print on only one side of the paper. Any margin or line spacing is acceptable as long as the proposal and documents are easily readable. |
| 30-Do applicants need to sign up as an interested vendor on the fbo.gov website? |
| 30-No, it is not necessary to sign up as an interested vendor. Sometimes offerors sign up so that others can see that they are interested in a solicitation as there may be partnering opportunities. |
| 31-Do you have a sample contract package you can share with interested applicants? |
| 31-The SBA Program Office does not have a sample contract package to share. |
| 32-Acknowledging that offeror will submit hard copies to the given mailing address, does the offeror also need to file through any other electronic channels, such as SAM.gov? |
| 32-Only hard copies are accepted for this solicitation. No other electronic channels will be used. |
| 33-Is the subcontracting plan a requirement? If so, it is a requirement that offeror list the small businesses it will partner with, or that are included in the cluster work – or, alternatively, it is intended to be a subcontract to an entities that engage small business such as SBCD or a local chamber of commerce? |
| 33-The subcontracting plan is a requirement for an offeror that is not a small for-profit business. The plan can be a simple statement as to what percentage of the base award amount is estimated will be subcontracted to small business. Zero is an acceptable number, if that is the best estimate. |
| 34-How does an offeror handle a team application? Does the subcontractor or co-applicants also have to be small businesses? Do they need to demonstrate they have the required NAICS code? |
| 34-There can only be one offeror for each cluster proposal. One or the main offeror will receive the award and must be registered in SAM for the correct NAICS. A small business offeror must do a minimum of 51% of the award work. A better proposal will list partners and the partner function. A better past performance / past experience form will list the work of all entities that will be working for the offeror in performing the cluster work. |
| 35-Where in the proposal does an offeror indicate the R499 product code? |
| 35-An offeror need not indicate the R499 product code in the proposal documents. |
| 36-Is there a template or preferred format for the small business subcontracting plan? |
| 36-There is no template or format for the small business subcontracting plan. A better proposal will keep the plan simple and clear. |
| 37-If an organization does not have an approved indirect rate, what rate should be used? |
| 37-If the offeror does not have an approved indirect rate, provide the rate the offeror intends to use for this cluster work. A better proposal would briefly explain how this rate is determined and whether it is the best rate offered to offeror’s most favored customers. |
| 38-Are contractors permitted to offer stipends to partner organizations under this grant? |
| 38-This solicitation is for a contract and is not for a grant. Stipends are not allowed. However, an offeror can subcontract with another organization as part of its technical proposal. |
| 39-Is the Memorandum of Understanding under the Recommended Application Documents (page 7 of the SOW) between the contractor and SBA or is this a Memorandum of Understanding between the contractor and the subcontractors, in addition to having the Subcontracting plan. |
| 39-The Memorandums of Understanding under Recommended Applicable Documents on page 7 of the SOW has nothing to do with the Subcontracting Plan. If Offeror has Memorandums of Understanding with other entities, it is recommended that they be attached to the proposal to show the development and maturity of offeror’s operation. |
| 40-Is the cover sheet part of the page limitation. |
| 40-The cover sheet is not part of the page limitation. |
| 41-Does a table of contents counts against the page limitation. |
| 41-A table of contents does not count against the page limitation. |
| 42-On the Pricing Schedule there is the description and total columns. Does the offeror need to add columns to input labor categories, rates, and hours – or can offeror list task areas and the total amount in the table and then show the labor categories and rates separately. |
| 42-The Pricing Schedule has no page limitation. The Pricing Schedule states that “Contractor may add as many lines as necessary to calculate its pricing so that the SBA can view the details and rates that comprise the pricing.” That said, offeror is asked to provide relevant details of pricing so that the evaluating committee can find the pricing components which will comprise the $500,000.00 award to be fair and reasonable. Either method – adding descriptions and columns or attaching labor categories and rates – is acceptable. Details provided must be reflected in awardee’s monthly invoices – for example, same rates, same fees. |
| 43- Do subcontractor amounts need to be separated out on the Price Schedule? |
| 43-Subcontractor amounts need not be separated out on the Pricing Schedule. It is recommended that such amounts, if shown, be detailed as estimates. The total award will be $500,000.00, but contractor will be held to the fee rates and any other firm amounts provided. Use the word “estimated” or “best estimate” if that is, in fact, what is being provided. |
| 44-To whom should letters of support be addressed? |
| 44-Letters of support, as listed in 3b – CLUSTER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE of the SOW, |
may be addressed directly to the proposing entity or to the SBA.
| 45-The solicitation references the need to illustrate fair wage determination for the contract. As a firm-fixed price (not-to-exceed price) contract for professional services, is this required? |
| 45-A wage determination will be attached to the award for the county in which the awardee’s main place of business is located. The wage determination does not cover professional labor categories. The attachment is required. The wage determination does apply employees of the awardee that are not considered professional and whose wages may be a part of the determination of direct or indirect rates. |
| 46-The FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) speaks to the need for a percentage of work to be performed by 23% small business. Will that be a part of the grading criteria? Will an offeror be penalized which does not subcontract? |
| 46-The FAR reference is not a part of this solicitation. No such percentage is required. No such percentage will be a part of the grading process. No offeror will be penalized who does not subcontract. The proposal will be evaluated exactly as stated in the provisions. |
| 47-Referring to the project manager section on page 8 of the SOW, is it correct to understand that the project manager cannot have salary charged to the grant, but must have effort committed? Does this mean that matching funds are required for the project or that intuitional commitment is being considered in the proposal review? |
| 47-The project manager is a part of offeror’s overhead expense – and offeror cannot invoice separately for the project management function. This acquisition is for a contract award, not a grant. “Effort committed” doesn’t have a meaning that is understood by the Program Office. Matching funds are not a part of this solicitation requirement. “Intuitional commitment” doesn’t have a meaning that is understood by the Program Office. |
| 48-Offeror understands that in the base year the project manager’s salary cannot be included. Is this true of year two and beyond? Would the same rules apply for subsequent years? |
| 48-The same SOW will apply to the base year and each option years. The project manager’s salary can be included – as part of the overhead expense. For this contract the project manager’s time will be considered a part of the overhead fee and cannot be invoiced directly throughout the life of the contract. |
| 49-Offeror does not have time to submit a proposal. Has the cluster program historically solicited applications annually? Is there a cycle in which cluster contracts are competed? |
| 49-The cluster work is a budgeted item from the U. S. Congress. There is no known cycle as to when Congress will include funding for cluster services in the SBA budget. |
| 50-What have the annual contract amounts been for cluster incumbents? |
| 50-The amounts vary depending on the amount of funding approved by the U. S. Congress for the cluster work in the SBA annual budget. Annual amounts have been somewhere around $500,000.00 annually – sometimes as high as $600,000.00 annually, sometimes as low as $350,000.00. |
| 51-Being as seven separate contracts are scheduled to be issued for this opportunity, can a contractor be a prime on one proposal submission and a subcontractor on others? |
| 51-Yes, an entity can be the prime offeror for a proposal and a subcontractor on other proposals. |
| 52-What is the desired geographical reach of each cluster? Is it 50 square miles? Is it 200 square miles? |
| 52-There is no prescribed or desired geographical reach. A better proposal will state its expected geographical reach as part of its details. |
| 53- It’s clear that in the RFP (request for proposal) the SBA will look favorably on those proposals that focus on clusters in “rural areas”. Please define “rural area “ for purposes of this RFP. |
| 53-See the footnote on page 1 of the SOW for the best definitional detail that the SBA is able to provide. |
| 54-Is there any page limit for the information requested in the “Required Documents and Information of Offeror’ section in the SOW (pp. 6-7)? |
| 54-There is no page limitation for “Required Documents and Information of Offeror.” |
| 55-Is there a page limit for the information requested in the “Recommended Applicable Documents” section of the SOW (p. 7)? |
| 55-There is no page limitation for “Recommended Applicable Documents.” |
| 56-The RFP lists “Project Manager’ as Key Personnel and under the category description states that the “Contractor shall not bill SBA directly for the time and services of the Project Manager.” So, just to clarify, the SBA is requiring a Small Business vendor to provide a Project Manager and that manager is required to work for free? |
| 56-The Project Manager should be part of the overhead expense or fee that is part of the pricing schedule. The Project Manager should not work for free. A price that does not include recouping the cost of the Project Manager would risk a finding that the offered price is not fair and reasonable. |
| 57-The provisions state the proposal should include a narrative statement of no more than 5 pages for the Technical Proposal, Part 2. The SOW lists 6 criteria that will be used to evaluate the offeror’s proposal as to Factor 2. Are these points to be included in the narrative statement, or is the narrative statement a separate component of this section? |
| 57-Yes, the 6 criteria listed in 3b – CLUSTER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE of the SOW should be included in the narrative statement for the Technical Proposal, Part 2. The Provisions on page 7 provide that the Technical Approach (part 1 of offeror’s proposal) can be up to 10 pages, and that the statement of offeror’s cluster qualifications (part 2 of offeror’s proposal) can be up to 5 pages. The most important document to write a proposal to is the SOW. The Provisions provide a general statement of how proposals will be evaluated and rated. A better proposal will provide sufficient, clear language as to the proposed cluster and will incorporate sufficient detail to allow the evaluators to provide a comprehensive review and a fair rating. |
| 58-Are micro-awards (subcontracts given on a competitive basis to cluster companies) an allowable expense? |
| 58-Subcontracts given out by the offeror could be an allowable expense, but subcontractual expenses shall correlate directly to cluster initiative services. See response to Question 23. A better proposal would state in the narrative how the offeror intends to perform the cluster work – and include in the Pricing Schedule a best estimate amount for any subcontracts. |
| 59-Do minority-serving institutions qualify for a small business award (as they do for DOD and other agencies)? |
| 59-The only entities that will qualify for a small business awards are small for-profit business that are listed in SAM and confirm that they are small businesses for the subject NAICS code in their representations and certifications. |
| 60-Regarding the Past Performance / Past Experience form, do any contracts signed in the last 2 years with any funder qualify or must it be with the SBA or must it be with any government or the Federal Government? |
| 60-Any “Contracts & Projects in which Contractor Has Participated Within the Past Two (2) Years” qualify for inclusion on the form. There are no restrictions other than time. |
61-Is there a template by which SBA prefers to see proposals. If offeror did the following, would it work for the evaluators:
*Overview;
*Statement of Problem;
*Solution (Technical Approach I) – including a statement of work (focusing on leveraging Opportunity Zones and how the course of action will enhance opportunities for emerging businesses;
*Evidence of Effectiveness;
*Budget Overview; and *Staffing Plan?
61-There is no proposal template. A better proposal can be written a number of ways. Please respond to the SOW and respect the page limitations in the Provisions.
| 62- Offeror has contacted representatives of SBA and USDA about providing a letter for inclusion in our proposal indicating that offeror has contacted them about working with them during project implementation. They have responded that they cannot provide such a letter since it could be viewed as an endorsement. Will it be sufficient from a review and rating standpoint to list or mention them by name in our proposal as an entity that we intend to engage with during implementation? |
| 62-Yes, mentioning who you intend to work with and how the work will proceed would be good detail to include in the Technical Approach. Entities the offeror intends to work with can be mentioned by name. |
| 63-The FAR says that subcontracting plans are not required for contracts with a total value of less than $650,000.00. This offeror does not anticipate subcontracts for the life of the contract. Is a simple statement to that effect sufficient? |
| 63-Yes, please include a separate statement to that effect and label it as the Subcontracting Plan. There will be no penalty against the proposal for not subcontracting with small business as long as the disclosure is made as part of offeror’s proposal. |
| 64-Are previous recipients of cluster contracts eligible to receive an award? |
| 64-Yes, a previous recipient is eligible to response to the RFP and can receive an award if it is determined that the proposal is the best value to the Government. |
| 65-Offeror would like a copy of the webinar. |
| 65-The webinar visual slides are attached to this modification, along with this Q&A table. |
| 66-In preparing the narrative, is there a preferred font size, a preferred spacing (single or double), and a preferred method of printing. |
| 66-These matters are not mentioned in the Provisions. However, the proposal should be readable. The contracting officer (CO) recommends a 12-point font in a standard text such as Times New Roman. Single or double spacing is fine. Any margin setting is fine. Please print on only one side of each page. |
| 67-In preparing the budget – Pricing Schedule – can indirect costs be included? |
| 67-Yes, an offeror can include both indirect costs, direct costs, and a fee or profit. Just remember that this RFP is for a contract and an awardee will be held to the provided percentages for indirect rate, direct rate, and fees in preparing its invoice. If other costs in the Pricing Schedule are best estimates only, please so state. |
| 68-Is the SBA more interested in new geographic or new sector innovation cluster – or in the experience of the offeror and the cluster it proposes? |
| 68-The SBA is interested in strong proposals both for new geographic and new sector innovation clusters. The SBA is also interested in offerors with strong cluster experience and a developed business organization. See page 1 of the SOW. |
| 69-What is the role of the Opportunity Zone? If an offeror is located in an Opportunity Zone, is there a way to certify that location? |
| 69-Please refer to page 1 of the SOW and the link https://www.cdfifund.gov/Pages/Opportunity-Zones.aspx for more information on Opportunity Zone locations. The SBA understands that Opportunity Zones and the corresponding Opportunity Funds are new and guidance from the Department of Treasury is just being introduced. If an offeror is in an Opportunity Zone, please note that in the Technical Approach. Describe the zone and what has been done to formalize that zone location by the offeror, if anything. The Opportunity Zone is a positive factor in the proposal. |
Offerors may also indicate a strategy on how they would encourage investment into these areas, which could include, but is not limited to, the incorporation of investors into cluster efforts or marketing cluster small businesses to prospective operators of Opportunity Funds.
| 70-The SOW says that the offeror “must have the authority to bind together the existing regional cluster it proposes.” What does this mean? |
| 70-The full wording on page 6 of the SOW is, “Offeror shall demonstrate it has the authority to bind the existing regional cluster it proposes (as defined in Section 2- definitions), and the manpower and/or network to deliver the services indicated in its technical proposal…” |
This means that a better proposal will describe the connections that offeror currently has to the proposed cluster and how offeror plans to accomplish the cluster work, with an eye toward providing details that show that the offeror has the ability to perform the cluster work described in its Technical Proposal over the next five years.
SBA Clusters - 2018 – Questions and Answers – 73351018R0015 Page 12 of 12
