75F40122R00016 Questions and Responses.pdf

75F40122R00016 Questions and Responses

Relevant Experience:

1. Question: Section L.5.1.4 of the solicitation asks offerors to “provide detailed descriptions of five (5) relevant projects to collectively meet the requirements of this solicitation that are most similar to this effort in terms of type, scope, complexity and size.” According to the RFP “[c]omplex engagement and expertise include the management of activities for multiple concurrent Task Orders/Call Orders and/or locations.” The RFP explains that “[t]he list [of projects] may include contracts/order on which the Offeror served as a subcontractor, provided that the subcontract was similar in scope, duration, and price to this effort.”

Question: Can an offeror include task orders that it performed under an IDIQ as the prime contractor in its list of projects? Answer: Yes, per the instructions an Offeror can include task orders it performed under an IDIQ or IDIQ(s).

2. Question: Section L.5.1.4 of the solicitation states that “[a]t a minimum, three (3) of the five (5) projects shall be those performed by the Offeror as the prime, which is submitting a proposal in response to this solicitation.”

Question: This is a small business set aside and if the requirement is that the offeror must have 3 relevant IDIQ contracts (rather than task orders) of a similar complexity, scope, and size as this solicitation, we believe that requirement would be unduly restrictive of small business competition. If the requirement is for five contracts of similar size and complexity, will the Agency consider modifying this requirement so that only one (1) of the five (5) projects submitted must be performed by the offeror as a prime contractor? Answer: No, the requirement will not be modified for only 1 of the five projects as requested. Please re-review the terms and conditions of this section for exact verbiage used.

3. Question: On July 22, 2022, the SBA passed a rule that explains that a small business offeror may rely on the experience of a joint venture in which it is a member, provided it was involved in performance of the joint venture’s contract(s) and does not independently demonstrate the relevant experience or past performance necessary for award. Consistent with this rule, will the Agency clarify that an offeror that cannot independently satisfy the solicitation’s relevant experience requirements can rely on the relevant experience of a joint venture in which it was a member, and that that experience will be evaluated similarly to a prime-contract experience or past performance, as outlined in SBA’s rule?

Answer: Please refer back to Section: L.5.1.4 for the term and conditions/instructions addressing this question.

4. Question: 13 C.F.R. 125.8(e) explains that when evaluating the experience of an entity submitting an offer as a small business joint venture, the agency must consider relevant experience held individually by each partner to the joint venture as well as any relevant experience of the joint venture itself and that the partners to the joint venture in the aggregate must demonstrate the experience necessary to perform the contract. Consistent with this rule, will the Agency clarify that when evaluating the experience of an entity submitting an offer as a small business joint venture, the agency will consider relevant experience held individually by each partner to the joint venture as well as any relevant experience of the joint venture itself, meaning that a small business joint venture offeror

75F40122R00016 Questions and Responses will able to satisfy whatever minimum experience requirement the agency imposes on offerors (currently 3 of the 5 projects submitted), with experience from itself and its members? Answer: Please refer back to section L.5.1.4 of the solicitation as stated above and in the referenced section.

5. Question: There are numerous times in Section L, in which the instructions include the phrase ‘(excluding subsections).’ For example, L.5.1.3, includes the instruction:

“Element 1 – The Offeror shall provide a detailed narrative of its approach to perform TO 1 SOW Task 6.2 only (excluding subparagraphs) Project Management Plan. The detailed narrative shall include: ….”

TO 1 Task 6.2 has nine subparagraphs such as:

1) Project Planning

2) Schedule Management

3) Financial Management

4) Quality Management

6) The Contractor shall further include a copy of all active certifications

7) Organizational Change Management

8) Risk Management

9) Safety & Security.

Please clarify in this example whether the government is asking for one overall description of a Project Management Plan, or whether it expects a description of each of the nine subparagraphs listed. Please also make a general clarification about other places where the words ‘(excluding subparagraphs)’ is used. Answer: Please refer back to section L.5.1.3, first paragraph of the solicitation for the term and conditions/instructions addressing this question.

6. Question: The instructions are to submit the proposal documents as MS Word files. Adobe .PDF files are more stable and provide the tools for better formatting. Would the government allow documents (except MS Excel spreadsheets) to be submitted as .PDF files rather than MS Word files? Answer: Please follow the solicitation instructions for submission as written.

7. Question: This solicitation is very large and complex. Responding is a major challenge for any small business. Would the government extend the due date by a week to Friday, September 9? If that is not feasible, would the government be able to extend the due date to COB Monday, September 5? Answer: The solicitation response date has been amended to reflect September 5, 2022.