Solicitation Questions v.2 - Final.pdf

Questions:

1.What is Cost Direct and what is ODC? Can the government provide examples of each?

Response: Costs that can be directly tied to a contract are considered direct costs of that contract. Other Direct Cost (ODC) include costs such as travel, audio visual, and meeting materials like name badges, and table tents.

2.Are event supplies costs such as name badges and lanyards for the in-person events cost direct?

Response: Yes, name badges and lanyards are considered other direct cost.

3.Please confirm if the government-furnished venue will have in-house video capabilities for streaming content to a virtual platform. If not, will the government expect the awardee to provide video and streaming capabilities?

Response: Yes, the government-furnished have in-house video capabilities for streaming content to a virtual platform.

4.The government mentioned that part of the contractor’s role may be asked to research and suggest tools, such as a virtual platform for remote/virtual audiences for virtual or hybrid events. Does the government already have a preferred platform for registration, website, and virtual platform or is the government open to other platforms? Confirm if the contractor should list the virtual platform or a preferred platform that we have used as an ODC under this contract?

Response: The government has a list of approved virtual platforms, and registration systems. An updated list may be available at the time of award. All platform and registration cost will be billed under ODCs.

5.Is this a new requirement or is there an existing contract that is being re-competed?

Response: This action is being re-competed.

6.If re-competition, who is the incumbent on the current contract?

Response: Previous award number is 75N95019C00023 and the incumbent Rose Li & Associates, Inc.

7.What is the value of the current contract?

Response: The current award base plus all options is $13,888,699.10.

8.Is the current contract similar in scope, duration, and magnitude?

Response: Yes, the current contract is similar in scope, duration, and magnitude to the current contract.

9.Will the government consider the past performance of a subcontractor in its evaluation of risk?

Response: Pursuant to page 67 of the RFP, “Offerors may also submit past performance information regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to the instant acquisition. For the purposes of this solicitation, a "major subcontract" is defined as a subcontract award in excess of $500,000.”

10.What weight will be applied to past performance during evaluation?

Response: Past performance is not weighted.

11. Please clarify the key personnel categories; shall the contractor name one key personnel designee per category, or is the category itself considered key (including any staff who may be assigned to that category)?

Response: The Project Director, Senior Meeting/Conference Director and IT/Virtual Technical/Support positions are considered Key Personnel. If you have a different title for these positions, provide a crosswalk.

12. Are there limitations regarding subcontractor award types (i.e., CPFF, T&M)?

Response: There are no limitations regarding subcontractor award types.

13. Please clarify the usage of the term “references” regarding resumes in this context. Should the resumes contain a list of projects with conference planning activities similar to those required under this Statement of Work or should resumes include actual references (names and contact information) to clients/individuals who can confirm conference planning activities?

Response: Resumes of Key Personnel

14. May we provide the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT®) as an appendix to the technical proposal (outside of the 30-page limit)?

Response: The VPAT® can be included in the technical proposal as an appendix.

15. May we provide a letter of commitment from our subcontractor as an appendix to the technical proposal (outside of the 30-page limit)?

Response: The letters of commitment from subcontractors can be included in the technical proposal as an appendix.

16. Please confirm the Attachment 8, Technical Proposal Cost Summary and Attachment 9, Summary of Related Activities are not included in the 30-page limit. Please also confirm that the cover is not included in the 30-page limit.

Response: Attachments 8, 9 and cover page are not included in the 30-page limit.

17. Attachment 5 Sample Small Medium and Large Meeting Revised.docx Color copies; Approximate number of pages per packet: 1, Page 4 - Please confirm there is only 1 page in this packet.

Response: The government has limited printing event materials. Therefore, most often it’s 1-3 pages.

18. Should a JV submit a Financial Statement for the lead partner only?

Response: JV should submit a Financial Statement for both partners.

19. Section 5 Qualifications of the Offeror Section d. Pertinent Contracts: Is it acceptable to reference the information that will be provided within Past Performance?

Response: It is acceptable to reference the information that will be provided within Past Performance.

20. Would the agency be willing to provide an extension?

Response: The Agency is unable to provide an extension at this time.

21. Is there an incumbent? If yes, who is the incumbent? If yes, what is the contract number, contract value, Period of Performance?

Response: The incumbent is Rose Li & Associates, Inc.

Contract No.: 75N95019C00023

Contract Value: $13,888,699.10

Contract POP: 06/06/2019 through 06/05/2024

22. In the Business Volume, section 8 Qualifications of the Offeror, d. Pertinent Contracts on page 91: we must list related contracts within the last 3 years. Please confirm that the Past Performance requirement is 5 years.

Response: Past Performance requirement is 3 years.

23. Will the government consider extending the proposals to 5/24/202?

Response: The Government is unable to extend the proposal due date at this time.

24. There is no other reference to the contractor handling food & beverage aspects. Will per diem F&B costs apply?

Response: Food and Beverage are not allowable conference expenses and therefore will not be covered under this contract. The government may ask that the contractor to look into individual pay lunch options.

25. Does the government have a timeline for the contract to abide by? Within (30) days of close of event?

Response: The government allows 60-90 days to close an event, travel cost, reimbursement and honorarium should be paid within 30 days of the conclusion of the event.

26. Will we be responsible for running the site after the event? If so, how long must the site be available?

Response: The contractor will be required to close out the meeting, not run the meeting site.

27. The eCPS site does not have this solicitation listed. Please provide guidance as to how we are to submit our proposal.

Response: eCPS now has the solicitation listed.

28. There are three sets of instructions for what should be included on the cover page. Can you please clarify which set of instructions to follow?

Response:

Page 57 – Page 57 provides instructions on preparation of the first page of the proposal, following the cover page. The first page reflects the first page with actual content.

Page 64 – Page 64 provides instructions on preparation for both Technical and Business proposals.

Page 83 – Page 83 is specific to vendors’ pricing proposal.

For the technical proposal please follow page 63 -64 paragraph 2. Authorized Official and Submission of Proposal. For the Business proposal please follow the more detailed instructions located on page 82-83 paragraph 2. Proposal Cover Sheet.

29. The RFP indicates that the Key Personnel required are a Single Principal Investigator, Other Investigators, and Additional Personnel. The statement of work identifies three different labor categories:

project director, senior meeting/conference director, and it/virtual technician. These are more suited to the requirements. Can you please clarify that the labor categories listed In the SOW vice the RFP are the correct key personnel?

Response: Page 81 of the RFP is standard language used in NIH RFPs, but offerors should propose labor categories they deem appropriate to perform the requirement. The Project Director, Senior Meeting/Conference Director, and IT/Virtual Technician positions are Key Personnel for this requirement. If your company has a different title for these positions, please provide a crosswalk.

30. What is the Government’s rationale for requiring labor rate/cost information in the technical volume when there is a price workbook required to be completed and submitted in the Business Volume?

Response: This form allows the evaluators to evaluate the appropriateness of proposed direct costs only.

31. Can you please explain what hazards would be expected on this project? This requirement seems tailored to scientific research, rather than meeting planning.

Response: There are no hazards expected.

32. As this is a meeting planning requirement, not a technical research requirement, should we instead provide other factors to support logistical meeting planning?

The SOW has been revised to remove Section J, Evaluation Criteria. The SOW has been revised via this Amendment to remove Section J, Evaluation Criteria. The evaluation criteria listed in section M - Evaluation Factors for Award are the criteria which will be used to evaluate proposals.

33. The evaluation criteria in this section differs from the evaluation criteria found in Section M of the RFQ. Can you please explain the rationale for evaluation criteria being listed in the SOW and Section M of the evaluation and clarify which set of evaluation criteria is being used to evaluate proposals?

Response: The SOW has been revised via this Amendment to remove Section J, Evaluation Criteria. The evaluation criteria listed in section M - Evaluation Factors for Award are the criteria which will be used to evaluate proposals.

35. Will the list of approved events provided at the beginning of each period include all 78 anticipated events? Will additional events be added throughout the option periods?

Response: An initial list of events will be provided; the list will be updated on a routine bases throughout the performance period.

36. Are the venues for all in-person events located in the DC metro area or throughout the US?

Response: The government owned facilities are in the Bethesda, MD area. The contractor may be asked to search for a non-federal venue outside of the Washington DC area on rare occasions.

37. Will we be asked to research and identify speakers for the events?

Response: No, a list of invited speakers will be provided by the COR or Event Organizer.

38. Are poster and/or exhibit management included at the in-person and/or virtual meetings? How many posters and/or exhibits

Response: The contractor may be asked to arrange for the rental, delivery, and set-up of poster boards, or to number the poster boards. The number of posters varies from meeting to meeting. Abstracts and other related information are typically collected as part of the registration process.

39. Can you share general specs for the DSMB meetings? Do they require more technical equipment than the other meetings?

Response: DSMB are virtual events, typically lasting two to four hours and run on a secured platform with the ability to have break-out sessions. The contractor will host the meeting, help move attendees between sessions, make general announcements and issue honorarium payment.

40. Where other than the registration website and meeting, conference, or workshop websites will the events be advertised?

Response: The government is responsible for additional advertising.

41. How many speakers are anticipated for Small, Medium, Large meetings? Are the noted Sponsored travelers equal to the speakers?

Response: The number of speaker/sponsored travelers varies for each events. However, for the purposes of this RFP have the number of sponsored travelers equal to the number of speakers.

42. Does the honorarium for attendees ($200) and guest speakers ($400) come from the ODCs are is this a separate budget item the contract will support?

Response: Honorarium for attendees and guest speakers should be proposed as ODCs.

43. Is non-government attendee travel support included in the ODCs or a separate budget line item?

Response: Yes, non-government attendee travel support is included in the ODCs.

44. If Federal Space is unavailable, will this contract support meeting room rental fees? Should our estimates be based on training in non-Federal space?

Response: For the purpose of estimating rental fees, Offerors should propose six room rental fees for up to 300 attendees.

45. What ODCs are included as part of the proposal or is the reference here "additional" to cover all ODCs? Is the “additional” ODC outside of what the proposal ODC will outline for services?

The SOW references ODC up to amount of $294K. Just based on the (5) Large Scientific meetings (2 are virtual) of 350-500 attendees and $294K in ODC would be $58,000 in ODCs (if I am reading this correctly).

ODCs required to support this proposal will include:

• Venue/Meeting Room Rental (if using non-government facility)

• Audio Visual & IT - including virtual platform fees

• Web hosting & registration

• Registration Materials/Printing

• Poster Board Rental

• Shuttle Services

• Transcription Services

• Science Writer Services

• Photography/Video Recording

• Facilitator Yellow highlights are all listed under the Management of Subcontracts page #5 of the SOW.

Response: Offerors are required to propose ODCs based on the scope of work. The Up to Additional Amounts identified on page 6 of the RFP are outside the proposed ODCs. The Up to Additional Amount will cover unanticipated ODCs beyond offeror’s proposed ODCs.

46. Travel Support: Contractor provides travel support for non-government attendees & speakers. Will the government be responsible for funding and coordinating travel for federal government attendees?

Response: Yes, the government will be responsible for funding and coordinating travel for federal government attendees.

47. General Requirements section B, 3rd paragraph refers to "financial transactions" for the registration site. Will there be registration fees charged to attend the events? If so, will captured fees go to offsetting event costs? Please provide clarification on the "financial transaction" reference.

Response: The government does not anticipate charging registration fees. Financial transactions will be for meeting attendees to be able to purchase a pre-ordered lunch.

48. Are video recordings expected to be edited if they are to be delivered by the close of one business day?

Response: No, the DSMB recordings do not need to be edited.

49. Approximately how many events and presenters for each are anticipated to need pre-recordings?

Response: This varies based on the availability of invited speakers.

50. Is 508-compliant closed captioning expected to be provided with each recording?

Response: Yes, 508-compliant closed captioning is expected to be provided for each posted meeting recording.

51. Does the registration and virtual platform need to be FedRAMP approved?

Response: Yes, registration and virtual platform need to be FedRAMP approved.

52. Please confirm that cover sheets and acronym lists are also excluded from the page limitation (i.e., excluded from the 30 pages).

Response: Yes, the cover sheets and acronym lists are excluded from the page limitation.

53. Please explain the applicability of the technical proposal instructions dealing with PubMed to the resulting contract.

Response: This is standard NIH language. The Contractor will only be required to include the applicable PubMed Central or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number when citing publications that arise from its NIH funded research.

54. Please confirm that the past performance requirement is for a list of the last 3 contracts completed during the past five years or currently being performed for a total of three (3) past performance information. Additionally, please clarify where the list of past performance contracts should be included.

Response: Past Performance requirement is 3 years. Section L paragraph 13 on page 67 of the RFP is revised via this Amendment to replace “five” with “three” years.

55. Please confirm that each proposal “volume” the cover page, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, and list of acronyms are required but excluded from page count for volumes specifying page limitations.

Response: The cover page, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, and list of acronyms are required but excluded from page count for volumes specifying page limitations.

56. Please confirm that Attachment 13 and 15 are to be completed and included Volume I – Business Proposal as Attachments

Response: Attachments 13 and 15 are to be completed and included Volume I – Business Proposal as Attachments.

57. Please confirm that Attachment 14 is provided for informational purposes and is not required to be included in Volume I – Business Proposal

Response: Attachment 14 is provided for informational purposes and is not required to be included in Volume I – Business Proposal.

58. Please confirm where Attachment 10 is to be included in the Proposal. If it is to be included in Volume II - Technical Proposal, please confirm it can be included as an Attachment and that it will it is not included in the page limitations of Volume II. If it is to be included in Volume I – Business Proposal, please confirm it can be included as an Attachment.

Response: Attachment 10 is to be included in the Proposal, in Volume II - Technical Proposal. It can be included as an Attachment and will not be included in the page limitations of Volume II.

59. Please confirm where Attachment 9 is to be included in the Proposal. If it is to be included in Volume II - Technical Proposal, please confirm it can be included as an Attachment and that it will it is not included in the page limitations of Volume II.

If it is to be included in Volume I – Business Proposal, please confirm it can be included as an Attachment.

Response: Attachment 9 is to be included in the Proposal, in Volume II - Technical Proposal. It can be included as an Attachment and will not be included in the page limitations of Volume II.

60. Please confirm that Attachment 8 is to be included in Volume II - Technical Proposal as an Attachment and that it will it is not included in the page limitations of Volume II.

Response: Attachment 8 is to be included in the Proposal, in Volume II - Technical Proposal. It can be included as an Attachment and will not be included in the page limitations of Volume II.

61. Since the registration fees are to be collected and used solely by the co-sponsor, please confirm that the co-sponsor is responsible for establishing a registration website and collecting the registration fees for events involving the co-sponsor.

Additionally, please confirm that for conferences or meetings that the contractor is collecting registration fees, the specified registration fee is intended to offset ODC-type expenses (i.e., conference site reservation deposits, room block deposits, printing, name tags, etc.). These registration fees are intended to offset the contractor’s incurred cost invoices to the government. The registration fees are not intended to include the direct labor for planning and managing the event.

Response: NINDS does not anticipate registration fees.

62. There are many requirements pertaining to security and EPLC in Article H.7 that are duplicative of the requirements in Section C, Article C.2 as well as those in Section L. Would the government consider deleting these requirements in either Article C.2 or Article H.7 and Section L?

Response: Article C, Section C2 refers to reporting requirements. ARTICLE H.7 includes the actual security requirements. Section L provides instructions for submitting a proposal.

63. “The Contractor shall have satisfied the requirement herein if not less than 90% nor more than 110% of the total direct labor Hours specified (and exercised by the Government) herein are furnished.”

Although the government provides level of effort estimates to reflect the plan workload for conferences and events, the actual level of effort may vary based on the actual size and complexity of the event. As the resulting contract is a cost-reimbursement contract, please clarify the government intentions regarding “if not less than 90% nor more than 110% of the total direct labor hours specified….”

Response: Fixed Fee is based on the contractor performing 90% - 110% of the total direct labor hours.

The Government reserves the right to renegotiate the fixed fee should the contractor for any reason not perform 90%-110% of the total direct labor hours.

64. Given that work will generally occur on government premises and facilities, and the contractor is providing computer equipment that does not rely on government systems or information technology equipment for support staff, would the government consider removing security requirements such as obtain an authority to operate (ATO), submission of a Security Assessment & Authorization (SA&A) package, a System Security Plan, Security Assessment Plan/Report (SAP/SAR), compliance with the Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC) processes, etc.? These requirements are typically mandates for systems development efforts, which the resulting contract is not.

Response: The security requirements are necessary since the contractor will be collecting and storing information on behalf of the government.

65. Consistent with FAR 52.216-7, please confirm that 8(a) contractors will be afforded the ability to invoice the government twice monthly for incurred costs (e.g., contractor’s direct labor and provisional indirect rates) and a provisional fee of at least 75% of the proposed fixed fee.

The solicitation provisions imply that the government intends to withhold a portion of the proposed fixed fee amount based on contractor invoices. However, the government also asks for contractors to propose a fixed fee amount based on the solicitation workload volume, which may or may not reflect the actual workload. Given that the actual costs and fixed fee cannot be determined given the uncertainty of actual workload volume and associated actual costs, does the government intend to withhold a portion of the fixed fee based on the actual tasking of conference and meeting support activities or of the total proposed fixed fee?

Response: Confirmed both FAR 52.216-7 and Far 52.232-20 are included in Section I page 41 of the RFP.

The Government intends to withhold a portion of the fixed fee based on the actual tasking of conference and meeting support activities or of the total proposed fixed fee.

66. Please confirm that the government is not providing government furnished equipment and property for the execution of the resulting contract.

Response: GFE is not being provided for this requirement.

67. Please clarify if the services to be provided during the optional three (3) month transition out period will sole focus on transition out activities or will the work required for transition out activities be in addition to normal conference and meeting support activities?

Response: The transition period is to be used to facilitate a smooth transition of work. New work/meetings are not started during this time.

68. Please confirm that for the purposes of this Contract, which is not a Grant, that the Proposed Principal Investigator is the Project Director.

Response: That is incorrect, the project director is a member of the contract staff. The government staff include the COR, COAC, event organizer and planning team/committee.

69. Please confirm that the estimated cost and fixed fee data required by the solicitation is merely for pricing evaluation purposes and that the total contract value may vary based on actual work performed and costs incurred.

Response: That is correct.

70. Given that “8. Qualifications of the Offeror” requires “d. Pertinent Contracts”, is the requirement for Offerors to include the requirements of “13. Past Performance Information within this section?

or

Are “8. Qualifications of the Offeror” and “13. Past Performance Information” separate requirements and should be responded to independently?

Response: Pertinent contracts refer to the extent of experience. Past performance refers to how well the organization performed, as evidenced through reference checks, CPARS, etc.

71. Article F.3 reflects a total level of effort of 74,520, but Section L reflects a total level of effort of 76,292. Would the government clarify which is the correct level of effort?

Response: 76,292 was not located in section L of the RFP.

72. The RFP page 96 states, subcontractors “complete cost proposal in the same format as the offeror’s cost proposal.” Does this require a subcontractor to submit a full “business proposal” equivalent to the prime with all applicable solicitation attachments or is the intent for the subcontractor to submit their own Attachment 12 Breakdown of Proposed Estimated Costs spreadsheet?

Response: Offerors shall submit an Attachment 12 Breakdown of Estimated Proposed Cost Spreadsheet for each proposed subcontractor.

73. Discussion: We have supported NIH meeting planning requirements contracts for over 20 years and have never seen requirements for FISMA Security, Assessment and ATO of the meeting planning contractor’s facility IT infrastructure. Article H.8.1 states that contractor shall be operating a Federal System Containing information which we assume is on Government site and will not be connected in way to the contractor’s facility and meeting planning systems. These requirements appear to be overly restrictive for an 8a prime’s facility and IT infrastructure based on the requirements in this meeting planning and logistical support SOW. Questions: Is this a requirement of the current incumbent and contract? Will FISMA Security, Assessment and ATO be required for all contractor and support vendor facilities performing work on this contract, or simply compliance with FISMA policies if there are task orders that require such requirements? Based on the meeting planning/logistical support requirements in the SOW, we are not seeing a requirement for FISMA Security, Assessment and ATO of the contractors facility and IT infrastructure, please clarify. If a FISMA inspection and contractor ATO for this contract scope is required, can you please explain the rationale behind this decision and modify the deliverable/reports timeline to be more in line with getting an ATO in place and FISMA’s backlog for inspections once a contract has been awarded to a contractor that requires inspection?

Response: FISMA is a current requirement of the current contract. The security requirements are necessary since the contractor will be collecting and storing information on behalf of the government.