Final_RFP_QUESTIONS_(3-23-18)(Amend_2).pdf

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER

RFP 80NSSC18R0025

AGENCY ACQUISITION SUPPORT SERVICES

The answers provide herein are for clarification only and DO NOT constitute an amendment to the solicitation.

Q1. Does the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation under solicitation number 80NSSC18R0025 contain requirements similar to a current contract? If possible, please provide the current contract number. Or, is this a new requirement for the government?

A1: The current contract in support of this requirement is NNX13AA08C. While the requirements are similar, there have been significant changes made to the PWS, contract structure and pricing model.

Q2. RFP Page 31, Volume I, Staffing, Recruitment and Retention – In addition to the resumes being excluded from the page limit, can signed commitment letters also be excluded from the 15-page limit?

A2. Yes. Amendment 2 will reflect this change.

Q3. RFP Page 31, Volume I: Mission Suitability – Phase-in Approach. The paragraph states that a project schedule and key milestones must be included, but then states “Also in this section, the

Offeror must address….schedule for completion, to include key phase.” Are the project schedule and key milestones requested in the paragraph different from those requested in the bullet, or do the three bullets just expand on what should be in the phase-in approach/plan?

A3. This section has been updated via Amendment 2 to clarify.

Q4. PWS Page 12 – What are the primary functions of the two Key Personnel positions?

A4. The Key Personnel under the resulting contract are responsible for effective management of the contract for both the Core work (Closeout) and individual task orders (Acquisition Support) issued by each NASA Center. Offerors should have a clear understanding of how they intend to use their key personnel in the effective management of this contract.

Q5. As non-billable resources, are current Key Personnel overseeing work or performing management functions regarding hiring, placement, employee evaluations, contractual reporting, etc.?

A5. The Key Personnel under the resulting contract are responsible for effective management of the contract for both the Core work (Closeout) and individual task orders (Acquisition Support) issued by

Q6. What are the roles and responsibilities that NASA envisions for the two Key Personnel?

A6. The Key Personnel under the resulting contract are responsible for effective management of the contract for both the Core work (Closeout) and individual task orders (Acquisition Support) issued by

Q7. Original Question and Answer 11 noted that the COR will be at NASA HQ. Original Question and Answer 53 noted that current Key Personnel are onsite at Stennis Space Center. With the COR located at NASA HQ, is it more important to NASA to have the Key Personnel be able to interact in-person with the COR in Washington or be located in the field? What level of interaction is envisioned for the IDIQ COR versus a Task Order COR?

A7. NASA will not dictate to offerors how they should posture key personnel. An Offeror, as part of its proposal, shall provide a staffing plan that demonstrates the offeror’s approach for ensuring commitment of key personnel in the management of the contract, to include the extent of their availability, and company commitment (e.g., percentage of time, duration of time on the contract). There is no expectation that key personnel be located in Washington DC. The vendor can position key personnel onsite at the

NSSC (Stennis Space Center, MS), Washington D.C., or a remote location offsite.

Q8. Different than quality assurance of the overall contract, who currently provides quality control over contractor acquisition work products? What are NASA’s expectations for quality control over acquisition work products under this IDIQ?

A8. NASA expects the vendor to provide qualified individuals that can support the requirements outlined in the PWS.

Q9. Are the current incumbent employees all located onsite? If not, what is the percentage of incumbent employees onsite versus offsite?

A9. Yes, incumbent are all located onsite at each Center. This construct is not required under solicitation 80NSSC18R0025. Offerors may proposed an approach that include offsite personnel, or a consolidation at a single location (e.g., NSSC).

Q10. Please identify where the Government desires the DRD-10 document to be located.

A10. DRD-10 references the Phase-In Plan. The Phase-In Plan is part of Mission Suitability, Volume I

(Please see Page 31 of the RFP. The Phase in Plan is listed as MS-2).

Q11. The Government stated that the Volume I Mission Suitability is 15 pages excluding resumes.

Please confirm the DRD #10 Phase-In Plan (PWS 4.11) is also excluded from the 15 page limit.

A11. The Phase-In Plan is part of Mission Suitability, Volume I, and is included in the 15 page limit.

Q12. Please confirm the signed personal commitment letters do not count against the 15 page limit for Mission Suitability.

A12. Yes. Amendment 2 will reflect this change.

Q13. In Attachment B – Price Schedule, one of the locations listed is “IV&V (West Virginia)”;

however, there is no WD provided for this location in Attachment H – SCA Wage Determinations.

Can you please provide the WD for the IV&V Fairmont, WV location?

A13. Attachment H has been revised to include the missing wage determinations.

Q14. According to the Department of Labor and individual area Wage Determinations, employees are entitled to leave commensurate with their seniority on the program. In order for all companies participating in this RFP to have equal advantage, we are requesting that you provide a list of the number of employees at each location and cumulative years of seniority in their position(s) so this can be factored into our proposals. We are concerned that without this information publicly distributed to all potential respondents, the incumbent company has insider knowledge and is given an unfair advantage.

Example of the information requested:

Labor Category Location Number of Incumbent Employees Years in Position

Administrative Assistant II IV&V Fairmont, West Virginia 3 1-4

Administrative Assistant II IV&V Fairmont, West Virginia 1 5-14

Administrative Assistant II IV&V Fairmont, West Virginia 0 15

A14: The Government will not provide incumbent employee names and leave information.

Q15. Should Goddard’s WD be 2015-4282? On the cover of Attachment H, it still is listed as 2015-

4281.

A15. That error was corrected in Amendment 1 to the solicitation

Q16. There is a calculation error in the totals in Tab B-1, Column S in Attachment B. It appears the totals in Column S (Cells S6 to S34) adds the totals from Column Q (Option Year 4) twice.

I have copied the formula in cell S6 for reference, please note it calculates cell Q6 twice.

=E6+H6+K6+Q6+N6+Q6

A17. Attachment B has been revised to reflect the correct formula.

Q17. Answer #53 in the Amendment 1 RFP Questions states, “As this is a best value procurement, elements in the offeror’s proposal that exceed the performance levels outlined in the PWS will be incorporated into the final contract and included as part of quality assurance activities.” Can the

Government provide examples of what types of “elements” of offeror proposals could exceed PWS performance levels?

A17. The contractor will be accountable for ensuring it delivers on that approach regardless if the PWS allows for a lower standard.

Q18. In Answer #60 in the Amendment 1 RFP Questions, the Government states that “The cost of key personnel shall not be a direct charge to the Government.” Does the Government anticipate that Contract Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager duties are full-time duties? Or can part of the Contract Program Manager’s and Deputy Program Manager’s time (if they are performing on-site acquisition-related work) be a direct charge to the Government?

A19. NASA will not dictate to offerors how they should posture key personnel. An Offeror, as part of its proposal, shall provide a staffing plan that demonstrates the offeror’s approach for ensuring commitment of key personnel in the management of the contract, to include the extent of their availability, and company commitment (e.g., percentage of time, duration of time on the contract). Regardless of how key personnel are postured, they will not be a direct charge to the Government.

Q20. In Answer #60 in the Amendment 1 RFP Questions, the Government states that “The cost of key personnel shall not be a direct charge to the Government.” Are the current Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager a direct charge to the Government? If so, will that change in this new contract and why?

Q20. The cost of key personnel shall not be a direct charge to the Government.

Q21. The government states that “An Offeror, as part of its proposal, shall provide a staffing plan that demonstrates the offeror’s approach for ensuring commitment of key personnel in the management of the contract, to include the extent of their availability, and company commitment

(e.g., percentage of time, duration of time on the contract).” The government then stated in the 2nd round of Q&A (Q11) that PM and Deputy PM are not approved to direct charge to the contract.

Without there being a firm commitment to a particular level of effort under the anticipated IDIQ, how can a vendor project the percentage of time that will be spent by key personnel working under the resultant contract? The labor costs and time commitments of the PM and Deputy PM are dependent upon a yet-to-be-defined workload. Clarity is needed for accurate pricing to be developed and for an even evaluation of proposed pricing.

A21. The Government believes sufficient clarity is provided for offerors to effectively develop pricing information.

Q22. It is not clear from the RFP whether the Phase-In period price should include direct labor for ongoing operations during the Phase-In period or just the one-time additional administrative cost of transitioning personnel over from the incumbent contractor to new awardee to begin on the start date of the base period. Should existing direct charge operations be part of a vendor’s phase in price proposal?

A22. The purpose of contract phase-in is to allow a sixty (60) day period, during which the Contractor shall ensure a smooth transition of services from the predecessor contract to the current contract. The

Government expects offerors to propose their approach for transitioning closeout and procurement support services smoothly from the incumbent contractor. The successful offeror becomes responsible for contract performance on the effective date of the new contract, which is outside the Phase-In period. The phase-in strategy should be priced accordingly.

Q23. If the Phase-In price is to include direct labor of existing personnel throughout the Phase-In period please provide the details of the existing workforce such as numbers of employees, locations supported, labor categories etc.

A23. The purpose of contract phase-in is to allow a sixty (60) day period, during which the Contractor shall ensure a smooth transition of services from the predecessor contract to the current contract. The

Government expects offerors to propose their approach for transitioning closeout and procurement support services smoothly from the incumbent contractor. The successful offeror becomes responsible for contract performance on the effective date of the new contract, which is outside the Phase-In period. The phase-in strategy should be priced accordingly.

A24. Do Work Instructions for Contract Closeout and acquisition support services exist for each of the various sites? If so, we respectfully request copies to be included in the RFP documents.

A24. All documents applicable to this contract are delineated in Section 3.0 of the PWS, to include the

Agency-wide Contract Closeout Service Delivery Guide. It is also available on the NSSC Public Website:

https://answers.nssc.nasa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/6331.

Q25. The RFP allows for a 60-day transition. Will the new contractor have access to incumbent staff during regular business hours to facilitate on-boarding and transition support activities

(training, skills evaluation, etc.) during the 60-day transition? If so, who is responsible for funding these activities? Will they be covered by the BEI phase-out responsibilities, should they be included in our transition plan task order, or should these activities be conducted after normal work day?

A25. The Government will ensure contact information for the management staff of the incumbent contractor is provided to the new contractor upon issuance of the Phase-In Purchase Order and will make NASA facilities available to support transition activities. The Government will not facilitate transition activities between the incumbent contractor and new contractor. All costs of phase-in should be priced in the successful offeror’s proposal.

Q26. What day will incumbent personnel be shifted to the new awardee’s payroll?

A27. The Government will not facilitate transition activities between the incumbent contractor and new contractor.

Q27. Would NASA provide a copy of the incumbent contractor’s phase-out plan?

A27. No

Q28. Is there an existing Contractor Tracking Mechanism in place and if so, will the new awardee have access to it?

A28. Per Section 5.1.5 of the PWS, the new contractor shall establish a mechanism for tracking and processing all procurement activities. The Government will not facilitate transition activities between the https://answers.nssc.nasa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/6331 incumbent contractor and new contractor. The new contractor will need to coordinate with the incumbent contractor for access to existing systems, data bases owned by the Contractor.

Q29. What percent of the backlog is approved for quick closeout? What is the average time for standard contract closeouts?

A29. Timeframes for closeout of contract files are delineated in the Agency-wide Contract Closeout

Service Delivery Guide. Priorities for closeout will be coordinated with the COR. Any issues preventing effective closeout shall be brought to the attention of the COR.

Q30. The past performance form is pre-formatted to 8 point font. Please confirm that use of an 8 point font is acceptable under the non-standard exception.

A30: Yes.

Q31. Are the cover page, table of contents, and lists of acronyms for each volume excluded from the page count(s)?

A31. No

Q32. From the review of the ‘equivalent rates of federal hire’, we are prompted of concern that no

“SCA” role will match with the guidance of the equivalent rates for the classified position and are further professional in nature and meeting the requirements of DoL to classify as Exempt.

Moreover, the incumbent contract was awarded for Exempt positions and to convert those positions to SCA may be detrimental to continued performance of qualified staff and lead to significant transition/phase-in risk to staff, incumbent knowledge transfer and operations of acquisition office. We request the government allow the Offeror the ability to assign SCA classification to labor categories it deems in conformance with SCA/DoL requirements and allow assigned of Exempt/Non SCA classification as it deems compliant with DoL guidance.

A32. The Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires is not a wage determination, and it should not be interpreted to mean that the Government believes all labor categories are non-exempt. The Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires simply identifies the classes of service employees expected to be employed under the contract and states the wages and fringe benefits payable to each if they were employed by the contracting agency subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5341 or 5332. Offerors are responsible for making the decision as to whether the labor categories they offer are exempt or non-exempt from the requirements delineated in FAR 52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards.

Q33. Please verify that the Government is requiring a phase-in approach only for the core services contract transition (B-3 Phase-In) and that the offeror will be evaluated only on this phase-in approach and not on future acquisition contract transitions.

A33: The Government requires the contractor to provide a comprehensive phase-in approach to support the sum of the requirements delineated in the PWS.

Q34. For the initial contract phase-in, can you provide the list of NASA Centers that will be involved in the transition? Also, please verify that each future acquisition support TO will be aligned with a specific NASA Center.

This will be an Agency transition, and therefore impact all of the Centers. However, the contract is administered at the NSSC; the COR will be at NASA HQ. Therefore, the bulk of the transitional activities will be centered at Stennis Space Center and NASA HQ, unless the vendor determines individual Center visits are beneficial to its transition activities. It is expected that task orders will be issued by Center procurement offices in support of individual Center activities.

Q33. In the Q&A, the Government stated, "The estimated hours of acquisition support for all contract years is 414,260 hours, or 82,852 hours per contract period. This equates to 44 WYE’s per contract period assuming the Government orders up to the contract ceiling." This matches the table in the final RFP under General Instructions, Volume IV: Price. However, the text immediately before the table states that the number of hours "represents the Government's estimate of labor hours...for the complete solicitation requirement." Is the offeror correct in assuming that the 44 WYE's represented in the table on page 34 applies only to the acquisition support TOs and does not include labor currently used for the core closeout work?

A33. Correct, the estimated hours are for the IDIQ portion only. This does not include the “Core” closeout work.

Q34. What percentage of the maximum 44 WYEs that constitutes the acquisition support component of this contract comes from the incumbent's current contract and what percentage comes from other contracts being brought under the AWASS umbrella?

A34. The new contract envisions a significant expansion for acquisition support, and therefore historical data was limited. The hours delineated in Attachment (B), Tab B-2, which equate to the 44 WYEs are

Government’s best estimate of labor hours and labor categories for the complete solicitation requirement.

Q35. While the Government describes the alignment between the overall proposal ratings and the weighted percentile score, it does not provide any information on how the Government will arrive at an objective, points-based score based on the Mission Suitability Findings (e.g., significant strength, strength, etc.) definitions on pages 36-37. How many points will be given for significant strengths, how many points will be deducted for weaknesses, etc?

A35: The procurement will adhere to the NASA Mission Suitability SEB process as defined in NFS

1815.304-70 and the NASA Source Selection Guide, dated 28 June 2017.

Q36. The evaluation criteria for phase-in refers the offeror to the Data Requirements Document, which contains references to three applicable documents that were not included with the solicitation package. A search on the NODIS for the two NASA-specific documents returned no results. Please provide these documents to enable offerors to align their responses to NASA directive requirements.

A36. NID 8000-108 replaces NPR 8000.4 and is available via NODIS. NPR 7120.5 x has been deleted from Attachment C, DRD #10.

Q37. The RFP provides Center-specific access procedures for GRC, KSC, LARC, MSFC, JSC, and

NSSC. Is the offeror correct in assuming that these are the only NASA Centers requiring on-site, badged support or will additional Center-specific guidance procedures be issued for subsequent acquisition support TOs, as applicable?

A37. Center level clauses have been included to the greatest extent possible, but the contractor must be prepared for each NASA facility may have unique security / badging the requirements that the contractor will be required to fulfill in order to gain the necessary access to perform onsite tasks.