USDA_AG-31ME-S-15-0018_Questions_PART_2.docx

ADDITIONAL Questions/Answers for RFP: AG-31ME-S-15-0018

1. If available, what is the current Contract Value? $5 million, keep in mind this amount is the combined value of two requirements combined.

2. If available, what is the current Contract Number? AG-31ME-C-13-0007

3. Was the previous contact an IDIQ contract type, and was it single award or multiple award? Yes, it was an IDIQ.

4. Regarding the right of first refusal on p.4 of the RFP, does this apply to the Project Manager position? NO

5. Page 4, Minimum and Maximum Order: Will the Government confirm that the minimum order amount is $2 million for this contract? YES

6. Page 7: Secretarial and Administrative Assistant: It appears there is an incomplete sentence at the bottom of page 7. Missing words;” knowledge of MS Word and Excel.”

7. Page 8: Loan Services: Is there an historical yearly value of loans processed by the incumbent contractor that the Government can provide in order to provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for the anticipated services? Task order based upon supply driven requirement of support functions needed.

8. Pages 8-9: Task Areas: Can the Government provide an average cost per task order under the previous contract? It could, but it could be misleading. We are dealing with a combined effort in this solicitation.

9. Page 14: Does the Government have a required and/or preferred minimum years’ experience requirement and/or professional certification requirement for the Project Manager? NO

10. Page 14: If there are no minimum experience and professional certification requirements for the Project Manager position, what is the Government’s preferred experience and qualification description? Ability to administer, supervise, and manage contractor work force under task order performance.

11. Page 14: Multi-Family Legal Support Services: Does this position require personnel be an attorney? NO

12. Regarding Section 14: Work Elements, could you elaborate on the Customer Service Call Center Support Requirements? Manning the Call Center lines, and providing responses from existing written scripts.

13. Page 32, General Instructions: Is there maximum page limitation for the proposals? NO

14. Page 32, General Instructions: Does the Government have any specific proposal formatting requirements other than those listed in this solicitation? Yes, separate technical and price proposal submissions.

15. Page 33, Factor 1: Will the Government be giving higher evaluation and/or source selection points for offerors who can describe “proposed approaches” used in the past for performance risk, employee retention or quality management at the USDA, or will such “proposed approaches” be rated similarly if performed at another Federal agency, all other things being equal? Yes, they will be rated similarly

16. Page 34, Past Performance: Is there a maximum number of past performance references and descriptions that contractors should provide? NO

17. Page 35, Ratings: Will the Government consider revising the “Exceptional Confidence” rating to remove the “essentially no doubt” language from the qualification criteria because it is less of a standard of performance than that which is stated in the “Very Good Confidence” rating which is “no doubt exists?” Perhaps the Government would consider switching the verbiage in order to complement the varying degrees of certitude in the Government’s confidence. YES

18. Pre-Proposal Conference Questions: Will the Government be providing the SCA required labor-category tenure so that offerors can develop an accurate wage determination? If not, will the Government clarify the proposal to provide instructions to all offerors on how to make a fair and reasonable price proposal to ensure Wage Determination and SCA compliance? Wage Determination Schedule attached to solicitation

19. Pre-Proposal Conference Questions: In light of the Q&A due date, the answers being posted, and the pre-proposal conference, will the Government please extend the due date to August 17, 2015, so that offerors can have an adequate and reasonable amount of time to prepare our proposals after the Answers have been posted? An extension will be made through 8/14/2015

20. Pre-Proposal Conference Questions: Can the Government clarify whether or not the previous contract had Option Years included in accordance with 52.217-8 and 52.217-9? YES

21. Pre-Proposal Conference Questions: Will USDA RD accept an Appendix A, Table of Resources that shows the offerors staffing and resource depth, capabilities, ramp-up, and deployment experience? This type of information should be submitted as part of the technical proposal.

22. Will the response time be extended so that the Q&A can get answered, posted, and contractor have time to revise proposal based on the answers? Yes, extension given.

Answer to questions 23 – 27 is the following:

Collections are not made independent of USDA and are not outsourced. The DCIA (Debt Collection Improvement Act) collection referenced as part of the duties is minor in the scope of the tasks performed.

23. Are collections being made in the name of USDA on the Department's letterhead or by the contractor on company letterhead?

24. Are collections via phone made on behalf of USDA or the contractor?

25. Will the contractor need to be a licensed debt collector in the states where there are collection efforts made?

26. Are the staff that work on debt collection working under a licensed debt collector company currently?

27. Who is responsible for monitoring that federal and state regulations are being followed on the debt collection efforts?