AG-SPEC-S-16-0028_0001.pdf

(x)

AG-SPEC-S-16-0028

x x copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted ; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted , such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

NRCS-TX-127482-NCSU

Fort Worth TX 76115-3404 Building 23 501 W. Felix ST.

USDA-NRCS-NCSU

WASHINGTON DC 20250

NRCS-HQ-12SPEC

ROOM 6801-S

1400 INDEPENDENCE AVENUE, SW

USDA-NRCS SPECIALIZED CONTRACTING T

NRCS-HQ-12SPEC

09/14/2016000001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended , by one of the following methods: (a) By completing

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

09/07/2016

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return __________________ copies to the issuing office.

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

The purpose of this amendment is to provide vendor Q&A's as of 09/14/2016.

Q1: What is the cut off date for questions?

A1: September 29th.

Q2: Is there any historical data by regions for the staffing requirements, including categories and hours?

A1: No.

Q3: Are these positions both full time and part time?

A3: Exact position requirements will be determined at the Task Order (TO) level.

Continued ...

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

VICKI SUPLER

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9 A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect .

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

NAME OF OFFEROR OR CONTRACTOR

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Q4: Is there a specific number of past performance references the prime must submit?

A4: Provide a list of no more than three (3) of the most relevant contracts performed for Federal agencies and commercial customers within the last five years.

Q5: Attachment #2 - Price Proposal Worksheet -merged Cell I/J14 - does not contain region 4 in the drop-down list. Please advise if editing is permissible here.

A5: Please see revised attachment 2 to include region 4. Editing of protected fields is not permissible.

Q6: Will other SCA wage Determinations be issued for each Region, or is it up to the offeror to determine the appropriate wage and discuss it in their pricing rationale?

A6: For the purposes of the solicitation the

Washington DC, Wage Determination: 15-4281

Revision: 2 Dated: 12/29/2015 will be utilized for purposes of evaluation for all regions. The applicable SCA wage rates will be provided on an individual task order basis after contract award.

Q7: Has your office considered assigning this opportunity to any of the socio-economic categories?

A7: This requirement is a total small business set aside.

Q8: Are there any geographic restrictions prohibiting companies from responding to a particular region? For example, are vendors required to have an office within a certain geographic radius?

A8: Offerors may bid on a single region or multiple regions. Offerors bidding on multiple regions are required to submit a separate proposal for each individual region. Each response shall consist of four (4) sections.

Offerors are not required to have an office in any particular geographic location.

Q9: Could you please include us on a list of interested vendors.

A9: The agency does not keep a list of interested vendors. Interested vendors can obtain

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Sponsored by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.110

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information from www.FBO.gov.

Q10: Is this a new requirement? If this is not a new requirement, who currently performs these services?

A10: This is a new requirement. There is no incumbent currently providing these services.

Q11: Will the SCA apply to this requirement?

A11: Yes, please see Q6 above.

Q12: Will bidders be required to have an active facility clearance? If yes, at what level?

A12: There is no active facility clearance required at a specific level as these positions are determined to be non-sensitive in nature.

Q13: Will the government accept proposals from joint ventures?

A13: Yes.

Q14: Would the government allow for an offeror to propose, if awarded multiple (3-4) regions, a streamlined management structure as a way to offer cost savings to the government?

A14: Please see Q8

Q15: Referencing the statement on page 15, second paragraph of the Instructions in the solicitation; file AG-SPEC-S-16-0028.pdf. Each response shall consist of four (4) separate parts, are you asking for four separate documents/files for each Region?

A15: One file/document is required to be submitted for each region, the document shall contain 4 clearly defined sections for parts I-IV.

Q16: Also, in the Part III Past Performance instructions, you state that, Questionnaires are not included in page count. Does this mean that you want a copy of the Questionnaires along with the information listed in paragraph (b) of the

Part III Past Performance instructions?

A16: Yes, we require a copy of the Questionnaires and the information listed in paragraph (b) of

Part III.

Q17: What is the estimated number of positions per site or region?

A17: Please see Q2.

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Q18: Is there a requirement for a PM (Project

Manager) per site or region?

A18: The organizational structure is at the offeror's discretion.

Q19: Would the Government consider changes to the instructions allowing offerors to reduce font size for graphics?

A19: No.

Q20: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b), (4) -

Part IV, Paragraph (e) requires Offerors to provide a basis of estimate to support proposed rates. As IDIQ task orders will be issued and awarded on a firm-fixed price basis, why is a basis of estimate necessary?

A20: A basis for estimate is necessary in order for the government to determine that the proposed pricing is fair and reasonable.

Q21: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b) states, "Each response shall consist of four (4) separate parts;" Should each part be submitted as a stand-alone volume?

A21: See Q15

Q22: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b), (1) ¿

Part I, Paragraph (a) states ¿text type shall be

Times New Roman or Arial, no smaller than 12 point with normal spacing.¿ May Offerors use small point font for graphics, figures, and tables?

A22: See Q19

Q23: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b), (1) -

Part I, Paragraph (e), item 1) states in part, Return the provision FAR 52.212-3, Offeror

Representations and Certifications Commercial

Items, along with the proposal. Please confirm

Offerors may submit only 52.212-3 (b)(1) and

(b)(2) in lieu of the entire FAR clause?

A23: The offeror shall complete only paragraphs

(b) of the provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the System for Award

Management (SAM) Web site accessed through http://www.sam.gov/portal.

Q24: Will the absence of a contractor in the

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OFCCP Pre-Award Registry prior to the CO requesting a pre-award clearance from the OFCCP be a factor in an award decision?

A24: No.

Q25: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b), (2) -

Part II, Paragraph (d) provides detail on the format and specific content of the section, including Table of Contents, Glossary and

Definitions. Is a Glossary and Definition sections required for this part of the proposal?

A25: The inclusion of a Glossary and Definitions section is at the discretion of the offeror and is not required.

Q26: Instructions to Offerors, Section (b), (3) -

Part III, Paragraph (b), should Past Performance

Questionnaires be including in this part?

A26: See Q16.

Q27: In the solicitation provisions and agenda section (1)(e)(3) states that Offerors should provide expiration date of their Affirmative

Action Plan and the name and address of the cognizant U.S. Department of Labor, Office of

Federal Compliance Programs Office. Are we able to submit a proposal for this requirement while our AAP is being developed, finalized and approved? Or, does the absence of the approved

AAP disqualify us from bidding on this work?

A27: You are not precluded from proposing on the work.

Q28: Included in the solicitation at (4)(d)(2) is the direction to use the Washington DC Wage

Determination: 15-4281 Revision 2 Dated

12/29/2015. Should bidders use this WD for all positions in ALL locations regardless of Region

1, 2, 3 or 4? As you know there are WDs for every area (multiple WDs for each region).

A28: All Offerors shall utilize the Washington

DC Wage Determination for all regions for this solicitation for evaluation purposes. After contract award, each individual Task Order will include the appropriate wage determination for the area/region where the work will be performed.

Q29: Reference proposal Part II, Paragraph (c) requires Offerors to describe the capability of

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team members and the work they will perform.

Under which subfactor will this information be evaluated?

A29: Technical Capability

Q30: Reference proposal Part II, Paragraph (e) requires Offerors to describe their task order transition process/procedure. Under which subfactor will the transition plan be evaluated?

A30: Technical Capability

Q31: Reference Proposal Part III, are the list of team member contracts and subcontractor consent letters included in the 6 page limit?

A31: No

Q32: Does the 12 point font size requirement apply to tables and graphics or may offerors use a small legible font size?

A32: 12 point font size applies to all aspects of the proposal including tables and graphics.

Q33: Relating to the Price Proposal Worksheet

(Attachment 2): The Salary and Fringe columns have been pre-populated with the Base Salary Rate and Health & Welfare Rate ($4.27/hour), as provided in Wage Determination 15-4281 Rev 2, but the pre-populated data does not include the cost for mandated Holidays and PTO (a minimum of 160 hours per year).Assuming we will bill the government 1920 hours per year per employee

(accounting for the 160 hours for Holiday and

PTO), are we to modify the Salary and Fringe columns by adding in the cost of the Holidays and

PTO, or are we to bill the government for all hours for a given employee (work, holiday, sick and PTO), not to exceed 2080 hours per year per employee?

A33: Please see revised Price Proposal Worksheet.

Q34: It appears that the Hourly - Salary and

Fringe rates listed in the Attachment 2 - Price

Proposal Worksheet are the SCA hourly rate and the

$4.27 Health and Welfare rate for each corresponding position. This rate does not appear to include any provision for statutory requirements (such as FUTA, SUTA, Workers

Compensation, etc) and as such, under recovers elements of Fringe.

A34: Please see revised Price Proposal Worksheet.

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Q35: Should a firm choose to offer on multiple regions, should they submit a separate email for each region? Or can all proposals for the separate regions be submitted in one email?

A35: The firm should provide separate email responses for each region.

Q36: Addenda to 52.212-1 states that ¿Each volume shall be complete in itself.¿ The RFP then goes on to refer to Parts rather than volumes. We are assuming that each Part is in fact a volume.

Could you clarify if this assumption is correct?

If it is not, then what does volume refer to?

A35: Your assumption is correct that each Part is in fact a Volume.

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