Attachment 1 - 2024 PMO RFP Response to Questions.xlsx

Sheet1 Attachment 1 - 2024 PMO RFP Response to Questions

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

14 Attachment J-1 #19 4 RFP Section B.8, 3rd paragraph states: “Contractors without audited rates shall propose indirect rates in accordance with FAR Part 31. See Section H.16.” RFP Volume III, Tab3, 3rd paragraph states: “Audit Information: The Offeror, JV, and Partnering/Teaming shall submit for themselves and for each proposed subcontractor (team member) statements certifying the most recent year for which final audited indirect rates have been determined by the Offeror’s, JV, Partnering/Teaming and subcontractor’s independent Certified Public Accounting (CPA) Firm, Federal Government cognizant audit agency. (e.g., Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), and/or Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). Include name and address of respective Field Office Audit (FOA) office.” Question: Can Checklist item #19 be modified to allow offerors and major subcontractors to indicate that statements certifying the most recent year have been submitted? All Prime and Subcontractors must provide a complete audit certifying their audited rates. In addition, Attachment J-1 has been updated to reflect all subcontractors instead of major subcontractors.

15 L.22 Table - Volume III – Cost Proposal, Page 153, Tab 1; L.27, Volume III – Tab 1,page 188 Tab 1 is currently identified as “Cost Proposal”. Question: Should Tab 1 just be identified as “Cost” to be consistent with L.27 Volume III – Tab 1 – Cost on page 188? Page 188 - Volume III has been updated from "Cost" to "Cost Proposal"

For the second question, that will be a business decision that the Prime will have to make.

Which Volume of the proposal is the QASP to be included?

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

34 L.22 Proposal Organization and Preparation, Attachment J-2 Resume 152 Tunneling Engineer and Technical Writer not available on drop-down list.

Above the drop-down list for Labor Categories, it reflects “2019 PMO Contract.”

Will FTA permit additional projects to be added to the J-2 resume in addition to the 4 included for Relevant Projects in the document?

Attachment J-2 has been updated and included in this amendment.

Projects examples are limited to four and this part of the J-2 document will not be revised.

Question #1: Does FTA want confirmation of Professional Employee Compensation Plans for the Prime Offeror and all major subcontractors/team members?

Question #2: Do we need to include the Professional Employee Compensation Plans for the Prime offeror and each major subcontractor / team member? Please comply with Section L in the RFP.

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

Offerors that identify as a small business shall be required to certify in accordance with the certification process identified below:

• Small and Small Disadvantaged Businesses There is no formal certification process. You are able to self-certify as a small or small disadvantaged business when you register on SAM.gov.

• Veteran-Owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses You must apply for certification through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Vets First Verification Program.

• Woman-Owned, HUBZone, or 8(a) Small Businesses You must apply for your certification through the U.S. Small Business Administration at certify.sba.gov.

62 L.23, Volume I, Tab 3 - Small Business Subcontracting Plan 156 Can a small business firm certified in more than one category (for example WOSB and SDVOSB) be counted for more than one small business subcontracting category to fulfill the subcontracting goals? Yes, you can be certified and counted in more than one it's the same as the SB Prime goals.

63 L.27 Labor Categories and Hours Information 187 In order for the Government to be able to have the same basis for evaluation of the cost proposals, all proposers must price the proposal based on the 91,500 hours shown in this section. Can a proposer reduce or increase these hours to calculate their costs? Please refer to the RFP.

64 L.27, Volume III, Tab 2 - Cost Proposal 189 The issued Attachment J-7 only has tabs for up to 7 subcontractors. Since we are not allowed to alter Attachment J-7, can the Government please provide an updated Attachment J-7 to include tabs for up to 10 subcontractors? Attachment J-7 has been updated and included in this amendment.

65 L.23, Volume II, Tab 1, Sub-Section 3: Key Personnel and

L.23 Volume II, Tab 2, Section 1: Key Personnel Letter of Commitment 160 and 161-162 Vol II, Tab 1, Sub-Section 3: Key Personnel (RFP Page 160) states, "Identify the Prime Offeror key personnel as identified in the solicitation proposed for this effort. Provide a cross-walk between the Government specified labor categories for which the key personnel are proposed and the offeror’s internal labor categories in which the personnel are/will be classified. The cross-walk shall describe their qualifications (education and experience) as it relates to the functional area requirements of the SOW and demonstrates how these qualifications meet or exceed the applicable minimum qualifications established elsewhere in this solicitation."

And Vol II, Tab 2, Section 1: Key Personnel Letter of Commitment (RFP Page 161) states, "The Offeror shall identify key personnel as proposed for this effort. The key personnel positions for this requirement are identified as the Program Manager and Task Order Manager I, II. The key personnel positions shall be filled by employees of the Prime Offeror.

"The Offeror shall provide a matrix table between the Government specific labor categories for which the key personnel are identified, describe their qualifications (education and experience) as it relates to the SOW in Section C, and demonstrate how these qualifications meet or exceed the applicable minimum qualifications established in the solicitation. The Offeror shall provide letters of commitment certifying that the Government shall have full access to the key personnel as required by the Government. A Corporate Official and each key personnel shall sign the commitment letters. The letters shall be completed and incorporated into this section of the proposal. The commitment letter is limited to 1) page each."

Both RFP sections ask for very similar proof of qualifications for Key Personnel. To avoid duplicative information, may we provide the requested proof of qualifications in Vol II, Tab 1, Sub-Section 3: Key Personnel and then provide only the Letters of Commitment in Vol II, Tab 2, Section 1: Key Personnel Letter of Commitment instead of repeating qualifications in the latter section? If not, please clarify the difference between the two sections and what the Government prefers we provide in each.

Please review the RFP.

Please confirm if interim financial statements are required for subcontractors.

Please confirm the minimum information that is required to be included on interim financial statements if the date of the audit report is more than 6 months old. Please review the RFP.

70 L.9 DELIVERY OF PROPOSAL 145 Delivery of Proposal - given that this appears to be a new proposal submittal platform for FTA, we ask for a demonstration of the process so that users will be familiar with user interface, etc. and if this could be recorded, that would be appreciated. Please review the guidelines set forth in the RFP regarding the delivery of proposals.

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

Since the base IDIQ contract is for nationwide services, it is a given that an Offeror will have an OCI with some project sponsors. It is not possible for an Offeror to truthfully include the statement required in the 2nd paragraph that it has no OCIs as part of its proposal. Conversely, if this were a task order proposal for oversight of a specific sponsor, the Offeror could make said statement truthfully. The 3rd paragraph recognizes that Offerors will have some OCIs and requires submission of the COI matrix form J-11.

Please clarify the FTA’s intent regarding how the Offeror is to propose regarding OCIs. Offerors are directed to FAR 9.5 for detailed information concerning Organizational Conflicts of Interests (OCIs).

L.27 – pg. 189 Question:

L.9 – 1st paragraph states in part: “Offerors shall be required to submit their proposal electronically” L.27 Tab 2 - The Cost Proposal 1st paragraph states in part: “Detailed JV, Partnering/Teaming subcontractor cost information containing proprietary rates and factors for individual cost elements shall be submitted sealed included with the Prime Offeror’s cost proposal.”

Please clarify how the Offeror is to submit subcontractor proprietary information “sealed” when the submissions are to be electronic files rather than paper copies? Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

H.15, 4th paragraph states in part: “Prior to using the subcontractor, the Contractor must propose the subcontractor on a specific task order and identify a cost ceiling for approval.”

5th bullet under “Indirect Rates” paragraph states in part: “In addition, the Prime Offeror and each major subcontractor/team member and JV shall propose indirect rate ceilings,…”

Please clarify, do “Ceiling” indirect rates need to be provided for only the Major Subcontractors, or for All Subcontractors with the proposal?

Please refer to amendment 0001 for a description of this change.

L.24 - Volume II, Tab 5, Section 1, 3rd and 4th Paragraphs L.27 - Volume III, Tab 3,

L. 24 – pg. 189 L.27 pgs 195 & 196 Question:

Section H.15 and the referenced paragraphs in Section L.24 explain the requirement for Contracting Officer (CO) “Consent” prior to an Offeror entering a subcontract. The required documents to be submitted for the CO to consider include (in part) indirect rate audits.

In Section L.27 the last paragraph on page 195 requires (in part) that the Offeror to provide “…statements certifying the most recent year for which final audited indirect rates have been determined…” for itself and all subcontractors with their proposal, without submitting associated audit reports for the non-major subcontractors. The 4th paragraph on page 196 requires that the Offeror include audit reports only for each “major subcontractor.”

Please clarify if additional information regarding non-major subcontractors needs to be submitted with the Offeror’s proposal for the CO to “consent” to the Offeror executing subcontracts associated with the non-major subcontractors with FTA’s award of the contract. If yes, please clarify what additional information needs to provided. Per the RFP certified audit reports are required for the Prime and all subcontractors.

The Labor category pulldown list is missing the “Tunneling Engineer” and “Technical Writer” categories. Also, both of the “Systems Integration Engineer” categories are labeled as “System Intgr. Manager” on the J-2.

There is no blank line in the pulldown list, so it is not possible to leave the first labor category box empty and just enter the missing labor categories in the “other labor category not listed” box.

Please update the J-2 to include the correct labor categories and a blank line to allow the Offeror to just use the other category box if needed. Attachment J-2 has been updated and included in this amendment.

Question: If a waiver of minimum personnel requirements is required for a key or mission critical team member should the waiver request be placed with the resume in Vol II, Tab 1, Section 2? If no, where in the proposal submission should waivers be included? If waivers are sought for Key or Mission Critical Personnel, please submit the request(s) with your proposal.

Please refer to amendment 0001 for description of this change.

What documentation would be acceptable as evidence of an adequate accounting system?

What, if any, evidence is required for non-major subcontractors? The Offeror shall provide evidence of an adequate accounting system for all Prime, JV, and major subcontractors. Please review Section H.16 for more information.