QA Sheet.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 79 KB Posted Aug 9, 2024

Attached to: FDIC ServiceNow Basic Ordering Agreement and Task Order
Solicitation number: CORHQ-24-R-0422
Issued by: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

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Written by GovTribe AI · Aug 9, 2024

This document is a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) and Task Order 1 related to the ServiceNow platform. The FDIC seeks contractors to support operating, maintaining, enhancing, researching, analyzing, and implementing existing and new capabilities on the ServiceNow platform.

The RFP outlines a multi-phase procurement process, with an initial advisory down-select followed by proposal submissions for the BOA and Task Order 1. The BOA has a 12-month base period with six 12-month option periods. Task Order 1 is included with the BOA award and covers IT Operations Management (ITOM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM) functionalities. The RFP provides detailed requirements and evaluation criteria for the BOA and Task Order 1, including specific labor categories, qualifications, and service level agreements. No incumbent information is provided. Proposals are due September 6, 2024, and the FDIC anticipates making multiple BOA awards and a single Task Order 1 award.

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Other files

File	Type	Posted
CORHQ-24-R-0422-P0003.pdf	PDF	Aug 15, 2024
Additional QAs.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	Aug 13, 2024
CORHQ-24-R-0422-P0002.pdf	PDF	Aug 13, 2024
f3700-46A.pdf	PDF	Aug 12, 2024
f3700-46A.pdf	PDF	Aug 12, 2024
f3700-46.pdf	PDF	Aug 9, 2024
Advisory Down Select Worksheet.docx	DOCX document	Aug 9, 2024
CORHQ-24-R-0422-P0001.pdf	PDF	Aug 9, 2024
f3700-46A.pdf	PDF	Aug 9, 2024
BOA Pricing Workbook.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	Jul 23, 2024
CORHQ-24-R-0422.pdf	PDF	Jul 23, 2024
Task Order 1 Pricing Workbook.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	Jul 23, 2024
Vendor Question Sheet.xlsx	XLSX spreadsheet	Jul 23, 2024

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Questions

	ServiceNow Solitication CORHQ-24-R-0422 Questions & Answers				ServiceNow Solitication CORHQ-24-R-0422 Questions & Answers
Question Reference #	Applicable Document	RFP Page Reference	Question	FDIC's Response
1	General Inquiries		Is there an incumbent on this contract? If so, please provide the incumbent name, current contract number, period of performance , value of the contract.	There are two incumbents. The incumbent names, period of performances and values are not being released. FDIC anticipates multiple BOA awards and one Task Order 1 award.
2	Evaluation Criteria		Will the prime need to cover all Phase I minimum requirements for servicenow or it can be covered using teaming partners?	Companies should answer the questions in Phase I - Factor A solely on their capabilities as we are not considering subcontracting partnerships until further along in a later phase as outlined in the solicitation. Therefore, companies with interest shall each individually submit a proposal response to Phase I - Factor A.

**In order for any prime contractor companies to be considered in Phase II or Phase III, they each must individually respond to Phase I - Factor A.

3	SOO	14	Will the prime need to cover all Phase I minimum requirements for ServiceNow or it can be covered using teaming partners provide a total solution covering people, process and tools?	Companies should answer the questions in Phase I - Factor A solely on their capabilities as we are not considering subcontracting partnerships until further along in a later phase as outlined in the solicitation.
4	SOO		In addition to partnership requirements with ServiceNow, we request the government to consider proven history of hiring and retaining talent be considered. Talent acquisition will be equal or of greater importance than service partner levels for ServiceNow contracts execution?	Thank you for confirming the importance of this proven history. The requested materials in Phase 2 request vendors to explain and demonstrate this very point. At this time the government does not believe changing its evaluation criteria or requirement, is needed to address this question.
5	SOO	16	Will there be a future requirement to work onsite or will that be evaluated on a TO by TO basis?	Place of performance will be determined on a task order order basis.
6	SOO		Will there be a future need for travel to the FDIC?	Travel will be determined on a task order basis. Contractors that need technical or PIV support from an FDIC location will not be reimbursed for travel.
7	SOO		If so will travel expenses be reimbursed at regular government rates?	If the Government determines that travel is needed for any task orders, travel expenses are reimbursed in accordance with clause 7.5.13-10 Travel Expenses (Reimbursable) - July 2008.
8	SOO	110	How will the Operation Performance Indicator of User adoption be used and what impacts will it have on offeror?	As indicated in the solication, the OPI's do not have an impact on finance or performance requirements. Like all ServiceNow customers, we are investing valuable resources to deploy these capabilities. Understanding user adoption is a measure aligned with forecasted benefits that common and traditional investment proposals require. In addition, this OPI will inform what changes are needed to organizational rollout and adoption plans.
9	SOO		Is the government considering making certain number of small business awards for the BOA?	No, the government is not considering making a certain number of awards to small business.
10	Pricing Workbook		How will you ensure a uniform definition of Labor Categories across multiple vendors?	As instructed in the Labor Category Description Mapping table on page 4 of the solicitation, offerors shall map their proposed Labor Categories to the Government BOA Roles. The Offeror shall enter the proposed Labor Category in Column B that corresponds to the Contract Role listed in Column A. The Offeror shall enter the description of the proposed labor category in Column C that corresponds to the Labor Category in Column B. The description must directly align with a labor category description as outlined in BOA Attachment 1 - Personnel Skills and Relevant Experience. Offerors are expected to directly align their labor categories to the defined list FDIC has published and ensure they meet the description and requirements as specified by the FDIC. The definition and requirements for these labor categories are the definitions the FDIC will be using.
11	Evaluation Criteria		Will the evaluation results of the Phase One proposal be included in any way in the evaluation of proposal for Phase Two or Phase Three?	No. The advisory down select results from Phase 1 are not used to evaluate for Phase 2 and 3. The evaluation criteria for each separate phase are included in the solicitation.
12	General Inquiries		Who are the current incumbents and how many awards will be made?	There are two incumbents. The incumbent names are not being released. FDIC anticipates multiple BOA awards and one Task Order 1 award.
13	Evaluation Criteria		If two companies are teamed, can their combined certifications fulfill the requirements for question 3 in the phase 1 down select worksheet response?	No. Companies should answer the questions in Phase I - Factor A solely on their capabilities as we are not considering subcontracting partnerships until further along in a later phase as outlined in the solicitation.
14	General Inquiries		Any servicenow implementation or is this more SOW/Staffing? Is this work an add on recompete, new if add on can you share the incumbent?	Please review the RFP as the objectives and scope of the BOA and Task Order explain the nature of the requirements. This is a recompete of existing professional services with additional requirements. There are two incumbents. The names of the incumbents are not being shared.
15	Evaluation Criteria		Please confirm that the Cover Page and Advisory Down Select Worksheet are the only requirements for the Phase 1 Volume I Factor A proposal submission.	Yes, the cover page and advisory down select worksheet are the only requirements for Phase 1, Volume I Factor A. Please note that Section L has been updated to reflect the updated cover page requirements.

Cover pages must be submitted with all proposal submissions and provide the following information at a minimum:

•	Legal company name as registered in SAM.gov
•	Address
•	Point of contact: name, phone number, and e-mail address
•	Unique Entity ID (UEI)
	16	Evaluation Criteria	Phase II - Vol II - Factor C shows that 4 slides are required for the Oral presentation shown as due 9/6. Will we be required to provide slides prior to the presentation or as part of an introduction prior to the technical scenarios?	Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's Oral Presentation may include up to 4 slides that bidders may use in support of their response and presentation to the technical scenario provided 2 hours prior to each offeror's oral presentation timeslot. Please see revised Section L document.

17	General Inquiries	You mention in the RFP OCI between functional categories and TO's, do you anticipate the TO1 winner being OCI'ed out of any future task orders? This would help make a bid decision on Phase 3.	There are multiple product management task orders anticipated to be awarded. Award of TO1 will not preclude a vendor from bidding on additional product management or platform services task orders. The FDIC does not anticipate a conflict arising between TO1 work, and future work in the product management functional area, but cannot definitively state that no such conflict will arise. The OCI language is in reference to awards for tasks orders whose functional area is identified as advisory.
18	Evaluation Criteria	Is the Parter Level of Premier a hard requirement? Will FDIC consider other (lower) tiers?	The FDIC is not considering changing the Phase 1 advisory down select parameters at this time.
19	SOO	What is the desirable operational/admin support time window for BOA & task order 1? 24x7, 8x5 etc.	Those will be determined at a task order level depending on the requirement. For Task Order 1 , the FDIC operational hours will be from 0800 to 1800 EST with on-call support being available from 0600 to 0800 EST and 1800 to 2200 EST.
20	General Inquiries	Will any additional response details be delivered after Phase 1 down selection or are all response details for all phases currently published?	No additional evaluation criteria or response requirements are anticipated to be added to Phase 2 or Phase 3.
21	General Inquiries	Can you describe the FDIC management structure?	Scott Fiscus is the Contracting Officer and Brittany Helmkamp is the Contract Specialist. Any changes made to the solicitation or any resultant awards would solely come from the assigned Contracting Officer. Hanayo Reyes would be the Oversight Manager for the resulting awards. Howard Pope is part of the program office that manages the ServiceNow platform.

At the current time, all correspondence from potential offerors to FDIC, should come to Scott Fiscus and Brittany Helmkamp only.

22	Evaluation Criteria	112	On page no. 112, Phase 1 criteria, there is a requirement stating, "Does the Offeror currently have 9 or more ServiceNow certified individuals on staff?" Can this and the other requirements be fulfilled by the prime and subcontractor jointly?	No. Companies should answer the questions in Phase I - Factor A solely on their capabilities as we are not considering subcontracting partnerships until further along in a later phase as outlined in the solicitation.
23	Evaluation Criteria	141-142	Will the Government provide how the submitted Factor B & C slides be used as part of the Oral Presentation? Will offerors have to apply the Factor B & C slides responses to the Technical scenario?	Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

24	Evaluation Criteria	141-142	Mentioned on page 142, within the Oral Presentation Schedule, it states that offerors will present slides (Factor A & Factor B), will the Government clarify which Factors will be presented during this oral presentation?	The information was updated to replace the Factor A and B language to instead read Factor B & C. Please see revised Section L document.
25	Evaluation Criteria	141-142	Will the Government confirm if a written submission is required for Phase II Factor B and Factor C? As state on page 138, BOA Instructions to Offerors.	Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

26	Evaluation Criteria	141-142	Given the requirement to use 10 total slides for Factors B and C as part of the Technical Scenario within the final oral presentation to the government, as specified in the SOO, would the government consider allowing offerors to submit additional slides? This flexibility would enable a more comprehensive and compelling response to the technical scenario.	The FDIC is not considering an increase in the number of slides bidders may use to respond to Factor B or Factor C. The technical scenario, as stated, is a technical scenario that will require demonstration.
27	Evaluation Criteria	145	Reference: Volume V: Factor A - Technical & Management Approach and Factor B - Key Personnel. "Offerors shall provide their experience implementing and maintaining these product suites along with their catalog of services used to support the task order requirements and the proposed cost of each service."

Is it the Government's intention that all Task Order 1 pricing should be included only in Volume VII: Factor D Task Order Price?

If yes, would the Government remove the Volume 5 reference above "... and proposed cost of each service?"

If not, would the Government provide clarification on the pricing to be included in Volume 5? The FDIC is not asking this information to be included in the pricing workbook. On page 145, bullet #6 under Volume V, the estimated level of effort by labor category for each proposed service. The estimated level of effort by labor category is requested to support the "proposed cost of each service". Offerors should provide the requested information from each of the six bullets. The format for this requested information is within the 1/2 page per service response and not included in the Volume VII: Factor D Task Order Price workbook.

	28	Evaluation Criteria	146	Will the Government provide details of the Phase III Video submission? Will offerors be responding to the TO 1 or the Technical Scenario?	Offerors are being provided a 45 minute time limit on their video submissions. The response to the technical scenario will need to be included in the video submission. Offerors will need to determine the best use of those 45 minutes to respond to the requested technical scenario per the instructions on RFP Pages 144-146.
	29	Evaluation Criteria	146	Only Offeror’s that submitted a proposal for Task Order 1 and are anticipated to receive a BOA award based on Phase II evaluations will have their Task Order 1 proposals evaluated. Note: Offeror’s are NOT required to submit a Task Order 1 proposal in order to receive a BOA award.
Q. If Offeror receives a BOA award, will Task Order 1 be awarded at the same time?	Yes, it is anticipated that Task Order 1 will be awarded at the same time.
	30	Evaluation Criteria	147	Will the Government confirm that Volume VI: Factor C – Past Performance will only be evaluated based upon its relevance to the TO 1 SOO?	Yes, that is an accurate statement.
	31	SOO	11	Who are the current incumbents (prime and subcontractors)?	The incumbent names are not being released.
	32	SOO	12, 21	In the Introduction, the ServiceNow modules that are in use are listed. Among them are IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), and IT Asset Management (ITAM). Task Order 1 only includes ITOM and ITAM (page 21). In our experience with numerous Government contracts where we manage ServiceNow, we have found that there are extensive interrelationships between ITSM, ITOM, and ITAM. Examples:

- Incident, Problem, Change tickets (in ITSM) pulling impacted services and configuration items from the configuration management database (CMDB) which is in ITOM.

- Hardware assets and Software Entitlements managed by ITAM are orderable items in request fulfillment within ITSM.

- Hardware assets such as servers, workstations, and phones (track in ITAM) have associated configuration items in the CMDB within ITOM.

- The Events, Alerts, and the Service Operations Workspace (within ITOM) are evaluated against open change tickets and can generate incidents (within ITSM).

Due to these extensive interrelationships, will you consider including ITSM with this task order?	The FDIC is not anticipating including the scope of the ITSM product suite within Task Order 1. The FDIC is aware of the relationship between these product suites.
	33	SOO	14	Please define "federated development" in the context of the SOO.	Offerors should expect multiple teams to be working concurrently on the ServiceNow platform. There will be multiple federal staff teams as well as multiple vendor teams working on the maintenance, enhancement, and introduction of new capabilities to the FDIC ServiceNow instances concurrently with defined areas of product and platform responsibility.
	34	Task Order Clauses	61	By submission of a Prime proposal which includes subcontractors as part of the submission, will those subcontractors be approved upon award?	Yes, subcontractors that were included in a proposal that results in an award will be listed in the award within clause 7.5.6-04 - Approved Subcontractors and Consent to Subcontract as approved subcontractors.
	35	Task Order Clauses	68	Are there any equivalencies for years of experience and education requirements in Attachment 1 Personnel Skills and Relevant Experience?	No, the years of experience and education are the current standard for personnel skills and relevant experience.
	36	SOO	69	The job qualifications for the ServiceNow Architect are very extensive. Would the Government consider waiving the certification requirements for well qualified candidates (those exceeding the years of experience and other qualifications)?	The FDIC is not expecting to change the skills and relevent experience of the published labor categories.
	37	SOO	102	How will FDIC customer(s) user satisfaction be determined if multiple contractors deliver services on the same product?	Task order scope is being defined such that customer satisfaction with services delivered will be clearly distinguishable.
	38	SOO	102	Do the BOA SLAs also apply to Task Order 1?	BOA SLA's are applicable to all task order awards, including Task Order 1. Please see revised Attachment 4 - ServiceNow BOA SLA document for additional information.
	39	SOO	112	In responding to Phase I questions, can the response include information from teammates/subcontractors?	No. Companies should answer the questions in Phase I - Factor A solely on their capabilities as we are not considering subcontracting partnerships until further along in a later phase as outlined in the solicitation.
	40	SOO	132	Section L, 7.3.2-12 (f) Price Proposal - which volume should the bank references and balance sheet be included?	Offerors should include the bank references and balance sheet documentation in Volume IV - BOA Additional Information.
	41	SOO	138	What volume should the Transition Plan identified on page 15 and detailed on pages 23-24 be included and is there a page limit for the Transition Plan.	The BOA SOO requirements were updated to reflect that a Transition Plan does not need to be submitted. Please see the revised 2024 ServiceNow BOA SOO document.
	42	SOO	139	Will the evaluation of the Advisory Down Select process in Phase I be used by the FDIC for Phase II and/or III evaluations?	No. The advisory down select results from Phase 1 are not used to evaluate for Phase 2 and 3. The evaluation criteria for each separate phase are included in the solicitation.
	43	SOO	135-136	Please confirm that the slide limits are 6 and 4. See pages 135-136: "There is limit on the number of slides that an offeror may use." Pages 138 & 140 say the limits are 6 and 4 slides.	Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

44 Task Order Clauses General Should the offeror include the FDIC 3700/55 and any subsequent Amendments in their proposal submission? If so, where should they be included? The FDIC 3700/55 is required to be submitted as part of Volume IV.

The FDIC 3700/56 is required to be submitted as part of a proposal, as an acknowledgement of each amendment issued by the FDIC. The form(s) should be included in Volume IV if the amendment pertains to the BOA or both the BOA and Task Order 1. The form(s) should be included in Volume VIII if the amendment only pertains to Task Order 1.

45	SOO	General	What ServiceNow environments will be available? For example, will Development, UAT (User Acceptance Testing), and Production be available?	The FDIC currently uses four instances (Development, Integration, Test, and Production) in the path to production. The FDIC follows a least privilege access model. Development teams are provided the appropriate access to effectively develop and test their work.
46	SOO	General	Is the FDIC's ServiceNow deployed to the ServiceNow GovCloud (Paas) or self-hosted?	The FDIC uses the FEDRAMP ServiceNow Government Cloud Computing (GCC) and leverages FDIC maintained mid-servers.
47	SOO	General	What is the current FDIC ServiceNow release?	The FDIC currently is running the Washington DC release across all instances.
48	SOO	General	Please confirm the Proposal delivery instructions. Will the volumes be submitted electronically?	The proposal volumes are to be submitted electronically via email to Scott Fiscus and Brittany Helmkamp.
49	Pricing Workbook	131	The Pricing Workbook does not include a distinction between On-site and Off-site contractor rates that are reference in the SOO at page 131. Please clarify if there are different rates for different locations.	All labor rates should be proposed using the Off-Site definition in provision 7.3.2-12(c)(2). 7.3.2-12(c)(1) does not apply and has been removed.

50	Pricing Workbook	N/A	Can the government map the contract roles to the LCATs listed in BOA Attachment 1 to the BOA Pricing Workbook?	The labor categories listed in the pricing workbook already align to the labor category definitions listed in Attachment 1. Please note the names are the same throughout.
51	Section L Instructions	136, 138, 141	Please clarify the number of slides allowed for the Oral Presentation. Will the Government please confirm that there are unlimited orals presentation slides allowed when developing the response to the scenario(s) real-time during the presentation, which are separate from the 10 slides to be submitted ahead of time in Phase II? If that is incorrect, will the Government explain their expectation?

Section L instructions seem to have conflicting statements.

Page 136, 7.3.2-27 - Oral Presentation. (b) states "There is no limit on the number of slides that an offeror may use," which conflicts with, Page 138, table, Factor C, Oral Presentation, 4 slides.

Page 141, Oral Presentation Guidelines (4 Slides)

Page 142, Offerors should note that any written diagrams, figures, illustrations, etc. created during the oral presentation will not supplement the oral presentation. The government will evaluate the Offeror’s oral presentation based on the oral communication.	The slide limitation should be 4 slides. The language, "There is no limit on the number of slides that an offeror may use." within Provision 7.3.2-27 - Oral Presentation - July 2008, paragraph (b) is removed.
	52	Section L Instructions	142	Will the government confirm how many scenarios will be provided 2 hours in advance?	One technical scenario will be provided.
	53	SOO	23	Section 4 Transition: Can FDIC confirm that the transition overlap period of approximately 30 calendar days for the contractor to coordinate and work with the incumbent contractor is part of the transition period and not the entire allotted transition period. If this is correct does FDIC have a time requirement for the full transition period?	Yes, the FDIC anticipates a transition overlap of approximately 30 calendar days. Offerors should also consider 6-8 weeks for onboarding new contractor personnel in addition to the transition overlap period.
	54	Section L Instructions	140	Will the Government confirm that PPQs are due back to FDIC on 09/06/24 in conjunction with the Phases II and III delivery?	Yes, past performance questionaires are due September 6, 2024.
	55	Section L Instructions	141	Pg 141, last paragraph states, "Offerors will receive the technical scenarios two (2) hours prior to the scheduled oral presentation." Is the technical scenario related to Factor C?	Yes, it is related to Factor C.
	56	Section L Instructions	142	Please clarify expectations for Oral presentations. Are the oral presentations intended to only be for Factor B Company and Personnel Certifications and Experiences and Factor C Technical Management Approach and not for Factors A and B? Section L instructions seem to have conflicting information.

Pg 142, table 'Oral Presentation Schedule' for Step 2 states "Offeror presents slides (Factor A and Factor B)", and Step 4 also indicates the questions are for "Factor A and Factor B".	The information was updated to replace the Factor A and B language to instead read Factor B & C. Please see revised Section L document.
	57	Task Order SLAs	109	Section J, Task Order 1, SLAs.
To understand the current state of Products, what are the current K1 and K2 performance levels (defect counts) for the past 12 months?	The FDIC will not be providing historical performance information. Offerors should focus on the required SLA metrics.
	58	Section L Instructions	147	Volume VI: Factor C - Past Performance
In reference to the statement, "This information is required for both the offeror and for major subcontractors and joint venture partners that the offeror considers critical to its overall successful performance of this requirement," what is considered a "major subcontractor"?	A "major subcontractor" is one that would perform directly under the contract, not a supplier or vendor that provides ancillary support to the prime contractor.
	59	SOO	44	7.5.1-02 - Protecting Sensitive Information - February 2019
Can FDIC include the following forms: FDIC Form 3700/46, Confidentiality Agreement (for Contractors/Subcontractors/Consultants) and FDIC Form 3700/46A, Confidentiality Agreement (for Contractor/Subcontractor/Consultant Personnel)?	Those forms are now uploaded as separate attachments to the SAM.gov posting.
	60	Section L Instructions	143	Volume IV: BOA Additional Information
For this section, are Offerors able to include additional information not on the list of required documents/information?	Offerors are requested not to provide additional information that is not required by the RFP.

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Comment:

@Helmkamp, Brittany @Fiscus, Scott R. - Please review questions 62 and 63 and determine which answer you prefer.

	61	Section L Instructions	143	Volume VIII: Task Order 1 Additional Information
For this section, are Offerors able to include additional information not on the list of required documents/information?	The FDIC is not anticipating additional information needed to be included in Volume VIII. Additionally, the evaluation factors factor B and C and materials required for those submissions remain unchanged. Materials for Volume VIII are not being used for evaluation purposes.
	62	Section L Instructions	Pg. 131 - Section 7.3.2-12 - Pricing Proposal (Time and Material or Labor Hour) (c)	Reference: Part (c) of this section the Government provides the definitions for On-Site and Off-Site for the purpose of proposing on-site and off-site labor rates. Question: Please confirm that the Government is requesting offerors to propose both On-Site and Off-Site rates ? If yes, can you update the template accordingly.	All labor rates should be proposed using the Off-Site definition in provision 7.3.2-12(c)(2). 7.3.2-12(c)(1) does not apply and has been removed.

63 Section L Instructions Pg. 131 - Section 7.3.2-12 - Pricing Proposal (Time and Material or Labor Hour) (b) Are offerors to propose separate sets of rates for the Prime and each of its subcontractors? If yes, can you update the template accordingly. Paragraph (b) of provision 7.3.2-12 is revised from "Offeror must identify the markup rate the prime contractor has applied to each subcontractor labor category. Offeror must justify the reasonableness of the subcontractor markup rate(s)." to "Subcontracting is permitted under this solicitation; however, markup of the subcontractor labor rates by the prime contractor is not permitted."

Each Contract Role/Labor Category should have only one proposed all-inclusive hourly rate.

	64	SOO	Pg. 47 Section 7.5.2-10 - Risk Level Designation (Labor Category) - November 2014	Additional Labor Categories may be included in the BOA - High Risk IT - Are offerors allowed to propose additional LCATs in the BOA and/or Task Orders?	The clause being referenced is making offerors aware that if the FDIC chooses to add additional labor categories not currently referenced they will be considered High Risk IT for risk level designation. This is not a clause to be used to propose additional labor categories.
	65	Section L Instructions	133-135;
147-148	What is the time frame of "relevancy" pertinent to Past Performance?	Relevancy and recency in provision 7.3.2-16 are subjective and will be evaluated in that manner. More recent and relevant performance will have a greater impact on the Performance Confidence Assessment than less recent or relevant effort, but there is no fixed time frame.
	66	Section L Instructions	133-135;
147-148	Please confirm that Past Performance relevancy is only required for Task Order 1.	Past Performance information is only required to be submitted, and will only be evaluated, for Task Order 1 (Phase III).
	67	Section L Instructions	133-135	In Section L, under 7.3.2-16 (d) Past Performance Information, it states, "(8) For each of the sub-factors under the Mission Capability factor, illustrate how the work you performed applies to that sub-factor."

Please identify the sub-factors in Volume II: Mission Capability (if applicable to Past Performance) and Volume V: Mission Capability.	The language has been revised to reflect, "For each technical factor under the Mission Capability Volume, illustrate how the work you performed applies to each factor." Please see revised Section L document.
	68	Section L Instructions	132	In Section L, 7.3.2-15 - Mission Capability - Proposal Instructions, it states, "(a) The Mission Capability Volume must include the information described below," and includes "(b) Subcontracting Plan", which is a listed required document in Volumes IV and VIII.

Please confirm that a Subcontracting Plan must be included in Volume IV (BOA Additional Information) and Volume VIII (Task Order 1 Additional Information) and not in Volume II (Mission Capability) and Volume V (Mission Capability).	Yes, confirmed. Subcontracting Plans, if applicable, should be included in Volume IV (BOA Additional Information) and Volume VIII (Task Order 1 Additional Information).
	69	Section L Instructions	133-134	Will the Government confirm that PPQs are due back to FDIC on 09/06/24 in conjunction with the Phases II and III delivery?	Yes, past performance questionaires are due September 6, 2024
	70	SOO	17 - 18	Does the Government perceive that Task Order 1 aligned under Functional Area #2: Product Management would preclude the Offeror from bidding on other task orders within the Functional Area #2: Product Management or Functional Area #1: Platform Services?	There are multiple product management task orders anticpated to be awarded. Award of TO1 will not immediately preclude an offeror from bidding on additional product management or platform services task orders. If it is determined an OCI exists due to work on this BOA and\|or other BOA's within the FDIC then the details outlined on page 17 will apply. The only OCI explicitly referenced in relation to awards for tasks orders is associated with functional area #3.
	71	SOO	17 - 18	If there is a conflict of interest within or between Functional Area #1: Platform Services and Functional Area #2: Product Management, can the Government provide clarification on what is the criteria for the conflict of interest and what will need to be included in the OCI waiver?	There are multiple product management task orders anticpated to be awarded. Award of TO1 will not preclude an offeror from bidding on additional product management or platform services task orders. The regulation governing contractor conflicts of interest is 12 C.F.R. Part 366, which describes generally what types of conflicts can arise, establishes the process for requesting a waiver, and identifies who has the authority to grant such a waiver.
	72	Section L Instructions	142	In Volume II: Factor C - Oral Presentation Guidelines it states, "Offeror shall submit the slides for the oral presentation as part of its Volume I – Mission Capability, Factor B submission."
Please confirm that the oral presentation slides should be submitted as part of its Volume II, not Volume I.	Thank you for bringing this to our attention. You are correct, it should be submitted as part of Volume II, not Volume I. Please see revised Section L document.
	73	Section L Instructions	138	Please confirm that Phase II: Factor C's 4 Technical slides will be due on 9/6 and there is no additional slides allowed during the orals presentation. If not, will the Government further clarify what is to be submitted on 9/6 and the expectation of slide use during the 90-minute presentation?	Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

74	Section L Instructions	138-139	Can the Government please confirm that we have 13 pages (1/2 page per service - 26 services listed starting on the bottom of page 21 of 158) in addition to the 5 pages for Experience in Phase III, Volume V: Factor A Technical Management?	The offerors are being asked to propose the catalog services required to meet the objectives of the task order. The total number services proposed is at the discretion and experience of the offeror to successfully meet the objectives. The total number pages should align with the offerors proposed catalog of services.
75	Section L Instructions	145	Are the catalog of services that the Government wants us to respond to the bulleted list starting on page 21 under Section 3 Requirements?	The offerors are being asked to propose the catalog services required to meet the objectives of the task order. The total number services proposed is at the discretion and experience of the offeror to successfully meet the objectives. The total number pages should align with the offerors proposed catalog of services.
76	SOO	21	What is the desired operational/admin support time window for the task order 1?	For Task Order 1 , the FDIC operational hours will be from 0800 to 1800 EST with on-call support being available from 0600 to 0800 EST and 1800 to 2200 EST.
77	Evaluation Criteria	141 - 142	On page 141, in the last section titled "Orals Presentation Guidelines (4 slides)", it states that ".....Offerors will receive the technical scenarios two(2) hours prior to the scheduled Oral presentation...." . This section continues on page 142. However, the first paragraph on Page 142 states ".....Offeror shall submit the slides for the oral presentation as part of its Volume I – Mission Capability, Factor B submission" .

Can the FDIC provide clarification on on when the Oral presentation should be submitted given the scenario will be received 2 hours prior to the actual presentation. Factor B's 6 slides are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

Factor C's written 5 pages are due with the proposal submission on 9/6/24.

78	SOO		Can the FDIC list the names of the current ServiceNow BOA holders if there are incumbents?	No, the names of the incumbents are not being released.
79	Evaluation Criteria	112	Advisory Down Select - Criteria #3 - Does the 9 or more certifications in a product line need to be held exclusively by U.S. based resources?	Yes, certifications must be held by US based resources.

On Page 15 of the RFP it states that "Contractor personnel must be U.S Citizens and will be required to sign the FDIC’s Confidentiality Agreement."

Additionally on Page 16, "Work will be performed at the FDIC facilities, or at Contractor facilities, either on site or remotely within the United States, as specified in the task order."

80	Evaluation Criteria	112	Advisory Down Select - Criteria #3 - Do certified resources in a product line need to have the full product line certification suite to count towards the target of 9 or is the count of 9 just for # of individual certifications within a product line (e.g., 9 Risk & Compliance certifications)?	On page 139 Criteria #3 is Does the Offeror have 9 or more certifications within a product line? The FDIC is aware of the accreditations, micro certifications, mainline certifications, and pro-suite certifications ServiceNow currently outlines in their credentialling program guide. The FDIC will accept all certifications that are related to a single product line.
81	Evaluation Criteria	112	Will FDIC provide an excel or editable template for Phase 1 Advisory Down Select worksheet? Is there a required format to submit Advisory Down Select worksheet?	The template is now uploaded as a separate editable attachment to the SAM.gov posting.
82	Evaluation Criteria	140	Is there a required template/format for the PowerPoint slides that support oral presentations (volume II - Factor B and Factor C	No. There is no required PowerPoint template.
83	Evaluation Criteria	158	Will Offerors have flexibility with the hour alignment to labor category during delivery of Task Order 1 or will this be dictated by FDIC? We establish our labor resource pyramid in order to achieve efficiencies and tailor based on necessary skillsets, however this will be difficult if the pyramid is prescribed.	The FDIC will not be specifying the hours by labor category. The offerors are being asked to propose the catalog services required to meet the objectives of the task order. The total number of services proposed is at the discretion and experience of the offeror to successfully meet the objectives, including the level of effort to deliver each service.
84	Evaluation Criteria	158	Would FDIC provide the hours for evaluation for Task Order 1 in order for Offerors to calculate discounts and bid market relevant rates that align to the level of support expected by FDIC?	No. The FDIC will not be providing the hours for evaluation.
85	Pricing Workbook	N/A	For the labor categories provided, will FDIC allow offers to bid additional levels within a specific labor category to create a labor category family? For example, a "Junior Business Analyst", "Business Analyst" and "Senior Business Analyst"? This will give FDIC flexibility in staffing of resources during the delivery of task orders.	The FDIC requests that Offerors only provide rates for the identified labor categories.
86	SOO	18	Would FDIC consider allowing Offerors to bid and be awarded a Task Order on Functional Areas 1 or 2 if they are already have an award on Task Order 3, as long as an OCI review was conducted? This will give FDIC access to the full vendor pool that best meets FDIC's needs for the specific Task Order.	Per the RFP, page 18, "Under no circumstances will an Offeror receive an award for Functional Area 3 if it is already performing services under Functional Areas 1 or 2."
87	SOO	19	Given the interrelationships of contractor requirements, is there an existing multi-development or multi-vendor model in place? If so, could FDIC provide additional details?	The FDIC currently has multiple vendors working on the ServiceNow platform concurrently today.
88	SOO	19	What is the FDIC governance model for the ServiceNow Platform? E.g. ServiceNow governance board, defined processes for key decisions, etc.? If so, could FDIC provide additional details?	BOA awardees will be provided within additional details on the decision making frameworks in place for the ServiceNow platform after BOA award.
89	SOO	21	The list of ServiceNow subscriptions notes that the Hardware Asset Management license has not been purchased. Can FDIC clarify the ITAM product line has not yet begun development on Hardware Asset Management? If development has begun, can FDIC share to what extent it has been implemented?	The FDIC currently anticipates Hardware Asset Management licenses to be operational at time of award.
90	SOO	21	What integrations are in place for the IT Operations Management and Asset Management product suites?	The list of primary integrations include the following:

- Microsoft Intune

- Tenable SE

- BigFix

- Splunk

- Adobe Cloud

- MuleSoft

- Microsoft 0365 Azure

- Cyber Security Assessment and Management (CSAM)

- CyberArk

- AuthorWeb

- Cloud Access Security Broker

91	SOO	28	Is there an existing toolset and automated test suite being used for the current ServiceNow platform and applications? If so, could FDIC provide additional details?	The FDIC currently uses the native ServiceNow Automated Testing Framework available to all ServiceNow customers. The FDIC is investigating additional 3rd party tooling at this time, but no decisions or authorizations have been made at the time of this solication.
92	SOO	145	To confirm Offerors are responding appropriately, can FDIC clarify the intent of services for the .5 page limit per service? Are there examples of services or are Offerors expected to organize "services" to the scope in the task order requirements?	The offerors are being asked to propose the catalog services required to meet the objectives of the task order. The total number services proposed is at the discretion and experience of the offeror to successfully meet the objectives. The catalog of services will be evaluated as defined on page 145.
93	SOO	145	Please confirm that proposed cost of each service and estimated level of effort by labor categories for each proposed service should be included in the Technical and Management approach and not in the Pricing Workbook.	The estimated level of effort by labor category is expected in the technical management approach.
94	SOO	145	Will the FDIC explain how they will reconcile the cost and the level of effort requested in the technical volume as compared to the level of effort that will be used to evaluate pricing?	The FDIC does not believe additional information is required at this time for a proposal submission to provide the FDIC with the information necessary to effectively evaluate Factors A, B, and D.
95	SOO	N/A	How much of the ServiceNow implementation is estimated to be out-of-box vs. customized?	In the most recent upgrade from Vancouver to Washington DC, there were 23 priorty 2 skipped records and 119 priority 5 skipped records.
96	SOO	N/A	Have there been challenges with upgrades or implementing new features because of level of customization? If so, what areas?	In general, the features that were originally designed and implemented early in our adoption of ServiceNow has the most customization that affects upgrades. The FDIC is regularly evaluating all customizations for rolling back to out of the box configurations.
97			Will the roadmap provided to the offeror provide roadmaps for the individual ServiceNow products FDIC has purchased?	The roadmap(s) provided after award will be inclusive of all ServiceNow products the FDIC is currently using , or is expecting to be using, and will clearly align with the ServiceNow product offering.
98			Can you provide an overview of your current SecOps and IRM environment, including existing tools and systems that integrate with ServiceNow?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
99			What are the primary objectives you aim to achieve with the enhancement of your SecOps and IRM processes through ServiceNow?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
100			Are there any specific customization or integration requirements with other systems or tools that we need to be aware of?	The list of primary integrations include the following:

- Microsoft Intune

- Tenable SE

- BigFix

- Splunk

- Adobe Cloud

- MuleSoft

- Microsoft 0365 Azure

- Cyber Security Assessment and Management (CSAM)

- CyberArk

- AuthorWeb

- Cloud Access Security Broker

101	What compliance and regulatory standards must our services adhere to when implementing and managing SecOps and IRM solutions?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
102	Could you provide details on the various user roles and access levels required for different stakeholders within the SecOps and IRM modules?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
103	What are your current incident response protocols, and how do you envision ServiceNow improving your incident management processes?	The only task order currently published does not include incident response. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
104	Can you elaborate on your existing risk management framework and how you plan to leverage ServiceNow IRM to enhance risk identification, assessment, and mitigation?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
105	What are your expectations for training and ongoing support for your team to ensure they are proficient in using the new SecOps and IRM functionalities in ServiceNow?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
106	Does the FDIC have their Risk and Compliance Entity Framework established? If so, are Entities and Entity Types defined with Entity Filters creating Entities and Risks and Controls based off CMDB tables?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
107	Has Policy Lifecycle been implemented and if so, does it include Policy Redlining with Google Drive/O365 integrations?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
108	For Compliance Management, Are Indicators established (either Manual or Automated) to collect evidence and generate Control Compliance?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
109	RFP indicates 25 vendors licensed for Vendor Risk Management, is a TPRM upgrade to leverage IRQs (vs. Tiering Assessments) and the new Due Diligence Workflows in-scope for the upcoming roadmap?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
110	Do you incorporate any security frameworks or compliance requirements into your Security Operations program? (NIST, ISO, CIS, TSA, CIP, SANS, MITRE ATT@CK, etc.)	The task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
111	How is Security Operations governance managed (policies, procedures, and audits)?	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.
112	Does your security program monitor all assets or specifics ones? If specific, which assets do you monitor? (On-prem, virtual, cloud, containers (Corp vs. production vs. segmented assets))	The only task order currently published does not include the Security Operations and Integrated Risk Management scope. This information would potentially be included when a task order covering the product management needs for this product suite is published.

This is the start of the file's text. The full file is on GovTribe.

File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated Aug 9, 2024.