FFP AMENDMENT 0005.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE PAGE OF PAGES

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO.

3. EFFECTIVE DATE

27 Sept 2011

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721

5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

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

United States Department of Justice Justice Management Division Procurement Services Staff 145 N Street NE Suite 8E:300 Washington, DC 20530

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

25 August 2011T

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER

NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

CODE FACILITY CODE

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

[ ] The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers [ ] is extended, [x] is not extended.

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 Items 8 and 15, and returning 1 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 ACKNOWLEDG- MENT 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.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS,

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

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

TRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

c. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor [ ] is not [X] is required to sign this document and return 1 copies to the issuing office.

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

The Government hereby provides an answer to Bidder’s Question #37 received on 27 September 2011. The proposal due date remains 04 October 2011 at noon, Washington D.C. time. Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

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

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15C DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. DATE SIGNED

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

PREVIOUS EDITION UNUSABLE

30-105 STANDARD FORM 30 (REV 10-

83) Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 52.243

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration Attachment (6)

No. RFP Section RFP Pg. Bidder’s Question DOJ Answer 1 H.30 67 Can the Government provide an average deposit amount per task order so that the vendors can obtain a rough estimate of the cost of the depository bond?

It depends on the particulars of each claims case and will be reflected in each task order.

2 H.29 66 Can the Government lower the E&O and Fidelity limits from $10 and $5M to $2M and $1 respectively? The current

No. Amounts remain as stated.

3 Attachment 3 N/A Should we assume for financial modeling purposes that the selected 3 contractors will receive an equal distribution of the case loan, i.e. 58/3= 19 case per year?

The minimum guarantee for any contracts resulting from this solicitation is $100,000. That said, there is no guarantee of cases per contractor.

Historical information is provided for planning purposes but should not be used to guarantee future performance. There will be no “equal distribution.” Task Orders for servicing claims cases will be awarded as a result of the Fair Opportunity competitions in accordance with (IAW) H.26.

4 H.9 43 The Government is requiring the awarded contractor to maintain at least a 4 FTE key personnel staffing for this engagement without a volume commitment.

What level of commitment is the Government going to guarantee given that the awarded contractor is assigning a minimum 4 FTE

IAW B.2 and H.6 the guaranteed minimum for any contracts resulting from this solicitation process will be $100,000.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration team to the engagement?

5 General N/A For each task order, will the

COTR provide an estimate level of effort with the applicable CLINs required or is this up to the contractor?

This is up to each Offeror and should be part of its proposal for each task order during the Fair Opportunity competitive process.

6 B.3 4 What is the estimated level of effort in hours for the Claims Case pricing scenario and which CLINs are involved?

This is up to each Offeror as stated in B.3(b) based on the Offeror’s requirements to fulfill the given scenario.

The Government is looking for the Offeror to bid based on the given scenario.

7 General N/A Who are the current contractors currently performing this work for DOJ? What did the Government spend on an annual basis with each contractor?

This work is currently performed on an adhoc basis with various agencies doing their own contracting with various vendors. This is the first effort by DOJ to try and issue one large contract for use by multiple agencies involved in federal forfeiture.

What the Government has spent is specific to each case and is not necessary to submit a response to this solicitation.

However DOJ estimates that this combined effort may cost between $1M to $4M per year but is based on forfeiture activities and is not guaranteed.

8 General N/A What did the Government spend on these services last year and how many cases were completed?

See Historical Workload Attachment (3) to the RFP. Pls. see note on this attachment.

9 B.3.c.2 5 Under which category of “Other The Government considers the cost of

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration

Direct Costs”, would the expense to obtain a Depository Bond be recorded?

Depository Bonds and all other insurance costs to be part of the overhead of qualified Offerors. It should be noted that Depository Bonds will not be required under task orders in which the recipient payments are made through U.S. Treasury accounts.

10 C.4.2 11-12 Prior to disbursement of case specific funds; will there be an opportunity to provide investment services that will allow the maximum return for case specific recipients while protecting the original principle?

Except in rare instances, funds will be disbursed into the payment account by the Government contemporaneously with the payment to recipients. There will be no need to provide investment services.

As applicable, individual task orders will specify interest on overnight balances deposited with federally insured depository institutions to cover in-clearings.

11 B.3(c)3 5 Please clarify if only HUBZone businesses will receive a preference, or if all small businesses receive such preference (as seems to be indicated in section I.2.3 (b) and M.3 (d).

The clause is meant for HUBZONE small businesses specifically. However, otherwise successful small businesses may receive consideration with attention given to the applicable NAICS restrictions associated with 541199 IAW A.3.

12 C.4.4.1(1) 15 Is existing claimant information in electronic or paper form? If the former, what program or format is the information stored in?

It could be in either format depending how DOJ comes into possession of it.

Offerors shall be prepared to deal with either format.

13 C.4.4.1(2) 15 Does DOJ have a preference for the mode of transmission for claimant information—for

Encrypted files are the Department’s current requirement.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration example, encrypted email, secure FTP, automated data transfer to an existing DOJ system?

14 C.4.6 18 Are vendors to price support for Task #5 – Associated Services? If so can DOJ provide additional detail regarding volumes and types of support required?

Not at this time. If required, these services will be specified in individual task orders and may be priced as part of ODCs as applicable.

15 C.6.3 21 Is the Claims Tracking System expected to be a web based solution hosted by the vendor with multi-factor authentication?

Web-based Claims Tracking is preferred but not required.

16 Attachment 2 Pricing Table

No CLIN is listed for Project Manager. Was this an oversight, and can we assume the PM is billable?

This was an administrative oversight.

The PM position is billable and a new price model is provided with Amendment 0001.

17 Attachment 2 Pricing Table

Can DOJ provide additional information regarding the volume and complexity of Subject Matter Expert support needed for each of the eight types of SMEs listed in Attachment 1, as each of these types of experts may require different rates depending on the complexity of the actual support required?

SMEs will only be used in rare circumstances. For ease of comparability, Offerors shall assume requirements of average complexity for each SME labor category quoted.

18 Attachment 2 Pricing Table

There does not appear to be a mechanism for pricing the web hosting solution. Would DOJ allow vendors to price the web hosting solution as an ODC as a

The Government believes that qualified claims administrators will have developed a pre-existing information technology infrastructure which includes operational websites. The Government

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration per GB hosted per month charge? does not believe it is appropriate or necessary to solicit pricing for development of these in-place operational systems which serve many clients and claim cases.

19 B.3 4 The RFP indicates that contractors shall provide proposal pricing following the Claims Case scenario included on Page 4. Are offerors to assume the same level of effort for each year of the contract if it is assumed that the scenario is completed in the Base Year? Or, are offerors to assume that they are only to provide pricing for the period of time each offeror proposes in which to complete the scenario throughout each contract year?

Assume the same scenario for each year so as to establish consistent pricing.

Once the contract is established with the rates bid for the solicitation, Offerors are free to bid lower prices during the Fair Opportunity competitions. Right now, the intent is to establish ceilings/max rates so there are no scope issues during performance.

C.6.3 21 The RFP indicates that contractors shall operate and maintain a Claims Tracking System. Is this Claims Tracking System to be developed after contract Award or is it the intent of DOJ that all offerors develop this system prior to contract Award? While this offeror understands that the Government will not fund development of the system, it is unclear if the system is meant to

The Government believes qualified claims administrators will have developed a pre-existing Claims Tracking System and that system will be satisfactory for Government requirements with little or no modification required after award.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration be developed before or after Award. Please clarify.

21 L.8 99 Does the Government have any preference on the type of electronic files? Is PDF acceptable? If Microsoft Office documents, is version 2007 (docx and xlsx) acceptable?

IAW L.8(b), electronic copies shall be in Word and Excel. Newer versions of Office such as docx and xlsx are acceptable.

22 L.8.2.3 105 –

In this section, the Government requests information pertaining to personnel security clearances in relation to other Federal forfeiture contracts. However, section H.17 indicates that the only clearance requirement is for a NACI. Will the Government consider removing specific information related to Federal forfeiture contracts and instead expand it to specific information related to NACI clearances on other claims programs given that a NACI is the level of clearance required regardless of the contract for which it was processed?

Offeror’s proposed plan for the recruitment and retention of management and staff should provide the information pertaining to NACI clearances whether under Federal Forfeiture or otherwise.

23 B.3 (b) 4 Should the claim response rate and approved claim rate for distribution be based on 100% of the 20,000 claimant pool? Or should we use a different percentage?

Assume both a 100% response and 100% approval rate for ease and continuity of pricing.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration

24 C.5.2 3 20 Is the number of pages of the Quality Control Plan included in the 40 page Technical Proposal Maximum?

Yes.

25 L8.1.4 103 The Pricing Table states 3 mailings should be included before final payment. Are you referring to the notice, response to deficiencies and final determination letter mailings or some other mailing? If so, what type of mailings?

The type of mailings does not affect pricing. 3 mailings are indicative of the typical claim case. Assume 3 mailings to the entire 20,000 claimant population for ease of comparability.

26 B.3(b)1 4 With regard to the “20,000 claimant pool.”

1) Does that mean 20,000 claim forms are received or 20,000 claim forms are mailed?

2) If 20,000 are mailed, what is the assumed return rate?

3) If 20,000 are received, how many are assumed mailed?

4) Based on the answer above, what is the assumed approval rate (i.e. how many will receive a payment)?

See answer to Question 23.

27 B.3(b)2 4 With regard to the “3 mailings.”

1) If one of the mailings is the Notice/POCF, how many will be sent? (This will be answered by

See answer to question 25.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration question #1 above).

2) Will one of the mailings be a Deficiency Notice, and if so what is the assumed deficient claim rate?

3) Will the third notice be sent to the entire claimant population?

28 C.4.4.1-1 15 1) If contacting brokerage and clearing firms is necessary, they will charge a fee for their research and delivery of shareholder data. Will that be a billable ODC?

2) Will the assistance of a sub-contracted proxy solicitation firm ever be necessary to search for victims?

1)If this is required it will be dependent on the individual claims case and will be noted in the task order and if so, will be billable as an ODC.

2) A subcontracted proxy solicitation firm will never be needed.

29 H.21 (b) 61 Included in the information and materials that are said to vest in the Government are computer software applications/databases and software documentation. Can you please clarify what will vest in the Government? Does this mean that the Government will have a right to our proprietary database and the underlying code?

Consistent with #18 and #20, the Government assumes that qualified Offerors will have already designed and developed a database with their own funds and will own it and use it for all customers generally. The Government will own its claimant data and the tracking information derived from it, not any systems or application software/code that the Offeror already owns.

30 L.8(d) 100 On page 100 of the RFP it states:

“Type (font) size must be Times New Roman, no less than 12 point

Yes, they may.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration except for labels and headings (used with graphics, tables and figures which may be no smaller than 8 point Times New Roman font).”

Does this mean 8 pt for headings and labels only or does it mean that the labels, headings in graphics AS WELL AS the fonts within the graphics, tables and figures may be no smaller than 8 pt font?” In other words, can the words within graphics, tables and figures be 8 font also along with the labels and headings?

31 L.8.2.4 110 Page 110 states “Offerors shall submit past performance information as part of its proposal for both the Offeror and proposed major subcontractors. If any portion of the work will be subcontracted or performed by a team member, the Offeror shall provide three (3) commensurately sized project references for the subcontractor/team member as described above, and in addition to the three references for the primary Offeror.”

Past Performance references are required for the Offeror and its major subcontractors which are defined as those receiving over $10M over the life of the contract.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration

Question: Will the Government clarify if all subcontractors are required to have 3 past performance submissions or are 3 past performance citations only required for First Tier subcontractors as defined in L.8.1.2 as being those who will receive more than $10 Million over the life of the contract?

32 H.29 / H.30 66 – 67 Section H.30 states that the depository bond is intended to cover, among other things, employee dishonesty. However, Section H.29 is a requirement for a separate dishonesty bond. Will DOJ consider a depository bond that includes employee dishonesty coverage in the specified amounts as sufficient to meet both of these requirements?

The Government has described the depository bond and other coverage it considers necessary in general terms.

However, the Government acknowledges that the total benefit of insurance and bond coverage lies in the protection these afford against a wide range of loss events. The various types of bond and insurance coverage in the solicitation serve as an important guide but the adequacy of any specific proposal will be measured on the basis of the total protection provided (by reviewing each Offer and the proposed degree of coverage and protection). This approach implies reasonable flexibility in the overall design of an Offeror’s proposal with an expectation that any material

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration inadequacies of bond or insurance will be unacceptable.

33 H.29 / H.30 66-67 If separate depository and dishonesty bonds are required, would the DOJ consider accepting proof of insurance coverage associated with employee dishonesty (crime insurance) in lieu of a dishonesty bond?

See answer for #32.

34 H.29 / H.30 66-67 Does DOJ expect the Contractor to acquire these bonds or should the financial institutions be the ones acquiring these bonds?

Qualified Offerors shall maintain sufficient bonds and insurance for the activities and services performed under the task orders. Federally insured financial institutions are required to maintain prescribed coverage which is separate and apart from the coverage of qualified Offerors.

35 H.29 (a) 66 The RFP requires the Contractor to obtain and maintain E&O coverage and Employee Dishonesty bonding of $10 million and $5 million in coverage respectively. a) Since the policies shall be executed in favor of both the DOJ and Potential Claimants (H.29 (a) (1) and (2), this is an extra cost to each Contractor over their existing policy. As the cost is not a Other Direct Cost (ODC), should the premiums be

The Government considers the cost of Depository Bonds and all other insurance costs to be part of the overhead of qualified Offerors. It should be noted that Depository Bonds will not be required under task orders in which the recipient payments are made through U.S. Treasury accounts.

DJJE-11-RFP-0721 Federal Forfeiture Claims Administration considered overhead and be included in the fixed hourly rates?

36 H.29 (b) 66 The RFP says that for each claims case assigned, a professional liability insurance policy and an employee dishonesty bond shall be obtained in an amount of up to 150% of the principal amount of funds reflected in each task order.

Since our hourly rates are fixed, is this additional premium costs (over the $10 and $5 Million explained above) to have the policies meet the up to 150% of the principal considered an Other Direct Costs (ODC)? If not, how should the additional costs be reflected in the pricing schedule?

See answer for #35.

37 L.8 – Format and Instructions for Proposals

99 The instructions on page 99 state that the electronic submissions must be in Microsoft Word and Excel formats. Will submissions also be acceptable in PDF format?

Particularly documents that need signatures? Or do we have to incorporate a PDF into a Word document?

For documents that need signatures, you may submit PDFs. However, the pricing model must be in Excel as it was created.