Question and Answers Part 2.doc

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS PART 2

Reference: Section M, Factor I, Subfactor 6—Project Management Plan: “Offeror shall provide a plan for managing the services under the SOW. This plan shall include the proposed management structure for all those with responsibilities for this contract and an explanation of how that structure will work to ensure successful task performance and compliance with all requirements of this SOW.”

Question: Because a Task Order has not yet been released, and we cannot plan for a full management structure to ensure successful task performance and compliance with all requirements of this SOW. Should the offeror develop a Project Management Plan for responding to Task Orders and performing the work under those Task Orders?

The offeror shall develop a Project Management Plan based on the tasks identified with in the Statement of Work.

Reference: RFP Section M, Factor II. Past Performance, c.: “Attachment C is a sample consent letter to be provided with the proposal from all subcontractors that will perform critical aspects of the requirement…”

Question: Would the Government please provide this Attachment as part of the RFP? We did not see this Attachment in the original RFP package.

Attachment C sample consent letter has been uploaded.

Section 1.3.7, if there is a team of companies that will be going after this RFP together, can any of the companies have the ISO/IEC 2000 certification or does the 8(a) firm have to have it, since this is an 8(a) set aside?

The 8(a) prime contractor shall posses the required certification at the time of proposal submission.

SF 1449, block 20 has “$To Be Determined” where it calls for the aggregate funded amount of this IDIQ shall not exceed statement. Section B.9 CONTRACT CEILING PRICE “also provides the same “$(To be determined) verbiage. Does the government know what the not to exceed amount will be? If so, please provide this information.

The Government is prohibited from releasing the IDIQ’s estimated ceiling value and other price/cost data as specified in Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.101 and 3.104.

B.1 Price/Cost Schedule has 16 unique labor categories provided with job qualifications/duties/experience provided for 15 of them in Section H.1. and H.2. The job qualifications/duties/experience for the Senior LAN Administrator is missing. Please provide.

This description will be provided in a subsequent modification.

Section B.4 CONTRACT PERIODS states “The term of this Indefinite-Delivery-Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a 5 Year period of performance exclusive of options. This is not a multi-year contract as defined in FAR Part 17.1.”

FAR Part 17.1 provides the definition of multi-year contract as “Multi-year contract” means a contract for the purchase of supplies or services for more than 1, but not more than 5, program years. A multi-year contract may provide that performance under the contract during the second and subsequent years of the contract is contingent upon the appropriation of funds, and (if it does so provide) may provide for a cancellation payment to be made to the contractor if appropriations are not made. The key distinguishing difference between multi-year contracts and multiple year contracts is that multi-year contracts, defined in the statutes cited at 17.101, buy more than 1 year’s requirement (of a product or service) without establishing and having to exercise an option for each program year after the first.”

Given that the definition implies that the Base Period is for five years without having to exercise option periods. Perhaps the Government meant to say “This IS a multi-year contract as defined in FAR Part 17.1 as there do not appear to be any options in Section B.4? Please advise.

The Base contract period is 12 months as spefified in Schedule B. This IDIQ IS NOT multi-year because the IDIQ’s are not funded. Mulit-year simply means buying more than 12 months of service at one time, with out exercising an option. Individual task orders will be issued, funded and will not exceed 12 months period of performance. The U.S. Department of Labor does not utilize funding that lasts for more than one program year. See 31 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.;GAO, Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, vol. I, chap. 2 (2006) (www.gao.gov/legal.htm) Section B.6 RATE REFRESHMENT states “The contractor is entitled to labor rate price escalation as specified in the price schedule, regardless of when the Task Order was issued.” Does this mean that if a task order period of performance covers two different contract periods from the Pricing Tables provided for in Section B.4, the government will accept pricing for services under both contract periods? If not, please clarify what this section means.

Yes, this is correct. When contract period start automatically, and new pricing is effective immediately.

Section C – STATEMENT OF WORK, paragraph 1.3.2 states “The contractor is responsible for conducting business between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.; however, in no event will Contractor’s personnel be allowed to report for work prior to the arrival of Government personnel. Normal business hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, except…”

In Section C 1.3.11.2.6 Telework/Remote Work, the section expands the work of this section to include "Emergency Work", not just tele/remote work. Specifically, requirements are laid out for 24/7 support on pp21-22 that may require one or more on-call team members to "report to the data center for on-site issue resolution as necessary" including holidays and after hours. In the subsequent Required Service Levels table "The on-call lead will be on-site within 2 hours of the initial alert and remain engaged until the issue is resolved". This creates multiple questions:

Which specific sites is this 2 hour response time applicable (e.g. data center, DR, COOP, regional offices, and/or prevailing wage determination center)? If this applies to more than one site, it may require additional staffing, i.e. more than one on-call lead.

This is strictly for the Data Center.

Section C 1.3.2 limits contractor access to times when government employees are present. Is it the anticipation that a senior-enough government employee will always arrive before a contractor to the site in an emergency circumstance?

If so, how does the responsiveness of the government impact the required service levels of the contractor? If not, what security or other requirements are required of contractor personnel with access to facilities without a government employee present?

In the event of facility access under Emergency Work, the particular personnel that are on call at that time shall be able to arrive and begin work on the emergency issue with no Federal Employee present.

Does this indicate that we must have contractor staff on site at 6:00 a.m.?

No

If our employees are to be on-site at 6:00 a.m., will there be government personnel on site as well in order to comply with this section of the SOW?

Yes

Please clarify why there is a difference between the two differing hours provided in this section (e.g., 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM)?

6:00 a.m. is the earliest arrival time and 7:00 p.m. refers to the latest allowable work time. 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. are the core working hours for the end-user.

Section C – STATEMENT OF WORK, paragraph 1.3.2 states “…For all Contractor positions filled, anytime an employee misses more than five (5) consecutive days of work, the Contractor must notify the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) and, if necessary, provide a backfill for that vacant position.”

Section C – STATEMENT OF WORK, paragraph 1.3.6.7 states “All DOL employees and contractors must receive security awareness training prior to being given access to DOL systems and periodically thereafter as required by DOL security policies. The Contractor employees are required to take annual DOL Information System Security Awareness Training. …”

Employees are generally allowed ten days of leave and five days of personal time as part of their compensation package. As such, they may request five or more days at a time. If contractor employees must receive security awareness training prior to having access to DOL systems and periodically thereafter, how does DOL propose to ensure that personnel provided to backfill will be able to access DOL systems if they are not part of this contract?

We expect this situation will be remedied as it occurs.

Does the government also want a copy of the ISO/IEC certification as well?

No, the requirement for ISO/IEC certification has been waived.

Section C – STATEMENT OF WORK, paragraph 1.3.3. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE indicates that work will be performed at the National Office, Regional Offices, Office of Foreign Labor Office, and Job Corps Offices at the following locations: Washington D.C..; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Arlington, VA. Will contractor employees actually be assigned to these locations or will they merely be supporting them from the Washington, D.C. area?

The contractor will support other geographical regions from the Washington, D.C. facility. How ever, contractors may be required to travel at times.

Section C – STATEMENT OF WORK, paragraph 1.3.11.2.6 states “…Contractor personnel deemed essential may be required to relocate to the DR site in Atlanta or the COOP site in Berkley, West Virginia during emergency.” If the contractor is required to have personnel relocate, will the government compensate the Contractor the cost of travel and per diem during the time that they are away from their primary work location?

The contractor will be reimbursed pursuant to the Federal Government Travel Regulation and the FAR.

Section G – CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION, paragraph G.4 TASK ORDER AWARD states “Work shall not begin on any task order without the execution by the Contracting Officer of a task order authorizing the work…” If more than one award is made, will Task Orders be competed or directed?

If there are multiple awardees, then Task Orders will be competed.

Section H – SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS, paragraph H.1 and H.2 identify each labor category (with the exception of the Senior LAN Administrator) and provide qualifications, duties, and requirements of the position.

Senior LAN Administrator position HAS BEEN eliminated.

As we identify personnel to fill these vacancies, please clarify what the difference between ‘qualifications’ and ‘requirement’s’?

Under this section there is no listing of qualifications vs requirements in the position descriptions, only qualifications.

Is the Contractor to ensure that a proposed candidate fulfill both the qualifications and requirements?

“Qualifications and experience for all key personnel must be recent and continuous, experience must be relevant and commeasure to the position, and certifications must be current.”

If the proposed candidate for a particular position is to have all the elements contained within the “Qualifications” area, some of the elements require experience within ETA/OIST (e.g, “Effectively applies ETA-OIST policies and procedures” or “Works in accordance with and helps to enforce ETA-OIST standard policies and procedures”) which makes the ability to fill vacancies extraordinarily difficult. Please reconsider removing elements that require specific experience within ETA if the contractor is to comply with finding candidates that meet both the ‘qualifications’ and ‘requirements’.

Offerrors ARE NOT required to have experience working in ETA-OSIT.

Section I – CONTRACT CLAUSES, paragraph I.2 references FAR Clause 52-204-4 “Printed or Copied Double-Sided on Recycled Parper”. Section L.1.c states “Single-side print only for Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, and Volume IV.” Given that this guidance contradicts FAR Clause 52-204-4 which requires the use of recycled paper and printing on both sides, please clarify.

FAR clause 52.204-4 has been removed.

Section I – CONTRACT CLAUSES, paragraph I.4 52-216-19 Order Limitation states “…1. Any order for a single item in excess of $TBD; 2. Any order for a combination of items in excess of $TBD. When will the Government provide the TBD numbers?

After Contract award.

Section I – CONTRACT CLAUSES, paragraphs I.7 and I.8 refer to ‘DOT OST Division of Acquisition Services Contracting Officer” in four areas. Please clarify if DOT will be providing services to this contract?

ALL DOT OST Acquisition Services has been eliminated.

Section I – CONTRACT CLAUSES, paragraph I.9.(a) (7) states “Unless otherwise prescribed in the Schedule, the Contracting Officer may unilaterally issue a contract modification requiring the Contractor to withhold amounts from its billings until a reserve is set aside in an amount that the Contracting Officer considers necessary to protect the Government’s interest. The Contracting Officer may require a withhold of 5 percent of the amounts due under paragraph (a), but the total amount withheld for the contract shall not exceed $50,000…”

Will the Government execute this paragraph and withhold funds?

Yes.

Please clarify what grounds the CO might withhold 5% of billings.

Under FAR clause 52.232-7, the Government withhold very small amounts from invoices to establish a reserve. The amounts shall be retained until the Contractor makes final delivery.

Section I – CONTRACT CLAUSES, paragraph I.9.(d) refers to ceiling prices set forth in the Schedule. Does the term “Schedule” in this paragraph refer to the Schedule in Section B of the RFP?

Yes

Section L.1 states “…Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): www.farsite.hill.af.mil”. Is this a correct reference?

http://farsite.hill.af.mil/ Section L.1.b. states “…Proposal submitted in spiral binder notebooks will not be accepted.” Please clarify how the government would like the hardcopy proposals to be collated (e.g., GBC, tape binding, binder clip, etc.)?

Tape binding, binder clip, etc. Spiral binders are generally considered as too bulky. There is limited storage space with in the Government’s facility.

Section L.1.d.(ii) states “…Offerors shall request the customer to complete the questionnaire and return it to the Contracting Officer AT LEAST 10 DAYS prior to the proposal closing date/time, earlier if possible, but NO LATER THAN the proposal closing date.” Section M, Factor II.c. states the same. Questions are due to be submitted by March 1, 2012 and the proposal submission date is currently March 9, 2012, it is difficult to predict how the response to questions may impact our questionnaires and the due dates for receipt. For clarification purposes, contractors have until the closing time of this procurement to submit their past performance questionnaires. Is this assessment correct?

Yes this is correct.

Section M, fifth paragraph, number 4. States “The Government source selection team will evaluate past performance and assign a performance confidence assessment rating. Please define the ‘performance ratings’ that can be assigned and what the requirements are for them to be assigned.

Performance rating to be assigned will be Low Risk, High Risk, and Unknown Risk as specified in Section M Factor II Past Performance.

Section M, paragraph FACTOR 1. TECHNICAL, Subfactor 2, requires submission of resumes for key personnel. Given that three (3) key personnel labor categories (Senior Project Manager, Techncial Operations; Senior Communication Engineer; and Data Center Manager) but 18 FTEs 6, 10, and 2, respectively) that comprise the three labor categories, is the government looking for 1 representative resume from each labor category or 18 total resumes?

At this time, Key Personnel resumes.

Section M, Factor 1, Subfactor 4 states “…The incoming Contractor’s Key Personnel should be available no later than the start date of Transition In for the BPA awardee and will become part of a Transition Team…”

Is this contract an IDIQ with Task Order awards or a BPA?

IDIQ. BPA verbiage has been removed from the RFP.

Will the Government allow a minimum of 2-weeks between task order award and that beginning of the Transition In period or increase the number of weeks to 3 or 4?

2 weeks.

Section M, Factor II.c states “…Attachment 8 is a sample consent letter…” Given that there is no Attachment 8 associated with this RFP, should the reference be Attachment C?

Attachment C has been uploaded.

Section M, Factor III states “The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total of all CLIN prices, including all options to ensure…” Section B does not have any Options to price. Is the reference to Options a mistake?

“Options” has been replace with “Contract Period”

Section M, Factor III, under Adjectival Ratings states “…Adjectival ratings for Factor 1, Technical (See Table 1), Adjectival ratings for Factor II (See Table 2), …” There are no Tables 1 or 2 provided, please clarify.

There are NO tables contained in the RFP.

Adjectival ratings for Factor I and II are provided as Outstanding, Good, Acceptable, and Unacceptable; and Low, Moderate, High, and Unknown, respectively. Please provide details as to how each of these ratings are being measured or what the criteria being used is.

The listed adjectival ratings will be assigned to the technical volumes and past performance volumes possessing specific adjectival characteristics.

The government states that it will make between 1 and 3 awards for this procurement. Under what conditions will only 1 award be made and/or what criteria will it use to decide to make more than 1 award?

The answer to this question depends on the number of best value proposals that the Government receives. As proposals reach technical equality, price will become more important.

Both the "Small Business" and "8(a)" boxes are checked on the Form 1449 Box 10. Later on the form (Box 20), it states only 8(a) contractors will be selected for award. Are small business types other than 8(a) allowed to participate (e.g., SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.?)

This RFP is set-aside for certified 8(a) contractors.

Section L.5 (ii) Volume II -- Past Performance a. & b. specifies the offeror to provide a comprehensive list of up to FIVE recent and relevant contracts and submit Performance Evaluation Questionnaires for these contracts. It also states that "For all the information required above, the same information should be provided for any major subcontractor proposed" with a major subcontractor defined "as those performing more than 10% of the effort on a total cost basis".

Section M, Factor II. Past Performance repeats almost all of this information verbatim, but specifies that up to TEN contracts and Performance Evaluation Questionnaires will be evaluated from the prime offeror. Is the number FIVE or TEN?

Five (5)

How is the overall rating for Past Performance impacted by the number of contracts provided by the prime?

The number of references is not relevant to the evaluation.

Section M, Factor II. Past Performance states that past performance requirements for major subcontractors are in addition to the prime contractor requirements. How are major subcontractor Past Performance references evaluated if the prime offeror does or does not provide the maximum number of references specified?

The number of references is not relevant to the evaluation. If no past performance is provided, the the offerror will be give a neutral rating.

Either way, are the ratings increased based on positive major subcontractor references vs. no major subcontractor references?

The number of references is not relevant to the evaluation.

How are we to determine whether a subcontractor is a Major Subcontract (i.e. will be performing more than 10% of the effort) given the multiple award, IDIQ/Task Order nature of the procurement?

Offerors shall assume that they will receive a single award for the entire requirement.

Given the importance placed on ensuring continuity of operations between Contractors, would the DOL consider placing FAR 52.222-46 in the RFP which emphasizes the important of maintaining the quality and stability of the workforce to be employed on the contract.? “Professional compensation that is unrealistically low or not in reasonable relationship to the various job categories, since it may impair the Contractor’s ability to attract and retain competent professional service employees, may be viewed as evidence of failure to comprehend the complexity of the contract requirements.”

FAR 52.222-46 has been incorporated into the RFP.