Response_to_Questions_for_Solicitation_No._DOL-OPS-16-R-00026.pdf

Solicitation No. DOL-OPS-R-16-00023

DOL-OPS-16-R-00023

No. Section Page RFP Language Question Response

1 A.c 4

A.c: Volume I –Technical (including sub-factors). Not To Exceed (NTE) 60 pages, excluding resumes, covers, title pages, executive summaries, table of contents and supporting documentation.

A.d: Each volume of the proposal shall consist of a Table of Contents, Summary Section and the Narrative discussion.

Section A.c states that executive summaries are not included in page count. Section A.d states that each volume shall have a Summary Section. Is it correct to assume that the Summary Section is the equivalent of the executive summary in section A.c and are excluded from page count?

Yes

2 1.6.1 13 The quality control plan QCP shall be submitted with the contractor’s proposal at the time of submission.

As quality control plan can be lengthy, and Section L provides to clear indication of where it should be included in the proposal, may the QCP be attached as supporting documentation outside of page count?

No

3 A.6 10 General Question What is the anticipated start date for delivering on-site classes? To Be Determined

4 5.6.1 26 The contractor will be responsible for managing travel by airline, bus, rental car, and rail travel for specified onsite participants

What specific travel system will the contractor use to book participant travel? E2Solutions by CW Government Travel, Inc.

5 5.6.2 26

The vendor shall be responsible for obtaining/maintaining logistical requirements for participants, including lodging and meals for JVSG participants who are attending training onsite, on a cost reimbursable basis.

Will the contractor be expected to provide three meals per day for all training participants? Will the contractor be responsible for ensuring all participants are on temporary duty status before providing meals during onsite training?

Yes. The contractor is expected to arrange meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and lodging for JVSG participants who attend training onsite. There is no requirement for the contractor to ensure all participants are on temporary duty status.

6 5.6.2 26

The vendor shall be responsible for obtaining/maintaining logistical requirements for participants, including lodging and meals for JVSG participants who are attending training onsite, on a cost reimbursable basis.

Will the contractor be expected to provide three meals per day for participants who are attending offsite training?

No

7 5.7.1 27

Conducting up to 20 scheduled offsite training classes (for planning purposes, these classes will include the travel cost of the instructor, not the travel costs of participants);

For off site classes, will the government provide the training facilities? Is the contractor responsible for participant meals during off site courses?

Yes No

8 5.7.1 27 Conducting National or Regional training conferences Will the government please provide additional details on the contents and objectives of the national and regional training conferences?

These training conferences are for VETS' staff development. The contractor will support the National or Regional VETS’ Staff Training Conferences as directed by the ASVET and reflected in VETS' annual training plan.

9 Attach C *Lodging and Meals for federal staff courses are not covered under the contract

When Federal staff participate in on site courses, will their lodging and meals not be covered?

Lodging and meals for federal staff courses are not covered under the contract.

Questions:

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Questions:

10 1.6.8 14

Understanding the employment barriers and available resources for veterans with physical impairments, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other military-service related injuries;

Should pricing for deliveries include the costs of providing special accommodations such as sign language interpreters, alternative materials for visually impaired, etc?

Yes. The contractor is responsible for ensuring special accomodations are provided as needed for disabled persons.

11 A.d.(i) 5

A.d.(i) VOLUME 1 – TECHNICAL. Factor 2: Measuring Participant Competency and Knowledge Gain

2.1 The Offeror’s Proposal must describe or fully explain

their ability to develop and apply one or more competency-based assessment approaches and tools to demonstrate that participants have obtained the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn.

2.2 The Offeror’s Proposal must describe or fully explain

the proposed pre- and post-training assessments and they will ensure proper evaluation of students’ knowledge.

Section 5.4.3 (p. 24) Measuring Participant Competency and Knowledge Gain states “The vendor shall develop and apply one or more competency-based assessment approaches and tools to demonstrate that participants have obtained the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn. The competency-based approach must include a pre-training assessment of participant knowledge, followed by a post-training assessment.”

Does one pre-training knowledge assessment and one post-training knowledge assessment per course meet the requirements of Factors 2.1 and 2.2? Or, is the Government expecting one or more competency-based assessment approaches, in addition to pre- and post-training knowledge assessments?

At a minimum, the evaluation of student knowledge attainment and competency must include at least one pre-test and one post-test to demonstrate participants have obtained the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn and apply.

12 General Question Will to government please provide the historical distribution of students by their home state? No

13 Attachment D Provide Facilities/Office Space for NVTI Staff

Is this request for pricing intended to reflect the office space costs for contractor personnel or government employees? If the request is for office space for government employees, please provide the approximate number of employees that must be accommodated.

The pricing should reflect office or facility space costs for contractor personnel.

14 Attachment D Participant Selection (Part of Line Item 25)

The request for pricing for Participant Selection indicates that the item is Part of Line Item 25, however, line item 25 in pricing format spreadsheet is a header row under delivery of offsite training. Please clarify if participant selection should be priced separately on row 83 or if those costs are intended to be part of another line item, and if so, which line item they are to be included in.

The Offeror is authorized to add additional line items or leave line items at no cost as needed to give the government best value pricing.

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15 Attachment D General Question For the delivery of offsite training, will the contractor be required to provide the training classrooms for these deliveries?

No

16 Attachment D General Question

For the national conferences, will the contractor be required to provide the facilities for these events? If so, can the conferences occur in the main residential training location?

No

17 C 38 The RFP indicates that FAR 52.219-3 Notice of HUBZone Set-Aside or Sole-Source Award and 52.216-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set Aside are both applicable

Is this solicitation being set aside for HUBZone and/or Small Businesses? No

18 A d. (i) 5 Factor 1.1 indicates offerors must describe or fully explain how they will provide face to face classroom instruction in multiple locations

Is the contractor required to provide classrooms in multiple training locations to meet this requirement or will the government provide classrooms for off-site training?

The contractor is not required to provide the training classrooms.

19 PWS Part I 12 NVTI courses are currently accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities…

Will the courses to be delivered under the proposed effort be provided to the contractor as Government Furnished Information? If so, will those courses maintain their accreditation status when they transition to a new education provider?

Yes No

20 PWS Part I 13

The contractor is responsible for conducting business between the hours of 8am to 6pm, Monday thru Friday, except Federal holidays or when the Government facility is closed due to..

Please clarify if the contractor will still be able to deliver scheduled classes in the event of a government shut down due to administrative closings or emergency situations that do not directly impact the locations for on-site or off-site training deliveries.

The contractor may not deliver services during a government shut down, but may deliver services during administrative closings and emergency situations where the location of the services to be delivered is not affected.

21 PWS Part I 14

Paragraph 1.6.8.1 indicates the vendor shall possess or develop the certification to provide U.S. Department of Education-approved post-secondary course credit and offer continuing education unit (CEU) credits to participants who successfully complete NVTI courses.

Will providing evidence of credit recommendations from the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT) meet the requirement referenced in the PWS?

The vendor shall possess or develop the certification to provide

22 Part 5, 5.1 22 Distance learning courses made available via a public website

Can the government please define what it means by a "public website"? Will a website that requires user authentication / log in be considered a public website?

A "public website" is a website that is accessible to the general public.The "public website" may require user authentication/log in credentials.

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23 Part 5, 5.2 22 General Question

The PWS provides a list of existing eLearning courses that will be revised and must be delivered by the contractor. In order to estimate the level of effort required to update these courses will the government please provide the following information:

--The length of each course --The format /development environment (e.g. HTML 5, Flash, Adobe) used to create each course --The interactivity level for each course --If the existing courses are hosted in a SCORM compliant learning management systems --Do the current courses meet all Section 508 accessibility requirements

Revisions to existing course training materials are made periodically to keep the material being taught up-to-date and reflect the additions or corrections necessitated by changes to legislation or policy guidance. We do not have a cost estimate as to the level of effort.

24 Part 5, 5.5.2 25 "The content of this information will be provided by and approved by the COR and a VETS subject matter expert"

Please confirm that the contents of the web-based resource repository will be provided to the contractor by the government and that the contractor is not responsible for creating or identifying the content to be contained in the resource repository.

Confirmed

25 Part 5, 5.6.1 26 General Question

The PWS does not address provision of local ground transportation to/from the airport, bus, or rail station at either the participants origination point or the destination point where on-site/residential training is provided. Will the government reimburse the contractor for costs associated with local ground transportation for training participants? Are participant parking expenses and mileage to/from the airport at their home location an allowable expense that the contract reimburses directly to participants?

The Government will reimburse according to the Federal Travel Regulations

26 Part 5, 5.7.3 28

The PWS indicates that the monthly financial report must include an accounting of labor hours expended, keyed to the tasks delineating in the work breakdown and staffing plan in the vendor's proposal.

The instructions to offerors do not require the labor hours information or staffing plan to be part of the proposal. Additionally, the government intends to award a firm-fixed price contract that does not require estimation of cost based on labor hours and labor categories. Will the government remove the requirement to provide detailed information on labor hours by task to be consistent with the anticipated contract type and proposal requirements?

No

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27 Attachment C General Question

The lodging and meals information provided in attachment C suggests that approximately 22,000 hotel nights were required in each of the option years (e.g.

1440 participants in the Intensive Services class times 4 nights equals 5,760 room nights) or over 400 nights per week, which would require a very large capacity lodging arrangement. Can the government please clarify the average number of room nights per week historically required for the contract?

See Attachments Provided

28 Part I 1.6.14 16 Other direct costs: This category includes travel, reproduction, and shipping expenses associated with training activities and visits to federal and state facilities.

The RFP specifies that reproduction & shipping costs are anticipated as other direct costs, however, there is no line item in Attachment D for ODCs to cover these costs for either on-site or off-site training courses. Will the government provide a CLIN and plug number to use for pricing ODCs under the contract?

The Offeror is authorized to add additional line items or leave line items at no cost as needed to give the government best value pricing.

29 Part 3, 3.0 20 "Classroom-based courses to the new grantee, including" Since the RFP is for the award of a contract, should the term "new grantee" be replaced with "contractor"?

Yes. Please replace "grantee" with "contractor."

30 Part 3, 3.0 20 Government Furnished Items & Services

The items identified here are only for the classroom based training. Will the government also provide the existing on-line learning contents, associated code, and any electronic support materials?

Yes

31 Part 5, 5.2 22 Task 2: Revise Existing Training

The list of existing classroom offerings does not include the "Transition Assistance Program" course that is listed in attachment D. Will this course also be provided to the contractor and will revisions be required?

The Transition Assistance Progam is a topic addressed in course materials and is subject to revisions when there are changes to TAP-related legislation or policy guidance.

32 Part 5, 5.2 22/23 Task 2: Revise Existing Training

The list of existing distance learning courses provided in the PWS does not match the list of course descriptions provided in Attachment A. Can the government clarify if the following distance learning course titles listed in Attachment A are also to be updated/maintained:

Competitive Grants Training, Federal Hiring, State Grants Training, USERRA 101 & 102, USERRA Investigators and USERRA VITAL?

The additional distance learning classes cited in Attachment A are to be maintained.

33 Part 5, 5.6 26 Task 6: Travel Support in accordance with the Joint Federal Travel Regulations

The JFTR applies to DOD while the rest of government uses the FTR. Can the government confirm that this contract will be governed by the JFTR rather than the more widely applicable FTR?

Federal Travel Regulations

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34 Exhibit 1 30 "Zero deviation from standard. Must deliver 100% of scheduled Government approved courses."

There are several factors beyond the control of the contractor which may prohibit delivery of a scheduled course such as weather, natural disaster or other "Acts of God", inadequate attendance, or in the case of off site courses, last minute unavailability of training rooms or participants. Will the government please clarify that the anticipated 100% requirement does not include situations beyond the control of the contractor?

Adjustments to contracted expectations will be made in situations where a natural or man-made disaster clearly adversely affects the contractor's performance.

35 A.5.1 6

The Offeror’s Proposal must describe or fully explain how they will design, develop, and implement a web-based resource repository that supports current and former students and compliment’s other VETS resource sites.

This section requests that the web-based repository "compliments other VETS resource sites". Can the government provide additional detail on what this entails? Are there specific requirements the contractor should develop to in order to have this repository complement other VETS sites?

The phrase "complements other VETS resource sites" means the content of the contracted web-based resource repository should be consistent and go well the resources found on the www.veterans.gov and www.dol.gov/vets websites.

36 5.5 25 The vendor shall maintain a database of all NVTI participants that facilitates rapid communication with past participants.

How many participants does the government anticipate will be loaded and tracked using this repository? Will past participants need to be loaded into the new repository? If so, how many participants?

The database includes current and former participants. To date 70,000 + Veterans' employment and training professionals have attended NVTI training.

37 5.5 25 The vendor shall maintain a database of all NVTI participants that facilitates rapid communication with past participants.

How many courses does the government anticipate will be delivered and recorded through this repository? Approximately 60 course annually.

38 5.4.3 24 The vendor shall develop and apply one or more competency-based assessment approaches and tools

For existing courses, can the government clarify whether existing courses include assessments developed to accompany those courses?

Yes

39 5.1, 5.4 22, 24

5.1 All online and distance learning courses will meet

industry standards, and must be hosted virtually by the vendor and made available through a public website.

5.4 All distance learning and other virtual coursework must

be hosted by the vendor and made available through a public website, and may be password protected, when necessary

Is the public website required to be a government owned website? No.

40 n/a n/a General Question Must this work be performed in Denver, Colorado? No

41 n/a n/a General Question

Given the number of questions and the impact the answers will have our Offerors responses, will the Government consider extended the due date for proposals to allow adequate time for Offerors to respond?

No

Questions