Technical_Questions_and_answers.revised.06.16.16-Final.xlsx
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- Solicitation number
- DOL-OPS-16-R-00040
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| Office_of_Wage_Determinations_Survey_and_Data_Analytics_Support_Q As.xls | XLS spreadsheet |
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| Office of Wage Determinations Survey and Data Analytics Support Question and Answer Spreadsheet (DOL-OPS-16-R-00040) | ||||
| Question Title | Section Number | Question Detail | OPS/WHD Response | Government Comment |
| Small Business Subcontracting Plan | Page 43, Section I.6, 2nd Paragraph. | Per the solicitation: “The offeror shall submit the Small Business Subcontracting Plan as part of the Contract Volume.”; however, there is no ‘CONTRACT Volume’. | OPS | Updated: The Subcontract Plan should be included in the price volume. |
| List of Attachments | Page 51, Section J | The “List of Attachments” in Section J lists only 3 attachments; it does not include the Company Profile Format in the list. | OPS | List updated |
| Attachment J.2 Duplicate | Page 63, Section J | The “Company Profile Format” and the “Subcontracting Plan Summary Sheet” are both listed as Attachment J.2’ | OPS | List updated |
| Company Profile Format | Page 63, Section J | Which Volume/Section should include the “Company Profile Format”; does it count toward the page count? | OPS | Company Profile should be issued in Price/Business Volume. This volume has no page limitations. |
| Page 22 | Pg 22 requires that we provide a resume for the Key Personnel. Please kindly confirm that the resume can be in the Appendix and not count against the page limit | OPS | Resumes may be included as appendices and will NOT count against page limitations | |
| Page 93 and Page 95 | There appear to two different sets of instructions on the number of pages for the Past Performance volume on pg 93 and pg 95. Please confirm that the Past Performance volume is limited to 10 pages? | OPS | Updated:The past performance page count is ten (10) pages. | |
| Page 94 – Section L.3, Volume Business/Cost Instructions | The RFP says that the Government has identified labor categories in parts B.4.1-B.4.5. However, the table referenced only provides a list of tasks. Can DOL kindly provide an updated pricing table that includes the required labor categories for this contract? | OPS | The language in L.3 has been updated to reflect the tables in section B.4.1-B.4.5. | |
| Page 94 | Can DOL kindly confirm the project period of performance? On page 94, the solicitation states that “The summary pricing worksheet shall be used to show the total 2-year price for required services.” However on page 3, the period of performance is listed as one base year and four option years. | OPS | Updated: The period of perfromance is for one base year and four one year options. | |
| Page 95 | Page 95 of the solicitation references a summary pricing worksheet that vendors are required to use to show total costs. Is this different from the price schedule identified in Section B? If so, can DOL kindly provide the required worksheet, or are vendors allowed to submit this information in their own format? | OPS | Updated: the language has been removed, no spreadsheet is required nor will be provided by the Government. | |
| ODCs | B.4.1 - B.4.5 | 1. Regarding the ODC’s listed in tables B.4.1 through B.4.5 (pages 3-7), for proposal purposes only, can DOL provide plug figures for each of the ODCs listed (travel, computer, other) in order to keep a level playing field among all bidders, or does each offeror need to calculate their own cost for each of the ODCs listed? | OPS | ODCs should reflect acutal costs from the offerors. The Government will not provide mock figures for ODCs. |
| Executive Compensation | I.2 | 2. Page 34 – I.2 - The clause 52.204-10 “Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards (JUL 2013)” appears not to be the most current version. The same clause found on page 37 has the most current version of (OCT 2015). Will DOL be referencing the most up to date version of this clause, which appears to be 52.204-10 (OCT 2015), and deleting the older version? | OPS | Clause updated |
| Company Profile Format | Attachment J.2 | 3. Attachment J.2 – Page 63 - Is the Company Profile Format to be completed and made part of the Subcontracting Plan or is this a separate requirement? Also, is this information to be included by only the prime contractor? In which proposal volume should this information be included? | OPS | Updated both are separate documents and both are to be submitted with the Business/Price Volume |
| Price Proposal Volume | L.2 | 4. Is the Price Proposal Volume III (L.2 - page 92) or Volume II (L.2 – page 93)? | OPS | Updated: Volume II is the Price Volume |
| Labor Categories | L.3 | 5. Section L.3 – page 94 - states “The government has identified labor categories in parts B.4.1 – B.4.5”. However, the Pricing Schedules in B.4 do not include any labor categories, instead only includes columns for Fully Burdened Price and Extended Price. Also, Section L.3.2 Format: Labor Rates: states the pricing schedule (Part B) displays columns for labor categories, estimated hours and labor rates required for this contract, however, this information is not included in Part B.4. | OPS | The language in L.3 has been updated to reflect the tables in section B.4.1-B.4.5. |
| Pricing Proposal Template | L.3.2 | 6. Page 95 – DOL refers to pricing proposal worksheets. Can DOL provide a pricing template/worksheet to be completed by all offerors for each of the 5 contract periods? | OPS | Updated: the language has been removed, no spreadsheet is required nor will be provided by the Government. |
| Timeframe for Pricing Worksheet | L.3.2 | 7. Page 95 – paragraph 5 – DOL refers to a summary pricing worksheet for a “Total 2-year price for the required services”. Should this instead refer to a total 5-year price as B.4.1 – B.4.5 includes five periods? | OPS | YES-The Period of performance is for a base year with four one-year options. |
| Material Handling and Subcontracts | L.3.2 | 8. Page 95 – Summary – It does not appear that Material Handling, or Subcontracts are included as line-items in B.4. Instead, Travel, Computers and Other ODCs are listed. Should these two cost elements be added? | OPS | No as this is a Frim Fixed Price Contract and should be broken out by tasks in accordance with section b. Offerors can provide detailed pricing to display how the firm fixed price was derived but it is not required. |
| Fully Burdened Price | B.4.1 - B.4.5 | 9. Sections B.4.1 through B.4.5 – Does DOL want inserted under column “Fully Burdened Price” a fixed-price amount for each of the 6 item numbers listed, or just the “Total Ceiling Amount” to be completed for each of the five contract periods? | OPS | The entire section should be completed, therfore ALL columns should reflect a task, quantity, fully burden price, and extended price etc.. |
| Extended Price | B.4.1 - B.4.5 | 10. In sections B.4.1 through B.4.5 – Can you please define the column heading entitled “*Extended Price” and what this calculation should be? | OPS | "Extended price" is any discounted price given to the government of of the total price of services. |
| Subcontracting Plan | Attachment J.2 | 11. If an offeror does not expect to utilize the services of any Subcontractors to complete the work, is a Subcontracting Plan still required? If yes, can the goals be satisfied by providing vendors that may be classified as an ODC? | OPS |
Please follow the guidance in FAR Part 19 for Subcontracting Plans and FAR 52.219-6.
| Extension of Proposal Due Date | None | 12. Governments responses to these questions might result in substantial changes to the way the cost volume is calculated. Therefore, would the government consider granting an extention of the due date for the proposal? | OPS | Yes the new proposal due date is 12:00pm ET Friday July 1, 2016. |
| Missing Section | M.3.1 | We do not find the Sections V and V.1 mentioned on page 98. This precludes us from providing a Qualification Matrix as specified on page 99. Please clarify. | OPS | Updated: The correct section is G.15 |
| Asterisk | B.4 | We do not find a reference to the asterisks located beside the 'Extended Price' headings. Please clarify. | OPS | Updated : Asterisks removed from extended price. |
| Performance Period | B.4.4 | The Performance Period for Option Period 3 appears erroneous. We take this to be 8/15/2019 - 8/14/2020. Please confirm. | OPS | Updated: The correct period of performance is 8/15/2019 - 8/14/2020 |
| Confusing Textual References | M.3.1 a. & M.3.1 b. & M.3.1 d. | The references to Tasks 5.1 - 5.2.2 and Section 1.6.10 are confusing. These task numbers and this section number do not exist in this document. To clarify, there are document 'Sections' C5.1 and C5.2 which reference Tasks 1 and 2 but Task 5.1 and Task 5.2 do not exist 'as such' nor is there a Section 1.6.10 in this document. Please clarify . | OPS | Updated: language has been updated accordingly to reflect the actual sections. |
| Page 98 | Please kindly confirm that the reference to the Contract Management Plan on pg 98 that references only tasks 5.1-5.2.2 (see text below) should actually apply to all 6 Tasks in the Performance Work Statement. | OPS/WHD | The document references the Section numbers not the tasks themselves. There are indeed 6 tasks, however the section index is section C parr C.5.1 - C.5.2. | |
| Key Personnel Requirements | Page 22-23 | The key personnel descriptions for the Research Associate and Survey Supervisor require those individuals to have experience in conducting the Davis-Bacon wage surveys. This excessively narrow requirement places the incumbent at an unfair advantage. For that reason, we believe all references to experience conducting Davis Bacon surveys and statistical analysis is overly restrictive in that it favors only one offeror, the incumbent. We request that the labor category descriptions be modified to allow full and open competition. | WHD | The government "Conducts" Davis-Bacon wage surveys. The experience sited in this requirement is a supporting role. For clarity the requirement should read" In support of government conducted Davis Bacon wage surveys." |
| FTE's | How FTEs are currently supporting this requirement? | WHD | Please refference PWS | |
| Existing Effort | Is this a new requirement? | WHD | No it's a recompete and the incumbent is the University of Tennessee | |
| Pop | What will the period of performance be? | WHD | Please reference PWS | |
| Master electronic repository or “Master Project File” Ownership | Page 9, section C, para 5.1, para 5.2; Page 13, Section F, para F.2; Page 16, Section F, para F.2 | Is the current Master electronic repository or “Master Project File” (MPF) (including all data rights, development platform, software, etc.) the property of the government? | WHD | Yes |
| Regional Office Data | Page 9, section C, para 5.1, para 5.2; | Will the data from the Regional Offices be formatted consistently and/or sent via consistent media, or does each Regional Office have its own unique data format and/or medium? | WHD | The all data and media types will be in a consistent format. In special or mission critical circumstances, the government may at times be required to modify and or expand the format or method of delivery. |
| Established Guidelines | Page 9, section C, para 5.1, subpara 4 | Are the “established guidelines” referenced in this paragraph included official Department of Labor (DOL) and/or Wage Hour Division (WHD) publications, documents/ etc.? | WHD | Yes |
| Deliverable Due Date Clarification | Page 15, Section F, Task 1, Deliverable 4 | Please clarify “within 5 business days”. What is the ‘trigger activity’ that initiates the 1st business day? | WHD | There is a trigger activity within our survey process that initiates this activity. The activity is planned and started at the request of the regions once they are ready for this process to begin. For more clarity on the DB act and "Survey process" please see DBA fact sheet(s) #66 Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs66.pdf # 81 The Davis Bacon Wage Survey Process http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs81.pdf |
| Other Federal Systems | Page 14, Section F, Task 1, Deliverable 2a | Can you identify the “other proprietary Federal government systems”? | WHD | At the moment ASDS is the only federal system used in the process. At times the government will request different formats and examples of this data however those requests will be generic, and will, in most cases be requested in some form of Microsoft office or PDF related product. |
| Program Schedule | Pages 16-17, Section F, Task 3, Deliverables 1& 1a; Task 4, Deliverable 1a. | These deliverables are to be provided “in accordance with the program schedule”. Who is responsible for the development of the “program schedule”? If not the contractor, then when will contractor receive the ‘program schedule’? | WHD | The government creates a yearly “Survey Plan”/ program schedule. This schedule includes new and ongoing survey activities and tasks from previous FY’s. During the kickoff we will provide the contractor with our most current plan and will update them as the new is approved. |
| Page 9: Per C.5.1, Task 1 at page 9 | The contractor must develop and maintain a Master Project File containing all F.W. Dodge construction project initiations for the past three years through the current month. Approximately how many projects is the contractor supposed to review in each contract year? | WHD | The purpose of this repository is to have the most current and relevant project and contractor information regarding the construction industry across all 50 states. The expectation is not to review individual projects or that the master list is to be in constant review, rather, have the most current set of data to inform the government on where to best to conduct a survey as well have the ability to accurately compare or project industry trends and construction wages. | |
| Page 14 | On page 14 there is a reference to the Bureau of Census. Is the Bureau of Census handling the mail out or the Contractor? If it is the contractor, please advise as to how the interface will work with the Bureau of Census. | WHD | Yes, the Census Bureau handles mailing and scanning of survey notification letters and paper WD-10 forms. The task listed is to provide quality assurance of mail out and returned materials, as well as to coordinate and oversee mail out process at the direction or on behalf of the National Survey Coordinators and/or Regions. | |
| Page 20 | Hours of operation at G.7 are from 7:00 pm to 4:00 a.m. Is this correct? | WHD | No (7am - 4pm EST) | |
| Hours of Operation | G.7 | The soliticitation states that contractor shall conduct business from 7 pm to 4 am. This seems erroneous. Please clarify. | WHD | See Question 41 |
| Necessary workspace or equipment | G.9.2 | States that the Government will NOT provide the equipment necessary … support outlined in the PWS. On previous contracts, the Government has supplied laptop computers because of custom computer configuration (i.e. security) requirements. The Government-furnished computers were specially configured to address security threats. Will this contract require the Contractor to furnish its own computers? If so, what are the minimum specifications? | WHD | This contract is intended to operate exclusively offsite. The government will still furnished the equipement and credentials to access DOL systems securely through a virtual remote access client. |
| Future activity | C.5.3 1. and C.5.3 1.a. | The RSPR report is to address 'future construction activity' and '… predict, inform, and enhance the survey process.' Are the 'predict' and 'future' components of the Task 3 report intended to be a compilation of Task 4 results or are these Task 3 prediction and future elements intended to be a separate effort? | WHD | "Task 3 - RSPR" & "Task 4" are presumed to be two separate efforts however the output of "Task 3" would be one of the primary sources/ inputs to the development of the RSPR. The goal with these two tasks is to build and maintain a living document that is informed by the research, study and sampling of Task 4. These tasks can be done by the same set of resources however the development and issuance of the RSPR only occurs a few times per year where as Task 4 ongoing. |
| Clerical Support | G.15 | The immediate two predecessor contracts allotted from 1.0 to 1.75 FTE of survey Clerical Support. This solicitation does not include a Clerical Support FTE allotment. Is this an oversight? | WHD | NO, however proposals and CMPs should be submitted as they perceive the work to be preformed. |
| Summary Pricing Worksheet | L.3.2 | We assume the reference to a 'total 2-year price' on page 95 is erroneous and taken to mean 'total 5-year price'. Please confirm. | OPS | Confirim total 5 year price |
| Experimentation | C.5.4 1.a. | The language 'conducting, developing and testing different survey strategies' connotes an experimental approach requiring the collection of information from survey respondents or non-respondents. Historically, we have understood that systematically contacting survey mailing recipients for information other than that required for solicitation or clarification (of responses) has not been permissible because OMB restrictions would not permit an 'additional burden' on the public. Is there an 'additional burden' constraint on process improvement activities? (continued below) | WHD | It is in the governments opinion that there are many other ways to conduct, develop and test different approaches and strategies as well as collect construction data without infringing on the Contractor burden act. Task 4 - Requests the approach(es) along with the development, coordination, execution and reporting of said "experiments". As with all other tasks listed within this RFQ, the contractor will work directly with the NSC to vet and obtain approval of all abstract activates conducted under Task 4. The strategies, pilots, and research should be prepared and presented by the contractor as a part of task 4. The format of these report outs is at the discretion of the contractor and should be relevant to the type of study and presentation at that time. |
| Experimentation - continued | C.5.4 1.a. | If such a constraint exists, please provide clarification or examples of acceptable methods to complete Task 4. For example, would the systematic collection of additional information from respondents & non-respondents to understand reasons for partipation or lack thereof be a permissible activity towards developing, conducting, and testing alternate strategies? Alternately, would the development, conduct, and testing have to occur within the framework of existing surveys so as not to impose additional burden? | WHD | See Question 47 |
| Federal Telephone Service Lines (8 each) | G.9.2 | States that the Government will NOT provide the equipment necessary … support outlined in the PWS. Clarification and solicitaiton of survey responses usually involves long distance telephone communication. Immediate predecessor contracts supplied eight (8) Federal Telephone Service (FTS) lines for long distance calling. Will these eight FTS lines continue to be supplied? | WHD | NO. |
| Key Personnel Requirements | Page 22-23 | The key personnel descriptions for the Research Associate and Survey Supervisor require those individuals to have experience in conducting the Davis-Bacon wage surveys. This excessively narrow requirement places the incumbent at an unfair advantage. For that reason, we believe all references to experience conducting Davis Bacon surveys and statistical analysis is overly restrictive in that it favors only one offeror, the incumbent. We request that the labor category descriptions be modified to allow full and open competition. | WHD | See Question #29 |
| Future Activity - Subscription Data | B.4.1 through B.4.5 | The possiblity exists that subscription data (in addition to the usual and customary F.W. Dodge data) may be required to satisfy the requirements of Task 4. Is it allowable to place subscription costs in the Item Number x009 - Other or can a separate Data Item Number be created? | WHD/OPS | Yes. If your proposed solution requires additional subscription services to satisfy this requirement it should be included. |
| Page 10: Per C.5.5, Task 5 | What is the estimated number of sample surveys per contract year? | Historically the number of sample or mini surveys requested per year is between two and five. |
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