NHI_IDIQ_Contract_Proposal_QUESTIONS.docx

Questions and Responses

RFP: DTFH61R00015

1. Is Attachment J.12 “Non-Disclosure Agreement” required of the subcontractors or only the prime?

The non-disclosure agreement applies only to the prime.

2. The Request for Proposals (RFP) includes clause H.13 “Organizational Conflict of Interest and Limitation On Future Contracting.” However, since this effort is to provide training to staff from Federal, State, regional, local, and Tribal transportation agencies located within the United States, as well as consultants, advocates, developers, and other stakeholders,” it seems that this clause should be removed. Does FHWA agree?

FHWA does not agree. Moreover, neither the force nor effect of this clause is likely to affect the activities of any potential offeror.

3. The RFP includes clause H.12 “Protection of Information.” However, since this effort is to provide training to staff from Federal, State, regional, local, and Tribal transportation agencies located within the United States, as well as consultants, advocates, developers, and other stakeholders,” it seems that this clause should be removed. Does FHWA agree?

FHWA does not agree. The information that the clause is intended to protect is how the information presented was developed, not the information itself.

4. What is the due date for the proposal?

The proposal due date has been extended, by Amendment 0001 to January 27, 2017.

5. Attachment J.4 was uploaded twice, but there was no J.3. Please provide attachment J.3 – NHI Needs Assessment Overview.

This has been remedied by Amendment 0001.

6. RFP states that resumes shall be submitted only for key personnel. The key personnel identified in the RFP are just the Program Manager/Subject Matter Expert and Instructional Systems Designer. Does this mean that only two resumes are to be submitted or can we submit resumes for all of our Subject Matter Experts and all of our Instructional System Designers?

Offerors shall submit a resume for all high level subject matter experts and Instructional System Designers.

7. Can you clarify the Mail Stop for the submittal address? Is it E66-204 or E62-204? RFP lists it both ways (i.e., SF33, block 7 and pg. 38, section G.2).

The mail stop for submitting proposals is:

USDOT / FHWA

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Room: E62-204 – Mail Code: HCFA-21 Washington, DC 20590

8. On Page 75 of 81, Part III – Small Business Subcontracting Plan asks for two different plans, a Master Subcontracting Plan, and a Small Business Subcontracting Plan. Is this request for two different plans correct? Or is the requirement only for the customary Individual Subcontracting Plan for the potential contract award?

The requirement is for one Subcontracting Plan.

9. In Attachment J.7: Prices, Pages 2, 4 and 6 of 6, the tables have a column “Year 1 Hours”, and then Year 1 through Year 5 Costs. Page 81 of the RFP indicates “To evaluate prices for award purposes, the Government will apply the Offeror's proposed fully burdened fixed-prices/rates to the Government's estimated quantities of use over the life of the contract.

Pages 2, 4, and 6, of Attachment J.7 are provided so that offerors can see how the government will calculate the total potential value of their individual contracts. Hours are left off intentionally. Yearly hours are expected to remain the same for the life of the computer.

10. FedBizOpps only provided 12 of 15 attachment files with referenced J.6, J.8, and J.9 files missing. Can you please provide the missing files referenced as Attachments J.6, J.8, and J.9?

These attachments are made available in Amendment 0001. Each was also available through the links provided.

11. Page 81 indicates in (c) PRICE EVALUATION that the Government will apply contractor rates to estimated quantities of use over the life of the contract. Furthermore, price will be evaluated with respect to IGCE expected use of skills multiplied by the fully burdened hourly pricing proposed for each labor category in years one through five of the Schedule of Rates chart in Section J. Pages 2, 4, and/or 6 say “Estimated level of effort is provided for evaluation purposes only”, but no hours are provided. Since hours for IGCE are not provided, will the Government perform calculations on Pages 2, 4, and/or 6 with the contractor’s rates from Pages 1, 3, and/or 5?

The Government will perform the calculations on pages 2, 4, and 6. The Government will use the contractor’s rates from pages 1, 3, and 5 and the estimated hours from the Independent Government Cost Estimate or IGCE. While hours were intentionally not provided (see page 81), the calculation sheets were provided as additional information for the offeror. The language “Estimated level of effort is provided for evaluation purposes only” has been removed by amendment to avoid further confusion.

12. Section B.2, on page 2, indicates that rates should be provided in Microsoft Excel. Page 70 provides that “digital copies shall be provided on CD-ROM disk in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Project and/or Adobe PDF formats. Can you please confirm if both pages (odd and even) for each topic in Attachment J.7 must be completed and submitted in Microsoft Excel or Adobe PDF file since it is unclear how the Government will evaluate a total price without any estimated hours provided?

Digital copies of pages 1, 3, and 5 of attachment J.7 must be submitted in Microsoft Excel. Total price will be calculated by applying the Offeror’s proposed fully burdened fixed-prices/rates to the Government’s estimated quantities of use over the life of the contract.

13. Section G.11 of the solicitation indicates the Key Personnel for this contract are “Program Manager/Subject Matter Expert – High” and “Instructional Systems Designer – High.” However there is no labor category for “Program Manager” in Attachment J.7. (There are also no labor categories for Principal Investigator or Project Manager, for that matter.) Please confirm that the omission of those titles was intentional.

Labor category “Program Manager” has been inserted into the labor categories provided as “Program Manager/Transportation SME – High.” The omission of Principal Investigator was intentional.

14. In Section L.3 of the solicitation, under Part I (b), Offerors are required to complete the pricing structure described in Attachment J.7. Section M.2 (c) states that the Government will “apply the Offeror's proposed fully burdened fixed-prices/rates to the Government’s estimated quantities IGCE” to evaluate the offerors pricing. The fact that estimated quantities/hours are not provided in the solicitation suggests that the tables on Pages 2, 4 and 6 of Attachment J.7 will be completed by the Government. Please confirm that our Price Proposal should only consist of the tables on Pages 1, 3 and 5 of Attachment J.7 (for the appropriate program areas).

Offerors should complete pages 1, 3, and 5 of Attachment J.7 for the appropriate subject areas, i.e., Structures, Geotechnical or Hydraulics. The Government will complete pages 2, 4, and 6.

15. J.6 Attachment (Standard Form LLL): Per instructions on p.58, the link to download the form is no longer available. Will you please make this form available to firms, or provide an updated link?

This form is made available via download and Amendment 0001.

16. J.7 Attachment - Please provide clarifications for the following:

a. Pages 1, 3, and 5: Some categories are listed in descending order, and others are not (i.e. Graphics: high, mid, low vs. ISD: high, low, mid). Would you like these rates to appear as listed, or shall everything be in descending order?

The rates should appear as listed.

b. Pages 2, 4, and 6: Please clarify information requested for Year 1 Hours, Year 1 Cost, Year 2 Cost, Year 3 Cost, Year 4 Cost, Year 5 Cost and Total. Additionally, is information needed for Year 2 Hours – Year 5 Hours?

No information is requested for pages 2, 4, and 6 of Attachment J.7. Those pages are made available for informational purposes only.