Questions_and_Answers_-_As_of_11-12-15.pdf

Questions and Answers

Issue Date: 11/12/2015

Solicitation No. DTFH70‐15‐R‐00009

Information Technology Support Services

This document contains questions and answers not addressed in the previous Q&A document posted to FedBizOpps.

1. Are all positions subject to the Service Contract Labor Standards statute?

Not necessarily. Many employees may qualify as bona fide professional employees in accordance with 29 C.F.R. Part 541. See footnote #1 on the attached wage determinations. However, section B.3 of the solicitation requires the contractor to provide fringe benefits and overtime to all of its employees, regardless of whether an employee is subject to the Service Contract Labor Standards statute (i.e., regardless of whether the exemption for bona fide professional employees applies). Professional employees shall be provided no less than the fringe benefits required to be provided to nonprofessional employees.

2. Are all positions subject to FAR 52.222-17 Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers?

The solicitation has been amended to extend the application of FAR 52.222-17 from “service employees” to all predecessor contractor employees.

3. Does the Government want the offeror’s entire FAR & DFAR Report or is the offeror’s Entity Record acceptable for the proposal submission?

The requirement to submit proof of current SAM registration with proposals has been deleted via Amendment No. 000001.

4. Do the Staffing Plan and Quality Control Plan (QCP) for each location go together or do the two Staffing Plans come first and then the two QCPs to follow?

Either way is acceptable, but a staffing plan and a quality control must be submitted for each location.

5. Attachment No. 2: Sample Task Order Performance Work Statement, Western Federal Lands Highway Division, Vancouver, WA, section 9.0 Computer Systems Application Development, identifies requirements to be performed as labor category: Client Server Analyst II. This labor category is not identified in the corresponding Attachment No 1: Sample Task Order Schedule of Items. Should the Client Server Analyst II line item, unit hours, and quantity be added in attachment 1? Should any additional line item be removed, or reduced in attachment 1?

The solicitation has been amended to change “Client Server Analyst II” to “Software Enterprise Engineer II” in section 9.0 of Attachment No. 2. Additional corrections have been made via Amendment No.

000001.

6. Will the Government accept an Excel Spreadsheet file of the Attachment 11 Price Breakdown that shows the price elements based on how the offeror categorizes its costs?

Offerors are not required to use the sample price breakdown spreadsheet (pg. 1 of Attachment No. 11), but offerors must provide a breakdown of the fully burdened rate and explain how all applicable costs were accounted for. In addition, offerors must complete and submit paragraphs “A” and “B” on pg. 2 of Attachment No. 11, regardless of whether the sample price breakdown spreadsheet is used. See amendment 000001 for revised requirement.

7. Are subcontractors on the team required to be SDVOSB?

Refer to FAR clause 52.219-27, Notice of Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside (Nov 2011), which is incorporated by reference in FAR clause 52.212-5.

8. In attachments 7 and 8, Length of Service for Incumbent Contractor Employees (WFLHD & CFLHD), please clarify the hire date versus the total length of service in years. They do not always match.

Some of the labor classifications contained incorrect hire dates. The hire dates have been corrected in the revised versions of Attachments 7 and 8 attached to Amendment No. 000001.

9. Can the government provide the applicable occupation code for the labor categories?

The contractor is responsible for determining a) whether the Service Contract Labor Standards statute applies and b) if so, which labor classification on the wage determination applies.

10. When using subcontractor labor, should the subcontractor's fixed hourly rate be considered the unburdened rate?

The unburdened rate is the rate that shall be paid to the employee, regardless of whether the employee is employed by the prime contractor or a subcontractor.

11. Are we limited to providing only one fully burdened rate for each region?

For each location, offerors are required to provide one fully burdened base rate and one fully burdened overtime rate for each labor classification.

12. Regarding the staffing plans and quality control plans, you are requiring a plan for both Western and Central regions. However, the requirements sound as if we are only writing one plan. We are not sure how we can differentiate a QCP plan for two different locations.

Separate staffing and quality control plans are required for each location.

13. Regarding the staffing and quality control plan, there is no requirement of a plan for the Eastern region. Is this omitted on purpose?

Staffing and quality control plans are not required at this time for the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division. Staffing and quality control plans for the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division may be required in the future (after contract award).