PMO_Acquisition_Pre-Proposal_Conference_Report.pdf

Project Management Oversight (PMO) Acquisition

Pre-Proposal Conference Monday, November 18, 2013

10:30 am – 12:30 pm Department of Transportation/Federal Transit Administration

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC

FTA Panelists:

James Harper, Jr., Director, Office of Procurement Dorian Ridley-Curtis, Contracting Officer/Team Lead Sonja Rousey, Contracting Officer (CO) Steve Asatoorian, Contracting Officer’s Representative Steve (COR) DeVera Redmond, Procurement Assistance Division Supervisor for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) Steve Pereira, Attorney-Advisor

Welcome and Opening Remarks James Harper, Jr., Director, Office of Procurement, welcomed participants to the Project

Management Oversight (PMO) Acquisition Pre-Proposal Conference and asked everyone in the room to state their name, the company they work for and whether they are prime contractors or subcontractors.

He then introduced the panelists and announced there would be a Q&A session after the presentations.

RFP Overview and Changes

Dorian Ridley-Curtis kicked off the discussion by highlighting changes made under Amendment 2 of RFP DTFT60-13-R-00003.

Changes are outlined below.

Section A, Standard Form 33. Ridley-Curtis announced that the proposal due date was changed to Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 3:00 pm (EST). Participants should reference Section L for further details. The business classification number, she said, was 541611 and product service code was R410.

Section B. Ridley-Curtis said the government anticipates the majority of the work will be deemed cost-plus-fixed-fee. “You have to have an adequate accounting system before we can make an award,” she said, referencing FAR, Part 16.3.

“Because it’s an IDIQ,” she continued, “the minimum is $2,500 and the maximum is $750,000,000 across the board for the total PMO project. When the government has met the minimum requirement we have satisfied our contractual agreement.”

The word “million” next to $750,000,000 was removed, she said, but the maximum amount remained the same.

Ridley-Curtis encouraged participants to review Amendment 2 changes, clearly delineated in the text with a “From” and “To.”

Section L and M. Ridley-Curtis said these sections were completely changed.

Section D. No changes were made, she said.

Section E. FTA added E-2, “Inspection and Acceptance” criteria.

Section F-1. The period of performance, Ridley-Curtis said, was to take place for 60 months/5 years. Task Orders would be awarded under the IDIQ and would include costing information. Otherwise, minor changes were made under this section.

Section G. Ridley-Curtis said minor changes were made in this section.

Section H. Minor changes were made in this section, she said.

Section I. Two minor changes were made to some of the clauses, she added.

Section J. Changes, said Ridley-Curtis, were made to the following attachments:

• J-1: Proposal Checklist

• J-2: Key Personnel & Staff Resumes. A 2-page limit was imposed for staff resumes

• Form J-3: Past Performance Questionnaire Form and Cover Letter

• J-4: Small Business Subcontracting Plan. “The goals were changed to represent what was in the RFP,” she said.

• J-7: Contract Pricing Summary Templates

• J-8: Pricing Templates (for fully loaded labor rates)

• J-10: Oversight Procedures (OPs).

Section K. “We are asking that you complete it on line utilizing the www.sam.gov, address” she said. “Print it and incorporate it in Section 22, which is Section L.22 of the RFP.

Put that in Volume I of your proposal.” Further information on this topic can be found in Section L.22.

Sonja Rousey, Contracting Officer (CO), announced that Section L and Section M were changed in their entirety and posted on www.fbo.gov. She said that some companies were http://www.sam.gov/ sending Past Performance Questionnaires directly to her personal email address, but they should be sent to 2014_PMO_recompete@dot.gov.

She repeated that the proposal due date, was December 11, 2013, at 3 pm (EST), and urged participants to “look at the page count for each Volume.” FTA received many questions about page counts for Volume I, Volume II and Volume III.

Ridley-Curtis added that contractors must provide FTA with the following documentation:

• Volume I. The Offerer and other Documents: 1 original, 4 copies and 4 CD ROMs.

• Volume II. Technical and Management: 1 original, 9 copies and 4 CD ROMs.

• Volume III. Cost Proposal: 1 original, 5 copies and 4 CD ROMs.

Ridley-Curtis said that the page count for Technical Management has been revised to 60 pages, referencing Section L, Volume II.

FTA asked that Letters of Commitment be sent for Key Personnel only, as stated in

Section L, Key Personnel, Rousey added.

Ridley-Curtis clarified that the government would accept up to 3 resumes for the Task

Order Manager (TOM) position because of the number of hours that job entails. FTA requests only one resume for the positions representing the remaining skill sets. More information can be found in Section L, she added.

Rousey reiterated that the Past Performance Questionnaire should be sent to 2014_PMO_recompete@dot.gov on or before December 11, 2013. Companies should include in the document a list of questionnaire recipients, including points of contact and phone numbers.

No page limit had been set for these documents.

Ridley-Curtis said FTA is asking companies to list references so “we would know up front who you are requesting your reference to.” The agency is also requesting companies to submit a Performance History Summary Matrix. The performance history is a narrative description of up to 5 contract Task Orders (TO) relevant to the work.

Current PMOCs can identify themselves as incumbents in the performance history and in the Performance History Summary Matrix.

“For conflict-of-interest purposes, as a Contract Officer (CO),” said Ridley-Curtis, “I will not be providing you with a past performance reference.”

FTA will gather information about past performance by tapping into the Contractor

Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).

mailto:2014_PMO_recompete@dot.gov mailto:2014_PMO_recompete@dot.gov

She again urged participants to closely review Sections L and M, which were revised in their entirety.

Additional questions regarding Amendment 2 should be sent to

2014_PMO_recompete.gov, with the heading “After Pre-Proposal Questions.” Ridley-Curtis said FTA would do its best to respond to them.

Steve Asatoorian, Contracting Officer’s Representative, then addressed changes made to Section C, Amendment 2.

FTA changed its minimum personnel requirements for Task Order Managers (TOMs) and Program Managers (PMs). Licensure as a Professional Engineer (P.E.) used to be required under the original RFP, he said. But now the P.E. designation is desirable but not required. “But you still have to comply with the rest of the requirements,” said Asatoorian.

Asatoorian advises participants to carefully examine this section since many questions were received on this topic.

The other changes made were minor, he said.

Ridley said that FTA is no longer requesting a sample TO. “That language has been removed.”

Asatoorian reiterated that neither he nor Ridley-Curtis would be authorized to give past performance reviews on the contractors currently working with the PMO program. “I just want to make that clear,” he added.

Ridley-Curtis said she anticipated the nearly 500 questions FTA received prior to this conference would be posted online before Thanksgiving.

Harper opened up the floor for questions.

Q&A Session

FTA said in its last proposal that it would review one resume for the TOM position. But companies were later told they could have included additional resumes. Can FTA clarify its policy? (Elanor Kendrick, Anil Verma Associates) Ridley-Curtis said that FTA revised its policy and contractors can now propose up to 3 resumes for the TOM post. “For all the other skill sets,” she said, “we are requiring one resume at this time. Three for the TOMs, one for all the others. The page limit is 2.”

FTA said that current PMOs could identify their work with FTA but FTA could not be cited as a “reference.” FTA will, however, reference CPARS. Is that correct? (Kendrick) Ridley-Curtis said the statement was accurate.

The RFP states that COs may at times approve personnel. Could a CO allow contractors to hire an experienced Quality Assurance (QA) manager who doesn’t have the required professional degree? How can contractors request such authorization? (Kendrick) Ridley-Curtis said that FTA has listed all the requirements for the skill sets in Amendment 2.

“You have to adhere to Section L of the RFP,” she said.

The Operating Procedures (OPs) have been reissued. What’s different about the new set of OPs?

(Michael Eidlin, Gannett Fleming) Corey Walker (POSITION) said that a paragraph was added to OP 25, and that was the only change made to the set of documents.

Should the J.9 disclosure form be signed by the primes and subs or just the primes? (Aaron James, CH2M Hill) Ridely-Curtis said the form should be signed by both, prime and subs.

Where in the proposal submission should contractors include that form? (James) Ridley-Curtis said the form should be included in Volume 1. Section L spells out what needs to be included in each volume, she added.

The RFP states that joint ventures must be proposed as one offer, but it also states that PMs and TOMs must come from managing JV partners. Is that accurate? (Brian Pieters, PMO Partnership, JV) Ridley-Curtis said that when contractors write and propose joint venture agreements, they have to “tell the government how you are proposing it at that time.” She said the question was difficult to answer because she didn’t know how the person posing the question was proposing his joint venture. “But you are only supposed to be submitting one offer,” she said.

The RFP states specifically that the TOMs and PMs must come from the managing JV partner.

(Pieters) Steve Pereira, Attorney-Advisor, asked Pieters to email his question to FTA and include a reference to the section with that requirement. FTA will review the issue.

If contractors provide up to 3 TOM resumes, should those individuals be reflected in the Volume III Cost portion of the RFP? (Pieters) Ridley-Curtis said contractors wouldn’t be proposing three different rates. “You are only proposing one rate,” she said, “you are just proposing three different resumes. It’s only one rate per skill set.”

The percentage of small business involvement collectively is supposed to be 40%, and then there are sections by category below that. Are those a subset of the 40% or are those in addition to the 40% ? (Douglas Nauman, Delon Hampton) DeVera Redmond, Procurement Assistance Division Supervisor for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business, said 40% of the total amount must be subbed out to small and large firms. “It’s 40% of that,” she said. For women-owned small business, it’s 5% of that total amount, for small disadvantaged businesses, it’s 5% of that total amount.

Ridley-Curtis said that when contractors are preparing their subcontracting plans FTA asks them to “do a plug in of anticipated $50 million. It’s an estimate. Because it’s an IDIQ (contract) we can’t provide a definitive final number so we are giving you $50 million for evaluation purposes to complete your subcontracting plan.”

What does the 60,000 hours represent? (Nauman) Ridley-Curtis said it’s an estimate. “FTA is not asking you to do 60,000 hours for your subcontracting plan,” she said. “We are asking that you do that in dollars, $50 million. The cost proposal is an estimate of 60,000 so we can get an estimate of how your cost will reflect on our requirement.”

Is FTA looking for a total of five Past Performance Questionnaires? (Brett Rekola, Kal Krishnan Consulting Services) Ridley-Curtis answered yes. “That’s under Amendment 2,” she said.

Can the Past Performance reference be the same for a prime effort and sub effort? (Rekola) Ridely-Curtis said that would be okay.

Does FTA want contractors to submit 5 or 6 different types of organizational charts? (Rekola) Ridley-Curtis said no, and added that Amendment 2 “clearly states in that area what we are asking for.” The Organizational Structure and Chart document should not exceed 15 pages.

Do primes and subs need to fill out the Section I form? (Rekola) Ridely-Curtis said she did not recall a form included in Section I.

Should contractors bring the three proposed TOMs to the oral presentation or just one TOM?

(John Lackey, David Evans & Associates) Ridley-Curtis said FTA “can’t make that determination at this time. We would (give you) further information when you are notified if you are requested to come to present at that time.”

How are the subcontracting plan percentages applied? Do 40% of the subcontracted dollars go to small businesses? (Lackey) Redmond said the 40% applies to the total amount subcontracted to small and large firms. FAR clearly spells out that “it’s a percentage of what you will sub out to large and small (businesses).”

The RFP says contractors shall incorporate a 2.5% escalation rate per year after the first year of performance. The calculation, however, only allows for 2% escalation. Can FTA clarify?

(Kendrick) Ridley-Curtis said that 2.5% escalation is the right percentage. “We’ll double check that,” she pointed out.

Can a subconsultant ask its contractor to serve as a past performance reference? (Kendrick) Ridley-Curtis said the “government doesn’t see a problem with that.”

Small businesses are not required to submit subcontracting plans. Is that correct? (Kendrick) That is correct, replied Ridley-Curtis. “They are exempt,” she pointed out.

Several sections of the RFP refer to “major subcontractors.” On what basis would contractors decide what constitutes a “major subcontractor?” (Chris Barber, Kimley-Horn & Associates) Ridley-Curtis said that the information is in Section L and it’s based on the dollar amount-- $650,000.

Will FTA allow well-seasoned, existing TOMs without engineering degrees to work on PMO projects? (Barber) Asatoorian said that TOMs must have engineering degrees. “That’s one of the requirements,” he said. “I don’t think we are going to deviate from that.”

Ridley-Curtis added that any changes to the RFP would have to be made through an official amendment before they could take effect.

Will FTA accept Past Performance Questionnaires from two major subcontractors?

(Tim Mantych, Jacobs Engineering Group) Ridley-Curtis said the RFP calls for offerers to submit Past Performance Questionnaires from a total of five prime contractors and/or subcontractors for the same or similar type of work set forth in the solicitation.

Will FTA post individual responses to each of the nearly 500 questions submitted prior to the conference or will it implement changes through amendments? (Mantych) Ridley-Curtis said changes will be made “through amendments and the logistics of that we can’t tell you.” She said she anticipated the questions will be posted for industry review before Thanksgiving.

Do primes and subs fill out the Conflict-of-Interest Forms? (Vince Gallagher, Hill International) Ridley-Curtis said that both primes and subs had to complete the Conflict-of-Interest Matrix spreadsheet.

Would the designation of registered architects be considered equivalent to the P.E. designation?

(Stan Sinha, Anil Verma Associates) Asatoorian said that TOMs and PMs must have Bachelor of Science Degrees in Engineering or a related field. “We have to look at each resume carefully to see if they comply,” he said. “We have some architects right now doing TOM jobs, not many, but they meet the other requirements.”

Will FTA evaluate all three TOMs proposed by the contractor, and, if so, will the same evaluation standards apply for each? (Sinha) Ridely-Curtis said that if the contractor proposes three candidates for the TOM position, “we will review what you proposed in accordance to section L and M. They will all be evaluated the same way.”

QA managers are required to have certain certifications. Can people who’ve been serving as QA managers without those certifications qualify? (Kambiz Shadan, Gannett Fleming)

Deidra Baker, POSITION, said that ISO certification or Licensure as a Professional Engineer cannot serve as substitutes for the required Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Certification (QA/QE). “Similar credentials can be Quality Engineer, Quality Auditor, Quality Improvement Associate, Quality Inspector, Quality Process Analyst or Reliability Engineer.”

Contractors can submit 3 resumes for the selection of TOMs. Should contractors designate one TOM as the Key? (Shadan) Ridley-Curtis said “we are allowing you to propose three resumes for TOMs. They all will be considered under Key Personnel. Use one rate.”

Will FTA hold interviews between Christmas and New Year’s? (Shadan) Ridley-Curtis said FTA doesn’t anticipate oral presentations in 2013. They will take place in 2014.

Can FTA provide a paginated version of Amendment 2 so companies could refer to page numbers when asking about certain sections of the RFP? (Eli Gilbert, Interactive Element) Ridely-Curtis said that Amendment 2 is broken down into sections. “But we’ll revisit the issue,” she said.

Amendment 2 seems to indicate that only employees of the prime can be at oral presentations, yet FTA often asks for Civil Engineers to attend. Other portions of the RFP don’t require Civil Engineers to be an employee of the prime. Can FTA explain? (Gilbert) Ridley-Curtis said that some of those elements were changed in Amendment 2 and the agency will go over that to make sure it’s clear.

Is there a limit on the number of attendees at the oral presentations? (Gilbert) “The logistics of oral presentations will be sent to you if you are invited for an oral presentation,” Ridley-Curtis said. “We identified who can participate and more than likely we’ll allow you to bring other attendees to assist with the presentation. All of that information will be identified with you in plenty enough time so you can plan for it accordingly.”

Can non-presenters participate in caucuses that companies would presumably hold before responding to a technical question? (Gilbert) Ridley-Curtis said non-presenters can help contractors prepare answers to questions asked. But only contractors can present the information to the FTA. “They can present,” she said, “but not to us.”

Would FTA accept an individual who has a Master’s but not a Bachelor’s in Engineering? (Brian Moore,) NAME NOT ON LIST Asatoorian said yes.

Will there be a cut-off date for additional questions? (Robert James, PMO Partnership JV) Ridely-Curtis said contractors can submit questions and FTA will do its best to answer them.

Official questions should be posted next week. “We will have to have time to regurgitate these questions,” she said. “If we deem they (new questions) are similar to what we’ve already posted, you’ll review those.”

Volume II, Tab 2, Section 2, Staffing and Recruiting: What do offerers have to submit?

(Peter Gaffer, Burns Engineer) Ridely-Curtis suggested the contractor refer to the Organizational Control Plan, which lists what FTA is looking for. “There are some subsections to that,” she said.

Does FTA want a Letter of Committeemen from each of the TOMs selected? (William Mooney, Lochner) Ridely-Curtis said “If you are going to submit them, yes.”

Can FTA provide clarification on what level of auditing is required? Some Hub Zone Firms and other small businesses don’t have audited overheard rates or audited accounting systems so they can’t participate in the PMO program. Can they (small businesses) self-certify and the prime can certify to that effect? (Don Carnell, Atkins) Ridley-Curtis said she was not aware of any self-certification programs.

Does that mean that all small business prime and sub must have an audited overhead and audited accounting system? (Carnell) Harper said that “they must have an accounting system that is acceptable to the government. We will either use DCAA when we can but most likely would use one of our other six auditors to verify that there is an accounting system in place where moneys (we are awarding to them) can be tracked. We are not saying any small businesses are eliminated if they don’t have it, but we are saying present what you do have and we’ll do the evaluation.”

Ridley-Curtis added that companies have to provide FTA with “supporting data” to support overhead rates and they can use CPAs to certify those rates. Before granting an award, COs “have to determine the rate is fair and reasonable.”

Is it okay if a CPA signs a letter certifying that a company’s accounting system is acceptable?

(Carnell) Ridley-Curtis added that FTA put language of “what we are looking for” in Section L under Cost/Pricing.

Pereira added that FTA has no relationships with contractors’ subs. “Any relationship we have with them is going to be through you, the prime,” he said. “So whatever is being proposed has to be proposed through you and in effect you are doing the certification for them to us and if we have a problem with it we go back to you as the prime.”

Could primes bring subcontractors who had also teamed up with another prime to the oral interview? (Carnell) Harper said that if the subs were considered part of the primes’ team and would go to the oral interview to enhance their presentation, there would be no restrictions.

FTA said it would not be filling out Past Performance Questionnaires for current PMOCs. Are the projects the current PMOCs working on still acceptable as major project experiences?

(Lackey) Ridely-Curtis said that the information is in Section L. “You are going to submit your questionnaire to who you is going to provide references,” she explained. “In your history matrix and performance history you can identify the PMO contract number, Task Order number and then we, the government, will review your CPARS and PPIRS past performance. If I’m your current CO, I cannot provide you with a reference.”

Any past performance ratings contractors received from COTRs, if the projects are listed, will be considered and the information will be pulled off the forms FTA fills out. Is that correct? (Eidlin) Ridley-Curtis said that FTA will use CPARS and PPIRS.

Would Past Performance Questionnaires that contractors send out go to 3 identified individuals?

(Eidlin) Ridely-Curtis said the prime must submit description of up to 5 contracts/Task Orders.

A limitation of 10% is noted in the section on profit, but there is also a reference to a DOT structure weighed guidelines. Can FTA clarify? (Eidlin) Ridely-Curtis said that DOT uses weighted guidelines to analyze profit. If contractors propose 10% profit, FTA will use weighted guidelines based upon the work, “whether or not what we deem as the government to be an acceptable profit. That is something that will be negotiated.”

Weighted guidelines are internal DOT documents, she said.

Ridley-Curtis added that on the IDIQ base contract, the profit percentage that will be negotiated is the cap. FTA may also negotiate a different profit on the TOs depending on the work involved.

“If you are doing programmatic,” she said, “we negotiate a 9.5 profit margin that is the max on an IDIQ. If you are doing a programmatic TO, we’d more than likely renegotiate that profit margin based on guidelines (because) that level of effort would be different.”

The RFP speaks to the use of consultants as different and distinct from subcontractors. Can you explain? (Eidlin) “Your consultants are specialists,” Ridley-Curtis said, “because they are doing a small portion of work. If you are deeming them as subcontractors then you need to identify them as subcontractors. There is a difference between a consultant and a subcontractor.”

Many contractors use subconsultants who are specialists and have been listed as subcontractors in the past. Is there a different standard being applied to consultants? (Eidlin) Ridley-Curtis suggested that participants review “FAR, Part 42, because those are conditions we would utilize regarding a consultant.”

Harper added the agency will refer contractors to the regulations which specify the difference between consultants and subcontractors.

Could subcontractors be at oral presentations? The amendment said that the personnel making oral presentations must be employees or proposed employees of the offeror. (Gilbert)

Ridely-Curtis said that Section M-8 spells out who can participate in oral presentations and other details regarding such presentations. “Again,” she said, “if you are invited to an oral presentation, further details would be allocated in the instructions. ”

Harper added that FTA did not say yet who could or could not participate in oral presentations.

“We are talking about who can actually make the presentation,” he said.

Incumbent PMO primes can’t solicit past performance references from FTA. But will FTA look at the primes’ existing CPARS? Should contractors then provide 3 additional references or should they remind the agency that one of them is their performance record as a PMO contractor? (Gilbert) Ridley-Curtis said contractors can propose up to 5 references. In the Past Performance Matrix summary, contractors would list the information about their PMO contracts, what the projects entail, contract numbers and TO numbers. “We would then utilize PPIRS and CPARS” to review the contractors’ performance, she said.

The RFP does not make clear whether financial statements from the subs should be sent to FTA directly or be included in the proposal. Many subs would prefer to send that information directly to the government. (Carnell) Ridely-Curtis said Section L states that the financial statements can be sealed and submitted to the contractor. “You want to submit it through the prime,” she said, “since the proposal is coming from the prime.”

Does FTA consider 1099 employees as consultants? If they are hired, should financial information about them be submitted? (Larry Gallegos, LS Associates/Triunity JV) Ridley-Curtis said 1099 Forms reveal histories of payments received by individuals.

“Sometimes, with a consultant, they (contractors) propose other cost elements,” she said. “If they propose that they have to support that. We have to see how they arrived at that rate. We’re only paying them for a set of hours at this cost element.” FTA treats consultants differently than they treat subcontractors. “But if they just submit 1099 and you are saying all these other cost elements are involved, you’d have to submit supporting information.”

A 1099 employee who works for contractors may have expertise but not necessary a business.

Do these consultants have to provide financial back-up? (Gallegos) Ridely-Curtis said that if companies are proposing them in excess of $650,000 FTA would deem them as subcontractors not consultants. “A subconsultant is somebody who is working for you for a specialty,” she said. “They should submit estimated hours and costs involved. I’ve never seen a subconsultant at $650,000. If they are proposing an overhead rate to make up that over cost, then, yes, you would have to submit information to us. But as far as elaborate costing information, no.”

Links in the Volume III section of the original RFP were not working. When will they be fixed?

(Gallegos) Ridley-Curtis said the system error under Amendment 3 had been fixed.

Some contractors catch grief from subcontractors who don’t want to include their financial statement in the cost proposal CD that contractors submit to FTA. Can they provide a separate CD marked “confidential?” (Kendrick) Ridley- Curtis said the information had to be in the CD submitted by the primes.

When contractors fill out spreadsheets to produce cost proposals which would be evaluated commonly among all the firms, should contractors use only maximum rates for categories proposed? You use a single rate for all hours? (Eidlin) Ridely-Curtis said contractors are proposing one rate for one skill set.

The RFP calls for two pricing options: Cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-fee. When developing the amount for the firm-fixed-fee pricing options, should contractors use the subconsultants’ indirect rates to justify the price? (Pieters) When contractors complete the spreadsheet for firm-fixed price, they have to use information they have. “We just want to see how you arrived at the fully loaded rate,” she said.

The RFP calls for a ceiling on indirect rates. Is there a basis for developing that ceiling that FTA is looking for? (Pieters) Ridely-Curtis said that she couldn’t provide an answer to the question without looking at the questioner’s proposal. “I would have to review your overhead rate and your supporting information. The CO can make the determination of whether or not he or she caps that overhead rate as a ceiling.”

Pereria added that overhead rates will be audited to make sure they are justified. “You can’t just pick a number out of the air,” he said.

In terms of small business goals: The 40% of small business is not 40% of the overall contract value, but it’s 40% of subcontracted amount that we propose large and small business combined.

(Mantych) Ridley-Curtis said that was correct.

If a major firm will do 100% of the work they don’t need to meet small business requirements. Is that right? (Mantych) Redmond explained that prime contractors are required to have subcontracting plans if the proposed amount is over $650,000. The 40% is based on the total estimated amount contractors plan to sub out to large and small businesses, she said.

Ridley-Curtis added that FTA provided contractors in the subcontracting plan a $50 million plug

in. “This is an IDIQ,” she pointed out, “we don’t have a dollar amount at this time. For that purpose you have your goals and your subcontracting plan, the dollar amount we are asking you to utilize is $50 million.”

Harper explained that a company can’t legally decide to undertake an entire project with its own employees. He reiterated Redmond’s point. “If the IDIQ that has been awarded to them by dollar value exceeds $650,000,” he said, “they would be required to have some subcontracting.”

Primes have to list at least three small businesses as part of their subcontracting plan. Was this requirement in the original solicitation? (Galliger) Ridely-Curtis said that requirement was in the original RFP.

FTA asked contractors to use $50 million as the subcontracted amount. Is that the amount to be subcontracted under the proposal? (Eidlin) Ridley-Curtis said FTA is using that number as a “plug in” for the subcontracting plan. “We are asking you to use a $50 million plug in so you can list dollar amounts so we can see,” she said.

Contractors plug in the $50 million, they plug in the percentage of work to be allocated among the subs that then may yield subs that have over $650,000. Is that right? (Eidlin) “That has nothing to do with it,” said Ridley-Curtis. “That number is just a plug in to complete your subcontracting plan. The $650,000 is just to identify that you need to complete the subcontracting plan.”

Harper added that the $650,000 also kicks in the requirement for cost submittals.

Harper said additional questions regarding Amendment 2 (published in www.fbo.gov) can be emailed to 2014_pmo_recompete@dot.gov.

One contractor pointed out that many small businesses attending the conference “are looking at this (RFP) as a great opportunity” to do business. He thanked the agency for holding the forum.

What prompted FTA to include a subcontracting requirement?

Redmond said that these requirements are in FAR as a percentage of the total amount that had to be subcontracted to all businesses

Harper added that each agency has its own subcontracting goals. “Ours happens to be 40%,” he said. “The PMO program is the largest contract FTA issues. We have to get the largest percentage of our awardees to cover all the categories that fall under the umbrella of small businesses out of the PMO program.”

FTA stated that information on QA qualifications or certifications that the agency identified as acceptable will be available. How can contractors access them?

Baker said that QA/QC’s other requirements are listed in the Q&A that will be posted next week.

Q&As will come out and presumably there will be changes in the solicitation. Will there be a subsequent amendment to formalize any changes that are made through the Q&A process?

(Eidlin) Ridley-Curtis said that FTA will determine whether any changes to the RFP are necessary. If so, changes will be implemented through an amendment. “It doesn’t change unless it’s done through an amendment,” she said.

Baker reminded participants that the amendment numbers in the document don’t line up with the section numbers. “The amendment number is off because of the way FBO does the amendments and the way we do our amendments.”

http://www.fbo.gov/ mailto:2014_pmo_recompete@dot.gov

The Q&A period ended and Harper thanked participants for their attendance.

The meeting was adjourned.