QA_Final_7-28-15.pdf

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, D.C. 20410

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER

Visit our web page at http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpo/index.cfm

July 27, 2015

Reference: Questions in response to Solicitation Number DU100R-15-R-0003 Construction Inspection Service

To: Prospective Offerors

The following questions and answers addressed below are hereby incorporated into this solicitation:

THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS SOLICITAITON IS TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. E.S.T.

Q1 On page 1 of the Solicitation, Block 21 “Quantity”: what exactly is the “Quantity”? For example, Item No. 0002, Quantity = 495. 495 what? 495 construction inspection service events? 495 individual construction sites? 495 on-site inspections?

R1. Construction inspection service events (i.e. Site Visits, and attendance at HUD’s Preconstruction Conference). Estimated quantity set in the Schedule B for the IDIQ Base contract and Attachment B Pricing Sheet is the maximum of number of construction inspection services that will be requested for the life of the IDIQ contract.

Q2. On page 1 of the Solicitation, Block 22 “Unit”: what does “LO” signify?

R2. See page 6 of the Performance Work Statement. A one time payments for the services being provided. See attachment B Pricing Sheet 0001 etc. LO signify Lot.

Q3. What is the relevance of (b)(9) through (b)(14) on pages 20 of 103 and 21 of 103 to “construction inspection services”? These provisions appear to apply to the manufacture, delivery, or installation of product, not to construction inspection services.

R3. No, See page 21 of the Performance Work Statement Deliverable & Milestones Section 6.1.

Q4. Where do I find the Attachments A through H listed on page 55 of 103 under the heading “(d) (1) List of Documents, Exhibits, and Other Attachments”?

R4. The attachments are posted on the Federal Business Opportunity Website with the solicitation as an attachment. Also See Amendment 1.

Q5. Is there an incumbent firm or incumbent firms currently doing this work for HUD? Are they eligible to bid on this work?

R5 Yes, Yes

Q6. Has HUD previously procured these services using the same terms and parameters laid out in this RFP?

R6. Yes

Q7. Can an 8a form a CTA with a non-8a and still qualify?

R7. Yes, as long as the prime contractor (8a) does at least 50% of the cost.

Q8. CLINs 0003 and 0004 (and others on schedule of charges) both include the island of Hawaii.

Is that correct? Why is that island included in both?

R8 Amendment 2 will remove Hawaii from CLIN 0004. The Island of Hawaii should only be in CLIN 0003.

Q9 on Form 1449 what do the quantities and units refer to? Hours?

R9. Ea. (per Construction Inspection Service) (Fixed Price). See Solicitation Page 14 (b)5, Attachment B, C2, D2, and E2. Pricing Sheets, Fixed Unit Price.

No, this is not a labor hour contract. See (e) 14 Business Proposal

Q10 In which volume should Form 1449 be included?

R10. Volume 1, Volume 2 or both

Q11 Page 12, (b)(2): This section is somewhat confusing. Does this mean HUD is awarding one IDIQ contract for each region or one IDIQ overall and then three task orders against that IDIQ?

Please clarify.

R11. See Page 12-13. See (b) 2 Contract Type

Q12 Page 14, (b)(4): Where is the 'minimum amount specified' specified?

R12. Page 14 (b) 7 MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM CONTRACT VALUE.

Q13 Page 14, (b)(4): How does a contractor qualify for a technical area? Where are those technical areas defined and what are the evaluation criteria?

R13. Amendment 2 Page 20 of the Solicitation See (b)(9) – DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT. See Attachment A Performance Work Statement and Task Order Description Attachment C1, C2 and C3.

Q14 Page 14, (b)(4): Should the word "of" in this phrase: "...there will be a one time "minimum guarantee award amount" of the base period..." is the word "during"?

R14. Page 14 of the solicitation section b (4) MINIMUM ORDERING REQUIREMENTS and see R12.

Q15 Page 14, (b)(5): What should the fixed unit price be based on?

R15. The price to perform the Construction Inspection Services.

Q16 Page 14, (b)(5): How can task order prices be based on a price at the time of contract award when the scope of the task order is not known at the time of contract award?

R16. See Page 12, Solicitation Section b (2) Contract Type and Attachment C1, D1, and E1 Task Order Description.

Q17 Page 15, (b)(8): What does the unit "LO" refer to?

R17. See R2.

Q18 Page 15, (b)(8): Can an offeror just bid on one region?

R18. Yes

Q19 Page 15, (b)(8): Can an offeror just bid on one Clin for each ordering period? For instance the Clin 0003, and 0012, and the others that include the same geographic locations.

R19. The contractor may submit a proposal for one region or two region or all three regions. See R11 and R16.

Q21 Page 16, (b)(8): What is the Performance Incentive (Clin 0010)?

R21. See Attachment A, Performance Work Statement pages 21-25.

Q22 Page 20, (b)(12): This makes it sound like each ordering period is five years. Does the base contract consist of five ordering periods with each ordering period being one year?

R22 Ordering Periods are for 12 months. See Solicitation Page 12(2)

Q23 Page 20, (b)(12): Details about the task order period of performance appears to be contradictory. In one place it says the task order period of performance may not exceed five years. In the next paragraph it says that a task order period of performance may not go beyond one year after the end of the ordering period. If each ordering period is a year in duration and the task order can only go one year beyond that, how could you have a task order period of performance that is longer than two years?

R23 This is an IDIQ contract with 5 ordering periods. The task orders are issued under the IDIQ contract that may not exceed 5 years. Also, the task order period of performance may not be issues beyond the IDIQ contract (ordering period 5). There are two different things.

Q24 Page 21, (b)(12): What options do the second line on this page refer to?

R23. Task Orders may include 12 month option years.

Q25 Page 21, (b)(13): If a "preponderance" of work is to be performed at contractor's facility or the job site, where is the balance of the work to be performed?

R25. Unless there is an unusual rare situation, all work on this Contract will take place at the contractor’s facility or the construction job site.

Q26 Page 21, (b)(13): Is a task order the same as one of the CLIN lines, or is it a subset of the one of the CLINs?

R26. The Task Order is issued by Region 1, 2, or 3. Each region has a difference geographical location; however the work is the same.

Q27 Page 30, (e): Is the contractor required to submit a proposal for each task order issued?

R27. See Page 71 of Solicitation (e)(13) TASK ORDER PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

VOLUME 3, 4 AND 5 - TASK ORDERS PROPOSALS INSTRUCTIONS

Q28 Page 30, (e): What is the purpose of proposing and/or negotiating a price for a task order if, as stated on Page 14, (b)(5) it says that the task order will be issued with "the contract line item fixed unit price"?

R28. Amendment 2 Remove negotiates task order.

Q29 Page 31, (f): This section under the rubric "Key Personnel" allows personnel to mean employees of the contractor or subcontractor, etc, this seems to be in conflict with section 4.2 on page 9 of Attachment A which states that the Project Manager and Alternate Project Manager must be employees of the contractor. Please clarify.

R29. Key personnel as stated in the Performance Work Statement must be employed by the prime contractor. This clause does not apply to whether the project manager or alternate project manager is employee by the prime. The clause means if the Project Manager or Alternate Project Manager is replaced, they must have the same qualification as described in the solicitation and approved by the Contracting Officer.

Q30 Page 31, (f): Without having a clear understanding of how many task orders (or assignments) will be given, it is hard to understand how many personnel are required. Is there a PM and Alt PM for each task order/assignment? Is each task order/assignment for one single property? One single city, state, region?

R30. The Performance Work Statement provide the requirement, the contractor is to provide the outcome. We anticipate a task order may be issued each year; however there may be a need to issue additional task orders, this is why it is an IDIQ contract.

Q31 Page 31, (f): if the role of the Alt PM is to fill in in the absence of the PM what does "% of effort" apply to?

R31. The offerors are to propose the percentage of effort based on the Performance Work Statement Attachment A.

Q32 Page 60, (e)(2)(a): The RFP seems to use task order to mean different things. Here it appears to be the same thing as the contract. Please clarify.

R32. The work is the same in all region, but in different geographical location.

Q33 Page 61, (e)(2)(e)(1): If offeror is a CTA should there be a signed 1449 for each member of the CTA?

R33. No, the 8a (prime contractor) shall apply to FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting (Nov 2011). The prime contractor (8a) must do at least 50% of the cost of work.

Q34 Page 61, (e)(2)(e)(2): Attachments A, F, and G are not pricing sheets. Similarly B, C2, D2, and E2 are pricing sheets. I assume we submit the latter and not the former?

R34. See Page 55 of the Solicitation. Question unclear. Attachment B, C2, D2 and E2 are the pricing sheet template you are to submit with your business proposal. Also see (e) 14 page 73.

Q35Page 61, (e)(2)(e)(2): Please indicate which specific pricing sheet the following line refers to: "The attached Attachment Pricing Sheet will take precedent for all proposed pricing."

R35. See amendment 2

Changed: (2) Submission of proposed prices fixed price line item as required by Section (b) Schedule of Charges and Section (d), Attachment B, C2, D2 and E2 Pricing Sheet of this RFP.

Please submit a workable excel spreadsheet). The attached Attachment Pricing Sheets will take precedent for all proposed pricing.

Q36Page 61, (e)(2)(e)(2): Since the pricing attachments C2, D2, and E2 are only for the base period/ordering period 1, I assume we only fill in Attachment B and the 1449 with pricing for Ordering Period 1?

R36. See R35

Q37 Page 66, (e)(11)(I): Word and Excel do not have the option of saving to the 2007 version of those programs. Please advise.

R37. Page 66 Section 2007 is an example.

Page 65 Submission of Proposal; the submission of proposal must be submitted in an electronic format such as Word and Excel. HUD must have access to read the proposal.

Q38 Page 67, (e)(11)(I): We produce proposals in Adobe InDesign. Those original format files are readable unless you have InDesign. Are you specifying that we must produce our proposals in Word? PDFs these days can be searched electronically. For what purpose does the government need our proposal in Word format?

R38. HUD only has access to read Microsoft Outlook. HUD currently uses Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Q39 Page 67, (e)(11)(K): I assume you mean Eastern Daylight Time, not Eastern Standard Time?

R39. Yes

Q40 Page 68: Please specify page number of the RFP that explains the Past Performance Supporting documentation.

R40. Amendment 2 removes this statement.

Q41 Page 68: How many references are required and in what format/answering what questions?

R41. Page 80 Factor 4 and page 69 Key Personnel.

Q42 Page 68: Are references for Key Personnel or for the firm?

R42. See R41

Q43 Page 68: Do references have to be for certain types of projects?

R43. See R 41

Q44 Page 68: The proposal matrix is very confusing. It is unclear what you are looking for in each column. Please specify which pages and sections pertain to "RFP Requirement", "Statement of Work", "Section e or Instructions to Offerors", "Section e or Evaluation Factors", and "Comments".

R44. See Page 68 of the solicitation. The proposal matrixes refer to the technical factors.

Q45 Page 68, Technical Discussion, second bullet point: Without having more information about the scope of a given project (e.g, size, complexity, duration) how can we reasonably develop a project schedule?

R45. Attachment A Performance Work Statement provides the scope of work.

Q46 Pages 69-70: How are we to propose personnel and specify how long they when there is no indication in the RFP documents as to how much work is involved? Size, complexity, duration, location, number of projects, type of projects, all of these things help contractors build a proposal. Is any of this kind of information included in the RFP documents?

R46. See Attachment A Performance Work Statement.

Q47 Page 69, Key Personnel: Does HUD envision that the PM and Alt PM oversee the overall program and then the contractor place inspectors on specific projects?

R47. Yes.

Q48 Page 73, (e)(14): It is unclear what we should base our pricing on. There is nothing that I can see in any of the RFP documents and attachments that makes it reasonably clear how pricing should be determined. Without more information how can we determine labor mix, etc?

R48. Pricing is based on the cost to perform tasks found in the Attachment A Performance Work Statement.

Q49 Page 73, (e)(14): Can all of our pricing information be included in the same Business Proposal volume? That is, can pricing for the IDIQ and each of the task orders be in the same volume or do they have to be in separate volumes.

R49. See Page 65 F and Page 71 (e)(13)

Q50 Page 72, (e)(14): Are the pricing sheets the only thing that should be in the Business Proposal?

R50. Yes

Q51 Will there be an extension of the proposal due date to allow offerors adequate time to receive and incorporate answers to these questions?

R51. No