QA_from_RFI.docx

ED-OII-15-R-0009

“Department of Education Logistical and Administrative Support Services for Grant Competition Peer Reviews” Responses to Vendor Questions January 27, 2015

1. When will the Department start posting the RFP/RFQ on fbo.gov?

· The solicitation is expected to be released on either FBO or GSA in February or March 2015.

2. Is there an incumbent contractor or contractors? If yes, who are they? If yes, are they eligible to submit proposals and be awarded contracts under this solicitation?

· Longevity Consulting, contract number ED-OII-13-C-0029, is the incumbent in the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII). The acquisition strategy has not been determined at this time, but the Department anticipates that the incumbent will likely be eligible for competition.

3. The current contract has an expiration date of 04/29/2016, Why is the Government re-competing it one year earlier?

· The current vehicle (a single award cost-reimbursement contract) has been determined not to be the optimal way to support the volume and variety of grant competitions for both OII and the Department as a whole. The Department believes that a task order based contract vehicle will allow for the flexibility required by the various programs within OII and the Department.

3. What is the standing of the current incumbent?

· The current incumbent is in good standing with Government.

4. As this may be an ED-wide vehicle, please provide the names of all vendors currently providing contract support for ED peer reviews.

· Other current Department contracts for peer review support are listed below. Please note that these contracts are not due to expire in 2015 and may be continued to be used until they do expire.

· Office of Postsecondary Education – Command Decisions Systems & Solutions, Inc., ED-OPE-12-A-0022

· Office of Elementary and Secondary Education - Leed Management Consulting, Inc., ED-ESE-14-D-0004

· Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services - Lux Consulting Group, Inc., ED-OSE-12-C-0015

5. Assuming you receive multiple Small Business capability statements, will you issue the solicitation as a small business set aside?

· In order to set this procurement aside exclusively for small businesses, the Department must receive multiple good quality capability statement which show that there are multiple small businesses capable of completing the requirement.

6. Will the BPA/IDIQ be set-a-side for more than one type of business such as 8(a), SDVOSB, Hub-zone or just one type small business, 8(a), etc.

· More than likely this procurement will be set aside for multiple types of small businesses, however no determination has been made at this time. We require the results of the market research to assist us in our decision making process.

7. Where will the RFI and the presentation be posted?

· The RFI and the power point presentation is currently posted on FBO and GSA.

8. What is the solicitation number?

· The solicitation number is ED-OII-15-R-0009.

9. The current OII contract is scheduled to expire in April 2015. Does the Department anticipate an overlap in the contracts? If not, how does the Department plan to support grant competitions between April and when the new contracts take effect?

· The Department does not anticipate that new awards will be made before April 2015. Services may be provided “in-house” by Department employees after the current contract expires and before the new contracts are awarded.

10. Will the Department look favorably upon a small business that has a teaming agreement in place with a large subcontractor when submitting a proposal?

· Teaming with a large business does not necessarily add value to a proposal or capability statement. Team arrangements should be considered valuable as they add capability and capacity to meet the qualifications listed in the RFI, whether teaming partners are large or small. In a set-aside environment, the prime vendor must perform more than 50% of the work.

11. What is a PWS?

· PWS stands for Performance Work Statement. It is the document that provides the list of requirements and tasks for this procurement.

12. While we think it is great to conceive of the OII grant peer review support contract as either an IDIQ or BPA with multiple vendors, we are concerned as to how this will be administered. For example, the usual process is to have multiple grant reviews running concurrently in various stages of completion. Having multiple contractors facilitating different FOA reviews may mean there is competition for subject matter experts. In addition, reviewers signing up for concurrent or sequential peer reviews may be juggling slightly different review protocols, different websites for materials, etc. It will be important for OII to consider in advance how it will oversee this process.

· OII will consider, in advance, how it will oversee this process.

13. Greater clarity on the anticipated schedule and level of work once the contract is awarded would be helpful for planning purposes.

· The Department intends to provide a list of planned OII competitions with statistics regarding anticipated number of reviewers, panels, and applications in the RFP.

14. Would the new competition web site be hosted within an existing Department of Education server environment? If so, are specifications available in terms of the application and database servers supported within ED’s existing server environments? This would seem like the preferred approach, as it would eliminate or expedite many of the security requirements listed in the SOW.

· These websites will likely be hosted through the Department’s existing server environment or possibly through a web hosting BPA (and not on this contract). More information will be provided in the solicitation.

15. From page 12 of the PWS: Will the Department elaborate on whether the requested captioning for the hearing impaired on the video deliverables shall be live or posted after the webinar on the Grant Competition Webpage?

· The requested captioning for the hearing impaired on the video deliverables shall be live. Many of the webinars are recorded and posted on the program’s website or the grant competition website, so the captioning would be available on the posted webinar as well.

16. Could you clarify whether vendors will be providing the peers for the peer reviews, or just admin support?

· Typically, the program staff will provide the contractor with a list of potential peer reviewers that contractor will then reach out to in order to confirm their availability. There are some instances when the contractor will be asked to recruit peer reviewers for a competition based on specified requirements.

17. Will the Department be releasing any IT staff Augmentation and Technical Service related RFP/RFQ?

· While Task 9 has some IT components, this procurement is not considered an IT purchase. This procurement contains mainly professional services. Please review the Department of Education’s current forecast, which is currently posted on the Department’s website for other opportunities. Our forecast contains all the procurements the Department will complete in fiscal year 2015.

18. Is there any probability that any position within each task order will fall under services contract/wage determination?

· It is unlikely that any position would fall under the Service Contract Act. This procurement is considered to be professional services.

19. When the RFP is released, will the RFP package include list of job descriptions and qualifications for personnel required and number of FTE needed based on current contract demands and needs?

· No, offerors shall be required to propose their own staffing and management plans based on their unique technical approach.

20. What is the Department’s proposed level of effort/labor hours? What is annual dollar estimate, base and option years for this contract?

· The proposed level of effort and dollar estimates have not been determined at this time. It is not known how many grant competitions will be held and supported via this contract vehicle at this time. The Department will not be sharing these estimates once they are determined.

Capability Statement & Webinar Questions

21. Will a list of webinar participants be posted?

· The list of attendees will be posted as soon as possible.

22. Are comments and questions about the PWS included or excluded from the 4 page limit for the capability statement?

· Comments and questions regarding the PWS may be excluded from the 4 page capability statement limit. Please limit questions and comments to no more than 4 single-spaced pages, with a minimum of one-inch margins and 12 point font.

23. Is it acceptable to discuss relevant experience or past performance of key personnel if that person was not employed by the offering vendor at the time of the experience?

· Yes, these experiences are permissible to discuss in capabilities statements but they must be attributed to the individual personnel not the organization.

24. Are RFI responses are only accepted from GSA schedule holders?

· No, RFI responses were accepted from any interested vendor.

25. You requested for 5 resumes to be submitted with the response to RFI, we would like to know why this is required at this stage, also can you kindly provide us the labor categories required for this effort and for the 5 resumes requested to be submitted with the RFI. Can we have a copy of the presentation at the webinar session?

· The purpose of the request for resumes is to be able to evaluate the experience and capability of interested parties to assist in the process of determining whether a solicitation will be released through FBO or GSA Schedules. The Department will not be providing the labor categories. It is up to the vendors to use their technical expertise to come up with the appropriate technical solution. The Department will be providing the estimated number of grant competitions for OII for each year. Please understand these are only an estimate and do not include any potential grant competitions for the other principal offices within the Department. A copy of the webinar power point presentation has already been posted on FBO and GSA.