FSS Support Services - Q A 20110804.pdf

FSS Support Services Q&A #1 8/2/11

Q1: Is there a wage determination schedule?

A: Yes. The current wage determination No is 2005-2473, Rev. 13 (6/13/2011).

Q2: Is there a page limit for the technical proposal?

A: No, but please keep in mind that the evaluation shall be based upon price and past performance. Contractors are encouraged to include only that information specifically related to recent and relevant past performance.

Q3: Please confirm your office does not need a Technical / Management and Past Performance Volume

A: The solicitation requires the RFQ form to be filled out completely. The combined synopsis also states 3-5 references are required for Past Performance. See answer to question #2.

Q4: Do you happen to know if this is a new requirement? If there is a contractor currently performing these services, would you be able to provide the contract information? (Contract number, award date, vendor name, value).

A: This is a new requirement. These services were previously broken down into 4 different separate contracts. The information for 2 of these contracts can be found below. (The other two contracts’ information is not presently available).

Contract Number Contractor Award Date Value FA4418-09-P-0009 Inventory Operating

Logistic Agency (IOLA) 01 Oct 2008 $331,406.40

FA4418-09-P-0010 Inventory Operating Logistic Agency (IOLA)

01 Oct 2008 $335,295.00

Q5: Is this a recompete or a new requirement?

A: See Q4.

Q6: If there is an incumbent what is the name of the business/company/individual?

A: See Q4.

Q7: Section 1.2.6 mentions “the contractor is responsible to provide transportation to and from training location, per Diem and billeting.” Shouldn’t this be a FAR requirement and subject to reimbursement?

A: Contractors do not need to propose travel costs as a part of their proposal, as this part of the acquisition will not be competed. All travel costs will be completely reimbursed by the Government.

Q8: Various sections mention “The contractor is responsible for transportation to and from the service sites”. Shouldn’t this be a FAR requirement and subject to reimbursement?

A: See Q7.

Q9: Is there an incumbent?

A: See Q4.

Q10: If there is an incumbent, does the Government prefer to retain current contract employees?

A: It is the contractor’s responsibility to vette staff. The government will not direct the contractor on this issue.

Q11: Will there be a separate CLIN for the travel expenses?

A: See Q7

Q12: If no CLIN for travel and contractor is supposed to build in travel costs, what are the travel locations, amount of travel anticipated for each position?

A: See Q7. For the travel locations, current records indicate that contractors travel on TDY approximately once or twice annually. Potential locations may be Scott AFB, Randolph AFB, etc.

Q13: Do you require resumes submitted with the bid?

A: No, resumes are not required

Q14: Paragraph 1.1. - Will transportations costs (mileage, hotel and per diem) be reimbursed monthly by the government?

A: See Q7.

Q15: Paragraph 1.2.1. - Does the contract allow hours for preparation of workshop materials, content and set up? Will the government reimburse for workshop materials, or are they provided by the government?

A: Services shall be turn-key. (Contractors shall propose a total price for each service, per

CLIN).

Q16: Paragraph 1.1.3. - Is there an advertising budget provided for by the government and how much is it?

A: Advertising is handled by the government.

Q17: Paragraph 1.1.5. - Are additional hours provided for travel time and set up of workshops out of the area?

A: Compensatory time and/or overtime are not funded by the government.

Q18: Paragraph 1.1.6. - Is there a budget for class material and is it government provided, or reimbursed by the government?

A: See Q15.

Q19: Paragraph 1.3. - What is the cost of obtaining Financial Counseling and Planning Education certification? Is the cost paid for by the government, or is the cost reimbursed by the government?

A: It is the contractor’s responsibility to verify this cost and include it in any proposal’s CLIN total.

Q20: Is there an incumbent presently providing Administrative Support Services at Joint Base Charleston, SC and if so, who is the incumbent?

A: See Q4.

Q21: Will the existing quality control plan be made available upon award, so the selectee may benchmark and improve upon it?

A: No. This is a new requirement and a QC Plan for it does not exist.

Q22: Are additional hours available for workshop preparation for the Life Skills, Employment Education and Financial Education?

A: No, see Q15.

Q23: What dollar amount of work has been executed annually within the limits of North Charleston and/or Goose Creek respectively?

A: See Q4.

Note: The PWS for this requirement is not equal to old work and contractors are advised to quote based upon the current PWS

Q24: Paragraph (v) of the Solicitation states “Contractors shall submit a proposal in reference to the attached RFQ” yet the evaluation criteria indicates only Price and Past Performance are going to be evaluated. Does the government want this proposal to include a technical approach or just 3-5 references of most recent and relevant projects?

A: Aside from past performance information, a technical proposal is not required.

Q25: Note 1: Are there personnel currently performing these services and if so will the government allow them to be retained pending government right of first refusal.

A: Yes. Whether or not the individuals are retained is the contractor’s decision.

Q26: Note 2: Please provide amplifying guidance regarding the statement below. We are under the impression from the Supplies/Services listing in the RFQ that the Period of Performance is one base year plus four one-year options. We are not sure what the “Performance Period below is referencing.

“Performance Period: How many days will it take to perform the work?

Example: 1 Day, 5 Days, or exact dates like: 01 Sep 09 – 10 Sep 09”

A: Contractor doesn’t need to fill in the Performance Period/Delivery Date line on RFQ.

Q27: Is there an incumbent? If so who is it and what was the award contract amount?

Q28: Are you expecting resumes to be submitted with a Proposal? If so, for what position(s) out of the eleven (11) on the PWS

A: No, resumes are not required.

Q29: Are there specific instructions for the format on the technical part of the proposal, such as: (Page limitation, Type of size font, Required sections such as recruiting plan, Quality Assurance (QA), Phase In-Phase out process etc…)

A: No there are no special instructions.

Q30: What type of contract does the Government anticipate issuing (FFP or T&M)?

A: FFP.

Q31: Will the contract be subject to the Service Contract Act?

A: Yes.

Q32: Does the Government anticipate this task being an IDIQ?

A: The contract shall be an IDIQ Contract.

Q33: Reference travel to Naval Hospital Beaufort, SC and/or Naval Reserve Units in Columbia and/or Greenville, SC., and also travel to Jacksonville, FL and Norfolk, VA, and all other required travel. Will the government provide reimbursement for this travel?

A: See Q7.

Q34: Will the Government provide a separate CLIN for travel?

A: See Q7.

Q35: Is overtime a requirement?

A: This is a performance based service contract. Whether or not a proposal anticipates individual contractor employees working overtime hours is the contractor’s decision.

Q36: Please confirm that all contractors will be required to enter data on services provided into the AFFIRST system and not the equivalent Navy system?

A: AFFIRST is the system being used; however, Navy-specific program data will be required by the Navy, i.e., CFS, Ombudsman, CONSEP. Air & Family Readiness Center workers however have no requirement to input into Navy databases.

Q37: Are there additional educational or certifications required beyond those currently in the solicitation?

A: A Bachelor’s degree is required for the Test Examiner position and desired for the Education Advisor position (FSDE).

Q38: Bidders are to submit a quote, relevant past performance, plus standard administrative requirements (e.g. Reps & Certs). Is there a page limit or other instructions related to the submission of a technical proposal?

A: No.

Q39: Will the new contractor augment current civilian staff, or will contractor and its staff act as a stand-alone entity within JB CHS Air and JB CHS Weapons Station?

A: The contractor will augment current civilian staff (FSDE).

Q40: Please identity the person(s) who will serve as the Contracting Officer Representative or technical representative within the Force Support Squadron.

A: The COR (Contracting Officer’s Representative) will be assigned after contract award and the contractor will be informed at that time.

Q41: Please provide the anticipated Award date. This date will assist with contractor’s phase-in and staffing plan of action.

A: The anticipated award date is 09 Sep 2011.

Q42: Please provide a relevant wage determination to assist with factoring competitive pricing for the government.’

A: See Q1.

Q43: Appendix A provides the estimated work load data for each service under this contract.

What is the government’s alternative criterion (a) for meeting this workload (in equivalent) if the minimum attendance to deliver a specific service is not met? In addition, how does the government expect the contractor to demonstrate compliance with the specific delivery of service performance objective?

A: No alternative criterion exists and the COR shall surveil contractor performance IAW PWS section 2.

Q44: Is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these services? If yes, please provide the name of the contractor(s) and the contract number(s).

A: Q4.

Q45: Please confirm the contract issued will be firm fixed price.

A: The contract will be FFP.

Q46: Please verify that in addition to completing the cost schedules on pages 1-4 of this document, all bidders should answer the questions listed on page 5 (delivery date, period of performance, and discount terms). It appears that delivery dates and period of performance are dictated by the SOW and therefore not an item of negotiation/quotation.

A: The delivery date/ period of performance shall not be filled in by the contractor. The contractor shall answer the rest of page 5 completely.

Q47: Please confirm that submittal of a completed "Request for Quotation" (including pricing and the answer to the 3 questions on page 5 constitutes a compliant and complete response to this solicitation. In other words, there is no requirement for a technical proposal and/or submittal of past performance information, correct?

A: See Q3.

Q48: Please confirm that it is the government's desire to have all staff needed to fully execute the requirements of the PWS ready to perform no later than 10/1/11.

A: Correct. The start date for this contract is 01 October 2011.

Q49: Please clarify the number and locations of the events to be supported as described in Paragraph 1.2.4. This is especially critical if travel expenses are to be included in the labor pricing as currently reflected in the Request for Quotation schedule. Bidders need an estimate of the number of trips, duration and locations to be able to accurately estimate the cost of travel associated with this support and include it in the monthly cost.

A: See Q7 and Q12.

Q50: Please clarify the locations at which the Volunteer Program coordination services described in 1.2.7 are provided (Charleston and the Tri-County area or Jax/Norfolk as described in paragraph 1.2.6).

A: JB Charleston-Weapons.

Q51: Will a government approved curriculum for the Command Financial Specialist training be provided to the successful bidder? If no, is there a regulation or other applicable document that dictates the requirements of this training?

A: The government will provide.

Q52: Please clarify the reference to "continuous" coverage. Does the government mean that the contractor will not be allowed to take normal breaks, including lunch? Does the government mean that contract staff as a whole will be used to ensure full coverage (for example, staff providing support under 1.5 and 1.6 would have staggered break times and are co-located so at least one would be available at all times)?

A: Government contract staff as a whole will be used to ensure full coverage as needed.

Q53: Is there currently an IT property tracking/inventory system in use and will the contractor under this solicitation be provided access to/use of that system? If yes, what is the system?

A: Yes, there is a system in place and the contractor will be given access and use, i.e., AFFIRST, NFAAS, etc. On the Air side, the inventory is on an ADPE account from the Communications Squadron.

Q54: Is there currently a trouble ticketing system in use and will the contractor under this solicitation be provided access to/use of that system? If yes, what is the system?

A: The system is provided by the government. Contractor must conform to local procedures which may change at any time during the life of the contract.

Q55: Please identify the "specialized graphics hardware and software" referenced in this paragraph along with an FFSC specific IT systems.

A: Graphics are obtained from on-hand software packages, i.e., Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access), Microsoft Outlook, and other appropriate resources.

Additionally, AFFIRST, CFS, and other systems are used in performance of duties of positions.

Q56: Please clarify this statement: "The contractor shall provide each service in such a manner to prevent breaks in service and shall not have, at any time, a break in service of more than 24 hours for any individual service. Specifically where there is a requirement to perform at a certain location and also to provide services at alternate locations, will the contractor be compliant with this requirement if the assigned service provider is away from the normal work location due to government required travel for more than 24 hours? Or will the government require a replacement during government ordered travel by the primary service provider?

A: See Q52.

Q57: Please provide a copy of "Standard Form 74/DOD Contract Security Classification" referred to in paragraph 4.4.1.

A: See attached.

Q58: Do any of the contractor staff assigned to this contract require a clearance (Secret, Top Secret, etc.)? Is a clearance required for working on either installation? If yes, please provide clearance required by SOW paragraph.

A: Please reference PWS Section 4.4 for Security requirements.

Q59: Please clarify the workload data. For example, for Life Skills and Other Classes as described on the second line of the table, is the bidder correctly interpreting that there are 15- 20 classes held monthly at which there are a TOTAL of 400 attendees or 20-27 attendees per class?

A: The number of attendees will vary per program/service—an example, some programs may have 25-30 attendees at one or more separate programs held. The total attendees at these programs may equal 100. Whereas, another program may have 100 attendees and held only once. For additional info, please see RFQ.

Q60: Please clarify the "Estimated Attendance" statistics provided for Admin Support, IT Hardware/Application/Admin Support and Loan Locker/Attic Customer Services.

A: Admin: Estimated amount of customers who walk in or call seeking information, RSVP using AFFIRST, services etc.

IT support: Estimated amount of customers who utilize the resource room, walk in or call seeking information, checking out resources etc.

Loan Locker Services: estimated customers who use the facility, drop items off, seek information or call asking questions.

Q61: The FBO posting indicates that the Service Contract Act (SCA - 52.222-41) is applicable;

please provide the appropriate Wage Determination(s).

A: See Q1.

Q62: If the SCA is applicable, please indicate which associated clause will be used to calculate/determine escalation for labor costs under this contract (52.222-43 or -44.)

A: FAR 52.222-43 shall apply.

Q63: Please clarify the requirement for a Past Performance submittal implied on the FBO posting under clause 52.212-2. If past performance information is required, is there a desired format or specific data that is required?

A: Please provide the government with 3-5 references that reflect work that was both recent and relevant to this acquisition. See Q3.

Q64: Due to the criticality of the response to the questions to the bidders ability to prepare a compliant proposal, request that the government extend the due date for bidders' proposals to at least 10 days following publication of the answers and the final revision of the solicitation incorporating any changes.

A: Suggestion noted.

Q65: What positions will WD apply?

A: All positions.

Q66: Are there any requirements for reach-back capability in regards to paragraph 4.3.1?

A: The contractor is responsible for performance IAW the PWS.

Q67: IAW PWS 1.1, Does this represent 3-5 trips for each location or in total?

1) Is the contractor responsible for developing the content for each course?

A: No. The government provides curriculum for all courses.

2) For all printing and reproduction cost for course materials? If so, is this billed to the

Government as ODC or are we required to build into our rates? If we are, then will the Government please provide cost estimates? and average class size?

A: No. The government provides reproduction of materials.

Q68: IAW PWS 1.1.5, Can the Government please provide historical data regarding the frequency of after normal work hour workshops and classes by location?

A: For the FFSC, once or twice per quarter for up to 2-4 hours. A&FRC are not expected to work outside hours listed in 4.3.2.

Q69: IAW PWS 1.1.6, Can the Government please elaborate on the types of class material and further define what it means by an extensive variety of class materials? How much material is the Government requiring and what subject matters?

A: The government will provide all core program materials, i.e. TAP, RAP, PFM, employment assistance, etc.

Q70: IAW PWS 1.2, Does this represent 3-5 trips for each location or in total?

A: See Q12.

Q71: IAW PWS 1.2.3, Can the Government please provide the hours of operation that the Contractor will be required to support and the type of assistance that will be required?

A: Normal operating hours are 0800 until 1630. Workshops, briefs, one-on-one counseling, etc.

Q72: IAW PWS 1.2.7, Can the Government please provide the details regarding how many volunteers, and the contractor’s level of involvement in recruiting, training and assigning task? Does this solely fall on the contractor? How many annual events are there? Is travel required?

A: The contractor will be responsible for training volunteers for FFSC (not installation-wide) to assist in approx. 1-2 events annually and assist program managers, as needed.

Q73: IAW PWS 1.3, how many Financial Counselors are currently supporting this work? Is there one at each location? Does this represent 3-5 trips for each location or in total?

A: The FFSC currently has two full-time and two part-time financial counselors. This represents 3-5 trips per location.

Q74: IAW PWS 1.3.1, How many after normal working hour sessions are generally conducted during the year? And historically at which locations?

A: Several contractors flex their hours to cover after normal working hour appointments for many nuclear power students who can only be seen after 1630.

Q75: IAW PWS 1.3.3, What is the level and frequency of this training, and at which locations? How many CFS are there?

A: Approximately 40 CFS’ are trained at WS in a 32-hour class on a quarterly basis.

Q76: IAW PWS 1.4, Does this represent 3-5 trips for each location or in total?

A: See Q67.

Q77: IAW PWS 1.4.4, How often is the Contractor required to develop a new curriculum? How is the process initiated? Does the Government determine the need, types of courses and frequency? How often are after normal working hour sessions conducted?

A: The contractor is not required to develop curriculum.

Q78: IAW PWS 1.6.1, Is the contractor responsible for computer support for all locations? What level of troubleshooting computer problems will be required by the contractor, is this solely phone support? Or will the contractor be required to be hands-on in resolving system problems? How many end users will this person be supporting? How many people are currently providing this support?

What is the average call time/in-person time spent resolving system issues?

A: No. At this time, FFSC has its own IT contractor who maintains up to approx. 15 systems for customer use, to include hands-on resolving system problems of a routine nature. Contractor currently supports, approx., up to 300-400 users per week. Contractor maintains systems for approximately 8-10 hours on a weekly basis.

Q79: IAW PWS 1.6.1.5, How many classrooms and what is the list of equipment that the contractor will be required to support?

A: There are three classrooms at the FFSC. Equipment required to be operated by the contractor includes up to 15 systems, software, hardware, In-focus systems, etc.

Q80: IAW PWS 1.6.1.15, What are the other software packages that the contractor will be required to support? How in-depth will the support need to be? And how many users? How many personnel are currently providing this support?

A: FFSC systems are similar to A&FRC systems to avoid duplication, please see A&FRC input for this questions

Q81: IAW PWS 1.6.2.1, What is the level of support required by the contractor? General troubleshooting or in-depth troubleshooting which may involve contacting outside vendors, etc.? How many contractors are currently providing this support? How many end users are being supported?

What is the average time spent resolving computer related problems, and what are the different types of equipment requiring support? Can the Government please provide a list? Is this for all locations?

A: See Q78, See Q79, See Q80 for FFSC.

For A&FRC, general troubleshooting is expected on government computers connected to government controlled networks. Troubleshooting will be done at large by contracting the Communications Squadron on base. One contractor is currently providing this support. For the number of end users see “Estimated attendance in PWS.” The average time is unavailable;

however the troubleshooting will be done within the expected duration of work. General description of items will be: Computers, monitors, printers, fax machines, scanners, video projectors, smart boards, wireless peripherals etc. Stereo equipment, surround sound systems etc.

Q82: IAW PWS 4.3.2, Do the Government’s Days/Estimated Work Hours also account for the recently added BRAC locations?

A: Yes.

Q83: Is there a current incumbent providing this support? What is the current contract value including option years? How many years were covered by this contract? And can the Government please disclose the name of the incumbent?