Front Desk Data Entry Specialist Questions .pdf

Questions Answers Does the 25-page limit include the entire submission, e.g. cover page, table of contents, technical response, bid schedule, and required representations and disclosures? Reps and certs are required but do not count towards 25-page limit.

Are there required formatting standards, including font, spacing, margins, and file types? Times New Roman, font size 12.

Please clarify the controlling requirements and timelines for submitting replacement qualifications, initiating security processing, and filling a vacancy. 1 month, includes time for contracted company to perform background checks and to obtain CAC from

Hanscom Will this requirement be awarded as firm-fixed-price?

Yes

Requirements: Are there any specific candidate requirements or qualifications we should prioritize?

Contractors are not required to select candiates that have specific requirements. Experience with Microsoft 365 products, other training provided on-the-job.

Hiring Process: Will you be selecting a candidate directly based on their background, or will there be a formal interview process?

Candidates are interviewed/ selected by Contracting, and their resume will determine suitability agreement/disagreement on the Hanscom M&FRC end. Contractor hires are ultimately subject to Hanscom approval.

Clarification regarding the appropriate labor classification for pricing this requirement Not a question, unsure of what is being requested.

Could you please confirm whether the Government expects offerors to use a particular Service Contract Act labor classification for the Front Desk/Data Entry Specialist position, or whether offerors should independently determine the most appropriate classification based on the duties described in the Performance Work Statement?

The government does not expect offerors to use a signle specific Service Contract Labor Classification for the position and may choose from the options below:

Possible Service Contract Act 01051 - Data Entry Operator I 01052 - Data Entry Operator II 99050 - Desk Clerk

Is an incumbent contractor employee currently performing this requirement? If so, please provide the incumbent contractor’s name, available employee seniority information, applicable vacation entitlement, and any nondisplacement or right-of-first-refusal requirements The incumbent is not currently performing on this contract.

Please confirm whether any overtime is anticipated or may be required under this contract. If so, please provide the estimated annual overtime hours. The Government will not order overtime for contractor employees Please confirm whether a candidate resume is required with the quote or only after award and before the employee begins performance. Only after the award prior to performance.

Though the acquisition has been set-aside as a Total Small Business Set Aside, would you consider a submission from an AbilityOne Program nonprofit agency? No How many FTE's are performing the services required ? One FTE is required Could you confirm whether this contract is subject to the Service Contract Act (SCA)? Yes, the Service Contract Act applies.

Is this contract subject to Executive Order 13706, which mandates paid sick leave for federal contractors? Yes

Could you also confirm whether fringe benefits are applicable to this requirement?

The Service Contract Act (SCA) applies and offerors are responsible for complying with the requirements under the Act.

Please confirm that the employee resume and three professional references identified in PWS Section 11 are post-award qualification submittals and are not required as part of the offeror’s quote. Yes, these requirements are post-award submittals and are not required as part of the offeror's quote

PWS Section 2 requires 40 hours per week and states that the M&FRC is open from 0800–1600, with a 30-minute unpaid lunch. Please confirm the required daily work schedule.

Contractor is able to start as early as 0730, but no later than 0800. The contractor will be required to work 40 hours a week, therefore 8 hours a day, Monday-Friday. The 30 minute unpaid lunch break should also be taken into consideration, as if this is taken, it will need to be made up for at the end of the day.

Please confirm whether the contractor must provide qualified relief coverage during employee vacation, paid sick leave, mandatory training, lunch periods, CAC or system-access interruptions, and other absences. If relief coverage is required, must relief personnel possess an active CAC and network access before providing coverage?

This contract is for one FTE, a second individual to cover leave would not be considered an FTE just a temporary fill

The Service Summary states that contractor personnel will answer 100% of calls and greet 100% of customers. Please clarify how this standard applies during lunch, mandatory training, simultaneous calls or visitors, approved leave, and other periods when the single employee is unavailable. Current staff at the M&FRC will provide coverage when needed.

PWS Section 2 states that offerors should assume 2,080 hours annually “to allow for” eleven holidays and two weeks of vacation. Please confirm that offerors should price 2,080 paid hours per contract year, including paid holidays and vacation. Yes, offerors should price 2,080 paid hours per contract year, including paid holidays and vacations May the contractor employee begin performing non-system-dependent duties while the background investigation, CAC issuance, LAN access, or AFFIRST access is being completed? If not, must all access requirements be completed before the September 30, 2026 start date?

No, contractor must have a CAC to access any/all systems and installation. Access does not need to be accomplished before 30 Sep, but any vacancies over 1 month are not billable to the government.

The solicitation directs offerors to complete and provide representations under RFO 52.240-90 and RFO 52.240-91. Please confirm whether the Government requires separate signed documents for these provisions or whether a signed representation statement within the technical proposal is sufficient.

If separate documents are required, please provide the required format or template.

The offerors can provide these representations in a representation satement, or in their technical proposal.

Please clarify whether each 12-month bid-schedule amount should be based on productive service hours, total paid hours inclusive of paid nonproductive time, or a firm annual amount incorporating all required wages, fringe benefits, leave, holidays, and other contract costs. The bid schedule should include all compensated time.

The solicitation incorporates FAR 52.228-5, Insurance – Work on a Government Installation, but the Schedule and other solicitation documents do not state the applicable insurance types or minimum coverage limits. Please identify the insurance coverage and minimum limits applicable to this requirement

The awarded contractor must provide insurance. There is not a minimum limit applicable for this requirement.

Please confirm whether the forthcoming question-and-answer posting or any solicitation amendment is expected to revise the bid schedule, wage-classification assumptions, response deadline, period-of-performance pricing, or other quotation instructions The PoP has been addressed within Amendment 2 Background check, fingerprinting, and CAC processing: The PWS states that the contractor employee must complete a background check and fingerprinting to obtain a Common Access Card. Will Hanscom AFB coordinate and perform the fingerprinting and background-check process, or is the contractor responsible for arranging and paying for these services? No- contractor is responsible for arranging/paying for these services.

Drug screening: Is a pre-employment or recurring drug screening required for the Front Desk/Data Entry Specialist? If so, please identify the required type of screening and whether the contractor is responsible for coordinating and paying for it.

There is no pre-employment or recurring drug screening required for the Front Desk Data Entry Specialist position.

Service Contract Labor Standards classification: Please confirm the applicable occupational classification and minimum wage rate under Wage Determination No. 2015-4047, Revision 33. Should the position be priced using Data Entry Operator I, Switchboard Operator/Receptionist, General Clerk, or another classification?

The government does not expect offerors to use a signle specific Service Contrac Labor Classification for the position and may choose from the options below:

Possible Service Contract Act 01051 - Data Entry Operator I 01052 - Data Entry Operator II 99050 - Desk Clerk

. Please confirm whether the applicable health-and-welfare fringe rate is the EO 13706 rate stated in Wage Determination 2015-4047, Revision 33.

These are two separate requirements because the fringe rates from the Department of Labor Wage Determinations are separate from EO 13706

Please identify the minimum insurance types and coverage limits required under RFO 52.228-5 for performance on Hanscom AFB.

The awarded contractor must provide insurance. There is not a minimum limit applicable for this requirement.

May an offeror propose a post-award local recruitment and contingent-hire approach, provided qualified personnel documentation is submitted and approved before performance begins? Yes Please provide any available historical workload data, including average daily visitor volume, telephone calls, scheduled appointments, TAP/AFFIRST entries, and monthly reports The government cannot share any system data with unauthorized sources.

How should contractors invoice during Government-directed closures, administrative leave days, weather emergencies, delayed base access, or other periods when the employee is ready to perform but the installation is unavailable? Continue to invoice as normal, unless employee is unavailable to perform duties Are there any solicitation amendments, Government Q&A responses, or additional FASCSA orders not presently included in the posted solicitation package that offerors must acknowledge? Please see Amendment 2 Since this contract falls under the SCA WD, is it mandatory that any employee has to be the Prime Company W2 employee or can we provide subcontracting support allowed i.e. 1099?

Subcontracting is permitted, but the prime contractor retains responsibility for SCA adherence for any subcontractors

In regard to Reps and Certs, FAR 52.204-8 (Annual Representations and Certifications), which is prescribed under FAR Subpart 4.12 (Representations and Certifications) is it acceptable to state according to section (b) that in SAM all Representation and Certifications: XXX has completed and updated all electronic annual Representations and Certifications at the System for Award Management (SAM) website? Or is there additional information required?

No it is not acceptable to state that representations and certifications are complete and up to date.

Offerors must provide representation and certifications

Second, the Note added to RFO 52.212-2 provides that the Government will proceed to additional quotes if fewer than two are deemed technically unacceptable; we read the intent to be fewer than two technically acceptable and would appreciate confirmation.

The lowest-priced five (5) quotes that we receive will be evaluated to see if they are deemed to be technically acceptable. If none of those five (5) quotes are technically acceptable, then the Government will proceed to the next lowest priced quote. This will continue until a minimum of two (2) technically acceptable quotes are identified. Between the quotes that are deemed to be technically acceptable, we will consider awarding to the lowest price.

Para 5.1.5 references situational telework if directed by national health directives or base regulations. Please confirm whether any telework is currently anticipated/approved for the base year, or whether the position should be priced as 100% on-site

No telework is currently approved for the base year. Situational telework is possible as stated in paragraph 5.1.5.

These two section state vendors "shall complete and provide representation…". How should we provide this representation? Through SAM in our Reps & Certs, in a statement within our proposal, or with an attachment indicating our certification?

The question is unclear and the Government declines to provide an answer to this question to avoid ambiguity or confusion

1. Are we correct to assume that this work is to be performed by one full-time equivalent (FTE) person? Yes The first paragraph of the section states: "The contractor should assume 2.080 hours per year to allow for the 11 holidays and 2 weeks of vacation per the Service Contract Act." The SCA Wage Determination Document distributed with the solicitation requires 2 weeks of paid vacation after 1 year of service, meaning that bidders could price the first year at 2000 hours (2080 minus 80 hours unpaid vacation). Can the government confirm that using 2000 hours is a valid assumption to use for the first year? No, the offerors should price 2,080 hours.

The Note in the middle of Page 5 of 19 of the PDF document reads: "Note: All quotes will be considered.

However, quotes will initially be ranked based on price. The five (5) lowest-priced quotes will be subject to evaluation based on the factors below. If fewer than two (2) quotes are deemed technically unacceptable, the Government will proceed to the next lowest priced quote until a minimum of two (2) technically acceptable quotes are identified ." Can the Government clarify this statement and the evaluation methodology?

The lowest-priced five (5) quotes that we receive will be evaluated to see if they are deemed to be technically acceptable. If none of those five (5) quotes are technically acceptable, then the Government will proceed to the next lowest priced quote. This will continue until a minimum of two (2) technically acceptable quotes are identified. Between the quotes that are deemed to be technically acceptable, we will consider awarding to the lowest price.

If candidate resumes are required, is there a minimum or maximum number of resumes required for the submission and, if so, what are the minimum or maximum number of required candidate resumes?

If candidate resumes are required, is there a page limit for each resume?

There is not a minimum or maximum amount of resumes required. Resumes are required for govt approval only after contract award

If candidate resumes are required, are the resumes excluded from the twenty-five (25) pages page limit for the entire quote? Resumes are not required with the bid. Resumes are required after contract award Are the volume document cover sheet, cover letter, and Table of Contents excluded from the page count? They are not excluded

Are past performance contract examples required as part of the Technical Proposal?

If past performance contract examples are required as part of the Technical Proposal, can the government provide requirements for the content of the past performance examples, including page limit for each example citation?

No.

The Combined Synopsis Section 17 (point 3) lists the required response document as "i" Technical Proposal and "ii" Completed Bid Schedule. Section 17 (point 1) states "Please provide your price quote on the attached bid schedule". Does this does not mean that the requirement is to complete and submit the Excel file "Bid Schedule" as the only response document for "ii. Completed Bid Schedule", and a narrative cost/price volume (including an embedded Bid Schedule pricing table) is NOT required? We are asking for offerors to fill in the attached bid schedule with their pricing.

The Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Section 17 (point 3) lists the required response document as "i" Technical Proposal and "ii" Completed Bid Schedule. Section 17 (point 1) states, "Please provide your price quote on the attached bid schedule". If a narrative cost/price volume (including an embedded Bid Schedule pricing table) is required, can the government provide requirements on content and format? Do offerors need to submit the completed Excel file or embed the table into word and submit as PDF? Please clarify the requirements. Offerors shall fill out the provided bid schedule Can the government confirm that there is no SF-1449 to be signed and submitted? No, the offerors should only submit technical proposal and bid schedule The Instructions to Offeror require submission of representations RFO 52.240-90 and RFO 52.240-91. Are these representations to be submitted as part of the Technical proposal? Or would the government accept sam.gov Reps and Certs? SAM.gov reps and certs should be sufficient The Instructions to Offeror require submission of representations RFO 52.240-90 and RFO 52.240-91. If these representations are not to be submitted as part of the Technical proposal, are these pages excluded from the twenty-five

(25) page count limit for "the quote in its entirety"? Offerors shall provide their reps and certs and it will not count towards the 25-page limit.

In Combined Synopsis Sections 17. 3.b.-c., each requirement includes the phrase "...and provide additional disclosures, if applicable. " If the offer does not understand any additional FAR disclosures to be applicable because their FAR disclosures are up to date in SAM.gov, can the government confirm that the two cited disclosures are the only disclosures (RFO 52.240-90 and RFO 52.240-91) are the only disclosures required to be submitted with their proposal? Offerors shall provide their reps and certs and it will not count towards the 25-page limit.

Are there any recurring performance challenges or service gaps under the current contract that the government would like improved in the follow-on effort? Position is currently not under contract What areas of customer service or administrative support are most critical to mission success — and where has performance fallen short in the past?

Government cannot disclose any performance issues from the past. Areas critical to mission success are outlined in the PWS.

Are there any lessons learned from prior contractor transitions such as either onboarding or offboarding that the government would like the next contractor to be aware of or improve upon? Government cannot disclose any performance issues from the past.

What has been the most frequent source of customer complaints or dissatisfaction (e.g., delays in response, scheduling conflicts, record errors, etc.)? Government cannot disclose any performance issues from the past.

Are there any recurring peak workload periods during the year that the contractor should anticipate? No.

Will the Government provide all required equipment, including a workstation, computer, telephone, CAC-enabled system access, and any required software licenses? Yes

Will initial and ongoing training be provided for AFFIRST and any other Government systems required to perform the work? Yes

Could you please confirm whether an active SAM.gov registration under NAICS 561110 is sufficient to meet the solicitation's small business eligibility requirements, or whether the WOSB certification must also specifically include NAICS 561110? An active SAM.gov registration under NAICS 561110 is sufficient Vacancy timeline. SS-1 references filling a vacancy within 30 business days, while PWS paragraph 12.2 requires nominating a replacement and beginning the security process within 30 days (calendar) or forfeiting that month's invoice.

Please confirm which timeframe and day-count govern the invoice-forfeiture provision, and please reconcile the SS-1 reference to "Paragraph 13.2" (the relevant content appears in 12.2).

If an offeror leaves the front desk position vacant during the period of performance for longer than 30 business days, the offeror forfiets payment.

Paragraph 5 designates this requirement a Total Small Business Set-Aside. Did the Government consider a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-aside for this requirement, and would it consider one for future recurring requirements of this type?

The question is ultimately irrelevant. Whether we considered that is not for offerors to know nor for us to explain. And we can't speak to what we might do for future requirements of this type.

Does the Government have a preference regarding continuity of the current employee in this position, and does any right of first refusal or nondisplacement obligation apply to this acquisition? The position is not currently staffed Can the government please provide all updates in red or a highlighted font within the amended solicitation to clearly demonstrate the exact changes made?

The Government will post Amendments and summarize the changes within the description. The offeror is required to view the documents for changes.

Can the proposal volumes be submitted in PDF format? Yes

Please provide clarification as to what items should be completed for RFO 52.240-90, Security Prohibitions and Exclusions Representations and Certifications, and RFO 52.240-91, Security Prohibitions and Exclusions. Offerors shall have a CMMC Level 1 or Level 2 NIST-SP-171 score

1. Amendment 1 changed the base year Period of Performance (PoP) to 20 August 2026 – 19 August 2031, but the PWS (para 1.2) and the Bid Schedule spreadsheet still show 30 September 2026 – 29 September 2031. May the government provide an updated PWS and Bid Schedule spreadsheet to match the correct PoP, in addition to any other changes? Amendment 2 reflects the correct PoP PWS para 9.4 states: “Personal devices will not be used while providing customer service at the front desk”. May the government revise this to state, “Personal devices will not be used while actively providing customer service at the front desk”. Otherwise, can the Government clarify whether any exception or protocol exists for contractor personnel to be reachable in the event of a personal or family emergency during duty hours (e.g., checking in with the Government-furnished front desk phone, or briefly stepping away with supervisor/COR notification)?

Employee can be reached by government furnished desk phone or via govt email. The Government denies the revision to the PWS paragraph.

In order to effectively respond to the solicitation, can the government please provide a minimum one-week extension once the Q/As are posted? An extension will not be granted.

Can the Government please confirm whether this opportunity is currently funded? If so, does the Government anticipate any obstacles that could delay or prevent an award from being made?

The base year for this action is currently funded, we do not anticipate any obstacles that could delay or prevent an award from being made

Amendment 1 establishes a proposal due date of August 17, 2026, and a potential contract start date of August 20, 2026. Given that CAC issuance and required security processing may take several weeks, could the Government please clarify whether a phase-in period or delayed performance start is anticipated to accommodate onboarding and credentialing requirements? 30 day grace period for onboarding allowed Section 5.1.5 permits telework but excludes the front desk reception and visitor sign-in duties identified in Sections 5.1.3 and 5.1.4. In addition, Section 9.6 states that Government telephone service will not be provided during telework. Could the Government please clarify how front desk coverage and telephone responsibilities are expected to be maintained when contractor personnel are teleworking? Teleworking is not an option at this time.

Can the government please ensure that all questions provided to the government are responded to? We understand that some may appear to be duplicates between vendors, however this ensures all questions are accounted for.

There are some identical questions between vendors, however, all uniquely identifiable questions will be answered

Does the 85% accuracy metric apply separately to AFFIRST entries, TAP entries, client sign-in records, and monthly reports, or is it measured collectively? Separately for accountability

The contractor is required to answer 100% of calls and greet 100% of visitors. How will performance be measured during periods when the contractor is assisting customers, attending training, or temporarily away from the front desk? Other staff are able to step in to provide coverage should the contractor be unavailable.

During periods of telework, will the Government provide remote access to AFFIRST, TAP systems, email, and other required applications? Yes, although telework is not authorized at this time.

Approximately how long does Government-provided AFFIRST and M&FRC systems training typically require before personnel are authorized to operate independently? Approximately 24-30 hours on site training Please identify all mandatory annual training requirements applicable to contractor personnel, including Privacy Act, cybersecurity, antiterrorism, security awareness, and records management training. Confirmed Please provide a copy of the current monthly data-entry report template or example report referenced in Section 10.1 of the PWS. No template available

Please clarify whether the monthly client usage report and the monthly data-entry report are separate deliverables or a single consolidated report. Single consolidated

Please confirm the level of background investigation, vetting, or screening required to obtain installation access and a Common Access Card (CAC).

In order to obtain a CAC card, including installation access, contractors will need to register and enroll. A background investigation will also need to be conducted (including fingerpringing). Once DEERS registration is complete, the contractor will then visit a RAPIDS site for final verification and processing.

For more information, visit https://www.cac.mil/Common-Access-Card/Getting-Your-CAC/#step-3

May an offeror propose a post-award local recruitment and contingent-hire approach, provided qualified personnel documentation is submitted and approved before performance begins? Yes

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