09R0004QnASet1.pdf

SETA IV

Solicitation FA0021-09-R-0004

13 May 09

INDUSTRY QUESTIONS AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSES

(SET 1)

The following responses are provided for your information. If you have further questions, you must send them to SETA4@HURLBURT.AF.MIL. Questions sent to other addressees MAY NOT receive a response.

The following questions were received prior to or at the Pre-Solicitation Conference held on 6 May 09.

1. Question: RFP Section L-2.1.1, M-7.3 - We understand the requirement for the Prime Offeror to perform 50% of the work share; however it is also specified that the Prime shall show 50% of the overall Past Performance. This gives undue advantage to the incumbent prime that remains under the specified NAICS for this procurement. Please consider allowing the 50% requirement for Past Performance to be in relation to individual team members, EX:

Prime – 5 Citations, Sub#1 – 4 Citations, Sub#2 – 3 Citations, Sub#3 – 2 Citations for a total of 14. In this instance the Prime will still maintain 50% of the Past Performance in relation to each team member and this will also allow those Prime Offerors who are not incumbents the ability to utilize key team members past performance to demonstrate the Team’s full range of capability relevancy.

Response: The Government will not consider changing this requirement. The prime is required to perform at least 50% of the total cost expended for personnel; and 50% of the past performance is required to be from the Prime.

2. Question: The RFP states: “The contractor shall remain in continuous compliance with FAR 52.219-14 throughout the 5-year life of this contract.” This prohibition severely restricts the contractor’s flexibility. It also causes unnecessary turmoil with the incumbent employees, who have to transfer to other companies due to this restriction once contract and Task Order awards are made. Please consider a course of action that would be to do reconciliation at the end of the first contract year, or after all initial task orders have been awarded. After that, the continuous compliance clause could be implemented. This would allow new awardees the opportunity to focus on developing the best response to TO RFPs at the beginning of the contract.

Response: Per 13 C.F.R. 125.6, the period of time used to determine compliance will be the period of performance which the evaluating agency uses to evaluate the proposal or bid. That period for SETA IV is the entire contract period of 5 years. There are no provisions for phase-in periods under the regulation.

3. Question: In the RFP under Sect H-0008 (d.) Contractor Submission of TO Proposals, number 5, it states:

“Indirect Program Manager or other fees shall not be included at a TO expense.” The overwhelming majority of the Program Manager’s time is spent on task orders, to include preparing Program Management CDRL reports and the necessity to be available at short notice. Please allow some type of rate charge such as a 1 hour per employee per month or a percentage per employee for the PM to charge against.

Response: Funds under SETA IV are allocated for Task Order (TO) performance only; the cost of management personnel is considered an indirect expense.

4. Question: RFP Section L-0008, 2.0, Vol IV, 2.1.2.1.3 states, “Specify, by name, any key individual(s) who participated in this program and are proposed to support the instant acquisition….” Please define what is meant by the term “instant acquisition”.

Response: Instant acquisition refers to the SETA IV solicitation/acquisition.

5. Question: RFP Section A, Page 1 and 2 of 111. On the solicitation letter (Section 9) it states that copies of proposal are due by 1:00 pm on 9 July 2009, In Section A, Item 9, page 2 it states that proposals will be received until 3:00 pm on July 9, 2009. Please clarify.

Response: Time and date for receipt of proposals will agree on the final RFP and will be 3:00 pm on 9 July 2009.

6. Question: There is a requirement for Letter(s) of Intent for Proposed Employees. If the Sample Tasks are not to be awarded, then why have this requirement? Please consider removing this requirement for the Sample Tasks.

Response: The requirement for letters of intent for personnel proposed for the Sample TOs will be removed. The submission of resumes is still appropriate as part of the Sample Task evaluation. The qualifications of the personnel proposed by the contractor to accomplish the tasks are critical for the timely/efficient evaluation of the tasks.

7. Question: Section L, Volume V instructions to offerors does not address how leap year costs will be proposed and billed for the year 2012; how do you want the Offeror to identify the additional hours in Volume V for this calendar year so billing is possible without confusion during contract execution?

Response: Leap year will have no effect on the proposals for the basic SETA IV solicitation. This information should be addressed in the Cost Volume, Attachment 7A of the proposal – worksheet 9.0. Offeror would provide their standard accounting practice to account for leap years; i.e., by adding 8 hours to the productive work year for proposals encompassing Feb 29, 2012, or by using an average productive work year for all years, etc.

8. Question: We were unable to attend the SETA IV Industry Day. Is it possible to listen to the conference or obtain a copy of the presentations slides from you? Also, does not attending the Industry Day disqualify us from participating in the proposal?

Response: The SETA IV Industry Day slides along with a list of attendees were posted to FedBizOpps. Non-attendance at Industry Day does not affect qualification for submitting an offer on the solicitation.

9. Question: Do you perceive any OCI issues for a company that will be a sub and have an existing A&AS contract at Hurlburt?

Response: Per Paragraph a of the OCI clause at H-0001, it is up to the contractor to identify potential conflicts of interest to the government, and request to be excluded from competing on specific tasks under SETA IV if there is an appearance of unfair competitive advantage or the contractors’ objectivity may be impaired. Offerors should address any concerns regarding this situation in their proposals. No OCI issues are perceived.

10. Question: Have you considered making two (2) of the awards SDVOSB set asides? Have you considered making a woman-owned SB set aside?

Response: SETA IV is 100% set-aside for small business; none of the awards will be further set aside.

11. Question: Will each IDIQ be awarded according to small business category (i.e., one IDIQ for Woman owned, one IDIQ for Disabled Veteran)?

Response: SETA IV is 100% set-aside for small business; none of the awards will be further set aside.

12. Question: Wintec currently has the vast majority of the work under AFSOC SETA III. Does the Government plan to take any steps to level the task order playing field and to at least offer more opportunity for other teams to have a more equal share of the work?

Response: Each awardee under SETA IV will be given a fair opportunity to be considered for all TOs to be awarded under the basic contract unless an exemption applies. A best value determination will be made at the completion of each TO evaluation.

13a. Question: Clarify definition of “Major Subcontractor,” i.e., “>20% of effort.” Is “Effort” proposed contract value?

13b. Question: Please define criteria for “Major Subcontractors”.

Response: Major Subcontractor is any subcontractor who is proposed to perform over 20% of the total SETA IV effort for personnel. The total contract value of NTE $85M is used to determine the 20%.

14. Question: Organizational change history required for all “proposed major subcontractors”?

Response: It is not required from either prime or subcontractors, but may want to consider including it for clarity and to ensure the Government considers all applicable sources.

15. Question: Do you plan to organize the RFP for information flow according to Proposal execution?

Response: The RFP is organized now very similar to how it will be when finalized. Do not understand the question “information flow according to Proposal execution.”

16. Question: The proposal cross reference matrix requires a paragraph number to be filled in. Are we supposed to number each paragraph? (Recommend this requirement be deleted—only put in section number and page number).

Same comment for Team Structure Matrix.

Response: The requirement for Paragraph No. has been removed from both the Cross Reference Matrix and the Team Structure Matrix.

17. Question: The requirement is for short term services. What is the average duration of a task and are most of them ongoing efforts?

Response: Under SETA III the average duration of a TO was 12 months, with logical follow-ons issued either until the requirement was no longer needed or the contractor positions were converted to Civil Service. Under SETA IV, TOs with no firm ending or conversion date will be issued for a base period with options to cover the remaining contract period of performance. Options will normally be exercised after a determination is made that funds are available, the requirement still exists, and that the exercise of the option is the most advantageous method of fulfilling the Government’s need, price and other factors considered. This also assumes that the services received have been satisfactory.

18. Question: 1st Right of Refusal to Incumbents?

Response: Executive Order dated 30 January 2009, titled “Nondisplacement of Qualified Works Under Service Contracts,” shall become effective immediately and shall apply to solicitations issued on or after the effective date for the action taken by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council under section 6(b) of this order. Section 6(b) says the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall issue, within 180 days of the date of this order, to the extent permitted by law, regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulation to provide for inclusion of the contract clause in Federal solicitations and contracts subject to this order. The FAR updates are not anticipated to be made until the end of June 2009, and they will not apply to SETA IV (unless they are made available prior to or soon after the issue of the final RFP). However, we are considering including the clause verbiage contained in the Executive Order as a Section H Special Contract Requirement. It appears that contractors and subcontractors are not required to offer a right of first refusal to any employee(s) of the predecessor contractor who are not service employees within the meaning of the Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended, 41 U.S.C. 357. Under SETA III use of service employees was minimal.

19. Question: Does the DD 254 Cert requirement apply to the prime only or subcontractors as well?

Response: The basic contract DD254 requirements apply to the prime. The TO specific DD254 will apply to the prime and all subcontractors performing on the specific TO.

20. Question: It appears that the FBLR is a composite rate for the entire Team. Will this composite rate be used when we bid all task orders, or will individual company rates be used?

Response: The Composite FBLR from Worksheet 5.0 will feed into the Average FBLR at Worksheet 6.0. The Average FBLR will be used to populate the On-Site Fully Burdened Labor Rates Tables at RFP Attachments 1A and 1B. The rates at Attachments 1A and 1B will be utilized for all TOs. Note: The respective prime and subcontractor total productive work years from Worksheet 3.0 of the Cost Workbook will be used to calculate all TOs. The productive work year for those subcontractors performing under 20% of the effort will be obtained either from their cognizant DCAA office or directly from the subcontractor at time of contract award.

21. Question: Is it possible to develop a better distribution of labor categories to address core skills not already included (i.e., High end engineering, specialty analysis, etc)?

Response: The Government anticipates that the current distribution of labor categories is sufficient for normal requirements. Procedures are in place for those instances where an existing labor category does not suffice.

22. Question: What is purpose of establishing “competitive range”?

Response: The purpose of a competitive range determination is to select the most highly rated proposals from offerors with which the agency will hold written or oral discussions. The determination of whether a proposal is in the competitive range is principally a matter within the reasonable exercise of discretion of the procuring agency.

Per FAR 15.306(c)(1): “Agencies shall evaluate all proposals in accordance with 15.305(a), and, if discussions are to be conducted, establish the competitive range. Based on the ratings of each proposal against all evaluation criteria, the contracting officer shall establish a competitive range comprised of all of the most highly rated proposals, unless the range is further reduced for purposes of efficiency pursuant to paragraph (c)(2) of this section.”

23. Question: Can you please provide an Industry Day attendance list on FBO?

Response: The SETA IV Industry Day attendee list has been posted to FBO.

24. Question: Is there more information on the sample tasks than what is in the PowerPoint slides?

Response: The full performance work statements for the Sample TOs are in the Draft RFP at Attachments 6 and 6a.

25. Question: Will there be a subcontracting plan (e.g., a SB sub plan)?

Response: Subcontracting plans are not required from small business concerns IAW FAR 19.702(b)(1). FAR Clause 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns, states that the contractor agrees to carry out the policy that various categories of small business shall have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in contract performance by awarding subcontracts to the fullest extent consistent with efficient contract performance.

26. Question: Where will the 4 V-22 squadrons be located?

Response: One at Hurlburt, one at Cannon, two others at locations to be determined.

27. Question: What is your definition of a local presence? For example, does a one person office suffice?

Response: This sounds like two separate questions. The local presence at Section L-0006, Para 3.4.1, refers to the number of qualified personnel working for the offeror (or team/sub/joint venture partner) who would be available to work at the time of TO competition and start date; or a plan to obtain them. SETA IV PWS Para 1.5.3, defines a local office and the purpose of that office.

28. Question: Re: Past Performance evaluation for contractors without Past Performance – scored as Neutral or otherwise?

Response: Section M-0001, Para 7.7, states: “Offerors without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance and, as a result, will receive an "Unknown Confidence" rating for the Past Performance factor.”

29. Question: Will either or both of the (notional) Sample Tasks be awarded as actual tasks after contract award, to the most qualified of the 4 awardees?

Response: It is not anticipated that either of the sample TOs will be awarded at the time of or after the basic contract award. Neither requirement has been performed in the past, nor is either one currently being performed, and both requirements are very similar to potential future requirements that may be required under SETA IV. All SETA IV awardees will be given a fair opportunity for all future TO requirements unless an exemption applies.

30. Question: Can questionnaires be submitted via email vs. fax?

Response: No. Since the evaluation team will not be at their regular offices, allowing only fax or mailed responses for the Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQ) reduces the potential for lost or misplaced PPQs.

31. Question: What percentage of work do you expect as contractor or off site? Will solicitation address off site rates?

Response: Off-site rates are not being requested as minimal off-site work is anticipated. In the event an off-site rate is required, it will be requested at time of TO proposal using the proposed base labor rate and off-site build ups.

32. Question: Please confirm that the term “Offeror” as used in the RFP refers to the entire proposed team and not just the PRIME (e.g., at least 50% of the offerors past performance will be relevant).

Response: “Offeror” refers to the concern submitting an offer in anticipation of being awarded a contract. If a team consists of prime and subcontractors, then the primary offeror is the prime and not the subcontractors. If a team consists of multiple small business contractors submitting an offer as a joint venture, then the joint venture is the prime.

33. Question: Does small business rule of 51% apply to all small businesses on this TEAM or just to the PRIME?

If PRIME only – why?

Response: The small business rule applies to the Prime only. 13 C.F.R. 125.6 states: In the case of a contract for services (except construction), the concern will perform at least 50 percent of the cost of the contract incurred for personnel with its own employees. 13 C.F.R 121.105 defines “business concern” or “concern” as: (a) A business concern eligible for assistance from SBA as a small business is a business entity organized for profit, with a place of business located in the United States, and which operates primarily within the United States or which makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, materials or labor; or (b) A business concern may be in the legal form of an individual proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, joint venture, association, trust or cooperative, except that where the form is a joint venture there can be no more than 49 percent participation by foreign business entities in the joint venture.

Whether or not other SB or 8(a) team members can fulfill the 50% requirement depends on whether or not the offeror is exempt from affiliation under 13 CFR 121.103(h)(3). If the other SB or 8(a) team members are “affiliates” as defined by 13 CFR 121.103(a)(1), 13 CFR 125.6 Subsection (h) states: “Work to be performed by subsidiaries or other affiliates of a concern is not counted as being performed by the concern for purposes of determining whether the concern will perform the required percentage of work.” However, 13 CFR 125.6 Subsection (i) states: “Where an offeror is exempt from affiliation under 13 CFR 121.103(h)(3) of this chapter and qualifies as a small business concern, the performance of work requirements set forth in this section apply to the cooperative effort of the joint venture, not its individual members.”

34. Question: Does Offeror have to demonstrate compliance with “50% requirement” on Sample TOs 1&2 individually, collectively, or are they assumed to be part of a larger portfolio and viewed in isolation?

Response: The Sample TOs will be evaluated as though they are actual requirements. Treat as though Sample TO 1 would be awarded first, then Sample TO 2 would be awarded. The prime must perform more than 50% of the cost for labor for Sample TO 1, and still remain in compliance for Sample TO 2 based on the total estimated cost for labor for both Sample TOs.

35. Question: Do team members have to propose every job category or just the categories that they plan to use?

Response: Offerors shall provide a proposal that includes every Labor Category. Major subcontractors shall propose on Labor Categories they will provide.

(END OF QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES)