Solicitation_Q A_3_Mar_16.docx

Solicitation FA2550-15-R-8005 Questions and Answers from Solicitation posting 3 March 2016 Question 1: In the RFP, Section L, page 61 of 71, 4.4.6.4 Financial Documents. “Prime: The Offeror shall provide the last three years of financial statements, and year-to date financial information through the last quarter available to the CO….The Prime’s financial documents referenced previously shall be submitted immediately upon receipt of the solicitation but no later than 15 days after the release date of the solicitation.” Our company does not have our 2015 financial documents yet. Our CPA is working on them now as we undergo our annual SBA 8a audit. Is it possible to send only our financial documents for years 2012, 2013, and 2014?

Answer: Please send your financial documents from 2012, 2013, and 2014. Also, please send a “draft” copy or a copy “as submitted” for your 2015 annual audit. The Government shall acknowledge the submitted documents as a “draft” and will reserve the right to request the official completed documents upon their completion. This will ensure you have complied with the solicitation requirements and the Government is afforded an opportunity to review your documents as required.

Question 2: (4.4.6.1) Assuming we need to submit three years + year-to-date of required financial statements (4.4.6.4), do we also need to submit three years + year to date of cash flow statements? FAR 9.104-1(a) and DFARS 232.072 do not specify a required number.

Answer: After reviewing the Solicitation, I have not been able to find any additional reference to cash flow statements aside from 4.4.6.1. You are correct that neither FAR 9.104-1(a) nor DFARS 232.072 specify a required number of documents. However, FAR 9.104-1(a) references 9.104-3(a) Ability to obtain resources which states “Except to the extent that a prospective contractor has sufficient resources or proposes to perform the contract by subcontracting, the contracting officer shall require acceptable evidence of the prospective contractor’s ability to obtain required resources (see 9.104-1(a), (e), and (f)). Acceptable evidence normally consists of a commitment or explicit arrangement, that will be in existence at the time of contract award, to rent, purchase, or otherwise acquire the needed facilities, equipment, other resources, or personnel. Consideration of a prime contractor’s compliance with limitations on subcontracting shall take into account the time period covered by the contract base period or quantities plus option periods or quantities, if such options are considered when evaluating offers for award”. So, since Solicitation paragraph 4.4.6.4 makes no mention of cash flow statements specifically, you must then provide acceptable evidence normally consisting of a commitment or explicit arrangement, that will be in existence at the time of contract award, to rent, purchase, or otherwise acquire the needed facilities, equipment, other resources, or personnel as stated in the clause above. I would also suggest that you provide cash flow statements for the same period as the financial statements requested.

Question 3: (PWS 2.1) What type of products and results does 346 TS expect from the R&D efforts, especially of the "aircraft procurement efforts?”

Answer: Aircraft procurement efforts refers to the EMSEC (TEMPEST) program that is referred to in the PWS. The EMSEC (TEMPEST) program provides emissions security testing in support of aircraft procurement and upgrades to communications systems.

Question 4: (Sol 4.1.3.1, para a.3) Please identify the system(s) and customer(s) we are expected to analyze and draft requirements for. Are these systems in the early stages of acquisition that we will operationally test, or support systems being acquired by 346 TS?

Answer: The cyber world is more fluid and less formal than the formal acquisition where systems are known years in advance. The answer is that systems to be analyzed are not known and cannot be known for any consistent period of time. The mission of the 346 TS is to provide operational test support for both systems in the early stages of acquisition and systems that are being modified.

Question 5: (PWS 2.2.21) What are 'delivery methods' products?

Answer: In this context, ‘delivery methods’ refers to the process of delivering products through proper 346 TS channels. In other words, products are not delivered until formally released by the organization(s) leads. Before release, each product is vetted for accuracy, legibility, completeness and classification review. Inadvertent release could be detrimental to customer reliability, process integrity, and security.

Question 6: (PWS 2.2.21 & 2.2.29) Are these two requirements request our ability to draft, coordinate, and complete these specific products; or our ability in general to draft, coordinate, and complete any 346 TS product documentation?

Answer: In these paragraphs it refers to the ability in general to draft coordinate and complete any 346 TS product documentation associated with the test functions.

Question 7: (PWS 2.3.1 & 2.3.2) Please identify which requirements apply to test range support and which apply to operational network support.

Answer: All requirements are for range support. There are no requirements for Air Force network operational support; however, there are some for the management of the CLAN and ELAN which are internet networks, but are not part of the AFNET.

Question 8: (L.4.2.5) (p. 58) "The fixed fee rate shall be in accordance with the rate proposed in Schedule B." Fixed Fee represented in Schedule B is a dollar amount format; does the government want the Fixed Fee percentage or dollar amount represented in Schedule B?

Answer: The offeror shall propose a fixed fee percentage. This percentage will be used on all future task orders.

Question 9: (L.4.2.6) (p. 58) "The prime Offeror should instruct its subcontractors to submit total compensation plans directly to the CO". May the subcontractor's professional employee compensation, Attachment L-11, be submitted with the prime's submission in a sealed package from the subcontractor?

Answer: Yes

Question 10: (Cost Volume II) Do the subcontractor(s)/team partners need to submit a sealed package providing backup in support of their labor rate build?

Answer: The subcontractors may submit a sealed package providing back up in support of their labor rate build up or may submit it directly to the CO.

Question 11: (Schedule B) Does Schedule B need to be completed with the proposed costs for the FFP task and the notional CPFF task or will it be completed by the government upon contract award?

Answer: Schedule B does not need to be completed for the FFP and Notional CPFF task orders. The CPFF and FFP Task order CLINs will be filled in at award with maximum values at the basic IDIQ level.

Question 12: (Attachment L-3) Do you want offerors to use 1850 hours annual for price calculations for the complete proposal?

Answer: The offeror shall propose its monthly firm-fixed-price for the effort. It is up to the offeror to determine how to best meet the requirements for this FFP TO. The labor hours and skill mix utilized as the basis of the price proposal shall match the technical approach proposed in the technical proposal for the task order.

Question 13: (PWS 2.3.2.18 & 4.13.1) Required Security Clearance Levels per position? Are the Program Manager (part time) and the Administrative Support (part time) required to hold TS-SCI clearances? Are polygraphs required?

Answer: Yes to those working onsite at our facility. No to offsite personnel. No polygraphs.

Question 14: (Section F, page 5) Please clarify the Period of Performance? Section F, CLIN 0002, 0003 and 0004 suggest the Period of Performance is 1 Jan 17 to 14 Dec 21. Is this correct? Also, is there a planned extension period beyond 14 Dec 21?

Answer: There is a five-year ordering period on this IDIQ contract (15 Dec 16 – 14 Dec 21.) The Phase In period of performance is currently planned for 15 Dec 16 – 31 Dec 16. Full performance is currently planned to begin 1 Jan 17. Task orders will be issued with specific periods of performance for each task order.

Question 15: Are the labor categories identified as “Technician” or “Specialist” considered SCA labor categories?

Answer: No, these are considered professional employees. The provisions of the Service Contract Labor Standards have been determined by the CO to be inapplicable to this contract.

Question 16: Is the testing range environment focused on supporting operational or development architectures? Or both?

Answer: Operational and developmental combined. No developmental by itself.

Question 17: Are contractors limited to using only COTS (commercial) technologies and capabilities for test range architecture design and configuration? (i.e. are open source options allowed?)

Answer: Range equipment itself will reflect (by name brand) the exact equipment on the AFNet. The instrumentation of the range will be whatever is the most appropriate including COTS, GOTS, and any specially developed systems.

Question 18: (PWS 2.3.2.1) Are “full-time” system administration and security services in support of range maintenance on a 24-hour rotation (i.e. shift work) schedule?

Answer: No shift work, this refers to regular business hours (40 hrs/wk). Exact work hours may be shifted outside of normal business hours to support exercises (maintaining only 40 hrs/wk). The contractor will be provided advanced notice if this occurs.

Question 19: (PWS 2.3.1.12) Is Vyatta the only virtual routing solution authorized for use?

Answer: Vyatta is the only virtual router process (software based) currently authorized for use. Everything else used are the actual physical routers themselves, as mentioned in the PWS.

Question 20: For planning purposes, when does the Government plan on awarding this contract?

Answer: The milestones are subject to change due to various factors and an exact date is not available. At this time, it is planned to award the contract near the beginning of December 2016. This answer will NOT be updated as the milestones change.

Question 21: (RFP, page 46 - L-II B) 5352.209-9001 - Is the Prime able to submit one OCI mitigation plan for the Team, or do we need to submit a plan from each teaming partner as well?

Answer: The Prime may submit one OCI Mitigation Plan for the entire team.

Question 22: (PWS 1.3.4, 1.3.4.3) (p 6-7) PWS 1.3.4.3 states the CPM “shall NOT… provide direction to other contractor organizations.” Does this apply only to contractor organizations outside of the AFCOTERS task?

Answer: The CPM shall NOT provide direction to any other contractors on behalf of the Government. This does not refer to the Prime’s own subcontractors/teaming partners. This refers to other contractor companies performing other contracts; only authorized Government personnel may direct contractors.

Question 23: (PWS 2.4.2) (p 15-16) Many of tasks listed in the subsections of PWS 2.4.2 appear to be inherently governmental functions. Which, if any, of the functions in these subsections does the Government intend for contractor personnel to execute?

Answer: This particular sentence needs to be modified to state: “The contractor shall provide recommendations on the continuity of, and recommend courses of action to, the resolution of the security responsibilities and capabilities of the 346 TS range on the following:”

Question 24: (PWS 4.13, 4.13.1) (p 24) The Industrial Security section indicates contractors will “require access to Secret collateral, Top Secret-Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS-SCI) and other special category data (as required) during the performance of various tasks in support of the 346 TS mission” [italics added]. However, in field 10.f, Special Access Information, of the DD-254, the “No” selection is marked. Will contractors sometimes require access to classified information contained in SAP/SAR compartments?

Answer: It is not anticipated at this time. However, customer requirements constantly change. The DD 254 will be modified if change is required.

Question 25: (PWS 2.1) (p 7) Should the first sentence read “This contract supports R&D, …” instead of “The contractor shall conduct R&D, …

Answer: The PWS has been updated to “The contractor shall conduct R&D efforts of a solution for a system or component under test…” The cyber community is not as formalized as the normal acquisition community. Though the 346 TS is an operational test squadron, the short time frame of some systems requires research and development support. It also means to develop and draft a test and evaluation (T&E) plan may require research and development of a solution for a system or component under test, to be tested. A test plan must be drafted and approved by management before test execution can commence.

Question 26: (PWS 4.9) (p 23) Which positions are considered ‘technical’ for certification purposes? Does this only apply to positions that require advanced privileges on the AFIN?

Answer: Position descriptions (PDs) that require contractors to perform highly technical functions that support the AFNet infrastructure (Range) and test and evaluate systems and components require skill sets that DoDD 8570.01-M reference: IAT Level I, II, and III or IAM level I, II, or III. Engineers and scientists typically maintain 8570 certifications as recognition of continuing education. For AFCOTERS level II is highest required. Administrative PDs such as tech editing/writing and training do not require 8570 certifications.

Question 27: All CLINs have a POP ending in a 5 year period. Will the Offeror be evaluated on a 5 year or 7 year TEP?

Answer: The offeror will be evaluated as stated in Section M Evaluation Factors for Award. Section 4.3.f states “The TEP will be the basis for evaluating cost/price for contract award decision purposes. The Final TEP will be the price submitted by the Offeror in response to the FFP Pricing Model combined with the price of the FFP TO and the cost of the CPFF TO.”

All calculations are in done in the FFP Pricing Model, which takes into account average rates from both the prime and the teaming partners over the course of Fiscal Years 17 – 23. Please refer to the instructions tab of the FFP Pricing Model. The hours used to calculate the TEP are listed in the Pricing Model column K.

Question 28: Why are all of the labor categories not being requested in Task Order 1?

Answer: Data Flow and Security Specialist requirements are located in the PWS so they may be ordered on future task orders if desired. At this time, the Government is not requesting these services.

Correction to Section L, 4.2 Volume II – Cost/Price. The tab numbers have been updated to correct a missing tab number associated with each section of this volume.