Office Manager Questions 2 Sep 2020.pdf

FA5613-20-Q-0043 Clinical Office Manager Support Personnel Questions and Answers

# Questions Answers 1 Is this a new requirement or is there an incumbent contractor? If there is an incumbent, please identify the contracting company and existing contract number.

This is a new requirement.

2 Attachment 3 – Provisions/Clauses.

FAR Clause 52.228-4 Workers’ Compensation and War Hazard Insurance (Defense Base Act- DBA) does not appear to be included as a requirement for these positions.

Is the requirement for DBA insurance waived? If not, is the cost separately reimbursable or shall it be included in the full-burdened Firm-Fixed rate?

The requirement of DBA insurance is waived only for foreign nationals hired outside of the United States for work in areas for which waivers have been granted.

There is currently a waiver for Germany that is in effect until 2023.

All CLINs should be fully-burdened at a firm-fixed price.

3 Paragraph 3.14 Unplanned Closure and 3.18 U.S.

Government-Shared Property, Information and Services

Question: In case of closure due to pandemic (COVID-19) are these personnel considered ‘mission essential’? Will they be allowed to ‘tele-commute’/work from home during closure? If so, will the government provide the necessary connectivity (lap top, CAC reader, etc.)?

Question: How will invoicing be handled in these cases or in the case of an employee being quarantined to COVID-19 illness or exposure?

IAW PWS para 1.2., contract personnel are considered non-mission essential; tele-commute/work from home (if required) needs contract modification; if services will be performed at alternate duty location, laptop will be provided by the government. The VPN connection is very important to prepare for technically as well. Please make sure that there is a VPN Connection with IPV4.

If an employee is to be quarantined as a result of COVID-19 illness or exposure and teleworking is an option, invoicing will proceed as normal.

If the employee does not work, invoicing should reflect only hours worked.

4 Paragraph 3.11. PLACE AND HOURS OF OPERATION states, “The administration support services are to be performed at the 86th MDG, Ramstein Air Base, Germany during the following hours: 0700-1630 hours: Monday through Friday, excluding U.S. Federal holidays.

Question: This timeframe equates to an 8 ½-hour day (assuming one hour unpaid lunch provided). Please confirm that the customer requires a 42 ½-hour week.

Question: Should an employee be unavailable for personal reasons (vacation, illness, etc.) at what point does should the FRED be notified and at what point is a backfill person required?

The hours should be 0700-1600 as this is a 40 hr/wk requirement

The employee should notify the Functional Requirements Evaluation Designee (FRED) as soon as possible for illness. Vacation notification should be at least 2 weeks in advance (barring emergency).

If there is an outage of personnel over 20 days a replacement needs to be provided. Please consider that the Contracting Officer may request consideration for Non Performance Issues.

5 Paragraph 3.15.2.3. CONTRACTOR PROVIDED TRAINING states, “It is the contractor’s responsibility to ensure their employees receive all training and licenses required for initial credentialing and to ensure their personnel stays current on their certifications in order to maintain their credentials.”

Question: Please confirm that this is non-applicable to this contract and that no credentialing is required.

This is to confirm that credentialing is not required.

6 Paragraph 5. ESTIMATED WORKLOAD DATA shows an average of 338 hours per month.

Question: The average number of workdays from 15 September 2020 – 14 September 2021 is 21.25 per month (255 workdays / 12 months). If an individual works an 8-hour day then that equates to 170 hours / month (21.25 x 8). If the estimated workload average of 338 hours per month, this equates to two Full-Time Equivalents (340 hours). If the question regarding hours of operation above remains at 8 ½ hours/day, then this now equates to a 180.5 hour/month schedule for each FTE (361 vs 338 estimated) which exceeds the estimated workload average by 23 hours/month (279 hours total for the year). It would require an additional part-time equivalent to cover the hours or that the company needs to price the overtime into the contract proposal. 15 September 2021 – 14 September 2022 has 257 workdays. This equates to 296 total hours extra for the year.

Please confirm that this requirement is for two FTEs and that it is for a normal 8-hour workday.

This requirement is for two full-time (40 hrs/wk) FTEs.

7 Attachment 3, 52.212-2, pg. 42: Price Past Performance [Contracting Officer shall insert the significant evaluation factors such as (i) technical capability of the item offered to meet the Government requirement; (ii) price; (iii) past performance (see FAR 15.304); and include them in the relative order of importance of the evaluation factors, such as in descending order of importance.]

Technical and past performance, when combined, are N/A [Contracting Officer state, in accordance with FAR 15.304, the relative importance of all other evaluation factors, when combined, when compared to price.]

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

Question: To clarify, the offeror will not be evaluated on past performance or a technical volume? No past performance should be included?

The factors are included, though some of the guidance language overshadows it. The evaluation criteria is the verbiage listed before the brackets. See highlighted section below.

a) Price

b) Past Performance

*Please look at Attachment 1, pictured on the last page of this document

8 Attachment 3, 52.212-2, pg. 42: (b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

Question: The Pricing Schedule in Attachment 1 lists one unit price for each 12 month PoP. Can you please clarify what total price options are being cited in this section?

Item No 1001 is being cited, as well as an additional six months at the rate identified in CLIN 1001 in the event FAR 52.217-8 is utilized.

9 Paragraph 3.0.4. Services are non-credentialed/privileged. Services are not approvable under

NATO STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT (SOFA)

Status accreditation under Article 72 or 73. Therefore, services are subject to German labor and tax laws.

Question: How does the Gov’t ensure that the Contractor is capable to hire employees under the German system (German labor law) and therefore takes care of filing the appropriate German taxes?

This is the responsibility of the company to ensure that they are abiding by the German labor and tax laws.

10 Paragraph 3.0.4 and 3.8. OVERSEAS

REQUIREMENTS.

‘Therefore, services are subject to German labor and tax laws.’

‘The Contractor is responsible for ensuring all country clearances, passports, visas, and accreditations required by the Host Nation are obtained prior to employment of individuals under this contract. The Contractor will be responsible for obtaining the appropriate country specific requirements, and will coordinate this with the CO. All contractor personnel shall have been cleared, granted visas, etc. The contractor shall provide written notification to the CO and within 24 hours of becoming aware of contract personnel no longer performing duties requiring clearances/permissions. The contractor shall recognize that Host Nation authorities may conduct on-site inspections at any time in the contractor personnel’s’ work area for the purpose of verifying the status of positions and contractor personnel and appropriate visas or permissions. The Contractor shall assume all costs related to submission of required documentation.

The contractor shall comply with all business registration requirements in Germany.’

Question: Does this mean that only vendors whose companies are registered in Germany and/or companies who

This means that the company shall comply with all business registration requirements in Germany in order to abide by German labor and tax laws.

have a German registered branch office are authorized to bid on this opportunity?

11 The last page of the PWS lists the monthly work hours as 338 hours, or 4,056 hours per year. Please confirm this requirement.

This is correct as reflected in the Performance Work Statement from the revised Version of 02 September 2020

12 The Pricing Schedule (Attachment 1) lists EUROS as the form of payment. Will the Government agree to accept quotes in US Dollars?

The Government will decide this based on the number of offerors that are based in the US versus based in Germany as to ensure there is a fair advantage to all. If the currency shall change, offerors will be contacted.

13 What are the evaluation criteria for award? Page 42 of the Applicable Clauses and Provisions (Attachment 3), Para 52.212-2, “Evaluation,” was not completed by the Contracting Officer.

The factors are included, though some of the guidance language overshadows it. See highlighted section below.

c) Price

d) Past Performance

*Please look at Attachment 1, pictured on the last page of this document

14 Is this just for one office manager or several for different offices?

Paragraph 1.1 of the PWS states that the contractor personnel shall support the Family Health and Pediatric Clinics of the Medical Group. These are two separate offices.

15 Is there is an amount of funding ceiling or anything related to the cost for this position?

We do not understand the question. This will be a firm-fixed price requirement.

Attachments

1) To Question 13