Attachment 5 - Pre-Proposal Conference Q and As.pdf

Questions from Pre-Proposal Conference

FA5613-20-R-0007

13 May 2020

1. What are the possible benefits and improvements to the current contracts that are expected to result from the consolidation of these chapel contracts?

Significant administrative benefits will be seen on the Government side/man-hours saved.

Quicker hiring procedures b/c Gov. will not have to vet all applicants. Better overall forecast/management of positions because one contractor will be managing workforce.

2. We noticed that there are weekly office hours written into the PWS for certain music director positions under this consolidation. What are the specific office activities and core competencies required for the performance of these office hours?

Language was removed for office hours & standardized to read how the rest of the Director addendums read. Revised PWS will be sent out with amendment.

3. Is there any specific activity that would be required for onsite management under this new contract consolidation that would help to optimizing meeting the overall requirements of the contract?

The only requirement is that if the contractor is not located within the local area, they have a local POC that can respond to any emergency situations that may arise. Reference paragraph

1.1.3.6.

4. How many current contracts that are being included in this contract consolidation that would be coming up for renewal in the short term, say 6-12 months away? What about mid-term 1 year to 3 years? Longer term 3-5 years?

16 individual contracts are being consolidated into 1 requirement. All are subject to renewal between August & September.

5. As a follow-on question to number 4 above, are any of the short term contracts coming up for renewal currently being performed by individuals who may be PCS’ing away from Ramstein AB between June and September?

We do not have that information readily available. Current contractors are required to let us know if they are PCSing, we have not been notified of anything at this time. Please note PCS’s are changing constantly due to COVID-19.

6. Would there be any consideration given to contractors who endeavor to include as many current incumbents as possible?

No additional consideration will be given. That is a business decision on whether to fill with incumbents or not.

7. Are the functions listed immediately below currently staffed by Contractors? If so, what is the Contract Award Number and date of award for each?

All positions are currently staffed.

FA5613-19-P-A090 Catholic RE Coordinator K-5 20-Sep-19

FA5613-19-C-A022 Cath 1700 Sat Music Director 17-Sep-19

FA5613-19-C-A024 Prot Contemporary Service Music Accompanist 17-Sep-19

FA5613-19-P-A087 Chapel - Protestant Youth Director 26-Sep-19

FA5613-19-P-A095 Chapel - Sunday Catholic Music Director 29-Sep-19

FA5613-17-P-0069 Gospel Service Music Director 27-Sep-17

FA5613-17-P-0070 Gospel Service Music Accompanist 27-Sep-17

Fa5613-19-P-A104 Catholic Music Director/Accompanist - Sunday 1700 19-Sep-19

FA5613-19-P-A096 Catholic Music Accompanist - Sunday 0900 19-Sep-19

FA5613-18-P-0175 Orthodox Christian Coordinator 28-Sep-18

FA5613-18-P-0165 Catholic Youth Coordinator 25-Sep-18

FA5613-18-P-0168 Catholic Music Accompanist - Saturday 1700 27-Sep-18

FA5613-19-P-A109 Protestant Religious Education Coordiator 20-Sep-19

FA5613-18-P-0123 Traditional Service Music Director 19-Sep-18

FA5613-19-P-A112 Contemporary Service Music Director 26-Sep-19

FA5613-18-P-0164 Traditional Service Music Accompanist 25-Sep-18

8. Referencing Attachment 4 (Historical Data) document, are the prices shown for single or multi-year contracts?

Multi-year contracts

9. Re. PWS 3.0 General Information: Contrary to the paragraph, can one assume that, in the context of the provision of services to Chapel faith communities, Sundays, and perhaps

Saturdays, are workdays? Additionally, several Federal holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.)

are also religious Feast/Holy Days. Should one assume that, as a matter of course, provision of services may be required on Federal holidays?

Language added to PWS: Should a religious holiday coincide with a Federal holiday, the religious holiday will take precedence and the contractor will be expected to provide service IAW this PWS.

10. Re. PWS 3.12. Transition Period: Please clarify as to whether or not the Contractor ending service is obligated to provide transition and/or OJT beyond the end date of the contract (i.e.

staying on-site and paying employees beyond the end date of the contract to provide OJT) as a consequence of a late or delayed contracting process or some other factor beyond the control or responsibility of the Contractor.

No. OJT will take place during the last 30 days of contract performance.

11. Re. PWS 4.1.8. The religious landscape in the United States is the most fractured and divided in the world. There are literally thousands of denominations and military Chaplain endorsing agencies in the United States. A strict reading of 4.1.8 indicates that a Chaplain may demand that a Contractor provide a musician specifically aligned with her/his denomination or religious tradition—no matter how (non-pejoratively) small or outside the mainstream that tradition may

be. Especially non-CONUS, finding a person specific to a given religious tradition in the United

States (which may not even exist in Germany) can be difficult if not impossible.

While standards of conduct and behavior while working in a religiously pluralistic chapel setting are commonplace and not unreasonable, a contractor challenged the inclusion of this clause in a contract at Dover AFB some years ago and the GSA ruled that such a requirement was, except for explicitly sacramental traditions where the musician/singer is deemed a minister (and therefore an essential element) in the sacramental action, overly broad and unenforceable.

Please clarify the interpretation by which contract compliance at Ramstein will be evaluated.

Revised that paragraph to read: “…candidates for these positions must respect the presiding chaplain’s endorsing religious organization’s requirements. Should candidates have beliefs that don’t align with the presiding chaplain’s religious organization’s requirements they will remain silent to preserve good order within the faith community.”

Revised PWS will be sent out with an amendment.

12. PWS ADDENDUM 1 1300 SUNDAY CATHOLIC MASS MUSIC ACCOMPANIST:

Please note that Paragraph 4.1 references the now-cancelled 1700 Saturday Catholic Mass.

Addendum corrected. Revised PWS will be sent out with Amendment to solicitation

13. Re. PWS Addendums 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15: Particularly in liturgical religious traditions, it is common practice state-side for a single person to fill both the Music

(Choir/Worship Team) Director and the Instrumentalist (organ/piano/guitar player) roles.

Considerable savings will accrue to the government if the Contractor is allowed to combine the two roles when possible. This approach also allows the Contractor to offer more attractive compensation to the best possible candidate for the job—typically resulting in a better “product” for the chapel communities.

If this approach is acceptable, please indicate which services can combine the Music Director and Accompanist into a single role:

Yes No

1.1.

1300 SUNDAY CATHOLIC MASS MUSIC ACCOMPANIST

1300 SUNDAY CATHOLIC MASS MUSIC

DIRECTOR ______

1.2.

0900 SUNDAY CATHOLIC MASS MUSIC ACCOMPANIST

0900 SUNDAY CATHOLIC MASS MUSIC

DIRECTOR _________

1.3.

PROTESTANT GOSPEL SERVICE MUSIC DIRECTOR

PROTESTANT GOSPEL SERVICE MUSIC ACCOMPANIST _________

1.4.

PROTESTANT CONTEMPORARY SERVICE MUSIC ACCOMPANIST

PROTESTANT CONTEMPORARY SERVICE MUSIC DIRECTOR _________

1.5.

PROTESTANT TRADITIONAL SERVICE MUSIC ACCOMPANIST

PROTESTANT TRADITIONAL SERVICE MUSIC DIRECTOR

All positions will stay as is on the RFQ. Please explain the considerable cost savings.