Question and Answers for FA8132-21-Q-0009 5 Feb 21.pdf

1. Question – Is this a follow-on requirement?

Answer – Two contracts currently exist to support NGS part-marking activities across all locations listed in this requirement. One of the current contracts is for hardware support services (among other things) in support of NGS activities at Hill AFB (solicitation reference # FA8224-19-Q-A023), and could be considered the logical predecessor to this requirement, specifically. The other is a sole source contract for licenses in support of the NGS program’s software platform (solicitation reference # FA8132-19-Q-1234) across all applicable locations within the enterprise.

NGS will continue to be supported by two distinct contracts. This requirement and solicitation will result in one of those two. The other will be the successor to the sole source contract mentioned above. The sole source solicitation has not yet been posted, but will be posted under solicitation # FA8132-21-Q-0010 (also see related Sources Sought Synopsis # FA8132-20-Q- 0033).

2. Question – Does the scope of this RFQ assume continuing all the current support activities being accomplished at each ALC (much of which is not discussed in the PWS, e.g., maintenance of databases)?

Answer – To an extent, we have good practices that are not fully utilized across all ALCs, with NGS the IUID requirement of keeping registry information will no longer be required.

In other words, yes, it does assume current support activities will be accomplished at each ALC (which will be represented by the sole source requirement that will soon be solicited under FA8132-21-Q-0010), however, certain activities in support of the NGS (IUID) program will no longer be required, like stated above.

3. Question – Will this effort be used to standardize sustainment processes across the ALCs, or will each ALC continue to have unique and differing support processes?

Answer – This effort will standardize the ALCs best practices with contractor input, AFSC OPR will have final say on all standardization processes.

4. Question – Is each Primary location expecting a constant, on-site presence by the contractor?

The PWS is not specific enough to know the requirement. One clarification that would help is providing the definition of "initiate" in context of PWS Paragraph 4.1: "initiate support and/or arrive on site at the equipment location, as required, within two (2) business hours."

Answer –There is no requirement to have a constant, on-site presence by the contractor. It is up to the contractor to determine how to best meet the requirements of the PWS.

This paragraph has been revised to clarify the expectation concerning response time:

FROM: “When notified of system or equipment malfunction (via email, phone, or in person), the contractor shall initiate support and/or arrive on site at the equipment location, as required[,]…”

TO: “When notified of a system or equipment malfunction (via email, phone, or in person), the contractor shall evaluate the system or equipment malfunction, as required[,]…”

The actual intent is that the malfunction needs to be evaluated, and that there could be different methods of performing that evaluation. Some maintenance can be evaluated and subsequently accomplished over the phone (by troubleshooting the issue with the end user), or it may require an in-person evaluation to determine how the maintenance should be performed.

5. Question – The PWS Paragraph 4.1.2, Subtask I(b), Hardware Maintenance and Trouble

Shooting requires the contractor to provide hardware maintenance. This implies that the equipment owning organization at each location will provide all parts and materials needed to maintain and repair all equipment. Does this include supplies as well (for exampIe, materials used for Preventative Maintenance (PM) or daily/weekly/monthly maintenance tasks)?

Answer – Yes, the owning MX shops will be required to purchase parts for repair and supplies for PMs.

6. Question – Reference PWS Paragraph 4.1: Does the 2-hour to "initiate" a support response time at Primary Locations take into account the current (and foreseeable) COVID health concerns and restrictions that have shown to add varying amounts of response time and difficulty to work, travel, and access a Base?

Answer – The support response time does not specifically take COVID into account, however, PWS Paragraph 4.1 has been revised

FROM: “Report times for Alternative locations may be extended by Contractor request and COR approval.”

TO: “Report times may be extended by contractor request and COR approval, on a case-by-case basis.”

The intent of this revision is to allow for flexibility and account for extenuating circumstances, like the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. Question – There is no CLIN for Travel. Travel is required by PWS Paragraph 6.4. Typically, the USAF separates travel costs out for accountability and pre-approval reasons. In addition, there is usually a requirement to travel (airline, hotel, MI&E) at JTR rates. What is AFSC's expectations for expending travel costs? As the exact number of trips is not specified in the PWS, it is difficult to price travel under this fixed price quote arrangement. Recommend a Travel CLIN structure to be cost reimbursable at JTR rates, then the number of meetings does not have to be specified in the PWS either.

Answer – There will be no CLIN for Travel and will not be priced separately. We will only have one scheduled face-to-face meeting per year at one of the following locations: Wright-Patterson AFB, Hill AFB, Robins AFB or Tinker AFB. Determination for which location each year will be at the CORs discretion. As far as we know we have not had to travel to a secondary location for any repairs and only the initial setup of the equipment. PMs for alternative sites will be the responsibility of the owning MX shop.

8. Question – Marking Robots 1, 2, and 3 at OC-ALC have not been operational for a number of years. As these machines are included in the equipment list, is the overhaul/refurbishment and re-activation of these machines at a future date included in the scope of this effort?

Answer – The robots will not be brought back to operational status and will only be used as spare parts once completely cannibalized then the owning MX shop will demil (DRMO) at their discretion.

9. Question – Attachment 4, Paragraph 2.1.5, Total Evaluated Price (TEP), states that the only evaluation factor is price (TEP), but Attachment 3 (Tailored Instructions, Paragraph (b), Submission of quotations) states that a "technical description" will also be evaluated. Please clarify how the "technical description" will be used in the source selection process.

Answer – We are only requesting a “technical description” to evaluate the quote’s compliance with the terms and conditions of the requirement. In other words, the technical description will not be independently evaluated for its own sufficiency, rather, it’s merely to ensure that each contractor that quotes understands the requirement, and that the Government has sufficiently communicated its requirement.

10. Question – Reference PWS Paragraph 5.2, SS 14: Please define "divert" in context of contractor personnel assigned to the project. Some key personnel may not be proposed as full time for this contract to lower the cost to the USAF. If this is a contractor's #1 priority to take care of at any time and nothing interferes or interrupts the work on this effort, does this qualify and being not "diverted"?

Answer – PWS paragraph 5.2: SS 14, and paragraph 6.5 have been revised to remove the following sentence:

“Key Personnel are defined as those individuals who are so essential to the work being performed that the Contractor shall not divert them to other projects or replace them without receiving prior approval from the Contracting Officer.”

11. Question – Please define the requirement to attend all meetings at any location "as required."

How many per year and at which locations? It is difficult to price appropriately as a fixed price quote if the number, length, and locations are not defined in the PWS. Reference PWS Paragraph 4.1.4, Subtask I(d), Status of the NGS Program Meetings: Please define the word "attend" in context of project meetings. May all meetings be accomplished via virtual methods to support the current and foreseeable COVID health concerns and restrictions? If in-person attendance is required, then travel may be necessary, further justifying the need for a Travel CLIN mentioned in question 3 above and more specificity of the number of meetings at each location each year.

Answer – We will only have one face-to-face meeting a year, all other meetings will be held via MS Teams or call-in.

12. Question – Reference PWS Paragraph 4.4, Task 4, Training Support, Deliverable A003 (Assessment of Training Materials On-Hand): Will the Government provide all current Training Materials and the latest baseline assessment at contract award?

Answer – No, the contractor will have to make an assessment of what training materials are available to them then provide/create any missing user and administration training into one Enterprise Training Package that will then be owned by the Government.

13. Question – Reference Solicitation, Section 2 -supplies/services and Price, CLINs 0002, 1002, 2002, 3002, 4002 and 5002, "Teardown, Evaluation and Shipping Costs for OEM Maintenance."

Shipping costs for OEM maintenance should be classified as ODCs, not Non-Personal Services.

There needs to be an ODC CLIN for this. Recommend the ODC CLIN structure to be cost reimbursable.

Answer – This CLIN will include all costs necessary to perform Task 4.2. Please see the revisions made to the CSS document. Rather than the contractor pricing the entire CLIN, it is requested that each quote include the fully-burdened labor rate for the work to be performed in accordance with this section. When this requirement is awarded, it will be initially funded with an estimated amount based on a Government estimate. Each time this process is required, it must be pre-approved by the CO. Once the work is complete, the contractor will invoice against the CLIN.

PWS Paragraph 4.2 has been revised to include the following statement:

“Once the Contractor and/or the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) helpdesk has made a determination that a piece of marking equipment requires OEM maintenance, the Contractor must make a recommendation whether to have the OEM conduct repair actions at the Government facility or return the part/equipment to the factory and notify the Functional Representative and COR of the required maintenance. The contractor must then provide a quote for the cost of performing the teardown, evaluation, and shipping. The Government will then evaluate and price the quote for performing this work.

Upon approval by the COR and CO…”

14. Question – Is a government or personal passport required for contractor travel to Alternate locations (Kadena AFB - Depot Maintenance; 525th Electronics Maintenance Squadron)

Answer – There is no specific passport requirement.

15. Question – Table in Para 5 Quality Assurance and Quality Control - Given the Performance Threshold being 100% Compliance using a Method of Surveillance that is 100% Surveillance, how can a contractor earn anything more than a “satisfactory” CPAR rating under this contract?

Answer – The items in the Service Summary are “must-have” items, and the level of quality/delivery of these Service Summary items will be assessed globally among relevant CPARS categories. The 100% compliance level does not necessarily relate to a specific performance rating.

16. Question – Para 6.4 – Travel. “The Contractor shall provide receipts upon completion of travel to the COR.” The para does not state that the contractor will be reimbursed once the receipts are provided to the COR. Will reimbursement be based on the JTR?

Answer – This statement has been removed from the PWS, as it is expected for travel to be quoted as a part of the bottom-line price. Only one trip per year is expected to one of the primary locations for the purposes of program status review.

17. Question – Please be advised that there is a “typo mistake” regarding the Pricing submission form’s Pricing Summary page. The Basic Year period of performance date is shown as “01 April 2022 – 31 March 2023”. In order to match the correct period of performance it should read “01 April 2021 – 31 March 2022”.

Answer – This has been corrected.

18. Question – We have heard that one or both of the Revolution marking machines listed at Lackland AFB may not have been active for several years. Are there active machines at Lackland AFB and if there are, what is an average marking label production quantity for each machine per period of time (monthly/Quarterly/Yearly) that data is available for? Also, if there are marking machines that are not / have not been active, is it the intent of this solicitation for the contractor to return those machines to operation?

Answer – If the machines are not active because they are broke (excluding robots at Tinker) and can’t be repaired under the requirements listed in the PWS then they need to be sent to the OEM for repair at the CORs direction (OME repair process is stated in PWS) . PMs and RMs for alternate locations are handled by the owning shop so I don’t see the need to provide label production information, it would take a few days to get that info and we don’t have the time.

Additional Notes and Revisions

1. Combined Synopsis and Solicitation (CSS):

• The following statement has been added to page 2 of the CSS, as it was inadvertently left out of the original posting:

“NOTE: the TEP will differ from the actual award amount as CLIN X002 will be awarded with a fixed amount of money. The amount will be based on past usage history of this service CLIN type.”

• CLIN X002 in the CLIN structure tables (pages 6-11) of the CSS has been modified to clarify that the Government is requesting contractors to quote a fully-burdened labor rate each year for these CLINs, rather than a quote for the CLIN in its entirety. This is due to the note mentioned above, and in response to question 13. In addition, the following statement has been added to the CLIN X002 description:

In accordance with DFARS Clause 252.217-7028, the Contractor shall provide over and above (O&A) labor and materials for work within scope for the teardown, evaluation, and shipping of components or parts, in support of required OEM maintenance.

Labor Rate: $ _____________ per hour

ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF 40 HOURS PER YEAR

The following statement has been added to “Unit Price” and “Total Price” blocks for

CLIN X002:

DO NOT PRICE THIS CLIN; PLEASE ADD YOUR FULLY-BURDENED LABOR RATE

“Key Personnel are defined as those individuals who are so essential to the work being performed that the Contractor shall not divert them to other projects or replace them without receiving prior approval from the Contracting Officer.”