4Feb08.doc

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

RFP FA8530-08-R-21758

4 Feb 08

Question: Reference RFP Attachments 9 and 10 (Prime/Subcontractor Add-On Factors). What is the Government’s definition/interpretation for crisis (natural disaster, war)?

Answer: The crisis pay factor is available to contractors as an incentive to employees performing work under unusually dangerous situations. The applicability of crisis pay to any specific requirement under F2AST will be addressed at the D/TO level.

Question: Regarding Clause I-153(*), FAR 52.216-7 includes an option to bill bi-weekly for CR CLINS, but the RFP has filled the blank to show payment on the 30th of the month. Please confirm that a bi-weekly payment option will be provided under the resulting IDIQ contract.

Answer: Per instructions to the Government included in FAR 52.216-7 for this fill-in: “Contracting Officer insert day as prescribed by agency head; if not prescribed, insert “30th”. In the event the agency head had prescribed bi-weekly as the fill-in for this clause, that information would have been included. In this case, the agency head has not prescribed a day, and so the fill-in was completed as directed in the clause.

Question: Clause H-910 states that prime contractors will not be allowed to add additional F2AST subcontractors in any labor category in which the proposed labor rates exceed the median F2AST subcontractor labor rate that was incorporated at initial contract award for that particular labor category for that particular prime contractor. Because prime contractors are only providing rates for critical subcontractors necessary to complete the capabilities matrix, primes may have very few, (or potentially zero in the case of a large OEM prime), critical subcontractors. The imposition of a ceiling on subcontractor rates to be added after award, based on the median rates for critical subcontractors contained in the original prime award, will eliminate non-critical subcontractors already teamed with prime contractors. Will this restriction be reconsidered? It is recommended that this restriction on rates be either eliminated or, at a minimum, increased to the maximum rates of any subcontractor included in the initial prime contract award. Also, please address what the subcontractor rate restrictions will be in the instance where an award to a prime contractor does not include any subcontractors in the initial award.

Answer: This restriction will not be reconsidered. In addition, based on the team listings submitted on 30 Jan 08, there are no teams that are comprised only of a prime with no critical subcontractors. Accordingly, there is no need to address subcontractor rate restrictions in the case of award to a prime contractor who does not include any subcontractors in the initial award.

Question: H-913 and H-914(b) requires all large businesses to subcontract 13% to small businesses but H-913 states the 13% is applicable to total dollars while H-914(b) states 13% of competitive dollars. Please confirm that the 13% applies only to competitively awarded dollars.

Answer: The 13% small business subcontracting requirement applies only to competitively awarded dollars. Clause H-913 will be corrected via an RFP Amendment to be issued in the immediate future.

Question: L-900(2)(f)(i), 5th paragraph, requires spreadsheet to contain "…only the most recent contracts ongoing/completed shall be listed." M-900(2)(b), 2nd paragraph, states that "The recency and relevancy of the information…will be considered." There is a possibility that the most relevant contracts will NOT be included in the spreadsheet because they are not the most recent, and may not be considered by the Government.

Answer: The purpose of the FACTS Sheets is specifically for Offerors to demonstrate relevancy. The purpose of the spreadsheet is to provide the Government insight into the total scope of work performed/being performed by the Offeror. As stated in the paragraph referenced in this question, “The purpose of the spreadsheet is to capture the total scope of work (whether the Offeror deems the work relevant or not to this instant RFP) that the Offeror has ongoing or completed in the past three (3) years. The Government may obtain and use performance information on any or none of these programs.”

Question: There seems to be some discrepancies in the clauses contained in Section L. Some of the clauses are called out twice, once on pages 93- 96 and again on pages 102-103. Clauses L-244 and L-120 have different effective dates. The duplicated clauses are shown below. Please clarify.

L-1H

L-8

L-30J

L-30K

L-44C

L-58C

L-62J This clause is printed on page 93 and just included by reference on page 102

L-65C

L-66

L-69

L-82E

L-91 included only once (on page 95)

L-94 Has an applicability value of $500,000 on page 95 and $550,000 on page 103

L-244

L-257

L-440C

L-115

L-120

L-139G

L-140

L-141

L-275 included only once on page 104

L-277 included only once on page 104

L-232 included only once on page 103

Answer: It appears that there was a glitch in the Government’s contract preparation system that caused duplication of clauses. Duplicate clauses are self-deleting. For Clause L-94, $550,000 is the most recent and correct applicability value. For Clauses L-244 and L-120, the most recent versions are the correct versions. The current versions of all clauses will be incorporated at the time of contract award.

Question: The RFP in Paragraph M-900(C)(iv)(b) states: “The AF has estimated a material cost based on analysis of historical data. This material cost will not be disclosed to the Offerors. Offerors will assign a percentage of the material cost to the prime and each critical subcontractor. These percentages will be listed on the Labor Hour and Material Percentage Breakout Spreadsheet contained in the Prime Contractor Pricing Submission (RFP Attachment 9). These percentages must add up to 100%, and the percentages will be used by the Government to determine how much of the material cost will be assigned to each prime contractor and its critical subcontractor(s).” There is a wide variety of material requirements needed to support the scope of the F2AST Contract. The selection of which company (the prime contractor, or one of our critical subcontractors) best suited to purchase material will depend on the type of material required. Request additional data be provided to allow assignment of material costs to the most effective supplier.

Answer: No additional information will be provided. This is the methodology the Government has selected for purposes of developing the Total Evaluated Price and will be used for evaluation purposes only.

Question: Will the Government allow the Technical, Past Performance and Contracts volumes to be submitted in .pdf format? Use of .pdf will ensure correct pagination regardless of the computer/printer utilized.

Answer: Submission in .pdf format is acceptable. Please note that compliance with page limitations as set forth in the RFP will be verified by manual review of the hard copy submissions, not by review of the electronic submissions.

Question: In Attachments 9 & 10, the following notes from rows 5 - 8 say the following:

Note:

FP, LH, and Cost (CR) will be through COM.

Only T&M rates will include fee.

Profit/Fee will be proposed and negotiated at the individual delivery/task order level for FP, LH, & CR.

For all LH delivery/task orders, profit/fee is capped at 10%.

For the sentence "For all LH delivery/task orders, profit/fee is capped at 10%", does that apply ONLY to T&M? Thus, Fixed Price and Cost Type Profit/Fee bid on future D/TOs are not capped at 10%, correct?

Answer: Attachments 9 and 10, and Clause 52.216-29, will be revised via RFP Amendment to include a 10% cap on profit/fee for T&M rates/orders in addition to the 10% cap on profit/fee on LH orders, as LH is a variation of T&M. All cost type orders will be subject to the 10% cap on fee set forth in FAR 15.404-4(c)(4)(i)(C). There is no specified cap on profit for FP orders, and profit on these efforts will be negotiated at the D/TO level.

Question: Reference RFP page 62, Section I – Contract Clauses, FAR 52.228-3 - Workers' Compensation Insurance (Defense Base Act). If the Defense Base Act is amended or revoked, will the Government negotiate equitable adjustments to the contract’s crisis add-on factor, prices, schedule and/or terms and conditions and to task orders whose prices, schedule and/or terms and conditions are affected? Will the Government add a Section H clause to require an equitable adjustment to both contract and task orders if they are affected by amendments or revocation of the Defense Base Act?

Answer: A Section H clause will not be added. In the event of amendment or revocation of the Defense Base Act, requests for equitable adjustment may be submitted IAW DFARS 252.243-7002.

Question: In several of the F2AST RFP questions and answers, the Government indicated that an answer would be provided in the immediate future or that requirements would be corrected in an RFP amendment. The receipt of an RFP amendment as soon as reasonably possible is vital to ensure offerors can prepare compliant proposals. In light of this, will the Government provide its anticipated release date for an RFP Amendment?

Answer: The RFP amendment will be issued as soon as possible.

Question: Can we delete the instructions off the example FACTS sheets for the proposal FACTS Sheet submittal?

Answer: Yes.

Question: The Prime contractor listed on the FACTS sheet was not required to provide FAR 52.219-8 and 9 information based upon being a small business for those contracts.

If the Prime contractor maintained small business subcontract information for those contracts, will submittal of that information meet the requirement or will two additional contracts that contained the FAR 52.219-8 & 9 clause still be required?

Answer: 52.219-8 does apply to a small business too. If the Offeror has that information for the efforts the Offeror is submitting, it should be provided.

Question: Reference the matrix, is the capability requirement met when any member of the team (Prime or Critical) meet the singular item description listed under the requirement column of the capabilities specification? Must the team demonstrate multiple occurrences of having each of the "Type" and "Requirement" or does having the capability once in each area suffice? For example we may have 13 hangars that meet or exceed the requirement, we can list up to 4 members of the team in each cell, but if 1 meets the requirement is there a benefit to more is better in being graded technically acceptable? (Reference attachment 6 GHE) Answer: The capability requirement is met when any member of the team meets the singular item description listed under the requirement column of the capabilities specification. In the event that multiple team members meet a capability requirement, it is up to the prime to determine how many team members to list in that cell, keeping in mind the restriction of only using up to four critical subcontractors per category.

Question: Is the intent of the list to make sure the team has the number of items identified on the list? For example line item 1 requires 15 each, if the prime has all 15 pieces is the requirement met? If the Prime and team members 2 and 3 have all 15, is the requirement met? Or does the government want to know how much GHE each team member brings to the table? For example 1-15, 2-12, 3-30. Or does the Government want a list of each member that possesses or has access to the total requirement? For example

1, 3, 4, 8

Answer: As stated in Questions and Answers dated 30 Jan 08, “No breakout of the quantity is required. As directed by the instructions on the list, offerors are to identify the prime and/or critical subcontracor(s) who possess the items.” The requirement is met as long as the prime plus critical subcontractors together possess the required quantity. Offerors are to fill in each applicable cell with the number of the prime contractor and/or critical subcontractor(s) who possess the required equipment.

Question: Would the Government please identify Attachments, 4, 5, & 6? There appears to be one attachment with tabs not identified to any particular attachment.

Answer: Attachment 4 is the Minimum Capabilities Matrix. Attachment 5 is the Minimum Capabilities Specification. Attachment 6 is the C-130 Peculiar Ground Handling Equipment listing. All three attachments are contained as separate tabs in one Excel file.

Question: In clause L-900(2)(f)(i), the RFP limits present and past performance to efforts “performed by the Offeror at the prime contractor CAGE code level.” In many instances on FAST, the work was “passed through” to the first tier subcontractor who executed over 90% of the work, including subcontractor management. Can the Offeror, as the prime contractor, submit present and past performance details on efforts in which it was a subcontractor but still performed activities that it considers relevant in demonstrating its ability to manage subcontractors? If yes, request that the heading of Section G of the “FACTS Sheet” be changed from “BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EFFORT AS PRIME” to “BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EFFORT.”

Answer: The prime should submit efforts which demonstrate their ability to perform the role they will be playing on F2AST. Offerors may submit contracts which they consider relevant in demonstrating their ability to manage subcontractors, whether those contracts were performed as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor. The heading will not be changed.

Question: When determining the median labor rates for the labor categories for subcontractors, will the Government count the labor categories that are not bid by a subcontractor as part of the equation or will the not-bid labor categories be ignored in calculating the median rate?

Answer: The not-bid labor categories will be ignored in calculating the median rate.

Question: Attachment 5 (MCM specification) G1.8.1, Hangar, Ramp Space, Lighting, Electrical, and Compressed Air includes the requirement, "The paint facility shall have explosive proof electrical wiring and forced ventilation sufficient to provide 100 linear feet per minute air velocity IAW TO 1-1-8 or equivalent." We interpret that this requirement was intended to be located in the next row below (H1, Paint/Depaint Hangar). Is this correct?

Answer: An answer will be provided in the immediate future.

Question: Do the Overtime factors apply to FLSA exempt or non-exempt personnel?

Answer: We believe you are asking about SCA exempt/non-exempt personnel, as opposed to FLSA. Payment of overtime to SCA exempt personnel may be permitted if such payment is in accordance with the Offerors’ established professional employee compensation plan. Please resubmit your question with clarifying information if the Government’s understanding of your question is incorrect.