Grant Accural Support Services_Questions with Responses 1.10.2020 (003).pdf

Grant Accrual Support Services Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 69319520R000001

Questions and Responses

1. Question: Is there an incumbent contractor?

Government’s Response: Yes, there is an incumbent contractor.

2. Question: If there is an incumbent contractor, what is the contract number and value of the contract?

Government’s Response: The contract number is DTFT6015C00002 and total value is $1,291,364.78.

3. Question: If there is an incumbent contractor, how many FTE equivalents are on the contract?

Government’s Response: Two

4. Question: Can CPARS be submitted in lieu of past performance questionnaires?

Government’s Response: As it pertains to the request for customers to complete the past performance questionnaires referenced in Section L- Sub-Factor D.2: General Contract Performance which is part of the Past Performance Factor, it has been revised via this amendment to the RFP/Solicitation and revisions are shown in yellow highlight for Sections L and M.

5. Question: What is “Global Price Index” and how is it relevant to this project’s future years?

Government’s Response: The term “Global Price Index” has been removed from appearance in this RFP/Solicitation in Section L. Updated language has been updated in RFP/Solicitation in this section and appears in yellow highlight.

6. Question: Is this a new or an existing requirement?

Government’s Response: This is an existing requirement.

7. Question: If it is an existing requirement, who is the incumbent?

Government’s Response: JT Goldstein, LLC.

8. Question: Who are the other interested parties to this solicitation?

Government’s Response: Question is not clear. FTA is requesting the requirement for contractor performance.

9. Question: If there is the opportunity for telework, what criteria (other than federal ABA guidelines) is required to provide this arrangement?

Government’s Response: Telework is not authorized for this requirement. If it becomes authorized via approval from the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and Contracting Officer, it will be in limited circumstances and on a case-by-case basis.

10. Question: What percent of time will telework for either the Sr. Accountant or Staff Accountant be acceptable to maintain operational effectiveness for FTA?

Government’s Response: None

11. Question: It appears Paragraph 2 in Section C.2 was cut off. Will the government review and amend the solicitation with the intended text?

Government’s Response: The second paragraph has been removed from Section C.2 SCOPE via this amendment to the RFP/Solicitation.

12. Question: When is the next 3-year review of the grant accruals methodology related to this solicitation?

Government’s Response: The next 3-year revalidation of the grant accrual methodology will be in 2022. However, grant accrual methodology can be revalidated at any time, if there is a significant new FTA grants program authorized by Congress or a major new transit system in the USA or its territories.

13. Question: Will the Senior Accountant and Staff Accountant have their own grant accrual portfolios to review? If so, how many respectively?

Government’s Response: The senior Accountant and Staff Accountant will be responsible for calculating monthly grant accrual estimates for all FTA programs based on the grant accrual methodology. Also, the Senior Accountant and Staff Accountant will be responsible for all other tasks identified in the RFP.

14. Question: How many supports services personnel will the Senior Accountant be expected to train and coordinate cost accounting training and mentoring?

Government’s Response: None. Senior Accountant will be required to manage the contract as well as provide guidance and direction to the Staff Accountant.

15. Question: What is the scope, in terms of number of grant programs the Senior Accountant is expected to support?

Government’s Response: The contract does not require the Senior Accountant to support any FTA grant programs.

16. Question: Is there an expectation that the Senior Accountant will assist in drafting FTA grant accrual policy?

Government’s Response: Yes, the Senior Accountant be responsible for updating and revalidating the grant accrual methodology.

17. Question: What are the expected or historical dates when work hours for the accounting staff surges where they are expected to work more than 40 hours per week?

Government’s Response: Work hours are consistent.

18. Question: With the inclusion of Section G.9. Funds Availability—Limitation of Funds, does the government anticipate awarding the contract and funding it incrementally?

Government’s Response: The Government could possibly decide to award the contract and incrementally fund it.

19. Question: When does the government intend to award the contract?

Government’s Response: Spring 2020

20. Question: Does this contract preclude the contractor or subcontractor from managing existing customer accounts where the customer received DOT federal grant/awards?

Government’s Response: This action is not a part of the requirement etc.

21. Question: How many FTE’s currently support the financial statement preparation and support services for the grant accrual estimation and validation process?

Government’s Response: Two FTEs

22. Question: Who is the direct report responsible for reviewing and overseeing the contractor’s deliverables?

Government’s Response: The Contracting Office Representative (COR) is responsible for reviewing and overseeing the contractor’s deliverables. The vendor must ensure they review and effectively monitor performance of deliverables in accordance with the awarded contract etc.

23. Question: What existing financial reporting system, subsystem and tools being used by

DOT in the grant accrual estimation process?

Government’s Response: Delphi Departmental Accounting System, FTA Grants Management System (TrAMS), and FTA Financial Management System (FMS).

24. Question: Will the contractor have access to contracts cash receipt disbursement reports for grantees being reviewed to ensure the accuracy of data reports from the grant obligation and disbursement reports?

Government’s Response: Yes, the contractor will have access to grantees’ obligation and disbursement reports.

25. Question: Are reports maintained to track cash advancements for various grants and reconciled?

Government’s Response: FTA does not advance cash to its grantees. Grantees request reimbursements and are paid after performing the work. Payments are reconciled monthly.

26. Question: Due to the nature of the requirement, we would like to propose some additional labor categories to align with our technical approach. Would the government allow additional non-key labor categories and realignment of the labor hours?

Reference: Section B, B.5 Pricing/Labor Rates Table, Page 4

Government’s Response: No

27. Question: Can the government please explain the following paragraph “Congress every two years on the condition and performance of the Nation’s transit systems. In addition to providing current and retrospective information for the Conditions and Performance Report (C&P Report) that fulfills this obligation, data reported to the NTD also underpins FTA’s Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM), which is used to estimate the Nation’s transit”? Both sentences appear to be incomplete. Please clarify the relevance of the C&P report and the TERM. What is contractor’s role in preparing or use of that information?

Reference: Section C.2 Scope, Page 6

Government’s Response: Per this amendment, the second paragraph that appeared under Section C.2: Scope has been removed from the RFP/Solicitation.

28. Question: Section L.4.1 states, “The second copy of the proposal should be in the form of CDs for the Executive Summary and each proposal volume which must be clearly marked and sent via physical mail”. Will the government allow hand delivering the CDs by the stated due date and time (January 17, 4:00 PM EST)? Please also clarify that a hard copy of the proposal is not required.

Reference: Section L.4.1, Organization of Volumes, Page 63

Government’s Response: No, the Government will not accept hand deliveries of the CDs for responses concerning this RFP/Solicitation. Correct, a hard copy of the proposal is not required to be submitted as all submissions must be in electronic format.

29. Question: Section L.7.2 states, “For this part of the volume, offerors must provide three contract references for work performed within the past 3 years for which a past performance questionnaire was sent to.” Can the government please clarify whether these past performance questionnaires must be for the same past performances described in Sub-Factor D.1: Relevancy to the RFP Requirement, stating “Offerors shall submit a narrative concerning a maximum of three (3) Government and Commercial contracts (prime and major subcontracts) in performance during the past 3 years, which are relevant to the efforts required by this solicitation.”

Reference: Section L.7.2 Volume II - Past Performance Instructions, Sub-Factor D.2:

General Contract Performance, Page 70 Sub-Factor D.1: Relevancy to the RFP Requirement, Page 69

Government’s Response: No, they do not have to be for the exact same but the offeror must ensure they are for relevant projects concerning the review of past performance within the past 3 years.

30. Question: For the requirement to submit financial statements of the Offeror for the past three years. Due to the sensitive and highly proprietary nature of this information, would the government accept either a hard copy of the financial statements or accept the information in a separate password protected file and email where the password would be provided subsequently in a separate email?

Reference: Section L.7.3 Volume III Business/Price/Cost Proposal Instructions “Other Business Factors” a. Financial Condition and Capability, Page 73

Government’s Response: Yes, we can accept the information in this format given that it is received by us by the noted due date with time concerning an offeror’s submission for this RFP/Solicitation.

31. Question: Due to the nature of the questions above, can the government please consider extending the due date of the proposals to allow at least 5 business days from date of the release of the answers to the questions above?

Government’s Response: No

32. Question: Is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these services? If yes, please provide us with the contract details.

Government’s Response: See responses to questions number 1 and 2

33. Question: What will be the contract value for this opportunity?

Government’s Response: The Government will not provide the estimated value for this opportunity.