US-VISIT IDIQ - Q A 04132011.pdf

Solicitation Questions

US-VISIT Program/Project Management and Internal Logistics Support Services IDIQ

Solicitation #GS-07P-11-HHD-0004

Q1: Will the Government consider reducing or removing the 50% self performance requirement?

A1: As a result of this amendment, the 50% self performance requirement is deleted. There is no minimum requirement for self performance.

Q2: Please clarify if the 75-page limit is only for the technical proposal or for the price and technical proposal combined. (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 1)

A2: The 75-page limit includes all parts of the technical and price proposal. It excludes tabs and dividers.

Q3: Please clarify if the 75-page limit includes the Subcontracting Plan/Small Disadvantaged Business

Utilization Plan. (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 1)

A3: See question #2.

Q4: Do any of the following items count in the 75 page limit?

1. Cover of proposal (1 page)

2. Tabs (7 pages)

3. Standard Form 33 (1 page)

4. Attachment 1 – Price Proposal (6 pages)

5. Attachment 3 – Document Security Notice [2 pages, plus copy of valid business license (1 page) and verification of DUNS number (43 pages)] (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 1)

A4: See question #2. The document security notice and the SF 33 are not required as part of your proposal package. Both will be executed upon award of the IDIQ.

Q5: Would GSA confirm that letters of transmittal, tables of contents, tabs and other proposal organizational materials are excluded from the page limitation? (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 2c)

A5: See question #2.

Q6: Would a 10-point font be acceptable for data contained in a table or graphic? (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 1)

A6: For tables, charts and graphs, font size below 12 point is acceptable.

Q7: Please confirm the number of CDs to be submitted. Is one CD required or is one CD to be submitted with each of the four required copies for a total of four CDs? (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 5,3)

A7: Offerors will be required to submit one (1) CD with the submission of their proposal. This CD shall include a copy of all documents submitted as part of the offeror’s proposal.

Q8: Would a PDF or Microsoft Word be acceptable for the submittal of the Technical Proposal on CD?

(Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 5,3)

A8: Yes, the electronic version of the technical proposal may be submitted in PDF or Microsoft Word.

Q9: The REFERENCES paragraph indicates that the source selection evaluation board may contact references directly using the attached past performance questionnaire. Would GSA please provide the questionnaire? How many questionnaires are required? Should they be submitted with the proposal, under the technical proposal past performance/experience section, or directly to the contracting officer? (Section L, Page 51, Paragraph 4,2)

A9: That is a misprint in the Scope of Work; no questionnaire should be attached to this solicitation. If needed the source selection board will contact the references provided by the offeror.

Q10: Will other direct costs be covered under a separate firm fixed price, or will they be part of the task order firm fixed price? (Section F, Page 21, Paragraph 3)

A10: Other direct costs that are directly related to a task order requirement would be included in that task order price.

Q11: Will travel and travel-related costs be covered under a separate firm fixed price, or will they be part of the task order firm fixed price? (Section F, Page 22, Paragraph 3a)

A11: Travel and travel-related costs would be included in the price of the task order under which the travel would occur. If we can easily estimate the travel costs upfront we may price travel as a firm-fixed price, but if it cannot be estimated up front, then we would price as a Not-to-Exceed and reimburse the contractor for their actual travel costs in accordance with the Federal Travel

Regulations.

Q12: Does the Government intend to make liquidated damages a part of this contract? If so, what is the amount of liquidated damages? (Section F, Page 23, Paragraph 5 (FAR 52.211-11))

A12: The Government’s use of liquidated damages under this contract will depend on the requirements of task orders. If the time of delivery or timely performance is so important that the Government may reasonably expect to suffer damage if the delivery or performance is delinquent and if the extent or amount of such damage would be difficult or impossible to estimate accurately or prove, the liquidated damages clause may be filled out and included in a specific task order.

Q13: Does “contract personnel” in the first line also mean sole proprietors? If so, they are unlikely to maintain the coverages listed (other than auto liability). (Section H, Page 26, Paragraph 1)

A13: All requirements shall be met by the offeror no matter what business type.

Q14: Will the Government provide a “Confidential Information Agreement” form to be completed by contractor’s personnel, employees, subcontractors, consultants, and contract personnel? (Section

H, Page 27, Paragraph 4)

A14: The Government will provide the Confidential Information Agreement form to the successful offeror prior to any task orders being issued.

Q15: Section L, 3, c, on page 46 states that “Each Offeror shall submit 4 copies of their proposal . . . .”

However, Standard Form 33, Item 9 states “Sealed offers in original and 4 copies for . . .” Is the requirement one original and 4 copies, or 4 copies only? (Section L, Page 46, Paragraph 1)

A15: Offerors are required to submit four (4) identical copies of their proposal and one (1) CD containing electronic copies of all documents submitted in the proposal.

Q16: In the primary contract area the Contractor will be required to have or establish an office in the

NCR within 45 days. However, for the secondary contract area, Government-provided space is not addressed. Will the Government provide office space for the Contractor in the secondary contract areas? (Section B, Page 1, Paragraph 2.b)

A16: The Government will not provide office space for the contractor in the secondary contract area.

Q17: The paragraph suggests that the Government intends to make a single award. However, the cover letter, dated March 24, 2011 (2nd paragraph) suggests that “awards will be made to offerors whose proposals reflect best value to the Government.” Will the Government make multiple awards via the solicitation? If the solicitation is to remain a full and open competitive requirement, and multiple awards will be made, given that there are hundreds of small businesses with NAICS code 541611 (345 in DC area alone (CCR)), will the Government consider reserving a reasonable number of the awards for small businesses? If so, will the Government consider reserving task orders with a value estimated to be less than $7 million exclusively for the consideration of small businesses? (Section M, Page 50, Paragraph 1)

A17: This will be a single award, and all task orders issued under this contract will be awarded to the successful offeror of this IDIQ contract. Small businesses are encouraged to submit proposals;

however, there will not be any portion of the work set-aside for small businesses.

Q18: If two or more small business contractors form a team or joint venture, will that team/JV be considered as the Prime contractor when proposing? And. Would the requirement for the 50% performance by the prime then be met by the team/JV?

A18: See question #1. The 50% self performance requirement has been removed. As for the JV, in accordance with FAR 9.603, the Government will recognize the integrity and validity of contractor team arrangements; provided, the arrangements are identified and company relationships are fully disclosed in an offer.

Q19: If two or more small business contractors form a team or joint venture, will the combined experience and past performance of all members of the team/Joint venture be acceptable to satisfy the requirement for Factor #1 Experience and Past Performance?

A19: See question #16. The JV will be evaluated as one offeror.

Q20: Recognizing that the prime contractor shall perform at least 50 percent of the work, will firms be able to submit as a joint venture? (Section B, Page 1, Paragraph 1)

A20: See questions #1 and #16.

Q21: This paragraph states that “Task orders will be priced using the current option year rates in which the task order will be issued.” This indicates that contractors cannot apply an escalation factor for task orders which span contract years. Is this assumption correct? (Section B, Page 2, Paragraph 6)

A21: Offeror’s are to propose an annual escalation as part of their price proposal. When task orders are issued upon award, the rates used for pricing of the task order will be the rates in effect at the time the task order is issued, including the applicable escalation rate.

Q22: In addition to the background requirements of HSPD-12, are contractor staff required to hold any type of DSS security clearances, e.g., Secret or Top Secret? (Section L, Page 26, Paragraph 2)

A22: No. Background investigations and security clearances will be done following HSPD-12 procedures.

Q23: Are sub-factors equally important in relation to each other under each factor or are they also provided in descending order of importance within each factor? (Section M, Page 50, Paragraph 3)

A23: Sub factors are not individually weighted, just the overall factors.

Q24: It was indicated at the pre-proposal meeting that Attachment 3, Document Security Notice, is not counted in the page limitation. In reviewing this document, it appears to be required post-award and is in effect throughout the life of the contract. Would GSA please verify whether a signed copy of the Attachment 3 is to be included in the proposal and, if so, where in the required order of information the document is to be provided? (Attachment 3)

A24: Attachment 3 is to be executed after award of the contract and does not need to be included with the proposal.

Q25: With respect to the services to be provided listed in the solicitation, will these services lean more towards Construction services or Information Technology services?

A25: US-VISIT may be involved in IT or construction activities, but the successful contractor will not be providing construction or strictly IT services. The successful contractor may be involved in the management and oversight of these services.

Q26: Would the successful contractor be ineligible to compete for future biometric work for US-VISIT, due to conflict of interest?

A26: Generally, any potential conflicts of interest will have to be addressed on a case by case basis, or based on a specific scenario.

Q27: One of the evaluation factors for proposal will be the Subcontracting Plan/Small Disadvantaged

Business Utilization (SDBU) Plan, how will it be evaluated? What will be considered a (Section M, Page 52, Paragraph 2)

A27: Plans will be evaluated as to sufficiency in meeting GSA subcontracting goals and how realistic the proposed subcontracting goals are in the plan. Small businesses will be given credit in the evaluation for self performance.

Q28: Is there an incumbent contractor or is this a new requirement? If there is an incumbent contractor, what company currently holds this contract?

A28: The incumbent contractor is Michael Baker Jr.