FINAL Q A List 01 Jul 2011.pdf

Q.171. Reference: 1.8.2 Contract Points of Contact: The vendor shall provide the Contracting Officer a list naming the primary and alternate vendor points of contact (POC) for each of the Government training sites and organizations. Identification of these primary and alternate POCs (and their contact information) for each Government training site and organization shall be identified as part of the Employee Roster (CDRL A006).

The original Employee Roster shall accompany the Vendor’s proposal. These vendor POCs shall have full authority to act for the Vendor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this Contract ensuring decisions can be made and action can be taken in a timely manner, usually less than 24 hours. These vendor POCs shall be the PCOR and subordinate CORs’ first point of contact to inform, question, or coordinate current and prospective Task Order or Training Requirement issues. Because training may occur at any time, the primary or alternate vendor POC for each training site and organization must be accessible at all times.

Training events are often short in duration and it is critical that a means of rapidly resolving quality, scheduling, and other changes be provided.

Question: A) Does this include both instructors and management? B) If only management, what specific positions should be recorded in the vendors proposal? C) What positions will be recorded for the various work locations? D) 4.7.5 identifies training facilities, such prime and secondary POC for each and every one of these facilities?

A.171.

A) Management. Instructors are not included unless they are the lead instructor and there is no on-site head management.

B) All management personnel directly supervising LREC instructors.

C) Each and every facility does not require on-site management. This requirement is determined by the vendor.

D) Government, at a minimum, needs a POC and alternate POC (decision makers) to contact (i.e., on-site management, regional manager, etc.)

Q.172. Reference: 4.5.2 Task orders will be issued by the Government no less than 10 days before class start date.

Question: Using the example under subsection 4.7.2.1, for an AFSOC 29 week (CAT IV IAT Program), will require the issuance of 145 daily lessons plans. It doesn’t seem realistic that this volume of documentation can be produced between the issuance of a Task Order with no less than 10 days notice, as per 4.5.2, and the CDRL A009 requirement to provide the lesson plans 7 days before the start of the training. Please clarify.

A.172. Complete POI’s are required prior to start of training. Lesson plans are evolving documents. Daily lesson plans are required to be provided to government 7 days from start of the training DAY. 145 lesson plans are not required (i.e., on lesson plan for class day 40 need to be provided to government NLT 7 days before class day 40).

Q.173. Re: Jun 17 Question 17. Reference: 4.5.7 Pre-Course Start and Daily Preparation. All proposals, unless otherwise specified in the request for proposal, shall include recommended pre-course start and daily pre-class preparation hours and activities to include a tailored POI. All instructors shall be fully prepared for each class beforehand. This includes preparation and accumulation of a complete lesson plan with supporting materials for class instruction.

Question: This subsection conflicts with the CDRL A009, which states " The contractor shall provide daily lessons plans in accordance with the POI" and " The Contractor shall provide the lesson plan no less than 7 calendar days before the start of training" . Please clarify which of these statements applies.

A.173. Both apply. The lesson plans provided to the government are IAW the POI, but are not required to government until 7 days before start of training.

Q.174. Reference: 4.6.1.4 Pre-Service Training shall, at a minimum, address … written lesson plans.

Question: As per the CDRL A009, lesson plans must be provided before the commencement of the class and this job can be completed by professional course developers. This conflicts with 4.6.1.4 that states that each instructor must be trained in the writing of lesson plans. Please clarify

A.174. CDRL A009 does not state, “Lesson plans must be provided before the commencement of the class and this job can be completed by professional course developers.” The instructor must be trained on writing lesson plans.

Q.175. Reference: 4.6.3.1 Clearance. Under special circumstances STX and/or iso-immersion training contract employees may be required to possess or have the ability to obtain and maintain a Department of Defense SECRET clearance. Vendor will be notified at the time the STX or iso-immersion exercise order is placed.

Question: If a TO is placed with less than "six-week notice period for contractor personnel to have SECRET level clearance," will the government accept personnel with an interim clearance?

A.175. Yes.

Q.176. Question 25. Reference: 4.6.5.4.1 Management personnel for all language instructors shall have at least a master’s degree in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, teacher education, or a related discipline.

Question: A) Considering that the management of an educational program includes many areas not directly related to instruction and training, such as Human Resources, Payroll, Timekeeping, and other general project management and administrative functions, will the Government consider Masters level degrees in a wider range of subjects including MBAs, MPAs, etc.? B) Please clarify what other Master level degrees will be accepted by the Government.

A.176. A) No.

B) Management personnel for all language instructors shall have at least a master’s degree in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, teacher education, or a related discipline to applied linguistics, second language acquisition, or teacher education.

Q.177. Reference: H.13 RESUME SUBMITTAL. The Vendor will submit a copy of resumes and supporting documents to substantiate required education, experience, and security clearances for the management team in the management/technical proposal. Instructor resumes will be submitted by individual task orders.

Question: Please provide a list of which positions are considered key personnel/management team for resumes submittal.

A.177. This question has been answered.

Q&A List dated 27 Jun 2011 stated:

Q.24. Clause 5652.237-9001 states that key personnel are those whose resumes were submitted for evaluation of the proposal. Does this include those Instructors who were submitted as part of the proposal tasks?

A.24. No. Key Personnel include President, Vice President, Chief Financial Officers (CFO), Location/Site Managers and alternates, and Instructor Trainers. Clause 5652.237-9001 Key Personnel Requirements (2003) Section I (b) has been amended to indentify Key Personnel Positions.

Q.178. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #33. The Government's response indicates there will be an Amendment 3 with a revised Attachment 7 providing an approximate location split for classes. When will the Government issue this revised Attachment 7?

A.178. REVISION to Jun 27 A.33. Attachment 7 was updated with FBO Amendment 1 (NOT Amendment

3) to provide an approximate location split for classes. An anticipated schedule has been included in the RFP. Note: the projected class schedule is subject to change.

Note: Revision to Attachment 7 has been made and is provided with Amendment 3.

Q.179. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #9. The Government's response indicates LREC Program Manager/Supervisors are required to have SECRET clearances. Q&A June 17 2011 #47, response states clearances are required at contract start. We are reading the response to Q&A #9 to include the clearances are required at contract start, and that personnel should be eligible for clearances. Is this correct?

A.179. LREC Program Manager/Supervisors are required to have SECRET clearances. Clearances are required at contract start. UPDATE: An interim clearance is acceptable.

Q.180. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A3, A33, A58 – Will revisions to Attachment 4 and Attachment 7 be released as a result of answers to questions provided with Amendments 1 and 2? Is there an Amendment 3 on the horizon?

A.180. Revisions to Attachment 1 and Attachment 7 have been made and are provided with Amendment 3.

Q.181. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A9 – The original RFP indicated that Instructional Supervisors are required to have a Masters Degree, but not a SECRET clearance. The answer to Q9 confuses this issue. Please clarify that Instructional Supervisors, supervising and monitoring the performance of instructors, who are not required to have a SECRET clearance, do not themselves need a SECRET clearance.

A.181. LREC Instructional Supervisors, supervising and monitoring the performance of un-cleared performance of instructors, DO themselves need a SECRET clearance.

Q.182. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A34 – Since training in Bahrain will be procured under a CPFF task order, should the 5% of NSWCEN training in Bahrain be removed from FFP CLIN 001 and re-allocated to a CONUS NSWCEN site?

A.182. All OCONUS locations shall be priced as CPFF.

Q.183. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A34, A50 & A51 – Please clarify that the 5% of NSWCEN training required in Bahrain will be procured under a CPFF Task Order. A34 says “Yes,” A50 says “No,” and A51 refers to A34.

A.183. All OCONUS locations shall be priced as CPFF. Jun 27 A50 answered NO; the government will not consider an overseas assignment because of the unknown Bahrain costs. Jun 27 A51 answer refers to A34, DBA, wage adjustments, and ODCs are CPFF.

Q.184. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A58 – A 58 states: “The Government’s intention is for all transition costs to be incurred under CLIN 0002 as CPFF. The QASP has been amended to reflect this change.” Will the Government provide an updated Attachment 7 to include a sub-CLIN for offerors to present their Transition cost?

A.184. Yes.

Q.185. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A57 – SCA Regulation 29 CFR 4.173 requires contractors to give credit for prior years of service with predecessor contractors for the purpose of establishing an employee’s qualification for paid vacation benefits. Many of the incumbent candidates we have interviewed claim many years of prior service, which would qualify them for 3 and 4 weeks of paid vacation benefits at the outset of the new contract. This would be a huge unknown liability for the winning bidder.

This situation raises several concerns:

a. How would an incoming contractor verify prior years of service claimed by incumbent personnel?

b. How will the Government ensure a level playing field whereby all offerors are bound by the same assumptions regarding accrued liability for paid vacation benefits to incumbent personnel?

c. If offerors base their proposals on the Government’s answer to Q57 and the guidance provided therein that “The incumbent employees will start as new employees.” turns out to be inaccurate, will the Government award an economic price adjustment to cover the cost consequences of that position?

A.185. a. NOTE: Contractors are required to post the “Notice to Employees Working on Government Contracts” (WH Publication 1313) in a prominent and accessible place at the worksite. WH 1313 is available at: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/sca.htm

b. Prospective contractors who employ the same personnel are required to provide the same vacation benefits as an incumbent contractor, thus equity in bidding is achieved .

Note: Not less than 10 days before contract completion, the incumbent prime contractor must furnish the contracting officer a list of all service employees who were on the contractor or subcontractor’s payroll during the last month of the contract, together with the employees’ anniversary dates of employment (when employment began with the incumbent as well as with any predecessor contractors). A copy of this list is provided to the successor contractor. 29 C.F.R. § 4.6(l)(2).

Vacation need not be paid immediately but must be provided at a mutually agreed upon time or payment made before the next anniversary date of employment, termination of employment, or completion of the current contract, whichever occurs first. 29 C.F.R. § 4.173(c)(2).

The requirements for furnishing data relative to employee hiring dates in situations where such employees worked for ``predecessor'' contractors are set forth in Sec. 4.6. However, a contractor is not relieved from any obligation to provide vacation benefits because of any difficulty in obtaining such data.

c. The Q57 answer, “The incumbent employees will start as new employees” is inaccurate. The Government will not award an economic price adjustment to cover vacation fringe benefits.

Q.186. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A57 – SCA Paid Vacation Benefits Accrual. The listed SCA Wage Determinations are inconsistent with regard to the qualifying years of service for paid vacation benefits, as follows:

Location SCA WD # Paid Vacation Qualifications

Ft Bragg, NC

Camp Lejeune, NC

WD 05-2394 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 8 years, and

4 weeks after 20 years

Hurlburt Field, FL

Pensacola, FL

Eglin AFB, FL

WD 05-3034 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 7 years, and

4 weeks after 11 years

Coronado, CA

Camp Pendleton, CA

WD 05-2058 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 5 years, and

4 weeks after 15 years

Norfolk, VA

Virginia Beach, VA

WD 05-2544 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 8 years, and

4 weeks after 15 years

Stennis, MS WD 05-2302 1 week paid vacation after 1 year

2 weeks after 2 years;

3 weeks after 5 years; and

4 weeks after 15 years

Draper, UT WD 05-2532 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 5 years, and

4 weeks after 15 years

Ft Campbell, KY WD 05-2188 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 8 years, and

4 weeks after 15 years

Ft Carson, CO WD 05-2080 2 weeks paid vacation after 1

3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 12 years, 5 weeks after 20 years, and

6 weeks after 25 years

Ft. Lewis, WA WD 05-2567 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 5 years, and

4 weeks after 15 years

Birmingham, AL WD 05-2004 2 weeks paid vacation after 1 year

3 weeks after 8 years, and

4 weeks after 20 years

These inconsistencies create extra demands on HR to equitably administer benefits to employees company-wide when SCA requirements differ.

a. How should offerors equitably treat prior years service for part time incumbents (less than 36 hours per week) compared to full time incumbents (36 to 40 hours per week) when accruing for paid vacation benefits.

b. How should offerors equitably treat prior breaks in service between task orders for some incumbents when other incumbents may not have similar breaks in service?

A.186.

a. SCA makes no distinction between temporary, part-time, and full-time employees.

In the absence of an expressed limitation on a wage determination, wage and fringe benefit requirements apply equally to all such employees. 29 C.F.R. § 4.165(a)(2). However, part-time employees need only be provided with a proportionate amount of the vacation and holiday fringe benefits due full-time employees. 29 C.F.R. § 4.176.

b. If an employee’s total length of service adds up to one year, he/she would be eligible for one week’s vacation. However, such service must have been rendered continuously for a period of not less than one year for vacation eligibility. 29 C.F.R. § 4.173(b).

The term continuous service does not require the combination of two entirely separate periods of employment. Whether or not there is a break in continuity so as to deprive an employee of his or her vacation entitlement is dependent upon the facts in a particular case.

The primary consideration in making a determination of “break in service” is what caused the interruption and why did it occur, not the length of time of the break.

Q.187. Given that the government requires details answers in the Instructor Resume’s, can the government describe what criteria it will use to determine whether the answers to the questions are technically acceptable?

A.187. Instructor resumes must reflect qualified personnel with the skills and security clearances required to meet the PWS requirements, including the ability to access specialized skill sets.

Q.188. CDRL A006 requires a report listing all contractor personnel working within any USG facility prior to award for the proposal submission. This requirement seems unclear and unnecessary as a pre-award requirement and should only be a post-award (during contract execution) report.

USSOCOM has already stated no identifying information should be included in this list for proposal submission. What is the value of providing a personnel report with no identifying information? A.188. This is a contractual requirement. Do not use employee names with the submittal of proposal; the use of employee numbers as identifiers is appropriate.

Is this report to include ALL contractor personnel in ANY government facility on ANY contract of all prime and sub-contractor companies? A.188. No. If so, this list might entail over 100,000 personnel at least across our team and have no immediate relevance to the SOCOM LREC program.

c.) Is this report only for personnel associated with this contract? A.188. Yes. If so, how can we predict who will be at which facility given this is an “Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity”

(ID/IQ) contract? A.188. The awardee will need to update their employee roster with names within 30 days after contract award.

We have no means of predicting which personnel will be at individual facilities in the future especially given the USG has not provided exact course dates, language requirements, etc.

Additionally, CDRL A006 is referenced in Amendment #1 Q&A #17 as also providing the POC list for each training site on this program. However, given the limited information supplied by the

USG, we cannot assign hypothetical people to locations without first having an identified requirement for those locations.

d.) Can the USG please clarify its intent with the POC list and Employee Roster related to CDRL

A006 as it pertains to the submission of this proposal? A.188. Again, this is an identified contractual requirement. The intent is present our LREC requirements to prospective contractors thus to enable them to prepare their proposal properly.

Q.189. Re: Attachment 5. Reference the past performance form, the vendor shall provide Section E:

Line 3- Estimate at Completion. Please clarify if the Government is requesting a dollar amount or the program date of completion?

A.189. Estimate at Completion (EAC) is the estimated cost of the final cost that will be incurred when the contract is completed.

Q.190. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A24. States, “Key Personnel include President, Vice President, Chief Financial

Officers (CFO), Location/Site Managers and alternates, and Instructor Trainers.”

If the prime does not have these exact positions within their current organization can the leave out or change titles for their corporate management. (Example: Our Organization is set up to have a VP of

Administration which covers financial management and human resources)

A.190. Change the titles to match your corporate management structure.

Q.191. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A37. References the training locations for the employee roster and states “this requirement applies to all locations listed in 4.7.5.” Will the Government please clarify if a POC may be provided for more than one location listed in 4.7.5?

A.191. Yes, a POC may be provided for more than one training location.

Q.192. Re: Jun 27. CDRLs 0006 calls for SSN or TINs. Will the government consider removing this requirement until post award? Possibly 1-2 weeks after the award as we will have I-9 in place with the staff.

A.192. No. Do not use employee names with the submittal of proposal; the use of employee numbers as identifiers is appropriate. The awardee will need to update their employee roster with names within

30 days after contract award.

Q.193. Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A7. States that the candidate must have a language proficiency score immediately preceding the period they will support the contract. Question 38 implies that the candidates must be tested prior to submitting the employee roster with the proposal as does Question

22. Will the government clarify the requirement for when proficiency testing is required and consider the post award option as a more timely test for their instructors?

A.193. Proposals shall clearly indicate the proficiency level(s) of the instructors proposed to provide the required services. Proficiency documentation and/or test results shall be provided in writing to the Government with your proposal and as part of the Employee Roster (CDRL A006).

Q.194 Re: Jun 27 Q&A #A57. Says that all hires should be viewed as new hires and adjustments will not be allowed. Since this is an SCA contract the contractor is required to honor the time incumbent employees have on the previous contract. Will the government consider re-visiting their answer to this question per DOL regulations? (Reference - http://www.wdol.gov/)

A.194. The Q57 answer, “The incumbent employees will start as new employees” is inaccurate. The Government will not award an adjustment to the FFP course prices upon award based upon unplanned vacation accruals for incumbent employees.