H92239-15-R-0002_Psychological_Assessment_Amendment_0001_.doc

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION SF 30 - BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

The following have been added by full text:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Questions and Answers

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT SUPPORT

H92239-15-R-0002

1. Is this a new requirement? No If this is not a new requirement:

· Who is the incumbent? Special Psychological Applications

· What is the contract dollar value? $7,104,044.00

· What is the period of performance? The Pop is 1 Sep 2010-31 Aug 2015

Base Year and Four (4) Option Years

· How many contract psychologist FTEs are provided under the incumbent contract?

The Government does not determine the number of FTEs is required in support of this mission. It is the offeror's responsibility to determine the number of FTEs required to meet all the terms and conditions of the contract. The requirement is for the number of man days as listed in Schedule B of the Solicitation which vary as annotated in the base year and option years; however this does not directly equate to a specific number of personnel required to support this contract as up to 10 psychologists, divided amongst up to 6 locations may be needed on a single day. Ref: ( C.1.1.)

2. How many SOCAS users are supported (C.4.2.1.3)? Variable based on 360 feedback requests. The SOCAS software will be centrally located.

3. What is the projected length of each candidate interview for the 160th SOAR Assessment and Selection Program (C.2.4) and the 160th SOAR Enlisted and Selection Program (C.2.4.1)? All board appearances are approximately 60- 90 Min

4. What is the projected length of each board appearance per candidate for the 160th SOAR Assessment and Selection Program (C.2.4), the 160th SOAR Enlisted and Selection Program (C.2.4.1), JSOC Assessment and Selection (C.2.5), SFAS (C.2.6), CAAS (C.2.7), POAS (C.2.8), and NACSPECWARCOM (C.2.11)? All board appearances are approximately 60-90 min

5. What is the location of the RTL portion of SERE Training (C.5)? Ft Bragg, NC

6. How many desks will be provided at Ft Bragg and Camp MacKall each (C.1.5.1)? One per contract psychologist for the event

7. Are all contract psychologists expected to office at Ft Bragg and Camp MacKall as their permanent duty location, when not travelling? No

8. The time requirements associated with the primary and secondary responsibilities for one part-time employee performing Contractor Administrative Support Services (C.6) far exceed the NTE amount of 5 days per year, as listed in CLINS 0001AE, 1001AE, 2001AE, 3001AE, and 4001AE – and, furthermore, are likely to exceed part-time support. Will the Government increase these CLINS to a true part-time (0.5 FTE) quantity? Will the Government consider increasing these CLINS to 1 FTE quantity? This admin support is for government activities supported by the contract, not for the contractor company admin requirements.

9. What positions does the Government consider Key Personnel? All Psychologists

10. Psychologists may not be hired until after contract award; therefore, resumes may not be available at the time of proposal. Are resumes required for psychologists as part of the offeror’s proposal? Yes and see Section M at M.3.1.2

11. Contractor Administrative Support Personnel may not be hired until after contract award; therefore, a resume may not be available at the time of proposal. Is a resume required for Contractor Administrative Support personnel as part of the offeror’s proposal? A resume is required as requested as part of the proposal.

12. Which of the listed Task Assignments(TAs) do you believe will incur concurrent activities? Frequently, different sites have concurrent activities that require psychologists dispersed at up to 4-5 sites.

13. What is the current staffing level by specialty for the program? The number of individual psychologist need varies by week and month.

14. What is being requested in terms of number of Psychologists by specialty?

It is the vendor's discretion upon review of the SOW to determine the number of Psychologists they wish to propose. The majority of the work is Assessment and Selection completed by clinical psychologists trained in Operational Psychology.

15. In the price requested area you request a price for Psych Operational Analysis Spt, can you let me know where specifically this task is in the RFP? Section C .1.2.4. of the SOW.

16. Do we need to provide you a price based on your requested days’ work? Or the task identified? A price for a days' work for the task identified. (i.e. 1 psychologist for 1 day doing Task X)

17. Do the days listed on the CLIN include multiple people or just days regardless if 1 or 10 people needed to do it? A man day is one psychologist for one day.( i.e. 6 psychologists for 1 day would be 6 man-days).

18. Given the variable demand for psychologists, your cost proposal request is given in days. Is this per person for that many days? Yes. A man-day is one psychologist for one day. (i.e. 6 psychologists for one day would be 6 man-days).

19. Does the pricing for 350 days imply that the Psychologist is on call on weekends? How many of these Psychologists do you expect? Work is typically scheduled more than a week in advance and can occur on weekend days. Due to the advanced scheduling, there is no requirement for anyone to be "on-call." Weekend travel days for Monday start time is typical. (i.e. if the requirement is for 10 psychologists working on any given day, it is possible that all ten could work on a weekend day).

20. What is the desired role of the 5 psychologists who you need to have the Top Secret clearance? The majority of the work is Assessment and Selection completed by clinical psychologists trained in Operational Psychology.

21. There appears to be travelling involved with this task with the majority of the work at Ft Bragg. How many people do you require to reside near Ft Bragg? The majority of the work is at Ft. Bragg. There is no requirement for psychologist location as long as they are able to be present at the location of the services when needed.

22. With the requirements away from Ft Bragg, which positions are psychologists expected to reside locally and which positions have travel included? Is the travel expected to be from Ft Bragg? The majority of the work is at Ft. Bragg. There is no requirement for psychologist location as long as they are able to be present at the location of the services when needed.

23. What is the 360 software tool being used? We currently use a proprietary tool developed for our population.

24. Should the LOE be based on the days of support identified in Section B or in section C.? Section C provides variable LOE requirements The Descriptions and Specifications , Section C is as titled and includes the Statement of Work which informs what you are pricing for the Supplies and Services Pricing, Section B

25. Can you identify how section B pricing maps to section C activities Same as above

26. Is the SOCAS a COTS SW system or is it owned by SOCOM? We currently use a proprietary tool developed for our population. (SOCAS)

27. Says this position should be located at USASOC DPA, but the pricing file says no more than 5 days per year. The requirements spell out much more LOE than 5 days, is this accurate? The requirement is as stated.

28. This sounds like gov't furnished training, can this certification be gained post contract award? If not, how can a contractor get this without access? SERE training is typically gained while on active duty in the DoD.

29. Says requirement can be waived. Should this be a desired qualification? Waivers would be rare instances. The vast majority of the work requires a doctorate level psychology degree

30. Key Personnel: Do they have to be full time employees or is a consultant agreement considered "employed by the firm"?

It is the vendor's discretion to determine the criteria of the personnel they wish to propose

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES

SUBCLIN 0001AA

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 54.00 from 350.00 to 404.00.

SUBCLIN 1001AA

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 110.00 from 350.00 to 460.00.

SUBCLIN 1001AB

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 45.00 from 70.00 to 115.00.

SUBCLIN 1001AC

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 2.00 from 6.00 to 8.00.

SUBCLIN 2001AA

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 110.00 from 350.00 to 460.00.

SUBCLIN 2001AB

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 45.00 from 70.00 to 115.00.

SUBCLIN 2001AC

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 2.00 from 6.00 to 8.00.

SUBCLIN 3001AA

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 110.00 from 350.00 to 460.00.

SUBCLIN 3001AB

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 45.00 from 70.00 to 115.00.

SUBCLIN 3001AC

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 2.00 from 6.00 to 8.00.

SUBCLIN 4001AA

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 110.00 from 350.00 to 460.00.

SUBCLIN 4001AB

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 45.00 from 70.00 to 115.00.

SUBCLIN 4001AC

The pricing detail quantity has increased by 2.00 from 6.00 to 8.00.

SECTION F - DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 0001AA has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2015 TO

31-AUG-2016

FOB: Destination

To:

POP 01-SEP-2015 TO

31-AUG-2016

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 1001AA has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

31-AUG-2017

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 1001AB has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 1001AC has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

POP 01-SEP-2016 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 2001AA has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

31-AUG-2018

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 2001AB has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 2001AC has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

POP 01-SEP-2017 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 3001AA has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

31-AUG-2019

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 3001AB has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 3001AC has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

POP 01-SEP-2018 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 4001AA has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

31-AUG-2020

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 4001AB has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

The following Delivery Schedule item for SUBCLIN 4001AC has been changed from:

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

POP 01-SEP-2019 TO

SECTION I - CONTRACT CLAUSES

The following have been added by full text:

5652.237-9001 Key Personnel Requirements (2003) Section I

(a) Certain experienced professional and/or technical personnel are essential for successful accomplishment of the work to be performed under this contract. Such personnel are defined as "Key Personnel" and are those persons whose resumes were submitted for evaluation of the proposal. The contractor agrees that such personnel shall not be removed from the contract work or replaced without compliance with the following:

1) If one or more of the key personnel, for any reason, becomes or is expected to become unavailable for work under this contract for a continuous period exceeding 30 work days, or is expected to devote substantially less effort to the work than indicated in the proposal or initially anticipated, the contractor shall, subject to the concurrence of the Contracting Officer or an authorized representative, promptly replace personnel with personnel of equal ability and qualifications.

2) All requests for approval of substitutions hereunder must be in writing and provide a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitutions. The request must contain a resume for the proposed substitute, and any other information requested by the Contracting Officer. The Contracting Officer shall promptly notify the contractor of approval or disapproval in writing.

(b) If the Contracting Officer determines that suitable and timely replacement of Key Personnel who have been reassigned, terminated or have otherwise become unavailable for the contract work is not reasonably forthcoming or that the resultant reduction of productive effort would be so substantial as to impair successful completion of the contract, the Contracting Officer may terminate the contract for default or for the convenience of the Government, as appropriate, or make an equitable adjustment to the contract to compensate the Government for any resultant delay, loss or damage.

(c) The follow positions are identified as Key Personnel:

All Psychologist

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

The following have been modified:

EVALUATION

M.1 Best Value Introduction. This section outlines the criteria the Government will use in evaluating the offeror’s capabilities and proposals for the Psychological Assessment Support contract. An Offeror shall quote on all items in Schedule B with the exception of the travel to be eligible for award. The Government will compare each offeror’s capabilities and proposal elements against the predetermined evaluation criteria related to the Government’s requirement defined herein. This is a competitive, best value, source selection that will be conducted in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15 and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Part 215.

M.1.1 Best Value Evaluation. The Government will evaluate all proposals received against the Qualifying Criteria, Management/Technical Plan, Past and Present Performance and Price. All qualifying criteria are evaluated on a pass or fail basis. A color/adjectival rating technique will be used to evaluate the Management/Technical Plan. Past and Present Performance will receive an overall confidence level rating. The Price Factor will not be given a color rating or scored. The sub factors within the Management/Technical are in descending order of importance. The Management/Technical Plan (Factor 1) and Past and Present Performance (Factors 2) are significantly more important than Price (Factor 3).

Qualifying Criteria

Pass/Fail

Evaluation

M.2. Qualifying Criteria. Information submitted for the qualifying criteria will be evaluated to determine if the proposal meets the definitions below in order to “pass.” If the offeror fails any of the qualifying criteria, they will “fail” to qualify (i.e. be determined ineligible for award as a deficiency). The offerors will be assessed as passed if the minimum requirements definitions below have been met.

M.2.1 Facility Clearance. The contractor shall either indicate that the contractor possesses a facility clearance at the classification level of TOP SECRET or the contractor shall affirmatively acknowledge that the contractor shall initiate a request for a facility clearance within 2-days after contract award and understands that such a facility clearance is required prior to start of the period of performance If the contractor does not currently possess the requisite facility clearance (FCL), documented proof must be provided two (2) days after award of the offeror's submission to acquire the applicable clearance. The contractor must obtain/maintain at least an interim TOP SECRET FCL and the required TOP SECRET personnel security clearances within 21 days after contract award and prior to the start of the period of performance. .

M.2.2 Contract Forms and Certifications. The offeror indicated that it is eligible for a Government contract based on the offeror’s responses to the representations, certifications, all contract forms, and other statements required by the Request for Proposal (RFP). All Contract Forms, Representations, and Certifications are completed as required.

M.3 FACTOR 1: Management/Technical. Under the Management/Technical Factor, the Government will evaluate the offeror’s overall approach to support the Psychological Assessment Support effort, teaming arrangements, if proposed, and expertise to manage, transition and organize support for the Psychological Assessment requirements. Evaluation of this factor shall focus on the strengths, deficiencies, significant weaknesses, and weaknesses of the offeror’s proposal. Evaluation of risk associated with the offeror’s proposal for this factor is inherent in the evaluation. The Government will favorably consider proposed innovations and efficiencies that will enhance contract performance and are a benefit to the Government. The Government will roll up sub factor ratings into an overall rating for this Factor. Sub factors are in descending order of importance. Note that if an offeror’s proposal demonstrates a material failure to meet a Government requirement, it is a deficiency in the offeror’s proposal. When evaluating the Management/Technical Plan, the Government will consider the following standards. Offerors are reminded that the burden of providing sufficient data rests with the Offerors.

Management/Technical Evaluation Standards

M.3.1 Sub factor 1: Management Plan

M.3.1.1 Program Management. Demonstrated ability to ensure integrity and effectiveness of the company in compliance with contractual requirements

M.3.1.2. Experience and qualifications of proposed Key Personnel. Each offeror shall provide resumes for each proposed key personnel employee. Key personnel are all Psychologists as listed in 5652.237-9001 Key Personnel Requirements. To be rated in the area, the contractor shall provide personnel resumes that comply with the qualifications identified in the SOW. These personnel resumes will be used to determine the contractor's ability to staff the key personnel positons with qualified employees that are in compliance with the statement of work. The resumes shall include the name of the individuals being proposed.

M.3.1.3. Human Resources Management. Demonstrated ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel. Hiring and retaining a qualified workforce – Each offeror shall provide its proposed method of hiring and maintaining a qualified workforce. The Government will evaluate each offeror’s approach to recruitment and retention. Using the offeror’s submission of key personnel resumes and proposed approach of ensuring compliance, the Government will evaluate the offeror’s level of understanding as well as the ability to fulfill the contract requirements.

M.3.1.4. Performance management/service level management. Demonstrated ability to manage employees at simultaneous events; minimizing risk to training by replacing personnel to maintain 100% site support; and responding to problems during training. Management process that empowers site leads with authority to resolve issues at the local levels.

M.3.1.5. Quality assurance/quality improvement. Method for providing quality control over daily work performance and procedures for corrective action to include inspection techniques and documentation reports.

M.3.1.6. Teaming Arrangements/Partnering Agreements, if proposed. The offeror shall list by team member the types of tasks estimated to be subcontracted. The offeror shall list how it plans to: interact with subcontractors/team members; allocate work between the prime and subcontractors; exercise oversight/control of cost, schedule and performance.

M.3.1.7. Transition plan. The offeror shall describe their overall management approach for transition with a complete transition plan. The offeror shall address its capability to execute a smooth and seamless phase-in/transition leading to assumption of full contractual responsibility. This description shall include management expertise, ability to meet all security requirements (facility and personnel), procedures and policies, risk mitigation techniques, flexibility and experience that when viewed collectively demonstrates the offeror's ability to successfully execute a contract phase-in. The offeror shall explain how each activity would be assured of timely completion, identify its phase-in management team and describe its approach for interfacing with the incumbent contractor.

M.3.2 Sub factor 2: Technical Approach

Under this sub factor, the Government will evaluate how the offeror’s proposal demonstrates a complete understanding of the requirements in the SOW and conveys methodologies, techniques and a detailed approach that enhances the likelihood of satisfactory performance and performance quality.

The proposal's Technical Approach shall fully address:

M.3.2.1. Candidate Assessment and Selection

M.3.2.2. Curriculum Develpoment, Performance Enhancement and Provision of Operational

Psychological Training

M.3.2.3. Professional Development of Officer and NCO Leaders

M.3.2.4. Experience with Operational Psychology Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation

M.3.2.5. Experience with the ARSOF Community

M.3.2.6. Hiring and Retaining a Qualified workforce with qualification IAW with the SOW (C.8)

M.3.3 Sub factor 3: Documented Corporate Experience.

Under this sub factor, the Government will evaluate how the offeror’s proposal defines a complete, sound and realistic broad spectrum plan that analyzes the requirements and verifies the performance in order to determine if the proposal meets the requirements and to what degree the proposed approach indicates an understanding of the requirements per the definitions contained within Table 1 below. At a minimum the Management Plan sub factor should demonstrate relevancy of corporate experience and core competency in conducting the required training. The Government will evaluate each offeror's organizational experience on the basis of it depth and its relevance to the work that will be required under the resultant contract.

SECTION M- Table 1. Combined Technical (Color) and Risk Ratings

M.4 FACTOR 2: Past and Present Performance. The Past Performance evaluation considers the offeror’s demonstrated record of performance in providing services and products that meet the users’ needs and in past performance regarding subcontracting. Past Performance evaluation shall focus on the recency and relevancy as defined in Section L regarding how well the contractor performed or is performing the same or similar type of work under other Government or commercial contracts.

M.4.1 The Government will conduct an in-depth review and evaluation of all performance data obtained to determine how closely the work performed under those efforts relates to the current requirement. The performance evaluation will be based on the data gathered by information sheets, questionnaires and interviews, submitted SF 294/295s, and the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System reports as available through the Past Performance Retrieval System. The Government is not limited to these resources.

M.4.2 The Government will evaluate the present and past performance of the efforts (that meet the recency and relevancy criteria in Section L) in order to determine the Government’s overall level of confidence in the offeror’s ability to successfully perform the required effort. The Confidence Ratings with definitions that will be utilized are contained within Table 2 below.

SECTION M - Table 2. Performance Confidence Assessments

Unknown Confidence

(Neutral No recent/relevant performance record is available or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

M.5 FACTOR 3: Price Factor Evaluation

M.5.1 FACTOR 3: Price and Schedule B. Price will be evaluated to determine that it is fair and reasonable IAW FAR 15.404 to include ensuring the price is not unrealistically low or unreasonably high without valid explanation. Price proposal evaluations will consider the basic price and all option year prices for a total overall Factor price. The Government will roll-up CLIN/SubCLIN prices into an overall total price for the overall Factor price. Price will not receive a color rating or score.

M.6 Basis of Award. To arrive at a source selection decision, the Source Selection Authority will perform an integrated assessment using the evaluation factors described in Section M. This may result in awards being made to the higher rated, potentially higher priced offeror (s) where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors.

This is a best value source selection conducted in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 15.101-1 and 15.406. The Government will select the best overall offeror, based upon an integrated management/technical plan (which includes proposal risk), past/present performance assessment and price. For a proposal to be eligible for award the Offeror shall: be deemed responsible in accordance with FAR Part 9.103, meet all management/technical requirements of the solicitation, conform to all required terms and conditions, and include all required certifications. An evaluation will be made of each Offeror's proposal resulting in an integrated assessment of the factors set forth above. Offerors are cautioned that mere repetition of the Government’s requirements without explanation of how they propose to meet the Government’s requirements shall be considered unsatisfactory and downgraded appropriately. Offerors are cautioned that any deficiency in any factor may be grounds for exclusion of the proposal from further consideration for award. To arrive at a best value decision, the Source Selection Authority (SSA) will integrate the source selection team's (SST) input, and then assess each offeror's proposal in accordance with the evaluation factors and sub factors in Section M.

The Government intends award without discussions however, after completion of the evaluation, the Government may elect to establish a competitive range and conduct discussions, if determined necessary to make an award. The Government reserves the right for efficiency purposes to only include the most highly rated proposals in the competitive range.

The Government reserves the right to award a contract to other than the lowest priced Offeror after consideration of all factors. The Government reserves the right to award without discussions. Therefore, it is imperative that Offerors submit their best possible proposal the first time. If however, during the evaluation period, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government to hold discussions, Offeror responses to evaluation notices and their Final Revised Proposal will be considered in making the source selection decision. The Government contemplates a single award; however, the Government reserves the right to make no award if no proposals meet the requirements of the solicitation.

(End of Summary of Changes)