Amendment 0001 - LIS QA.pdf

Amendment 0001 - H9821024R0010 Questions and Answers

Number Question RFQ Reference RFQ Page Government Response

Section 5.0 Deliverables in the table states, Labor Hours PWS Paragraph

6.1. However, Section 6.0 and subsection 6.1 apply to travel. It appears the appropriate subparagraph is 5.1, subsection to 5.0.

Question: Can the Government confirm the PWS reference in the table for Labor Hours?

IDIQ PWS,

Attachment 1 Page 10 The PWS has been updated to correct this discrepancy.

Section 5.0 Deliverables in the table states, Travel Report PWS Paragraph

7.2. Section 7.0 refers to Records Management and Subsection 7.2 specifically to control of data created and used under the contract, not to travel. It appears the appropriate subparagraph is 6.1, subsection to 6.0 TRAVEL should be the appropriate reference..

Question: Can the Government confirm the PWS reference in the table for Travel Report?

IDIQ PWS,

Attachment 1 Page 10 The PWS has been updated to correct this discrepancy.

Section 16.0 MANDATORY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS states the following: "Contractor employees performing under this contract shall complete the following mandatory trainings within 30 calendar days of reporting for duty and annually thereafter when applicable".

Question: Many IHE instructors may not be considered employees.

Instead, many are deemed short-term independent contractors brought on to teach a specific language class for a few weeks or months. They may be asked to return at a later date for another short-term assignment if the IHE has a customer who needs their specific language skills. Does the government require these instructors, whether employees or not, to take this mandatory training?

IDIQ PWS,

Attachment 1 Pages 16-17 No. Training is only required for those from the prime contractor directly supporting the contract.

Section 16.0 MANDATORY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS states the following: "Contractor employees performing under this contract shall complete the following mandatory trainings within 30 calendar days of reporting for duty and annually thereafter when applicable Question: Does the government require the IHE administrative/management staff working on this contract to take the mandatory training?

IDIQ PWS,

Attachment 1 Pages 16-17 No. Training is only required for those from the prime contractor directly supporting the contract.

Task Order #1 Pricing, Ordering Year 1 Tab, the first row requests offerors price outreach materials for clients - handouts which will include a catalog.

Question: For pricing purposes, can the Government provide an estimated page count for the catalog?

Pricing Table, Attachment 2, Ordering Year 1 Tab

N/A

This product is expected to be of professional quality. The pricing schedule suggests the catalogue content. The contractor should propose its best idea for providing the information in a manner that is thorough, accurate, efficient, and visually appealing.

Task Order #1 Pricing, Ordering Year 1 Tab, the 3rd row states, "Outreach material for clients - cumulative data to date".

Question: Can the Government confirm the intent of this line item? There is no parallel description in the Task Order 0001, Attachment 3 that provides any reference for offerors to calculate this pricing line.

Pricing Table, Attachment 2, Ordering Year 1 Tab

N/A This requirement was deleted from Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS. Please see the revised Attachment 2 - IDIQ Pricing Table which has also been updated.

Page

Number Question RFQ Reference RFQ Page Government Response

Task Order #1 Pricing, Ordering Year 1 Tab, the 4th row states, "Outreach material for clients - promotional video".

Question: Can the Government confirm the intent of this line item? There is no parallel description in the Task Order 0001, Attachment 3 that provides any reference for offerors to calculate this pricing line.

Pricing Table, Attachment 2, Ordering Year 1 Tab

N/A This requirement was deleted from Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS. Please see the revised Attachment 2 - IDIQ Pricing Table which has also been updated.

Pricing Tables: The Government has provided a template that asks for Credits vs. CEUs and a second row for No Credits or CEUs. Question:

Since there is a price difference between Credits and CEUs, will the Government update the pricing table to allow for three pricing options: 1.

College Credits; 2. CEUs; and 3. No Credits / CEUs in each student allocation request?

Price Tables, Attachment 2, Ordering Years 1 -5 Tabs

N/A

Attachment 2 - IDIQ Pricing Table has been updated to require pricing for college credits, continuing education units (CEU), and no credits or CEUs.

Offerors shall include pricing for each of the options identified in Attachment 2.

Section 10.1 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS references "...contact information for potential video interviewees."

Question: As it's important to pricing the promotional materials, can the Government elaborate on what is expected in terms of interviews? Who is being interviewed? How many expected interviews?

Task Order 0001 PWS, Attachment 3 Page 8 The promotional video requirement has been deleted from Attachment 3 -

Task Order PWS. Please reference updated section 10.1.

Number 7a and 7c describe the requirements for header and footer formatting. Part A refers to headers and the subpoints (i and ii) refer to footers. Additionally, per 7a and 7c the header and footer contents for every page are identical. Please clarify if this content should be in the header, footer, or both on every page.

Solicitation Page 11 Yes, each page of the proposal should contain this information in the header and footer.

Number 9 states that "This is an all-or-none requirement." Do offerors need to be able to support instruction in all of the listed languages in order to be eligible for the contract?

Solicitation Page 12 Yes, the Government is only awarding one contract so the awardee must be able to support all of the requirements contained in the solicitation.

The description of Volume II outlines elements A-E of the proposal. Are offerors required to provide all services (Elements A-E) in order to be eligible for the contract? For example, if the firm is able to provide Elements A-D, but cannot fulfill the services identified in Element E, are they ineligible.

Solicitation Pages 12-13 The Government is only awarding one contract so Offerors must be able to support all of the requirements contained in the solicitation.

For element E and the deliverables described in Attachment 3, will outreach materials be developed in English or will other languages be required? If so, what languages?

Solicitation and Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS

Page 3 The Government is only awarding one contract so Offerors must be able to support all of the requirements contained in the solicitation.

Under point 3.0 Scope, the IDIQ PWS indicates that DLNSEO seeks 2 types of contractors. One type of contractor currently has negotiated language training agreements with IHEs. The other type of contractor has the ability and connections to develop new partnerships. Is that interpetation correct?

Attachment 1 - IDIQ PWS Page 3

The Government is only awarding one contract so Offerors must be able to support all of the requirements contained in the solicitation. An Offeror must have the negotiated agreeements with IHEs to provide the necessary, required training and also be able to establish more agreements.

Under point 3.0 Scope, the IDIQ PWS indicates that DLNSEO seeks contractors with the ability to develop new partnerships with IHEs. Will the contractor be developing agreements between IHEs and the contractor?

Attachment 1 - IDIQ PWS Page 3 It is expected that the recipient of this contract award will have existing agreements with IHEs, and will have the ability to establish additional ones.

Number Question RFQ Reference RFQ Page Government Response

16 Among the languages listed in the solicitation documents, which languages most need new IHE partners to support instruction? N/A N/A The contractor's proposal shall provide solutions for supporting language training in all the languages listed in the requirement.

What are the current IT requirements for this contract? Given the imminenet rollout of CMMC, what will be the CMMC level (level 1, 2, or

3) required for the PWS after January 1, 2025.

N/A N/A There are no IT requirements for this contract. Instruction provided at IHEs will use their infrastructure. Instruction provided at government faciltiies will use their infrastructure.

Attachment 2 references "Outreach Materials for clients - promotional video" and "Outreach Materials for clients - cumulative data to date" under Task Order No. 1. These items are not described in any of the other solicitation documents. Please clarify the required deliverables for these items.

Attachment 2, Tab:

Ordering Year 1 N/A The promotional video requirement has been deleted from Attachment 3 -

Task Order PWS. Please reference updated section 10.1.

Attachment 3 describes Task Order No. 1. How many pages are in the catalog? Is the catalog printed in color or black and white? Is the catalog hard cover or soft cover? Is your preference that the catalog pages are printed 1-sided or 2-sided? Are there prescribed dimensions for the catalog size?

Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS N/A

This product is expected to be of professional quality. The pricing schedule suggests the catalogue content. The contractor should propose its best idea for providing the information in a manner that is thorough, accurate, efficient, and visually appealing. The catalogue should be color and two-sided.

Attachment 3 describes the promotional one-pager for Task Order No. 1.

Is the preference that the printed materials is 1-sided or or 2-sided?

What is the preferred paper size for the one-pager?

Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS N/A The promotional one-page is a 1-sided and 8.5"x11" size.

Attachment 3 describes the promotional palm card brochure. What are the preferred dimensions for the brochure? Is the preference for this to be printed in color or black and white?

Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS N/A

This product is expected to be of professional quality. The contractor should propose its best idea for providing the information in a manner that is thorough, accurate, efficient, and visually appealing. The palm cards must be color and two-sided.

In the LIS + IDIQ attachment, point 1 of the section entitled VOLUME I - Business Information refers to "FAR and DFARS provisions above which require completion by the offeror." Does this refer to the "Clauses incorporated by reference" on pp 5-9 or another section of the document?"

Solicitation Page 12

This is referring to the FAR and DFARS clauses which require fill-in of company information. The clauses are contained before this section and various other sections of the document. If Offerors have current representations and certifications in SAM.gov, the fill-in provisions and clauses are completed there. Offerors must ensure that all provisions and clauses are completed either within SAM.gov or provided with the Offeror's Business Proposal.

In the LIS + IDIQ attachment, point 1 of the section entitled VOLUME I - Business Information refers to "business size." Does this refer to the size of the workforce or the annual revenues?

Solicitation Page 12

The business size refers to the Offeror's size for this or comparable NAICS codes. Offerors shall confirm their size for this requirement based upon the NAICS code. The NAICS code for this requirement is 611430 which has a size standard of $15,000,000 (reference page 1 of the solicitation).

If an Offeror completes its representations and certifications in SAM.gov, the business size standard is completed for various NAICS codes that the business performs under.

The instructions listed on Attachment 4 do not ask for references related to Element E of the PWS. Is there a separate form that should be used for those references?

Attachment 4 - PPQ Page 1

The past performance questionnaire identifies categories consistent with those completed in the annual Contract Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Offerors shall ensure that they explain the correlation to the requirement in their Past Performance Proposal and the Past Performance Questionnaire provides the quality of performance on those past performance references.

Number Question RFQ Reference RFQ Page Government Response

25 Once printed, will the materials in Attachment 3 need to be shipped to various locations or in bulk to one location?

Attachment 3 - Task Order PWS N/A The printed materials will be shipped to the address listed in Block 15 on the

SF1449.

Can the Government please clarify/explain how they envision the small business awardee to ensure compliance with the SB set aside rules which states: “The small business concern will not pay more than 50 percent of the amount paid by the Government for contract performance to subcontractors that are not similarly situated entities.” The PWS suggests that the role of the small business focuses heavily on managing IHEs in the delivery of language training services.

Solicitation Page 3

Thank you for the question and concern. Amendment 0001 modifies the requirement to remove the small business set-aside due to this limitation. All firms are able to propose and the Limitations on Subcontracting requirement no longer applies.

Is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these or similar services? If yes, what is the name of the Contractor and what is the Contract Number

N/A N/A This is a follow-on acquisition. The current contract is an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract (contract number H9821019D0003) and is performed by MultiLingual Solutions.

Why is the Government soliciting these requirements outside of the current LTC program? Is there a specific gap or issue the Government aims to fill with the LTC program through this contract?

N/A N/A The LTC Grant Program is limited in its capabilities; therefore, the Government is contracting for specified services building upon the LTC model.

Must small business offerors have existing agreements in place with IHEs at time of proposal submission, or will this be discussed with the Government post award in order to collaborate on regional, language, or other priorities/gaps at DLNSEO?

Attachment 1 - IDIQ PWS, Scope Page 3 The contractor must have the capability to support task orders on the first day of the contract award.

30 Would the government consider extending the deadline, to allow for updated and thorough responses upon receipt of answers to questions? Solicitation Page 1

The Government has extended the due date based upon the changes contained in this amendment. Please reference the Amendment and conformed solicitation for the new due date and time.