Amendment 1 Questions and Answers 21R9001.pdf

Questions and Answers 1 through 15

HE125421R9001

Electronic Work Paper Solution(EWPS)

Q1. Is there an incumbent contractor currently performing these services, and if similar services have been performed in the past, or is this is a new requirement?

A1. This is a new requirement. In addition, the Government cannot disclose any past contract information. The offeror is encouraged to research past contract awards via the public domains available to industry for Government/business opportunities.

Q2. For Offline Processing 2.6.13 #7 – Ability for peer review access of entire project file without access to OIG network. Are you requesting that the reviewer would initially connect to the OIG network for sync, and then no longer have access – or never be connected to the OIG network?

A2. For peer review access, the review would never be connected to the OIG network.

Q3. The solicitation suggests there are defined processes for audits, evaluations, and other reviews – will these be provided in the form of workflows including roles, etc. digital or hard copy?

A3. The defined processes for audits, evaluations and other reviews will be provided to the successful offeror and they are not needed for proposal submission.

Q4. With the installation requirements, Will a network topology be provided to assist the solution provider with required traversal of the physical and logical connections? Interface documentation/ICD?

A4. This information will be provided to the successful offeror. It is not needed for proposal submission.

Q5. 4. Do you have a summary of how you envision the final product to operate in your environment?

A5. From a Cybersecurity perspective: Ability to integrate with common Department of Defense security postured programs/systems such as HBSS, CAC authentication, operated within Security Technical Implementation Guides (for the actual product and any interface that it may require such as Chrome, IE11, SQL, etc.), operate within an encrypted environment both at rest and in transit, vulnerabilities are remediated within a timely fashion. Really common environment for a DoD operation.

Q6. The subcontracting plan indicates that 30% of the Total Contract Value must be allocated to small businesses. Since the majority of this contract over 10 years would be software and related maintenance, we do not clearly understand how we could use a Small Business for 30% of the amount. Our only option here appears to be to work with a small business to respond as the prime contractor. Is that something that the DoD would consider?

A6. It is up to the contractor to propose where the subcontracting work would be accomplished.

However, we will be amending the solicitation to lower the percentage use of a small business to 10% (less software license and maintenance cost).

Q7. Pricing starts at 600 licenses and grows to 900. Since the DoD has 875 licenses presently.

Decreasing the licenses in the base year would end up costing the Federal Government more in the long run. Our suggestion would be to start with the current license count and then price in upgrades until the 1000 total is reached as directed in the RFQ. Do you agree with this approach?

A7. Your firm has the option to propose the best possible competitive pricing structure that will be mutually beneficial to your company and to the Government. Our requirement for 600 licenses in the first year that graduates to 900 with an option to increase up to 1000 over a ten year period cannot be changed based on the current number of licenses used on the existing system. Please Note: The new EWPS will be in operation simultaneously with the existing Audit Management System.

Q8. Is the following up for negotiation? "Items PS 1. On‐call requests for support shall be responded to within 1 business day, with problem resolution completed within 2 business days." While this is a great target, we cannot contractually obligate ourselves to a one‐day response. As we learned, due to COVID‐19, some factors are simply beyond our control. That said, customer service and solid support remain our top priority. We are proud to serve over 120 Federal Government agencies and contractors as well as 1000+ in the public sector globally. Thank you for your consideration.

A8. The EWPS is a mission critical system that must be fully functioning with minimal downtime. The requirement for a 1 business day response to acknowledge that problem exists is not considered unreasonable for most commercial software capabilities. We do want to revise the language for resolution within 48 hours to read as follows:

From:

2.4 (Objective 4) Software Maintenance

(Task 1) The contractor shall provide on‐call software support to resolve user configuration and operator issues and operating anomalies

2.4.1 PS 1 On‐call requests for support shall be responded to within 1 business day, with problem resolution completed within 2 business days.

AQL 1. 98% of all problems will be resolved within 2 business days, the remaining within 4 business days of the initial request.

To:

2.4.1 PS 1. On‐call requests for support shall be responded to within 1 business day. Problem resolution shall normally be completed within 2 business days. User configuration and operator issues and operating anomalies that cannot be resolved within 2 business days shall be coordinated with the COR. The contractor shall document a plan for resolving the problem and provide a projected date for resolution.

AQL 1. 98% of all problems will normally be resolved within 2 business days, the remaining within 4 business days from initial request, unless coordination with the COR results in acceptance of a later date.

Q9. The solicitation lists training and multimedia under the 508 compliance. We have a VPAT for the TeamMate+ application but do not self certify training materials or instructor‐led training at this time.

Will this be sufficient? If not, we may need to talk through an alternate solution but this would add additional cost due to required resources.

A9. Yes, this will be sufficient. DoD OIG can make separate accommodations in the event training material and instructor led training should require 508 compliance. On page 59 of the RFP remove the requirement for Video and Multimedia Products compliance.

Q10. This response will take input from nearly every part of the business. Several of the key contacts have planned time off but have agreed to work on this when they have downtime. Furthermore, as stated above, it appears that we will need to partner with a small business. Since we do not currently have any authorized resellers, it could take a bit of time to identify a company with which to partner.

To ensure that we provide the most thorough response possible, would the DoD agree to push the due date back to Thursday, July 30th?

Electronic Work Paper Solution(EWPS)

A10. A response was provided – see A6. The Government is including the SBA link for subcontracting in Amendment 1 to the RFP along with the incorporation of the Q&As and any additional amendment material. The SBA link for subcontracting:

https://www.sba.gov/federal‐contracting/contracting‐guide/prime‐subcontracting

Q11. The document states "A minimum quantitative requirement (MQR) of 30% or better of the total contract value for small business concerns participation is required. Small business primes performance is included in the 30% or better participation)". Given a majority of the contract value will be software licenses and maintenance, recommend the government reword the requirement to read " "A minimum quantitative requirement (MQR) of 30% or better of the total contract value (less software license and maintenance cost) for small business concerns participation is required. Small business primes performance is included in the 30% or better participation)".

A11. See answer A6.

Q12. The document states "The EWPS must be an on premise solution". Would the DoDIG consider a Cloud‐based SaaS solution?

A12. Again, the EWPS must be on premise only. It cannot be cloud based.

Q13. The document states "System must store structured and unstructured data in SQL Server to ensure supportability by ISD and avoid additional costs related to integrating and supporting unfamiliar technologies". The DoDIG also supports many Oracle‐based systems. Would the DoDIG consider Oracle as an alternative database management system (DBMS) technology?

A13. DoD OIG is transitioning away from Oracle and does not authorize an alternative database management system for EWPS.

Q14. The solicitation calls out the requirement for Super User Training and Train‐the‐Trainer but there is no mention of Audit User training? While we can meet the requirements as requested, it is considered unusual not to include user training. Please confirm that this is correct.

A14. User Training is not required. The user training will be provided by Government personnel who are trained from the Train‐the‐Trainer program.

Q15. Request to remove clauses: Consistent with FAR Part 12 [specifically FAR Subsection 12.301(b)(3), 12.301(d) and 12.302], we respectfully request the following clause be removed by an Amendment to the solicitation.

52.211‐11 (51.212‐4(f) is applicable).

52.237‐3 (also, this solicitation is predominantly for Software and not services) .

52.242‐15 ‐ 52.246‐4 (52.212‐4(a) is applicable) 52.249‐8 (52.212‐4(m) is applicable) 252.227‐7013 – 252.243‐7001 (Cost principles and procedures in FAR Part 31 and DFARS Part 31 are not applicable to FAR Part 12) 252.2143‐7002 (This clauses includes requirements that are exempt for requirements for commercial items (FAR Subsection 15.403‐1(b)((3)

A15. Request denied – all clauses will remain as is. For Clause 52.237‐3 this solicitation is software as a service because of the PWS and the predominate Program Management component – it shall remain categorized as a service.