Amendment_1_to_RFP.Questions Answers.2016.1.8.pdf

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION

NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER NO.

IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-RG-16-00 -JF

Nora I. Rivera, M.Ed, FAC III, Contracting Officer, OA, CSB, NHLBI, NIH

Amendment #1 to RFP HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-RG-16-00 -

The National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Office of Acquisitions, COAC Services Branch 6701 Rockledge Dr, MSC 7902, SUITE 6030 Bethesda, MD 20892-7902 n/a

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-RG-16-00 -JF

n/a n/a

1/8/2016Nora I. Rivera -S Digitally signed by Nora I. Rivera -S DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=HHS, ou=NIH, ou=People, cn=Nora I. Rivera -S, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.1=0011060254 Date: 2016.01.08 15:37:26 -05'00'

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI), Center for Scientific Review (CSR)

TRAVEL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES

AMENDMENT #1 – RFP #HHS-NIH-NHLBI-CSB-RG-16-005-JF

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1. Administrative and Fiduciary Support Services: What are the tasks and responsibilities required for these items?

Response: The tasks and responsibilities are part of Attachment #3-Statement of Work (SOW).

• The Contractor shall provide payment via non-Government credit card to hotels where peer review meetings are held throughout the United States for lodging, rental of meeting space, meeting room package, and AV equipment in support of peer review meetings. To understand the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of peer review hotel meeting space used per year is 30-50.

• The Contractor shall provide reimbursement payment to Foreign Reviewers and Domestic

Reviewers who may not have a U.S. Bank account or unable to receive direct deposit. To understand the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of reimbursement payments made per year is 50.

• The Contractor shall provide after-the-fact travel reimbursement payment for closed and paid out conference travel claims. To under the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of after-the-fact reimbursement payments made per year is 300- 500.

2. Access to online real time financial reporting: Which reporting elements are you requiring, is it consolidated data to track your company's global travel spending for air, car and hotel? If not would you define and list requirements.

Response: Each offeror shall refer to the statement of work. The Government will not allow the rental of vehicles.

3. You require a minimum line of credit of 12 million dollars with corporate banks to sustain costs associated with large volumes of travel. Would you list the elements on how this dollar amount was determined?

Response: The required credit line is associated with historical data. The credit line is required in order for any small business to sustain costs associated with large volume of travel support activities without the use of government credit; and be able to carry costs associated with after the fact and future travel activities, i.e. issuing airfare tickets, per diem costs, other travel and meeting expenditures for greater than 90 days. The offeror shall describe their business strategy for meeting this requirement.

4. Will the contractor have to wait until 90 days to submit invoices?

Response: No, the contractor will not have to wait 90 days to invoice. The Government provided the usual timeframe from travel planning, to the time costs are actually incurred, to the time costs are billed, and then paid. The volume of transactions going through the entire process may take up to approximately 90 days.

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5. Will your travelers use a CBA (Central Billing Account) or an IBA (Individual Billing Account) credit card; if not would you state reason why not?

Response: The travel expense in support of the NIH peer review meetings are paid by the contractor’s credit card. The contractor then invoices the airfare bills to government per contract requirements. In some instances, reviewers serving on NIH peer review meetings may want to book an additional leg as personal travel. This is an unallowable additional cost. Therefore, in this case, reviewers are required to provide a personal credit card to the contractor for the airfare associated with the personal travel.

6. Travelers, are they entitled to use GSA City Pairs?

Response: The awardee will be arranging travel for reviewers. If the offeror intends to propose utilizing Government programs as part of their business strategy, the offeror is responsible for researching and determining eligibility of the travelers for any Government program.

7. Price Approach: You didn’t provide line items for rental cars nor hotels. Will these items require servicing? If so what are the quantities?

Response: The government does not allow reviewers serving on NIH peer review meetings to rent cars.

Please refer to Attachment #3 – Statement of Work, page 2.

“The Contractor shall provide payment via non-Government credit card to hotels where peer review meetings are held throughout the United States for lodging, rental of meeting space, meeting room package, and AV equipment in support of peer review meetings. To understand the volume of activities and for cost purposes, assume that the approximate number of peer review hotel meeting space used per year is 30-50. “

8. The Prompt Pay Act requires federal agencies to pay 30 days from the date the designated billing office receives a proper invoice or 30 days from the date the goods or services were accepted, whichever is later. Will your agency comply with this requirement?

Response: Yes.

9. It may not be possible for a SB to obtain a line of credit for 12 million dollars. Can you please specify the significance for the 12 million dollars line of credit?

Response: See item 3.

10. Is NIH willing to consider a decrease in the LOC? And if so, by how much?

Response: See item 3. The Government will not decrease the line of credit.

11. If no Small Business can qualify for the LOC, will an amendment be made to allow larger agencies to bid? Or, will this just be factored into the Technical Requirements for the Award?

Response: If no small business qualifies for the letter of credit, the Government will post an amendment with additional instructions.

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12. Can you please elaborate on the requirement for the Contractor providing a minimum of $200,000 in travel insurance with each issued ticket at no additional cost to the Government?

Response: This requirement is deleted from the Statement of Work.

13. Would you prefer the Contractor to incorporate the cost of the insurance in the service fee?

Response: See response to item 12.

14. Section I – Contract Clauses. This Section includes a link to the general clause listings that will be applicable to most contracts resulting from this RFP. However, the link does not connect to an active page. Can the general clause listing be provided in another manner?

Response: Here is the new link: https://oamp.od.nih.gov/DGS/reference-material-prospective-offerors-and-contractors . The General Clauses applicable to this requirement are as follows:

ARTICLE I.1. GENERAL CLAUSES FOR A NEGOTIATED FIXED-PRICE SERVICE CONTRACT

This contract incorporates the following clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically as follows: FAR Clauses at: http://www.acquisition.gov/far/ . HHSAR Clauses at:

http://www.hhs.gov/policies/hhsar/subpart352.html .

a. FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) (48 CFR CHAPTER 1) CLAUSES:

FAR

CLAUSE NO.

DATE TITLE

52.202-1 Nov 2013 Definitions (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-3 Apr 1984 Gratuities (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-5 May 2014 Covenant Against Contingent Fees (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-6 Sep 2006 Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-7 May 2014 Anti-Kickback Procedures (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-8 May 2014 Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-10 May 2014 Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-12 Oct 2010 Limitation on Payments to Influence Certain Federal Transactions (Over $150,000) https://oamp.od.nih.gov/DGS/reference-material-prospective-offerors-and-contractors https://oamp.od.nih.gov/DGS/reference-material-prospective-offerors-and-contractors http://www.acquisition.gov/far/ http://www.hhs.gov/policies/hhsar/subpart352.html http://www.hhs.gov/policies/hhsar/subpart352.html

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CLAUSE NO.

DATE TITLE

52.203-17 Apr 2014 Contractor Employee Whistleblower Rights and Requirements to Inform Employees of Whistleblower Rights (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.203-99 Feb 2015 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities That Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements (DEVIATION)

52.204-4 May 2011 Printed or Copied Double-Sided on Postconsumer Fiber Content Paper(Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.204-10 Oct 2015 Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards ($30,000 or more)

52.204-13 Jul 2013 System for Award Management Maintenance

52.209-6 Oct 2015 Protecting the Government's Interest When Subcontracting With Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment (Over $35,000)

52.215-2 Oct 2010 Audit and Records - Negotiation [Note: Applies to ALL contracts funded in whole or in part with Recovery Act funds, regardless of dollar value, AND contracts over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold funded exclusively with non-Recovery Act funds.]

52.215-8 Oct 1997 Order of Precedence - Uniform Contract Format

52.215-10 Aug 2011 Price Reduction for Defective Certified Cost or Pricing Data (Over $750,000)

52.215-12 Oct 2010 Subcontractor Cost or Pricing Data (Over $750,000)

52.215-15 Oct 2010 Pension Adjustments and Asset Reversions (Over $750,000)

52.215-18 Jul 2005 Reversion or Adjustment of Plans for Post-Retirement Benefits (PRB) other than Pensions

52.215-19 Oct 1997 Notification of Ownership Changes

52.215-21 Oct 2010 Requirements for Certified Cost or Pricing Data and Data Other Than Certified Cost or Pricing Data - Modifications

52.219-8 Oct 2014 Utilization of Small Business Concerns (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.219-9 Oct 2015 Small Business Subcontracting Plan (Over $700,000, $1.5 million for Construction)

52.219-16 Jan 1999 Liquidated Damages - Subcontracting Plan (Over $700,000, $1.5 million for Construction)

52.222-3 Jun 2003 Convict Labor

52.222-21 Apr 2015 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities

52.222-26 Apr 2015 Equal Opportunity

52.222-35 Oct 2015 Equal Opportunity for Veterans ($150,000 or more)

52.222-36 Jul 2014 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities

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DATE TITLE

52.222-37 Oct 2015 Employment Reports on Veterans ($150,000 or more)

52.222-40 Dec 2010 Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.222-50 Mar 2015 Combating Trafficking in Persons

52.222-54 Oct 2015 Employment Eligibility Verification (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.223-6 May 2001 Drug-Free Workplace

52.223-18 Aug 2011 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving

52.225-1 May 2014 Buy American - Supplies

52.225-13 Jun 2008 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases

52.227-1 Dec 2007 Authorization and Consent

52.227-2 Dec 2007 Notice and Assistance Regarding Patent and Copyright Infringement

52.229-3 Feb 2013 Federal, State and Local Taxes (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.232-1 Apr 1984 Payments

52.232-8 Feb 2002 Discounts for Prompt Payment

52.232-9 Apr 1984 Limitation on Withholding of Payments

52.232-11 Apr 1984 Extras

52.232-17 May 2014 Interest (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.232-23 May 2014 Assignment of Claims

52.232-25 Jul 2013 Prompt Payment

52.232-33 Jul 2013 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--System for Award Management

52.232-39 Jun 2013 Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations

52.233-1 May 2014 Disputes

52.233-3 Aug 1996 Protest After Award

52.233-4 Oct 2004 Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim

52.242-13 Jul 1995 Bankruptcy (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.243-1 Aug 1987 Changes - Fixed-Price, Alternate I (Apr 1984)

52.244-6 Oct 2015 Subcontracts for Commercial Items

52.246-25 Feb 1997 Limitation of Liability - Services (Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

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DATE TITLE

52.249-4 Apr 1984 Termination for Convenience of the Government (Services) (Short Form)

52.249-8 Apr 1984 Default (Fixed-Price Supply and Service)(Over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

52.253-1 Jan 1991 Computer Generated Forms

b. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ACQUISITION REGULATION (HHSAR) (48 CFR

CHAPTER 3) CLAUSES:

HHSAR

CLAUSE NO.

DATE TITLE

352.202-1 Jan 2006 Definitions

352.203-70 Mar 2012 Anti-Lobbying

352.222-70 Jan 2010 Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment Opportunity Investigations

352.227-70 Jan 2006 Publications and Publicity

352.231-71 Jan 2001 Pricing of Adjustments

352.242-70 Jan 2006 Key Personnel

[End of GENERAL CLAUSES FOR A NEGOTIATED FIXED-PRICE SERVICE CONTRACT- Rev. 10/2015].

15. Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors. Subsection 2.a.2 (Authorized Official and Submission of Proposal) requires that an electronic submission of the proposal be made to the IDIQ Contracting Officer. Should this electronic submission be made as an attachment to an email or on a disk or other electronic medium, and to what address should the submission be made?

Response: See Attachment #1 – Packaging and Delivery of Proposals. In addition, the Government requests that all offerors submit their proposals electronically to the Primary and the Secondary Points of Contact. The offeror is not required to submit proposals on compact disc. Proposals are due Wednesday, January 20, 2016; 9 a.m. local time.

Primary Point of Contact:

Nora I Rivera, Contracting Officer nr85c@nih.gov; riverani@nhlbi.nih.gov

Secondary Point of Contact:

Jenn Frazier, Contract Specialist frazierje@mail.nih.gov mailto:nr85c@nih.gov mailto:riverani@nhlbi.nih.gov mailto:frazierje@mail.nih.gov

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16. Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors. Subsection 2.a.6 (Page and Formatting Limitations) refers to a substudy proposal. We do not believe that this substudy proposal is mentioned anywhere else in the RFP. Please provide information related to the substudy proposal.

Response: See Attachment #3 – Statement of Work. The Government confirms that there are no related substudies.

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17. Attachment 4 – Section K – Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offeror. Part 7 (Disaster or Emergency Area Representation) includes a representation that the offeror is or is not a firm residing or primarily doing business in a designated disaster or emergency area. It is our understanding that the RFP is a set-aside for small businesses, not for firms in disaster or emergency areas. Please let us know if this Part 7 will be changed to a representation of small business concern status.

Response: See Attachment #3 – Statement of Work. The Government confirms that the requirement is set aside to small businesses.

ADDITIONAL RFP CHANGES/INSTRUCTIONS

STATEMENT OF WORK CORRECTION, PAGE 2, Transportation Support Services, bullet four: In accordance with Federal Travel Regulations, baggage fees are allowed.

FOREIGN TRAVEL - Historically, foreign reviewers have traveled from Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, Africa, India, Italy, and England. For proposal purposes only, assume one traveler per year from each country.