Amendment 3 - Additional Questions and responses 1.4.21.pdf

AMENDMENT 3

*The extended deadline for proposal submissions still remains as noted in Amendment 1*

The purpose of this Amendment 3 is to:

1. Provide responses to questions to the solicitation.

Question

RFP Section (if applicable)

Text Reference (if applicable) and Question

NIDA Response

253. Attachment

In revised Attachment 16 the Government added Sections 2 and 3 to capture costs related to occupational health testing and visa applications. Regarding these added items:

a. Is the “Quantity” in column B intended to reflect the estimated number of each occupational health procedure or visa application that will occur per year? If not, please clarify.

b. Column G of the spreadsheet in these areas asks bidders to provide the loaded hourly rate for each item. If the standard costs for these items are based on dollars per procedure or a flat rate per visa application, may bidders modify the sheet to reflect how the costs will be charged.

c. For items such as the visa application costs in rows 404 – 412, where costs may be charged on an hourly basis, may bidders modify the sheet to add the estimated number of hours per activity so that Column I (Result of Price Per Unit Times Quantity) will reflect the estimated total costs (we assume the Column B “Quantity” value is the number of each type of visa that would be needed per year, but bidders would also need to include an estimate of the number of hours per visa application to get the full value of the costs when multiplied by the loaded hourly rate).

a. Yes, this is the number per year.

b. Offerors should not modify the provided excel spreadsheet. However, for clarification, Column G of Sections 2 and 3 should reflect a flat rate per unit.

Then the quantities provided in Column B can be used to calculate the total for Column I.

c. Offerors should not modify the provided excel spreadsheet. However, for clarification, Column G of Sections 2 and 3 should reflect a flat rate per unit.

Then the quantities provided in Column B can be used to calculate the total for Column I.

254. RFP Section Information Security

A valid authority to operate (ATO) certifies that the Contractor's information system meets the contract's requirements to protect the agency data. If the system

The awarded vendors’ external systems that support this contract to host NIH contractual data will require the full and/or Physical Access Security. B.

Security Assessment and Authorization (SA&A); page under this contract does not have a valid ATO, the Contractor (and/or any subcontractor) shall work with the agency and supply the deliverables required to complete the ATO within the specified timeline(s) within three

(3) months after contract award.

Which Contractor system does the ATO apply to?

If the SOAR contractors are not responsible for the STARS system's current ATO, what specific ATO updates will be required by the Contractor within 3 months of the award?

external ATO deliverables. The STARS System is covered by the current NIMH ATO.

Only the deliverables associated with SOAR contract external systems will be required. The deliverables are listed in the RFP.

255. Revised Attachment 16 Lines 334- 413; Tabs Year 1 – Year

Section 2: Occupational Testing Task List and Section 3:

Credentialing Tasks

These two sections were added in the second amendment;

1. Should these items be priced as Other Direct Costs (ODC’s)?

2. If they should be priced as ODCs should they be included in our IDIQ submission, or will they only be priced and provided at the task order level?

1. Yes.

2. IDIQ Submission

256. Revised Attachment 16, Tabs Year 1 – Year 5

“(DOL)” Text references included after particular LCATs

Several level one labor categories listed contain the “(DOL)” designations;

1. Should these particular labor categories be pricing using DOL wage determinations?

2. If they should, are these the only labor categories that DOL wage determinations are applicable to, i.e., no other labor categories should be priced utilizing DOL wage determinations?

1. In accordance with A2, the Government identified potential labor categories where DOL wage determinations are most likely to apply. It is the offeror’s business decision as to what to propose for pricing, but at the minimum should comply with DOL designations.

2. For proposal purposes, these are the current anticipated labor categories identified.

257. Attachment 29, Sample Task Order A and B, Attachment

Attachment 29, pg 2 Sample Task Order 1: Section A of the Sample Task Oder states “[Offeror to provide response in the technical and business proposal, as appropriate – see Proposal Instructions, Section L of RFP].”, and Section B ( Detailed description of the approach to be used and of the deliverable(s).) states “ [Offeror to

The Sample Task Order should be included as part of both the business and technical proposal as indicated in Attachments 4, 5, and 29.

4, and Section L b Technical Proposal Instructions 25;223 provide a response in the technical proposal]”, will the government provide additional clarification on how to respond to the sample task order?

258. Attachment 29, Sample Task Order A and B, Attachment 4, and Section L b Technical Proposal Instructions 25;223

Section L b. Technical Proposal Instructions have been stripped down of requirements and points Offeror to Attachment 4. Does the government intend for the Offeror to layout the Sample Task Order response following Attachment 4 guidance?

It is the offeror’s business discretion on how best to detail their approach in accordance with Part II(B) of Attachment 29.

259. Our understanding per the Q&A and the revised Section L/Attachment 4 is to follow the section order for the technical proposal per Attachment 4 while addressing all the Section L.2.b (technical proposal instructions) requirements. Is our understanding correct?

Additionally, in the Q&A, per response to Q135 and Q139, there is a mention of a revised Attachment 5 but we did not locate a revised attachment 5 in the amendment 2 package. Please clarify if we should be following the order laid out in the initial RFP attachment 5 for the business proposal while addressing all the instructions in Section L.2.c (business proposal instructions).

It is strongly recommended that offerors use the template per Attachment 4; however, it is ultimately the offeror’s business decision.

There was no revision to Attachment 5. Our intention in the response to questions 135 and 139 was for offerors to reference the revised attachment 4 and also attachment 5.