Follow-On RFI Final 01092020.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

09 January 2020

Request for Information (RFI)

EMERALD Follow-On ID/IQ Contract Requirements

A. Introduction

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in support of the Enterprise Technical Services

Office is seeking information in the form of a capability statement on the level of interest, capabilities and qualifications of small and large businesses to provide support for the EMERALD Follow-On. The information received from this request will be used on a non-attribution basis.

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute an Invitation for Bid (IFB), Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ) or any indication that the

Government will contract for any of the items and/or services contained in the notice (FAR 15.201(e)).

In accordance with FAR 52.215-3 – Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct

1997), the Government will not pay for any information/items submitted in response to this RFI. Any data received in response to this request will not be returned.

This RFI does not commit the Government to award a contract. No determination as to the viability of this requirement has been made at this point and there is currently no solicitation for this effort. Any solicitation resulting from this RFI will be announced separately. Based on your response to this RFI, the Government may contact you with follow-up questions and/or for one-on-one sessions. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

B. Background Information

As a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and a Department of Defense (DoD) Combat

Support Agency, NGA produces timely, relevant and accurate Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) to help all levels of users meet their strategic and operational needs in support of national security objectives.

The EMERALD program currently supports the accomplishment of the NGA mission by providing a wide variety of general purpose services that enable effective program execution across the agency, with shift work (24 hour support) incorporated as needed. EMERALD currently provides over 600

TS/SCI cleared contractors in support of 49 Task Orders. EMRALD is a Firm Fixed Price Level of

Effort (FFP/LOE) Multiple Award, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract. The contract expires in August 2021, but the requirements supported by EMERALD will continue after the contract ends under the EMERALD Follow-on ID/IQ. The EMERALD Follow-on program office plans to award a new Multiple Award IDIQ contract and new task orders prior to the expiration of the current contract.

Source Selection Sensitive

C. Summary of EMERALD Follow-on Requirement

The contractor is expected to possess the requisite technical and programmatic expertise to support

NGA’s requirements for EMERALD Follow-on.

1. General Services

The EMERALD program currently provides services required by the NGA to conduct day to day operations across the enterprise. The contractor must provide services that enable the NGA component organizations to perform management, intelligence, information technology, and security functions.

Services provided by EMERALD are confined within each component organization of the NGA. The extent of services currently held under EMERALD is captured within associated Work Service

Categories (WSC) identified in table 1 below. The expectation is that the functional areas for

EMERALD Follow-on will be similar in scope to those in Table 1.

Table 1: Current EMERALD Work Service Categories

Lifecycle Acquisition Management Support Services - This WSC includes, but is not limited to: tasks associated with contracting activities, program office management, and all activities associated with planning and managing source selections; providing advice on the management, operations, and implementation of existing programs and contracts, and advisory support of new requirements.

Financial Management Support Services - This WSC includes, but is not limited to: all activities associated with the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPB&E) cycle as well as guidance of the financial activities for the agency.

Strategic Business Management Support Services - This WSC includes, but is not limited to activities associated with the strategic business operations for the agency.

*Note: These WSC are subject to change for ENDEAVOR, the follow-on effort.

2. Contract Management

The prime contractor must be capable of managing, directing and controlling the contractor team. The prime will be responsible for the planning, organization, and control of resources to successfully deliver all requested services, complete all tasks, and meet all the objectives of the Ordering document

(i.e. Statement of Work (SOW), Statement of Objective (SOO), and Performance Work Statement

(PWS)). This includes: risk management and mitigation; cost control management and reporting;

contractor resource scheduling; close coordination with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR);

and performance of subcontractors or consultant personnel.

3. Security

All personnel are required to possess a Top Secret Personnel Clearance and be eligible for access to

Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance (SCI). Other special accesses may be required to perform work. All proposed personnel assigned an NGA contractor badge are subject to a Counter-

Intelligence Polygraph for initial/continued access to NGA and other facilities within the Intelligence

Community (IC). All contractor personnel will be subject to NGA’s Security Financial Disclosure

Program (NSFD).

The contractor shall have a Department of Defense (DOD)-issued Top Secret Facility Clearance

(FCL), upon proposal submittal. The contractor must ensure that its proposed personnel adhere to:

NGA campus and all other hosting IC partner facilities requirements; specific security policies, directives and instructions for clearance passing and adjudication requirements; site badging

(entry/exit); and other access requirements to work locations, sensitive materials, and computer systems.

For reasons of privacy, ethics and “need-to-know”, the contractor and its proposed personnel shall ensure unauthorized release or disclosure of sensitive and classified data/information does not occur.

Access or release of information should be contained only to that needed and necessary to satisfactorily perform required administrative tasks, and to meet the requirements of the contract as sanctioned by the cognizant Government office being supported. Failure to comply with this restriction may lead to immediate removal from the contract, revocation of security clearance, and the case referred to NGA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The contractor and its proposed personnel are subject to Intelligence Oversight rules as established in paragraph 6(k) in NGA Instruction (NI) 8900.4R6 for The Intelligence Oversight Compliance and

Awareness Program.

4. Organizational Conflict of Interest

The contractor may be required to submit an OCI plan as part for this potential solicitation in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 9.5 or any other special NGA OCI clause. The current EMERALD OCI is defined as:

The scope of the EMERALD program involves the most sensitive types of work which have the highest potential to cause an Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI). On the EMERALD program, OCI will be handled at the individual task order (TO) level. Guidance specific to the individual requirements defined in each TO will be disseminated to the EMERALD Prime contractors. Each

EMERALD requirement may involve different conflicts, and therefore require different handling strategies. In order to be considered for award, the prime contractor shall provide a strategy to address

OCI concerns, and certify that their teaming partners are in compliance with the strategy set forth by the prime. EMERALD requirements may involve all three types of OCI: unequal access to information, biased ground rules, and impaired objectivity, but not every contractor may encounter them. If proposing a mitigation plan, the contractor shall provide an in depth response based on the company’s unique situation describing how the specified conflicts will be handled pursuant to FAR

9.505.

Where conflicts exist, there is no “one-size-fits-all” mitigation plan. Each requirement and each contractor will have their own unique circumstances for which mitigation, if allowed, is acceptable to the government. Additionally, as companies’ future business relationships evolve, so will their OCI strategy. For example, changes to business teaming arrangements may require the prime to submit an update to their mitigation plan which covers this new business arrangement.

5. Period of Performance

The potential contract’s period of performance is expected to have a five year ordering period. Each task order will be awarded for a one-year base period and four one-year option periods not to exceed five years. This may change depending the requirement and when award is made.

6. Location

The primary duty locations will be both Government and contractor sites in the Washington, DC

Metropolitan area, St. Louis, MO, Arnold, MO, and Denver, CO areas. Local and long-distance travel is expected. Other duty locations within the Continental United States (CONUS) and outside the

Continental Unites States (OCONUS) are possible.

D. Response Instructions

1. Response to this RFI must be UNCLASSIFIED, submitted/received by the due date and time, and in compliance with the method for submittal specified below without exception in order to be considered.

Response due date and time:

All responses to this RFI must be received by 10 February 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (noon)

Eastern Standard Time (EST).

2. Method for Submittal: All responses must be submitted via e-mail with the message subject line

EMERALD Follow-on RFI Response – [INSERT Business name]” to:

Mr. Gary Davis at Gary.J.Davis@nga.mil and Mrs. Kebra Beckford at Kebra.L.Beckford@nga.mil

To aid in Government review, the total pages for the entire submission shall be limited to no more than

15 pages plus attachments. Each submission shall be in Microsoft Word. The requested response format for all submissions is 8.5” x 11”, 12 pt. Times New Roman, with one inch margins on all sides.

Responses should not include proprietary information. Any responses that are marked proprietary will not be considered. This document and its attachment are not to be used as sources of derivative classification. Also, no sections of these document(s) shall be pulled from, reassembled, or otherwise used below the document(s) stated overall classification, without the approval from NGA Office of

Contract Services. Responses must be marked “Unclassified” at least on the first page of the response.

Information contained in the responses may be reviewed by non-Government consultants/experts supporting NGA and who are bound by the appropriate non-disclosure agreement (NDA). All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

3. Questions and Answers (Q&As):

The Government will entertain questions on a case-by-case basis. Respondents should be advised that all questions submitted will be posted for all respondents to view, although the identity of the requesting organization will be withheld. No verbal questions will be accepted. The deadline for submitting questions is (23 January 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) (EST) to the POC listed above

(Gary.J.Davis@nga.mil & Kebra.L.Beckford@nga.mil)). The Government does not guarantee that any questions submitted after this deadline will be answered.

E. Information Requested

RFI responses shall provide a capabilities statement identifying first your company name, phone number, DUNS, Cage Code, company website, and name and email of one designated point-of-contact

(POC). At a minimum, clearly annotated answers to all of the following questions should be included in your response:

Question 1: Are you aware of other federal agencies performing similar requirements? If so, please identify the agencies, contract number and a Government point of contact, in addition to explaining any best practices that are being performed.

mailto:Gary.J.Davis@nga.mil mailto:Kebra.L.Beckford@nga.mil mailto:Gary.J.Davis@nga.mil

Question 2: EMERALD is currently a 100% Small Business Set Aside. For this follow-on activity, we are examining viability and interest from the entire community including the Large, Medium and

Small Business community in proposing to this effort.

If you are a small business:

a. Why does small business provide a viable solution for this effort?

b. How are you postured to provide all management and professional support needed to support this large hiring activity, payroll, benefits and employee relationships?

If you are a medium or large size business:

a. Is this work more situated for a medium or large size business?

b. How would you recommend carving out a set-aside section of the program if it were released full and open?

Question 3: EMERALD is currently a Multiple-IDIQ FFP-LOE Program with separately competed

Task Orders. Based upon your experience, what is the best method to order these types of services?

How would the government assess performance under this method?

Question 4: As a service requirement, resumes are often examined in order to evaluate technical capabilities. What are other methods in which a vendors technical competencies can be evaluated? At the Base Level? At the Task Order Level?

Question 5: Does your company have a DCAA or other certified cost accounting system? If other, provide details such as:

-What was the date of the last audit?

-Who performed the audit?

-Was your system determined to be adequate or inadequate?

Question 6: Does your company have a Timekeeping system? If so, what is it? When was the date of last audit? Who performed the audit? Was your system determined to be adequate or inadequate?

Question 7: Does your company have a Department of Defense (DoD)-issued TOP SECRET facility security clearance (FCL)?

Question 8: Does your company have the ability to comply with the security requirements listed in

Section C.3 above, beginning at contract award and throughout the period of performance (POP)?

Question 9: The anticipated NAICS Code for this effort is 541611—All Other Professional, Scientific and Technical Services. Is there another suggested NAICS code? If yes, please provide and justify.

Question 10: Does your company have the ability to support any or all of the functions and associated labor categories identified in Section C above? If yes, indicate how many personnel by functional area and skill level your company currently has employed and how many personnel your company is capable of providing to EMERALD Follow-on with 90 days lead-time (personnel may be from your current staff or new hires).

Question 11: The Government consolidated labor types/titles under the function areas list above? This allowed for evolving work titles and skills sets to be more flexible. Does this flexibility still work for today’s business and staffing practices? Is there another way that this could be accomplished?

Question 12: Flexibility in changing needs of day-to-day needs/skills required often raises the number one problem within the service programs at NGA. What recommendations would you recommend that

NGA incorporate into the program to ensure future fair competition throughout the life of the program, as well as adaptability to already awarded task orders?

Question 13: As this program is primarily a staffing contract, providing needed and new/emerging skills sets to NGA’s evolving business, how would you recommend NGA incentivize both technical and management efficiencies and performance?

Question 14: If you intend to bid as a prime, is your company capable of supporting the contractor management requirements identified in Section C.2 above? (otherwise, leave blank)

If yes, please describe your proposed management strategy, your corporate capability to support the program, and if applicable, the subcontracting plan. The Government is interested in the capability of your corporate infrastructure (management, security, facility, finance, recruiting and human resources) to manage multiple EMERALD Follow-on task orders ranging in size from 5 to 50 persons.

If you intend to bid as a prime as a small business, please discuss how your company will comply with FAR 52.219-14 Limitation on Subcontracting at proposal submission. Also discuss any potential impact of EMERALD Follow-on on the growth of your company and how you would manage this growth so you retain your brand and quality of service.

Question 15: OCI will be addressed under a separate RFI, however do you have any potential OCI issues related to work currently being performed at NGA? If so, please provide a description of each potential issue.

Question 16: Can your company support NGA requirements at all places of performance as listed in

Section C.6 above? Please specify your company’s general ability to support OCONUS work.

Question 17: Please provide recommendations for any, if not all, of the topics below which pertain to the fashioning of this proposed acquisition for the EMERALD Follow-on:

a. Type of contract

b. Anticipated contract terms and conditions

c. Incentives

d. Data requirements

e. Contract pricing

f. Standard annual amount of hours to be used as a basis for one contractor full time equivalent (CFTE) (i.e., 1860, 1920, 2040), that is commercially acceptable for this work

Question 18: (U) Do you have any relevant past performance experience for the same or similar services from the past three years? If yes, please address past performance in three areas: 1) services offered to commercial entities or to the general public or to non-governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes; 2) services offered or made to Government agencies other than

NGA; and 3) same or similar services offered or made to NGA. Please also include the following in your response for each effort identified:

a. What is the name of the supported entity? (Government agency, commercial entity, etc.)

b. Were you the prime or subcontractor?

c. If a prime, how many subcontractors did you have?

d. What was the size and length of the effort?

e. What services did you provide, and how are they relevant to those under ENDEAVOR?

f. What were the security requirements?

Question 19: Would you recommend adding or changing anything to this requirement if released?