Final QUESTION 2ND ROUND PT2.doc

WHS RFP HQ00034-12-R-0006

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

January 2012

QUESTION 1: FAR 12.101states that “Agencies shall…acquire commercial items or nondevelopmental items when they are available to meet the needs of the agency…”. FAR 12.102(a) states “This part shall be used for the acquisition of supplies or services that meet the definition of commercial items at 2.101.” FAR 12.102(c) reads “Contracts for the acquisition of commercial items are subject to the policies in other parts of this chapter. When a policy in another part of this chapter is inconsistent with a policy in this part, this Part 12 shall take precedence for the acquisition of commercial items.” (emphasis added).

This offeror believes all of the government’s requirements can be met by an offer of products and services that are “commercial items” as defined in FAR 2.101. This offeror further believes that most, if not all, of the companies likely to be competing for award will be offering commercial items.

Will the government modify the solicitation to conform it to the requirements of FAR Part 12, including eliminating from the list of FAR/DFAR clauses in the solicitation all clauses that do not apply, per the regulations, to contractors supplying commercial items?

ANSWER 1: No. Although commercial in nature, the services are considered non-commerical and FAR 15 applies.

QUESTION 2: If the answer to Question 1 is “No,” will the government add text in the solicitation stating that if all of the products and services offered by the offeror selected for award are commercial items, the government will negotiate with the selected offeror a contract that is in accord with the requirements of FAR Part 12, including eliminating FAR/DFARS clauses in the solicitation that do not apply to contractors supplying commercial items?

ANSWER 2: See answer 1.

QUESTION 3: DFARS 252.211-7003, Item Identification and Valuation, is one of the clauses applicable to the solicitation. DFARS 211.274-2, Policy for unique item identification, states that “a contractor will not be required to provide DoD unique item identification if a determination and findings has been executed concluding that it is more cost effective for the Government requiring activity to assign, mark, and register the unique item identification after delivery of an item acquired from a small business concern or a commercial item acquired under FAR Part 12 or Part 8.” (emphasis added).

Question: If the selected offeror is supplying commercial items and has not implemented the ability to mark items as required by DFARS 252.211-7003, will the government relieve the contractor of the requirement to comply with DFARS 252.211-7003 under the authority of DFARS 211.274-2?

ANSWER 3: This system is for state-of-the-art equipment that is constantly evolving. There is no known unique items at this time. This may pertain to a future delivry order. If so, we will review/revisit at time of order.

QUESTION 4: Section M.1 on Page 68 of the solicitation states that to be considered for award an offeror must unconditionally accept the terms and conditions of the RFP. (emphasis added). This offeror would expect to see a statement like this in an “advertised procurement,” but is surprised to see this it in a “negotiated procurement,” and further notes that the solicitation incorporates some provisions that clearly should not be included. One example is DFARS 252.237-7004, Area of Performance. According to DFARS 237.7003(b) is to be used in “all mortuary service solicitations and contracts…”.

Question: Will the government remove the requirement that an offeror unconditionally accept the terms and conditions of the RFP?

ANSWER 4: See M.1 QUESTION 5: Because the RFP was released over the holidays, will the government please consider a four week extension to the January 17th due date?

ANSWER 5: We will extend to 27 Jan 2012 at 12:00 noon QUESTION 6: In the PWS, Paragraph 3.0 “Requirements” states the ”Contractor” shall provide the necessary services, and materials to design, procure, install, etc. If the contractor has to provide all materials we need to know how much equipment is currently installed under this contract. Will the government provide counts of all equipment in order to make sure that the contractor can meet the government’s expectation regarding service and repair?

ANSWER: All necessary services, and materials to design, procure, install, equipment will be procured under Installation CLIN x0002of the contract and will be billed to the Government by the contractor under individual task order deliverables. Once the contract has been awarded the Government will provide more detailed information and specifications of its equipment. During the Industry Day Presentation the Government provided the following average equipment counts. CCTV:

2075 total cameras, and associated equipment.

ALARM ZONES:

150 DAQ, and associated equipment.

2300 AMAG, and associated equipment.

650 Software House, and associated equipment.

QUESTION 7: Requests a 10-day extension from the original due date, January 17, 2012, to January 27, 2012.

ANSWER 7: The time for receipt of proposals has been extended to 27 Jan 2012 at 12:00 noon.

QUESTION 8: Are you planning to post to FedBizOpps the responses to the latest round of questions? Please advise.

ANSWER 8: Yes

QUESTION 9: As requested under Factor 5: Cost/Price Factor Requirement (Volume V) While the Contracting Officer anticipates that pricing for this acquisition will be based on adequate price competition and therefore does not require submission of certified cost or pricing data, offerors are cautioned against unbalanced and unrealistic pricing and should reflect a clear understanding of work to be performed, take into account differences in skills, the complexity of various disciplines, and professional job difficulty.

Price Reasonableness and Realism. These instructions are to assist you in submitting information other than cost or pricing data that is required to evaluate the reasonableness of your proposed price. Compliance with these instructions is mandatory and failure to comply may result in rejection of your proposal. Note that unrealistically low or high-proposed prices, initially or subsequently, may be grounds for eliminating a proposal from competition either on the basis that the offeror does not understand the requirement or has made an unrealistic proposal. Offers should be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate their reasonableness. The burden of proof for credibility of proposed prices rests with the offeror.

Based on the above statements highlighted, we found that the following questions need clarifications to include, model numbers, part numbers, finish type and conditions, in order to meet this Factor 5 Requirement for Volume V. We can demonstrate our price reasonableness if we are given more details as to what types of equipment under Attachment 5 is needed to meet each Item number.

ANSWER 9: The vendor should NOT be pricing Attachment 13. Attachment 13 is for INFORMATION ONLY and is similar to what are listed on Attachment 5. In other words, Project #1 is the same as VII.9.30.

QUESTION 10: Attachment 5 and 13 - As we are reviewing and preparing to respond to the pricing proposal, we encountered that when pricing the Attachment 5 and Attachment 13, there is no correlation between the two documents. Where does Attachment 13 go into the pricing volume? Does it apply to CLIN 2 (attachment 5)? If not, what does it apply to?

ANSWER 10: The vendor is NOT pricing Attachment 13. This is a sample of what the awardee will receive when the government will request a proposal. This is INFORMATION ONLY.

QUESTION 11: Attachment 5- As a further example, Item # I.2.30 ISSC Item I.2.30 (Main Entry-Expedited) AMAG FIPS 201_Panel_ACS_IDS_Mortise - does not give a clear enough description to provide estimated pricing for this particular products and installation. Can you give us more details as to what you are requesting similar to that of Item I.1.30 and I.1.60? Those items had more details less the model or part number for the electric strike.

ANSWER11: I.2.30, would get a AMAG panel, a DCU board, 2 I/O boards, a 4-amp power supply, external and an internal card readers, a mortise clock, an infrared motion sensor and a balanced magnetic switch. Attachment 5 has been changed to provide more specific information on each item the vendors are required to price.

QUESTION 12: Is there another attachment that is used to cross reference the Item numbers listed in Column A of the Attachment 5?

ANSWER 12: No, there is no other attachment that can be used to cross-reference the Item numbers listed in Column A of Attachment 5.

QUESTION 13: When estimating are you asking all contractors to base pricing off of what is found in the inventory list as standard part type? For example the electric strike part can range in price between $80 - $350.00, variables depend on the budget, door types, conditions, metal or wood. Could you specify typical standard hardware that PFPA uses as a standard for all their doors?

ANSWER 13: The government can use these menu items no matter what the door and frame material are. The vendor needs to take into account that the majority of doors and frames are of standard commercial equipment and are either standard metal doors and frames or solid wood core. Typical electric strike hardware used is HES.

QUESTION 14: Attachment 1 - What is the current square footage of the space that is housing the spare inventory?

ANSWER 14: 8,500 Sq feet.

QUESTION 15: Based on Industry Day input, it was anticipated that the solicitation would likely allow for a 30 day response cycle and that an extension to the original due date might be considered. Since the solicitation release slid from 12/16 to 12/23, do you anticipate that the due date will be extended as well? Additionally, do you anticipate that an amendment will be released with additional Q&A responses?

ANSWER 15: The date and time for receipt of proposals has been extended to 27 January 2012 at 12:00 noon. The answers to the questions are attached.

QUESTION 16: RFP Page 72 of 73, Section M-2.2.3 Factor 5 states "The Contracting Officer may adjust the evaluated costs, as appropriate, for cost realism issues. The overall evaluated cost will be used to develop the relative cost rankings of the proposals .."

Question: In adjusting the evaluated costs for realism, how will the government determine whether the Offeror has an unrealistic price or a more cost effective solution?

ANSWER 16: See M-2.2.3

QUESTION 17: RFP Page 72 of 73, Section M-2.2.3 Factor 5 states "The Contracting Officer may adjust the evaluated costs, as appropriate, for cost realism issues. The overall evaluated cost will be used to develop the relative cost rankings of the proposals.."

Question: Can the government provide an example and the circumstances under which evaluated cost adjustments would be made? What would be used as benchmark for these adjustments?

ANSWER 17: See response to question 16..

QUESTION 18: PWS 3.1.2.3.1.1 Program Manager - The Program Manager (PM) shall have a minimum of 10 years’ experience or PMP Certified with 5 years’ experience in the application of complex security systems. Educational requirements shall include a bachelor’s degree in, Management, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or other related technical field with an advanced degree in operations management, or business administration. The PM must be able to manage a large-scale program with multiple technical tasks (delivery orders). In addition, the PM shall have at least 3 consecutive years’ experience in installation and support services of “campus wide” types of security systems requiring the application of considerable knowledge in security equipment, software, engineering, facility operations, management support, and related fields…”

Justification: Program Manager candidates with previous federal government or military backgrounds, regardless of their initial Bachelor’s Degree, frequently received advanced technical and management education during their careers. Advanced technical schools and foreign exchange tours conducted at higher educational institutes are normally not degree-granting institutes, yet these advanced schools tend to be operationally focused and equip the candidate with knowledge necessary to provide the highest level of operational performance in the most stressful conditions. Additionally, military command tours provide the apex of management experience in scope and depth of responsibility.

Question: Will the government consider advanced education and military command in lieu of advanced degree requirements?

ANSWER 18: We will accept an advanced degree. See PWS 3.1.2.3.1.1 QUESTION 19: RFP Section L, paragraph L.3.1.4 - Any proposal, modification, or revision, that is received at the designated Government office after the exact time specified for receipt of proposals is “late” and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made…” Will the Government please clarify, “and will not be considered unless it (the proposal) is received before award is made…”?

ANSWER 19: See FAR 15.209(a) and FAR 52.215-1, specifically section (c)(3)(ii)(A).