ATSS_Draft_Solicitation_Q A.pdf

HQ0034-14-R-0074 ATSS Draft Solicitation Questions & Answers

1. Is it acceptable for a teammate/subcontractor to have the required document storage capability (“Capability to transport classified information to and from corporate offices and store classified materials up to "Secret" level at off-site office spaces”)? Yes, but it is up to the offeror to explain how using a teammate/subcontractor’s storage capability will meet the Government’s requirements.

2. With the small business standard being under $14m, does the government plan to off-ramp small businesses to the full and open portion of the IDIQ once they exceed the $14m standard? No.

3. For those who do not have an accounting system audited by DCAA, is the contracting officer willing to do a pre-award survey/audit prior to award for those companies with an accounting system that has not yet been deemed adequate? No, see solicitation language on this topic which has been updated since the draft solicitation release.

4. Can you please provide relative years of professional experience desired related to the

Advanced, Intermediate, and Basic labor category descriptions? No, the Government feels the descriptions presented adequately allow for offerors to accurately determine the appropriate labor rates. The Government is more concerned with proposed personnel possessing the required skills than their number of years of experience.

5. Resource/Budget Analyst – does the government intend to add the Advanced labor category level to the labor categories or is the requirement sufficiently covered with the Basic and Intermediate analyst levels? The Government does not anticipate any requirements on this IDIQ that will require an Advanced Resource/Budget Analyst and therefore will not add that labor category.

6. The instructions related to Seed TO X and Y Price Factor include a proposed pricing for travel. Can you please provide details on what travel should be considered? The Government is confident the ODC/Travel amount provided in the seed task order instructions adequately covers any potential travel. Further details on the type, duration, and frequency of travel will be provided to winning offeror upon award.

7. Can you please provide additional details on Seed Task Order X and Y specifically related to the number of products and the number of customers or organizations that will be supported to ensure that proposed labor is sufficient to execute the scope of work? There is no section that describes the overall scope of the job. You are requesting that we develop a firm fixed price proposal for this support but there is no documentation supporting the number of programs that are required to be supported. Are we augmenting existing government staff or performing the tasks alone. No mention of task order specific deliverables. The task description is pretty clear but there is no language within the task order that pertains to the magnitude of the level of effort required to support the task. Will the government provide a historical reference point for the number of hours required by labor category for each of the sample tasks? The Government will not provide historical labor categories and number of hours as these conclusions shall be made by the offeror for the Government to evaluate the offeror’s understanding of the requirement and proposed solution. However, see updated Seed Task Order attachments for more specific resource language and expectations.

8. Is there a defined format for the cost proposal related to the Seed Task Order Price

Proposals? Any specifics that should be included? No, a format will not be provided.

Offerors should include the appropriate amount of specifics to ensure the Government understands the offeror’s price to include labor categories and hours.

9. Will past performance references be accepted from only a subcontractor’s prime or will submission directly from the government be considered? Yes, Past Performance Questionnaires completed by Government personnel will be accepted.

10. Question: I was wondering if you might consider including the FAR 51 Deviation in ATSS?

Explanation: FAR 51 deviation has only recently been brought to my attention and I’m not a FAR expert. It is my understanding that the FAR 51 exception can enable contractors to expedite aspects of work under SOW C-4.2. including for example, analysis of alternatives, experimentation, detailed performance assessments etc. by enabling contractors to leverage GSA vehicles for acquisition of technologies on behalf of the Government, provided it is an ancillary requirement. No fee is allowed on these acquisitions, so it doesn’t cost the Government additional money. It does speed the acquisition process and reduce workload for both the Government and contractor. It has to be included as part of the original solicitation which is why I’m bringing it up now. We think this could be a good tool to rapidly handle proof of concepts and perhaps also for facilitating technology transition under ATSS. The Government does not anticipate the need for successful offerors to use GSA as a means to satisfying a requirement, therefore the FAR 51 deviation will not be included.

Additionally, the contract type of this requirement does not lend itself to the FAR 51 deviation.

11. After reviewing Section C of the draft RFP it is clear that all the tasks associated with section

4.1 assigned to (NAICS 441611) are not restricted to administrative type tasks. We recommend that you move section “4.1.4 Program Acquisition Technical Analyses” into section 4.2 due to the technical nature of the task. See updated solicitation language for a portion of Section 4.1.4 being reorganized to Section 4.2.

12. In Section 2.0 USD AT&L Offices you identified the organizations that this PWS will support. Would the government consider mapping the Section C tasks to the offices identified within section 2.0. What is the historical and anticipated distribution of work for each of the offices identified within Section 2.0? No, the Government will not map the tasks to the offices. The Government also does not plan to distribute any additional information about the historical and anticipated distribution of work for each office.

13. In Section G 5.0 Task Order Award Procedures there is no small business set aside for tasks associated with NAICS 541990. Are we correct in assuming that large business primes may structure their small business plans for small business subcontractors that fit into either NAICS Code? There is no guarantee that large business primes will receive any work under NAICS Code 541611 unless it is an ancillary task to a requirement that is primarily NAICS Code 541990, so that should be taken into consideration when developing a Small Business Utilization & Subcontracting Plan.

14. L-14 Volume I Submission Requirements Page 75, L-1.4.1.2 Section K – “a hardcopy shall be included in Volume I” Question – Does Volume I need to contain a hardcopy of all subcontractors’ reps and certs as well as the prime’s? No, the Government only has a direct contractual relationship with the prime IDIQ contract holder, so it is the prime’s responsibility to keep the Reps & Certs records of its subcontractors.

15. L-3.4 Binding and Page Limits Pages 81 – 82, Table Question – Does each factor of Volume

I need to be in a separate binder, or can all factors be in the same binder? If separate binders are required, then the total binder count would be 42 whereas if all factors are in the same binder, the binder count would be 7 for Volume I. Factors A – F can be contained in one binder (Volume I). Factor G (Price) should be contained in a separate binder (Volume II).

16. In section M-4.4 Factor D: Seed Task Orders you state the following: “Each offeror will receive a confidence rating in accordance with Table 5.2. For purposes of awarding the seed task orders, proposals will be evaluated based on best value defined as the technical confidence rating and price which are weighted equally. What is your approach to mapping price to the seed task order confidence ratings? For example, if a task order is rated with high confidence and has the higher price. How do you determine best value to a task order with significant confidence with a significantly lower price? The Price Factor becomes more important as the Non-Price Factor(s) become more equal.

17. Contract Types: Why has the Government elected CR contract types on the Small Business Set Aside award when small businesses are exempt from CAS covered contracts? See updated solicitation language clarifying that the Small Business Set-Aside portion of the IDIQ is now only Fixed Price with no option for Cost-Reimbursement CLINs.

18. Approved Cost Accounting System: If the small business claims CAS exemption, what evidence is required to prove that the offeror’s accounting system is adequate to support cost-type contracts? See updated solicitation language.

19. Approved Cost Accounting System: Will the Government accept self-certification or third party certification that the offeror's cost accounting system is adequate for accumulating and reporting incurred costs? As a Small business that meets the size standard for the NAICS code, we are exempt from CAS coverage (ref. 48 CFR 9903.201-1(b)), and as such, have not had our Cost Accounting System reviewed by DCAA for adequacy. Our CPA firm is willing and able to certify that our accounting system is adequate to support cost-type contracts. The Government will take all appropriate information in support of the Cost Accounting Checklist as requested in updated solicitation language.

20. Approved Cost Accounting System: Will the Government request a Pre-Award Audit by

DCAA prior to award of the Small Business Set Aside IDIQ? No the Government will not request a pre-award audit by DCAA due to the customer’s required acquisition schedule.

However, we have eased the cost accounting system requirements as specified in updated solicitation language.

21. Does any "Fixed Price" Contract Type mean that a contractor may propose a FFP-Level of

Effort contract type on a task order that states it is FFP? e.g., the offeror may propose FFP- LOE for Seed Task Order #1. No, Seed Task Order X and Y are both Firm Fixed Price. The Government may request other “Fixed Price” Contract Type proposals for future task orders.

22. The original synopsis posted on FBO.gov states the anticipated solicitation release date is 03

July 2014. Is this still an accurate release date and will a procurement timeline be posted in full? Yes, that is an accurate release date. All other relevant procurement timeline milestones have been posted with the release of the solicitation (e.g., question due date, proposal due date).

23. Are there any limitations on 2nd tier subcontractors? No, however, keep in mind the

Government will be evaluating the offeror’s Management Approach which includes a discussion on how an offeror will successfully manage multiple task orders with multiple subcontractors.

24. You say “the Contractor will identify a project manager as the focal point of contact for work to be performed under any specific TOs”. Should responses to the two seed task orders identify by name a Project Manager? Will the Project Manager be considered key personnel?

Yes.

25. Financial Management and Congressional Affairs - Both of these sections are numbered

C-4.1.7. Please confirm that Financial Management is C-4.1.7, Congressional Affairs should be C-4.1.8, and International Affairs should be C-4.1.9. See updated solicitation.

26. You list 21 technical service areas – do you anticipate a direct discussion of each service area within the 13 pages allowed for our response to this area? The offeror shall demonstrate expertise in as many technical service areas as possible to meet the requirements of the government. Emphasis can be placed in topics where vendor has more expertise.

27. Section G-1.2.1 refers to Project Manager (PM) who shall be responsible for the performance of the work and have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters. The third bullet in Section M-4.2 indicates that the Government will evaluate how the Program Manager will be integrated into the overall IDIQ management plan.

The fourth bullet in Section M-4.2 indicates that the Government will evaluate how Project Managers will be integrated in the individual task order management plan. Is it correct to assume that Section G-1.2.1 should read Program Manager instead of Project Manager, and that a Project Manager should be designated for each task order? Yes, see updated solicitation language.

28. Service Disabled Veteran Preference – Does this statement indicate that preference will be given to key personnel that are service-disabled veterans? No, this means the Government may waive key personnel minimum qualifications for veterans with service-connected disabilities.

29. Service Disabled Veteran Preference – Does this imply preference to small businesses that are SDVOSB? No.

30. It is clear that the government requires a CD that contains Volume I to be submitted with the hard copies. The RFP is silent on the need for a CD for Volume II. Please confirm that there is no CD submission requirement for Volume II. CD submission is required for Volume II. See updated solicitation language.

31. Will the government consider excluding the one page contract performance list from the

Factor C, 23 page limit? No, but see updated solicitation for new overall totals.

32. L-1.4.5 Factor E (p. 79) – Please confirm that the page limit for this section is 5 pages, as noted in the table on Page 82 of the RFP. Confirmed.

33. L-1.4.6 Factor F (p. 79) – If only ONE customer misses the submission deadline for the questionnaire, will we be considered non-compliant and our submission tossed out? Or will this only happen if NO customers submit the questionnaires? See updated solicitation language.

34. M-1.0 Basis of Contract Award (p. 84) – Please clarify the number of intended awards.

If you only award four IDIQ contracts, are two of those four reserved for small businesses? Or will the awards for small businesses be in addition to the four? The Government intends to award four IDIQ contracts under the full & open competition and two IDIQ small business set-asides for a total of six awards, but that is not guaranteed and subject to change without further notice to potential offerors.

35. Are we correct in assuming that the past performance appendix called for in section L-1.4.3

Factor C: Technical Expertise is included in the 23 pages for the full & open response or within the 10 pages for the set-aside response? Yes.

36. In section C-1.2 Objectives the draft RFP states the following: “The objectives of this

Performance Work Statement (PWS) are to fulfill the technical requirements within OUSD(AT&L), OASD(A), and ARA.” Are we correct in assuming that this contract vehicle will not be used by OASD (Research & Engineering) or any other organization within AT&L? There is no guarantee that other offices will not use this contract vehicle over the course of the five-year Period of Performance as specified by “Other exceptions may apply at the discretion of the Contracting Officer” in C-2.0, but the majority of the task orders planned at this time will be for the named offices.

37. With regards to the Volume I Submission Requirements (L-1.4), Factor A: Pass/Fail Criteria

(L-1.4.1), subsection Accounting System (L-1.4.1.4), would the government consider the decision recently made by GSA and DCAA on the GSA OASIS IDIQ solicitation to remove the pass/fail requirement for a DCAA compliant accounting system? “GSA has now announced that although a DCAA audited accounting system is no longer a pass/fail requirement, the DCAA has come on board to conduct “pre-award surveys of the accounting systems for apparent successful Offerors.” Without considering the removal of this pass/fail criteria, this would severely limit small business competition. Small businesses that have adequate accounting systems cannot obtain a formal audit from DCAA unless there is a compelling reason (e.g., a cost reimbursable contract award). See updated solicitation language.

38. Reference Pg. 54 52.222-42, Does the Government believe that this is a Service Act Contract? If so, please provide the missing wage data. No, the Service Contract Act does not apply to the services to be provided under this IDIQ. Subject clause and other related Service Contract Act clauses are no longer included in the solicitation.

39. Reference Pg, 75, L-1.4.1.2 Section K, The Government has referenced ORCA in this paragraph. If the offeror completes the Representations, Certifications, and other Statements in the System for Award Management (SAM), is a hard-copy still required in Volume I?

Yes.

40. Reference Pg, 79, L-1.4.6 Past Performance, We are required to obtain approval to use Past Performance citations. The approval process requires us to go through the Prime contractor, who in turns submits it to the Government. Is it the Government intent that the offeror should submit the questionnaires to both the Prime and the Government? Both sources will be accepted.

41. Reference Pg 79,L-1.4.6 Factor F: Past Performance & Reference Pg 81 L-3.4 Binding and Page Limits–Can the Government clarify if the 3 page limit is 3 pgs per Past Performance or 3 pages combined for all the past performance submitted? The 3-page limit is the overall total(not per Past Performance Questionnaire total) for the offeror’s contribution to this factor for the explanation of “any problems encountered on the identified contracts and any corrective action taken” or statements that the offeror possesses no relevant past performance.

42. Would the Government consider adding a Technical Writer – Intermediate Labor Category?

The Government does not anticipate any requirements on this IDIQ that will require a Technical Writer – Intermediate and therefore will not add that labor category.