Amendment_0002_Questions_and_Answers_RFP_HQ0034_18_R_0023(2).pdf

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155

ACQUISITION

DIRECTORATE

Amendment 0002

Department of Defense (DOD) National Capital Region (NCR) Mass Transit Benefit Program (MTBP)

Support Services

RFP HQ0034-18-R-0023

Response to Industry Questions

RFP/PWS

Reference

Reference Page No.

Comment/Questions

1 N/A Who is the incumbent company for this opportunity?

Answer: The incumbent contractor is Golden Key Group, LLC

2 N/A Or, if no company is the incumbent, which independent consultant, individual and/or in-house team performed the work in the past 18months?

Answer: Please see response to question 1.

3 RFP 52.222-42 Pages 39-

Which, if any, of the labor category positions within this contract are covered by “The Service Contract Act”?

Answer: Administrative Assistant. Please see RFP, pages 39-40, FAR 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014)

4 RFP 52.212-1

Instructions to Offeror- Commercial Items (Feb 2012) Addendum

Page 44 Can the government reduce the page limit on each resume to two (2) pages?

Answer: No. The page limit per Resume is a maximum of five (5) pages.

5 N/A Do Letters of Commitment (LOC) count against the page count? May the offer include LOCs in Volume II?

Answer: Letters of Commitment may be included in Volume II, and do not count against the page count.

6 PWS 1.6.6

Security Requirements

Page 3 Is a DD-254 required to perform this contract?

Answer: Form DD-254 is not required to perform on this contract. Please see PWS 1.6.6 Security Requirements, Page 3.

7 PWS 1.6.6

Security Requirements

Page 3 Will the contractor and/or any personnel assigned to this contract require a secret or top-secret clearance?

Answer: A security clearance is not required for this contract. Please see PWS 1.6.6 Security Requirements, Page 3.

8 N/A Who is the incumbent company for this opportunity?

Answer: Please see response to question 1.

9 PWS 1.6.6

Security Requirements

Page 3 This contract is categorized as an unclassified contract. What level of security clearance is required for the contractors working on this contract?

Answer: There is no security clearance required on this contract. Please see PWS 1.6.6 Security Requirements, Page 3.

10 RFP 52.222-42 Pages 39-

Is this contract subject to the Service Contract Act (SCA) Wage Determination?

Answer: Yes. Please see RFP, pages 39-40, FAR 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014) and Wage Determination number 2015-4281, dated 01/10/2018, Attachment 5 to the PWS.

11 RFP 52.222-42 Pages 39-

If this contract is subject to the SCA WD, what is the corresponding Occupation Code for the Project Analyst position in Attachment 5?

Answer: This contract will be subject to the SCA WD, the corresponding Occupation Code is 01020, Administrative Assistant. Please see RFP, pages 39-40, FAR 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014) and Wage Determination number 2015-4281, dated 01/10/2018, Attachment 5 to the PWS.

12 RFP 52.212-1

(Addendum)

Page 43 Is the incumbent contractor eligible to bid on this contract?

Answer: Please see RFP, 52.212-1 Instructions to Offeror – Commercial Items (Feb 2012) Addendum, page 43.

13 PWS 1.6.6 Page 3 Is an active Facility Security Clearance required for offerors to be eligible to bid on this solicitation?

Answer: An active Facility Security Clearance is not required for Offerors.

14 PWS 1.6.10

Key Personnel

Page 5 According to the draft solicitation, the Project Analysts are not considered “Key Personnel”. Are resumes required to be submitted for proposed Project Analysts?

Answer: Resumes are required for key personnel, Program Manager and Project Manager. Please see PWS 1.6.10, Key Personnel, page 5.

15 RFP 52.212-3

Offeror Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items (Jan 2017)

Page 15 If an offeror has recently renewed their SAM registration that includes all the representations and certifications referenced in this solicitation, is the offeror still required to complete the representations and certifications included as part of the solicitation documents and submit with the proposal or is a printout of the SAM registration showing a valid renewal date sufficient?

Answer: Yes, the Offeror is still required to complete paragraph (b) of FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Items ( Jan 2017)

16 PWS 1.6.1 and 1.6.2

Page 2 Is a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) and Quality Control Plan (QCP) required to be submitted as part of our proposal?

Answer: The Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) will be provided by the government. The Quality Control Plan (QCP) shall be delivered by the Contractor 30 days after contract award. Please see PWS 1.6.1 and 1.6.2 page 2.

17 N/A Will the incumbent have the opportunity to rebid on this opportunity?

Answer: Please see the response to question 12.

18 N/A Who is the incumbent who currently holds this contract and what was the dollar value of the award?

Answer: The incumbent contractor is Golden Key Group, LLC. The total award amount $3,998,628.27.

19 N/A Did the Level of Effort for the prior award consist of 1 Program Manager, 1 Project Manager and 5 Analysts?

Answer: The current award consist of one Program Manager, one Project Manager and six Project Analyst.

20 N/A How long has the current team been in place?

Answer: The contract was awarded 30 September 2013.

21 N/A What is the Labor Category/Occupation Code for the Project Analysts per the Wage Determination that was provided?

Answer: Please see the response to question 11.

22 RFP, 52.222-17

Nondisplaceme nt of Qualified Workers

Page 13 It appears that you have strong preference for the new contractor to retain the employees of the incumbent contractor. For example, PWS 5.1.1.1 says, "Assist in developing policy and procedures to address emerging program requirements mandated by OMB guidance, Code of Federal Regulations, statute, etc." Your will evaluate past performance for recency and relevancy. Who would have recent and relevant to the program past performance other than the incumbent contractor and its employees? No one else, of course.

So, will you please identify the incumbent contractor employees that you would like to be retained, and provide available contact information and relevant other information that you have?

Answer: Upon contract award the incumbent will make available a list of contractor personnel by seniority that are subject to the SCA to the awardee.

FAR clause 52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers, incorporated by reference

23 N/A Would you be able to tell us if there is an incumbent contractor for this requirement? If so, could you please provide the contractor name and the contract number that was awarded?

Answer: The incumbent contractor is Golden Key Group, LLC. Contract number HQ0034-13-C-0132.

24 N/A For the incumbent contract, could you provide the contract number, award date, and award amount?

Answer: The incumbent contractor is Golden Key Group, LLC. Contract number HQ0034-13-C-0132, awarded 30 September 2013, total award amount $3,998,628.27.

25 N/A What was the PWS estimated workload data for the current incumbent contract?

Answer:

Labor Category Est Annual Labor Hours

Project Manager 2,000 1 FTE Project Manager/Team Leader 2,000 1 FTE Project Analysts 11,970 6 FTEs Estimated monthly workload: 4500-5500 applications, 3000 emails, 2200 phone calls

Included in above

26 Is travel required to support this contract? If so, is travel reimbursable?

Answer: Travel is not required in support of this contract

27 PWS 1.6.10 Page 5 Are resumes required for all key personnel (PM and DPM)? Are resumes required for the specialist positions?

Answer: Please see response to question 14.

28 N/A Are Letters of Commitment required for resumes submitted?

Answer: No. Letters of Commitment are not required for resumes submitted.

29 PWS 1.6.10 Page 5 Are representative resumes or full named resumes required?

Answer: Full named resumes are required for Key Personnel, please see PWS 1.6.10, Key Personnel, and page 5.

30 RFP, 52.212-2 Page 48 It is hard for a small business to have 3 relevant past performances. Will a company be punished for submitting all of their past performance documents

– even if it is only one or two?

Answer: The Government is requesting that the Offeror provide up to three

(3) past performance contract references that reflect recent and relevant experience. Offerors are not evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance if less than 3 relevant past performances are provided. Please see RFP FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items (Oct 2014) Addendum, page 48, b. FACTOR 2- PAST PERFORMANCE.

31 RFP, 52.212-1 Page 45 Given the short timeline, especially with answers to the vendor questions, would you consider extending the proposal submission date?

Answer: The proposal response date is April 6, 2018, 10:00 am, EASTERN.

32 N/A Finding both a PM and DPM with 5 years of program management experience with transit subsidies is very narrow and unfairly benefits the incumbent. Could the “specific knowledge of mass transit benefits program and at least five (5) years of experience managing a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) SmartBenefits® platform or similar environment for a large employer” part of the DPM experience be removed so that he/she is just has general Program Management experience. Five years of PM experience specific to mass transit and five years of general PM experience for the DP would allow for more competition

Answer: No. This contract supports the DoD’s mass transit benefit program.

Management with experience in this field is required. The requirement is for a PM/DPM with experience administering mass transit benefit for a large employer, not specific to federal employers. In addition to all federal agencies in this region, most large employers offer this benefit to their employees and have experienced staff for execution. Additionally, all employers in DC with more than 20 employees are required to offer this benefit to their employees (D.C. Law 20-142), so the field for experienced talent in this region is sufficiently large, and not in the single digits.

33 RFP 52.222-42 Page 39-

The only reference to SCA rates was on page 41 of 58. The SCA rates were included as a separate attachment. The document states that the statement is for information only and list 01020 Administrative Assistant at GS-7 ($31.98). Is this and the SCA rates to be used to in our cost work up for the analyst position pricing and Volume V Compensation Plan document?

Answer: Please see revised FAR clause 52.222-42, Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014). This statement is for information only.

34 PWS,

Attachment 2

Is the attached version of the Past Performance Questionnaire in fact a draft as stated in the Exhibit/Attachment Table of Contents?

Answer: Please see Attachment 2, Past Performance Questionnaire is not a Draft.

35 RFP 52.212-1

(Addendum)

Page 46 Since resumes are not required for the project analyst positions, how should the offeror address the 'experience performing the assigned PWS tasks' for the personnel matrix for each of the project analysts?

Answer: Resumes are not required for Administrative Assistants. Please see RFP, section C. TECHNICAL APPROACH & CAPABILITY (Volume II), and page 46 for requirements of a personnel matrix outlining personnel.

36 RFP 52.212-2

Evaluation- Commercial Items(Oct 2014) Addendum

Page 50 If the contractor is submitting past performance for experience performed by key personnel, is a past performance questionnaire required for that effort?

Answer: Yes, past performance questionnaire is required, please see RFP 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Items (Oct 2014) Addendum, b.

FACTOR 2 PAST PERFORMANCE, Page 50

37 RFP 52.212-2

Evaluation- Commercial Items(Oct 2014) Addendum

Page 49-

Can the offeror submit past performance for an ongoing project?

Answer: No. The contract may be ongoing, however the period of performance for evaluation purposes must be completed.

38 PWS 1.6.10

Key Personnel

Page 5 For the Project Manager / Team Leader position, can 5+ years of DoD experience be substituted for one year of experience managing a SmartBenefits platform?

Answer: No. This contract supports the DoD’s mass transit benefit program.

Management with experience in this field is required. The requirement is for a PM/DPM with experience administering mass transit benefit for a large employer, not specific to federal employers.

39 Does the offeror have to follow SCA labor categories and wages?

Answer: Administrative Assistant Labor Category is subject to the SCA Wage Determination.

40 PWS Page 13 What labor category does the Government anticipate the offerors use for the

(1) Program Manager, (2) Project Manager / Team Leader, and (3) Project Analysts as these titles are not listed in the SCA attachment?

Answer: Program Manager and Project Manager are not subject to the SCA.

Please see revised PWS, page 13, Administrative Assistant is subject to the SCA attachment.

41 Since the Price Volume is to be submitted only in Microsoft Excel, should the offeror provide the personnel matrix on Tab 1, Tab 2, or create a Tab 3 for the personnel matrix?

Answer: “Personnel Matrix” can be added as an appendix or separate document (PDF) in Volume IV.

42 RFP 52.212-1

Instructions to Offeror- Commercial Items (Feb 2012) Addendum

Page 46 Should Tab 1 - Price Schedule reflect the format/outline of the pricing section starting on Page 3 of the Combined Synopsis? If it does not, do we add an additional tab to reflect this in the Price Volume?

Answer: Please see RFP, 52.212-1 Instructions to Offeror-Commercial Items (Feb 2012) Addendum, page 46 and respond accordingly.

43 RFP Delivery Information

Pages 11-

The base year CLINS show 10 months of services and 1 month of phase in while the option years show 12 months. Is this accurate?

Answer: Yes this is accurate.