ADMINS_Q_and_A_10_June_2019.pdf

Number Question PWS Section Government Answer

2 Will the government specify the number of hours for a full time equivalent (FTE) to calculate the expected 162240 hours of support?

Task Order Technical Exhibit 7.1

See updated Technical Exhibit 7.1. The TO will not be priced at this time. We are only requested fully burdened labor rates.

3 Does the government intend to specify the productive hours to be used for a full time equivalent (FTE)? Task Order Technical Exhibit 7.1 See Question #2

Section B lists CLINS 0001, 0002 and 0003; however Section L.5.3.1.1 states "For award purposes, the Offeror shall provide a proposed FFP for CLINs 0001, 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001". Would the government clarify the CLIN numbers?

Section B & L.5.3.1.1 Language updated in Section L.

Section L.5.3.4 states "Offerors shall provide the total proposed price breakdown for the prime and major subcontractor(s) for the Task Order." Will the government clarify if this breakdown will be fully burdened rates time hours, or a full calculation of direct labor and the application of all indirect costs and fee?

Section L.5.3.4 Language updated in Section L.

Section M.2.4.5 states "The Government will verify that the total proposed price breakdown for subcontractor(s) for the contract is provided in accordance with L.6.". No section L.6 is present in the draft PWS, can the government clarify to what the price breakdown will be verified against?

Section M.2.4.5 Section M updated.

7 Section F states "CLIN 0001 POP 26-Jul-2019 TO 26-Jul-2024" which is 5 years, however the Section J Pricing Tables are for 8 years. What is the Period of Performance of this contract?

Section F - Delivery or Performance

The base IDIQ will have a 5 year ordering period with the ability to award a base + 3 option years on the last year of the ordering period. The Government cannot award a new task order after year five of the ordering period.

PWS Section 4.4 states "For any tasks performed off-site or at a Contractor facility the Contractor shall furnish materials, supplies, and equipment necessary to accomplish the requirement." Are Offerors expected to include cost of off-site task in their IDIQ Labor Rates Pricing Tables?

4.4 Materials and

Equipment Language removed.

PWS Section 1.14.1 states "Exact locations and frequency are unknown at this time; however, the Government anticipates travel may be necessary to provide training support at field offices across the country." Will DSS provide a Not-to-Exceed value for Offers to propose for CLIN 0004?

1.14.1 Other Direct

Costs Yes.

How many staff locations are currently being performed by staff at an off-site location. Are any or all of these locations performed by remote staff on a full-time basis? Can the government identify in table 7.1 which positions are currently being performed remotely, or can be performed remotely? When staff are working at an off-site location, are they required to be in proximity to the location?

1.8 See Technical Exhibit Attachment 1. All contractor employees must work on site at the Government location.

11 Please define how the vacancy rate percentage will be used on the contract. 2.2.15 See Section 2.2.15 and the PRS. The Government gives clear verbiage of how the vacancy rate will be calculated and used.

12 In order to accommodate any absences that exceed two days, can the temporary support be provided remotely? Will all staff have the ability to work remotely if necessary? 1.18.1 Contractor support must be on site.

In the answers to the questions, the government stated "The labor categories are the same on this contract as the current contract". Can the government confirm that there are only three labor categories or "positions" as is indicated in section 7.1, one for each Task Area? Are there different levels within those "positions"? Does each "position" with a different clearance level represent a unique labor category?

7.1 Correct. There are three (3) Labor Categories or "Task Areas." There are not different levels of support within each Task Area.

14 This is a Small business set aside, please clarify the inclusion and applicability of DFAR clause 252.219 7003 Section I Clause removed.

Please clarify the requirement for when clearances need to be in place. There are references that state they need to be in place and then later in the paragraph it states Interim Secret and TS/SCI eligible is acceptable? Or is the cleareance needed at proposal?

1.10 * & 4.3

Contractors are able to work on this contract with an interim Secret Clearance. The interim Secret Clearance must be granted PRIOR to them beginning work on this contract.

16 Section 1.14.2 states All receipts are required. Per FAR 31.205-46 referenced in the sentence, receipts in excess of $75 are requrired for allowable expenditures. Please clarify the requirement of all receipts. 1.14.2 "Regardless of dollar value" language removed from PWS. All travel to be IAW the the JTR.

The government stated there is not a wage determination or Service Contract Act on this award however the description of Administrative and Technical Support tasks are categorized "General Office" . Usually "general office" is a SCA/wage determination labor category. please confirm that the Service Contract Act and the applicable clauses which have been included are NOT applicable to this procurement.

Sec. 5.5 Service Contract Act is not applicable. Applicable clauses have been removed.

In Section 5.27.1.1 related to the staffing plan, the government indicates that the plan should contain the “name of Contractor employee (only required in Final Plan After Contract Award)” however in Sec L.5.4.1 related to Subfactor 1: Staffing Plan, the government indicates, “The Plan should contain the following information: position and location; tie-back to task in PWS; name of contractor employee;” Can the government confirm that the staffing plan submitted with the proposal does not need to include all names of proposed candidates and update update Section L to align with Section 5.27.1.1?

5.27.1.1 Government removed the language requiring the Staffing Plan to include position and location tie back to the task in the PWS. See Section L.

In Section L.5.3.1.2, the government ask that “the proposal shall specific separate, fixed (fully burdened) hourly rates for each category of labor as required in the Section J attachment titled “Pricing Table IDIQ” however the Pricing Table provided on Page 71 of the DRFP has the pricing broken out by Tasks, not Labor Categories. Is the government looking for the providers to provide our own labor categories or will the government be providing labor categories?

L.5.3.1.2 See question #13.

“The Plan should contain the following information: position and location; tie-back to task in PWS;

name of contractor employee…” Are vendors required to submit proposed employee names in Volume III, Staffing Plan? If so, how many employee names must be included in the Staffing Plan?

L.5.4.1 a. Subfactor 1:

Staffing Plan See Question #18

21 Can you please clarify what you are looking for in Section 3 - Subcontracts. L.5.5 VOLUME IV Please review language in Section L

22 The text states, “Responsible for running queries in the …“ Please indicate whether this individual is required only to execute queries formulated by someone else, or is also required to generate the queries.

Section C, paragraph 5.6.15.2

The contractor employee is responsible for PWS Section 5.6.15.2.

The Pricing Tables provide four columns for Fully Burdened Rates by region, but only one column for number of hours. Please clarify how the offeror is to indicate the number of hours for each region, which is required to calculate the Total.

Attachment 7: Pricing Tables Pricing Table updated.

The L.4.4 text states, “The Summary Section shall contain a brief abstract of each volume.” L.5.2 designates Volume 1 as the Proposal Summary volume but does not refer to an “abstract of each volume” in the list of contents for the Proposal Summary. Please clarify whether the requirement for a brief abstract of each volume is to be met with a summary section in each volume, or by a section in Volume I only.

Section L.4.4, L.5.2 Abstract requirement removed. Please see Section L.

Regarding past performance, this paragraph states, “Offerors shall also submit a list of all Government contracts (prime and major subcontracts (in performance or awarded) during the past three (3) years … ” To increase competition, will the Government consider extending the past performance period from 3 years to 5 years?

Section L.5.5

Past performance has been determined the most important evaluation criteria. The Gov't is interested in reviewing the recent and relevant Past Performance. The Govt will increase period from 3 to 5 years.

Regarding past performance, this paragraph states, “Each relevant contract shall have a minimum of 2 years of active performance within 3 years preceding the final solicitation issuance date.” To increase competition, will the Government consider eliminating “2 years of active performance” and extend 3 years to 5 years?

Section L.5.5

Past performance has been determined the most important evaluation criteria. The Gov't is interested in reviewing the recent and relevant Past Performance. The Govt will increase period from 3 to 5 years. We will not reduce the active performance.

Please clarify regarding subcontractor/teaming partner Past Performance: "...subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement will/will not be rated as highly..." Will subcontractors past performance be rated the same as or lower? If lower, what is the scale?

M.2.6.2 Please see updated language.

Per Section M.2.6.2, "The ceiling amount of this contract is estimated at $100M with largest task order of about half. The Past performance must be of at least that value with providing admin support across several states."

1) Will the government clarify that the phrase "at least that value" means at least $50M?

2) Will the government confirm that Offerors must have past performance with a value of at least $50M in order for their past performance to be considered "relevant"?

M.2.6.2 Dollar value has been adjusted to the amount of largest task order.

According to SF1449, you are releasing this as a small business set-aside under NAICS 541611 with a size standard of $15M, however in M.2.6.2, you stated that in order for past performance to be relevant, we need to have Past Performance that is ~$50M-$100M within the past 3 years. These do not align as small businesses who qualifiy under 541611 would not have a Past Performance examples worth ~$50M.

SF1449 & M.2.6.2 Dollar value has been adjusted to the amount of largest task order.

Within question 19, the government states using anything beyond 3 years for past performance could affect the relevency rating of Past Performance. Restricting Past Performance to 3 years will reduce the pool of qualified small businesses. Request the government reconsider extending the timeframe to 5 years.

L.5.5 & Admin RFI QA

Past performance has been determined the most important evaluation criteria. The Gov't is interested in reviewing the recent and relevant Past Performance. The Govt will increase period from 3 to 5 years.

31 Paragraph one of L.5.5 indicates that Offers should "provide a synposis", and should "also submit a list" Will the government clarify if these are two different things? L.5.5 These are two different things.

In paragraph one of Section L.5.5, the government states, " Offerors shall also submit a list of all Government contracts (prime and major subcontracts (in performance or awarded) during the past three

(3) years, which are relevant to the efforts required by this solicitation (At a minimum, the offeror shall submit the past performance information for the two (2) but no more than five (5) examples."

In paragraph two of this section, the solicitation states, " (1) of the references provided should be on the Offeror (Prime Contractor), if available."

1) Will the government please clarify if these references are to two different things: a "list" and "information on contracts"?

2) Will the government clarify how many the offeror should provide?

L.5.5

1) The list and the information provided is the same thing. 2) Submit 2, but not more than 5 examples and at least 1 needs to be for the prime contractor.

Per subsection 3. Section-3 - Subcontracts. Will the government please clarify the intent of this section as it relates to the past perfomance reference contracts? Does the government want to know how subcontractors were used on each Past Performance reference contract? If this is the case, will the government consider revising the language of this section, e.g., Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract/experience listed in Section-1 detailing how subcontractors were used.

L.5.5 3 The Government wants to know how subcontractors will be used on this effort.

34 May offerors submit CPARS in lieu of Past Perfomanve Questionaires?

L.5.5 VOLUME IV –

FACTOR 3: PAST

PERFORMANCE, 5.

Past Performance Assessment Questionnaire:

CPARS cannot be submitted in lieu of Past Performance Questionnaires.

35 Will the Defense Security Service sponsor for Top Security Facility Clearance? 4.3 No. The Contractor needs to have a Facility Clearance at time of proposal.

The government states: "The ceiling amount of this contract is estimated at $100M with largest task order of about half. The Past performance must be of at least that value with providing admin support across several states." Q: Must each Past Performance contract individually meet the $50M value providing support across several states, or can all the Past Performances collectively meet the $50M value providing support across several states?

M.2.6 Factor 3: Past Performance Confidence Assessment, (M 2.6.2)

The contractor needs to show past performance experience with staffing and managing a contract of this size and scope.

37 What personnel positions are going to be considered KEY and how critical are those resumes to win criteria? There are no key personnel on this contract.

38 Is this an LPTA acquisition? If not, how does the importance of price compare to demonstrating technical excellence?

This is a Price Performance Trade Off. Past performance is the most important factor. See Sections L&M.

Given this is multiple award, is it the government’s intentions to try to make awards across the spectrum of socioeconomic types? Is WOSB a category for which every effort will be made to include one or more in the award pool?

This is not multiple award. This is going to be a single award IDIQ. Total Small Business Set- Aside.

Does the government intend to make awards across the spectrum of small business socioeconomic types? We strongly recommend that the government do so and that WOSB be featured as one of the essential win categories.

There will only be one awardee. This requirement is a total Small Business Set-Aside.

Granting of federal government security clearances is a matter wholly within the federal government's control. The federal government has within its powers the power the grant clearances within a matter of minutes, foregoing the usual processes. Will the federal government timely grant to the apparent awardee those security clearances stipulated in the solicitation?

This statement is not accurate. DSS does not have the ability to go beyond the normal time constraints of the clearance process. The timing is dependent on each individual and where they are in the clearance process.

42 Please identify the positions or responsibilities that may be performed at the contractor site. 1.8 See Question #10.

43 It is mentioned that the type of contract will be determined at the task order level. Confirm that the master contract will be IDIQ. 1.9 Yes, IDIQ

44 Please identify the automated system used for preparation of TA reports. 5.6.6 Defense Agency Initiative (DAI) is the current system used for timekeeping, however, names of systems change frequently.

45 Please provide the quantity and types of GOVs that the contractor is expected to oversee. 5.7.6.1

The Contractor is not "overseeing" Government vehicles. Please read PWS Section 5.7.6.1 in detail for specific duties. Each Directorate/Division may have a small number of vehicles (at most approx. 30) assigned to their section.

46 What does the asterisk next to the FTE column header mean? Attachment 1 Note for asterik added under the table.

47 Please confirm if the government is seeking bidders to propose a labor level and mix for this effort. It is noted that there is no data on the number of FTEs in the Attachment 1 table 7.1 The number of FTEs will be included in the table for each Task Order.

48 It is noted that the staffing plan is to be delivered NLT 30 days after contract award. Please confirm that this is an error, as the plan is to be submitted with the proposal. 7.3 Updated. See Section 7.3

49 Are subcontractors required to have a TS FCL at time of proposal submission? L.2.1.1

Any contractor personnel working on the contract must have a security clearnance. The prime will need a TS FCL at time of award. The sub will not need it if the security manager at prime sponsors the clearances.

50 It is noted that the proposals are due 5/22/2019 at 11am EST. The SF1449 indicates a due date of 4/30/2019. Please clarify the expected proposal due date. L.4.5.1 The due date will be stated on the final

Solicitation.

51 Please confirm that the government POC is not required for the synopsis of all past and on-going work. L.5.5 Ok got it. We need to clarify exactly what we what. A synopsis of all or only what they are submitting as PP.

52 Please confirm that a subcontracting plan is only required for bidders that will be using subcontractors for this effort. L.5.2 Subcontracting plans are not required.

53 Please confirm that the 30 pages total for Technical Capability is inclusive of the 20 page limit for IDIQ technical capability and the 10 page limit for the Task Order technical capability. L.4.2 Number of pages clarified.

Please clarify the IDIQ contract period of performance, as the information is not provided in the PWS.

While Section B of the Draft RFP shows only a CLIN structure for the base year, Section F seem to indicate that the Base Year POP is for five years. Then Section L.5.3.1.1 indicates that there are Option Year CLINs.

General See Question #7.

It is mentioned that labor rates will evaluated with “a comparison to competitive proposals submitted in response to this solicitation” as one of the factors to determine price fairness and reasonableness.

Please define competitive proposals. Are the competitive proposals the seven lowest priced offerors, all offerors or something else?

M.2.4.3 Please read through all evaluation criteria. It outlines the Government's intent.

It is mentioned that “The Government will conduct price realism on each offeror’s proposal to ensure that rates and other pricing data are accurate, fair and reasonable”. We understand that price realism considers whether an offeror’s price is too low, while price reasonableness considers whether an offeror’s price is too high. Please confirm that the government will conduct both a price realism analysis and a price reasonableness analysis for the 7 lowest bidders

M.2.4.6 Language updated. The Government will not evaluate "realism"

Please confirm our understanding that only contracts/task orders with a value of at least $50M will be considered. How will contracts/task orders with a value below $50M be evaluated in terms of relevancy and confidence?

M.2.6.2 See Question #28.

It is our understanding that the value of the current task order is about $35M for a five-year term. As such, we request that the government reduce the minimum value of a contract or task order. If the government agrees to reduce the minimum performance period of a relevant past performance record to 1 year, we request the minimum value to be reduced to $7M. If the government will maintain the minimum 2 year requirement, we request that the minimum value be reduced to $14M.

M.2.6.2 See Question #28.

It is unlikely that any SB will be able to present a minimum of two recent past performance records, each with a value that exceeds $50M. SB will almost be forced to find a major subcontractor to provide the two required relevant past performance records. As such, we request that the government reduce the minimum requirement to one past performance record.

L.5.5 The dollar value has been updated.

It is mentioned that a relevant contract shall have a minimum of 2 years of active performance. We are curious as to why the government is seeking past performance records with a two-year minimum performance? We ask that the government change the minimum requirement to 1 year of active performance, as the contractor should be able to demonstrate ability to fully manage, staff and perform contract requirements within the first year of performance.

L.5.5

The Gov't determined that since PP is the most important evaluation factor that we wanted the contractors to show some amount of history of past performance performing the required task.

The past performance questionnaires requirement places undue burden on the customer especially if similar requests have recently been made for other proposal efforts. As such, we request that the government allow completed CPARs or past performance surveys as acceptable submissions in lieu of the RFP past performance questionnaire for past performance evaluation.

L.5.5 The PPQ is tailored to ask questions that will give the Government more detailed past performance information pertaining to this requirement.

62 Will the government please provide Attachment 7, “Pricing Tables”? It is not included in the Draft RFP. M.2.2.1 Yes. It was included in Section J as attachment 7.

It will also be included in the final Solicitiation.

We are unclear as to why the government is seeking a separate Technical Capability Section at the IDIQ and the Task Order levels. Details of the staffing, management and transition plans will be similar.

Proposal requirements from similar government efforts on task order IDIQ contracts generally request only one technical capability section. Will the government kindly elaborate on the reason for requiring technical capability at the two levels? If appropriate, we request that the government amend the proposal requirements to address technical capabilities only at the IDIQ level.

L.5.4.1 The Government is requiring one Technical proposal for the Base IDIQ. This information will be updated in the final Solicitation.

If the government intends to evaluate the technical capability at both the IDIQ and the Task Order level, will the government determine acceptability of each subfactor for the two levels combined or separately?

M.2.5 See Question #63.

65 Will the government please provide Attachment 1, Task Order Performance Work Statement? Section J Task Order PWS will not be included in the final Solicitation.

Is it possible for a past performance record to receive a “Somewhat Relevant” or “Not Relevant” relevancy rating based on scope of work, and then receive a “Substantial Confidence” rating based on customer evaluations?

M.2.6.7

The RFP is clear that we will use mulitple means of reviewing past performance not just customer evaluations. We will review CPARS, but will still look at the Past Performance Questionnaires as part of the evaluation.

Does the Government intend to designate any Administrative LCATS as Service Contract Act (SCA) or are all employees considered exempt? If all employees are not exempt, which LCATS (i.e. Admin., Exec. Assistant, Recruiter, etc.) will be identified as SCA?

L.5 Service Contract Act does not apply to this contract.

68 The left side of the table that outlines each Volume does not identify Volume 3, please change. L.4.2 Table 1 Volume numbers will be corrected on the final Solicitation.

Questionnaire: Will the government accept a completed questionnaire from a previous military project officer if none of the other government contracting personnel (contracting officer, specialist, COR, etc.)

are available due to retirement, relocation, assigned new job, etc.? As you know, Military rotate frequently and new personnel will not have the first-hand knowledge of performance.

PAST

PERFORMANCE

QUESTIONNAIRE /

Past Performance Questionnaire Form /

ART I: 1. GENERAL

INSTRUCTIONS:

The PPQ must come from the Contracting Office or the COR. Now, if that person fills it in then submits to the contracting office then that is acceptable.

Draft solicitation states: "The ceiling amount of this contract is estimated at $100M with largest task order of about half. The Past performance must be of at least that value with providing admin support across several states."

Q: Does the qualifying phrase "... Past performance must be of at least that value..." refer to the estimated value of $100M, or the value of the largest task order estimated to be about $50M?

M2.6.2 Verbiage updated.

The Government has provided generic statements surrounding task areas, but no specific job descriptions, job titles, or specific labor categories - only generic statements as to where the work will be performed, generalized years of experience, and generic pools the work will be performed in (Task 1, 2, etc.). For instance, "Specialized" support could be misinterpreted as Financial Analysis or a person who performs JPAS analysis; both use different skill sets, use different tools and are priced very differently. To say personnel will perform, some, many or all of the work is too obtuse; level 1 is priced differently than level 2, level 3 and so on. An Admin is different than a Sr. Admin and also different from an Executive Assistant, yet they are all lumped in the same task areas. Only the incumbent would know how many of each LCAT are in each Task Area, or which LCAT schedules conference rooms, provides security, or maintains property records.

Q: In order to level the playing field so it does not singularly benefit the incumbent, will the Government designate LCATS?

L.5

See Question #13. In addition, the Government has filled in the FTE requirements for what will be the first Task Order in Technical Exhibit 7.1. This is being used for information purposes only for purposes of proposing at the IDIQ level.

Section L.5.4.1 includes the instructions for the Technical capability response. While Quality Plan is included in the submission requirements in Sections L.4.2.2.2.1 and L.4.2.2.2.2, there are no specific instructions relating to what the Government actually requires.

Q. What does the Government require on these topics?

L.5.4.1 Quality Control Plan will be not evaluated as part of the Technical Evaluation.

Section L.3.5 states that "offerors should provide a synopsis for all past and ongoing work in Government and non-Government contracts for Administrative Support Services. Offerors shall also submit a list of all Government contracts (prime and major subcontracts (in performance or awarded) during the past three (3) years, which are relevant to the efforts required by this solicitation."

Q. If the Government is requesting every single contract we ask you to provide the specific information that it required to be included in the Synopsis and the List (i.e. contract number, POC, period of performance, etc., or simply the contract name, relevance and value).

L.3.5 The Government is not requesting "every single contract". Please review Sections L&M for specific language and requirements.

Section L.3.5 states that "This information is required on the offeror, subcontractors, teaming partners and/or joint venture partners the offeror considers critical to overall successful performance. (1) of the references provided should be on the Offeror (Prime Contractor), if available." It appears that some information is missing in the statement above.

Q. Can the Government correct this statement?

L.3.5 Language updated.

75 How many awards does the Government plan on making for this BPA? Single award IDIQ as specified and this will not be a BPA

76 Does the team need to cover all Task Areas in order to bid? Yes, this is a single award IDIQ so the awardee must be able to fill all the requirements.

77 We request the page limitations for Volume 3, Technical Capability, not be restrictive in page limitations for the IDIQ and Task Order to allow more flexibility in responses. L.4.2 The pages will be revised.

78 Please clarify the Proposal Volume numbers in Table 1. Proposal Volume 2 is listed twice. L.4.2 They wil be corrected.

RFI Questions and Answers state that the Service Contract Act does not apply. However, Service contract act clauses are checked, to include the Non-Displacement of Qualified Workers Clause 52.222-

17. Please clarify.

Section I - Contract Clauses Clause removed.

80 Please verify that invoicing can be submitted as the total CLINs in Section B, divided by the number of months (i.e. total/12).

Section B - Supplies or Services and Prices This is correct for the Task Orders.

81 Attachment 1: Task Order (TO) Peformance Work Statement (PWS) was not included in the Draft RFP.

Does the government intend to release the TO PWS prior to the final solicitation?

Section J - List of Documents See Question #65.

82 As a true Firm Fixed Price task order contract, will the contractor be allowed to bill the full invoice amount on months that include Holidays and site-closures? Section C: 1.6.4 Yes, bill the entire amount minus any reductions based on vacancy rates as specified in the PWS.

83 What volume of the proposal should the draft Quality Control Plan be included? 5.27.4.1 QCP is not required at time of proposal. Please see updated language for the QCP.

84 The Standard Form has a due date of April 30, 2019 and the instructions state May 22, 2019. Please clarify the anticipated due date for proposals. SF 1449 & L.4.5 Due dates will be included in the final Solitication.

Evaluating the 7 lowest priced offerors creates the risk of a proposal being unrealistically low. In order to achieve a true Best Value evaluation approach and increase performance success, we recommend evaluating the Past Performance for all submissions.

M.2.5 See Sections L&M for evaluation methodology.

Relevant past performance of at least $50M within the past three years is unduly restrictive for small businesses. Furthermore, a true small business would exceed the Small Business size standard under the NAICs with past performance of that size. Please revise to a $25M requirement for past performance or remove the monetary restriction altogether.

M.2.6.2 See Question #28.

Please remove the two year minimum active performance requirement for past performance as it is unduly restrictive for Small Businesses. We kindly request this restriction be removed, or revised to one year of active performance.

L.5.5 See Question #26

88 Will the government identify the number of FTE required for each LCAT? 7.1 TO Tech Exhibit See Question #2.

89 The pricing tables provided on page 71, do not appear to the IDIQ LCAT rate-type tables. Can the DSS clarify what these tables are required for? What locations are the nothern/southern/western? pg.71 Please see updated Pricing Tables in Section J.

According to Govwin, the last date to order on the incumbent IDIQ is Sept 2020. According to the draft RFP, the anticipated start date of the new contract is July 26, 2019. Does DSS plan to exercise the final option year on the current contract? Will there be overlap with the current contract?

The current contract is not an IDIQ and expires in 2019 and is in the final option year.

If submitting an IDIQ Contract as a past performance reference (along with relative Task Orders), will the government accept PPQs from the offeror’s customers on individual delivery orders instead of the IDIQ since the work is performed at the Task Order level?

Section L (L.5.5) Yes, we will accept PPQs from the CORs on the task orders.

"L.5.4 VOLUME III – FACTOR 2: TECHNICAL CAPABILITY. Offerors shall demonstrate an understanding of the technical requirements and risk in implementing those requirements identified in the Task Order PWS in accordance with the Table 1 in section L.4.2. This will include the Offeror’s plans to meet all technical requirements, and the thoroughness in which the proposal addresses each technical requirement. The proposal shall address the Staffing Plan, Management Plan, and Transition Plan in sufficient detail to permit evaluation in accordance with Section M. Volume III shall cover all contract years." Is it the Government's desire to receive only a Staffing, Management and Transition Plan and not a technical solution for accomplishing the PWS items?

Section L (L.5.4) Be see the evaluation critera as defined in L&M.

"Offerors shall also submit a list of all Government contracts (prime and major subcontracts (in performance or awarded) during the past three (3) years," Does the government require a list of all awards in addition to one described in the past performance section provided in the past performance volume?

Section L (L.5.5) Verbiage updated.

Considering the manpower requirements of this RFP, would the Government consider using a size, rather than revenue based NAICS Small Business Standard (other than 571411)

The Government reviewed. The NAICS code is appropriate as it stands.

95 Can the government please provide the Past Performance Questionnaire Form in MS Word? Section J; Attachment 5

The Government will consider submitting as an attachment in FBO, however, the offeror should be able to convert the PDF to a Word document on their end.

In Section L.4.2, the table shows both Price and Technical volumes as "Volume 2." Can the Government please confirm that the Technical Volume should be labeled as Volume 3?

L.4.2 Volume numbers updated.

Section L.5.4.1 indicates that “Volume III shall be discussed in separate sections in accordance with Table 1 in section L.4.2, which requires a separate technical capability section for the IDIQ PWS”. Will there be separate instructions on how to respond to 2.2 Technical Capability for Task Order or do the instructions in L.5.4.1 apply?

L.5.4.1

Requirements for the task order were removed.

The Government will only be evaluating for the Base IDIQ award at this time. Please see Sections L & M for updated language.

"The draft solicitation states, ""M.2.6.2 Relevant performance includes performance of efforts involving administrative support services that are similar or greater in scope, magnitude, and complexity than the effort described in this solicitation. The ceiling amount of this contract is estimated at $100M with largest task order of about half. The Past performance must be of at least that value with providing admin support across several states."

If a small business has maintained a Past Performance reference that is valued at $50M for at least three years as required to be considered a "recent" past performance, this would disqualify them at the $15M size standard. Additionally, the requirement that "Past Performance must be at least that value with providing admin support across several states" also disqualifies most small businesses under the $15M size standard. Will this evaluation factor be assessed for the prime and its subcontractors or for only the prime contractor?"

M.2.6.2 See Question #26

The requirement for "Past Performance must be at least that value [$50M] with providing admin support across several states" severely limits the competitive field as many small businesses under the $15M will not have this level of experience, will the Government consider reducing this requirement to $15M?

M.2.6.2 See Question #26

Since many small businesses will not have a single contract or task order over $50M, will the Government consider allowing past performance to be a combination of contracts from the prime and subcontractor(s) that meet the $50M threshold?

M.2.6.2 See Question #26

The Admin_RFI_Q&A.pdf states that the current total spend is $35M. With the Government anticipating that the largest task order to be about $50M, will the Government provide additional information regarding the increase from $35M to $50M?

Admin_RFI_Q&A.pdf The largest task order is expected to be around $40M and the language was updated to reflect that.

102 Can we please obtain a copy of DSS Manual 00-04, Volume 2 “Manual for Records Maintenance and Disposition"? 5.6.2 All DSS Manuals will be available at time of award.

103 Can we please obtain a copy of DSS Regulation 11-273: Civilian Personnel In and Out Processing, dated, Jul 28, 2009? 5.6.3 See Question #102.

104 Will database manipulation require SQL or is there an interface that is used? Is it possible for changes to be made to the interface, if it exists? 5.6.7.3 All requirements are included in the PWS.

105 What is the current system used to manage tasks? 5.6.8.1 CADMS. However, Government system names change frequently.

106 Does DSS provide a workflow management system with an IDMS or CMS, like SharePoint? 5.6.11 Yes.

Are the Local Industrial Security Databases accessible from SIPRNet or SCIF only? If accessible from a SCIF, what are the maintenance hours and how frequent should the databases/spreadsheets be kept up to date?

5.6.15.1 Access is dependent on core hours and locations.

108 Is the current system for Conference Room Coordination manual or automated? 5.6.18. There are multiple methods to schedule conference rooms.

FAR Clauses 52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers (May 2014) (E.O. 13495), is incorporated into the solicitation. Section L.5.4.1.a, Subfactor 1: Staffing Plan and PWS 5.27.1.1, state in part, "The Plan should contain the following information: position and location; tie-back to task PWS; name of contractor employee;...". In that the solicitation has cited FAR 52.222-17 mandates that the awardee of a contract for this solicitation provide the right of first refusal to qualified incumbents classified as service contract employee, it is hard to understand why the name of the contractor employee is required. This makes the solicitation unduly restrictive of fair and equitable competition giving the small businesses that are teamed with the incumbent contractor an unfair advantage over all other Offerors. We also note that this requirement was removed from the RFP during the previous competition for this requirement. Please consider removing the requirement to name the contractor employee in the Staffing Plan to allow for fair competition.

PWS 5.27.1.1 Clause removed.

Draft RFP Section L.5.4.1.a asks offerors to, "describe the extent in which the Offeror's proposed usage of specialized expertise and labor categories will be employed ..." In reading this, we cannot determine what it is the Governments wants to know. Please explain what the Government means by this phrase.

None Verbiage updated.

111 Will the Government accept a CPAR (if available) to be included in Volume IV, in lieu of sending a PPQ to the client?

Section L.5.5, Volume IV, Paragraph 5 See Question #34.

112 Will the government provide either a fillable adobe acrobat file or word file of the Past Performance Questionnaire Form? Section J, Attachment 5 See Question #95.

Using Past Performance as the principal award factor on the premise of relevancy rather than considering the technical merit of an offer across the scope of DSS's requirements creates an inherent bias in establishing meaningful comparison and discrimination among proposals and is inconsistent with FAR 15.304(b)(2). We ask that the government consider this as a subordinate factor to technical merit, or make them equal.

52.212-2

The Govt reviewed your questions agains the information in L&M. Past Performance does not have to be at DSS. Section L states that Past Performance is inclusive of work in Government and non-Government contracts for Administrative Support Services. The Govt has determined that PP is the most important.

We believe the two primary considerations established by the evaluation of Past Performance, relevancy and confidence, are insufficient to merit its use as a primary evaluation factor without establishing an offeror's technical merits prior to such a consideration. This is supported by multiple GAO rulings (i.e., B-412740; B-412740.3; B-412740.4, May, 2016). Would the government reconsider this prioritization.

52.212-2 No.

There is a discrepancy between the RFI Q&A and the Draft RFP with regards to the timing on when the Contractor must possess a Top Secret Security Clearance. The RFI Q&A states the "Contractor shall have been granted a Top Secret facility clearance at time of award." The Draft RFP states, the Contractor shall have a facility clearance of TOP SECRET in accordance with the DoD 5220.226M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) at the time of proposal submittal."

Will the Government please clarify when the Top Secret Facility Clearance is required?

RFI Q&A #16 and Section L.2.1.1.

The offeror shall have their facility clearance at time of proposal. Contractor employees that require a TS or TS/SCI must have a clearance at time of award. Contractor employees that require a Secret Clearance must have a interim Secret Clearance at a minimum at time of award.

116 Does the Government plan to offer the contractor any incentives for hiring and maintaining personnel? Section 5.27.1.3

Yes, a good CPARS rating. A good Past performance rating is important when responding to solicitations that have Past Performance as most important evaluation criteria.

117 What is the attrition rate on the current contract? N/A This is not relevant.

Is the required training stated in Section 1.10.1. Special Qualifications performed on DSS work-site locations and provided by the Government during normal hours of operation? If not, please advise if travel is required to complete required training and who will be responsible for providing the training?

Section 1.10.1 Yes.

Section 1.10.1 states “The Contractor shall submit certificates of completion for each affected Contractor employee and subcontractor employee, to the COR or to the Contracting officer. This training shall be completed and reported to the COR within 30 calendar days of task order contract assignment and annual refresher training for the remaining contract duration.” Will the training called out in Section 1.10.1 be available within 30 days of the task order award?

Section 1.10.1 Yes.

How is the vacancy rate impacted by Paid Time Off (PTO), sick leave, etc.? The draft RFP states, "The Contractor is responsible for providing temporary coverage in the event of an extended absence of two

(2) or more consecutive days." Does this include PTO of more than two (2) consecutive days?

Section 1.18.1

The Contractor is responsible for providing temporary coverage in the event of an extended absence of two (2) or more consecutive days. This includes sick days or PTO days. It is up to the Contractor to tell the Government how they plan on providing that coverage on site.

This section states, "The vacancy rate applies to both occupied and unoccupied positions, excluding the days allotted to the Contractor in accordance with PWS section 1.6.2., 1.6.3., and 1.20.1." There is no section 1.20.1.

Section 2.2.15 Verbiage updated.

122 Does the Government have a current quality control plan (QCP) they can provide as a guide? Section 5.27.4 It is the Contractors responsibility to provide a Quality Control Plan.

123 What Task Management System is the Government currently using? Is it software based? If so, what software? Section 5.6.8.1 and 7.2 CADMS is web-based.

Please confirm the period of performance (PoP). RFP Sections F and Clause 252.216-7006 state the PoP is 26 July 2019 through 26 July 2024. RFP Clause 52.216-18 states that orders may be issued from 26 July 2019 to 26 July 2027. Clause 52.216-22 states that the Contractor shall not be required to make any deliveries under this contract after 26 July 2027. Finally, the IDIQ pricing tables request pricing through Year 8.

Section F, Clause 252.216-7006, Clause 52.216-18, Clause 52.216-22 and IDIQ Pricing Tables

The Period of Performance will be stated in the final Solicitation.

Was the clause for (1) 52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers (May 2014) (E.O. 13495) inadvertently checked? As this contract does not have SCA employees, this clause would not be relevant.

52.222-17 Clause removed.

126 What does the asterisk after FTE* in the column signify? Section 7.1 See Question #46.

127 A number of rows in the 7.1 Task Order Technical Exhibit are highlighted in blue. What does this signify? Section 7.1 This has been corrected.

Section 5.27.1 states that the "contractor shall provide a staffing plan with their proposal submission for evaluation." This sections also states that the staffing plan "shall be updated annually or when changes are made to it." Section 7.1 states that the staffing plan is submitted "NLT 30 days after contract award."

Can the Government clarify the frequency requirement of the staffing plan?

Sections 5.21.1 and 7.3 Verbiage updated in Section 7.3.

Section 7.3 only lists the frequency for the quality control plan (QCP) as part of the proposal submission. We recommend the Government also include the post submission frequency required for the final QCP, which is due "within 10 days from contract award" per RFP Section 5.27.4.1.

Sections 5.27.4.1 and

7.3 Language updated.

Many small businesses will have multiple prime contracts, but no single contract over $50M. a) Can the past performance contract/task order ceiling amount be reduced to $25M? b) Will the government consider aggregating the total value of all past performance references to meet the task order ceiling requirement? c) Can subcontractor past performance be included in this calculation?

M.2.6.2 See Question #26.

131 With respect to the previous question, will the government expand the maximum number of past performance references to 7? M.2.6.2 No.

132 The Government provides the estimated workload resources support of 162240 hours. In the Final PWS, will the Government provide a labor hour breakdown of the Positions in the table in Section 7.1?

7.1 Task Order

Technical Exhibit See Question #2.

133 Will the Government map the positions to the different pricing CLINS? Part 5 Specific Tasks This has been updated.

134 Both the Price and Technical Capability volumes are shown as Vol.2.Should the Technical Capability Vol be 3? L.4.2, p. 104 Volume numbers updated.

In the Technical Capability Volume Table 2.1 for IDIQ and 2.2 Task Order, these seem to be the same.

Can't the same Transistion Plan, Staffing Plan, Management Plan, and Quality Control Plan be used for both?

L.4.2, p. 104 Requirement are for the IDIQ only. Please see updated requirements in Sections L&M.

136 Technical Capability Volume sections 2.1 and 2.2 include the Quality Control Plan. Can the draft QA Plan be an Appendix to the Technical Capability Volume? L.4.2, p. 104 This has been updated.

It is not stated for the Technical Capability Volume what the page limits are for the subfactors: Staffing Plan, Management Plan, and Transisiton Plan. Do these each have page limits or are these all included in the 30 pages?

L.4.2, p. 104 Pages numbers have been updated.

138 In the draft RFP section L.4.5, it states that proposal responses should be submitted on 22 May 2019. Is this date correct? If not, what is the correct date? L.4.5, p, 105 Dates updated in the final Solitication.

Staffing Plan - In Section 5.27.1.1. it is stated "The Plan should contain the following information:

position and location; tie-back to task(s) in PWS; name of Contractor employee (Only required in Final Plan After Contract Award); ". In Section L.5.4.1, SubSection 1 it states " The Plan should contain the following information: position and location; tie-back to task in PWS; name of contractor employee; and the experience and education of the contractor employee." Will the name of the contractor employee be required before or after contract award?

5.27.1.1 and L.5.4.1 Language updated.

In the RFI Q&A Response the question was asked about FTE hours. The government responded "The Government will provide a list of "Estimated Workload" that will include the task numbers and anticipated FTE hours." When will the estimate of hours be provided?

RFI Q&A Document See Question #2.

In Section M.2.6.2 Relevant performance it states the ceilingamount of this contract is estimated at $100M with largest task order of about half. The Past performance must be of at least that value with providing admin support across several states. Is it not unfair to ask for a small business to have a $100M past performance when this contract will likely be in the $35M to $50M range? Additionally, a $100M contract will push the small business out of the small business category set by this procurement.

Section M.2.6.2 See Question #28.

In several places in the draft RFP a Task Order is mentioned. None was provided with the RFP. Will a TO be presented when the final is released? Additionally, can all deliverables associated with the TO wait until an actual TO is presented?

Section 1.8, 1.9 Verbiage updated. Task Order will be award AFTER award of the Base IDIQ.

143 Since the Transition is to be completed in 30 days, will DSS provide after contract award notification the names and resumes of the incumbent contractors before the transition begins?

Section L.5.4.1 Subfactor 3: Transition Plan

The incumbent will need to provide the awardee the appropriate contract information to ensure service is not disrupted during the 30 day transition phase.

Factor 3: Past Performance - Can the government confirm that Past Performance References and Questionnaires can be submitted for all subcontractors, not just those deemed major subcontractors?” L.5.5 Volume IV

Please comply with specified limits and specified instructions.

145 In Section 7.1 in the paragraph prior to the table on pg. 58, the end of the last sentence states "this Request for Information".