Remaining PMOSS Questions-3- dtd 20MAY09

PMOSS Question and Answer Dated 20 May 2009

Question 1: In your response to a question on whether Task Order #1 included support to the Acquisition [Contracts] Office, you stated “ No, not primarily, the AO has its own support contract. However, there are three people that provide program and administrative support to the AO; and this relationship may continue.” What is nature of the program support that you envision continuing as part of the PMOSS Task Order #1?

Answer 1: Offerors need not propose labor categories for the SBI Acquisition Office.

Question 2: Regards to question 16 of the May 13 Q&A from the government: A CTA refers to a specific arrangement between two or more companies to share responsibilities in the execution of a contract. The CTA can have subcontractors as well. There are two different types of agreements used. One for the contractual entity and another for each subcontractor. Which of these agreements does the government want?

Answer 2: CTAs and subcontracts are determined solely at the discretion of the offerors.

Question 3: If a company is taking on sole responsibility for Project Management and Oversight and its subcontractors are not part of a Joint-Venture or a more formal shared-management entity, are the signed Teaming Agreements expected to be included under Tab D?

Answer 3: No, Contractor Teaming Agreements (CTA) is two or more contractors working together, by complementing each other's capabilities, to offer a total solution to meet the Government’s requirement. It permits contractors to complement each other's capabilities to compete for contracts for which they may not independently qualify. Subcontracts are not CTAs.

Question 4: Section L.6 of the RFP states that for both Part I and Part II “the offeror shall provide five written and five electronic (CD-ROMs) proposals.” Section L.8 states that “Written Cost/Price Proposals shall be submitted in an original and five (5) paper copies and two (2) electronic copies.” Which of these is the correct requirement for submission of the Written Cost/Price Proposal?

Answer 4: Offerors are required to submit one (1) original and four (4) copies and five (5) electronic copies. Amendment 0001 will reflect this change in sections L.6 and L.8.

Question 5: Section L.7.3 of the RFP and the answer to question 10 provided on 5 May 2009 "...offerors are not encouraged to provide additional information beyond that which is required because that information will not be evaluated" appear to be in conflict with the answer to question 7 provided on 13 May 2009. The answer to question 7 states, "...the government will consider all relevant past performance information in its evaluation." This conflict appears to indicate that offerors are permitted to submit past performance information in addition to the three Attachment 6 survey responses. The 5 May response discourages additional information while the 13 May response appears to encourage the submission of additional information. Please clarify this apparent inconsistency. We believe that providing context for our team's relevant past performance will set us apart from other bidders and provide critical information for SBI PMO's evaluations of all the submittals and would like to be able to provide additional past performance information for evaluation. Please confirm that this is acceptable and, accordingly, additional past performance information can be included in the Offeror's submission as a non-page count appendix.

Answer 5: For Factor 3 - Past Performance, only the three (3) past performance surveys will be utilized in the source selection evaluation. In making the determination of responsibility, the Government will consider all relevant past performance information in accordance FAR Subpart 9.1.

Question 6: In the answers to questions dated 13 May 2009, question 17 asks "Please clarify if both the prime and all subcontractors are required to hold Top Secret *facility* clearances at the time of award?" (Asterisk emphasis added by offeror). The response to this question states, "Section H.28 of the solicitation states, The successful contractor must currently possess the appropriate security level clearance and be a participant under the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) prior to award. This requirement also applies to any subcontractors."

Please clarify if this is intended to mean that the prime and all subcontractors shall hold Top Secret facility clearances, i.e. be capable of hosting meetings discussing Top Secret data, or if they must have Top Secret storage clearances.

Answer 6: All business concerns must have a facility clearance prior to contract award. No business concern shall be allowed to work under the forthcoming contract without the appropriate clearances and security requirements.

Question 7: Upon review of the RFP and the proposed notional labor categories therein, it appears as though many of the labor categories may have been developed using incumbent's GSA schedule labor category descriptions and qualifications. Is this an accurate assessment? This information will help the Offeror to determine the qualifications the Government expects for those individuals performing on the contract.

Answer 7: The assessment is mostly accurate. The Government reviewed the labor categories being used by the Program Office from all the support contracts. The Government used many of those labor categories and labor category descriptions, including other descriptions found in GSA Schedule contracts and corporate websites, other than the incumbents’, to construct the national labor categories and descriptions.

Question 8: Section C.2.5 of the RFP and Section 2.11 (Integrated Logistics Support and Planning) of Task Order 01 (Attachment 14) discuss training capabilities and contributions by the successful offeror. Does the Government anticipate that "implementation of operator and maintenance training" under PMOSS scope includes the delivery of such training? For examples, will the successful offeror be required to provide the instructors who will conduct such training?

Answer 8: No, the Government does not expect the successful offeror provide instructors or classroom or web-based training. The successful offeror should be able to provide expert training advice and assist other contractors that develop curriculum and provide specific training.

Question 9: Based on the numbers of questions and answers provided on 13 May and the fact that we, and seemingly our competitors, may also have remaining questions that will impact the preparation and production of our submission, will the Government be willing to grant a two-week extension of the due date to 25 June 2009?

Answer 9: No.

Question 10: Section C.1.2 of the RFP states, "For Task Order 01, the

Government intends to increase its Government staff and reduce reliance on contractors over the period of this IDIQ contract and TO 01. Notionally, the Government anticipates reducing contractor personnel from approximately 120 personnel for the SBI PMO to approximately 47 contract personnel over a two year period." In addition, Attachment 16, Task Order 01, indicates that the period of performance is 12 months. Please clarify whether the Government intends that Task Order 01's staff be decreased during its 12 month period of performance or whether the reduction in staffing from 120 to 47 refers only to the overall IDIQ contract.

Answer 10: Available contractor resources and Government staffing levels will determine when and how much of a reduction will occur in the first year. The Government anticipates decreasing contractor support during the first year when it’s possible and in areas when it’s appropriate.

Question 11: Have any of the supplemental materials, in particular the roles and responsibilities document, been updated since they were posted? If so, may we obtain updated copies?

Answer 11: There are no updates to the information previously posted.

Question 12: Reference Task Order (TO) 1 CLIN 00030 Travel Estimate. The solicitation provides CLIN 00030 – Travel for TO 1 with an NTE next to the amount. Would the Government please clarify if the offeror is to estimate an amount for this CLIN or if the Government was intending to provide an amount since it is labeled with Not To Exceed (NTE)?

Answer 12: Travel was running over $600K/ year previously. The intent was to fund Travel up to $650K per year, with a Not to Exceed (NTE) amount. The Government does not expect the offeror to estimate Travel. The Government will identify the amount of $650K in Section B as NTE; and the Government can incrementally fund up to that amount.

Question 13: The RFP request that all team members must have a Top Secret Facility Clearance. Is DHS expecting small businesses to have facility clearance before contract award or may they obtain this after award? Will small business members have approval to work as they go through the process?

Answer 13: All business concerns must have a facility clearance prior to contract award. No business concern shall be allowed to work under the forthcoming contract without the appropriate clearances and security requirements.

Question 14: Section L.5 paragraph 2 and Attachment 14, section 11.1 paragraph 4 indicates the offeror shall use 1960 to represent one FTE. Section B.4.2a paragraph 1 indicates the offeror shall bid a 40-hr work week in accordance with the offerors Disclosure Statement. If the offeror’s standard FTE is different than 1960, please clarify which methodology is to be used.

Answer 14: Section L.5 requires offerors to use 1,960 hours in its proposal.

Question 15: Will the Government allow offerors to use a serif font such as Times New Roman for its proposal text as long as that font is at least 12 point in size?

Answer 15: The allowable fonts and font sizes are in section L.6 of the solicitation.

Question 16: The answer to question 10 in the latest answers released by the Government states that offerors can propose more than one Sr. Systems Engineer. Can offerors assume that we can propose multiple individuals for the Sr. Financial Analyst position as well?

Answer 16: Offeror’s may submit any number of individuals for any labor category that confirms to the terms and conditions of the solicitation.

Question 17: Is there a limit to how many resumes may be submitted at the IDIQ level?

Answer 17: Total resume, to include key personnel and non‑key Functional Leads for Task Order 01, shall not exceed 10. No resumes are required at the IDIQ level, unless they are key personnel or non-key functional lead under section H.16.2.

Question 18: The answer to question 17 in the latest answers released by the Government states that all prime and subcontractors must hold a TS Facility Clearance. Will the Government please clarify that these clearances are not required at time of proposal submission or contract award? Requiring primes and subcontractors to have TS Facility Clearances at time of contract award will likely exclude a significant number of small businesses that have specialized subject matter expertise and/or play valuable roles on offerors’ teams.

Answer 18: See Answer 13.

Question 19: The SBInet Program Roadmap provided on the FBO PMOSS Web site appears to be outdated. Will the Government be providing a more current Roadmap? If not, are bidders constrained to using that Roadmap to prepare their staffing plans?

Answer 19: The Roadmap on the FedBizOpps (FBO) website is the Government’s latest version.

Question 20: Please clarify the number of copies to be submitted for the subject RFP. The SF33 indicates that the offeror must submit an original and 9 copies of the proposal. Page 100 of the RFP contains different requirements, i.e. five written and five electronic (CD-ROMs) proposals. Page 101 also calls for the submission of 1 original and 4 copies and 5 electronic copies of the Written Technical Proposal. Lastly, Page 104 of the RFP indicates the submission of 1 original and 5 paper copies and 2 electronic copies of the Written Cost/Price Proposal.

Please clarify if the proposals should be double-sided as suggested by the inclusion of FAR 52.204-4, page 57 of the RFP, or single-sided as mentioned in the paragraph on Page Limits, page 100 of the RFP.

Item L.7.1 (f), page 102 of the RFP, ends with "and," suggesting either another item or another sentence. Please clarify.

Answer 20: See answer to Question 4 for number of copies. Amendment 0001 addresses double-sided versus single sided and paragraph (f) of section L.7.1.

Question 21: Section L.6, Submission of Offers, Formats (page 100) states, "Font size shall be Arial, in no smaller than 12 point for text, 10 point for spreadsheets and any font size for graphics as long as they are legible." To confirm, any tables imbedded in our offer to enhance our technical response are considered graphics and, accordingly, can be in any font size as long as it is legible. Please confirm.

Answer 21: Yes, Any legible font size for graphics is acceptable.

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