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Sheet1 RFP HSFE60-16-R-0004 Attachment D (corrected) Questions & Answers dated 8/14/16
| Offeror | Question Number | Document | Item Number | | |
| Page Number | Question/Comment | FEMA Response | | | | |
| | 1 | RFP | C.5 - C.6; Pages 20 and 21 | Previous contracts included a 60-day notice of intent to extend the term of the contract with notice of actual exercise of extension within 30 days of contract expiration. This RFP indicates that notice of actual exercise of extension will be made within 7 days of contract expiration. | |
| Late notice like this could have impact on a contractor's resources and financials; will the Government extend the notice time back to 30 days to allow the contractor adequate time to prepare? | Section C.5 has been revised to indicate that the Government will provide at least 30-days written advance notice prior to extending services of the contract pursuant to FAR 52.217-8. Section C.6 has been revised to indicate the Government will exercise any option to extend the term of the contract at least 30-days before contract expiration pursuant to FAR 52.217-9. | | | | | |
| | 2 | HSFE60-16-R-0004 SECTION C - CONTRACT CLAUSES C.1 | 14 | Will the following contract rules apply to all bidders? If yes, what is the exact criteria for assessing an Inverted Company for this opportunity?(a) The Contractor shall comply with the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses, which are incorporated in this contract by reference, to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items: (1) 52.209-10, Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations (Dec 2014) | Yes. Criteria is from FAR clause 52.209-10, FAR part 9.108 and 6 U.S.C. § 395(b) & (c). |
| | 3 | | 21 | FAR 52.227-17 Rights in Data - Special Works - This is a clause used in a limited case based on FAR 27.405(a); the general Data Rights clause is included- if it is needed please identify all deliverables where this clause is needed. | FAR clause 52.227-14, Rights in Data - General, is applicable to data other than special works. FAR 52.227-17 has been replaced with FAR 52.27-14. |
| | 4 | SOO | 5.5.6, page 8 | Can FEMA provide further clarity around the requirement for the aggressive debt collection process? | The Offeror should use the reference in the solicitation - Debt Collection Act of 1982 (31 U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) |
| | 5 | RFP | c.14 | Should the contractor plan FEMA to take 90 days to review and award the initial ATO for the solution? | The contractor may propose a schedule that they believe is reasonable to obtain an ATO based on their solution - the timeframe to acquire an ATO varies greatly depending on many factors such as network controls, hosting facilities, security measures, and FEMA/Office of Chief Information Security Office (CISO) staffing resources etc. Task order 0001 includes options to allow up to 12 months for the ATO process; if necessary. |
| | 6 | RFP | | Would the government please provide the expected award date and the contract start date? | The anticipated award/start date is September 30, 2016. |
| | 7 | SOO | 10.8; Page 16 | Within 10.8 Personnel Requirements; FEMA indicates that contractor personnel working under this contract will be required to pass a Federal Government background check (or security clearance). | |
| Does this include all contractor personnel, including shared resources, that have any involvement in the delivery of services on this contract? What is the time period allowed for this effort to be completed? Is this to be done at FEMA's expense? | Any contractor personnel who has access to FEMA data must have a Government badge; badging can take upwards of eight weeks, sometimes even longer; FEMA's Office of Security will administer the process. The contractor will not be permitted to directly bill for their costs incurred for the background investigation and badging process. This cost should be factored into the proposed pricing under the CLIN structure. FEMA will not bill or charge the contractor for the Agency's effort to process background checks. | | | | |
| | 8 | SOO | 10.9; Page 16 | Within Item 10.9 – Personnel – Badging and Security Requirements; FEMA indicates that all contracting personnel must be US Citizens, undergo the appropriate level of FEMA background screening, be FEMA badged, and obtain clearance for elevated privilege responsibilities. |
Is it the government's position that documented legal aliens are precluded from supporting this contract?
| Only U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents are eligible for employment on contracts requiring access to DHS sensitive information unless an exception is granted in accordance with the exceptions section below. | | | | | |
| 9 | SOO | 10.8 | The phrase “All contracting personnel must be US Citizens, undergo the appropriate level of FEMA background screening, be FEMA badged and obtain clearance for elevated privilege responsibilities.” Please provide levels and types of employees that would fall under these rules – does all mean all on project or only ones that visit or work in government buildings, etc.? | Any contractor personnel who has access to FEMA data must have a Government badge. |
| 10 | SOO | 10.9 | Will subcontractor employee require FEMA Badging? | |
| Any contractor personnel including subcontractors who has access to FEMA data must have a Government badge. It is the responsibility for the prime contractor to coordinate any badging requirements for its subcontractors. | | | | | |
| 11 | | | In the 2010 DSA Solicitation, an example of call volume/handle time data was provided? Can you please provide call volume and handle time data for the existing DSA contract? | Call volume data is provided in new RFP Attachment F. |
| 12 | | | Will the government provide existing call volume metrics to include day of week at hourly or half-hour increments and average handle times for the contact center? | Total monthly volume has been provided, no other call information is available. |
| 13 | | | Will the government provide existing call volume metrics per month for a 12-month period and average handle times for the contact center? | See RFP Attachment F. |
| 14 | | | Will the government include the general percentage of calls that are escalated to Tier 2 from the contact center? | This information is not available. |
| 15 | SOO | General | From a call center perspective, there are a number of factors that can have a significant impact on call volume i.e., FEMA program or policy changes, floods, hurricanes, etc. As there is no way to predict these types of scenarios, is there any part of the contract that will allow for these unpredictable factors that can impact the contractor's performance? | These factors are considered when the COR evaluates performance, and the COR can work with the CO during these times, if necessary, to waive performance requirements; these are rare situations. |
| Aon NFS | 16 | QASP | Page 4 | Performance Requirement Summary - 1e. Claims adjustment and examination completed 45 business days from receipt of NOL; no more than 2% processed later than specified timeframe. This is a change from the current SOW 8.0 Performance Management average of 45 days, which allows the offset of later closings with those claims that are closed well within the 45 days. This standard is also contrary to policy language that provides the policyholder 60 days to submit the completed/ signed POL which is submitted with the adjuster's final report for examination. DSA or adjusters pushing policyholders for earlier POL submission could be seen as a less than favorable customer experience. This is further impacted by the various FEMA waivers/extensions to submission of POL that results in much later submission and claim closure timing. | |
Does FEMA agree that the time to complete claims adjustments and examinations should average 45 days from receipt of NOL in order to account for the 60 days FEMA allows policyholders to submit the completed / signed POL?
| If FEMA is requiring a straight 45 day requirement, what is FEMA's plan to waive/extend this to be consistent with FEMA POL waivers/extensions? Also, will FEMA be changing the policy language to require policyholders to submit POL within 45 days of the loss? | FEMA agrees the time to complete claims adjustments and examinations should average 45 days from receipt of NOL. | | | | | |
| | 17 | RFP | B.3; page 3 | Can FEMA confirm that the awarded contractor will not start charging against CLINS 0007 thru 0019 until their transition period is completed? | This assumption is correct. Billing for policy management cannot start until transition is complete and ATO is provided. |
| | 18 | RFP | Page 8 | CLINS 0001 through 3015 are to be totaled. The quantities of policies in force to be quoted in the CLINS is far in excess of the actual policies in force quantities. Therefore, the total on this page would be far greater than the expected actual task orders because of the differences in the quantities. Must this total be less than the $97.5 million identified in B.1? | See revised RFP Attachment C, Price Evaluation Worksheet for revised quantities to be priced for evaluation purposes only. The evaluated price may exceed the IDIQ ceiling of $97.5M. The quantities used are for evaluation purposes only. Actual quantities will vary. The evaluated total price will not be incorporated into the contract. Only the proposed unit prices and fixed priced CLIN amounts provided on the price worksheet will be incorporated into the contract. The unit pricing proposed in Attachment C must be consistent (the same) as the unit pricing proposed under Section B.3 of the RFP. |
| | 19 | QASP | | Who will perform the periodic surveillance? | The Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer Representative, and any designated task monitors. |
| | 20 | SOO | 10.6 | "The underwriting manager will also be CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) certified"" | |
CPCU is a valid certification for P&C professionals and focuses on insurance law, history, contracts and other topics. However, it does not strongly align with the specialist nature of Flood Underwriting Manager for the NFIP, where experience in understanding the NFIP rules and regulations, handling escalated underwriting issues and NFIP Compliance are key. CPCU and public information indicates that less than 3% of “insurance industry” professionals hold a CPCU.
| Would the government consider extensive years of NFIP Underwriting operational, knowledge of P&C best practices and extensive understanding for NFIP rules and regulations and the highest level of NFIP Compliance as a satisfactory substitution for CPCU certification? | The CPCU designation, while beneficial, is not a requirement. | | | | |
| | 21 | SOO | 10.4; Page 15 | Within Section 10 – Key Personnel and Qualifications; FEMA has indicated that the Underwriting Manager will have to be a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). The Institutes, in close coordination with FEMA, established the Associate in National Flood Insurance (ANFI) designation in 2010. The Institutes state the following as part of the program description – “Confidently and accurately handle all aspects of flood insurance with ANFI, the premier flood insurance designation developed by The Institutes and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)”. While the CPCU is more generic in nature, the Associate in National Flood Insurance (ANFI) designation is tailored to the specific needs of flood insurance and the NFIP. The ANFI (Associate in National Flood Insurance), reflects a more focused flood insurance education than the CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) certification and is considered the premier flood insurance designation. |
| Does FEMA agree that the ANFI designation is an acceptable substitute for the CPCU requirement for the contractor’s Underwriting Manager? | The CPCU designation, while beneficial, is not a requirement. | | | | | |
| | 22 | SOO | 10.4 | The underwriting manager has not historically been required to have the CPCU designation. As NFIP underwriting is significantly different than underwriting private lines of insurance, will the Government consider waiving this requirement, or allowing a certain number of years of NFIP Underwriting management experience be an equivalent? | The CPCU designation, while beneficial, is not a requirement. |
| | 23 | SOO | 4.1.1.11 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES, GOALS, AND OUTCOMES Page 4 | "Provide a customer relationship management (CRM) solution that aligns with the solutions adopted by the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration and the Flood Insurance Advocate" | |
| Would the government provide details of the CRM solutions adopted by the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration and the Flood Insurance Advocate? | FEMA currently leverages Salesforce CRM tools. A high level overview of what CRM the Office of the Flood Insurance Advocate uses will be added to the bidders library. | | | | | |
| | 24 | SOO | 4.1.1.11 | Please provide a description of the CRM solutions currently in place and adopted by FIMA and the Flood Insurance Advocate. | See response to question 25. |
| | 25 | | | The government has included estimated hours in the price worksheet for the customer experience lab. Are contractors expected to bid these specific number of hours or is the government open to changes to those estimated hours? | Yes offerors shall provide pricing for the customers experience lab for the stated labor categories and quantities. The labor rates provided shall be fully loaded and shall apply for the duration of the contract to price task orders. The quantities used in Attachment C are for evaluation purposes only. No deviations from the quantities in Attachment C will be accepted. |
| | 26 | QASP | Page 6 | Customer Experience/Service - 5a. Customer Satisfaction: Highly satisfied customer review ratings. Overall CSAT should not fall below 7.0 / 10 (or less than 0.5 below NFIP wide average). Method of Surveillance: Annual customer experience surveys and focus groups to evaluate CSAT and drivers of CSAT; customer complaints. In order to meet highly satisfied customer ratings, it is critical to know what is exactly being rated or evaluated. | |
| What type of questions will be part of the annual customer experience survey? Who will be performing this survey effort in running these focus groups, for instance Office for Flood Insurance Advocate, or FEMA Director of Customer Experience? Will the survey focus only on policyholders serviced by the DSA? Will the focus groups only include policyholders serviced by the DSA? | The Government is looking to the Offerors to propose questions; the focus groups will coordinate with the Flood Insurance Advocate and the Customer Experience office; the focus group will be policyholders who had been serviced by the DSA within the past year. | | | | | |
| | 27 | SOO | 4.1.4.2; Page 5 and 4.1.4.7; Page 6 | Within Objective 4 – Provide secure, government approved innovative IT solutions; FEMA includes the term “commercial purposes”. What is FEMA's definition of commercial purposes? Can FEMA confirm that use of NFIP data for internal analysis, development of tools to improve customer service metrics, improvements of the DSA provided services, etc. is not considered to be a commercial purpose? | Commercial purposes is defined as widely available to both Government and private industry; while the use of NFIP data is not commercial and it cannot be co-mingled with any other data in the Offerors' possession and may only be used to improve the DSA's customer experience; the policy servicing requirements are considered commercial, and proposed IT solutions could also be widely available, and thus commercial |
| | 28 | RFP | 12 Place of Performance | Would the government please clarify what it meant by the IT solution? Contact center telephony solutions are not typically under FEDRAMP. Can the telephony solution obtain ATO outside the FEDRAMP? | Any technology that has access to PII is considered a system and must be subject to the ATO. So if the contact center is collecting PII - which is highly likely - the controls of information and security procedures in place would be considered a portion of the ATO package. |
| | 29 | SOO | 8.3 | Please provide an details and inventory of the current documents/files being stored, and the amount of storage space currently used to store those documents/files. Are warehouse expenses allowable as an LOC expense? a. How many years of documents are stored online? Is it the expectation that all of these online documents will be uploaded on a new system? Is there an estimate of how many documents would be uploaded to a new system? | It is expected that active records will have to be transitioned to the new provider, though their storage and retrieval methods are at the provider's discretion - so long as it is compliant with DHS and NARA requirements; Warehouse expenses are allowable under the current contract with the DSA; Offerors can propose online document storage as they deem appropriate, to include the number of documents they upload. Such expenses should be included in the Section B.3, CLIN structure. There is no CLIN for warehouse expenses. Such expenses should be included under the most relevant fixed price or fixed unit prices CLINs. |
| | 30 | | | """The Offeror’s proposed solutions must demonstrate. The contractor shall provide services that are innovative, flexible, reflect subject matter expertise, increasingly efficient while delivering increased effectiveness given the Government’s continuing resource constraints."" | |
| Would the government outline how it will measure how services provided are innovative, flexible and reflect subject matter expertise? | The Government will evaluate the proposals based on the stated evaluation factors. | | | | | |
| | 31 | RFP | Section E.1 | RFP Section E.1( c)(2) lists evaluation factor 2 as “Customer Experience Key Personnel.” However, Factor 2 is detailed further down on page 36 is shown as “Customer Experience” with expanded detail that do not reference Key Personnel. Could the Government confirm that technical evaluation factor 2 is Customer Experience and not Customer Experience Key Personnel? | Technical evaluation factor 2 is Customer Experience. The RFP Section E.1( c)(2) reference to Key Personnel has been removed. This was a typographic error. |
| | 32 | SOO | 4.1.1.2; Page 4 | Achieve a marked reduction in overall cost of direct servicing in each year of the contract. How does FEMA define a "marked reduction"? | The proposal will be evaluated based on the technical evaluation factors. The Offeror should provide their best solution to be efficient and effective |
| | 33 | All | All | The Government is seeking responses by August 12. Given the requirement that offerors generate the PWS, which was not mentioned in previous drafts of the RFP, would the Government extend the submission deadline to August 26 to allow for development of a high quality PWS? | The Deadline for the HSFE60-16-R-0004 Proposal submission was extended to 9:00 AM EST August 17, 2016. |
| | 34 | General | General | The Government is seeking responses by August 12. Given the requirement that offerors generate the PWS, which was not mentioned in previous drafts of the RFP, would the Government extend the submission deadline to August 26 to allow for the development of a high quality PWS? | Please see response to question 35. |
| | 35 | RFP | E.3 | Can FEMA confirm when the proposal is due? Section E.3 states that the proposal is to be submitted no later than 12:00 p.m. EST.; however SF 1449 (Block 8) states 3:00 PM EST on August 12. | Please see response to question 35. |
| | 36 | | | The SOO requirement is: “Contract objectives shall be performed at the Offeror’s site within the continental United States, the IT solution must be hosted at a FedRAMP moderate level authorized location” | |
While we understand that FEMA is seeking that the DSA System of Record be hosted in a FedRAMP moderate level authorized location, there is a significant potential cost benefit by allowing offerors to leverage other solution elements using standard offerings, e.g., the systems supporting call center and print/document management operations. Clearly these need to comply with FEMA security policies, with the appropriate ATO.
Secure external interfaces such as PAY.GOV typically achieve ATO outside of the FEDRAMP. Can external interfaces such as PAY.GOV obtain ATO outside of the FEDRAMP?
| Government accepts the change, to read: "Contract objectives shall be performed at the Offeror's site within the continental United States. The IT solution must achieve Authority to Operate, with, as a minimum, the System of Record hosted at a FedRAMP moderate level authorized location". | | | | | |
| | 37 | | | Can you please confirm that the DSA contract does not reimburse the vendor for Flood Zone Determination costs? | FEMA will not reimburse the vendor for Flood Zone Determination under the contract. |
| | 38 | | | The Statement of Objectives, Page 19, Section 14 - Government-Furnished Equipment and Information, states that "Please see attached to RFP." However, there is no GFE list provided. Can you please provide GFE List identified in Section 14? | FEMA will provide all necessary GFE laptops as needed to access FEMA data. No other GFE will be provided unless set forth in task orders. |
| | 39 | | | Does FEMA intend to provide phone lines and equipment as the have on previous DSA contracts? | FEMA will provide all necessary GFE laptops as needed to access FEMA data. No phone lines will be provided. |
| | 40 | SOO | 4.1.2.2; Page 5 | The objective is to deliver robust customer service processes, tools and reporting that leverage contact center industry best practices, support the unique needs of the NFIP and align with FIMA CX recommendations. During the last NFIP DSA solicitation, FEMA stated a preference to use the existing government furnished PBX. As the contractor attempts to deliver the defined objectives, it would provide improved flexibility, functionality, and reporting capabilities to use alternative and technologically superior commercially available call center solutions by not requiring use of the existing government furnished PBX. | |
| Will FEMA provide the necessary government furnished equipment? Is contractor provision of the call center hardware/software solution something that should be included within the proposed solution for the new contract? | FEMA will provide all necessary GFE laptops as needed to access FEMA data. | | | | | |
| | 41 | SOO | 14; Page 19 | Government-Furnished Equipment and Information - Indicates that a list of GFE is within the RFP, no list was found. | |
| Is there a list of GFE that will be part of the contract? Current contract uses GFE phone equipment within the call center, is that going away for this contract? | The only GFE that will be provided under this contract are laptops to access FEMA data. | | | | | |
| | 42 | RFP | B.3 | Will FEMA add incentives to the contract in order to drive the desired customer experience? | |
| Previous contracts included incentives and disincentives, payable or due, based on SLA compliance and FEMA/DHS audit results. These measures can be a very effective tool in promoting and driving the desired improvement in customer experience. No such item was found within the price schedule of the RFP. | The program does not intend to offer incentives at this time | | | | | |
| | 43 | RFP HSFE60-16-R-0004 Attachment B QASP document | page 3 & 4 | In the Column 3 - Performance Requirement - it mentions invoking the "payment computation formula", resulting in a payment of less than 100 percent of the maximum payment for the listed services. Where is the formula located? Also, are there only servicing disincentive goals and no bonus or positive incentive goals to work toward? | The section now reads; Column 3 - Performance Requirement: Sets forth the maximum allowable deviation from standard performance for that service that may occur before the government will invoke the remedies set forth in FAR 52.212-4(a) of re-performance at no additional price increase or to seek equitable adjustment for non-conforming services. The Government at all times reserves the right to terminate the BPA or task order for cause as set forth in FAR 52.212-4(m). The QASP provided as attachment B is revised accordingly. Positive incentives may include outstanding CPAR ratings. |
| | 44 | SOO | 5.6.1; Page 8 and 5.6.2; Page 8-9 | Section 5.6 references two ways in which FEMA manages/processes Controlled and Uncontrolled correspondence – FEMA’s IQ system and FEMA’s Risk Insurance Division’s SharePoint Correspondence Tracker. | |
| In order to handle all correspondence in accordance with the timelines and reporting requirements, will the contractor have access to FEMA's IQ system? Will the contractor have access to FEMA's Risk Insurance Division's SharePoint Correspondence Tracker? Or will the contractor be required to use some other method to manage/process these types of correspondence? | The contractor will not have access to FEMA's IQ system or the SharePoint Correspondence Tracker; the Contractor should propose their own solution to tracking their correspondence. | | | | | |
| | 45 | SOO | 4.1.4.3; Page 6 | In reviewing the guides and documents referenced, DHS 4300B policy guide for National Security Systems is not available on the DHS website. Has this document been superseded or replaced? If so, what's the new policy? | The reference to DHS 4300B is not part of these requirements, it was included in error and has been removed in the attached revised SOO. |
| | 46 | SOO | 16.6.6 Security Requirements | “All solutions and services shall meet FEMA Enterprise Architecture (EA) policies, standards, and procedures. Specifically, the contractor shall comply with the following FEMA EA requirements:” | |
| Will the government provide details of the most recent version of the FEMA Enterprise Architecture guide and FEMA EA Technical Reference Model (TRM) with an indication of how these may be accessed. | The FEMA EA and access to the TRM can only be provided to the successful offeror once they have an approved FEMA security adjudication. The FEMA COR, FEMA System Owner, and FEMA Information System Security Officer will support and ensure that any part(s) of the offeror’s solution that are not compliant with the TRM and EA are identified and planned to be brought into compliance. | | | | |
| | 47 | Attachment A | 4.1.4.8 | "All software/management tools, which are developed or used to support the requirements of this contract, (with the exception of third party software) shall become property of the Government." |
| It is recommended that the government confirm that the vendor’s flood application is considered to be third party software for this contract or that it details how it intends to contract for the provision of the selected vendor solution. | Confirmed - the vendor's flood application is considered to be third party software per Attachment A 4.1.4.8 language. | | | | |
| | 48 | SOO | 4.1.4.8; Page 6 | Can the government confirm that this only applies to software/management tools developed for and utilized specifically for servicing this contract? |
Section 4.1.4.8 reads .... "all software/management tools, which are developed or used to support requirements of this contract, (with the exception of 3rd party software) shall become property of the Government".
| Yes this is confirmed. | | | | | |
| 49 | SOO | 4.1.4.8 | Please verify that software developed at contractor’s expense, used for other clients, and not charged to the Government, will remain the property of the contractor, and ownership is not transferred to the Government. | FEMA concurs that such property does not belong to Government. |
| 50 | SOO | 10.7 Other Personnel | "The Contractor shall not divert or otherwise replace any personnel without the written consent of the Contracting Officer and the Program Management Office" | |
| Would the government confirm that this requirement, which is common for key personnel, is to be applied to all contractor personnel? | This applies only to Key Personnel. | | | | | |
| | 51 | SOO | 6.5; Page 9 | Can you confirm, consistent with current practice today that there will not be a subcontractor relationship with adjusting firms to which claims will be assigned, and confirm the reimbursement of adjuster fees is a direct cost pass through? | Adjuster fees are paid via Letter of Credit. |
| | 52 | SOO | 4.1.1.7, 4.1.3.2, 5.1.3, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 | LOC allowable - The list of deliverables and historically claim aco & fico portions of the contract has listed allowable expenses to use with Letter of Credit (LOC) – for example: | |
a. Are document archiving expenses reimbursed separate from the fixed price per policy?
b. Are bank fees including lockbox fees reimbursed separate from the fixed price per policy?
c. Are printing, travel, warehouse, FICO office rent, Claim expenses, adjuster expenses, etc. allowable?
d. Are in Section 5.1.3, they discuss getting zone determinations for re-underwriting...are the zone determinations an allowable expenses to use with Letter of Credit (LOC) – can you share:
a. Are Zone Determinations an allowable LOC expense:
1. During risk verification (SRL) and regulatory projects requiring renewal or special risk zone information?
2. Normal application submissions by agents (or do agents
| pay/deal directly with the zone provider)? | The only allowable cost associated with LOC is claims related expenses such as: claim payments including travel associated with claims, adjuster fee expenses, office space and supplies associated with FICO/ACO expenses, postage, premium overpayments and cancellations, commissions to brokers and agents, FICO/ACO expenses, banking expenses for disbursements of drawing against LOC, legal expenses in suits against FEMA/NFIP and contractor is named in suit, SALAE and storage cost. See Section B.13 which has been added to the RFP to address the LOC. | | | | | |
| | 53 | RFP | SF 1449, page 1 | The NAICS Code 524292 Size Standard is listed as $97.5 M. According to the current SBA NAICS Size Standard Table the correct Size limit listed is $32.5 M. Please verify the correct Size Limit for the listed NAICS Code. | This is a typo. The correct standard is $32.5M |
| | | RFP | SF 1449, page 1 | The NAICS Code 524292 Size Standard is listed as $97.5 M. According to the current SBA NAICS Size Standard Table the correct Size limit listed is $32.5 M. Please verify the correct Size Limit for the listed NAICS Code. | See response to question 55. |
| | 55 | RFP | B.3 Page 2 and CLIN 3001, page 6 | Instructions for CLIN 3001 call for the pricing of a transition out plan, as set forth in the SOO. The Statement of Objectives does not include any language or guidance regarding a transition out plan. | |
| Will FEMA remove CLIN 3001 in order to account for the absence of a transition out plan in the SOO? | The Statement of Objectives for the IDIQ should have included a transition out plan; the base year SOO does not include a transition out plan. See revised SOO dated August 8, 2016. | | | | |
| | 56 | RFP | N/A | Previous contracts included "Method of Payment - Letter of Credit", a Federal Reserve LoC established by FEMA against which the Contractor will withdraw funds. A monthly report is submitted to CO/COR outlining funds expended and withdrawn each month, along with cumulative funds expended to date for each area: (a) payment of claims; (b) payment of fees and reimbursement of expense to adjusters; (c) refunds to policyholders; (d) payment of commissions to brokers and agents; (e) reimbursement of Contractor's actual expenses for ACO/IFICO during declared flood disaster conditions; (f) payment of banking expenses for disbursement of drawing against the LoC; (g) payment of postage expense, and express services incurred in executing the contract; (h) payment of legal expense (after authorization) for investigation when a suit has been filed against FEMA/NFIP and Contractor is named party; (i) Special Allocation Loss Expense; (j) storage costs. No such item was found within the RFP, but there is a single line reference within the SOO (6.5, page 9) relative to adjuster payments, and in SOO 9, page 13 as a monthly deliverable. |
| Can FEMA confirm that the LoC will still be the method for handling these types of expenses? If not, what other means does FEMA plan to provide to cover these expenses? | The only allowable cost associated with LOC is claims related expenses such as: claim payments including travel associated with claims, adjuster fee expenses, office space and supplies associated with FICO/ACO expenses, postage, premium overpayments and cancellations, commissions to brokers and agents, FICO/ACO expenses, banking expenses for disbursements of drawing against LOC, legal expenses in suits against FEMA/NFIP and contractor is named in suit, SALAE and storage cost. Section B.13 LETTER OF CREDIT has been incorporated into RFP. | | | | | |
| | 57 | RFP | C.13 and E.5 | Can the government confirm that only one contract will be awarded? | Only one contract shall be awarded. |
| | 58 | SOO | 4.1.1.1 | While we understand that PIF changes daily & Claim volumes can be unpredictable in a given year. Since this is a fixed price contract what type of baseline will you be including for forecast for bidders to base policy & claim servicing levels and pricing on? What types of additional consideration will be given for extraordinary events like large claim volume events/years & significant policy volume swings (up or down). | Attachment E has the PIF volumes for price proposal purposes; the Government asked the Offeror to provide tier pricing based on varying levels of PIF counts which will account for significant policy volume swings. See corrected Attachment E. No equitable adjustment will be provided for fluctuation in the number of policies since the CLIN structure allows for a range a fixed pricing based on tiers of the number of policies. |
| | 59 | SOO | 4.1.2.2/5 | If it meets all the DHS security requirements, are the use of remote users allowed? | So long as the users meet the suitability requirements stated in the RFP, and information is safeguarded in accordance with the cyber hygiene rules, then yes. |
| | 60 | | | In Attachment E - Direct Servicing Agent - Policies in Force by month by policy type, The SRL Policies volume has maintained a volume near or above 20,000 policies. However, as of the Extension, that balance is below 2,000. Is that balance correct? If so, can FEMA please provide an explanation of the sudden change for forecasting purposes? | The values for GFIP and SRL are transposed in Attachment E. GFIP in force for March 2016 was 1,789, and SRL in force was 21,435. Attachment E is corrected as attached. |
| | 61 | SOO | 17 Safeguarding of Sensitive Information | "In the event of a sensitive information incident, the government may suspend or revoke an existing ATO (either in part or in whole)." | |
| It is recommended that the government define "sensitive information incident" and also confirm that the measures will be applied until a resolution has been agreed/implemented. | This is defined as an incident where unauthorized access to sensitive information, such as personally identifiable information (PII), has occurred. The specific measures taken to remedy such an incident is done on a case by case basis. | | | | | |
| | 62 | SOO | N/A | Must the Contractor utilize a dedicated staffing model for policy and claims, or can a shared services model be utilized to improve flexibility, capacity, and to improve costs? | The Government expects a dedicated staffing model for policy and claims. |
| | 63 | SOO | 5.1 | Please provide the SRL Desktop Operating Procedures/Standard Operating Procedures. | This is considered proprietary to the incumbent. |
| | 64 | SOO | 5.2 | Please provide the GFIP Desktop Operating Procedures/Standard Operating Procedures. | This is considered proprietary to the incumbent. |
| | 65 | SOO | 5.5.6 | Please provide the Debt Collection Desktop Operating Procedures/Standard Operating Procedures. | This is considered proprietary to the incumbent. |
| | 66 | RFP | C.13 Subcontracting Plan Goals, Page 25 | This section states that 60% of the contract value is to be subcontracted. This percentage to be subcontract is more than 50 % and would hinder primes in maintaining control of the contract. Please verify the percentage to be subcontract | The 60% indicated was for the illustration purposes only. Offerors should propose their subcontracting goals under the DSA contract in which they will use good faith effort to fulfill. Consideration should be given to the DHS/FEMA goals socio-economic goals stated in the RFP. |
| | 67 | | | Please provide details on location/bandwidth of FEMA’s TIC for planning purposes. | The Government was not able to answer this question since the question lacked any reference to the RFP. |
| | 68 | RFP | B.3, Page 2, and CLIN 0012 , Page 4 | Paragraph 2 under section B.3 is clear as to quantities to use to multiply against the unit price to get the proposed price for CLINs 0007 & 0008, from which the offeror can extrapolate the units to be used for CLINs 0009 & 0010. It is unclear however, the quantities to be used to price for CLIN 0012, since the tier identified is 900,001 and over. That same basic problem also applies to CLINS 0015 and 0019. What number of policies should be used in these tiers to compute the proposed price for those CLINs? | |
| The Price Evaluation Spreadsheet has been revised as set forth in revised Attachment C. The quantities used are solely for the purpose of price evaluation. | | | | | |
| | 69 | | 17 | FAR 52.222-41 Service Contract Labor Standards - Please provide WD Rates applicable. | The Contracting Officer will request wage determinations for additional places or areas of performance if asked to do so in writing by the Contractor upon submission of its proposal. |
| | 70 | | B.3 | Can we have confirmation that the pricing approach for policy servicing is now at a bulk rate pricing, as compared to a tax-tiered type pricing? For example, if the contractor has 650,000 standard policies in force in the base period, would the contractor be invoicing for 650,000 policies under Sub CLIN 0001D, or would the contractor be invoicing 300,000 under CLIN 001A, 150,000 policies under CLIN 001B, 150,000 policies under CLIN 0001C, and 50,000 policies under CLIN 0001D? | This is a correct assumption. In the example, the contractor shall bill at the bulk rate for all 650,000 polices under SUBCLIN 0001D based on the fixed unit price per policy per month under this tier. Only 1 SUBCLIN tier would apply each month to each policy type for billing purposes. |