SOLICITATION_QA_POSTING_100112.pdf

1 FEMA – Q/A Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033 -10/1/2012 posting

HOUSING INSPECTION SERVICES

Questions and Responses

Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033

RFP Questions:

1. G2 (Page G 2) _ Ordering Procedures. “Issuance of Task Orders

(1) Fair Opportunity for Consideration: One or more task orders may be issued during the period of performance of this contract. The Government will provide all awardees a fair opportunity for consideration. In accordance with FAR 16.505(b), the Contracting Officer will give each awardee a “fair opportunity” to be considered for each order in excess of $3,000 unless one of the following conditions applies.

Exceptions to Fair Opportunity for Consideration. Awardees will not be given a fair opportunity to be considered for task orders which are expected to exceed $3,000 when the Contracting Officer determines one of the following conditions apply:

A. The agency need for services is of such urgency that providing an opportunity would result in unacceptable delays and/or, B. Only one awardee is capable of providing the services required at the level of quality required because the services ordered are unique or highly specialized and/or, C. The order should be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency as a logical follow-on to a task order already issued under this contract, provided that all awardees were given fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.”

Question – It is our understanding the Contractor will have from 2 – 4 hours to respond the TOPR, with the more urgent the event the shorter the response time will be. After the Contractor responds how quickly does FEMA anticipate the Task Order will be issued?

Response: Current procedure: following analysis of TOPR responses a recommendation is made to the CO for a “Stand By” notice to proceed to the selected contractor. If surge funding is available a surge Task Order is issued within hours. If surge funds are not authorized a “Stand By” notice is issued. Funding for a Task Order will not be available until the IA declaration is received.

2. H.3 (Page H2) – “The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, facilities, equipment, material, supplies, and services, data connection devices such as air cards and otherwise do all things necessary to, or incident to, performing and providing the following items of work identified in Section C.1 Performance Work Statement”.

Question 1: - Does this include the laptops/tablets?

Response: Inspection tablets are GFE

Question 2: - In the Q&A released on August 30, 2012, the answer to question 216 stated “mobile tablet devices will be provided by the Government” Does this apply to the laptops as well?

Response: FEMA intends to move ACE to a “Mobile Platform” at which time the mobile device will be GFE.

2 FEMA – Q/A Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033 -10/1/2012 posting

Question 3: Air Cards are currently supplied by the Government. In the Q&A the response to question 213 stated the contractor will be responsible for managing the air cards. Is this a change now requiring the Contractor supplying the air card?

Response: Air Cards will be GFE

3. H.11 (Page H.4) - “Contractors shall comply with the Service Contract Act of 1965, FAR 52.222-41, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Internal Revenue Service requirements in the process of hiring all type of employees including 1099 (independent contractors).”

Question 1: This infers that because of the provisions of the IRS discussion on “Behavioral Control” (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=179111,00.html), particularly involving Type of Instructions Given; Degree of Instruction; Evaluation Systems; and Training that the use of Independent Contractors (IC) would be in violation of the IRS Regulations on employee type. Does FEMA Agree with this interpretation?

Question 2: If not what areas of the Internal Revenue Requirements cited above are applicable to this requirement?

Question 3: Question: How does FEMA monitor Contractor compliance with this requirement in regards to maintaining the required records relating to Inspector pay, fringe benefits, seniority lists, and other?

Response: An Independent Contractor is not considered an employee. Section H.11 will be revised to remove “and the Internal Revenue Service… including 1099 (independent contractors).”

4. H15.5 (Page H7) – “Contract employees, individuals, sub-contractors (to include applicants, temporary, part-time and replacement employees) under the contract needing access to DHS/FEMA Facilities, PII and SBU information shall undergo a position sensitivity analysis based on the duties each individual will perform on the contract. The results of the position sensitivity analysis shall identify the appropriate background investigation to be conducted. All background investigations will be processed through the FEMA Security Office and will processed at or above the Public Trust Moderate Risk level which requires nothing less than a Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) as defined by OPM. Prospective contractor employees shall submit the following completed forms to the Security Office through the COR no less than 30 calendar days before the starting date of the contract or 30 calendar days prior to EOD of any employee, whether a replacement, addition, subcontractor employee, or vendor” Question: - The next paragraph states “Specific instructions on submission of packages will be provided upon award of the contract.” If the directions are not being released until award how id s the contractor supposed to comply with the 30 day prior requirement? All individuals will complete forms and be fingerprinted through a FEMA Service Provider to receive their badge/credential. FEMA Security will provide a pre-screening authorization before the individual will begin work on the HIS Contract for the MBI. Individuals who have completed e-QIP will be required to process with the Service Provider.

Response: Solicitation will be revised to read: Prospective contractor employees shall submit the following completed forms to the Security Office through the COR no less than within 30 calendar days after contract award, before the starting date of the contract or 30 calendar days prior to EOD of any employee, whether a replacement, addition, subcontractor employee, or vendor”

3 FEMA – Q/A Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033 -10/1/2012 posting

Draft RFP Questions and Answers

5. Question 199: - Will inspectors be subject to a Service Contract Act hourly rate? If yes, would FEMA please provide the rate?

Response: Yes. FEMA will provide the rates.

Question: This response is in conflict with H11 (page 4) which states “Contractors shall comply with the Service Contract Act of 1965, FAR 52.222-41, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Internal Revenue Service requirements in the process of hiring all type of employees including 1099 (independent contractors).”

Response: See response to Question 3

6. Question 354: - G.8 SUBCONTRACT NOTIFICATION (Page G-7) – “(a) Subcontract means any contract, as defined in FAR Subpart 2.1, entered into by a subcontractor to furnish supplies or services for performance of the prime contractor a subcontract. It includes, but is not limited to, purchase orders, and changes and modifications to purchase orders. AND I.11 52.219-9 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN (JAN 2011) ALTERNATE II (OCT 2001)(DEVIATION), b. Definitions “Subcontract” means any agreement (other than one involving an employer-employee relationship) entered into by a Federal Government prime Contractor or subcontractor calling for supplies or services required for performance of the contract or subcontract. Question: If an Offeror intends to use Independent Contractors to perform housing inspections, quality inspections, reviews, or provide any other services under this contract, are those Independent Contractors considered Subcontractors subject to all FAR requirements referenced or described in the solicitation? Response: No. Not if the contractor intends to use them as consultants.

Question: How can an inspector be used as a consultant under this contract and be subject to SCA, Wage Determination and IRS Requirements?

Response: See response to Question 3

7. Question on Page 86 – C.6.4: “Will govt. compensate inspectors attend training at generalist labor rates like the DAE program? Response: The government will not compensate inspectors for attending training.”

Question: Paying “at-will” non-exempt individuals for time spent training is required under SCA and Department of Labor rules and FEMA currently pays its DAE for time spent in training.

What is the basis for FEMA non paying for at-will non-exempt individuals while training under this contract but paying for training for their DAEs?

Response: FEMA retracts its response that “The government will not compensate inspectors for attending training.” Inspectors shall be compensated in accordance with the Service Contract Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Attachment Questions

4 FEMA – Q/A Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033 -10/1/2012 posting

8. Attachment 11A: “The Attachment provides specifications for tablet computers, but Attachment 13 addresses NEMIS interface for ACE 3, which is not compatible with the tablet operating system.”

Question: Can you please clarify FEMA’s intent for equipment to be used for this contract?

Response: Fujitsu and Panasonic tablets which will be transferred from the current inventory to the new contractors; Mobile tablets are not in service for disaster housing inspections and will be phased in when ACE 4 software is placed in service.

9. Attachment 17 – Operations Cost Model (Live) – Question: Under the CPFF Phase-In Tab on the far right there is a sample Registration Schedule Events Form. Is the Contractor to use this format to list the registration Events and the anticipated number of registrants for all Phase In activity?

Response: Yes, Attachment 17. Additionally, Attachment 17 has been updated to remove the occurrence of CPFF.

10. Attachment 20 - Inspector Post Travel Expense Summary Question: - On the Right side of the form there is a block identified as “Training Fee”? What types of training fee(s) does this block cover?

Response: Expenses related to training other than travel, lodging and meals and incidental expenses.

11. Attachment 23 – Nationwide Wage Determination Question: - The Wage Determination supplied provides various job categories in both OCONUS and CONSUS. Which specific rate are we to use?

Response: The offeror shall determine which category best describes the labor category for which they are proposing for the Generalist Labor Categories.

12. The responses posted originally last Friday included the following question and response.

3. Please confirm that a total of 9 proposal binders (1 original plus 8 copies) and 2 CDs are required and not 2 CDs and 45 binders (a binder for each of the 5 volumes x 9 copies = 45).

Response: Confirmed

Response: FEMA retracts the confirmation, and reiterates the verbiage within the solicitation:

PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS

The offeror shall prepare the proposal as set forth in the Proposal Organization Table below. The titles and contents of the volumes shall be as defined in this table, all of which shall be within the required page limits and with the number of copies as specified in the table. The volumes identified in the table are to be separately bound in three-ring, loose-leaf binders, as necessary. Tabs are allowed and do not

5 FEMA – Q/A Solicitation HSFE80-12-R-0033 -10/1/2012 posting count against the page allowances, however they should not contain proposal information for consideration. The completion and submission to the government of documents identified in the Proposal Organization Table shall constitute an offer and shall indicate the offeror’s unconditional consent to the terms and conditions of the RFP.

VOLUME VOLUME TITLE NUMBER OF COPIES PAGE LIMIT

1 Introduction and Proposal (Cover Letter and completed RFP Sections B-K) 2 CD-ROM Original plus 8 copies 3 page cover letter plus attachments

2 Technical Proposal 2 CD-ROM Original plus 8 copies 75

3 Quality Management Systems 2 CD-ROM Original plus 8 copies 30

Manual Draft

4 Business Proposal 2 CD-ROM Original plus 8 copies 10

5 Cost Price Proposal 2 CD-ROM Original plus 8 copies None

13. Please confirm that the due date for past performance questionnaires has also been extended to October 22?

Response: The due date for past performance questionnaires have NOT been extended.