Q As - Preproposal Conference

Pre-proposal Conference

Friday, June 13, 2008

U. S. Department of Homeland Security National Communications System’s

Solicitation No. HSHQDC-08-R-00002 “National Security/Emergency Preparedness

Scientific Engineering and Technical Assistance”

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Contractual

1) Can we obtain copies of the presentation slides and list of conference attendees before the RFP is released? Yes, they will be posted on FedBizOpps.

2) Can we obtain soft copies of Section L in original software (not PDF)? No, the solicitation will be posted on FedBizOpps in “pdf” format.

3) What is the realistic release date of the solicitation? The anticipated release date is Tuesday, June 24, 2008.

4) Rather than a four-week turn-around time for the proposal, is it possible to get a six-weeks? No, since a draft of the solicitation was posted to FedBizOpps on June 10, 2008 allowing for two more weeks of proposal preparation time.

5) What will be the number of awardees? How many large companies, how many small companies? The number of awardees has yet to be determined. The award(s) will be made based upon a best value determination under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.3 full and open competition procedures.

6) Will there be an additional round of questions after the solicitation is released?

No, we are attempting to answer all questions received after the issuance of the draft solicitation and the Pre-Proposal Conference.

7) What is the monetary value associated with the ID/IQ contracts? The cumulative ceiling for all awards is $388,854,230.00.

8) Are any companies currently supporting NCS excluded from proposing on this solicitation? No.

9) How long will we have to respond to the RFP? Four weeks from date of issuance of the final solicitation.

10) When will the government issue the ID/IQ contracts? When can awardees expect to receive the first task order? During the first or second quarter of Fiscal Year 2009.

11) Are there any known OCI issues with any contractor currently supporting NCS? What measures are being taken to firewall current contractors involved in preparation of requirements documents, acquisition planning and budget exercises?

If there are, it is a matter that will be addressed by the contracting officer. The solicitation contains several clauses that requires prospective offerors to disclose real or potential OCI matters to the government, and to propose a mitigation plan.

12) Will future task orders released under the ID/IQ contract be competed or issued on a sole source basis? Under FAR 16.505, all awardees will be afforded “fair opportunity” to compete for individual task orders.

13) Where will the reading room be located for the offerors to review NCS materials? The National Communications System’s (NCS) reading room will be a virtual library posted on the FedBizOpps website. It will not include classified information. Access is limited to government information or data to which the government holds the rights.

14) Who are some of the contractors already performing on same or similar efforts as the subject effort? Multiple contractors are currently performing similar efforts for the NCS under other U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contracts.

15) H.4 indicates reimbursement for travel based upon actual cost. May we assume this is inclusive of applicable indirect costs? Charges are reimbursed based upon your approved standard accounting practices.

16) H.17 – Please clarify the government’s intent regarding the right to prohibit teaming on individual tasks. Under what circumstances might the government exercise this right? The Government reserves the right to prohibit teaming amongst multiple awardees on individual task orders in order to promote competition.

17) What is meant by “This is one of several NS/EP SETA Multiple Award ID/IQ Contracts? Is this referring to multiple ID/IQ contracts or multiple task orders?

The reference is to the initial placement of multiple ID/IQ contracts. The number of individual task orders placed over the five years of the contract(s) cannot be ascertained at this time.

18) Would multiple contractors be selected to support multiple activities? Yes, this is a possibility if a contractor was selected as the awardee on several different task orders.

19) Is it possible that a contractor responding to multiple tasks, but could be awarded a sub-set of tasks? Competitions conducted for the individual task orders under the multiple ID/IQ contracts will delineate the award process.

Technical

20) Will there be NCSD and OEC task directed within the NCS SETA ID/IQ? The statement of work is comprised of three major categories of services: 1) operations support; 2) NS/EP communications support; and 3) Government and industry interface support, as well as the stand-up of other offices within the DHS Cyber Security and Communications Directorate.

21) Is there a separate SETA contract to be awarded for Cybersecurity SETA support? The statement of work is comprised of three major categories of services: 1) operations support; 2) NS/EP communications support; and 3) Government and industry interface support, as well as the stand-up of other offices within the DHS Cyber Security and Communications Directorate.

22) SOW para. 3.3.2.2 – missing or just misnumbered? Section 3.3.2.2 was misnumbered. It has been corrected in the final version of the solicitation.

23) How many FTEs are currently supporting the NCS SETA contract? First, there is no single “NCS SETA contract.” Secondly, across the various contractual vehicles supporting NCS SETA efforts, there is no requirement for specific “FTEs.” The associated levels of effort are dependent upon the tasks to be awarded at any given time.

24) A significant portion of the network data modeling by the incumbent was developed with government funding. How much of the modeling tools and data will transfer to the awardees? Applicable Government information or data to which the Government has rights will be made available to awardees for purposes of performing specific tasks.

25) The incumbent has held the contract for at least fifteen years. Where does the data reside, and how can offerors be assured that there is a level playing field?

There is no single incumbent contractor providing NCS SETA support. Technical documents will be made available on FedBizOpps; in addition to information contained in the solicitation or posted on the NCS and DHS websites, forms a sufficient basis for offerors to submit proposals.

26) Is there a ceiling on the allocation of funding to each category of tasks (i.e, NCS, NCCC, N3, N5)? How would the funding be proportioned among the different categories? The ceiling is established at the aggregate level for all ID/IQ contracts that may be awarded. There is no ceiling for any particular category of tasks.

27) The RFP states in SOW para. 1.3, Scope. This statement of work comprises three major categories of services: 1) operations support; 2) NS/EP communications support; and 3) Government and industry interface support, as well as the stand-up of other offices within the DHS Cyber Security and Communications Directorate. This effort ensures continued support for the provision and restoration of adequate NS/EP communications for the …”

Also, in SOW para. 1.4, Objective; the objective of this effort is to delineate the NS/EP technical and programmatic support requirements for multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts. The resulting task orders placed under this contract will cover a broad range of contract types. They will support NCS NS/EP efforts to increase the survivability, reliability, and viability of the Nation's communications resources…”

Is the government stating, in para. 1.3 and 1.4, that some of the effort is NCSD and OEC tasks? See response to Questions 20 and 21 above.

28) Section 3.1.1.4 of the statement of work in the draft solicitation sites the existence of a program management plan; yet none is required in the deliverables list nor is a plan defined within the text. Is a general Program Management Plan (PMP) required? If so, when will it be due? The requirements stated in the statement of work are subject to Section 3.0, Task Areas (i.e., “The contractor shall furnish SETA support through task orders issued to perform the following general tasks to support the NCS NS/EP SETA mission”). A PMP would be required only as established via a task order awarded under the basic ID/IQ contract.

29) Section 3.1.1.5 of the statement of work in the draft solicitation sites the need to maintain a database. A database of what data? Who provides the data? To what purpose with this data be applied, analyzed, and used in reports? The requirements stated in the statement of work are subject to Section 3.0, Task Areas (i.e., “The contractor shall furnish SETA support through task orders issued to perform the following general tasks to support the NCS NS/EP SETA mission”). Any database maintenance requirement will be established via task order awarded under the basic ID/IQ contract.

Small Business

30) Is there a mandate to set-aside percentages of the contract to small business interests? If so, which designation (i.e. SB, SDB, 8(a) HUBZone, women-owned, veteran-owned)? This procurement is not a small business set-aside, but will be conducted under full and open competition procedures (FAR Subpart 15.3) with an emphasis on subcontracting to small and small disadvantaged businesses.

31) Are extra points awards to proposals that indicate association with small businesses? Small business participation is an evaluation factor under the resultant source selection. See Sections L and M of the solicitation.

32) Companies in Attendance at the NS/EP SETA Pre-proposal Conference:

Absolute Business Solutions Accessability

ACT

Alion Altamax Solutions

BAE

Battelle Berico Boeing Booz Allen Hamilton

CACI

Columbia Telecommunications Corp.

ComTek

CRA

CSC

DDG

Deloitte Detecon Engineering Enterprise Solutions Ericsson

ESC

Eureka Technologies Excalibur General Dynamics

ICF

Kingburn, Hilbert and Associates LGS Innovations LMN Solutions Lockheed Mantech Morgan Franklin

MVS

NGC

Northrop Gruman Orion Paradigm Parsons

PNC

Pricewaterhouse Coopers Qwest Radix Roy McQueen

SAIC

Simon Computing Inc.

SRA

SRA Intl.

Stanley Systems Integration Group

TCS

Telecommutions Systems Telecordia TerreStar

TMS

Unisys

URSA NAV

VT Apeco Welkin