Q A_CFSS_9_Apr_14.pdf

Q # Questions Answers

1 Clarify solicitation states "Unrestricted" opportunity but it has a size standard of $19 M and NAICS 541219. Is the solicitation unrestricted or

Small Business?

This acquisition is Unrestricted. The $19M size standard indicated on the

SF 1449 Block 10 is the size standard for NAICS code 541219. The Small

Business Subcontracting Plan applies to large businesses only. The Small

Business Utilization Plan applies to large and small businesses. The NAICS code and size standard will enable offerors to determine if they are a large business for this acquisition and if the Small Business Subcontracting Plan is required for submission based on this determination.

2 Given that the solicitation is for an ID/IQ type contract with a proposed price for Task Order 0001, confirm that SF 1449, CLINs X001 for FFP Labor in support of Task Areas should represent the FFP price for Task Order

0001, thereby matching the proposed pricing completed in Attachment

11. (SF 1449 pg 3‐6 Labor FFP in Support of Task Areas) and Attachment

11.)

There is no response required on the SF 1449. All pricing detail shall be included in the Attachments and Pricing Volume. See question 17 on estimated dollars.

3 Confirm that SF 1449 CLIN X002 for LH type Labor in support of Task Areas is to reflect the overall ID/IQ rate card and should be revised to include an itemized breakdown of labor category title and fixed rate at a per hour unit that shall be Not Separately Price (NSP)? (SF 1449 pg 3‐6 Labor LH in

Support of Task Areas)

There is no response required on the SF 1449. All pricing detail shall be included in the Attachments and Pricing Volume. See question 17 on estimated dollars.

4 What specific legacy systems will need to be utilized to build each Cognos

PowerCube? (Attachment 10, TO 1 PWS section 1.4.3)

The contractor needs to provide recommendations for the best data sources to be used to develop and then implement each Cognos

PowerCube Business Intelligence (BI) server. Several primary data sources currently being used to maintain J8‐managed IGC data marts and cubes are: a) DEAMS Component Billing System (DCBS), b) IGC, c) Transportation

Reference Data Management (TRDM), d) Air Force Commander's Resource

Integrated System (CRIS), and e) AMC Commercial Operations Integrated

Systems (COINS).

5 What are the number of dimensions, levels, and facts for each of the 6

Cognos Power cubes? (Attachment 10, TO 1 PWS section 1.4.3)

Unknown until the contractor meets with the applicable AMC and

USTRANSCOM analysts to capture the structure requirements for each

PowerCube, which includes a list of all the dimensions, dimension levels and needed alternate drill‐down paths (i.e., primary = Fiscal Year, Alternate = Calendar Year), and dimension special categories (i.e., custom subset groupings such as the five AMC aerial ports). Requirements definition also includes identifying all required cube measures. This information is then captured in a Cognos cube development dimension map, which is one of the source documents used during cube modeling within Cognos Transformer. The TCJ8 AMC Channel Cargo Revenue and

Workload PowerCube provides a good frame of reference of a typical cube used by USTRANSCOM analysts. It contains 20 dimensions that have no more than 4 levels each. Some of these dimensions have alternate hierarchies, or "drill‐down" paths such as "All Years" and "All

Destinations". The "All Years" dimension allows users to drill‐down by either fiscal or calendar year, while the "All Destinations" allows analysts to drill‐down by destination zone or COCOM. This cube also contains special categories (i.e., subset groupings) defined within some of the dimensions. For example, users can quickly and easily filter on either the

"CONUS Aerial Ports" or "OCONUS" groups in either of the "All Origins" and "All Destinations" dimensions. Finally, this cube contains 13 measures (i.e., facts).

6 Will the Government provide Travel figures for the CLIN X003 series

Travel, FFP ‐ Travel In Accordance with the JTR given that travel cannot be estimated at the ID/IQ level? (SF 1449 page 4‐6 and Attachment 11)

There will be no travel required for TO 0001. The travel CLIN on the IDIQ

SF 1449 is just a place holder for future requirements and there is no fill‐in required on the SF 1449. Any travel would be identified on future task orders.

Comprehensive Financial Services Support

HTC711‐14‐R‐D004

9‐Apr‐14

Solicitation Questions and Answers

7 Should all volumes and sections be included in the binder with the exception of Volume 5, Price Volume, Sections 1 and 2? (pg 13

Organization/Number of Copies/Markings

As stated on page 14 (d), the Original proposal, to include all Volumes, shall be bound into one three‐ring binder. This includes Volume 5 Price

Proposal, Sections 1 and 2. Each proposal Copy, to include all volumes, shall be bound into it's own three‐ring binder and each binder marked

Copy 1, Copy 2, etc., i.e.., the offeror will submit 6 Binders (1 Original and

5 Copies). As stated on page 13, 2(a), the offeror shall ensure no cost or pricing data in included within the Technical Proposal, Volume 1.

8 Will the Government increase the page count for the IDIQ Technical

Section 1, from 10 pages to 20 pages in order to allow bidders to provide a reasonable level of clarity in their Technical responses? (pg 13

Organization/Number of Copies/Markings)

The page count for the IDIQ Technical Section 1 will increase to 15 pages.

See Amended SF 1449 page 13, 2. (b) Number of Copies/Markings.

9 Is smaller font size acceptable for tables or does the Times New Roman 12 point font apply to tables as well? (pg 14 (c) Organization/Number of

Copies/Markings)

Times New Roman 12 point font shall be used except for figures and diagrams where small is acceptable as long as it is readable as stated on page 14 (c). Smaller font size for tables is also acceptable as long as it is readable.

10 Please confirm that no information should be provided in Section 3 as the

Questionnaires will be coming directly from client and the POC information is included in the Log in Section 2. (pg 13

Organization/Number of Copies/Markings)

The Offeror will not provide information for Volume 3, Section 3 Past

Performance Questionnaires. Only email responses received from

References will be accepted as stated on page 13 (b) Number of

Copies/Markings. The Past Performance Log shall be included in Volume

3, Section 2.

11 How many of the 5 Past Performance submissions must be from the Prime and how many can be from subcontractors?

The mix of Past Performance submissions is at the discretion of the offeror.

12 Would the Government consider modifying the submission requirements to allow for email submission only and eliminate the requirement for paper copies? (pg 11 Submission, pg 12 Proposal Submission

Requirements, and pg 13 Organization/Number of Copies/Markings)

Paper copies are required. As indicated in (b) Submission of Offers and

Proposal Submission Requirements 1. RFP Submissions, offerors shall submit electronic and hard copies of the proposal. Offerors shall submit one original and five hard copies as required for proposal submission, with the exception of the Past Performance Questionnaire received via email from the References.

13 Is there an incumbent contractor for Task Order 0001 work, and if so, who is the incumbent contractor and how many staff are currently supporting this effort? If there is no incumbent contractor, can the government provide an estimate of the level of effort anticipated for the services described in the task order PWS? (Attach 10, TO 1)

Task Order 0001 is a new requirement. See question 14 for estimated hours.

The requirements outlined in TO 0001 are very broad and general in nature and do not provide sufficient information to allow for estimating a level of effort and FFP. Is the Government willing to provide one of the following: (1) an estimate of FTEs or total LOE for each task area or (2) additional information for each task area to enable outside vendors to develop an appropriate LOE and FFP? (Attach 10, TO 1)

The requirement is defined in Task Order 0001. The number of FTE/hours are determined by an individual approach.

15 Can the Government provide the number of Assessable Units/Assertion

Packages (as defined in the FIAR Guidance) in USTRANSCOM that are within scope of the IDIQ PWS? (Attach 1, PWS)

Number of Assessable units will be identified through a materiality review of the Quality Drill Sown (QDD).

16 Can the Government provide the number of primary and feeder information systems that are within scope of the IDIQ PWS? (Attach 1, PWS)

In order to properly present a Small Business Proposal which outlines the allocation of IDIQ Task Areas to our Subcontractors, and ensure the percent of total contract dollars is allocated to our subcontractors for those Task Areas, will the Government please provide the following: 1)

Anticipated number of Task Orders in each Task Area and 2) Anticipated allocation of IDIQ total dollars across the Task Areas? (Attach 1 PWS)

The maximum IDIQ is approximately $50,000,000. The Government's best estimate for each task per IDIQ period of performance is approximately:

Task Area 1 $450,000; Task Area 2 $3,300,000; Task Area 3: $1,700,000;

Task Area 4: $3,000,000; Task Area 5: $3,200,000; Task Area 6: $2,000,000;

Task Area 7: $1,200,000; Task Area 8: $300,000; Task Area 9: $100,000;

and Task Area 10: $1,400,000.

18 Can the Government confirm that the "Certified Financial Manager" qualification refers to the CFM credential supported by the Institute of

Management Accountants? If not, please provide clarifying information on the requirements for Certified Financial Manager. (Attach 3, IDIQ Labor

Descriptions)

For the purpose of this solicitation, "certified financial manager" describes

Acquisition Financial Managers who are certified by an authoritative professional governing body with widely accepted financial criteria and standards. These typically include: (1) minimum education requirements;

(2) relevant work experience; (3) examination testing various facets of financial management, such as economics, management, corporate finance, management accounting, decision analysis, and ethics; and (4) ongoing continuing professional education. The intent is to provide financial managers with widely recognized credentialed financial expertise. Acceptable financial manager certifications include the IMA's

Certified Financial Manager (CFM); the American Institute of Certified

Public Accountants' (AICPA's) Certified Public Accountant (CPA); the

American Society of Military Comptrollers' (ASMC's) Certified Defense

Financial Manager (CDFM); and the Defense Acquisition University's

(DAU's) Acquisition Professional Development Program (APDP) certified

Business Financial Manager or Business Cost Estimator.

19 Is the Government requesting a firm fixed price for the services solicited under Task Order 0001? If so, does the Government require any detail/explanation for amounts quoted by the contractor for "Unit Price" and "Total Price"? (Attach 11 Task Order 0001 CLIN Structure)

As stated on page 18, #5 Price Proposal, Offerors shall submit proposed labor categories and fully burdened labor rates using Attachment 2 Labor

Rates/Categories for the base period and all option periods for all tasks at the IDIQ level. These labor rates will be used when preparing proposals for future task orders. Using Attachment 11, Task Order 0001 CLIN

Structure, offerors shall submit pricing on Task Order 0001 for all tasks at the base period and each option period. The offeror shall also submit a matrix that shall list labor categories, labor hours, and fully‐burdened labor rates to be proposed.

20 Is there a font size restriction for the tables required in the Past

Performance Reference sheets, or is a smaller size acceptable as long as it is readable? (Attach 5, Past Performance)

Times New Roman 12 point font shall be used for Past Performance

Reference sheets.

21 What is the due date / time of the questionnaires, for our references to submit these to the Government? (Attach 6, Past Performance

Questionnaires)

Offerors shall ensure that Past Performance Questionnaires are submitted via email by the references on or before 24 April 2014.

22 Will the Government allow the use of PDF files for electronic submission?

Items like the SF 1449, the Reps and Certs, and pages requiring signature to not transfer well to word. (Paragraph 1, Proposal Submission

Requirements)

PDF files for electronic submission are allowable for the SF 1449, the Reps and Certs, and DD Form 254. Additionally the References will provide the

Past Performance Questionnaire as a PDF attachment.

23 Please confirm that all front matter is excluded from page limits (e.g., table of contents, compliance matrix, executive summary, etc.)? (2. (a)

Organization, pg 13)

As indicated in the Proposal Preparation Instructions, 2 (a) Organization, the maximum page limit for each volume includes all text pages, tables, foldouts, graphs, and other types of illustrative material. Cover letter, table of contents, glossaries, and divider pages/tabs do not count against the page limit for the respective volumes. Excess pages exceeding the maximum limits will not be read or considered for evaluation.

24 What is the period of performance? a) The solicitation on page 8 states

CLINs 0001, 0002, and 0003 are from 1 Aug 14 to 31 July 15. b) PWS, Attach 1, page 11 states the base period is 1 Aug 14 to 31 Jul 15. c) PWS

Attach 10, page 6 states the base period is 1 Aug 14 to 30 Sep 14, and option period is 1 Oct 14 to 30 Sep 15. d) Task Order CLIN Structure, Attach 11 page 1 indicates the base period is 1 Aug 14 to 30 Sep 14, and option period 1 is 1 Oct 14 to 30 Sep 15.

The period of performance for the ID/IQ contract is a base period (1 Aug

14 to 31 July 15) with 2 option periods (1 Aug 15 to 31 Jul 16 and 1 Aug 16 to 31 Jul 17). The period of performance for Task Order 0001 is a base period (1 Aug 14 to 30 Sep 14) with three option periods (1 Oct 14 to 30

Sep 15, 1 Oct 15 to 30 Sep 16, and 1 Oct 16 to 31 Jul 17).

25 Not sure how to interpret pricing? The solicitation on page 3 through 5 indicates; a) Item No. 0001 is FFP (also 1001 and 2001) ‐‐task areas left blank, b) Item No 0002 is LH (also 1002 and 2002)‐‐task areas left blank, c)

Item No. 0003 is FFP (also 1003 and 2003)‐‐travel, in accordance with JTR, and d) In Attachment 11, it appears that i) CLIN 0001 is management of the task order and is FFP, ii) CLIN 0002 is for the rate study and is FFP, and

iii) CLIN 0003 is for IT support and is FFP. (SF 1449 and Attach 11)

See Questions #2 and #3 regarding the SF1449 numbers. Our intention is to set up the IDIQ as not to exceed amounts and have task orders written off them. CLINs xxx1 is for FFP Task Orders, CLIN xxx2 is for Labor hour

Task Orders and xxx3 is for Travel that may be on the task orders. You are correct on what the CLINs are for in TO 0001 Attachment 11.

26 The pricing of Travel (CLINs 0003, 1003, and 2003 is not addressed in

Paragraph 5, Price Proposal. Will the Government be providing estimated travel costs for each of the aforementioned CLINs or will you provide estimated travel destinations, frequency of trips, number of personnel, and estimated lengths of stay in order for bidders to adequately provide an estimated travel cost amount? (pg 18, paragraph 5, Price proposal)

See Question number 6.

27 The Small Business Subcontracting Plan requires an estimated contract value for the base period and each option period in order to establish goals. What estimated contract value should be used? (pg 16, paragraph 4

Small Business Proposal)

See Question number 17.

Since the Small Business Utilization Plan is focused on the actual work that the bidder will be asking Small Business to perform should the contract value be based on the estimated value provided for Question 27, the Task

Order 0001 proposal value, or another contract value to be under an awarded IDIQ? (pg 16, paragraph 4, Small Business Utilization Plan).

See Question number 17.

Small Business evaluation is based on acceptable or not acceptable for both the small business subcontracting plan and the small business utilization plan. I can envision a broad‐based plan that identifies current teammates that are small business and/or a strategy that shows what types of small business(es) we would engage. I am not sure how we satisfy subfactor 2 that states, "Provides goals, expressed as dollars and percentages of total contract values and percentages of total domestic subcontracting values for each category of SB category concern included in Para (1) above." a) There is only one task order being priced for this contract. b) No insight is being provided regarding the desired level of effort for subsequent task orders. (pg 22 (4) Small Business, Evaluation

Factors)

See Question number 17.

30 Would the Government consider allowing Attachment 11, Task Order

0001 CLIN Structure to be in an Excel format? (pg 18, paragraph 5, Price

Proposal)

Attachment 11, Task Order 0001 CLIN Structure may be submitted in Excel format. The offeror's matrix that shall list labor, categories, labor hours, and fully‐burdened labor rates to be proposed may also be submitted in

Excel format.

31 Offeror Reps and Certs‐‐in what volume section should this fill‐in be presented? Also, confirm that it is excluded from any associated page count limitations.

Offerors Reps and Certs shall be considered an attachment to the signed

SF 1449 and will not count against any page count limitations.

32 On page 41 of the solicitation, clause 52.217‐9(b), "If the Government exercises this option the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause." (c)"The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 36 months." If the total period of performance covers 36 months, how can this clause have any impact on the contract?

If the Government should exercise the Option to Extend Services per

52.217‐8, the total period of performance months in 52.217‐9(c) would be amended at the time the Option Mod to extend services is exercised.

33 Section 1.4.4 ‐‐ Task Area 4 states "A major objective of USTRANSCOM is for these financial statements to achieve an unqualified or "clean" audit opinion for each AF financial statement." Would the Government please confirm that the objective of this task area is to support audit readiness of

USTRANSCOM's financial statements and not the AF's financial statements? Would the Government please consider removing the AF reference from the PWS? (IDIQ PWS)

The objective is for USTRANSCOM TWCF financial statements only. The AF reference is removed from Attachment 1 IDIQ PWS, 1.4.4 Task Area 4 page

4. ( See Attach 1 PWS Amended).

34 Section 1.4.4‐‐Task Area 4 states, "In response to the FIP, USTRANSCOM is responsible for identifying measureable steps to ensure that each financial End to End business process is auditable…" However, the PWS also makes reference to assessable units/statements, which may or may not be the same thing. Would the Government please clarify? (IDIQ PWS)

Assessable units are typically material and require assertions. However, ALL processes whether material or not need to be auditable.

The last paragraph of Task Area 10 duplicates requirements listed in Task

Areas 5 & 6. Is the duplication intentional to address the same functional approach in Task Areas? (IDIQ PWS, 1.4.5, 1.4.6, and 1.4.10)

1.4.5 and 1.4.6 are geared to Cost and Financial Systems Analysts where

1.4.10 is Financial IT and Operational support. Specific task orders will determine the extent of the requirement for each area.

36 What version of Teradata currently exists within the environment? Some basics statistics related to the environment may be helpful, such as:

Capacity, Free space, Utilization, Total number of users, and Average number of concurrent users. (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3‐‐

Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart).

Teradata RDBMS Version 14; Platform: Six Node Active Data Warehouse

6650; Capacity: 66 TB; J8 Data Mart Users: 100; Free Space, Utilization, and Average Number of Concurrent Users: N/A for this PWS.

What version of Cognos currently exists within the environment? How many Cognos applications are currently supported within the environment? (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of

TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

Current IBM Cognos Version being used is v10.2.1 FixPack 2. Current

Cognos Applications being supported: 1) Cognos Workspace, 2)Cognos

Workspace Advanced, 3) Query Studio, 4) Analysis Studio, 5) Report

Studio, 6) Metric Studio, 7) Event Studio, 8) PowerPlay Web and Windows,

9) Transformer, 10) Framework Manager, and 11) Metrics Designer.

38 How many legacy systems feed data into the TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart?

Would be good to know the following: DSD of each legacy system: number of tables, number of views, current size of the data (aggregate by DSD), data growth rate by month. (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐

Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

Five (5) legacy systems are currently used to supply data to the TCJ8‐ managed TWCF Data Marts within IGC: 1) SDDC Cargo and Billing (CAB) system, 2) DEAMS Component Billing System (DCBS), 3) Air Force

Commanders' Resource Integration System (CRIS), 4) U.S. Bank Syncada, and 5) AMC Global Air Transportation Execution System (GATES). Note:

No automated data feeds exist between most of these source systems and

IGC. J8 staff members have to monitor most of the Extract, Load, and

Transform (ELT) processes between these source systems and the J8 data marts. Number of current TCJ8 Data Mart Tables is 652 and number of

Views is 400.

39 The PWS references TCJ8‐maintained Teradata‐based IGC TWCF data marts. How many data marts currently exist? Is an ETL tool, such as

Informatica, currently being used within the environment? If so, what is the vendor, along with release/version? How many ETL/ELT processes currently exist to build the data marts? Is the ETL schedule well defined?

(Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐ Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data

Mart)

Six (6) data marts currently exist. No, an ETL tool, such as Informatica is not currently being used within the environment. IGC is using Informatica v9.1, but J8 does not have access to this resource. Teradata utilities are being used to support almost all J8 Extract, Load, and Transform (ELT) functions. Teradata utilities include: 1) BTEQ, 2) Fastload, 3)FastExport, and 4) MultiLoad. Six (6) sets of ELT processes‐‐one for each data mart currently exists to maintain the data marts. Our largest ELT process supports the SDDC port operations business area and the associated scripts contain over 5,000 lines of code, which is used to allocated manhour and miscellaneous expenses down to the shipment unit level.

Yes, the ETL schedule is well defined. Most of the data updates are weekly, while the U.S. Bank data feed is daily.

40 Do data models currently exist for both the legacy data as well as the data structures developed within the data marts? What data modeling tool is used within the environment (i.e. ERwin) along with release/version?

What types of data models have been developed (i.e. conceptual, logical, physical, etc.?) (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of

TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

Yes, data models currently exist for both legacy data as well as the data structures developed within the data marts. We are using CA ERWin v7.3.

We have physical data models developed, as well as data dictionaries.

Other than data models, what additional types of metadata currently exist within the environment? For example, has an enterprise business glossary been developed? Is data lineage information available? If so, what tool has been leveraged to capture the information and provide reporting? Is data quality information available? If so, what types of data quality analysis are currently being performed? Etc. (Attach 10, TO 0001

PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

Data dictionary.

42 What is the frequency of the data coming into the warehouse from the legacy environment (i.e. near real time, hourly, daily, weekly, etc.)?

(Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data

Mart)

The frequency of the data feeds is weekly, with one of the data feeds is daily.

43 If an ETL tool such as Informatica currently exists, how many workflows/mappings have been developed? How many Teradata scripts

(Fastload, Multiload, Bteq, Stored Procedures, etc.) have been developed?

(Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data

Mart)

No ETL tool is being used. We utilize Teradata utilities to support all of our

ELT processes.

Are there any known performance problems within the environment? If so, do the majority of the performance issues relate to ETL or BI? (Attach

10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

No.

45 Is there currently a data management team? If so, how many resources are dedicated to the data management team by type (i.e. data architects, subject matter experts, etc.)? (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐

Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data Mart)

No we do not have a data management team.

46 Have development standards been created in the following areas: Data

Modeling, Database Design/Development, ETL Design/Development, Cognos Design/Development, Others? If so, can these standards be shared? (Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF

TCJ8 Data Mart)

There are no formal standards.

47 Have user guides for current Cognos BI applications been developed?

(Attach 10, TO 0001 PWS 1.4.3 Task Area 3 ‐‐Expansion of TWCF TCJ8 Data

Mart)

Yes.

48 Can the government clarify if the contractor is expected to quote a firm fixed price for each CLIN?

See response to question number 2, question number 3, question number

19,and question number 25.

49 Can the Government clarify if "Certified Financial Manager" is a generic description for financial management certifications inclusive of CPA, CDFM, and CGFM, or a specific professional certification from a recognized standard setting organization? Would a CPA with the required years of experience meet the government's requirements for Financial

Manager?

See response to question number 18.

50 Is an incumbent contractor currently performing the work described in the

IDIQ PWS? If so, can the Government disclose the name(s) of the incumbent contractor(s) and the number of full‐time equivalent (FTE) personnel? If there is no incumbent contractor, can the Government provide an estimate of the level of effort (hours or FTE) anticipated for the services described in the IDIQ PWS?

This is a new requirement. See question number 17 for estimates.