Questions for HUD Childcare Study_8.22.2022 KAT .pdf

Questions for HUD-HHS Childcare Study Solicitation No. 86614822R00016

1) Page 15 of the RFP says, "HUD requires data collection efforts occurring in a minimum of 6 PHAs within 3 states." Which aspects of data collection does this refer to? Does this requirement refer to the resident interviews, stakeholder interviews, and/or collecting admin data from states? Administrative data shall be collected from a minimum of 3 states. Within those states, the contractor shall conduct resident and stakeholder interviews in a minimum of 6 PHAs.

2) Page 18 of the RFP includes requirements related to “Privacy Act Compliance.” Do these requirements pertain to qualitative data collection efforts? The Privacy Act applies to data collection efforts which collect personally identifiable information.

3) Will HUD provide the contractor with a list of public housing developments with on-site childcare services?

No, HUD does not have a list of public housing developments with on-site childcare services.

4) P. 51 – the final bullet under Part I Section III seems to be missing. It ends with “clear lines of authority from the top of the organization to all those working on this effort; and” Is there anything else that should be included here? No, there is nothing else that needs to be added. The last bullet point has been edited to remove the word “and” and now ends with a period.

5) The RFP notes that a project schedule is needed to meet minimum requirements for both the technical approach (page 54) and the management plan (page 56). Is it acceptable to include the project schedule in just one of these sections? Yes, it is acceptable to include the project schedule in just one section of the proposal.

6) The RFP notes that a “chart indicating the key personnel and associated labor category by hours and by task for all staff hours” is needed to meet minimum requirements for both the technical approach (page

53) and the management plan (page 56). Is it acceptable to include the chart in just one of these sections?

Yes, it is acceptable to include the labor hours chart in just one section of the proposal.

Attachments/Appendices:

7) The “PROPOSAL CONTENT” section of the RFP (starting on page 50) only specifies that one of the six attachments listed on page 44 should be submitted as part of the proposal. Specifically, it references that “Attachment 2” should be completed within “PART II – SECTION II – PRICING – AWARD DOCUMENT” (page 52).

a) Can you please clarify if any other attachments listed on page 44 should be submitted? Yes, they should be submitted. SEE Part II – Section I – Responsibility Determination (1-3)

b) For each attachment that should be submitted, please clarify if it should be included as an appendix to the Technical or Business volumes—or attached as a separate document when emailing our submission. See above response for (a).

8) Can you clarify the instructions for how to fill out Attachment 5 (Past Performances)? Do we simply list the past performance references? Yes Do these references need to submit any additional documentation? No

9) Should the Attachment be submitted as a separate attachment or as an appendix within the Technical/Business Volumes? Complete the form with the necessary responses and SEE Part II – Section I

– Responsibility Determination (1-3)

10) The RFP evaluation criteria state, “Expertise shall be demonstrated through references to published research.” Would it be acceptable to include resumes in an appendix, not to be counted towards the page limits? No, resume should not be part of the proposal.

Budget/Business Proposal:

11) The invoice schedule (page 40-41) includes a separate row for “Travel for Task 5.5”. Should other travel for data collection be included in this task, should it have its own separate row, or should it be included within Task 5.4 for Data Collection, Analysis, and Disposition? All travel associated with Task 5.5 would be covered under CLIN 0010 and any other travel cost outside of Task 5.5 should be calculated in your cost for that particular CLIN/Task.

12) Does HUD have a potential dollar value for this project? Yes, but HUD will not share this dollar value during the procurement process.

13) Should the rates proposed be those awarded under the contractor’s Federal Supply Schedule? No, this requirement is not being solicited utilizing a GSA Schedule.

14) Can we apply an indirect G&A rate to travel costs? That’s based on your organization approach to completing the pricing for this proposal. Your travel cost shouldn’t include any G&A. That should be calculated w/n your price per each fixed priced CLIN. Please keep in mind that you’ll have to complete Attachment 6 that does include G&A for all fixed-priced CLINs. SEE BELOW

ATTACHMENT 6

Labor Hour Price Schedule Worksheet

(EXAMPLE)

Fill in this column

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Fill in this colum n

Columns automatically calculate.

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Column Automatically

Calculates

Labor Category Hourly Raw Rate

Direct Labor

Burden

Overhead/ G&A

Markup

V&A Multiplier

Profit/ Fee

Multiplier Fully Burdened

Hourly Rate

- Base Period

Escalatio n Rate for Option Period I

Fully Burdened Hourly Rate - Option Period

I

Civil Engineer $ 34.62 33.21% 26.00% 8.30% 8.00% 186.22% $64.47 2.50% $66.08

Electrical Engineer

$ 36.06 33.21% 26.00% 8.30% 8.00% 186.22% $67.15 2.50% $68.83

Engineer Technician

$ 30.28 33.21% 26.00% 8.30% 8.00% 186.22% $56.39 2.50% $57.80

Industrial Engineer Technician

$ 30.28 33.21% 26.00% 8.30% 8.00% 186.22% $56.39 2.50% $57.80

Other:

15) Page 50 NOT 49 of the RFP states, “(c) PART I – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL The offeror shall submit the information required in Instructions to Offerors designated under:” Is there text missing after the colon?

No, the next paragraphs example what should be included w/n your technical proposal.

16) The RFP refers the reader to the section “Instructions to Offerors” multiple times, but there is no section with this header. Can you please verify what section “Instructions to Offerors” refers to? Is this referring to the “EVALUATION FACTORS FOR LPTA ACQUISITIONS”? The verbiage the “Instructions to Offeror” has been added to PART IV – Instructions, Conditions and Notice to Bidder.

a) Example 1: Page 51 of the RFP says, “The offeror shall submit any other information required in Instructions to Offerors designated under Part II--Business Proposal (3).” Is this referring to the evaluation factors on page 57? (any other additional information should be part of Part II – Business Proposal – Section I Responsibility Determination #3)

b) Example 2: Page 51 of the RFP says, “Offerors shall limit submissions of Parts I and II of their initial proposals to the page limitations identified in the Instructions to Offerors.” Is this referring to the evaluation factors on page 54? No, it’s referring to your proposal submission.

PART IV – Instructions to Offerors with how to put together the Proposal and Part V - How the Government is going to be evaluated the proposals.

17) The RFP states that a page shall not use smaller than 12-point font. Can an exception be made for figures, tables, and other exhibits? Yes, that would be acceptable.

18) Page 49 of the RFP states to “Please submit the required Responses to Technical Questions, Capability Statement, and Pricing via email...” However, page 50 says, “(a) Proposals shall be submitted in two parts” (Part I being the Technical Proposal and Part II being the Business Proposal). Please confirm there is no “Capability Statement” required. Please confirm that “Responses to Technical Questions” refers to the Technical Volume and “Pricing” refers the Business volume. The verbiage on page has been changed on page 49. There is no Capability Statement required.

“(a) Proposals shall be submitted in two parts as described below in paragraphs c and d.” This means everything under (c) Part I – Technical Proposal shall be included as stated and the same applies to (d) Part II – Business Proposal (this is where you’ll find Part II -Section II – Pricing – Award document). Hence where you should place pricing information w/n your proposal.

19) Page 50 of the RFP states, “Proposals shall be enclosed in sealed packaging and addressed to the office specified in the solicitation. The offeror's name and address, the solicitation number and the date and time specified in the solicitation for proposal submission must appear in writing on the outside of the package.” Please clarify this instruction, given that the proposal is to be submitted via email (page 46) -not in a sealed package. HUD’s Clause is somewhat dated but has to be part of each solicitation. DO NOT MAIL proposals…..proposals need to be submitted via email.

20) Page 48 of the RFP states, “For the purposes of evaluating offers and the selection of the contractor or contractors under this solicitation, the relative merit of the offeror's technical proposal as evaluated in accordance with the technical evaluation factors listed herein shall be "approximately equal to," cost or price.” On page 49, the RFP also describes the Best Value LPRA Evaluation Process in which the “Award will be made to the acceptable Offeror with the lowest evaluated price, who is deemed responsive in accordance with FAR Part 9.104 and whose proposal conforms to the solicitation requirements.” Please clarify the extent to which the technical proposal’s merit is evaluated with respect to overall evaluation of proposals. HUDAR Clause 2452.215-71 Relative Importance of Technical Evaluation Factors to Cost or Price.

21) Is there an incumbent contractor for this project? No

22) Will HUD please extend the proposal deadline to Wednesday, September 7th? Yes, HUD will extend the proposal due date to NOON, September 8th.

23) Does HUD have a list of sites from which they would like the contractor to choose, or is site selection totally at the contractor’s discretion? HUD does not have a list of sites from which the contractor would choose from. Section 5.2 describes considerations for site selection: “States and PHAs shall be purposively selected to include a mix of PHAs that provide on-site early childcare or have recently done

so. Another important factor for consideration in site selection is the availability of administrative data and the willingness of the state and the PHAs to participate in a rigorous, exploratory assessment of federally assisted childcare in their community.”

24) Please note the SBA increased the size standards under NAICS 541611 from $16.5 to $21M in a rule effective May 2, 2022 (reference: 87 FR 18665). Can HUD please revise the solicitation? This has been updated w/n Amendment 3 of the solicitation.

25) The Government notes that activities will be evaluated on a lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) evaluation, rather than a Past Performance/Price Trade-Off basis. This could lead to inferior solutions being presented to HUD in order to achieve the lowest-cost status. Would the government be willing to utilize other evaluation criteria (e.g., Best-Value or Past-Performance/Price Trade-Off) where appropriate?

This would allow HUD to consider a stronger technical approach and the advantages it brings and the opportunity to determine if the value warrants the price. This approach will result in a higher confidence that the future work will be successfully performed within budget, which is particularly important given the iterative nature of this project. HUD will evaluate the proposals based on LPTA. Please keep in mind that technically acceptability will be looked upon closely.

26) On both the Schedule of Supplies and details on invoice submission page 41, HUD identifies a cost item for Honorarium (5.4.1) but does not provide any additional guidance or requirement on this element. Can HUD please provide clarifying guidance on the assumptions for Honorariums so the cost can be estimated?

The cost item, Honorarium was included with the intention to be used to incentivize participants during data collection efforts.

27) Task 5.4 states “The contractor shall consider offering incentive payments to residents and stakeholders in order to ease recruitment.” Is this the same as honorarium? Can HUD please provide guidance on current guidelines for both incentive payments and honorariums? While there are differences between incentive payments and honoraria, this proposal uses the terms somewhat interchangeably. If incentives payments are used to encourage participation in surveys or interviews, these are normally reviewed during the OMB approval process. Incentive payments are normally determined based on the expected value of the participants’ time and the expected time the data collection effort will require.

28) Can HUD please clarify where we can show the estimate for IRB activities under Task 5.3? Or any other ODCs identified. Currently there are only line items for Honorariums and Travel for non-labor elements.

This is a firm fixed priced requirement. ALL cost associated with each CLIN should be all inclusive when stated w/n the SF1449 and the Pricing Schedule (Attachment 2).

29) On p. 41, Task 5.7 mentions travel for Task 5.5 but then no additional detail is provided. Can HUD please clarify the travel expectations for this task? The solicitation shall be changed to note that travel costs are for Task 5.4 (Data Collection), not Task 5.5 (Comprehensive Final Report). Travel arrangements are determined by the contractor to but HUD has estimated the cost of 18 site visits (site visits to six PHAs, three people per site).

30) Is there any expectation that the contractor will review related data including NSECE and FACES data (p.

27)? It is not expected that the contractor will review these national data.

31) Under Part II - Contract Clauses (p. 29) it states, “ALL CLAUSES ASSOCIATED WITH GSA CONTRACT NO. GS- 00F-053GA WILL FLOW DOWN AS PART OF THIS TASK ORDER.” Why is a specific price list with the Lewin

Group being referenced? Are they the incumbent on this work? No, there’s no incumbent contractor. The verbiage has been removed in its entirety.

32) Pp. 48 and 58 reference HUDAR 2452.215-71. Why is this HUDAR clause included if the tradeoff selection process is not being used? Per 2452.215-71, “(2) The contracting officer shall insert the provision at 2452.215-71, Relative Importance of Technical Evaluation Factors to Cost or Price, in solicitations for contracts to be awarded using the tradeoff selection process (see FAR 15.101-1) expected to exceed the simplified acquisition limit. HUD Clause 2452-71 has been removed in its entirety.

33) The Government provided Attachment 5 for past performance, however, did not speak to any past performance submission requirements in Section L or M. Please clarify the requirement. SEE (d) PART II – BUSINESS PROPOSAL to where the Past Performance Attachment 5 is to be included.

34) Please confirm that Attachment 6 should be completed and submitted as the Part II - Business Proposal as it is not referenced in Section L or M. This solicitation is NOT setup utilizing the Uniform Contract Format (UCF). Please see PART II – SECTION II – PRICING – AWARD DOCUMENT with instructions to complete Attachment 6.

35) Please confirm that the page limits do not apply to the proposal matrix, resumes, past performance, or attachments. The page limits do not apply to the proposal matrix, resumes, past performance, and/or attachments.

36) Please confirm that there are no page limitations for Part II - Business Proposal. Correct, there are no page limitations to PART II – Business Proposal

37) What is HUD’s current experience with the time required to clear OMB packages like the one anticipated for this study? Is there a backlog at this time? There are several steps in the process of obtaining OMB clearance. After the OMB package has been drafted and cleared through HUD, it has normally been taking roughly 4-5 months to obtain OMB clearance but this timeframe if variable.

38) The material added to the amended solicitation at page 42, “HUD Agency Specific (AS) - 2314 Contractor Records Management Responsibilities” makes reference to Security Assessment and Authorization (SA&A) and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) for systems anticipated to contain study data. There are no deliverables associated with an Authorization to Operate (ATO) from HUD IT for this engagement; what are HUD’s expectations regarding the time frame on which these documents will be submitted and ATO received? Are there any authorization backlogs, currently? For the purposes of rendering offeror materials comparable, are expenditures for the development and authorization of these systems and documents to be included under 5.4? Can HUD please clarify the deliverable and budget category for this requirement? This is a mandatory Agency Specific clause, and it only holds true if the stated information w/n the clause pertains to the subject contract. In turn, this AS doesn’t pertain the rendered required for this contract.

39) Which Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs should the state dataset include? Is the intention for this data to include local programs? Ideally, the administrative data would be as comprehensive as feasible.

40) With regards to linking data, would the linked dataset be inclusive of the entire state, or just the geography of the selected PHAs? The data to be included will depend on the state. Some states collect and could make data available at the state-level. In other states, this data may be more accessible at a more localized level. Ideally, the data linkage would be as comprehensive as feasible.

41) Regarding the Deliverable timeline on page 28 (Appendix II. Deliverables Timeline), what is the projected time period allocated in the timeline for OMB approval from date of submission to receipt of approval?

Previous projects have taken 4-5 months between when HUD sends the OMB package to OMB and when we received OMB clearance.

42) On the bottom of page 51 there appears to be text that may have been omitted after the last line of text.

Please confirm if that is the case. If so, please provide the missing text. There’s been a change to the verbiage w/n the Amendment 3. There is nothing else that needs to be added. The last bullet point has edited to remove the word “and” and now ends with a period.

43) We request that at least 18 days are available after receipt of answers to questions to submit proposals.

The intent is to help ensure all contractors have ample time to submit a thoughtful proposal that provides the best value to HUD. The proposal due date has been updated to Noon, Wednesday, September 8, 2022.

44) What is the estimated level of effort? The budgeted price for this requirement is not giving to the offerors.

45) (c) Part I – Technical Proposal: In which part | section should past performance information be inserted?

SEE PART II – SECTION I – RESPONSIBILITY DETERMINATION (1- 3)

46) Part I – Section I: Is the technical proposal required to be Section 508 compliant? No, this doesn’t apply…The verbiage will be removed from the solicitation

47) Part I – Section I: Should the personnel loading chart illustrating level of effort be aggregated by role or

GSA labor category? Follow this direction: The following states by labor category “The offeror shall submit a labor mix and level of effort represented by labor categories and number of hours per labor category.”

48) Should past performance questionnaires be sent to clients who have not completed CPARS or PPIRS on file? It’s up to your organization to whom they will send the questionnaire. If yes, will HUD provide a past performance questionnaire (template)? The past performance form is part of the documents attached to this solicitation.

49) Attachment 6 (Labor Hour Price Proposal Worksheet) was included in the solicitation package, but it is unclear how this form should be used. Please provide clarification. See Part II – Section II – Pricing – Award Document

50) For budgetary purposes, please provide the level of compensation to stakeholder and resident interviewees. This is up to the contractor to propose but will need to be approved by OMB. This rate is often based on the value of the time of the participant and the expected amount of time for the data collection effort.

51) On page 11, the solicitation states, “The Contractor shall provide a Contract/Project Manager and Principal Investigator(s) (PI) who shall be responsible for the performance of work. An alternate shall also be designated to act in the absence of the Contract/Project Manager.” However, in Section 5: Specific Tasks 5.1.1, the solicitation requires a Project Director to be involved with the task. Please clarify whether the title Project Director and Contract/Project Manager are interchangeable titles or whether the government has identified different roles for these two titles? The solicitation has been edited so that Section 5.1.1 removes reference to a “Project Director” and replaces this with “Contract/Project Manager”.

52) On page 53, the solicitation states, “Technical and past performance, when combined, are equal to price.”

Not sure what you’re asking.

53) Please clarify in what volume and section of the Technical Proposal the Past Performance Information (Attachment 5) needs to be included. See Part II – Section I – Responsibility Determination (1)

54) Please clarify whether the Attachment 5 is excluded in the page limit for the Technical Approach. There are no page limits under Part II – Business Proposal

55) Please clarify whether Exhibits and Graphics can have a font size of smaller than 12-point type font. You can choose the font you will use for your exhibits and Graphics.

56) On page 47, Section Part III – List of Documents, Exhibits, and Other Attachments lists Attachment 6 Labor Hour Price Proposal Worksheet

1. Please clarify whether we are to submit Attachment 6 with our proposal submission? See Part II – Section II- Pricing – Award Document Page 52

2. If so, please clarify whether we may provide a similar Labor Hour Price spreadsheet in our own format. No, please use the format provided w/n the attachment.

57) Can you please clarify whether there is flexibility on the ownership of the final linked data set? If state or local data are compiled through this process, will there be an opportunity for the state or community to deny the use of their data in a public data set (even if de-identified)? The contractor has this flexibility to provide an opportunity for denying use of data.

58) We would like to know if this is a brand new contract OR if there is (was) an incumbent performing these services. This is a new contract. There is not an incumbent contractor.

The due date for proposal has been extended to NOON MDT, Thursday, September 8th.