RFP_ID09180048_Q&A.pdf

RFP ID09180048 Questions and Answers

# Question Answer

1 Please clarify why this is not a small business set-aside, considering that the last award was to a small business?

The scope of work of this acquisition is expanded from the previous acquisitions. The incumbent is no longer a small business using the size standard for this acquisition, so they are excluded from inclusion in the two or more responsible small businesses needed for a set-aside. The Government evaluated all small business responses to the Request for Information for this scope of work and determined that there was no reasonable expectation of receiving offers from two or more responsible small businesses.

2 This question is regarding Request for Proposal (RFP) Attachment 3 - Contract PWS, page 11. The Government states that a 508 compliance confirmation is required with proposal submission, but doesn’t include required information for this compliance or what volume and section to include it in. Will the Government please provide this information?

See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001. The requirement for 508 Compliance confirmation has been deleted from the PWS deliverable table.

3 In RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS, page 11 of 20, the Government states that a transition plan is required with the proposal, but does not instruct offerors on which volume/section to include it in. Will the Government please provide this information?

The transition plan is requested in the RFP at FAR provision 52.212-1(b)(2)(iii) Element C. See instruction for "(2) plan to start up and transition out services without degradation of performance." Transition plan information shall be provided in Volume II.

4 Are resumes for key personnel required? Can the government clarify if resumes for noted/proposed personnel can be submitted as an attachment to our PMP submission? If so, are there any parameters around resume length? May the offeror submit resumes for personnel with required qualifications as an appendix to a proposal volume?

No resumes are required to be submitted with offers.

See personnel requirements in RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 16.0. Offer information requirements related to personnel requirements are in RFP FAR provision 52.212-1 (b)(2)

(iii) Element B.

5 Will the Government please confirm if a PM and an Analyst are the only key personnel required?

Personnel requirements are only specified for the Program Manager, Analyst, and Research Analyst labor categories. All personnel proposed as Program Manager, Analyst, and Research Analyst positions shall meet the personnel requirements in RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 16.0.

6 How many hours does the Government expect the contractor to work in Alexandria, VA and contractor's location?

This solicitation is for an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract, where exact quantities and deliveries to be ordered after award of the contract are unknown. Labor hours at Government site (Mark Center in Alexandria VA) and offsite location for the IDIQ contract are specified in Request For Proposal Exhibit A.

7 If the work is split between contractor’s location and Government's location in Alexandria, what kind of support does the Government need at Alexandria location?

Project teams are typically comprised of a mix of government and contractor personnel. Contractor personnel located at the Government’s location collaborate with OPA and/or project sponsors as needed to work on projects and attend meetings.

8 Is travel to the location mentioned in RFP Attachment 5 - Sample Task Order A PWS “Great Falls, MT, Norfolk, VA, Cherry Point, NC, Aviano, Italy, Yokosuka, Japan, Okinawa, Japan, and Kuwait City, Kuwait” required for contractor? If travel is required, then what are the travel periods to these locations?

Yes, contractor travel is required for Sample Task Order A, as stated in the PWS. For proposal purposes, assume all travel is to take place in November 2018 and assume 3 days at each location.

9 The core hours are noted as 0900-1500 in Section 3.2 and later in the same section, it states that the work needs be performed between 0700-1800 hours. What are the working hours required for this project?

See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 3.2. Contractor employees at the Government site are limited to working within the hours that Government personnel are in the office, which is typically from 0700 to 1800.

10 Will the Government allow the vendor to store and process survey data with personally identifying information (PII) solely on Government systems and networks or will the vendor be required to store and process PII on vendor systems and networks?

Vendor is not required to store PII on vendor systems and networks. Vendor may store and process survey data with PII solely on Government systems and networks.

11 If the Government systems requires the vendor to store and process PII on vendor systems and networks, is the vendor required to have completed a third party systems certification and accreditation audit based on either the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) or DoD Risk Management Framework standards and requirements?

As this PWS does not require the vendor to store and process PII on vendor systems, a third party systems certification and accreditation audit is not a requirement for this contract. Contractor shall be compliant with RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 12.1.

12 Would the Government consider raising the page limitation for Technical Factor Element A: Technical Approach?

Yes, the page limitation for RFP provision 52.212- 1(b)(2)(iii) Element A is changed from not to exceed 20 pages to 25 pages.

13 For the established labor categories included in Exhibit A, can the government clarify how “Research Analyst” and “Analyst” labor categories differ? Do Research Analysts need to meet personnel requirements of Analysts in

PWS?

Personnel performing as the Analyst labor category typically have more experience than Research Analysts;

however, the minimum personnel requirements in this solicitation are the same for both labor categories. See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 16.

14 Does the Government have any expectation in terms of minimum years of experience and education for the specified labor categories or is it up to the offeror to propose?

See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 16.0 for labor categories with personnel requirements.

15 Regarding RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS task 4.22, can the government provide the citations to the referenced DoD policies related to statistical analysis? (also referenced in the Military Service Gender Relations Focus Groups, Task 4.5.2 )?

The language regarding DoD personnel management policies has been removed from both Performance Work Statements. See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 4.22. See RFP Attachment 5 - Sample Task Order A PWS Amendment 0001.

16 This question is regarding RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS. Is the analysis in PWS paragraph 4.5 to use the training set based on the 4,000 comments from paragraph 4.3 or the 30,000 hand-coded comments from paragraph 4.4?

The analysis in RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS Amendment 0001, paragraph 4.5, should be done on the 4,000 comment training set from PWS paragraph 4.3.

17 This question is regarding RFP Attachment 6 - Sample Task Order B PWS. There are multiple tasks related to ad hoc analysis on data from various current and past survey efforts (see tasks 4.3.1, 4.4.1., 4.5.1, 4.6.1., 4.7.1., 4.8.1, 4.9.1). Can the government provide an estimate of the anticipated volume/frequency of these ad hoc requests?

The government estimates no more than 5 ad hoc analyses on Sample Task order B.

18 This question is regarding RFP Attachment 6 - Sample Task Order B PWS. Operations analyst tasks are listed as including creating recodes (e.g., 4.3.2., 4.3.3., 4.4.2) How many recodes are there in a typical survey?

There are 80-90 new recodes that will have to be developed on a typical survey.

19 Would the Government consider providing guidance as to how the page limitation for Technical Approach should be distributed among the five attached PWS?

The Government will not specify how to allocate proposal pages for technical approach to accomplish the separate PWS. Offerors shall stay within the total page limitations specified in the RFP, as amended.

20 With regards to the total level of effort specified for the IDIQ base year (146,356), would the government consider providing guidance on what proportion of the total hours offerors should assume for each of the four task orders?

The Government does not want to specify total number of labor hours for task orders.

21 This question is regarding RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS. With regards to subtask paragraph 4.3, the statement of work mentions 2000 hand labeled comments and 4000 comments in the training set. A training set usually contains labeled data, so it is unclear how the 4000 comments are different than the 2000 hand labeled comments. Is there an extra 2000 comments in the training set that won’t be labeled?

See RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 4.3. 6,000 comments should be hand labeled, and then the subdivision of a training set / test set / validation set should occur.

22 This question is regarding RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS. With regards to subtask 4.4, how are the 30,000 comments in 4.4 distinct from the 2000 hand labeled comments in 4.3?

The hand labeled comments in RFP Attachment 4 - Task Order 0001 PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 4.3 will focus on "sentiment" labels, while paragraph 4.4 comments will focus on specific military topics.

Examples of the military topics are provided in paragraph 4.4.

23 The IDIQ statement of work notes that ten workstations are currently available for contract performers at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia. These workstations can be shared amongst contractor personnel, for a total capacity of 20 contractor personnel.

However, all of the Task Orders indicate that no government equipment (Government Furnished Property or GFP) will be provided, yet also indicates the “place of performance” will be the government’s worksite in Alexandria. Could the government please clarify?

Government Furnished Equipment and Government Furnished Information is specified in RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS paragraph 13. There are currently 10 workstations available for use on task orders at the Government's Mark Center in Alexandria Virginia.

Computer equipment and software will be provided for on-site use by contractor employees. See amended GFP specifications for task orders in RFP Attachments 4, 5, 6 and 7.

24 The statement about the 10 workstations used by 20 contractor staff (10 FTEs splitting on-site and telework hours) referenced in section 13 of the IDIQ Performance Work Statement does not seem consistent with on-site hours information included in the pricing worksheet, Exhibit A. Summing the number of on-site hours in Exhibit A yields approximately 56 FTEs to be working at the Alexandria facility for 40 hours each week, substantially more than the 10 FTEs noted in the PWS. Could the government please clarify the level of effort intended to be working on-site in Alexandria and resolve the apparent inconsistency concerning the number of workstations that will be provided?

Please keep in mind this will be an IDIQ type contract.

The labor hours and location of labor categories provided in RFP Exhibit A are considered to be accurate estimates to help develop the IDIQ contract maximum amount. This maximum amount may or may not be ordered after award of the contract. Exact location of contractor personnel may be negotiated after contract award and before issuing task orders. Offerors shall follow price proposal instructions in the RFP.

25 Can the Government please describe what materials and processes a new contractor can expect during a transition period?

See RFP Attachment 3 - Contract PWS Amendment 0001 paragraph 15.0 for description of services during a transition. User manuals of the four Government-developed software packages and access to these systems/tools will be provided to the Awardee.