IFIB-17-29_Standard_QA_3.pdf

Request for Proposal Number:

Reference:

Date of Issue:

The following questions were raised with respect to subject IFIB/RFP. Responses are to provide clarification.

Question Response

"All deliverables will be firm fixed price and billed upon delivery or upon acceptance of agreed milestone events." As best as the Government is able to anticipate these milestones, what is the anticipated payment schedule, both with respect to new courses (SOW Section 5.b, p. 19), and with respect to modifications to existing courses and support to emergent requirements (SOW

Section 5.a, 5.c)?

Payments will be agreed with the vendor prior to each course development. It is anticipated that payment would be upon delivery of the course (or each student hour of the course, if the course being built is longer than one hour). With modification courses again payment would be based on delivery of the completed course.

Since the pricing is FFP Deliverable, if the total price is to be based on a calculation per labor hour, how will payment be calculated per deliverable? Is a certain number of hours to be apportioned per deliverable? If this is the case, how will pricing accomodate new requirements and the need for new deliverables (per SOW

Section 5.c)?

Companies are asked to bid on the fixed price for one student hour of e-

Learning at three levels of complexity. This price includes all the labor rates required to produce the course (ISD, MMD, Manager etc including the anticipated time to work with SME's and produce the storyboard and actual course ). At the start of each course an agreement will be made with all parties on how long the course is and what level is required. Payment would then be based on the rate provided at the award of the contract for each student hour.

17 Oct 2017

IFIB 17-29

Q&A 3

The table in Enclosure 5 specifies pricing for

1800 hours for the year. Given the range of skills needed (including requirements analysis, curriculum design, content creation, possible 3D design and game development for for Level 4 e-

Learning, etc) we anticipate that staffing will require more than one skillset. Does the

Government anticipate these 1800 hours

(approximately one FTE) to be split among several personnel on a project or part time basis and an hourly rate averaged over all personnel?

Please review modification #1 or Q&A #2.

1,800 hours have been removed from

Enclosure 5.

To clarify, Question #4 in the Q&A released on 5

October states “Does an offeror need to possess a

Facility Clearance to perform the work?” The

RFP does not mention a Contractor Facility

Clearance and the Solicitation and PWS repeatedly state that the effort is unclassified. Will the Government please clarify if a Facility

Clearance is indeed required for this effort?

Again, the 1,800 was an administrative typo removed from the levels. Please refer to Modification #1 or Q&A #2.

Is there a page limit for the Technical Volume? 20 page limit.

To clarify, Question #4 in the Q&A released on 5

October states “Does an offeror need to possess a

Facility Clearance to perform the work?” The

RFP does not mention a Contractor Facility

Clearance and the Solicitation and PWS repeatedly state that the effort is unclassified. Will the Government please clarify if a Facility

Clearance is indeed required for this effort?

A|Facility Clearance is not required for this effort. If a meeting is held at a

NATO or military facility then arrangements will be made for access or escort.

As this is a Firm Fixed Price Deliverables Best

Value contract in accordance with the General and Special Terms and Conditions, but the proposed rate table on page 14 asks for an

Hourly rate to add up to total contract Value

(Base + Option Periods).

a. What are the expected units of work? Is the Hourly Rate to develop an hour of course content at each level, or a composite hourly rate for all labor? For example, notionally, an hour course price might be $1000, but it takes 100 hours to develop it, the hourly labor rate would be

$10.00.

b. If this is an hour of course development, should we price based on the minimum amount specified in paragraph 3.a. (1), (2), and (3) of

IFIB-ACT-SACT-17-29-E-

Learning_Amendment__1?

a. An hourly rate is not requested. Set rate for one student hour of level 2, 3 & 4 is requested. This rate should include all elements of the development process

(Manager, ISD, MMD, Programmer etc)

b. You are asked to price the cost of developing a student hour of level 2, 3 &

4 of online learning. The awards board will use these hourly set rates in their consideration. The minimum amount of work is listed to provide to the companies a guide to how much work this contract will involve.

What are the format(s) of the source data to be modified?

This will range from older Captivate files

(with assets) to just assets (Courses which have been built using the Ilias SCORM

Editor). Where a course is missing assets or requires a major update, it will be considered a new course.

Will there be a requirement to translate speech, text and media into other languages for each

Level of training? For all courses?

For new and updates to courses, English

United Kingdom) will be the only language required. Where the customer requires a translation, then the translation rate will be applied.

Languages used could be French, Dari, Pashtun, Russian, and Arabic.

Will Contractor-provided Example Materials be subject to any export controls for evaluation purposes?

Evaluation will be performed at Allied

Command Transformation based in

Norfolk VA. Contractors are requested to ensure furnished materials are valid for

NATO review in the USA.

Ref: IFIB Part 1 Bidding Instructions, p. 3, General.

Question: As per the terms of the IFIB, this is a

Firm Fixed Priced Deliverables contract. What is meant by the statement, “Partial Bidding on the levels is allowed”?

Partial bidding means that a company can bid on different levels based on their capabilities. For example, if a vendor can only create Level 2 courses, then they are authorized to bid on just the Level 2 requirements. However, we reserve the right to look more favorable towards a company that can produce at all levels if it provides Best Value for NATO.

Ref: IFIB Enclosure 5, Sealed Bid Price

Proposal, p. 14.

The Enclosure 5 instructions state that, “The categories below are ‘representative’ of skills required to provide deliverables at each level.”

The Sealed Bid Price Proposal table refers to HQ

SACT Service Areas Levels, 2, 3, and 4.

The totals for each performance period from the

Sealed Bid Price Proposal table would appear to be totaled and then represent the “Total Contract

Value” for the Proposal

Ref: IFIB SOW, Part 3, Type of Contract and

Period of Performance.

The SOW states that, “the contract will guarantee a minimum order(s) value each fiscal year…[and that the] Minimum Order per fiscal year would be:

(1) Develop three (3) student hours of level three e-Learning

(2) Develop two (2) student hours of level two e-Learning

(3) Develop one (1) student hour of level four e-Learning”

Questions:

1. In connection with the Minimum Order requirements described above, is the IFIB requesting the pricing of:

(a) a deliverables pricing of two (2) hours of

You are asked to price the cost of developing a student hour of level 2, 3 &

4 of online learning. The awards board will use these set hourly rates in their consideration. The minimum amount of work is listed to provide to the companies a guide to how much work this contract will involve. Therefore the answer is 1b.

3. Based on the set rates for level 2, 3 & 4 and the minimum amount of work, a minimum total value can be calculated giving the total contract value. The review board will consider the set rates for each level in their final deliberations.

Level 2 e-Learning, three (3) hours of Level 3 e-

Learning, and one (1) hour of Level 4 e-Learning for each performance period

(b) or an hourly rate for one (1) student hour for each of the Levels 2, 3, and 4 specified?

2. If (a) above, what is the significance of

“Hourly Rate” when Levels 2 and 3 represent more than one (1) student hour of e-Learning?

3. If (b) above, how does the pricing of one

(1) student hour of e-Learning for each of the 3 levels equate to a Total Contract Value for which the Minimum Order requirements for each performance period include more than one student hour of e-Learning for Levels 2 and 3?

Can the government please clarify the discrepancy in the NATO security clearance requirement. The Q&A indicates clearance will be required however the original and amended

RFP indicate that clearances will not be required

(pg. 20):

“NATO Security clearances will not be required as the work is expected to be all at the NATO

Unclassified Level. In the event a NATO

Classified Course is required, NATO HQ Security

Branch will work with the contractor to look at the possible options.”

No, a NATO clearance is not required to create the courses mentioned in the solicitation. However, there may be a future requirement that will require the contractor to retain a NATO clearance.

This type of situation would be addressed if it comes about during the period of performance of the contract.