M00318-15-R-0001_QUESTIONS_ _ANSWERS.pdf

M00318-15-R-0001 QUESTIONS

January 30, 2015

1) Who is the incumbent(s) ?

- There are currently 3 contractors that have Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs). They are

Booz Allen Hamilton, Louis Berger Group, and Onyx, Inc. Each contractor supports various services on individual BPA calls which are included in this solicitation.

2) What is the incumbent contract(s) value(s) and period of performance(s) ?

- The BPA’s have a period of performance of 5 years and is set to expire 30 September 2015.

Each BPA has a ceiling of $43M covering a multitude of tasks and locations, however, the project magnitude is not a good comparison to the new requirement.

3) Is the incumbent contract(s) for the same services ?

- Most of the services are the same with the exception of the addition of Executive Administrative Assistant.

4) Is the incumbent contract(s) comparable in terms of total FTEs per year? If not, what are the differences ?

- No. The project magnitude has drastically decreased due to mission reorganization.

5) Are bidders required to have a facility clearance at the time of bid, or will the client sponsor the winner for a facility clearance? Note: A facility clearance is required in order for a company to hold/maintain personnel clearances.

- Answer: See PWS Para. 6.7 Security Clearances. The contractor personnel must hold the designated clearance level required for a position at the time of appointment/award.

6) Are interim personal clearances acceptable for any of the positions? If so, which positions ?

- Yes, interim personal clearances are acceptable for all positions, however contractor must be pursuing final clearance.

7) RFP Page 60, Section 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires lists numerous DOL labor categories. Please map these to the 18 labor categories called out in this RFP.

- The Department of Labor has determined that the only position that the Service Contract Act and Wage Determination (WD) will apply to is the Administrative Assistant. It is the responsibility of the contactor to determine the level of Administrative Assistant in the WD that is applicable based on qualifications.

8) RFP Page 60, Section 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires - Currently there are more DOL labor categories listed than there are labor categories in the RFP. Please remove categories that are not applicable to this RFP.

- FAR 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires is a guide provided to assist contractors. The variety of labor categories were provided to help and it is the responsibility of the contractor to determine how and which labor categories they will use if any. No labor categories will be removed from this provision.

9) Are hardcopy proposals required in addition to email proposals?

- Yes hard copies are required in accordance with the instruction in Addendum to FAR 52.212-1 Table 1 – Required Format for RFP column titled “Hard copies.” In addition a CD with electronic forms must also be provided as stated in 3. Proposal Format. No email proposals will be accepted.

10) You say: "Offerors are encouraged to be concise in their Technical Proposal." If this is truly the intent, suggest reducing the maximum page count from 30 pages to perhaps 10 pages.

- The number of pages will remain 30.

11) May we receive on-site incumbent POC info so we can contact incumbents? Your encouragement of "employee agreements" necessitates incumbent contact. Additionally, since this contract is covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA), we need to find out how long staff have been on the job so we can accurately cost in vacation amounts.

- The positions being filled under the current task orders are Louis Berger Group and Booz Allen Hamilton.

12) For the purposes of building a plan, please provide anticipated/tentative dates to the following:

* Contract award announcement: 15 June 2015 (this date is subject to change as milestones are tentative.)

* Phase-in Start: 15 June 2015

* Phase-in Stop: Contractor should be performing at full performance quality within 30 days of contract notification.

* Contract (first task order) work start: 2 July 2015

13) Is a final DoD facility clearance(FCL) required prior to bid submittal ?

- See response to question 5.

14) Extension Request: Due the significant nature of the question, regarding the clarification of the Past Performance requirement of the offeror, the government’s response could dictate our decision to bid.

Assuming that a timely response to questions by the government occurs within one week (or by 6 FEB 2015), we may not have sufficient time to prepare a compliant and competitive proposal (16 days).

Request a 2 week extension on the proposal submission deadline.

- The proposal due date has been extended from 0800 HST, 23 Feb 2015 to 0800 HST, 2 March 2015 based on the questions and the Government’s response to the questions.

15) Past Performance: As written on page 22; the Past Performance requirement is: “provide three (3) relevant examples of PRIME contractor past performance”. It is unclear if this applies to the offeror (prime) only, and/or the offeror’s teaming partners. Please clarify if the offeror (prime) can utilize the Prime contractor experiences of our teaming partners and subcontractors to meet this requirement, or is this applicable ONLY to the offeror?

- 5. Volume II: Past Performance is rewritten to read “Provide three (3) relevant examples of prime contractor past performance. If teaming arrangements/subcontractor’s are used, an additional three (3) pages in Volume II are allowed.”

16) Ordering: Is the intent of the IDIQ to issue task orders by CLIN? By location? Or some other methodology? Please clarify.

- The intent of the IDIQ is to issue individual task orders based on the need of services at each location. Each task order may include multiple CLINS or a single CLIN for one task, and will be issued for the quantity of months required. The initial task order is intended to include a minimum of 15 of the 21 CLINS or services and is detailed in the solicitation.

17) Period of Performance: Will all task orders exist for the full term of the relevant POP (Base and or Option Year)?

- Individual task orders will have a period of performance based on the Government’s need for that service. The initial task order is intended to have a period of performance of one year.

· Or, is the intent for the offeror/subcontractor to have a “bench” to fill CLINs for partial / shorter POPs under this IDIQ?

- In the event the Government has a need for a position for a period of performance less than one year the task order will be written as such. As stated in PWS 5.6.4, On-Boarding Plan should be proposed by the contractor.

18) Staffing Plan: Technical Factors Section b (page 22): On Sub-factor 2: Staffing Plan – the RFP requires Company, POC, email and phone. How should this section be handled in the redacted copy?

- The company information should be redacted. As stated in ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-1 4.

Volume I: Technical Proposal “without company logo, identifying marks, email addresses, phone numbers, and names.”

19) Employee Agreements: Technical Factors Section b (page 22): What is the purpose of the Employee Agreements? Is this for contingent offers to employees or for all proposed employees?

- The purpose of employee agreements is to reflect that the contractor is able to recruit qualified personnel for all positions.

20) SF 1449: Will all CLINS be awarded for the full term of the base period?

- CLINS are not awarded. The IDIQ will be awarded for a base plus one year option period and task orders will be issued for the period of performance required for the services, as needed.

The Government intends to fulfill the guaranteed minimum of the contract in the initial task order during the base period of performance of the IDIQ. Subsequent orders may vary.

21) SF 1449: The IDIQ is for 12 months and one option of 12 months. CLIN 0009 has a max quantity of 48 months. Please clarify.

- This contract vehicle is used when the Government cannot predetermine, above a specified minimum, the precise quantities of services that the Government will require during the contract period. However, the Government anticipates a recurring need. See FAR 16.504 -- Indefinite-Quantity Contracts at http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm for more details.

The minimum states what the Government guarantees they require for the duration of the contract and the maximum is what the Government knows it will not exceed. If the Government did not state a minimum for a CLIN then it is not guaranteed it will require this service, but is identified as a potential need.

In accordance with Attachment 2, CLIN 0009 is for 4 FTE’s at 12 months each.

22) SF 1449: CLINS 0012, 0014 have no max quantity listed. Please clarify.

- See response to questions 21.

23) Quantities: Contract Minimum/Maximum table (page 25): The minimum quantity of 180 and maximum quantity of 252 are confusing. Please clarify if you intend to issue a minimum of 180 task orders.

- The quantities are based on months. If there is a minimum quantity of 180 months that is the equivalent of 15 FTE’s for 12 months. If the maximum is 252 then that is the equivalent of 21 FTE’s for 12 months. This minimum and maximum is per order.

24) Quantities: Maximum Contract Quantity on page 25 is 252, which would require 36 units over the 216 total. It seems this may conflict with Maximum Quantity of 12 listed for each CLIN on Pages 2-19, as it would require ordering more than 12 Units for 3 CLINs. Please clarify

- The Maximum Contract Quantity is per order, not for the full contract.

25) Quantities: CLIN Delivery/Task Order Minimum/Maximum table (page 26): The minimum quantities of 12 are confusing. Please clarify if you intend to issue a minimum of 12 CLINS or 12 hours.

- The CLIN ‘s Units of Issue “UNIT” is clearly identified as being “months”. Quantities will be in months.

26) Clearances: Referencing Security Clearances (page 80): Can contractors have an interim clearance at the time of appointment/award?

- See response to question 6.

27) Current Contract LOE: How many FTEs currently support the contract by CLIN?

- Based on response in Question 1, this question cannot be clearly answered as the current contract vehicle does not mirror this solicitation. In addition there has been some restructuring and changes in services required under this program based on the mission. See Attachment 2 for the estimate of FTE’s per CLIN.

28) SCA Positions: What positions/FTEs/CLINs are currently deemed SCA positions?

- See response to question 7.

29) WD: The WD for Guam was included in the Solicitation, but all work appears to be required in Hawaii. Which, if any, positions are to be performed in Guam?

- Any of these positions could potentially be required to be performed in Guam. Each task order will state where the services will be performed. All services required will be performed as stated in the solicitation “within the Pacific Area of Responsibility.”

30) Option Period: 6.1/page 79 – What is the significance of the Option period being identified as "12 month" versus the Base “year”?

- There is no significance to the chosen verbiage.

31) PWS: For the IT Planner position, current Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Requirements includes “MS Schedule”. We are not aware of this application. Does the government mean to say “MS Project”?

Please clarify.

- Proficiency using Microsoft Office applications as a whole is required. Microsoft Schedule is replaced with Microsoft Project in the PWS.

32) PWS: For the IT Analyst Management position, current Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Requirements includes “MS Schedule”. We are not aware of this application. Does the government mean to say “MS Project”? Please clarify.

- See response to question 31.

33) PWS: For the Decision Support PMO Position, current Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Requirements include “in lieu of a bachelor’s degree, 10 years relevant experience is required”. Does this mean that a bachelor’s degree is not required for this position? Please clarify.

- Knowledge Skills, and Abilities of PWS 4.4.1.1 is changed to read “A bachelor’s degree plus 10 years of relevant experience is required; Master’s degree desired.”

34) PWS: For the Environmental Requirements PMO; current Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Requirements includes “MS Schedule”. We are not aware of this application. Does the government mean to say “MS Project”? Please clarify.

- See response to question 31.

35) SOL: The RFP (page 21) states that an offeror shall submit the “completed and signed copy of the solicitation”. Please clarify that the only page we need to sign and submit with our proposal is page 1 (of 102) of the SF1449.

- The pages that shall be completed are pages 1-20 of the solicitation. This includes the completion of 17a, 30a, 30b, 30c, and Unit Price for each CLIN.

36) Proposal Format: In Table 1 (page 21) the requirement is for “Hard Copies” in the fourth column from the left. This is in conflict with language on the previous page (20/101) indicating that offers shall be submitted electronically. ·Please clarify.

- The language on page 20 “Offers for the services to be provided shall be electronically submitted by email” is now removed; however, a CD-ROM with electronic versions of each proposal as well as a redacted copy of Volume I is still required.

37) Proposal Format: On page 21, for the CD-ROM, please confirm that since only a single copy of each of the three (3) proposal sections (IDIQ Proposal; Past Performance; IDIQ Price Proposal) are to be included (per RFP), that REDACTED copies should not be included on the CD-ROM.

- The CD-ROM shall include a copy of each Volume as well as a copy of the redacted Volume I.

38) Proposal Format: On page 22, Section 1.b. state “Resumes are not required for proposed staff”.

Please confirm that no resumes are required for this proposal.

- As stated on page 22, Section 1.b resumes are not required for proposed staff at this time.

Resumes will be required after award and only from the awardee.

39) PWS paragraph 2 indicates that on-site consultants are to provide services in Hawaii and Guam. Are there any other locations that require full-time consulting services, such as Australia, under this contract?

- Services could be requested anywhere in the Pacific Area of Responsibility.

40) PWS paragraph 4.17 appears to focus all requirements on Guam. Will the duties specified for this individual also include the CNMI, in addition to Guam?

- Duties could be anywhere in the Pacific Area of Responsibility.

41) For clarification, if using a subcontractor to fulfill at least 40% of the effort, are three (3) Past Performance examples required to be submitted for that subcontractor in addition to the three (3) examples submitted for the Prime? Paragraph 5, Volume II, Past Performance (of the Addendum) is unclear as to the total number of examples to be submitted.

- See response to question 15.

42) Table 1 - Required Format for RFP states that the Volume II Past Performance is limited to a maximum of 3 pages and 3 copies. In 5. Volume 2: Past Performance It states, "If it is anticipated that at least 40% of the effort will be fulfilled through teaming arrangements and/or sub-contractors, provide three (3) references adhering to the above criteria for those companies." Therefore, please clarify that if teaming arrangements are used that result in at least 40% of the effort the Maximum Page Count will allow for an additional 3 pages in the Volume II Past Performance for each subcontractor.

- See response to question 15.

43) CLIN 0012 and CLIN 0014 do not list a Maximum Quantity. Please clarify the Maximum Quantity for CLIN 0012 and 0014. They are not stated in the SF 1449 Continuation Sheet. Also, the Labor CLINs 0013, 0014 and 0018 and Option Year CLINs 1013, 1014 and 1018 do not state Maximum Quantities on pages 26 and 27 of 101. Please clarify the quantities. If Offerors are to provide the quantities please provide workload for these functions/positions so the quantities can be estimated.

- See response to question 21.

44) Several of the technical positions in 4.1-4.5 state that a Master’s degree or 10 years of relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree. Please clarify that as long as the technical requirements are met, an individual with a Master’s degree could have 0-9 years of relevant experience.

- Education requirements for 4.1 – 4.5 have changed to “Bachelor’s degree plus 10 years of relevant experience is required; Master’s degree desired.”

45) Please clarify that 4.4.1.1 is a typographical error and that the correct statement is that “A Master’s degree, or in lieu of a masters, a bachelors degree plus 10 years of relevant experience is required.”

- See response provided for Question 33.

46) In 4. Volume I: Technical Proposal, The 1. Technical Factors b. Sub-factor 2: Staffing Plan states that “Resumes are not required for proposed staff. However, employee agreements are encouraged and shall be excluded in the total page count.” Attachment 1–PWS in 4. Technical Requirements section, resumes are cited as documentation for meeting the requirements in 4.1 (4.1.1.5 and 4.1.16), 4.2 (4.2.1.4 and 4.2.1.5) and 4.3 (4.3.1.4). Please clarify whether, 1) resumes are required to meet the stated technical requirement in the PWS; and, 2) resumes will be considered part of the total page count or not.

- As stated in PWS 5.6 Post-Award Requirements - “The contractor shall provide a staffing plan for each task order, including a resume for each line item within each task order. The resumes need to include sufficient information for the Government to determine that the personnel proposed meet the relevant KSAs within the PWS. Government must approve resume before task order will be awarded.” To clarify, resumes are not required to meet the technical requirements in the solicitation, however, will be evaluated concurrently, and yet separately for the initial task order which will be issued immediately after the IDIQ is awarded. See response provided for Question 47 for more details.

47) The RFP states that “employee agreements” are encouraged. For non-incumbent bidders, any employee agreements would be contingent offers. Please clarify if the employment agreements submitted can be draft agreements or if the actual employee agreement as a contingent offer should include the individual’s personal information (name, address, etc.).

- Signed employee agreements are desired to ensure successful start for the first task order (estimated start date on/about 2 July 2015) and may be submitted with the Offeror’s Staffing Plan. Agreements may include the individual’s personal information, resume, and shall not be included in the total page count.

48) In the Addendum to FAR Provision 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors , it states that Offerors' proposals can be submitted by e-mail, hand-carried or mailed as long as they are received by 0800 HST 23 February 2015. Please confirm that email submissions correctly identifying "ORIGINAL" and redacted versions will meet the requirements of the RFP stated in Table 1 - Required Format for RFP. Specifically, that electronic copies meet the hard copy and CD-ROM requirements stated in Table 1 - Required Format for RFP as well as including the required 2 signed copies of the SF 1449.

- See response to question 36.

49) In the Addendum to FAR Provision 52.212-1 Instruction to Offerors for RFP, "2. a) RFP – M00318-15- R-0001. A completed and signed copy of the solicitation indicating agreement to the provisions and clauses therein." Please clarify what is required to show that the Offeror is in agreement with the terms and conditions of the entire RFP and that this is not the entire RFP document but perhaps the signed and completed SF 1449 and the SF 1449 Continuation Sheet.

- See response to question 35.