M67854-15-R-9500_Amendment_0001_Q A__s_1-89.docx

M.3.5.1

· Current number of users supported on the DTS application

· Monthly DTS related ticket volumes

· Average Handle time for DTS tickets

· Anticipated number of users supported once the migration of reserve units onto DTS is completed, broken down by call volume by Government defined service desk shifts Answer provided at the bottom of this document.

Please confirm and it is requested that these not be included in the page limit.

Per Section L.2 Volume II Technical and Past Performance, this Volume is not to exceed (NTE) “60 pages including three (3), five(5) page past performance reference;” The 60 pages includes the allowed 15 pages for past performance references.

Section L.2.3.2 has been revised. Please see Amendment 0001.

It is also noted, there is a conflict between the second and third sentences in Section M 3.5.2, Price Evaluation. These two sentences read as follows “The purpose of price reasonableness is to determine whether an Offeror’s price is too high. Price reasonableness will not, however, be used to determine if an Offeror’s price is too low.” It is our understanding price reasonableness is to determine if an Offeror’s price is too high. But price realism is used to determine if an Offeror’s price is too low.

We note in Section M 3.5.2, Price Evaluation in the second paragraph the Government states “The Government will NOT perform a price realism analysis.”

It is recommended that a cost realism analysis be performed to minimize the risk to the Government and ensure the Government receives the performance it desires.

The Government will conduct a cost realism evaluation. The Government will not conduct a price realism analysis.

The Historical Staffing and Labor Mix matrix is provided as information only. Offerer’s may propose the labor mix it deems necessary to perform all PWS tasks.

Are the Total Compensation Plans to be a part of Volume III instead of within the bounds of Volume I? If they are in Volume I, do these Plans count against the page count for that Volume? Also, is a Total Compensation Plan required for only the Prime or is it also required for each team member?

The Employee Compensation Plan shall be included in Volume I Management Plan. As stated in L.2, the Employee Compensation Plan will not count toward the total page limitation. The plan shall include information for the prime only.

Please confirm in which volume offeror’s should submit their Employee Compensation Plan.

See answer to Question 16.

The Subcontracting Plan that includes Small Business Participation will not count towards the 60 page limit for Volume II.

(paragraphs 2 and 30

If Sections 3.3-3.6 (HLOs 1-4) do not apply or the section range is greater, would it be possible to provide specific sections with the corresponding objective tasks?

Section 3.3-3.6 apply to Section 3.8.1.

(paragraph 1)

If the Offeror chooses to propose an alternate services construct approach will these Service Desk personnel count in the 10 or can they be additional off-site employees?

The Government will keep the number of remote workers at 10, including Service Desk personnel.

In paragraph (e) the Government states in the first sentence: “The contractor further agrees that during the performance of this contract and for a period of three years after completion of performance of this contract, the contractor, any affiliate of the contractor, any subcontractor, consultant, or employee of the contractor, any joint venture involving the contractor, any entity into or with which it may subsequently merge or affiliate or any other successor or assign of the contractor, shall not furnish to the United States Government, either as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor, or as a consultant to a prime contractor or as a subcontractor, any system, component or services which is the subject of the work to be performed under this contract.”

Question/Comment: Does the Government anticipate that the Contractor will be performing activities on this program that will give rise to an organizational conflict of interest (OCI)? If so, please describe what type of services would be potential OCI in order for Offerors to craft and submit a comprehensive OCI Mitigation Plan.

The Government does not anticipate that the contractor will perform activities that will cause an OCI.

CDRLs have been updated to remove references to Key Personnel.

Per the RFP: The Offeror shall submit a Past Performance Questionnaire, Section J, Attachment 5, for each of the three past performance references submitted. The Offeror shall complete Blocks 1 through 7 on the form, and the client’s representative most knowledgeable of the past performance effort shall complete Block 8 on the form and submit the Past Performance Questionnaires directly to Nichole Wyche-Seawood at Nichole.Wycheseawood@usmc.mil no later than the proposal due date and time specified in Section L.2.

Per the instructions on Attachment 5, Past Performance Questionnaire: Sections 1 through 4 are to be completed by the assessor. The assessor is to submit the completed questionnaire to the Contracting Officer.

Question: Is there a different Past Performance Questionnaire Form that the Government intends to use or should the Offeror adhere to the instructions on the RFP-provided Attachment 5?

Section L.2.3.2 has been updated to include the appropriate questionnaire sections.

This section states that, “If DCAA has not reviewed the rate information for an Offeror or its subcontractors, the Offeror shall submit a detailed justification of the proposed direct and indirect rates to include the last three (3) years of actual indirect information. The Offeror shall also provide documentation verifying that it has a DCAA audited and approved Cost Accounting System or state that its Cost Accounting System has not been approved by DCAA.”

Please clarify if this statement pertains to an offeror’s subcontractors. If yes, and a subcontractor does not have three (3) years of actual indirect information to provide, how should the offeror/subcontractor respond to this requirement?

Section L.2.4.4 has been updated to make this a requirement for the prime only.

If DCAA has not reviewed the rate information for an Offeror or its subcontractors, the Offeror shall submit a detailed justification of the proposed direct and indirect rates to include the last three (3) years of actual indirect information. The Offeror shall also provide documentation verifying that it has a DCAA audited and approved Cost Accounting System or state that its Cost Accounting System has not been approved by DCAA.

Discussion:

1. Although the Government anticipates awarding a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)/Firm Fixed Price (FFP) hybrid contract that requires the Offeror to have an “adequate accounting system” for determining costs applicable to the contract, it does not require the prime contractor to issue a CPFF contract to the subcontractors. In addition, the overall responsibility for the TSO contract, to include subcontractor cost/pricing, lies with the Offeror and therefore Section L2.4.4 should only be applicable to the Offeror.

2. The vast majority of small businesses have not been audited by DCAA/DCMA nor are they required to submit a yearly “Incurred Cost Proposal” due to their subcontractor status on current/past contracts. Only Prime Contractors and/or companies authorized to hold CPFF contracts are required to prepare/submit a yearly “Incurred Cost Proposal.”

3. Accordingly, without a DCAA audit or without meeting the requirements to submit the yearly “Incurred Cost Proposal,” subcontractors will not possess the required Provisional Billing Rate Approval Letter, Final Billing Rate Approval Letter, the DCAA/DCMA approved Forward Pricing Rate Agreement/Recommendation, or the detailed justification of the proposed direct and indirect rates. In addition, these subcontractors will not be able to provide the required documentation verifying they have DCAA audited and approved Cost Accounting Systems.

4. Lastly, in the recent FSB RFP solicitation, the above subcontractor DCAA/DCMA cost/price requirements were deleted. Since FSB and TSO are “sister” organizations, this requirement should therefore be deleted.

Question: In view of the above, will the Government remove the TSO subcontractor DCAA/DCMA cost/price requirement?

Section L.2.4.4 has been updated to make this a requirement for the prime only.

The RFP states that the Government will evaluate offeror’s proposed Management approach, to include, where appropriate, “e.g.” whether the offeror has appropriately identified risk and risk mitigation procedures; whether the offeror has demonstrated an ability to provide a high-quality, experienced, well-trained, skilled, and certified staff, whether the offeror will be able to capture, where appropriate, incumbent staff, etc.

Can the Government clarify what “e.g.” and “etc.” mean in this section and how they will be evaluated?

See answer to Question 8.

Will the contractor use the Federal Workforce training environment (FED VTE) to track contractor CSWF training and certifications?

FedVTE is not used for any tracking purposes. We enter all certified users into MCTIMS.

All DoD workforce must allow CompTIA to release their certification to DWCA. Refer to: USMC ECSD 024

Could the Government provide each application/task (current or anticipated) schedule of events (requirements, development, testing, production and fielding schedule)?

If the Government is looking for a detailed transition plan and updated within five (5) days after contract award, vendors must have a complete understanding to the current status of each tasks? If schedules are not provided, it is encouraged the government re-evaluate the delivery date for CDRL B0002.

Offerors shall provide a transition plan based on the stated requirements. Application/task status and schedules will be a topic discussed in detail during the Post-Award Conference.

The following documents in the Reading Room Files are either missing, or do not appear to include the full document:

C5.51 Introduction to Agile/Scrum; Guideline; Technical Support; IAD is missing C4.4 MCIPPS Software Development Plan (SDP) FY14.docx; Plan; Project Management; MCIPPS – TOC indicates it has 40 pages, only 5 pages are in the document C4.7 MCIPPS Tailored Standard Software Process FY14.docx; Process; Project Management; MCIPPS appears to be missing pages.

C5.27 IAD Software Development Plan (SDP) FY13.docx; Plan; Project Management; IAD is missing C7.4 ICD Software Engineering Management Plan.docx; Procedure; Project Management; SSD is missing C2.15 MCTFS Tailored Standard Software Process (SSP) is not a listed title in the reading room. However, TSFD Tailored Standard Software Process (SSP) is in the reading room under the MCTFS section but not listed on the PWS_Appendix_C_Constraints Excel Spreadsheet C5:35 IAD Training Plan FY14.docx is missing C5.51 Introduction to Agile/Scrum is missing C5.52 Mentioned in the chart on page 22 of 37 in the process chart under C5 IAD for 3.4.1.4. However, there is no such document in the reading room nor on the PWS_Appendix C_Constraints Excel Spreadsheet. Please advise.

Reading room updated with all files.

For CLINS 0002AA, 0004AA, 1002AA, 1004AA, 1004AB, etc. where it lists either USMC Funding or Navy Funding in the CLIN description, please clarify if Offerors are to provide pricing or are these "customer controlled" CLINs?

Offerors are to provide pricing at the CLIN level. The SubCLINs are for funding distinctions.

The government does not mention the use of Attachment 3 (Staffing Template) in the Section L instructions. It is assumed that Attachment 3 should be provided as part of the Staffing Plan section in Volume I along with an appropriate discussion of the staffing template and corresponding staffing plan and that the entire Staffing Plan section (narrative and template) is removed from the page count restrictions. Can the government validate this assumption and/or provide further clarification?

Offeror shall provide a completed Staffing Plan Template as part of Volume I Management Approach; See Sect L.2. As stated, the Staffing Plan will not count toward the total page limitation.

The government uses “etc.” at the end of the evaluation criterion. Can the government provide additional clarification as to what remaining items they will be considering in their evaluation of the management approach?

See answer to Question 8.

The government directs $250,000.00 for each Other Direct Costs/Travel CLIN; however, Section B outlines sub-CLINs for each Travel CLIN (0004AA, 0004AB, etc.) to delineate between USMC and Navy funding. Should the offeror split the total travel cost between the two sub-CLINs for each respective Travel CLIN? If not, can the government provide additional clarification?

The $250,000 is to be used as the total value for the CLIN.

“L.1.1 Award Without Discussion- The Government intends to evaluate proposals and make award without discussions. Proposals shall contain the Offeror’s best terms. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions and to request proposal revisions, if it is determined to be necessary.

If a competitive range is established, the Government may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals.”

1) Please confirm that L.1.1 allows the Offeror the opportunity to propose assumptions, clarifications and alternate "best" terms?

2) Please advise if the Government is willing to add a clause similar to following that would limit its liability for direct and consequential damages:

"Contractor’s entire and collective liability arising out of or relating to this contract, including without limitation on account of performance or nonperformance of obligations hereunder, regardless of the form of the cause of action, whether in contract, tort (including without limitation negligence), statute or otherwise, shall in no event exceed the total amounts paid and payable to Contractor by the Government under this contract. In addition, in no event shall Contractor be liable for any consequential, incidental, indirect, punitive, exemplary or special damages of any nature whatsoever, including loss of business or anticipatory profits, even if a party has been apprised of the likelihood of such damages occurring."

1) The RFP does NOT allow an Offeror to propose assumptions, clarifications, or alternate “best” terms.

2) The Government will not add the requested clause.

L.2 Proposal Construct and Content "Note: No cost/price information shall be contained within Volume I Management or Volume II Technical and Past Performance. Cost/Price information shall only be contained in Volume III Cost/Price."

L.2.2.1 Factor 1: Management (PWS Section 3) "The Offeror shall submit an Employee Compensation Plan in accordance with the provisions of FAR 52.222-46(a)-(d). As stated in 52.222-46(a), Offerors shall "submit a total compensation plan setting forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for their professional employees who work under the contract."

M.3.2.1 Employee Compensation Plan Evaluation "The Employee Compensation Plan will be evaluated using the criteria identified in FAR 52.222-46(a)-(d)."

L.2.4.1 Cost/Price "Employee Compensation Plan -- The Offeror shall submit a total compensation plan setting forth proposed salaries (hourly rate), fringe benefits (both an hourly rate and an itemized list of benefits), and fully burdened hourly rates for professional employees working on the effort."

1) Please clarify if the Employee Compensation Plan is required in both Volume I and Volume III.

2) If required in both volumes, should the salary (cost) information be removed from Volume I Management, per L.2?

3) If required in Volume 1 Management, please clarify if the Employee Compensation Plan is excluded from the 45 page limit.

1) The Employee Compensation Plan is included in Vol. I, Management Plan, only.

2) See #1 above.

3) The Compensation Plan is not included in the page count for Vol. I.

"Offerors shall provide no more than three (3) references of past performance similar in size, scope, and/or complexity (as described in Table 2 below) which were completed within the last 48 months as either a prime or subcontractor.

Please clarify what is meant by "which were completed within the last 48 months". Does the Government mean the entire contract must have been completed within the last 48 months (no ongoing projects allowed) or that the work referenced in the Past Performance was completed in the last 48 months (program may be 10 years old, only work performed in the last 48 months will be evaluated).

Section L.2.3.2 has been revised. Please see Amendment 0001.

"Contractor support will also be required on-site in other locations and lists Kansas City, Indianapolis and Quantico as having 250, 15, and 8-10 workstation available respectively."

Does the government require some minimum number of resources at each of these locations, or can the contractor select to staff, one, two or all of the locations up to the maximum number of workstations available?

No minimum number required, however, Indianapolis has a maximum capacity for 15 and Quantico has a maximum capacity of 10 workstations available.

3.7 HLO 5 Help Desk discusses the objectives of and tasks associated with Help Desk support.

Can the government furnish any additional quantifiable information or historical statistics on the help desk function such as volume of inquiries (Trouble tickets per month by Tier), average time to resolve open trouble tickets (Level of Effort required to resolve tickets by Tier), current backlog of trouble tickets by application, average age of backlog, times for heaviest call volumes, etc.?

Answer provided at the bottom of this document.

Compensation Plan L.2.2.1 - The Offeror shall submit an Employee Compensation Plan in accordance with the provisions of FAR 52.222-46(a)-(d). As stated in 52.222-46(a), Offerors shall “submit a total compensation plan setting forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for their professional employees who will work under the contract.”

L.2.4.1 Employee Compensation Plan – The Offeror shall submit a total compensation plan setting forth proposed salaries (hourly rate), fringe benefits (both an hourly rate and an itemized list of benefits), and fully burdened hourly rates for professional employees working on the effort.

L.2.3.1.1 Technical Subfactor 1: Small Business Participation Plan The Offerors are required to submit a subcontracting plan that includes small business participation. The Offeror shall utilize the Navy's Small Business Subcontracting Goals IAW FAR 52.219-9. The Navy's Small Business Subcontracting Goals strive to provide a minimum of 36.7% of the total subcontracting dollars to small business concerns (see Table 1 below). Offerors L.2.4.1 Subcontracting Plan (including Small Business Subcontracting Plan).

b) If the Compensation Plan and the SB Participation Plan remain in Volume I and Volume II respectively, please clarify if is there a difference between the compensation plan you are asking for in each volume and the SB Plan you are asking for in each volume?

c) If there’s no difference in the plans, we recommend the Compensation Plan and the SB Plan be part of Volume III only.

d) However if the plans remain in Volumes I and II, please confirm that both the Compensation Plan and SB Plan are outside of the page limits if they are included in Volumes I and II.

The Employee Compensation Plan shall be included in Volume I and the Small Business Participation Plan shall be included in Volume II. There is no page limitation for the Employee Compensation Plan and the Small Business Participation Plan.

Please confirm that the Government does not expect to see subcontractor compensation plans as part of both the Management Volume and the Cost Volume but are requesting the Prime submit a compensation plan only.

Offeror shall submit compensation information for the prime contractor only.

“The full constraint library will be made accessible to the Contractor, upon award, as part of Government-furnished material.”

“The evaluation will be based on …the traceability of the cost to the Offeror’s capability data”

“The Offeror shall use $250,000.00 for each Other Direct Costs/Travel CLIN.”

“The Offeror shall use $250,000.00 for each Other Direct Costs/Travel CLIN.”

a) Please confirm that $250,000 is the value used for CLIN X004

b) What values should be used for X004AA and X004AB?

$250,000 shall be used as the total value of the CLIN (X004). The SubCLINs are for funding distinctions only.

We recommend that Section K be provided as an attachment to Vol. III and that a CRM be required for Vol. III.

Also, since Section C is just a reference to the PWS, we also recommend that the CRM’s column B header be changed to “Section C/H/J/PWS.”

Revised CRM. Offerors shall follow the content and format provided.

CRM will not be required for Volume III.

Offerors shall submit the past performance references containing the content and format as follows:

Will the government allow offerors to modify the table, without changing the content, so that more information can be provided?

Offerors shall follow the content and format as described.

Offerors shall provide no more than three (3) references of past performance similar in size, scope, and/or complexity (as described in Table 2 below) which were completed within the last 48 months as either a prime or subcontractor.

See answer to Question 7

L.2: “Cost/price information shall only be contained in Volume III Cost/Price.”

L.2.3.1.1: “The Navy’s Small Business Subcontracting Goals strive to provide a minimum of 36.7% of the total subcontracting dollars to small business concerns”

“Offeror will utilize Government-provided Staffing Plan template…”

“The Offeror shall provide the same information on its proposed subcontractors as required for the prime Contractor.”

Offerors shall submit subcontractor information where required and requested.

Section L.2.3.1 Factor 2: Technical (PWS Section 3):

Help Desk – The Offeror’s proposal shall describe its approach for providing Help Desk services. The Offeror shall describe its approach for combining Help Desk services for Defense Travel System (DTS), Marine Reserve Orders Writing System (MROWS) and Marine Online (MOL), including Travel Management support functions. Offeror’s proposal shall include how it intends to scale Help Desk services as demand increases.

PWS 3.7 HLO 5 – Help Desk: The consolidated Defense Travel System (DTS) and MROWS Help Desk supports and assists management and execution of Temporary Duty Travel (TDY) for all Marine Corps or Marine Corps funded travelers.

There is contradiction with regard to Help Desk services/support. Please clarify. Are the DTS and MROWS Helpdesk to be combined or are the DTS, MROWS and MOL Helpdesks to be combined?

DTS and MROWS Help Desk are combined/consolidated, the MOL Help Desk is separate.

Answer to Question #s 4, 33, and 66: Reference Document: PWS Section 3.7 :

The current number of users supported on the DTS application The DTS volume for 2014 was approximately 188,000, which does not necessarily correlate to the DTS help desk support requirement.

. Monthly DTS related ticket volumes:

Since the current help desk was restarted in late December 2014 the call desk has averaged 98.6 calls/month.

There was a gap in service created until the team was reformed in December where travelers were forced to use their Tier 1 and Tier 2 level support for 3 months plus. Our numbers with the previous contractor ran in the 400's per month.

. Average Handle time for DTS tickets:

The majority of tickets are handled within a few minutes. Due to the repetitive nature of many calls and emails, we have developed standard answers, which accelerates the response times, which lowers the overall call duration time. I would say average call duration is about 1 -2 minutes.

. Anticipated number of users supported once the migration of reserve units onto DTS is completed:

The MROWS (Marine Reserve Orders Writing System) volume for 2014 was approximately 33K-Does not necessarily correlate to DTS help desk support requirement. MROWS is/was the 'equivalent' counterpart to DTS for the Select Marine Corps Reserve for travel.

. Broken down by call volume by Government defined service desk shifts:

There is currently only 1 shift 0800-1700 ET. After hour tickets are answered in the first hours of the next business day.