MACPAC IDIQ Questions and Answers Final.pdf

MACPAC IDIQ Offeror Questions and Responses – September 2011

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 1 9/19/2011

Offeror Question MACPAC Response 1 On page 36 of the RFP, we are asked to provide “expected time commitment to the contract” for each staff person, yet page 7 notes that MACPAC cannot guarantee that any entity awarded a contract under this RFP will be chosen to complete a project under the contract. Given that uncertainty as to the scope of work under the project, is it sufficient to provide the time available for the project for each staff person rather than a time commitment?

Offerors should provide their best estimate as to what percent of time proposed project staff will have available or be able to dedicate to a MACPAC project. This is to help MACPAC compare bids with different staffing arrangements. For example, one offeror might propose using two part time staffers while a second offeror might propose a single full-time staff member for a project role. The information will also be used to assess whether staff proposed for individual future task orders will have availability to work on additional MACPAC projects in the future.

2 Page 36. Section 5. Hypothetical Project Proposal. This section states, “In general, MACPAC issues task orders for the shortest amount of time feasible to complete a given project, not to exceed one year from date of issuance of the task order.” When pricing out the hypothetical project, should the offeror assume that the task order runs from November 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012, or can the task order extend through October 31, 2012?

Offerors may assume up to a 12-month timeframe for the hypothetical project if necessary; thus, an offeror may indicate a beginning date for the hypothetical project of December 1, 2011 and extend the work for 12 months through November 31, 2012. Please note that if this timeframe is used, offerors should apply base period rates to the hypothetical cost proposal for the entire 12 month period.

3 Will there be an award for any of the hypothetical task proposals? If so, should the offeror assume that the pricing is based on a November 1, 2011 start date?

At this time, MACPAC has no specific plans to award a task order based on an offeror’s response to the hypothetical task. Please see the answer to Question 2 for additional information on use of the November 1, 2011 start date for the hypothetical project.

4 Is it correct to assume that the pricing tables in Section 1.3.2.

must be completed for the IDIQ portion for each year, which would have not travel, materials, and ODCs, and also completed for each hypothetical project proposal, which may or may not include travel, materials, and ODCs.

Yes. Offerors may reflect the absence of travel, materials, and ODCs with “0” as needed for both the hypothetical and IDIQ portion.

5 Will the offeror be allowed to add subcontractors or consultants after award?

Yes. The Contractor will be authorized to add subcontractors and consultants after award upon prior written approval by MACPAC’s Contracting Officer. The provisions of Clause 6.12 (Subcontracts) pertaining to subcontractors and consultants apply.

6 The letter states that an original and 6 copies of the completed SF1449 should be included in an offeror’s submission. Does CMS wish offerors to include the SF1449 as part of one of the volumes, or as a freestanding document?

Offerors should include an original and 6 copies of the completed SF 1449 in their “Volume II, Business Management and Cost/Price Proposal.”

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 2 9/19/2011

7 What survey populations does the commission anticipate for the small scale surveys?

Survey populations will vary depending upon the subject of a given task and could potentially include a full range of Medicaid/CHIP stakeholders.

8 The RFP instructs the offeror to include a Quality Control Plan (QCP) along with its proposal. The evaluation criteria evaluate this plan under the Management Plan. Does CMS intend offerors to include the QCP as a subsection of Section 4 in the Technical Proposal, and if so, is it included in the eight page limit of that section, or should the QCP be included as an Appendix?

Offerors may include the Quality Control Plan as an Appendix to Section 4 of the Technical Proposal. The Quality Control Plan will not count towards the eight page limit for Section 4. Please ensure that all appendices are clearly labeled to facilitate MACPAC review of proposals.

9 If a bidder is considering bidding to provide task order project types and tasks: 11. Report Assistance and Preparation, and/or 12. Additional Services, should the bidder then include those types/tasks in the Hypothetical Project Proposal? Types nos. 11 and 12 not included under the Hypothetical Project.

If an offeror is only bidding on Project Types 2.5.11 and/or 2.5.12, the offeror does not need to respond to the hypothetical project. All proposals will be evaluated based on a percent of total possible points; thus not penalizing offerors who are only bidding on Project Types 2.5.11 and/or 2.5.12.

10 In the instructions for the Hypothetical Project Proposal, the RFP states “In addition to a three page overview, each individual project description should not exceed three pages.”

Is CMS’ intent, for someone who responds to the full three project types, a 12-page section (3 page intro, and 3-page descriptions for three project types) or an 18-page section (3 page intro plus 3 page description, for a total of 6 pages, per project type proposed)?

Offerors’ may provide up to a 3 page overview in total, regardless of how many project types are included in the response. Therefore, the maximum number of pages for offerors including three project types for the hypothetical should be 12 pages, not 18 pages.

11 Section 2.8.4.-Is the quality control plan at 2.8.4. to be included as an appendix or as part of another section of the offerer’s proposal? Is there a page limit?

Please see the response to Question 8. There is no page limit for the Quality Control Plan.

12 In the instructions for the technical proposal, Section 2 Proposed Personnel Qualifications states that information should be provided for project team members as well as additional personnel. What is the distinction between project team members and additional personnel?

Additional personnel would include proposed subcontractors or external consultants.

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 3 9/19/2011

13 Is an entity that employs a MACPAC Commission member eligible for an IDIQ award?

Yes, an offeror that employs a MACPAC Commission member may be eligible for an IDIQ award. However, that MACPAC Commission member cannot communicate with individuals or assist in any way with the preparation of the offeror’s technical and cost proposal for this IDIQ and cannot be proposed as part of the offeror’s project team for future task orders related to this IDIQ. Commission members must avoid both actual conflicts of interest and the appearance of any conflict of interest in decisions regarding funding of proposed IDIQ awards, the formulation of IDIQ solicitations, the selection of approved Contractors for specific awards, or the approval of payments and modifications of IDIQ awards.

Commission members who may derive a direct economic benefit from an IDIQ award may consider recusal from certain Commission decisions, discussions and information; but, the Commission member may not be able to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. The offeror shall disclose how it proposes to address such situations so as not to create an actual conflict or even the appearance of a conflict of interest for the offeror, the Commission member, or the Commission. Please see Attachment A, “Section 4 Management Plan, iv” for additional information.

14 Will consent to subcontract be given by the Contracting Officer and stated in a Contractor’s awarded IDIQ contract, for subcontractors proposed in response to Solicitation Number MACPAC-11-0020?

Subcontractor requests provided in response to this solicitation will be reviewed and approved at the time of offeror submission. However, any subcontracting agreements the offeror intends to make at the task order level must be listed. MACPAC reserves the right to reject any subcontractor at will. The provisions of Clause 6.12 (Subcontracts) pertaining to subcontractors and consultants apply.

15 Will there be a vendor conference prior to September 29? If so, can a list of attendees and questions be distributed?

MACPAC does not plan to conduct a vendor conference.

16 Does the Commission have a suggested set of “subject areas” that would be relevant to this requirement? (Section 2.i, page 34)

The Commission does not have a suggested set of subject areas. However, the IDIQ seeks contractors capable of undertaking short and long-term studies and analyses on a wide range of topics relating to Medicaid and CHIP including managed care, payment, access, quality, program integrity, spending, etc.

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 4 9/19/2011

17 A contractor may add new staff during the duration of the contract. Does the contractor have the ability to add additional staff for consideration when a project is offered by MACPAC to the contractor or amend the list of professionals available for assignment to a project on a regular basis?

Please see Clause 2.6.3 (Replacement/Substitution) for language regarding personnel replacement/substitution. Future individual task order proposals should include proposed key personnel, as specified in offeror responses to this RFP. Individual task order proposals may also include additional staff beyond the key personnel named in responses to this RFP. The addition of staff to ongoing projects/awarded task orders must follow a similar process to that detailed in Clause 2.6.3 (Replacement/Substitution) regarding the provision of a written justification of any staff addition, a sufficiently detailed qualification summary/resume for proposed additional staff, as well as fully-loaded hourly rates and labor categories for proposed additional staff.

18 Please clarify. If our response to the Hypothetical Project Proposal includes three-page overview as well as an individual project description for up to three project types, are we correct that page limit is 12?

Please see the response to Question 10.

19 Can the offeror label these work samples as proprietary and confidential, so they cannot be released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request since they are related to work completed for other clients?

Offerors may mark work samples as proprietary and confidential; however, MACPAC is not subject to the provisions under the Freedom of Information Act.

20 The RFP requires three years of financial statements and year-to-date YTD information through the last quarter available.

The legal entity that will respond to this RFP is a wholly owned subsidiary of a publicly traded company. Would it be acceptable for us to submit audited financial statements for the publicly traded parent company?

Yes. Financial statements for the parent company are acceptable.

21 Are the tables in Section 1.3.2 the same tables described as the “Fully Burdened Labor Rate Schedule” referred to in Section 4.0.d.6? If so, the tables in Section 1.3.2 are not organized to show “fully burdened FFP labor rates, indirects, profit rates, and labor category classifications as required in Section 4.0.d.7.” Please clarify to what extent, if any, offerers must separately show wages, benefits, indirect costs, profit, etc. in calculating the fully burdened labor rates.

The “Fully Burdened Labor Rate Schedule” refers to the Contractor’s hourly base labor rate plus out-year escalations, applicable indirect costs, and profit.

These are calculated by the offeror and submitted as one aggregate rate in Clause 1.3.2 (pages 3-5 of the RFP) in the row entitled “Labor”. Any assumptions, explanations, and rationale (including explanations for wages, benefits, indirect costs, profit, etc.) for developing the fully burdened labor rate should be provided as a supplement in addition to the response to Clause 1.3.2, per Section 4.0.d.9 and Section 4.0.e.1 of Attachment A (pages 41-42).

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 5 9/19/2011

22 Section 4.0.d.5 requires labor rates for all labor categories.

Section 1.3.1 lists 11 labor categories that offerors can use as “samples.” Are we correct that the offeror can list as many or as few labor categories as it deems appropriate and that Section 4.0.d.5 means that every category listed must have a labor rate associated with it?

Clause 1.3.1 on page 2 of the RFP provides a sample of labor categories for offerors. The offeror can list as many or as few labor categories as appropriate in order to respond to the RFP. Section 4.0.d.5 of Attachment A (page 41) requests that offerors provide labor rates for all categories included in responses to Clause 1.3.2 on pages 3-5 of the RFP.

24 Please elaborate on the requirement in 4.0.d.2, especially the reference to “minimum labor qualification requirements for this source selection”

The minimum labor qualification requirements for this source selection are outlined in Clause 1.3.1 on page 2 of the RFP. The offeror is permitted to use its own human resource structure or classification system; however, an offeror’s proposed staff should reflect the years and type of experience provided in Clause 1.3.1.

25 Section 4.0.d.6 says that travel and materials would be reimbursed at cost for each task. Are we correct that we should therefore fill out CLIN lines 2, 3 and 4 in Section 1.3.2 with zero dollars? (We do understand that for the hypothetical cost proposal [Section 4.0.e.1] we would show proposed travel and materials cost.)

Yes. Projected travel costs in Section 1.3.2 of the RFP (pages 3-5) will be required under any future task orders awarded under this contract

26 Section 1.3.2 says that pricing tables in the proposal must exactly replicate the tables show, but Section 4.0 refers several times to indirect rates and profit rates. Please clarify the level of detail that should be shown in the pricing tables.

Please see the response to Question 21.

27 We reviewed Section 6.13.2 of the RFP and believe that MACPAC Commissioners employed by our organization cannot be bid as personnel in order to avoid a conflict of interest. We believe that we are eligible to bid as a contractor and other employees may be bid. Is this correct?

Please see the response to Question 13.

28 How many IDIQ contracts does MACPAC anticipate awarding?

MACPAC does not have a predetermined number of awardees in mind.

29 Will all future research and analysis-related awards from MACPAC be handled under this IDIQ contract or will there be separate RFPs for other projects?

In general, MACPAC anticipates awarding projects through this IDIQ.

However, when conditions warrant, MACPAC reserves the right to conduct a separate procurement or contracting process if an individual contractor’s knowledge, experience, or capabilities make that entity particularly well suited to a given task.

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 6 9/19/2011

30 Will all RFPs issued for specific projects under the IDIQ be subject to open competition among IDIQ holders or will some be sole-sourced or have more limited competition?

In general, MACPAC prefers to conduct competitive procurements whenever possible. However, in certain cases where an individual contractor’s knowledge, experience, or capabilities make that entity particularly well suited to a given task, MACPAC may issue a task directly to that contractor.

31 If we include subcontractors or consultants in this IDIQ proposal, are they fixed over the contract or may be add or delete subcontractors and consultants as needed for specific tasks?

Please see the response to Question 17. This process will also apply to subcontractors and external consultants, in addition to contractor staff.

32 The RFP mentions conducting small surveys, structured interviews and site visits. Are projects for MACPAC subject to OMB review regarding information collection or is MACPAC independent of those OMB rules?

MACPAC is not subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act regarding information collection.

33 We reviewed Sections 6.7 and 6.8 of the RFP. As an organization which believes in academic freedom and that strongly encourages employees to publish in peer-reviewed journals, we are concerned about these clauses. Will we be able to negotiate arrangements for publication and for other use of data with the MACPAC project officers? We presume, contrary to clause 6.8.4, that when data for analyses for MACPAC come from public use sources, that the data remain in the public domain.

Clauses 6.7 (News Releases/ Endorsements/ Advertising/ Publications) and

6.8 (Rights in Data) of the RFP provide a mechanism for the timing and approval of independently published articles based on data and analyses developed pursuant to an IDIQ award. MACPAC project officers will be the initial point of communication and negotiation regarding such matters, but final approval will be made by the Executive Director of MACPAC. Clause

6.8.4 on page 27 of the RFP does not state that public domain data becomes private domain data because the data is used in an analysis for MACPAC.

Clauses 6.7 and 6.8 address data independently developed under the IDIQ award and analyses of data produced pursuant to an IDIQ award, whether the analysis is of (a) data that is originally in the public domain, (b) data not in the public domain which is shared pursuant to the IDIQ award, or (c) data originally generated pursuant to the IDIQ award.

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 7 9/19/2011

34 Sections 2.5.3 and 2.5.4 reference analysis, development and management of data files that will generally involve publicly available data sets or existing data files made available to MACPAC staff. For planning and staffing purposes, can MACPAC give any specific examples of potential data sources? For example, will analyses include files such as Medicaid Analytic Extract (MAX) files, claims data obtained directly from states and/or the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS)?

Yes, sample data files may include files such as the Medicaid Analytic Extract (MAX) files, claims and eligibility data obtained directly from states, and the Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS). Files may also include Medicare claims and enrollment data.

35 Section 1.1.1 of the Contract Details states that no fee or profit will be paid on “cost reimbursement material expenses associated with efforts under the materials contract line item” as well as for travel. We assume that this is only applicable to Time and Materials task order contracts and not to Cost Plus Fixed Fee or Firm Fixed Price task order contracts. Is this correct?

This provision is applicable to all contract types employed by MACPAC under this solicitation. Invoices for Cost Reimbursement Materials and Cost Reimbursement Travel will be at cost. No additional processing fee, etc. shall be included.

36 Section 4.d.1 of Attachment 2 (page 41) states the following:

“The cost/price information for this source selection is limited to the submission of fully burdened firm fixed price (FFP) type hourly labor rates against all labor categories identified by the offeror, in response to Clause 1.3.2 of the contract, as well as indirect and profit rates applicable to Other Direct Costs (ODCs). Note however, that no fee or profit will be paid on material/travel/per diem costs.”

The statement “… profit rates applicable to Other Direct Costs (ODCs)” seems to imply that fee is allowable on ODCs but then the next sentence suggest otherwise. Please clarify.

No fee or profit will be paid on (specifically) material/travel/per diem costs;

however, fees and profits on other direct costs will be evaluated as necessary.

Solicitation Number: MACPAC-11-0020 8 9/19/2011

37 Section 4.d.8 of Attachment 2 (page 41) states the following:

“Successful offerors' fully burdened FFP labor rates, indirects, and profit rates will be incorporated into resulting basic contracts as proposed against this source selection's Fully Burdened Labor Rate Schedule and will be used as maximum rates for pricing future competitive and non-competitive task orders.

Please explain what “maximum rates” mean. Would these rates be used as ceilings or would they be used as billing/bidding rates for future task orders?

The fully burdened labor rates proposed by the offeror will serve as as the ceiling rate for the pricing of future task order contracts. The rates submitted for specific task orders should not exceed these amounts.

38 What contract type should we assume for the hypothetical task?

For the hypothetical project, offerors should assume firm fixed price.

39 Are offerors allowed to add additional labor categories not in the RFP?

Please see the response to Question 22.

40 Should offerors assume the hypothetical task is merely illustrative or is there the possibility that MACPAC would award a project based on the hypothetical task?

Please see the response to Question 3.

41 Please clarify the basis of estimate for the Cost Reimbursement Materials value to be provided in the ODC pricing tables listed on RFP pages 3-5 under section 1.3.2.

MACPAC does not anticipate large expenditures under this category in response to this IDIQ. The offeror should include any anticipated cost estimates for extraordinary purchase of supplies that might occur when extra equipment or supplies are needed to complete projects associated with a particular project type or task, and it may be more efficient for the contractor to purchase the equipment directly and then be reimbursed by

MACPAC.