Questions and Answers N00173-13-R-RV01.pdf

Solicitation N00173-13-R-RV01

Amendment 0002 Questions and Answers

Q1. In reference to Section L-16.3, the offeror must include a contact name and contact information of its representative at its cognizant DCAA or DCMA audit agency, a copy of the Pre-Award

Survey of Prospective Contracting Accounting Systems (SF1408), provisional billing rates, and/or forward pricing rate agreements. We request clarification on whether these requirements of the aforementioned apply to proposed subcontractor's whom are expected to respond to Cost

Reimbursable task orders, or can the subcontractors certify to the prime contractor the adequacy of their accounting system? If the aforementioned requirements apply to subcontractors, will the

CO accept direct submission of pricing information required by the solicitation.

A1. Please see FAR 9.104-4(a) and FAR Clause 52.244-2.

Q2. H.7 of the solicitation states, “The ceiling indirect rates for the base and option years submitted with the proposal as Attachment 8 will become a part of the contract. Should actual indirect rates experienced during performance of the contract be lower than those shown in the table below, actual rates will be charged in lieu of the maximum rates. All ceiling provisions will apply to the prime Contractor as well as each cost reimbursable subcontractor and the applicable ceiling rates will be included in the contract resulting from this solicitation.” Please clarify whether the subcontractors who have approved accounting systems shall propose their own individual ceiling rates, and whether such submission shall be directly to the CO.

A2. Subcontractors may provide their own ceiling rates and may submit this information directly to the Government.

Q3. Additionally, can the offeror include their proposed provisional billing rates, as well as DCAA's approved audit report number and accounting system approval in lieu of an SF1408? Again, ma such information be submitted directly to the CO.

A3. A prospective Offeror may include their proposed billing rates and copies of DCAA audit and accounting system approval in lieu of the SF 1408. This information should be submitted as a part of the cost proposal.

Q4. In L-12.1, the CO requires the volumes to be submitted on CD-R media. Please clarify whether a separate CD-R is required for each volume or whether Offerors may combine volumes on 1 CD-

R.

A4. Each volume should be on a separate CD-R.

Q5. The DD254 has no storage required; however Block 11 C is checked yes, and says “receive and generate classified material” and Block 11 D is checked yes and says “to fabricate, modify or store classified hardware”. We request clarification of the understanding that the DD254 should specify storage capability up to the level generated by the Contractor and provide for storing classified material.

A5. The primary duty locations for classified programs are at government facilities; particularly

NRL, Washington, DC. However, it is expected that contractors will need to maintain and store classified materials outside government facilities in the performance of duties related to this contract on some of the individual task orders. The DD254 has been updated to correctly indicate storage and safeguarding of SECRET materials at contractor facilities.

Q6. We note that the L-12.1 Proposal Organization chart on page 82 has the referenced paragraphs misstated.

A6. L–12.1 has been amended.

Q7. In reference to Section L-15.1, offerors must also submit at least one (1) Past Performance

Questionnaire for each proposed subcontractor effort valued at 10% of their total current offering or more. Please clarify whether this to mean any subcontractor proposed at greater than 24 FTE's

* 10% = 2.4 full-time equivalency?

A7. Offerors must submit at least 1 PPQ for each proposed subcontractor that is anticipated to perform 10% of the total value of the IDIQ. 47,000,000 * 10% = $4,700,000.

Q8. L-15.2 SECTION II: PREVIOUS CONTRACTING EFFORT NARRATIVES (Attachment L-2)

States the following:

For each of the Past Performance Questionnaires submitted, the Offeror shall also provide a Previous Contracting Effort Narrative detailing the following information in Volume III:

L –15.2 (a). Description of how the scope for this past contract/task order relates to this effort in scope and complexity.

L –15.2 (b). Description of the subcontractor deliverables to the prime and payment tracking;

points of contact; and, the sole bearer of ultimate responsibility for performance.

L –15.2 (c). Description of achievements for the most recent period for which performance measures have been applied to each contract. The performance measures should be specific and show the target performance levels that are set forth under the applicable contracts as well as the level of performance achieved. The Offeror shall describe the tools and/or methods used to collect metrics data and the frequency of data collection and reporting. Questions:

Are items L-15.2 (a), L-15.2 (b), and L-15.2 (c) to be provided in the Volume III narrative in addition to the information required in L-2?

A8. The information in (a), (b), and (c) repeated located on pg 2 of Attachment L-2, as such, it only need be provided once.

Q9. Should attachment L-2 be incorporated into the proposal narrative of Volume III?

A9. Attachment L-2 should be incorporated into Volume III.

Q10. With the breadth of tasks and requirements in the Statement of Work, does the government expect there to be any Information Assurance requirements with regards to the engineering, development, integration, and testing tasks to ensure the systems are able to be accredited and integrated? If so, will there be labor categories added to provide that support?

A10. It is expected that any information system is subject to DOD IA requirements. Contractors should be cognizant of these requirements as defined on specific task orders. Government personnel or independent third party services will conduct compliance testing. At this time, it is not anticipated that specific IA labor categories are required. [NOTE to Reese: Can specific task orders require this type of service on a TO basis without the labor categories being called out as part of the original PQs? Clearly these can't be exclusive labor categories as tasking may require specific expertise that is unknown at the time of IDIQ award, but identified as part of TO generation. Is that acceptable?]

Q11. For Task Order 0002, the Offeror requests that the CO provide the architecture for the PASS system in order to narrow out focus for this task. Specifically, we request the general hardware, function description and block diagram for the PASS system.

A11. Current PASS system: Circular reflector multi-aperture (dual LPA feed and omni), RF LNAS, LCR-301 Receiver, custom IF digitizer/processing card including signal conditioning, AD9230

ADC digitizers, Xilinx Virtex 6 FPGA and Xilinx Spartan S3A FPGA for signal detection and IQ generation. This IFC card is a PMC form factor that integrates to an EPC (VMIC 7768 with

Linux OS). A block diagram of the system is attached.

Q12. The Software Engineering section of Task Order 0002 states that "the contractor shall develop software for prototype ESM systems." The Offeror requests additional scope for this task to define what types of ESM prototype systems are anticipated to include the general set of functions that the software developed under this task is expected to perform.

A12. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT MAY BE REQUIRED FOR THE FOLLOWING TASKS:

- IMPLEMENT NEW ALGORITHMS

- CONTROL HARDWARE SUCH AS PAN/TILT UNIT, RF TUNER, DIGITIZER ETC.

- PARSE SIGNALS FOR POST ANALYSIS

- DIGITAL PROCESSING COMPUTATION

Q13. The Software Engineering section of Task Order 0002 states that "the software must interact with ESM system hardware..." The Offeror requests a description of the types are hardware interfaces to be expected.

A13. THE SOFTWARE INTERACTS WITH HARDWARE PHYSICAL LAYER USING THE

FOLLOWING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, INTERFACES:

- Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

- Differential Serial Interface

- Point-to-point high speed link

- TCP/UDP

- PMC/XMC interface

- VME/VPX

- PCI/ePCI

Q14. Does the subject solicitation require solutions at the system level or can components be proposed? By components, I mean down to the MMIC level. I am particularly interested in section 1.4.1 Task 1 RF Engineering.

A14. The subject solicitation requires offerors to demonstrate competency in ALL areas of the SOW

AND provide responses to sample Task Order 0001 AND Task Order 0002. Response evaluations incorporate elements from all of these areas for a determination of competency and award. Failure to provide responses to all areas will incur rating deficiencies which will likely lead to an unfavorable award rating.

Q15. For Task Order 0002, the Offeror requests that the CO provide the types of data acquisition hardware to be used for the systems that will incorporate high speed analog-to-digital data acquisition and whether the software development suites are proprietary and target proprietary data acquisition hardware.

A15. Data acquisition hardware, the IF Converter (IFC-PMC) board, is an NRL GOTS custom design & implementation. Software driver interface for the board shall require development for

Unix (and potentially MS Windows) operation. FPGA and PROM firmware development and implementation shall require use of Xilinx programming suites (such as ISE Design Suite or

Vivado Design Suite). Driver development, algorithm implementation, and other software development may utilize any C/C++ compiler compatible with Unix, Linux, and Windows development and target environments.

Q16. Can any additional information be provided regarding task orders 0001 and 0002?

A16. Specific inquiries may be addressed (see responses). Otherwise, NRL feels that sufficient information has been provided for offerors to generate proposals and does not intend to provide any further information.

Q17. Can subcontractors supply separate sealed cost volumes with their labor rates or do I need to incorporate them into my labor rates?

A17. Subcontractors may submit cost proposals directly to the Government.

Q18. In regard to Attachments 7, 8 and 9, are these submissions to be prepared on a GFY (10/1 to

9/30) basis or a proposal FY Basis (9/1 to 8/30)?

A18. Attachments 7, 8, and 9 should be submitted on the proposal FY Basis (9/1 to 8/30).

Q19. In regard to Attachment 1, please clarify the meaning of “both on-site and off-site component” when referring to the RF Engineering (Section 1.1) and System/Subsystem Technical

Development and Support (Section 1.5) and Graphics and Drafting Services (Section 1.6) positions. If it is to be interpreted as staff that is either on-site at NRL or off-site at the contractor’s facilities, which of the positions are to be designated as on-site at NRL, and which are to be designated as off-site at the contractor’s facility for costing the proposal? If each position is to be a FTE who works both on-site and off-site, what percentage of on-site and off-site work should be assumed for costing?

A19. For proposal purposes, please assume all positions with SECRET or TOP SECRET security clearance requirements have the following on-site/off-site structure- 75% NRL / 25% contractor’s facilities. The following labor categories have no clearance requirement: 1.1.3 Microwave

Technician, 1.2.3 Assembly Technician, and 1.6.1 Graphic Designer/Draftsman. Therefore, proposals should anticipate the following on-site/off-site structure- 05% NRL / 95% contractor’s facilities.

Q20. In regard to Attachment 1, please clarify the meaning of “on-site or off-site component” when referring to the Graphics and Drafting Services (Section 1.6) position.

A20. It is anticipated that these activities would occur primarily at the contractor’s facilities with correspondence conducted electronically through email, telephone, and secure file transfer (e.g.

Sharepoint). Occasionally, in person review or discussion may be required necessitating escorted meetings at NRL facilities.

Q21. Generally, small businesses may require adding subcontractors to the offer in order to meet the requirements of Subfactor D Facilities under L-14.2.3.4. For subcontractors to be included in the offer, the Solicitation requires that subcontractor personnel must fulfill a personnel Labor

Category; however, there are limited labor categories included for a manufacturing facility that would address the scope of Subfactor D Facilities. The Contracting Officer is requested to add

Labor Categories related to Production Facilities and Repair Facilities such as Manufacturing

Engineer, Quality Assurance Technician, or Production Engineer so that subcontractors who perform manufacturing may be included in the pricing.

A21. The Government does not believe that the requested labor categories are required for performance of this contract. The offeror and any subcontractor teaming arrangement should have an inherent production and repair capacity as supported by engineering staff for limited production prototyping and repair, which should map to the labor categories as designated in the

Personnel Qualifications.

Q22. Performance Work Statement section 1.4.5.7, entitled Technical Program Management Support, involves business plans, briefings and program reviews. The Contracting Officer is requested to add labor categories for program management support effort, such as a Senior Program Analyst and Program Analyst, or alternatively identify the Labor Categories under which this work would be performed.

A22. The requested labor categories have been added to Attachment 1, Personnel Qualifications.