RFP03R0038Questions18Nov03.doc

November 18, 2003 Questions and answers provided for informational purposes only for Solicitation N00189-03-R-0038.

1. QUESTION: The position of Operations Analyst II requires one and one-half man-year, but no overtime. It would increase exercise-manning flexibility and improve the Contractor’s “surge capability” during periods of simultaneous multiple exercises if the position allowed for at-sea overtime. Can the position be modified to include at least 100 hours of at-sea overtime?

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Section B.

2. QUESTION: Can Math and Statistics be added to the education requirement for the Operations Analyst II category?

ANSWER: No, the requirement remains unchanged.

3. QUESTION: The Personnel Qualifications for ASW Analyst III, per C.10.14, clearly exceed the qualifications of ASW Analyst II, per C.10.10 (The ASW Analyst III is the lead observer aboard exercise units). Please clarify why the lower ASW Analyst II position key, while the higher ASW Analyst III is not?

ANSWER: The government desires to ensure that the baseline capability stated for the ASW Analyst II (key) is maintained, as these capabilities are at the center of the SHAREM program.

4. QUESTION: The job description for the two ASW Analysts II is listed as having to “observe and support at-sea exercises”. Please clarify as to why there is no overtime allocated for the two ASW Analysts II.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Section B.

5. QUESTION: On page 146, under Section L.D.3, regarding Limitation of Oral Presentation Material, please clarify if presenters are allowed to bring notes.

ANSWER: Yes, notes are allowed.

6. QUESTION: On page 146, under paragraph d, is the time to develop and respond to the sample task 60 minutes to develop the presentation and then another 30 minutes to present? Please clarify if it is a total of 60 minutes or 90 minutes.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Section L, B. (1) d.

7. QUESTION: On page 149, under Section L.D. 7, indicates that the attached wage determination is to be used for all labor categories should this read “all applicable labor categories”? Please clarify which specific labor categories are applicable to the attached wage determination and provide correlation between the solicitation labor category and the SCA category by providing specific Occupation Codes for each applicable labor category.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Section I, FAR clause 52.222-42.

8. QUESTION: Please amend solicitation to include a Wage Determination for the State of Rhode Island and provide current revision.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Attachment 9.

9. QUESTION: Please amend the solicitation to include the following labor categories which were incorporated via Contract Modification P00012 and are currently being utilized under the existing SHAREM contract:

Engineering Project Manager (Key) for 260 man-hours per year

Education:

MS in Computer Science, Engineering or Mathematics: or MS/MA in Management or MBA

Experience:

Minimum of 15 years of experience in managing and participating in computer-based systems for military applications.

Specific experience includes management of software development projects for military applications; experience with software development policies and procedures (including configuration management);

development of system-level requirements specifications and management of development efforts to meet requirement specifications; experience developing and managing software development schedules; preparing for and conduct of Critical Design Review meetings; development of system level test plans; development and implementation of training programs and training aids to assist in system introduction; and development and management of project budgets of greater than one million dollars.

Senior Software Engineer/Analyst for 260 man-hours per year

Education:

BS in Computer Science or Computer Engineering

Experience:

Minimum of 8 years of general professional software engineering experience.

Specific experience in the development of computer hardware and/or software systems for military applications; development of object oriented software; experience in all phases of software life cycle development, maintenance, procedures and implementation.

Equivalent Experience:

4 additional years of specific experience may be substituted for the Education requirement.

Senior Systems Engineer for 260 man-hours per year

BS in an Engineering Discipline

Experience:

Minimum of 8 years of general professional systems engineering experience.

Specific experience in systems analysis including systems definition, operations and requirements studies and analyses; system performance prediction studies and assessments; system simulation and modeling; preparation of system definition documents including research and specification of alternative hardware and/or software design approaches; verification of system performance during all phases of system development and implementation.

Equivalent Experience:

4 additional years of specific experience may be substituted for the Education requirement.

Software Engineer/Analyst for 1040 man-hours per year

BS in Computer Science or Computer Engineering

Experience:

Minimum of 3 years of general professional software engineering experience.

Specific experience in supporting the development of computer hardware and/or software systems for military applications; supporting the development of object oriented software; experience in the support of all phases of software life cycle development, maintenance, procedures and implementation.

Equivalent Experience:

4 additional years of specific experience may be substituted for the Education requirement.

ANSWER: No, the requirement remains unchanged.

10. QUESTION: Under the existing contract several additional labor categories were identified as either key categories or non-key resume required. The current solicitation removes the key and resume required designation despite the labor descriptions being effectively identical. We respectfully request the following labor categories be added as Key and/or Resume Required:

___ Key Category ______

__Non Key (Resume Required)__

ASW Weapons Analyst

ASW Planner

IT Specialist

Submarine Analyst

Engineering Project Manager

AMCM Analyst

MIW Analyst

ANSWER: No, the requirement remains unchanged.

11. QUESTION: Under Financial Information requirements, Attachment J-L10 was not provided as part of the solicitation package, please provide.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Attachment 7.

12. QUESTION: Please provide clarification as to what information needs to be provided by small businesses in order to be compliant with the required submittal of a Small Business Subcontracting Action, as the DFAR does not define the requirements clearly.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002.

13. QUESTION: Task 4 Exercise Reconstruction – Request COMSURFWARDEVGRU provide details on GFE hardware and application software that will be used in subtasks 1.2.4.2 (Data entry into reconstruction programs) and 1.2.4.3 (Track rectification). It is our understanding that the current reconstruction GFE in use at COMSURFWARDEVGRU was designed and built by the incumbent. If these GFE hardware and software systems will be required to be used to accomplish Task 4, request that detailed specifications as to the hardware and software operating program(s) be provided to ensure a thorough and complete understanding of the SOW requirements.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, paragraph 1.2.4 of Section C.

14. QUESTION: Task 10 IT Equipment and Database Management – Request COMSURFWARDEVGRU provide a detailed description of the hardware and application software for the 4 databases that will be maintained within the USW Directorate.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, paragraph 1.2.10 of Section C.

15. QUESTION: Section C 1.2.9.2 defines the number of SHAREM (5-6), MIREM (3-4), PCO Ops (4), and TACEVALEX (1-2) exercises that are to be supported. This equates to up to 16 exercises in a 12 month period. The ¼ man-year LOE for the ASW Project Manager and the ½ man-year for the MIW Project Manager/Exercise Planner, both key positions, do not appear sufficient to meet the exercise level of effort. Request clarification.

ANSWER: No, the requirement remains unchanged.

16. QUESTION: Throughout Section C of the RFP, repeated use of the phrases “significant number of years experience; a very significant number of years experience; and a meaningful number of years experience”. Request clarification since the offeror bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that Non-Key Personnel meet all of the requirements indicated.

ANSWER: The contractor shall use their best judgment to select qualified and experienced personnel most able to complete the tasks outlined in the SOW. The Navy selected these terms for the specific purpose of avoiding any arbitrary "cutoff" of persons having virtually the same number of years of experience (i.e., "minimum 10 years experience" may have excluded a highly qualified individual with 9.5 years of very relevant experience). Accordingly, a more flexible standard has been selected. "Significant number of years" certainly does not mean one or two years, but almost certainly does include ten years. It could also include seven or eight years--there is no fixed boundary here. The determination of "significance" will turn on the nature of the discipline/trade/profession (it takes longer to become an experienced engineer than it does to become an experienced technical writer) and other relevant facts and circumstances. "Very significant" number of years obviously is a rather long time. Twenty years of experience in almost any field will probably qualify as "very significant," but fewer than twenty years could also be considered "very significant" in some professions and in the proper circumstances. The determination of what qualifies as "significant," "very significant," or insignificant is subject to the judgment and discretion of the Navy's technical evaluators and the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO). It is the Navy's goal to enhance competition and opportunity to the greatest number of qualified contractors by keeping this standard flexible, yet at the same time requiring the level of expertise and quality that will ensure a successful, efficient, safe, and cost-effective contract. It should go without saying that if a competitor proposes personnel who have decades of relevant experience and sterling academic credentials, those persons will be viewed as having superior qualifications and will receive commensurate "high marks" when the technical evaluators and the PCO review the proposal.

17. QUESTION: Section C.10.14 ASW Analyst II requirements stipulates the offeror must be “proficient in the using acoustic performance prediction software” but no specific software is mentioned. Among the many prediction software systems in the Fleet, is there a specific system(s) applicable to this SOW? If so, please identify.

ANSWER: No.

18. QUESTION: Will SURFWARDEVGRU provide a tour of the SWDG facilities to include the designated presentation room and a demonstration of the specific hardware and software system(s) developed by the incumbent for reconstruction and analysis use?

ANSWER: Answer forthcoming.

19. QUESTION: Section C 1.2.4.16 “Foreign address authorization” – request a clarification of the meaning of this subtask in view of the fact that the R&A Report will be published and distributed by COMSURFWARDEVGRU.

ANSWER: The contractor may be required to assist in the research of foreign release issues and addresses as well as modifying reconstruction and analysis reports to meet release requirements.

20. QUESTION: Page 137, Section J, refers to WD 94-2543 Rev (30). Page 149, Section L, D. Organization of Part III - Cost Proposal, refers to WD 94-2543 Rev (31). Attachment 3 contains WD 94-2543 Rev (32). Please confirm that WD 94-2543 Rev (32) is the version that should be used.

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002.

21. QUESTION: Page 128 of Section I incorporates FAR Clause 52.215-21, Requirements for Cost or Pricing Data or Information Other Than Cost or Pricing Data-Modifications. The FAR specifically prohibits the requirement for cost or pricing data if adequate price competition exists and states that this data should not be unnecessarily required “because it leads to increased proposal preparation costs, generally extends acquisition lead time, and consumes additional contractor and Government resources”. Since this is a competitive procurement, it would appear that there will be adequate price competition. Accordingly, it is requested that FAR clause 52-215.21 be deleted from this solicitation.

ANSWER: Requirement remains unchanged. Clause is required in order to request cost information specified in Section L for Cost Proposal.

22. QUESTION: Page 149, Section L, D. Organization of Part III - Cost Proposal, (5) states, "Offerors shall submit information requested in the local clause entitled "Prospective Contractor Responsibility" with the cost proposal. Please provide this clause and any accompanying instructions if the clause itself is not self-explanatory.

ANSWER: See second to last provision of solicitation cited in Section L entitled: “Prospective Contractor Responsibility”.

23. QUESTION: Section L, page 146, subparagraph d: Is the 60 minutes mentioned “to evaluate the task and provide a 30 minute presentation” all inclusive or will 60 minutes be allocated to evaluating and preparing the presentation and an additional 30 minutes allocated for the actual presentation of the sample task?

ANSWER: See Amendment 0002, Section L, B. (1) d.

24. SECTION L.A of the referenced solicitation directs the Offeror to address their "approach to maintaining data integrity, product quality, and minimizing Command disruption" as part of the Transition Plan section of the Oral (Subfactor I, 2nd Tier Subfactor II, 3rd Tier Subfactor II). Section M.6.a.II.2 states that this subfactor will be evaluated "in performing each of the tasks identified in the SOW."

QUESTION: To thoroughly meet the intent of the RFP and to develop a meaningful Transition Plan, Booz Allen Hamilton respectfully requests a sanitized SHAREM/MIREM/ LDCE/PCO event schedule for the entire 2004 Fiscal Year (October 2003 - September 2004). This will provide us the information necessary to anticipate both the post- and pre-event products and activities that need to be assumed and sustained during the transition and will allow us to maintain our submission at the unclassified level.

ANSWER: Exercises for the entire fiscal year have yet to be determined. During the perceived transition period, we anticipate the following events will have to be sustained.

Planning:

February PCO Ops

April MIREM

April SHAREM LDCE

May PCO Ops (04-2)

June MIREM (2)

July SHAREM

Execution:

April SHAREM LDCE

Post Mission Analysis:

November Sharem

Jan MIREM

Feb PCO Ops (04-1)