N00189-13-T-PC39-0002.doc

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION SF 1449 - CONTINUATION SHEET

The following have been added by full text:

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS, SET 2.

A. The following questions and answers are provided for clarification only and do not change the requirements identified in the performance work statement.

Changes to the performance work statement are described in paragraph B, below.

Q 17: We understand that this solicitation is being rebid, did the previously awarded company place employees to the assigned positions? If so, will these employees transfer to the new contract?

A 17: The previously awarded company is the current incumbent. Transfer of employees to the new contract is a business decision between the new company and the employees, however, be aware of the clause in B 6, below.

Q 18: What is the core competency that Troops to Teachers is seeking?

A 18: Each position requires unique and specific competencies although some competencies overlap position by position (e.g., skilled at MS Office applications). All contractors must have or quickly attain working knowledge of the laws and guidelines in place for the Troops to Teachers program.

Q 19: Approximately how many new hires will be needed?

A 19: Please see the “Historical Workload Data” in Section 3 of the PWS.

Q 20: What would the organization describe as the number one required skill set to successfully implement this contract?

A 20: The number one required skill set is having the ability to clearly communicate and interact in a professional manner with customers.

Q 21: Which is more important to the organization IT expertise or education expertise?

A 21: For all positions, having some degree of IT experience is vital—especially proficiency in the MS Office applications. For FLSA-exempt positions 3.7 and 3.8, having education experience is more important.

Q 22: Is it possible to include relevant information in appendices?

A 22: Appendices may be used, but will count toward the Volume I page limit.

Q 23: This appears to be a solicitation that will replace a contract that was awarded last year in response to solicitation N68836-12-R-0039. Why is this being solicited again after only one year of contract performance? Why is this activity being moved from NAVSUP FLC Jacksonville to NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Philadelphia Office?

A 23: This is a re-solicitation of Contract N68836-12-C-0033. It was decided to re-solicit this contract to address some issues with the prior solicitation.

Q 24: Page 58 shows a table entitled SCA Labor Category, which shows the Task Area and the SCA Code/Labor Category. Are these suggested categories, or is this the mapping that all offerors should use in preparing a cost proposal?

A 24: The categories listed on page 58 fall under the Service Contracts Act of 1965. Therefore, contractors must adhere to the requirements of the Act for the labor categories listed, immaterial of the category name utilized by the contactor.

Q 25: Page 73 (III, 1, c – Past Performance) states that The quoter should address its past performance in complying with requirements of the clauses at FAR 52.219-8, "Utilization of Small Business Concerns," and 52.219-9, "Small Business Subcontracting Plan." As this is a Small Business set-aside, is this required?

A 25: As this is a small business set aside, subcontracting plans are not required, and therefore 52.219-9 does not need addressing. However, all contractors are covered under 52.219-8, and therefore that clause should be addressed.

Q 26: On Page 73 and again on Page 75 – 76, the following statement was included: The Contracting Officer may decide not to evaluate the technical quote of a vendor whose total evaluated price is higher than the total evaluated price of another quote rated acceptable or higher and the Contracting Office determines that any possible technical superiority of the vendor’s quote would not warrant the price premium of the vendor’s quote and that, therefore, the vendor’s quote could not be the best value. However, this statement can be seen as a contradiction to the evaluation criteria on Page 76 – Performance Approach, Experience and Past Performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price. Will the Government please consider removing or provide clarification to the statement cited on Page 73 and again on Page 75 – 76?

A 26: While Performance Approach, Corporate Experience and Past Performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price, price IS still a factor. As such, there is a point where the higher price can outweigh any potential benefit the government receives and therefore it becomes moot to evaluate a technical proposal that has no possibility of overcoming the price difference between it and the lower priced proposals.

Q 27: How many FTE hours should we anticipate for each labor category?

A 27: Please see the “Historical Workload Data” in Section 3 of the PWS.

Q 28: We will not be using the following categories (Finance Officer Support Services, Education Councelor Support Services, and Senior Education Specialist Support Services) in our quote as they are exempt? Correct?

A 28: No, that is not correct. Those categories are exempt from the requirements of the Service Contracts Act of 1965. They are however, needed for this contract action.

Q 29: Can we email our bid/quote to you?

A 29: No. All proposals must be delivered per the RFP.

Q 30: How many travel trips can we anticipate for the year?

A 30: Trips are likely to range at from 10 to 16 per year as funding allows.

Q 31: Page 70 states: “Solicitation pricing schedule pages completed by the quoter (unit price and amount columns and G&A rate, as specified.” Considering this is a FFP contract, and the unit price is month, why are you requesting G&A rate?

A 31: See B 5, below.

Q 32: Under FAR clause 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders--Commercial Items, paragraph (c), the clause “52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers” is not selected as applicable to this contract. However, under paragraph (e)(1), it states that “52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers” must be flowed down to subcontractors on this contract. Does 52.222-17 apply to the prime for this contract or not?

A 32: 52.222-17 applies to this solicitations. See B 6, below.

Q 33: Per Amendment U0001, Q6, the NAICS was listed as 561112. Please advise if this is correct or if it is 561110.

A 33: The intended NAICS for Amendment I was 561110- Office Administrative Services, with a size limit of $7.0M. See B 7, below.

Q 34: On the NECO website it states that Quotes are to be received by 11:45 AM Local time; however in Section III Quote content, Volume II – Price Quote, section I it states that “…If no time is specified in the solicitation, the time for receipt is 4:30 p.m., local time…”. Which time is the correct time for the submission of the quotes?

A 34: The correct time for submission of quotes is 11:45 am, as specified in page 1, block 8 of the RFQ

Q 35: Is it possible for you to extend the due date of the proposal to Monday, July 29th?

A 35: The submission Deadline is now 11:45 am, 29 July 2013.

Q 36: PWS Section 4.0, Skills and Knowledge Required by the Position. Other than Data Entry Clerk Support Services requiring a high school diploma, no other position has a minimum educational requirement. Are there minimum educational requirements for positions listed in Sections 4.2 – 4.8?

A 36: Data Entry Clerk Support is considered entry level; therefore, all subsequent positions require, at minimum, a high school diploma.

FLSA-exempt positions (4.6, 4.7, and 4.8) perform professional services and work requiring advanced knowledge. “Advanced knowledge cannot be attained at the high school level” (29 CFR 541.301). For these positions, the following are minimum education requirements:

Section 4.6, Task 3.6 requires as a minimum a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Business Administration*and five years of experience performing financial management, accounting and budgeting.

*At least ten years of experience performing government financial management, accounting and budgeting may substitute for a Bachelor’s degree.

Section 4.7, Task 3.7 requires as a minimum a Bachelor’s degree in education, counseling or a human resources field of study with five years of experience as an education or personnel counselor; or a Master’s degree in education, counseling or a human resources field of study.

Section 4.8, Task 3.8 requires as a minimum a Bachelor degree in education, counseling or a business-related field of study with five years of experience as an education or personnel counselor; or a Master’s degree in education, counseling, or a business-related field of study.

Q 37: Our contract reference exceeds that value, but because the contract year is split between two calendar years the values represented would not exceed $600,000 per calendar year. Since year is not defined as calendar, fiscal or contract, would the Government add the two dollar values since the numbers represented equates to a year of contract performance. [Edited for space]

A 37: A year for this purpose is the time of the period of performance. For example, 5 August 2013- 4 August 2014 is one year.

Q 38: Please confirm that the Technical Quote (Performance Approach, Corporate Experience, and Past Performance) is significantly more important than price.

A 38: Per page 76 of the RFQ, Performance Approach, Corporate Experience and Past Performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price.

Q 39: Page 71, III (Quote Content), 1 – Volume I – Technical Quote states that the evaluation factors are listed in descending order (Performance Approach, Corporate Experience, and Past Performance), “where performance approach is the most important factor, followed by past performance.” Please clarify which is the correct order of importance.

A 39: See B 8, below.

Q 40: Pages 71-72, III (Quote Content), 1.b – Corporate Experience. For Corporate Experience to be relevant, it should include experience that is the same as or similar to the scope, magnitude, and complexity of the work required by the solicitation. A contract will be awarded based on which proposal is most advantageous to the Government. Page 72, paragraph 2, states that the references will be evaluated in the aggregate to allow quoters without the entire scope, magnitude and complexity under one contract still be considered acceptable if experience can be demonstrated across the three references allowed. Will it detract from the evaluation if an offeror has relevant experience in aggregate rather than in one contract reference? It may be difficult for a small business to have three contracts with relevant experience (especially with the magnitude value of $600,000 per year) for the work described in this solicitation.

A 40: No, experience in the aggregate and in one reference are treated equally.

Q 41: With respect to CLINs 0002 and 1002, is the government looking for bidders, in addition to entering our overtime rates on the line for each position, to multiply that rate by the projected number of hours (such as the estimated overtime hours in the RFP) to develop a fully extended price for each of these Labor Categories that aggregates to the number entered under “Amount” or should the number entered under the “Amount” simply be the $35,000 NTE amount? (Please clarify.)

A 41: The “Amount” for overtime may be the $35,000.00 NTE amount.

Q 42: Is it the government's intent to have bidders propose and justify alternate hours requirements for either straight time or overtime labor? If the NTE amount is used for Travel, will the government be expecting bidders to justify this travel amount?

A 42: No, quoters do not need to justify overtime and travel at the time of submission. The government will approve overtime and travel as needed and justification will be given at that time. For overtime and travel, quoters may submit the NTE amount.

B. The following changes are being made to the solicitation:

B 5: Page 70, Volume II Price Quote

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G&A rate

B 6: FAR 52.212-5

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(7) 52.222-17, Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers (JAN 2013) (E.O.13495).

B 7: Amendment I, answer A 6

Change NAICS code 561112 to read 561110.

B 8: Page 71- (1) Volume I- Technical Quote

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The Non-price evaluation factors are listed below in descending order of importance, where performance approach is the most important factor, followed by past performance.

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(1) Volume I- Technical Quote

The Non-price evaluation factors are listed below in descending order of importance, where performance approach is the most important factor, followed by Corporate Experience, then past performance.

B 9: Page 58, SCA LABOR CATEGORY

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Substitute-

B 10:

PWS-

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Section 4.6 and Task 3.6 Requires as a minimum a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Business Administration*and five years of experience performing financial management, accounting and budgeting.

*At least ten years of experience performing government financial management, accounting and budgeting may substitute for a Bachelor’s degree.

Section 4.7 and Task 3.7 Requires as a minimum a Bachelor’s degree in education, counseling or a human resources field of study with five years of experience as an education or personnel counselor; or a Master’s degree in education, counseling or a human resources field of study.

Section 4.8 and Task 3.8 Requires as a minimum a Bachelor degree in education, counseling or a business-related field of study with five years of experience as an education or personnel counselor; or a Master’s degree in education, counseling, or a business-related field of study.

(End of Summary of Changes)