Questions and Responses Amd 2.pdf

Solicitation N0018923R0010

Questions and Responses

Quest. No. Reference Question Response

1 Attachment 2 - CBA

The CBA as attached is missing an Amendment dated 6/10/2021. Will the Government provide a copy of the amendment?

Please see Amendment 1 of the solicitation and the updated attachment.

2 WD's (Page 289)

WD's are provided for San Diego and Imperial

Counties. All locations within these two counties are CBA. Will the Government omit the WDs to remove confusion in wage rates?

Yes. Please see Amendment 1 of the solicitation.

3 PWS 3.6.2

The Federal Holiday schedule does not include

Juneteenth. Will the Government consider amending the RFP to include this holiday?

Juneteenth will be added. Section 3.6.2

FEDERAL HOLIDAY has been updated to

The following Government holidays are observed: New Year's Day; Martin Luther

King's Birthday; President's Day; Memorial

Day; Juneteenth; Independence Day; Labor

Day; Columbus Day; Veteran's Day;

Thanksgiving Day; and Christmas Day.

PWS - Contingency

Support CLIN (page 9)

There are six locations omitted from the

Contingency CLIN (Whidbey Island, Imperial

Beach, San Clemente Island, Key West, Whiting

Field North, Whiting Field South, and Patuxent

River). Annexes A and E indicate these locations to be supported with contingency. Need clarification

Locations for Contigency Support

Requirements are listed in the Contingency

Support CLIN. ANNEX E updated to AT

LOCATIONS LISTED IN CONTIGENCY

SUPPORT SERVICES LOCATIONS.

PWS Annex A21 para

1.8

The Fair Market Rental Rates are dated June 2017.

Are these still accurate?

Rates updated to March 2023. Rental rates are now 2bedroom 1bath $912, 2bedroom

1.5bath $975, 3bedroom 1bath $1,092, 3bedroom 2bath $1,207, 4bedroom 2bath

$1,442

6 PWS Annex C

The required reports section (Annex C) states the required deliverables are only for forecasting stations. This conflicts with the PWS Observation

CLIN which lists several of these same reports as

Deliverables. Please clarify which section of the

PWS is correct?

List of reports by location is listed in each

ANNEX A location. ANNEX C 1.

updated to 1. These reports are for a full observation and/or forecasting station. If a station doesn’t have PMSV or TAF issuance responsibilities, then these reports are not expected. Additionally, these reports should be sent to the Fleet Weather

Center that has control over the station.

See ANNEX A locations for a list of which reports are required for each location.

Item Numbers

(Pricing)

The base year item numbers break out Observation support separately from the forecasting. The subsequent Option Years combine the two and additionally then lists each forecasting site individually as well. Is this intentional? If this was the intent, can you clarify we are to price the forecasting services twice in each of the option years?

Please see Amendment 1 of the solicitation for updated CLIN information. The CLIN

Breakout of the PWS lists separately all locations that require observation services and all locations that may require optional forecasting services and/or contingency services. The total price of all CLINs including options will be evaluated. Please see the amendment for updated CLIN descriptions.

8 Federal Holidays

The following Government holidays are observed:

New Year's Day; Martin Luther King's Birthday;

President's Day; Memorial Day; Independence

Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day; Veteran's Day;

Thanksgiving Day; and Christmas Day. Is

Juneteenth a federal holiday for this contract? Please see Question 3 above.

PWS 3.2.8 Training/

Experience

Section 3.2.8 states that all contractor personnel providing surface weather observing and/or forecasting services shall have completed a DoD or an equivalent National Weather Service (NWS) training program for weather observing and/or forecasting and have had at least two years of experience with a DoD, Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), or NWS agency performing the following duties: forecasting weather and taking, recording, encoding, and disseminating surface weather observations using Meteorological

Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) code.

Under 52.222-42 STATEMENT OF

EQUIVALENT RATES FOR FEDERAL HIRES

on page 253, the RFP states that expected labor category for a Weather Observer is GS-06. The GS-

6 pay grade generally marks an entry-level position and thus years of experience would not be applicable. Is the intent of the Navy to mean that all contractor personnel must have completed a weather training program AND have at least two years of experience taking observations and providing forecasting services, or could personnel either complete a certified training program OR have at least two years of experience? Specifically, do observers require at least two years of experience to work at these sites?

FAR 52.222-42 pay grade references are provided for information purposes only.

10 PWS p. 106

For Guantanamo Bay, the government will provide one housing unit with a minimum of 3 bedrooms /

2 bathrooms (based on availability) for the contractors use. These units are available for unaccompanied personnel use only. Housing will be shared by unrelated individuals. Does the contractor pay rent for the government-provided housing unit, or is this unit included at no charge?

If the contractor does pay rent, what is the 2023

Fair Market Rental Rate?

Contractor will pay rent. Please see question 5.

Observation and

Forecasting CLINs

The fifth bullet in the Observing CLIN states

“Qualified contractor forecasters shall answer all requests for information and flight weather services via the local PMSV.” However, the Forecasting

CLIN has no statement about answering PMSV calls. Should this duty be included in the

Forecasting CLIN?

Yes, PMSV is for the forecaster to answer since forecasted weather may be conveyed.

Forecasting - Fallon, NV

Is the contractor responsible for covering the forecasting hours when the government forecaster at Fallon NAS is on leave, sick, etc., or will the government provide an alternate forecaster?

When a government or contract forecaster is not available, FWC-SD will be responsible for the forecast

Appendix A:

Collective Bargaining

Agreement (CBA)

The “MASTER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

AGREEMENT BETWEEN ATMOSPHERIC

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY, LLC AND

PROFESSIONAL AIR TRAFFIC

CONTROLLERS ORGANIZATION (PATCO)

FOR THE NAVY WEATHER CONTRACT

SITES AS IDENTIFIED IN APPENDIX A” What is the purpose of this file? What is “Appendix A”?

Should an offeror also obtain the same or similar agreement with PATCO?

The Collective Bargaining Agreement is an agreement between the representatives of a union and the employer and is provided with the solicitation for information purposes only. The Government is not a party to the Collective Bargaining

Agreement.

PWS Annexes -

Forecasting

How should we interpret this statement:”

Maximum forecasting hours shall not exceed 80 hours per week.” (Page 17, and many other places)

It is very hard to determine how many forecasters to provide. Does a forecaster have to work continuously or can they be on-call? What is the current acceptable scheduling to meet this

“maximum 80 hours” demand?

80 hours is the maximum expected. The contactor should determine how to meet the hours.

PWS 3.5 and 3.1 -

Government Property

About Equipment On Page 8, 3.5.

GOVERNMENT PROPERTY:” The Government will provide work space, office furniture, and meteorological equipment for all sites. But on

Section 3.1 SCOPE OF WORK:” The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment and tools not furnished by the Government, such as materials, supervision, and other items and services necessary to provide meteorological services as defined in this PWS.” What equipment does an offeror need to provide?

Please see the PWS and Annexes for information on government furnished items. The offeror should determine and propose its best firm-fixed price, considering all requirements of the PWS and contract, and including anticipated required resources, to meet the government's need.

16 PWS 1.5

In Section 1.5 “The contractor shall provide management oversight for those issues which directly relate to weather station operations. For example, this may include, but is not limited to, the installation of new equipment or the implementation of new policies and/or procedures. ” Will the government be responsible for all costs associated with the procurement, installation, and testing of any new equipment?

Will the government be responsible for providing training on any new equipment, to include the costs of the training and development of any new procedures, or will the contractor be responsible for those costs?

The contractor is responsible for making changes to their SOPs due to changes made by CNMOC/NAVIFOR to equipment, instructions, requirements.

17 Appendix A

Attachment 2: CBA between Atmospheric Science

Technology LLC and PATCO Are hourly rates as prescribed by CBA mandatory or suggested? Offerors shall comply with FAR 22.1002-

3.

18 Observation Services

Will the Navy accept the use of a common operating commercial off the shelf (COTS) weather observation product to conduct the required monitoring of local weather radar and severe weather to augment the observation services per CNMOC instruction?

Contractor use of commercial off the shelf

(COTS) weather observation product to conduct the required monitoring of local weather radar and severe weather to augment the observation services per

CNMOC instruction is acceptable. The

Government will not not provide funding for the contractor to buy radar or weather forecasting services that the forecaster uses.

19 Forecasting Services

Will the Navy accept the use of a common operating commercial off the shelf (COTS) weather forecasting and weather alert product to disseminate weather watches and warnings?

Contractor use of commercial off the shelf

(COTS) weather observation product to conduct the required monitoring of local weather radar and severe weather to augment the observation services per

CNMOC instruction is acceptable. The

Government will not not provide funding for the contractor to buy radar or weather forecasting services that the forecaster uses.

Not all applications can be used on the

NMCI network.

20 Pricing

Should the cost of non-hourly items such as software, training and other tools be included in the same provided Pricing Spreadsheet?

Pricing of the offer will be evaluated in accordance with FAR 52.212-2 and its

Addendum, included in the solicitation. As there is no line on the solicitation and resultant contract for ODCs, it is the expectation that these costs are rolled into the offeror's firm-fixed price for labor.

21 Subcontractor Pricing

Do subcontractors have to submit a separate

Pricing Spreadsheet than the prime offeror?

The proposal shall include a completed pricing spreadsheet for each proposed subcontractor.

22 Prime Services

What is the minimum percentage of the total cost of the FFP services that the prime contractor must provide?

Please see FAR clause 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting.

23 Past Performance

Can past performance include non-government commercial contracts? Yes.

Attachment 6 Pricing

Spreadsheet

What is the purpose of breaking out separate optional CLINs for Forecasting Services? Please clarify the Government’s intent for these CLINs and the conditions under which these optional

CLINs might or might not be ordered, as it may have significant impacts on staffing and thereby pricing. Forecasting CLINs will be exercised as funding is available.

RFP (pp 127-195);

pricing schedule

The PWS and the pricing schedule (RFP pages 127 through 195) indicate the Forecasting CLINs are optional. Are we to price the Observation Services

CLIN as a standalone price with no forecasting services included and separately price the optional

Forecasting CLINs? Will the Government combine prices of the required CLINs (for Observation

Services) and all optional CLINS to compute the evaluated price? If no, please specify how optional

CLIN prices are to be evaluated.”

The offerors' price will be evlauated by adding all CLINs together for annual and total prices.

RFP pages 127 through

The pricing schedule indicates CLIN 0001 is for

“Weather Observation”. However, the corresponding option year CLINs 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001 are for “Weather Observation and

Forecasting” (or “Weather Observ and Forecast”).

This is inconsistent from year-to- year. Further, the title of these option year CLINs appears to be inconsistent with the PWS and other option year

CLINs (e.g., 1004, 1005, etc.), which indicate

Forecasting services are optional. Please clarify what services CLINs 1001, 2001, 3001, and 4001 are to cover.

Please see Question 7 above.

RFP price schedule

(pages 127 through

195)

RFP price schedule (pages 127 through 195): Are offerors required to enter CLIN prices in the price schedule and include this schedule in the Price

Proposal? Yes.

Factor III Past

Performance

States, “To demonstrate its past performance, the offeror shall identify up to three (3) of its most relevant contracts performed within five (5) years of the solicitation issuance date. Those contracts must also reflect one year of completed performance by the closing date of the solicitation.” Will the Government consider lowering the completed performance requirement to a minimum period of 6 months instead of 1 year? A period of 6 months is sufficient evaluation period to assess the ability to transition contract, quality of performance, and timeliness delivery of services.

The Government does not intend to alter the completed-performance requirement.

29 Annex A1-A24

Would the Government provide for each site the years of seniority of employees to assist with proposing the correct amount of Vacation and compensation commensurate with years of experience?

The offeror should propose the staffing approach it considers best from a price and non-price perspective.

52.212-1 Addendum

(pp. 216, 218)

Page 16 states, “Volume II – Price Proposal - is not page limited; however, the Price Proposal is to be strictly limited to price information and completed solicitation documents as described in the General Section at the beginning of this text .”

Page 18 states, “In addition to the items required in the General Section above, Volume II shall include the following:…” The General Section includes only the following: “Proposals shall include the following legend on each page: Source Selection

Information FAR 2.101 and FAR 3.104” (p. 215).

There are no “items” required in the General

Section. Please advise.

Please see Amendment 1 for clarification of the instructions.

52.212-1 Addendum

(p. 218)

Requires that Volume II include “Completed solicitation documents to include signed copies of all amendments, if applicable .” Please confirm that the following are the only required solicitation documents: “STANDARD FORM 1449” (included with this RFP) and, for amendments, SF 30 (not included with this RFP, but downloadable). Or, are

Offerors to complete 52.229-11, 252.204-7019, 252.237-7024 (attachment and date are blank in

RFP), and/or other clauses? Please clarify exactly what is required.

Offerors shall complete all provisions and clauses as applicable and include completed items in the proposal. With respect to DFARS 252.237-7024, please see PWS 1.2.5.

Addendum 52.212-1

(p. 215)

States, “In the event any person who is not a bona fide employee of the offeror participated in the creation, formulation, or writing of any portion of the proposal, a certificate to this effect shall be included in the proposal which shall be signed by an officer of the offeror.” Is this certificate to be included in Volume II Price?

The certificate shall be included with the volume of the proposal in which the person participated.

52.212-1 Addendum

(pp. 214, 216)

For Submission of Proposals states, “Lines shall, at a minimum, be single-spaced in Microsoft Word with Microsoft Word Normal character spacing ”

(p. 214). Proposal Content states that the Price

Proposal files will be either Microsoft Word or

Excel (p. 216). Would the Government consider allowing Adobe Acrobat PDF files instead of

Word? PDF files have the advantage of consistency, looking the same on each computer, whereas MS Word files can appear differently on different computers, potentially making a proposal non-compliant.

The Government does not intend to alter the instructions referenced in the question.

34 General

If an Offeror has recently been suspended from the

8(a) program, how will the Government ensure current 8(a) eligibility of offerors?

The anticipated contract will be with the

Small Business Administration, for performance by eligible 8(a) participant(s).

In accordance with FAR 19.802, "Determining the eligibility of a small business to be a participant in the 8(a) program is the responsibility of the SBA," and FAR 19.805-2, "The SBA will determine the eligibility of the apparent successful offeror."

35 Annex A

The Estimated Workload data within the PWS is unchanged from the 2017 version of the PWS despite the numbers appearing quite precise. Does the Government intend to update the workload estimates?

The PWS contains the the correct estimated workload.

36 A12

Can the Government confirm the Whiting Field

South (A12) hours of operation considering some hours are lined-out in the text?

Removed Strikethrough. Updated Summer

Hours 0700 - 2345 Friday; Winter Hours

0700 - 2345 Friday; Closed Saturday and for Federal Holidays as stated in Section

3.6.2.

37 A13

Can the Government confirm the Meridian (A13) hours of operation considering some hours are lined-out in the text?

Removed Strikethrough. Updated Winter

Hours 1500 - 2100 Sunday; Summer Hours

0700 - 1800 Friday and 1600 - 2200

Sunday.

38 A18

Can the Government confirm the Key West (A18) hours of operation considering some hours are lined-out in the text?

Removed Strikethrough. Updated to 0600 -

2000 Monday through Friday.

RFP page 217 & 221 -

Past Performance

Factor III

The section on Past Performance says that each will be evaluated and weighted for its contribution to the overall Past Performance Assessment. So, the elements of the 3 will be taken in aggregate as to their suitability in addressing the total requirement. Is that a correct interpretation of your intent?

As detailed in the Addendum to FAR

52.212-2, the quality, recency, and relevancy (including scope and magnitude) of each compliant past performance submittal will be considered in order to determine an overall Past Performance

Confidence Assessment rating for the offeror.

PWS page 217 & 221 -

Past performance

RFP section 52.212-2 Evaluation Criteria for past performance defines Very Relevant as

“Present/past performance effort [that] involved essentially the same scope…of effort this solicitation requires.” (Italics added) The scope of the effort in the solicitation is unique in providing

Navy forecasting and observing services. In evaluating relevancy, will the Government assessment of scope focus only on aspects of performance to be delivered under the CLINs (that is, forecasting and observation in support of naval operations)? To do so would appear to offer an unfair competitive advantage to the incumbent.

Further, to do so also unduly inflates the importance of weather site operations in determining the confidence assessment, as any contractor who wins this contract must hire the incumbent personnel based on the CBA requirements and with them comes the in-place skills and performance for the forecasting and observing elements. If relevancy assessment is not focused only on performance to be delivered under the CLINs, please clarify which other aspects of performance are to be assessed.

The definitions for ratings come from the

Department of Defense Source Selection

Guide. The Government does not intend to alter this definitions. Relevancy will relate to all aspects of the PWS.

41 PWS – Annex A

There are many Draft RFP elements (e.g., greater workload at Guantanamo Bay) that did not make it into the Final RFP. Would the Government verify that the Final RFP numbers are correct (as opposed to the Draft RFP numbers)? The Final RFP numbers are correct.

42 PWS – Annex D

Please provide a copy of the MOU between Naval

Meteorology and Oceanography Command and the

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Patuxent River, MD.

The MOU is no longer applicable and has been removed from the PWS.

252.237-7024 PWS

States, “Contractor and all Contractor personnel with access to or responsibility for XXXXXX of this contract shall comply with DoD Directive

8500.1E IA, DoDI 8510.01 Risk Management

Framework (RMF) for DoD IT, DoD 5400.11

DoD Privacy Program, DoD 5200.2- R Personnel

Security Program Directive and HSPD 12 .” Can the government explain what is XXXXXX?

The information referenced in the question is not applicable and has been removed.

Please see Amendment 1.

PWS CLIN

Breakdown

The PWS and the pricing spreadsheet declare the

Forecasting CLIN optional. Are we to price the

Observing CLIN as a standalone price with no forecaster coverage and separately price the optional forecast CLIN? Are required and optional

CLINS to be combined for a final price? Please clarify as to the agency's intent to evaluate this as it will have significant impacts on manning and thereby pricing. Please see Questions 7 and 24 above.

Attachment 2 (CBA)

Article 6 Section 11

For a case in which an individual is routinely and repeatedly assigned a shift during which they, for instance, work five hours as Forecaster and three hours as Observer (with no Forecaster duties), per the terms of the CBA provided with the RFP and applicable to current and successor contractors, is the routine and regular 3-hour portion of that shift considered “temporary” in the context of CBA

Article 6 Section 11? We are not party to this

CBA, we request the Government clarify the correct interpretation of this clause to ensure offerors apply it appropriately in their pricing.

Please see Question 13 above.

Amendment 2 - Additional Questions and Responses:

46. Amendment 1 refers to Attachment 8, but we do not see Attachment 8 among the documents. Please provide Attachment 8 or direct Offerors to it.

Response: Please see Amendment 2 which removes a reference to Attachment 8.

47. We previously asked if the Past Performance Information Form is included within the 4-page limit for each Past Performance reference but did not receive a response to this question. Please provide an answer.

Response: Yes, the PPIF is included in the page limitations per reference.

48. In Q&A 32, you answered that the certificate for individuals who supported development of the proposal and are not employees of the Offeror should be placed "with the volume of the proposal in which the person participated." If this certificate is included in Volume I, is it excluded from page count?

Response: Yes, the certificate is included in the page limitations.