Question.docx

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ON DRAFT RFP N00421-17-R-0049

Question (Page 3,4 and 87) - Page 3 states that the contractor will be required to have a SECRET Facility clearance while page 4 states that the contract will be required to have a TOP SECRET Facility clearance. Page 97 requires evidence (e.g. written certification) of a Secret Facility clearance and discuss the contractor’s eligibility to obtain a TOP SECRET Facility clearance after contract award. Will the Government revise page 4 to read SECRET instead of TOP SECRET?

Answer: The final Solicitation will be updated to clarify that a TOP SECRET facility clearance is required in performance of this contract. Note that the solicitation DD Form 254 Block 1.a. indicates that a TOP SECRET Facility clearance is required.

IAW the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) and the NAWCAD Contract Security Specification DD Form 254 Manual, Block 1.a FACILITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED indicates “the highest level of classified information the contractor will be required to access in order to perform this work.” Further, “A Contractor is required to have a Facility Security Clearance (FCL) when one or more of its employees require a security clearance in performance of the contract and therefore access to classified information or materials. The FCL is an administrative determination that, from a national security standpoint, a facility is eligible for access to classified information at the same or lower classification category as the clearance being granted.”

Therefore, since two positions (the Program Manager and the Systems Engineer) require Top Secret clearances in performance of this contract, a Top Secret FCL is required.

Additionally, DD Form 254 block 1.b LEVEL OF SAFEGUARDING REQUIRED indicates the “level of classified material/information that the contractor will need to store at their facility.” The DD Form 254 for this solicitation states “NONE” in block 1.b and therefore, there is no requirement to safeguarded classified information at the contractor’s facility.

Question (Page 16) – The Presolicitation states that contractors performing on-site support will be provided access to workstations, telephones, etc. but Contractors will not be provided permanent seating on Government or Customer site for employees under this contract. Can the Government provide additional clarification regarding this statement as follows?

Answer: The Government will not provide permanent seating, such as cubicles or NMCI assets, under this contract. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to provide permanent seating for each employee. However, Contractor employees working temporarily on Government site, will be provided access to workspaces, telephones, and internet as required to respond to individual Task Orders. Please see PBSOW paragraph 3.2.1.

Does this statement mean that the Government will provide contractors performing on-site support on Government or Customer sites will be provided access to workstations, telephones, etc. for work performed at the task order level for the period of performance?

Answer: Please see the answer to question #2.

For the price/cost proposal, is the contractor allowed to bid Government/Customer site rates for the 60 percent of work to be performed or is the contractor limited to only bidding Contractor site rates exclusively?

Answer: As the Government will not be providing permanent seating for Contractor employees, the Contractor is limited to bidding “Contractor site rates” exclusively. If seating arrangements change over the period of performance of the contract, the Contractor shall bill the appropriate Government/Contractor site rate.

Question (Page 16) – The Presolicitation states that the contractor shall have a facility within fifteen (15) miles of Patuxent River Naval Air Station for proper coordination and required reviews under the terms of the contract and subsequent activities and audits on individual task orders. If the prime contractor enters into a written agreement with a subcontractor team member to provide a facility to meet this location, execution, and audit requirement at the task order level, will the Government recognize this written agreement as meeting this requirement? If so, will the government modify the final RFP language to include such language?

Answer: The facility requirements of the contract may be met via a subcontractor team member. There is no need to modify the final solicitation to include such language. A written agreement between the prime offeror and subcontractor that clearly meets the facility requirements outlined in the Statement of Work would be recognized for purposes of meeting the requirement.

Question (Page 17 and 19) – Can the Government clarify what “outside of normal working hours” in reference to when overtime support requirements may be necessary (e.g. hours above a 40-hour work week)? If overtime is performed, please confirm that the Contractor is only required to pay non-exempt employees overtime.

Answer: Overtime as defined in this solicitation solely means hours in excess of a 40 hour work week. Excess hours are required for in-country OCONUS installations where a primary objective is to perform the install and exit the country as soon as possible. The Government does not “require” the Contractor to pay premium overtime rates for any employees. As stated in solicitation Section L, paragraph 3.6.2, “Offerors shall propose in accordance with their corporate policy on Over Time, Weekends and Holidays.”

Question (Page 21) – Will the Government consider modifying the presolicitation to allow United States Permanent Residents (i.e. Green Card holders) to perform work that is unclassified?

Answer: The Government will address this in the final solicitation.

Question (Page 33) – Will the Government consider modifying the Junior and Journeyman BA/BS degree requirement to consider adding a standard experience/education substitutions (which it has done for the Senior Level personnel) to enable greater Contractor flexibility to provide qualified, cost competitive personnel to perform work within the identified labor categories?

Answer: A standard experience/education substitution will apply to all labor categories. The final solicitation will be updated accordingly.

Question (Page 36 and 37) – The identified education requirement for the Software Engineer, Senior and Computer Programmer, Senior/Journeyman/Junior is “Computer Science or Computer Programming.” Many qualified employees who perform similar work received their education by completing computer certifications instead of achieving degrees. Will the Government consider identifying relevant certifications necessary to perform the work envisioned under this acquisition that would substitute for the current degree requirements?

Answer: Please see the answer to question #8.

Question (Page 37) – The identified education requirement for the Software Quality Assurance Analyst, Tester Journeyman/Junior is “Computer Science or Computer Programming.” Many qualified employees who perform similar work received their education by completing computer and/or quality certifications instead of achieving degrees. Will the Government consider identifying relevant certifications necessary to perform the work envisioned under this acquisition that would substitute for the current degree requirements?

Answer: Please see the answer to question #8.

Question (Page 92) – Section (c) states that “The offeror shall identify whether the labor rates proposed are FPRSs, CBAs, AWDs, ACO/DCAA recommended rates (FPRRs), or offeror proposed rates (FPRPs). Are any of the Government identified labor categories subject to Area Wage Determinations?

Answer: None of the Government identified labor categories subject to Area Wage Determinations.

Question (Page 105) –Under “Past Performance” the “Magnitude: Dollar Value” the Government has identified a “Contract total value in excess of $15M, annual contract value in excess of $3M” as the criteria to assist in determining the relevancy for past performance. However, historical performance on this acquisitions predecessor N00421-14-D-0001 contract (as referenced by Federal Procurement Data Series - FPDS) identified 57 contract actions with only one action having a value of $10,085.096.85. On average, the 26 contracts actions (by Contract ID) have a total value of $31,539,223.51 (average value was $828,431.67) between 26 Nov 2013 and 30 May 2017. Based upon historical performance, we recommend that the Government consider revising this evaluation criteria as follows in an effort to maximize potential competition for this acquisition based upon the fact that the predecessor contract was not competitively procured:

o Contract or task order total value in excess of $1M Answer: The Government will address this in the final solicitation.

On page 2, (5) states that “The contractor will be required to have a SECRET Facility clearance. Security clearance requirements for personnel are identified in the Performance-Based Statement of Work (Section C), paragraph 4.3”. Yet on page 3, (5) states that “The contractor will be required to have a TOP SECRET Facility clearance. Security clearance requirements for personnel are identified in the Performance-Based Statement of Work (Section C), paragraph 2.12.” Please clarify.

Answer: Please see question # 1. The reference to PBSOW paragraph 2.12 will be corrected in the final solicitation to PBSOW paragraph 5.5

Is in-country / local labor hired in support of installation tasks considered Labor under this contract?

Answer: In-country / local labor hired in support of installation tasks shall be approved by the Government in advance and may be billed as a Material / ODC expense. The final solicitation will be updated accordingly.