RFP-RFQ_Q_AND_A.docx

MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND-NORFOLK

RFP No. N32205-13-R-6005

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The following are answers to questions received from potential offerors. The answers provide clarification only and DO NOT constitute an amendment to the solicitation.

1. Question: Under Section 1 General, page 50 in the Instructions to Offerors, can you please elaborate on the submission of the binders. What constitutes a “… sealed binder..”?

Answer: A sealed binder has a seal of some sort (e.g. tape, plastic) to close the binder. You may also enclose the binder in a envelope. The contract specialist will have to break the seal on each individual binder once the solcitiation closes to protect any proprietary information in the proposal.

2. Question: In the Description of Services, 1.B Transportation: The average number of student to transport is 60. A commercial bus holds 56 so 2 buses will be required. If 2 buses make the trip from the hotel(s) to the training center, do you consider that 1 trip or 1 trip per bus meaning 2 trips?

Answer: In accordance with 1.B Transportation, we would consider that one trip to include any associated costs with that trip.

3. Question: Between pages #3 and #8 of the solicitation, each transportation CLIN requires to quote 550 single trips, representing 225 round trips, to equal 225 days of service. According to Page #12 of the solicitation, first paragraph reads “The Contractor shall provide a single trip transportation rate per day, including all applicable taxes in the composite rate. However, generally, the U.S. Government is tax exempt. At a minimum, there will be at least 2 single trips each day (one from the hotel to the Training Center in the morning, and one from the Training Center back to the hotel in the afternoon).” And later in same page #12, paragraph 5 it reads “For planning purposes, the Contractor should assume there will be two drop offs in the morning and two pickups in the afternoon on each day.” Would you please let me know how many days of service, per week or month we should contemplate?

Answer: See Amendment 01 to the solicitation that clarifies parapraph 5 on page 12. Also, the extact days of service are unknown at this time, which is the reason we state to “estimate 550 single trips”.

4. Question: I was wondering if we would have the ability to offer a two bedroom two bathroom suite for 2 guests? Each person in the two bedroom suite will have their own TV, bathroom, bedroom and only have to share common living room/dining room/kitchen space. If we are keeping the room in inventory for the entire year, the longer term guests can be placed in them so they will not have new roommates coming and going as often.

Answer: No, this is not possible per CIVMAR union requirements. As stated in the performance work statement, they shall be single rooms.

5. Question: I have a question, on page 52 of 55 #19. We have an emergency generator in the event of a power outage. We also have emergency lights in the stairwells that meets IHG life safety brand standards and EWT ordinances. Burn time is a minimum of 90 minutes as required by both. They are not connected to the generator. Does this meet your requirements?

Answer: Yes, this meets the requirement.

6. Question: In the Instructions to Offerors, page 50, paragraph 2: “Offerors shall complete Blocks 12, 17, 23, 24, and 30 of SF 1449…..” Blocks 23 and 24 only allow for one unit price and one total amount and there are multiple price points and CLIN’s. Which CLIN would you like us to put in 23 and 24 please?

Answer: Block 23-unit price will be removed in the next amendment, and total price should be put in block 24.

7. Question: Will we be allowed to rotate the primary position between the 3 facilities? i.e. 2013 facility 1 primary, 2014 facility 2 primary, etc

Answer: The Primary Hotel will remain the same throughout the life of the contract. With MSC approval, additional overflow hotels can be added, as well as deleted, but they must always have at least 2 overflow hotels authorized by MSC.

8. Question: Do you have any history as to how long the classes are and how many students are in each class or an average class size and length?

Answer: Based on previous history, the room nights vary from a minimum of 25 rooms per night to a maximum of 120 rooms per night. However, the Government estimate for rooms per night is 65 rooms per night. The length of stay varies. Occupancy does not rely on class size, as multiple classes are held daily.

9. Question: Do the transportation buses need to be DoD inspected and registered?

Answer: No.

10. Question: Will any of the students be providing their own transportation to the worksite? Or do they have the option to provide their own transportation?

Answer: CIVMARS may choose to drive their POVs to the training center, but transportation is to be made available to all CIVMARS who occupy a hotel room.

11. Question: In the above request, instructions to offerors page 51 and beyond ask vendors to "Provide a statement ..." to confirm mandatory amenities. If we are submitting a data sheet for a facility and it states amenities in list form: i.e. refrigerator, Microwave, on-site generator, etc. instead of providing individual statements, will this listing of amenities fulfill the "statement" requirement?

Answer: You still need to provide an individual statement as stated in the instructions to offerors.

12. Question: In the Description of Services, 1.B Transportation: I the event that an overflow hotel is utilized is that considered 2 trips (1 from each hotel) or one?

Answer: Using multiple buses to go to multiple hotels is totally at the discretion of the vendor. It will also depend on the proximity of the hotels to each other, and to the TC-E. If the TC-E is located between these 2 or 3 hotels, it might not be practical to have the bus go past the TC-E and drive 30 minutes down the road to pick up CIVMARS from the other hotel. Be mindful that the total commute time that a CIVMAR is on the bus must not exceed one hour.

13. Question: Would you allow a contractor to propose a managed corporate apartment setting? The apartments would be one bedroom for single occupancy and include weekly housekeeping and an on-site Point of Contact, in addition to all furniture, housewares, full kitchen, full bathroom, linens, utilities, local phone, internet, cable TV, television in living room and bedroom?

Answer: Housekeeping must still be daily and all other lodging requirements must be met as well.

14. Question: Dining facilities: Please clarify if you are looking for space within the hotel to bring catered meals into the hotel?

Answer: No

15. Question: Also, Please verify that a hotel without a restaurant is ok as long as dining is available within one half a mile from the hotel?

Answer: the Contractor shall provide dining facilities for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or there must be dining facilities within one half of a mile from the primary and each of the overflow hotels, including quick service restaurants and/or full service restaurants. In the event the on-site dining facilities at the hotel are closed for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, there must be dining facilities within one half of a mile from the hotels (primary and overflow) which are open for service.

16. Question: Transportation: If transportation is subcontracted to a third party does the provider need to be DOD Approved?

17. Question: The SOW states the facility must have 3 washers and 3 dryers. Will 2 washers and 2 dryers work as long as additional/optional laundry service is offered?

18. Question: Is there any type of schedule or class history/information that you can provide as to the number of students in a class and the length of classes? A by date room count from the previous year? Anything that can tell us the busy months, class lengths and numbers, etc?

Answer: A class schedule or class history of attendance will not be provided with the number of students in a class or the length of the classes. Multiple classes are held daily at the TC-E. However, a schedule showing “New Hire” weeks will be provided, as those weeks could see an increase in room numbers. (I will provide you information concerning numbers for the past year separately) CIVMARS are at the TC-E daily, class or no class. Classes are also held on week-ends and holidays if necessary, which the TC-E would notify the hotel of as soon as it’s known that additional classes will be held. Most New Hires are at the TC-E for 4 weeks, however, Deck Department New Hires can be at the TC-E for 7-8 weeks. However, this could change if some of their training is moved to a VA facility. MSC veteran CIVMARS’ stay can vary from one day to several weeks, depending on what training they are attending. Every effort is made to complete training prior to the Christmas/New Year holiday, so only a minimal number of, if any, rooms would be required during that holiday period.

12 month room history average per night

There have been several nights where the rooms occupied were between 80-100, with one night in October 2010 as high as 112 rooms.

PWS states "Based on previous history, the room nights vary from a minimum of 25 rooms per night to a maximum of 120 rooms per night. However, the Government estimate for rooms per night is 65 rooms per night. The length of stay varies." Also, the primary facility will provide lodging to the majority (greater than 50%) of the CIVMARS at all times. If the maximum is 120 rooms per night, the primary hotel must have available 61 rooms.

19. Question: Also, how far in advance will we be provided the class schedule with numbers and dates?

Answer: Class schedules with numbers and dates will NOT be provided. CIVMARS are at the TC-E daily, class or no class.

20. Question: Would you like billing by the month or by the class?

Answer: Invoicing is at the discretion of the vendor. The more often invoices are submitted, the more often the vendor will receive payment.

21. Question: The 30 page limit on the technical is a bit tight. Each facility has 8-9 pages worth of inspections (Fire, elevator, health, pool, pest, business license, insurance, lounge) that must be provided plus facility information including the mapping and FEMA which is another 2-3 pages totaling about 10-12 pages per facility and with the requirement of 3 facilities your at max or over the limit of 30 pages without the required transportation information and contractor information. We need more than 30 pages for technical, please.

Answer: No. Page limitation on the technical proposal remains unchanged in the solicitation.

22. Question: Our Department Of Health permits and inspections are provided by the township, not the state. Will this be sufficient enough?

Answer: If the documents requested are not available, please state that in your proposal, with reason why they are not available and then provide what equivalent documentation you have in your technical proposal.

23. Question: We do not have a Department Of Health hotel inspection and permit however we have a Department Of Housing inspection. Will this be sufficient enough? Our township health dept said “Also be advised that the Clerks Office no longer issues your facility a Hotel Licensing Document from the Township as this requirement was eliminated when the Division of Housing encountered employee lay off issues. With out the staff on board to inspect the hotels the Township stopped licensing the facilities. Therefore any further requests for your Hotel Licensing I would think would have to be directed to the Department of Community Affairs at the state level.”

Answer: If the documents requested are not available, please state that in your proposal, with reason why they are not available and then provide what equivalent documentation you have in your technical proposal.

24. Question: In Volume 3 where it asks to provide confirmation in the price proposal of the registration of our reps and certs but not a hard copy, exactly how and where do we include that?

Answer: Offerors can either provide a brief statement in the price proposal that their reprsentations and certifications (reps & certs) are valid OR you can provide a screenshot of the first page of the reps & certs.

25. Question: On page 26 of 55 in the proposal, what does simplified acquisition threshold mean?

Answer: The Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) is $150,000.

26. Question: To clarify, the Manpower Reporting Application is completed once we are awarded the contract, correct?

Answer: Correct – the Manpower Reporting Application will be completed after contract award.

27. Question: Upon contract award, will the contractor be provided a training schedule and will the contractor only need to set aside rooms during these class dates?

Answer: A “Training Schedule” will not be provided to the vendor. However, a schedule showing “New Hire” weeks will be provided, as those weeks could see an increase in room numbers. CIVMARS are at the TC-E daily, class or no class. There are also week-ends and holidays when classes are held, and the TC-E would notify the hotel as soon as those classes are scheduled.

28. Question: How many days in advance of arrival will the CIVMAR reservations will be made?

Answer: For New Hires, the TC-E can start to tell the hotel numbers 10-14 days out from arrival. With the veteran CIVMARS attending training, the TC-E attempts to advise the hotel on the Friday before they are scheduled to arrive.

29. Question: Will the reservations be made by sending a list of CIVMARS needing rooms for each class (rooming list) to the contractor?

Answer: Reservations are not made by class, as classes are ongoing daily. A list of New Hires is sent to the hotel in advance, as they start their training as a group. For the MSC Veterans, a list is sent to the hotel normally on Fridays with names and “approximate” length of stay, which can change at any time.

30. Question: How many days in advance will the contractor be able to release the unreserved rooms for sale to other guests?

Answer: All CIVMARS attending training at the TC-E will have reservations made in advance.

31. Question: Should the contractor submit invoices in WAWF weekly? What will the payment terms be?

Answer: Invoice submission is entirely up to the vendor. The more often the invoices are submitted, the more often the vendor will receive papyment. Payment terms under the contract are NET 30.

32. Question: Are there occasions when CIVMARS are reserved at a non-primary/non-overflow hotel?

Answer: All CIVMARS who live outside the local commuting area of the TC-E and attend training at the TC-E will utilize the contract hotel.

33. Question: Can an offeror propose a primary or overflow facility that is not rated by AAA as a three (3) diamond or higher rated facility but instead is a three (3) star or higher rated facility?

Answer: Response pending.