19R3009_WATSON_QA9_.pdf

MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND

N32205-19-R-3009 WATSON Operation & Maintenance

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS # 9

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

213. Section C-1.6.8.1 last sentence reads:

“The contractor will be reimbursed for extra guard service and crew overtime when required to implement or maintain FPCON requirements if contractor obtained prior

COR approval.”

In the answer to question 131 about section C-1.6.8.2 it implies that the cost for a

Contracted Security Team is not reimbursable. Please clarify, is it the administrative duties arranging the security team that is not reimbursable but the actual cost of the team is reimbursable or is all of it not reimbursable?

ANSWER: It is the Government’s intent that the administrative duties for arranging the contracted security teams under Section C-1.6.8.2 will not be reimbursable. However, the costs to subcontract for a security team will be reimbursable with prior COR approval.

214. 3-7-B-a.iii-Your response to Q 58 regarding L-6 criteria for acceptable Office compatible formats of documents indicates pdf documents are not acceptable. L-7-B-a.iii. requires LOIs are required with (wet) signatures, are the government computers able to access Office documents with imbedded jpg or pdf documents? If not, please provided guidance regarding the desired format for the LOI’s.

ANSWER: The Government will revise Section L-6 (5) to allow documents to be submitted in PDF format. This change will be reflecting in a forthcoming solicitation amendment.

215. AMD 2 states that a credit will be due on the first day of any person in a key personnel billet becomes unavailable. Does unavailable include all days of regular vacation, sick leave, bereavement leave, military active-duty-for-training, and jury duty?

ANSWER: Unavailability does include regular vacation, sick leave, bereavement leave, military active-duty-for-training, and jury duty. Contractor can appeal to the Contracting

Officer on a case-by-case basis regarding the credit.

216. 1.1.4.8.1-This section was re-written in its entirety in Amend 2. The original requirement that:

“Contractor crews shall live onboard during the entire RAV period unless prior authorization is obtained from the COR.”

no longer appears. Is it the government’s intent that crews may live ashore during RAV as a reimbursable expense?

ANSWER: RAV crew berthing is addressed in Section B-1.11 and was removed from

Section C-1.1.4.8.1 as it was redundant.

217. L-7(B)(1)a.i-“Experience and Capability” section specifies ships that are a minimum of 4,500 gross tons and refers to Attachment K-1, but Attachment K-1 indicates

DWT should be listed. Should bidders list vessel “gross tonnage” or “deadweight tonnage” in Attachment K-1?

ANSWER: Attachment K-1 will be revised to read “gross tonnage” vice “deadweight tonnage”. This change will be reflected in a forthcoming solicitation amendment.

218. C-2.5.10.2.4-Is the “Life Cycle Engineer” described here the same as the OPCO’s

“Life Cycle Manager” position as defined by C-3.8.8?

ANSWER: No, the Life Cycle Engineer described in C-2.5.10.2.4 is the Government Life

Cycle Engineer.

219. C-2.5.10.2.4- This question regards participation of the “Life Cycle Engineer” in the pre-availability inspection and the work scope conference. Answer #73 attempted to address our previous question, but the RFP language is still unclear. Is it the

Government’s intent that the Life Cycle Engineer’s participation in the pre-availability inspection and the work scope conference includes visiting the vessel?

ANSWER: See Answer to Question #218 for clarification. The Government intends for the MSC Life Cycle Engineer to participate in all stages of the ship’s availability if possible, to include visiting the vessel for the pre-availability inspection and the work scope conference.

220. C-3.8.1.2-“If assigned to gas turbine ships, then Marine Gas Turbine training must be completed within six months of assignment.” Does this training requirement only apply to the 8 Port Engineers who are assigned to support each vessel, or does it also include the 4 Assistant Port Engineers required under C-3.7?

ANSWER: Both the Port Engineers and Assistant Port Engineers shall complete Marine

Gas Turbine training within six months of assignment to a gas turbine ship.

221. C-1.1.4.5-This section requires a duty watch of two mariners on weekends and holidays. Does MSC require a duty watch during the week-day non-work hours?

ANSWER: The Government will revise Section C-1.1.4.5 to reflect that a duty watch is required during weekday non-work hours for ships in ROS. This change will be reflected in a forthcoming solicitation amendment.

222. Will you please reconsider your answer to Question No. 58 regarding document format for proposal documents and allow documents in Adobe pdf format? Many proposal documents are not possible to acquire and/or provide in an MS compatible format. MSC historically accepted pdf documents in proposals.

ANSWER: The Government will revise Section L-6 (5) to allow documents to be submitted in PDF format. This change will be reflected in a forthcoming solicitation

223. On page 106 of Amendment 0002, it says the following:

C-3.8.4. Qualifications of Engineering Manager

The contractor shall provide an Engineering Manager to support this contract, who meets at least one of the following qualifications:

• Possess a minimum of five years’ experience as a Port Engineer having managed and negotiated at least five shipyard availabilities for ocean going ships with award value greater than three million dollars. This experience shall demonstrate their ability to effectively manage and negotiate complex projects such as shipyard dry dock overhauls and other types of repairs; or

• Possess a minimum of six years' experience serving aboard commercial ocean-going ships as either a Chief Engineer or a First Assistant Engineer unlimited. This experience shall demonstrate effective management of maintenance and repair of commercial ocean-going ships; or

• Possess 12 years’ total experience comprised of one or more of the following:

o An engineering related degree (e.g. Marine Engineer, Marine Architecture;

Mechanical Engineering). A bachelor’s degree will count for three years’ total education experience. A Master’s degree will count for four years’ total education experience. A doctorate degree will count for five years’ total education experience.

o Experience gained while employed by a shipyard in a technical management position.

o Serving active duty in the military performing duties substantially the same as a

Port Engineer.

Five years of the combined experience must include work as a professional engineer. It shall also demonstrate their ability to manage and negotiate complex projects such as shipyard dry dock overhauls and other types of repairs on ocean-going ships.

Questions: Should there be an open bullet in front of “Five years of the combined experience must include work as a professional engineer. It shall also demonstrate their ability to manage and negotiate complex projects such as shipyard dry dock overhauls and other types of repairs on ocean-going ships.”? In other words, is this an additional

12 years experience bullet or an additional minimum qualifications required of the

Engineering Manager (solid bullet)?

ANSWER: There should not be an open bullet in front of “Five years of the combined experience must include work as a professional engineer. It shall also demonstrate their ability to manage and negotiate complex projects such as shipyard dry dock overhauls and other types of repairs on ocean-going ships.” This statement is a caveat to “Possess

12 years’ total experience comprised of one or more of the following:”

224. Q&A 4 and 5 reference another forthcoming solicitation amendment. When can we expect to receive this in order to properly review and adjust proposals?

ANSWER: The Government is actively working on a solicitation amendment that will incorporate changes to the solicitation.

225. Section C -2.5.4 Regulatory Compliance – RFP states “the contractor shall return the ships to the Government in a material condition equal to or better than the condition they were in at the time of initial delivery.” This is an unconditional guarantee that is beyond industry or government standards and is subject to the Governments funding obligations and inherent defects/flaws. Suggest that the language be revised to include

“less normal wear and tear”.

ANSWER: The Government will revise Section C-2.5.4 to include the “Less normal wear and tear” language. This change will be reflected in a forthcoming solicitation

226. The pricing Form D only allows for daily rates for FOS, FOS AMMO, ROS and

RAV. Although ROS periods would normally be CONUS, RAV periods could be CONUS or OCONUS. Crew costs for a RAV done OCONUS would cost more than a CONUS

RAV period. Would you consider adding a separate column to Form D for RAV CONUS versus RAV OCONUS? Or, could you confirm that RAV periods will be CONUS?

ANSWER: See Answer to Question #161.

227. The answer to question 147 states that “Any work completed by the contractor to develop, solicit, or implement a TRANSALT shall be included in the fixed rate.” Please clarify. Are the administrative duties in developing approving and implementing a

TRANSALT non reimbursable BUT the cost for outside contractors such as Naval

Architects, ABS drawing reviews, IA to complete the TRANSALT etc. ARE reimbursable under this process?

ANSWER: Administrative costs associated with the contractor developing, soliciting and implementing the TRANSALT are not reimbursable. If the contractor is required to subcontract with a third party for the development or execution of the TRANSALT, then those costs are reimbursable with prior COR approval.

228. There have been numerous questions regarding the transition from ROS to

FOS. The answer to these questions is to see question 55. The answer to question 55 states that section C-1.1.4.7 will be amended. When can we expect to see this amendment? Since these questions, amongst others, remain unanswered we would request that MSC consider an extension to the solicitation.

ANSWER: The Government is actively working on a solicitation amendment that will incorporate changes to the solicitation.

229. DD-254 REV1 (Amend 2)-DD-254 Form provided with Amendment 2 is protected and only allows input of FSO digital signature. Please provide a fillable form which will allow for the input of Contractor Name, Cage Code and CSO as well as FSO input.

ANSWER: See Answer to Question #195

230. L.7.C.(2) This section states that the past performance narratives shall be no longer than 10 full pages total in length and that up to 5 contracts can be cited. However, Attachment I Amend 2 is formatted in such a way that implies an additional constraint of

2 pages per contract. Please confirm that the total length of the narrative is limited to 10 pages for 1-5 contracts referenced.

ANSWER: Attachment I Amend 2 is formatted to illustrate that the administrative information in boxes one through eight do not count towards the Past Performance narratives page number count. The Offerors are able to divide the maximum page count in a manner that is best suited for their solicitation response.

231. C-5.3.10-In answer to question 68, the cost to use a warehouse to consolidate shipments was not reimbursable. In reviewing the NGDS information, aggregate shipments would receive a lower price. Please review the response that the warehouse costs are not reimbursable as the use of a warehouse may ultimately save on shipping costs.

ANSWER: The Government determined it is in its best interests to leave the requirement as it is currently written.

232. C-5.3.10-The NGDS contract provides a discount for aggregate shipments which may save on shipping costs to the vessel. Would the cost of shipping from a vendor to a consolidation point, as included on the vendor PO, be reimbursable?

ANSWER: The cost of shipping spare and repair parts from a vendor to a consolidation point are reimbursable. The cost of shipping consumable parts from a vendor to a consolidation point are not reimbursable.

233. L-7 B-Do the Attachments K-1, K-2, and K-3, ISO 9001:2015 Certificate, SMS

Certificate, SMS Index, and SMS Document of Compliance count against the 30 pages or the 10 foldouts that are allowed in Volume II?

ANSWER: The Government will revise Section L-7.B.(Volume II) in a forthcoming solicitation amendment to state that the following documents will not count towards the

30 page count: Attachment K-1, Attachment K-2, Attachment K-3, ISO 9001:2015

Certificate, SMS Certificate, SMS Index and SMS Document of Compliance

234. Section H-2 (b) states the following:

If key shore side personnel become unavailable for work under the contract for whatever reason a credit will be calculated starting on the first full day of the key personnel unavailability and shall be handed IAW Section C and G.

Please clarify what is meant by “unavailable for work under the contract for whatever reason”. Does this include routine vacations, bereavement leave, jury duty, two week reserve duty, etc.? In these cases the personnel are still being paid by the contractor and will be returning to his/her position upon returning to the office. If deductions are taken for these absences, is there a minimum period of absence before the deduction is applied or is it immediately taken on the first day of the absence?

ANSWER: See Answer to Questions #215. Unavailable for work under this contract means the person is not available to support contract requirements.