RFP-RFQ Q AND A N3220522R0004 0001.docx

MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND

N3220522R0004

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 0001

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

Example:

1. With regards to an anticipated contract start date of August 15, 2022, when will the incumbent contractor end their contract support? When will the new Contractor be expected to assume full contract responsibility? Can the Government provide a copy of the Incumbent Contractor’s Phase-Out Plan?

ANSWER: The incumbent contract is currently scheduled to end 30 September 2022. This requirement is anticipated to begin a phase-in process August 15, 2022. With this requirement fully assuming responsibility 1 October 2022.

2. Will the new contractor be required to offer employment to current incumbent contractor “Wage-Determined” employees, assigned to this contract? If so, will this requirement also include Key Personnel?

ANSWER: A new contractor will be required to offer employment to the current incumbent contractor’s employees as the incumbent has first right of refusal.

3. With regards to the RFP Pricing Sheet, Key Personnel positions, Transportation Manager and Transportation Specialist are not listed. Please advise how an offeror should price these labor categories.

ANSWER: It is incumbent upon the offeror to select the labor categories and price those labor categories accordingly.

4. With regards to the RFP Pricing Sheet, the requirement for Offerors to include proposed Material and Travel cost. This requirement clearly gives the incumbent contractor an unfair competitive advantage, as they have access to historical material and travel cost data. In this regard, can the Government provide historical cost data for Material and Travel? If for some reason the Government does not have historical Material and Travel Costs data, would the Government be willing to add CPFF CLINS for Material and Travel.

ANSWER: This will be a FFP contract. The Government is not entertaining CPFF CLINS.

5. With regards to the RFP Pricing Sheet, what is the difference between “Travel Total” and “Travel Expense”?

ANSWER: There is no difference, the “Travel Expense” pulls what is entered for “Travel Cost.” “Travel Total” pulls what is entered into “Travel Expense.”

6. With regards the RFP Pricing Sheet, are Labor Categories for “Project Manager”, “ILS/Configuration Analyst”, and “Data Technician” considered Non-Key Personnel? Will the Government provide the “minimum requirements” for these Labor Categories? Will the government provide qualifications for these positions?

ANSWER: Key personnel are identified in the PWS. It is incumbent upon the Contractor to determine the qualifications of the individuals to perform the service in this performance based service.

7. With regards to the provision for Phase 2 (24-7) Operations, how will the Government reimburse the contractor for these added costs/expanded support requirement?

ANSWER: Reference DFARS 232.237-7023(f) states: “The Contractor shall segregate and separately identify all costs incurred in continuing performance of essential services in a crisis situation. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer of an increase or decrease in costs within ninety days after continued performance has been directed by the Contracting Officer, or within any additional period that the Contracting Officer approves in writing, but not later than the date of final payment under the contract. The Contractor’s notice shall include the Contractor’s proposal for an equitable adjustment and any data supporting the increase or decrease in the form prescribed by the Contracting Officer. The parties shall negotiate an equitable price adjustment to the contract price, delivery schedule, or both as soon as is practicable after receipt of the Contractor’s proposal.”

8. With regards to the requirement for Contractor to provide local transportation and deliveries, is the Contractor required to provide this capability at all CONUS and OCONUS contract locations?

ANSWER: Yes the contractor needs to provide this at all locations.

9. Paragraph 13.3 indicates that two Transportation Specialists are required at the Guam MSC Warehouse, please confirm this requirement.

ANSWER: Paragraph 13.3.4 reads:

Material Management Supervisor Transportation Specialist

10. As there are 3-major holidays between RFP release and Proposal Due Date, would the Government consider extending the Proposal Due Date until January 21, 2022?

ANSWER: Response date will be extended to 24 Jan 2022

11. With regards to Evaluation Factors for Award, does the Government intend to review and evaluate all Technical Proposals received, or only the Lowest-Priced Offeror’s Technical Proposal?

ANSWER: The Government intends to review proposals received as laid out in the Addendum to FAR 52.212-2.

12. With regards to the table provided for “Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires (May 2014), will the Government provide SCA Wage-Determined Labor Category correlations, or should Offerors propose SCA Wage-Determined Labor Category correlations?

ANSWER:

Department of Labor Wage determinations were provided with the solicitation. The contractor shall propose labor categories it deems appropriate to fulfill the service requirement.

13. With regards to the RFP Pricing Sheet – Material Costs, what types of materials will be required to be purchased by the Contractor?

ANSWER: These would include all Personal Protective Equipment and consumables necessary to manage the material, unrelated to General Equipment such as MHE, which is provided and maintained by the GOV (N44):

-Banding/de-banding -Triwalls/boxes -Pallets, for when pallets are broken.

-Shrink wrap -packaging/preservation material (e.g. Styrofoam shrimp).

-tape

14. With regards to the RFP requirement to provide a Labor Market Analysis for the places of performance stipulated, does this market analysis need to include OCONUS locations in which the Offeror plans to recruit and staff from CONUS locations?

ANSWER: Yes. From all locations.

15. With regards to the RFP requirement for the Contractor to temporarily fill positions due to leave/vacation to provide on-site coverage, these requirements seen unreasonable and very costly for OCONUS location requirements. Could the Government please better define these requirements?

ANSWER: The requirement is for coverage on-site as required by the contract. The Contractor should have a plan that allows for coverage during leave/vacations to ensure there is no lapse in coverage. Lapses in coverage because of planned absences is unacceptable.

16. On page 87 in the proposal instructions Table 1 page limits indicates Volume III is past performance. However, there are no instructions for past performance in the proposal instructions. Would the government provide the detailed instructions for past performance Volume III?

ANSWER: It will be added to the solicitation.

17. On page 93, the Evaluation Criterial refers to Past Performance Questionnaires. However, the proposal instructions do not refer to past performance questionaires. Additionally, there is no attachment form for the past performance questionaires. Would the government please provide instructions for past performance questionaires and the form?

ANSWER: The Government will provide.

18. Paragraphs 3.1.2 and 3.2.4.2 of the PWS reference cold chain compliance and I-MED storage, respectively – can the Government confirm that W-143 will have cold chain/I-MED compliant refrigerators?

ANSWER: Refrigeration is a Government provided capability; not something the contractor would need to provide or maintain.

19. Paragraph 3.1.3.5 of the PWS is grouped with 3.1.3.4 in the deliverable table as being required only once, within 12 months of initiating the contract. Respectfully request that the Government confirm that this is correct – it appears to be an ongoing requirement throughout the life of the contract.

ANSWER: Para 3.1.3.4 is a one-time “heavy lift” effort to enter all weights and dimensions for all line items.

20. Paragraph 3.1.3.7 of the PWS references processing templates – respectfully request that the Government confirm this should read “temp-tale.”

ANSWER: The paragraph reads correctly.

21. Paragraph 3.2.4.5 of the PWS refers to reference T9070-BN-DPC-010/671-1 – respectfully request that the Government provide this reference with the solicitation documents.

ANSWER: Will be provided with the amended solicitation.

22. Does PWS Paragraph 3.3.6 include DRMO pickups from ships?

ANSWER: Yes, it included DRMO pickups from ships.

23. There do not appear to be any proposal requirements provided for Volumes III (Past Performance) and IV (Price). Respectfully request that the Government provide instructions for what should be included in these volumes.

ANSWER: Will be added to the solicitation.

24. The proposal requirements for Volume II (Technical) Subfactor A(4) refer to Key Personnel listed in Section 12 of the PWS – respectfully request that the Government clarify that resumes are required for all Key Personnel listed in Section 13 of the PWS vice Section 12.

ANSWER: Resumes are required for Key Personnel listed in Section 13. The typographical error will be corrected.

25. The proposal requirements for Volume II (Technical) Subfactor B(1)(iii) reference shipboard inventory support, which does not appear to be included in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Respectfully request that the Government clarify this requirement.

ANSWER: This requirement will be removed. It was included in error.

26. The solicitation’s Evaluation Criteria C(2)(d) reference on page 93 of 94 of the RFP Past Performance Questionnaires – are offerors required to submit questionnaires to the Government for completion and submission? If so, respectfully request that templates be provided.

ANSWER: Offerors will provide the questionnaires to their respective previous relevant customers to be submitted directly to the MSC Contracting Officer.

27. The Price Proposal Spreadsheet (cell I29) shows one fewer FTE per year (103) in the option years than the base year (104). Believe the option years need changed to match the base year.

ANSWER: A revised proposal spreadsheet is provided. The Offeror will indicate the proposed hours for each labor category and propose labor categories it deems appropriate to fulfill the service requirement.

28. In the Price Proposal Spreadsheet we do not understand the intent of the formula in Column L (Rate Escalation information). Respectfully request that the Government clarify what is intended in this column.

ANSWER: These were the Government’s notes and will be removed with the resubmission.

29. Page 94 of the RFP refers to a summary tab in the Price Proposal Spreadsheet but there is no such tab.

ANSWER: Summary Tab added.

30. The Labor Categories Transportation Manager (2 FTE) and Transportation Specialist (4 FTE) as described in the RFP are not included in the Price Proposal Spreadsheet.

ANSWER: Labor categories will be added to the Pricing Spreadsheet

31. The resume template provided by the Government includes several fields which do not seem applicable to determining whether proposed candidates meet the labor category requirements (e.g. “Volunteer Work & Community Involvement”). It also requests personal information not generally provided in proposals (e.g. employee address, phone number, etc.). Lastly, would the Government please clarify whether it intends to perform reference checks on each person proposed? This would seem to be a company responsibility.

ANSWER: The request was for standard resume formats. It is not the Government’s intent to conduct reference checks on presented resumes.