Amend 4 - QAs for Posting.docx

Solicitation N65236-16-R-0006-0003 Engineering and Operational Support for Aviation and Polar Programs Questions and Answers

1. QUESTION: Solicitation Section L, Factor F(6) states: The four month Polar Season Preparation Option CLIN 0001 under TO1 shall be a CPFF CLIN and all offerors shall solely price the CLIN 0001 effort using the government provided plug number value of $434,000 and which shall be the base for offerors to add any applicable indirect rates and fixed fee.

a. Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime: The “INSTRUCTIONS” tab states to “Populate ONLY those cells highlighted in yellow”. The “SUMMARY” tab has yellow highlighted cells under the column for CLIN 0001 (Polar Season Preparation) that allow offerors to add costs. Are offerors supposed to ignore these cells?

Government Response: Yes, that will be corrected in Amend 0004. Offerors are solely to apply applicable directs/indirects and fee to the Government provided plug numbers. Offerors shall NOT BID or revise the hours or plug numbers provided for CLIN 0001 of TO1 Polar Season Preparation. The hours that were added and provided in the Amend 0002 Attachment 4A Pricing Model update were for “informational purposes” only and to provide context to the Government’s estimated labor distribution for the 5.232 hours for the four month CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation effort. To avoid confusion, the labor distribution will be removed from the Attachment 4A Pricing Model 4A in Amend 0004.

b. Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime: The “SUMMARY” tab under the column for CLIN 0001, Polar Season Preparation factors in the fixed fee, but does not factor in indirect rates. Please advise.

Government Response: The Attachment 4A Pricing Model shall be corrected in Amend 0004.

2. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime seems to have many hidden rows and columns that are important to the overall pricing. Are offerors supposed to unhide these cells?

Government Response: No, only price the cells shown.

3. QUESTION: Proposal instructions require submission of Section B, Schedule of Supplies or Services which requires the offeror to complete (fill in) the estimated cost and fixed fee for a 5 year ordering period. The Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime and Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub do not produce the estimated cost and fixed fee for all 5 years. Please advise.

Government Response: The RFP instructions in Amend 0002 were revised to identify offerors are to fill in Section B of the basic contract “solely” for the CLIN 1001 6 month Option to Extend Services value, only for the basic contract. The pricing models 4A and 4B serve two purposes 1) for offerors to price the Task Order (TO1) requirements, i.e. CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation (4 months) and CLIN 0002 Annual Polar Operations, and 2) to price the proposed and evaluated value for the basic contract CLIN 1001 6 month Option to Extend Services IAW 52.217-8. As identified in the RFP, the Government has provided the overall IDIQ ceiling amount for the basic contract of $48,966,600, which shall encompass the aggregate values of the basic contract CLIN 0001 and Option CLIN 1001. Upon award, the Government will deduct the awardees value for Option CLIN 1001 (6 MONTH ORDERING PERIOD) from the Government provided, overall IDIQ ceiling value of $48,966,600. As a result, only CLIN 1001 shall be priced by offerors for inclusion in Section B of the basic contract proposal response.

NOTE: Pricing models 4A and 4B are NOT the historical SPAWAR model whereby offerors price the “entire 5 year IDIQ ceiling” using the Government provided hours and plug numbers to establish the overall IDIQ ceiling value for the entire 5 year ordering period. It is has been tailored to apply solely to “TO1”, CLIN 0001 and CLIN 0002, and the “basic contract” CLIN 1001 Option to Extend Services associated expenses as described above. Pricing Model 4A provides Government provided and mandatory plug numbers for expected deliverable hours and expenses associated with the four month, TO1, CLIN 0001 Polar Preparation Effort. Offerors are solely to apply direct/indirect rates and fixed fee to the Government provided plug numbers. with no exception. Offerors are not to propose alternate labor hours, price individual labor rates, labor categories, or add in any additional values or amounts beyond the aforementioned application of the offerors associated direct/indirect rates and fixed fee for CLIN 0001. These fixed hours and plug numbers are provided to ensure consistency among all competitors for the four month CLIN 0001 Polar Preparation Effort.

4. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime “RATES” tab, column AC, rates for the 6 Month Option that initiates 01 Mar 2022 are only escalated from year 1 of CLIN 0002. Should the rate column escalate from year 5?

Government Response: Offerors shall price the CLIN 1001 6 Month Option to Extend Services effort based upon the projected rates for the period of approximately 1 Nov 2022 through 30 April 2022 (corrected in Amend 0004 based on est. period of performance initiation of CLIN 0001 of 1 Nov 2017) and utilizing the hours and ODCs identified in the pricing model which equates to 50% of the TO1 CLIN 0002 Annual Operations Support effort. As noted in the Government response to Question 3, there is no Year 2 through 5 priced by offerors. However, the pricing for CLIN 1001 would equate to an ordering period of months 61 through 65 after award

5. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime “TEAM HOURS” tab has hours for the Engineer/Scientist 3 (3a) & (3b) (Rows 8 and 22). Should these be Engineer/Scientist 3 (5a) & (5b)?

Government Response: No, they should not be 5a and 5b. The intent of the revision to the Pricing Model in Amend 0002 was to differentiate “a” as an engineer and “b” as an Atmosphere and Space Scientist (i.e. Meteorologist). The lettering addition will be deleted in Amend 0004 and be updated with associated title for clarity

6. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime “TEAM HOURS” and “RATES” tab have hours allocated to the Engineer/Scientist 5 in the Contractor site and the Antarctica site. Is it possible to identify if these hours are applied to the Engineer/Scientist 5 (3a) or (3b) for the appropriate site?

Government Response: This is an error in the pricing model which shall be corrected in Amend 0004. There are no hours or costs associated with Engineer/Scientist 5 for the TO1 or CLIN 1001 requirements.

7. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime “OTHER LABOR DATA” tab does not identify all the professional labor categories and does not depict which of the Engineer/Scientist line-items are (Xa) and (Xb).

Government Response: This was an oversight in the Amend 0002 revision to the pricing model. Corrections will be made in Amend 0004 which will utilize the same nomenclature identified in response to Question 5 above under “RATES” “TEAM DATA”, “OTHER LABOR DATA” and “SALARY DATA”.

8. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime “SALARY DATA” tab does not identify all the professional labor categories and does not depict which of the Engineer/Scientist line-items are (Xa) and (Xb).

Government Response: See response to Questions 5 and 7 above.

9. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub seems to have many hidden rows and columns that are important to the overall pricing. Are offerors supposed to unhide these cells?

Government Response: No, offerors are to price only those columns visible. There are no columns hidden that are important or relevant overall pricing.

10. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub “RATES” tab has hours allocated to the Engineer/Scientist 5 in the Contractor site and the Antarctica site. Is it possible to identify if these hours are applied to the Engineer/Scientist 5 (3a) or (3b) for the appropriate site?

Government Response: This is an error in the Amend 0002 Attachment 4B Pricing model. There are no Engineer/ Scientist 5 hours for the TO1 requirements or CLIN 1001 pricing.

11. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub seems to have links to external files. Should offerors ignore links?

Government Response: Yes. This was an error in Amend 0002 which will be corrected in Amend 0004. All of the links refer back to the input tabs (Contractor Data Input, Rates and Other Labor Data).

12. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub “RATES” tab requires subcontractors to unhide columns in order to enter rates. Once columns are exposed, the rates are lined up under the CLIN 0001/Polar Season Preparations section. Please advise.

Government Response: Offerors SHALL NOT price any hours or effort under the TO1 CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation effort. The Government has provided aggregate hours, aggregate net labor costs, and ODC plug numbers to be used as the baseline for all offerors without any tailoring or modification. Offerors shall only apply applicable direct/indirect rates and fee to TO1 CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation effort ONLY.

13. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub does not calculate years 2 through 5. Please advise.

Government Response: See response to Question 4.

14. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4B_Pricing Model_Sub “OTHER LABOR DATA” tab …

a. Does not identify all the professional labor categories

Government Response: This was an error in Amend 0002 which will be corrected in Amend 0004.

b. Does not depict which of the Engineer/Scientist line-items are (Xa) and (Xb) Government Response: This was an error in Amend 0002 which will be corrected in Amend 0004 using the nomenclature and revisions identified in response to Questions 5 and 7 above.

c. Includes Subject Matter Expert (SME) 5 which is not a requirement in the Pricing Models Government Response: This was an error in the Amend 0002 pricing model. This will be corrected in Amend 0004 pricing models

d. Includes Weather Forecaster under the Professional Category instead of the SCA Category

Government Response: This was an error in Amend 0002 which will be corrected in Amend 0004.

15. QUESTION: Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime seems to have combined the regular hours and the Night & Weekend hours of the ATC Specialist Center, ATC Specialist Terminal, and the Weather Forecaster II from the original pricing model. Will there be a requirement to price Night & Weekend hours for these categories?

Government Response: This was an error in the Amend 0002 pricing model which will be corrected in Amend 0004 Pricing model.

16. Reference Attachment 4A Pricing Model Prime – Amend 2, Fixed Fee

QUESTION: The original pricing model allowed Fixed Fee to be applied to all cost elements. However, the updated prime model only applies Fixed Fee to Prime and Subcontractor labor, not ODCs. Was this intentional? Were there provisions added to Section B to disallow fee on ODCs?

Government Response: No, this is a formula error in the Amend 0002 pricing model. It will be corrected in Amend 0004.

17. QUESTION: The posted Amend 2 - Exhibit C_Task Order 1 Staffing Requirements shows the Program Manager as Fulltime in CLIN 001 with deployment to Antarctica in December. There is no Project Manager shown in CLIN 001 on that sheet.

The posted Amend 2 - Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime shows the Program Manager with only 106 hours at Contractor Site in Charleston with no deployment in CLIN 001, but shows the Project Manager with 704 hours at Contractor Site Charleston and 108 deployed hours in CLIN 001. Please clarify.

Government Response: There was an error citing a Program Manager and associated hours in Amend 0002, TO1 CLIN 0001 hours. These hours were added for additional clarity and context as to the expected distribution of labor effort associated with the Government provided net plug number of 5,232 labor hours for the TO1 CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation effort. All estimated labor category hours for TO1 CLIN 0001 Polar Season Preparation effort shall be deleted in Amend 0004 to avoid confusion.

18. QUESTION: In the posted Q&A's, it said there was no Engineer/Scientist 5 on this Task Order. The Amend 2-Attachment 4A_Pricing Model_Prime lists Engineer/Scientist 5 in the CLIN 001 RATES and TEAM HOURS area, but not in CLIN 002. Please clarify.

Government Response: This is an error in the Amend 0002 pricing model. It shall be corrected in Amend 0004 pricing model

20. Reference Attachment 4B Sub Pricing Model – Amend 2

· On the Summary sheet, Line 15 Total Labor, G&A is being added twice. Line 11 Labor Cost already includes G&A, and it is being added again on Line 14.

· The Contractor Data Input sheet has a line for subcontractors to add a fee %, and the Summary sheet has a line where fee is calculated based on Line 11 Labor Cost. Per Section L instructions, shouldn’t all fee be included in the Prime contractor proposal and shared with subs via a fee pool arrangement?

· On the Summary sheet, cell C25, the formula should be =SUM(C22:C23). The same correction should be made to cell D25.

Government Response: All identified pricing model issues shall be corrected Amend 0004.

21. Reference Attachment 6 Subcontracting Plan Matrix

a) Should the periods in Line 1 reflect be Base Year 1, Base Year 2, etc. since the contract will be for a 5 year base period and only a 6 month option period?

Government Response 21a): Attachment 6 shall be corrected in Amend 0004 and shall cite Years 1 through Year 5 vs. Base Year and Option Periods as there are no option Ordering periods. There is one 5 year ordering period.

b) Formulas in cells B9-B14 are incorrect. They should reflect SB Type dollars divided by the total subcontracting opportunities in Line 7. For example, the formula in cell B9 should be =C9/C7. The same corrections need to be made for each SB type and each contract period.

Government Response21b: All identified Attachment 6 errors shall be corrected Amend 0004.

22. Reference RFP Amendment 2 Section B CLIN structure and Attachment 4A and 4B pricing models.

a) Section B lists CLIN 0001 as Polar Annual Operations Support with an ordering period of 5 years, but Attachments 4A and 4B list CLIN 0001 as Polar Season Preparation. Which is correct?

Government Response: They are both correct. The Basic contract IDIQ CLIN 0001 is the basic contract Ordering CLIN 0001 for Polar Annual Operations. CLIN 0001 cited in pricing models 4A and 4B is for “TO 1” efforts, not the base contract. The Government anticipates awarding TO1 concurrent with the base contract effort. TO 1 would be an order placed under the basic contract Ordering CLIN 0001.

b) Section B lists CLIN 0002 as CDRLS, but Attachments 4A and 4B list CLIN 0002 as Annual Polar Ops Support. Which is correct? If CLIN 0002 should be CDRLS, where should the values for Annual Polar Operations Support be included in Section B?

Government Response: As noted in the response to a) above, Section B is the “basic contract IDIQ contract” and CLIN 0002 of the basic contract is intended to be associated with CDRL CLINS on issued TOs. However, for the purpose of this RFP and “TO1” pricing, , CLIN 0002 under TO1 represents the “Annual Polar Operations Support and is not CDRL CLIN. Based upon the necessity to incorporate a Polar Season Preparation CLIN and limitations on CLIN numbering, the use of CLIN 0002 under “TO1” was necessary.

23. Reference Q&A #38. The Government response states “…For informational purposes, Engineer/Scientist 4 hours are meteorologists and shall be priced as 4b at both Government and Contractor Sites. Engineer/Scientist 3 are meteorologist at the contractor site and shall be priced as 3a. Engineer Scientist 3 at the Govt site is a Sustaining Eng and shall be priced as 3b.

a) We believe the hours assigned to Engineer/Scientist 4 category, contractor and Government site, should be split evenly between the 4a and 4b categories to properly meet TO1 PWS requirements.

Government Response: Offerors shall price the TO1 requirements in accordance with the Government provided TO1 pricing model provided hours, labor categories, and distribution of hours therein IAW the RFP instructions

b) The answer to Question 38 states that Engineer/Scientist 3, contractor site, should be for meteorologists and priced as 3a, but Engineer/Scientist 3 – Atmospheric and Space is 5b. Also, the prime and sub pricing models designate the Engineer/Scientist 3 category, contractor site, as 3a. This should be updated to 5b.

Government Response: As identified in response to Questions 5 and 7 above, Amend 0004 shall update the nomenclature and titles of personnel in the pricing models for clarity.

c) The answer to Question 38 states that Engineer/Scientist 3, Government site, should be for sustaining engineering and priced as 3b, but the standard Engineer/Scientist 3 category is 5a. Also, the prime and sub pricing models designate the Engineer/Scientist 3 category, Government site, as 3b. This should be updated to 5a.

Government Response: See response to Question 23 above.

24. Question: CDRL A005, Annual Staffing Plan, requires staffing of weather forecasters and observers in order to cover the ROF and McMurdo Station watch schedules, and also requires a plan IAW PWS 3.11.1.1. Base PWS 3.11.1.1 states requirements for the Annual Staffing Plan that do not mention weather staffing but seem to be for all functions. There is also no due date on the CDRL. TO1 PWS 11.1 does not include A005 at all. Is CDRL A005 a MET or Management deliverable on TO1?

Government Response: CDRL A005 shall be corrected in Amend 0004 to include a due date of 30 DATO/ASREQ. CDRL A005 is a management CDRL.

25. Question: CDRL A020 requires a Cyber Security Workforce (CSWF) report but states “if applicable”. Is the CSWF applicable to this contract? If so, which positions are identified as members of the government’s Cyber Security Workforce and what are the categories, specialties and levels?

Government Response: Yes CSWF is applicable to this contract and is a requirement based upon the on the information system access levels required for performance of efforts under an individual TO. For TO1, the labor category Computer Systems Analyst will be a member of the CSWF as an Information Assurance Manager (IAM) Level 2 allowing privileged access.

26. Question: The Base PWS specifies in paragraph 5.4 that Earned Value Management is applicable on all future TOs and not selectively determined at the TO level. The TO1 PWS 5.2 states that EVM is not required. Which is correct?

Government Response: Paragraph 5.4 of the base contract is correct. The Attachment 7 TO1 PWS, para 5.2 will be corrected in Amend 0004 to identify EVM applies as indicated in the base contract and is not selectively chosen at the TO level.

27. Question: Base PWS 5.4.2 and CDRL A014 state requirements for the Integrated Program Management Report (IPMR) IAW DID DI-MGMT-81861. The DID states that the purpose of the report is to obtain cost and schedule performance information on contracts requiring compliance with the ANSI/EIA-748 Earned Value Management System. However, TO1 states that EVM is not required. Is this report required?

Government Response: EVM is required at the basic contract and applies to all issued TOs. The Attachment 7 TO1 PWS shall be updated/corrected in Amend 0004.

28. Question: TO1 PWS 7.0 states no GFP will provided. However, a number of positions are to be located at the government site in Charleston. How will these personnel obtain computing assets with which to perform their job?

Government Response: Provision of office space for personnel to utilize, that is not in the possession or custody of contractors, is not GFP.

29. Question: With the extension of the solicitation due date, request extension of the date for emailing past performance Questionnaires from 22 June to 29 June.

Government Response: This was an oversight in the Amend 0002 and has been updated and extended in Amend 0003 to reflect the revised proposal submission date of 7 July 2017 @ 12:00 PM (Eastern).

30. Question: With respect to the Engineer/Scientist 3, the Government Response to Question 38 states: “Engineer/Scientist 3 are meteorologist at the contractor site and shall be priced as 3a. Engineer Scientist 3 at the Govt site is a Sustaining Eng and shall be priced as 3b.” In the Personnel Qualifications included in the RFP, the Engineer/Scientist 3 is itemized as “5a. Engineer/Scientist 3” and “5b. Engineer/Scientist 3 – Atmospheric and Space Scientist”. Will the Government clarify and confirm that the Engineer/Scientist 3 at the contractor site should actually be priced as 5b and is a meteorologist while the Engineer/Scientist 3 at the Government site should actually be priced as 5a and is a Sustaining Eng?

Government Response: See Government’s response to Questions 5 and 23.

***(QUESTION #60 from Q&A’s Amendment 0002)*** QUESTION: 60. Question: In Clause 5252.228-9200 and 9201 (Liability Insurance), Comprehensive General Liability and Automobile Liability insurance are called out as requirements. Aviation liability insurance is not addressed. In the Final Attachment 7 Task Order 1 Performance Work Statement, Table 8-2, it shows “ATC Liability Insurance” as a CAP item. Will the Government require Aviation Liability coverage? If purchased by the Contractor, please verify it is a cost reimbursable item?

Government Response: Aviation Liability insurance is a typical requirement for this program and a historical cost. As a result, it was included in the CAP for these reasons. Aviation Liability insurance has historically been a reimbursable item as long as the costs a reasonable, allowable, and allocable to the contract.

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