28 NOV QAs_16R0026__ECC Posting 1st 40 questions 28Nov17 JS v1.pdf

Q&As – CYBER MISSION ENGINEERING – N65236-16-R-0026

NOTE: This is the first Q&A response to questions submitted on N65236-16-R-0026. Questions submitted before

11/20/2017 are included in the document below. Questions received on 11/20/2017 will be answered in the second

Q&A response. The second Q&A is tentatively scheduled to be posted the week of 12/4/2017. The content of the

FINAL RFP and its Amendments will take precedence over any and all previously submitted responses to questions.

1 When hiring a new employee, our company

HR personnel typically negotiate a Letter

Offer outlining information such as position, compensation details, and benefits, but we have never used a Letter of Intent (LOI).

Request that the Government provide a template for LOI format with expected content, or provide the major elements

/evaluation criteria that will be used to determine whether the LOI meets RFP requirements.

Offeror’s are required to identify the existence of a signed LOI and the signed date of the LOI, if applicable, via the Attachment 2, Capability

Matrix. Copies of the actual LOI are not requested or required.

2 The evaluation criteria for Element C2, Capability Matrix, states that “The

Government will verify employment status and or possession of signed LOIs via submission of the Capability Matrix

(Attachment 2).” An LOI submitted with a proposal is only an indication of a candidate’s “intent” at that moment in time, and can be expected to change as new positions open, incumbents retire or are hired by others, and for many similar reasons.

How will the Government “verify” a candidate’s intent?

The LOIs serves as verification of employment status through the matrix which identifies current employees or prospective employees.

3 Is it necessary for a Small Business Prime that is submitting the Small Business

Participation plan but not the small business subcontracting plan to provide this information for the companies listed in the

Small Business Participation plan?

Reference RFP Section L-317 Factor G, COST -

Other Proposal Requirements, “(4) Small

Business Subcontracting Plan (only required from the prime large business), and SMALL

BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN.

4 How many of the contract references must be

TS/SCI?

All contract references submitted must be for contract which required access to TS/SCI level data as identified in solicitation provision L-317

Factor A, GATE CRITERIA, subfactor A2.

5 Would the Government please consider extending the due date of RFP Number

N65236-16-R-0026 by two weeks’ time given the issuance of the other Cyber Mission

RFP (N65236-16-R-0036) so as to afford small businesses the ability to bring their full resources to bear in preparing an adequate response to both?

The Government does not intend to extend the due date of the RFP at this time.

6 For any labor category, can the offeror provide more than the minimum required names (e.g., 100 Program/Project Managers

vs. the 20 rows in the Program-Project

Manager worksheet)?

Yes, offerors can provide a higher quantity of candidates for the specified labor categories identified under Factor C, Element C2: Capability

Matrix.

7 Will the Government provide an updated

Attachment 2, or should the offerors add formulas to compute totals?

The Government will update Attachment 2 to include the count for the formulas. Please see

Amendment 0001.

8 Offerors’ TS cleared SCI eligible personnel would be SCI cleared shortly after CME TO award. What value should offerors enter into this column for these personnel?

No value shall be entered for personnel clearances reliant upon award of the CME contract or TO. If a candidate does not currently possess an SCI clearance at the time of proposal submission, then the correct response is N in column J of Attachment 2, and offerors shall identify when the candidate will obtain SCI in column K, if applicable.

9 Attachment 2, What is the minimum number of Program/Project Managers? Attachment 2, has 20 Program? Project Managers, the RFP states 15 in Element C2. Will the

Government provided an amended RFP and/or Attachment 2?

The Government will update Attachment 2 to correct the amount of Program/Project Mangers to 15 FTE to agree with the RFP. Please see

Amendment 0001.

10 For the Prime Pricing Model, should offerors price personnel based on 5252.237-9600

Personnel Qualifications (Minimum) regardless of any security clearance held, or will the Government be amending 5252.237-

9600 Personnel Qualifications (Minimum) to specify the minimum clearance for some/all labor categories?

Yes. Offerors shall price personnel in the

Attachment 5 Prime Pricing Model based on the minimum qualifications cited in 5252.237-9600

This clause is only for the minimum qualifications through the life of the contract.

11 The Government has previously stated the subcontractor pricing will not be required for proposal submission, and no subcontractor pricing model was provided. Please advise whether subcontractor pricing needs to be submitted with the proposal and, if so, will the Government provide the mechanism by which offerors will provide this information

(e.g., subcontractor pricing model)?

As previously stated, no subcontractor pricing evaluation will be conducted in this RFP evaluation. Only the Prime offerors pricing will be evaluated via submission of the Attachment 5

Prime Pricing model.

12 The link to the DoD Small Business Program

Goals is redirected to another webpage and does not provide the most current data.

Please provide the correct link, or provide the minimum goals for all required small business classifications.

http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-

Performance/

Prime Contracting Goals: FY2017

Small Business 22%

HUBZONE Small Business 3%

Service-Disable Veteran-Owned 3%

Small Disadvantaged Business 5%

Women-Owned Small Business 5%

Subcontracting Goals FY2017

Small Business 34%

HUBZONE Small Business 3%

Service-Disable Veteran-Owned 3%

Small Disadvantaged Business 5%

Women-Owned Small Business 5%

13 Given the TS/SCI classification requirements specified in the RFP and the challenges of finding small businesses with the qualifications, capabilities, and personnel to contribute meaningful support to CME unrestricted task orders, would the

Government consider the realistic minimum

The Government will not accept any alternate small business goals that are lower than the DoD

Small Business Goals outlined in http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-

Performance/ and cited under the response to question 12 apply http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-Performance/ http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-Performance/ http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-Performance/ http://business.defense.gov/About/Goals-and-Performance/ small business goals below in lieu of the DoD

Small Business Goals?

SB: 20%

SDB: 5%

WOSB: 3%

VOSB: 5%

SDVOSB: 5%

HUBZone: 1%

HBCU/MI: 0%

14 Will the Government accept any combination of percentage goals among the socio-economic categories such that the overall

20% small business goals is met, and if so will the Government modify the solicitation accordingly?

No, the Government will not modify the solicitation, please see the answer to questions 12 and 13.

15 This requirement restricts the Offeror to presenting only 2 subcontractor team members. In order to meet SB requirements the Offeror has several more team members that the Offeror would like to present in this table and in Section G Cost Proposal

Narrative, Team Summary Chart. Will the

Government consider revising Factor B

Technical Capabilities to allow Offeror to represent the entire proposal team?

No, the Factor B requirements will not be amended. Factor B – Technical Capability specifies that Attachment 1D and the associated narrative may only reference a maximum total of three team members including the Prime in their response to this factor.

Offeror’s may identify their expected team of subcontractors anticipated to be used during the period of performance via the offeror’s proposal response under Factor G - Other Proposal

Requirements, paragraphs (3) and (8) and Factor

E, Small Business Participation.

16 Attachment 5 only reflects CPFF pricing not

FFP as reflected in section B. Will the government provide a revised attachment 5?

As stated in the RFP 52.216-1 this contract is intended to issue CPFF orders, with provisions for FFP orders. While there are FFP ordering

CLINs at the basic contract level, they will not be utilized for evaluation purposes. Attachment 5 is solely utilized for Factor G Cost/Price evaluation.

17 Attachment 5 does not reflect the CLIN structure established in section B. Will the government provide a revised attachment 5?

Please see the answer to question 16. The

Government does not intend to provide a revised

Attachment 5 to match the CLIN structure of the

Solicitation.

18 Attachment 5 does not reflect the PoP stated in the solicitation. Will the government revise attachment 5 to reflect the entire PoP?

The applicable Period of Performance (POP) to be priced in the Attachment 5 Pricing Model is stated in solicitation provision Section L 317 in

Factor G, paragraph (4) and is 1 January 2018 through 31 December 2018. This POP is also indicated on the Instructions tab within

Attachment 5. The Attachment 5 will not be changed to reflect the entire POP.

19 Section L states “This information will not be utilized for evaluation of the basic contract award.” Therefore, it is requested that

Section M be clarified to either remove paragraph (f) or state that the evaluation of

Subcontracts Supporting Data will not impact the award decision of the basic prime

The Government will not remove paragraph f in section M-307 Factor G.

Factor G (f) Prime Submission of FAR 52-244-2

Subcontracts Supporting Data - Upon identification of offerors selected for award, the Government will evaluate the offerors contract. submitted supporting data in accordance with

FAR 44.202-1 to determine the sufficiency of the supporting subcontractor data. Those subcontractors proposed by the Prime with sufficient supporting subcontractor data will be included as an approved subcontractor under clause FAR 52.244-2 Subcontract in the contract award.

20 Please confirm the offeror can submit unclassified information (SCI Access contract number, security phone number, and company CAGE code) for verification purposes for unclassified DD-254s if the customer will not allow an offeror to release the DD-254.

As stated in Section L-349 of the solicitation, the proposal shall NOT contain classified data. As stated in FACTOR A GATE CRITERIA:

NOTE: “In the event the DD254 is classified, the offeror shall provide the following unclassified information for verification purposes: SCI Access

Contract number, security phone number of the claimed SCI access contract, and Company

CAGE Code. The Government will validate the

Subfactor A2 TS/SCI access contract reference requirements via the Attachment 1A and official

DD254 (block 1A: Top Secret) submittals in order to evaluate the offeror’s compliance with the Subfactor A2 Gate Criteria. NOTE: The

TS/SCI contract references cited in Attachment

1A in response to Subfactor A2 shall be identical to the contract references proposed in response to the Factor B requirements under the Reference

Information Sheets provided as Attachments 1B and 1C with no exception. In the event a contract reference is submitted that does not meet the

TS/SCI Access security classification level criteria, the contract reference will not be considered or evaluated and its associated invoiced value shall be deducted from the cumulative invoiced total.”

21 In order to show the wide range of experience of our team, we respectfully request that the members permitted in Attachment 1D be updated to include the Prime Contractor and up to three (3) team members

The Government will not revise the Factor B, Attachment 1D requirements.

22 There are no requirements listed for the

Contract Reference Rationale section. Please stipulate specifically what is required to be provided, and what the acceptance factors are to ensure approval of the submission.

Please see RFP Factor B Technical Capability, where current and relevant contract references are defined as well as the content requirements for the Factor B Reference Information Sheet-

Contract Specific Data Attachment 1C submissions

23 Section L, Element D2: SDP Rationale states

“The offeror shall provide a SDP rationale that justifies their process selection and describes why their specific approach would be appropriate and in context to the system or software to be developed within this solicitation.” Section M, Element D2: SDP

Please see Amendment 0001, to read as follows to Section L-317:

Element D1:

The offeror shall submit a previously developed

SDP that is, or can be directly correlated to, an equivalent C4ISR systems software development effort as identified in this solicitation. The SDP

Rationale States “The Government will evaluate the offeror's SDP rationale and determine if it presents and substantiates a valid approach for the development of software, as represented in the SDP presented for previous work performed.”. Please confirm the SDP Rationale will be evaluated in Element D2, not in D1 per se, and must substantiate the appropriateness of C4ISR support as well as the software development methods used to develop the software intended under this contract?

can only be submitted from the offeror or one of the team members identified in Attachment 1D.

The SDP provided will be an SDP developed and finalized within three years of the date of this solicitation issuance. The offeror shall present a previously developed SDP in accordance with the requirements of the Software Process

Improvement Initiative (SPII) of 13 July 2007.

The information content of the SDP shall follow the framework set forth in IEEE/EIA Std

12207:2008 regarding subject content, level of detail and completeness. The plan shall address and describe how their software development process execution is equivalent to or represents process area alignment fulfillment of Capability

Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 processes areas. CMMI Level 3 version 1.3 will be the baseline for process area mapping when

CMMI is identified as the process model.

PAGE LIMITATIONS: The Software

Development Plan for the Proposed Contract

Effort has no page limitation.

And Element D2:

The offeror shall provide substantiating rationale and justification to support correlation of their process selection and associated SDP to a C4ISR system. The offeror shall provide a SDP rationale that describes why their specific approach would be appropriate and in context to the system or software to be developed within this solicitation. If a team member is proposed to perform the majority of software integration or development, the offeror shall include in their rationale how the Prime will ensure that the work provided by the team member is appropriate to the required processes and framework identified in Institute of Electrical and Electronics

Engineers (IEEE) Std 12207-2008.

PAGE LIMITATIONS: The Software

Development Plan Rationale for the Proposed

Contract Effort is limited to two pages.

24 Could the government please clarify what an offeror should provide via Section B? What is the government looking for in Section B as the pricing model is only for the base period and no other option periods.

Offerors are not required to populate Section B by CLIN. The contract ceiling has been provided by the Government. Offerors are to provide the proposed fixed fee and profit rates for CLINs

0001, 0002, 1001, 1002, 2001 and 2002.

Additionally for CLINs 0001, 1001 & 2001, offerors shall provide the application base as outlined in Section B. Further clarification will be provided in issuance of Amendment 0001.

25 Currently the pricing model includes pricing Please see the answer to question 24.

for only the base (CLIN 1). However, Section

B has entry requirements for multiple CLINs.

Would the government please provide guidance as to how they would like to see this information completed, or should it be left blank?

26 C.5.3.1.5 (b) states that “If the average actual burdened labor rates exceeds the average proposed / negotiated rate by 15%, the contractor shall send notice and rationale

(CDRL A014) for the rate variance to the

COR who will then send appropriate notification to the Contracting /Ordering

Officer.” Will the Government please clarify whether “average proposed/negotiated rate” refers to the labor rate proposed for the basic contract or the rate proposed for the individual task order?

The average proposed/negotiated rate applies to the labor rates proposed at the task order level.

27 Section L-317 (b) Proposal Format, p. 188 states that “Unless otherwise stated, the following formatting requirements apply: For the purpose of this solicitation, a page is defined as one 8.5"x 11" size electronic page with 1 inch margins and using a minimum of

10 point Times New Roman font. The font style and size requirements also apply to

Information Summaries and to graphics, art, figures, imported charts, charts, and any other graphical representation that includes text.

Any page that exceeds or fails to meet the size, margin, font or total page limit requirements will not be evaluated.

Formatting requirements do not apply to documents or Attachments provided by the

Government. Any form that the Government has provided as an Attachment to be filled out by the offeror shall follow the format of the form. The font style and size requirements are not applicable to eSRS reports, CPARS/PPIRS reports and DCAA

Forward Pricing Rate Agreements; however, these documents must be legible.” Section L-

317 (b) on p. 188 defines a page as having a minimum of 10 point Times New Roman font and goes on to state that "the font style and size requirements are not applicable to eSRS reports, CPARS/PPIRS reports and

DCAA Forward Pricing Rate Agreements;

however, these documents must be legible."

Will the Government please allow all company-standard supporting documents to be excluded from the font style and size restrictions? This includes teaming agreements, DCMA-approved Master

DCMA/DCAA documents such as the DCMA approved subcontracting plan, audits and provisional billing rate agreements are not required to comply with the font and size requirements of the RFP. However documents under the offeror’s direct control, such as teaming agreements must comply.

Subcontracting Plans, etc.

28 FBO.gov 11/09 update states that For

Informational Purposes: For proposal purposes the estimated effective date of contract award is December 2018. Offerors are requested to allow their offeror acceptance period to read at least 365 days.

Please provide the required validity date for this proposal.

The Government will update Solicitation in

Amendment 0001, to update and include by full text, clause L-335 “Estimated Effective Award

Date.” Amendment 0001 is tentatively scheduled for release the week of 11/27/2017.

29 Section B requires that the cost and fee for the CPFF CLINs and FFP CLINs be filled in.

Since the final RFP is only requesting pricing for the first year of the base period, please clarify how Section B should be completed.

See answer to question 24 above.

30 Is Attachment 6, the Subcontracting Plan

Matrix required for bidders utilizing the DoD

Comprehensive Plan (CSP)?

Those bidders using the DoD Comprehensive

Plan (CSP) will not be required to submit

Attachment 6, Subcontract Plan Matrix.

However, they are required to submit a copy of their CSP.

31 RFP States offerors are to "Proposed fixed fee rate (including application base) and profit rate required in Section B". Are offerors allowed to propose different profit rates on FFP and CPFF CLINs in Section B?

Offerors are allowed to propose one profit rate for FFP and one Fixed Fee for CPFF.

32 Not all labor categories defined in RFP

Section 16.3 are included in Attachment 5.

Please confirm the government only requires labor rates, and crosswalks for labor categories included in Attachment 5

Yes, the Government will require both labor rates and crosswalks for all labor categories listed in the Attachment 5. Amendment 0001 updated

Attachment 5 and will add Safety Specialist 1 and

2, which were erroneously omitted.

33 RFP States "All Professional labor categories to be used in the performance of the proposed contract shall be included in the Attachment

5, Pricing Model". There are labor categories defined in RFP Section 16.3 but not included in Attachment 5. Please confirm additional labor categories beyond those included in

Attachment 5 can be added after MAC IDIQ awardees are chosen.

This only includes the professional labor categories; the SCLS labor categories were not included. The additional labor categories outlined in RFP Section 16.3 will be utilized in the Task Order RFP process.

34 Per SPAWAR Notice 4200 dated 14 Dec

2015, ODC's are not to exceed 10% of total labor cost or $3,000,000 whichever is lower.

Please confirm this tripwire applies to the

Cyber Mission Engineering basic contract

Please see RFP Section C- 5.3.1.6 ODC

Limitation Notification Requirements.

35 Per the instructions, offerors are allowed to add rows for additional Fringe and OH pools.

Please confirm offerors are also allowed to add rows for additional Material & Handling, and General and Administrative pools?

Attachment 5 states, “If the government allocation base assumptions do NOT match with offeror’s accounting practices, modify the formulas in FRINGE, OH and G&A Columns.

Document any and all changes on the Contractor

Data Input worksheet. “

This would also include Material & Handling.

36 Will the government increase the page limit for the Cover Letter from 1 page to 2 pages in

The Government will not increase the page limit order to include all the information required in the referenced FAR 52.215-1(c)(2), “Instructions to Offerors-Competitive

Acquisition” for the Cover Letter.

52.215-1(c)(2) requires the following: The first page of the proposal must show --

(i) The solicitation number;

(ii) The name, address, and telephone and facsimile numbers of the offeror (and electronic address if available);

(iii) A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation and agreement to furnish any or all items upon which prices are offered at the price set opposite each item;

(iv) Names, titles, and telephone and facsimile numbers (and electronic addresses if available) of persons authorized to negotiate on the offeror’s behalf with the Government in connection with this solicitation; and

(v) Name, title, and signature of person authorized to sign the proposal. Proposals signed by an agent shall be accompanied by evidence of that agent’s authority, unless that evidence has been previously furnished to the issuing office.

37 Section L, Factor E and ATTACHMENT 3 -

SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION

DATA identifies the following socio-economic categories for which offerors must submit SB Participation goals. These categories include VOSBs and HBCU/MIs.

However, the 2017 SB Program Goals and

Performance website does not identify

VOSBs and HBCU/MIs as socio-economic categories. We request the Government please revise the RFP Sections L and M, along with Attachments 3 and 6, to remove reference to VOSBs and HBCU/MIs.

Please see amendment 0001 and updated attachments 3 and 6.

38 In the RFP under Schedule B, CLIN 0002

“Cyber Mission Engineering – FFP:” Since there is no SOW or LOE provided in the RFP in order to estimate CLIN 0002, is the Bidder only required to fill-in the Fixed Fee percentage for the proposal submission?

Yes. Also please see the answer to question 24.

39 Section B: Since Offerors are to complete

Attachment 5, Pricing Spreadsheet, which includes pricing for a one year period, please confirm that filling in the fixed fee % for the

Yes. Also please see the answer to question 24.

CPFF CLINs, and Profit % for the FFP is sufficient. If not, please clarify how the

Government would like Offerors to submit

Section B.

40 Please confirm that Offeror shall only propose rates for labor categories that are identified in Attachment 5, Pricing

Spreadsheet.

Correct. Please see amendment 0001 for an update to Attachment 5. Amendment 0001 is tentatively scheduled for release the week of

11/27/2017.