Questions and Answers for Draft Solicitation N66001-17-R-0291.pdf

Questions and Answers for Draft Solicitation N66001-17-R-0291

Q1. In regard to the referenced Draft RFP recently released, we submit the following question.

Government Labor Categories identified within “RFP Attachment 2 – Rate Sheet” do not align with RFP Labor Categories identified within solicitation Section L “2.3 – Estimated Level of Effort” on Pages 101 & 102. Please verify which Government Labor Categories are correct and/or provide mapping for categories that are not included within the spreadsheet (i.e. Tester and Quality Assurance Manager).

A1. RFP Attachment 2 – Rate Sheet has been updated to reflect the correct Labor Categories as identified in Section L of the solicitation.

Q2. Will the government consider orals as part of the selection criteria, perhaps in a format similar to what was used for the Cyber MAC?

A2. No, orals will not be part of the evaluation criteria for this requirement.

Q3. The government currently has a 5% or greater small business requirement, will this have specific call outs for individual small business categories such as WOSB, SDVOSB and

HUBZONE?

A3. Per the final RFP, the small business participation percentage has increased from 5% to 10%. No specific categories will be further identified for the evaluation of the Small Business Participation factor.

Q4. Will the government consider a sample task order requiring, technical approach and relevant SDP for either a sample Task Order (TO) or the first procured TO as part of the selection criteria? This will further enable the government to ascertain the technical breadth and understanding of the proposed team. Further, it will demonstrate the contractor’s ability to price, staff and execute the Task Order as bid.

A4. No, a sample task order will not be provided as part of the evaluation criteria for this requirement. The source selection criteria identified is deemed sufficient to evaluate technical capability.

Q5. The following questions refer to the “Desired Personnel Qualifications”:

a. For the Program Manager position, will the government consider a Bachelor’s degree and an appropriate number of years of experience as an equivalency to the current standard of Master’s Degree and 10 years of experience?

b. For the Computer Scientist position, will the government consider an Associate’s degree and an appropriate number of years of experience as an equivalency to the current standard of Bachelor’s Degree and 5 years of experience?

c. For the Tester position, will the government consider an Associate’s degree and years of experience as an equivalency to the current standard of Bachelor’s Degree?

A5.

a. RFP Attachment 3 – “Desired Personnel Qualifications” Program Manger position has been changed to: “Bachelor’s degree in management, engineering, information systems, computer science, mathematics, or physics or other related scientific or technical discipline from an accredited University OR 15+ years of experience with Government/DOD/Navy contract/task management experience in a C4ISR and IO development environment.”

b. RFP Attachment 3 – “Desired Personnel Qualifications” Computer Scientist position has been changed to: “Bachelor’s Degree is in Computer Science, information systems, engineering, or other related scientific or technical disciples from an accredited University OR 10 years of experience in software engineering/development experience in related Government projects.”

c. RFP Attachment 3 – “Desired Personnel Qualifications” Tester position has been changed to: “Associate’s degree in a field appropriate to this position (i.e., computer science, information systems, etc.) OR 10 years of experience in conducting the research necessary to develop and revise formal and informal test procedures, scripts, and reports.”

Q6. Page 1 of RFP Attachment 3 - Desired Personnel Qualifications states “LABOR CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS: For proposal purposes only the following desired education and experience requirements are provided to enable the offeror to provide appropriate rates for key labor categories.”

Page 100 of the N66001-17-R-0291 DRAFT V1 Section L states “2.2 Key Personnel.

a) There are no key personnel labor categories in this solicitation. Resumes are not required to be submitted and will not be evaluated if included in offeror proposals. Individual task orders may include key personnel and resume requirements.”

Please clarify “key labor categories” in the RFP Attachment 3 - Desired Personnel Qualifications.

A6. RFP Attachment 3 – Desired Personnel Qualifications provides the desired education and experience of the labor categories identified in the RFP. However, no Key Personnel or resumes are required for submission on the basic contract. Clause 5252.237-9601 KEY PERSONNEL has been added to the basic contract so key personnel may be further identified at the task order level. Because offerors are not required to propose Key Personnel at the basic contract level, the word “key” has been removed from Attachment 3 – Desired Personnel Qualification to clarify.

Q7. RFP Attachment 3 - Desired Personnel Qualifications states “Security Clearance: “Secret” level clearance; TS/SCI eligible” for each of the labor categories.

Please clarify “TS/SCI eligible.” Does this require current SCI eligibility is posted on JPAS or possess an SSBI equivalent investigation not more than five years old that was favorably adjudicated.

A7. Desired current SCI eligibility is posted to JPAS, but at a minimum must possess a SSBI equivalent investigation not more than five years old that was favorably adjudicated.

Q8. Page 18 of the N66001-17-R-0291 DRAFT V1 Paragraph 5.5 describes the requirements for IT-I (Privileged access). RFP Attachment 3 - Desired Personnel Qualifications does not identify the IT-I and IT-II requirements for the desired labor categories. Will these requirements be identified at the task order level?

A8. IT-I and IT-II requirements will be identified at the task order level.

Q9. Page 106 of the N66001-17-R-0291 DRAFT V1 – 3.1 Section A, Should offerors provide a copy of the most recent CPARs to the proposal? If the CPARs are labeled “For Official Use Only” due to work on a classified contract, should the offeror submit under separate cover?

A9. Offerors are not required to provide a copy of the most recent CPARS report. Per Section

3.1 Section A – Past Performance (e), “Offeror shall facilitate the submission of a Past Performance Questionnaire for each or submit a statement that past performance information for an individual contract resides in the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).”

No classified information shall be submitted in response to this RFP.

Q10. Page 1 of the N66001-17-R-0291 DRAFT V1 – The USG states that it will be a rated order, but no DPAS rating is specified within the RFP or in the box on page 1.

A10. This RFP is not a rated order under DPAS (15 CFR 700) as no rating is provided in block 1 on page 1 of the RFP.

Q11. The USG did not specify a validity period which normally is included in Section A or B.

A11. Per Section L-317 Volume I (a)(1) no response is required for block 12. Regardless of any response provided in block 12, all offers submitted in response to this solicitation are deemed to be available for acceptance for a period of 180 calendar days from the solicitation due date/time.

Q12. We request the Government fill in the blanks and %s under 5252.216-9204 LEVEL OF EFFORT--FEE ADJUSTMENT FORMULA (MAR 1994) or state N/A in each blank.

A12. As indicated in the RFP, this clause shall be used in term/level-of-effort task orders. It will not be filled in for the RFP; this clause will be completed at the task order level.

Q13. Section C, 6.0, Page 18: Should the last sentence on page 18 read: “The contractor shall MAKE hardware/prototype deliverables as specified in individual delivery/task orders?” If not, how should the question read?

A13. The last sentence on page 18 under Section 6.0 has been updated to read: “The contractor shall provide hardware/prototype deliverables as specified in individual delivery/task orders.”

Q14. Section L, 3.1 Section A, Past Performance, Page 107: Is it the government’s intent that proposed subcontractor past performance data will not be used as part of the review evaluation process? Please confirm all Attachment 4 references should be for the prime offerors and not teammates (subcontractors).

A14. Prime contractors may reference work performed by subcontractors. RFP Provision L-317,

3.1 Section A, Past Performance and Section M, 1.2.1 Past Performance have been clarified as follows: "If Block 1 of the Reference Information Sheet includes a proposed team member (i.e., proposed prime or subcontractor), this reference will be considered when evaluating organizational experience, but will not be considered when evaluating past performance."

Q15. Section L, 3.1 Section A, Past Performance, Page 106: Is the reference to “Section 3.2 above” in the first sentence of paragraph (a) correct? If not correct what is the correct reference?

A15. Section L, 3.1 Section A, Past Performance, Page 106: This sentence has been changed to read: “The references submitted under paragraph 3.5 below will be used to evaluate past performance.”

Q16. Section L, 3.1 Section A, Past Performance, Page 106: Is there a limitation to the number of Attachment 4 Past Performance Questionnaires that the Prime offeror can provide?

A16. Per Section L, 3.1 Section A, Past Performance, Page 106, paragraph (a): “The references submitted under paragraph 3.5 below will be used to evaluate past performance.” And paragraph

(e) states “The offers shall facilitate the submission of a Past Performance Questionnaire for each reference or submit a statement that past performance information for an individual contract resides in the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).” Furthermore, as indicated under 3.5 Section E - Organizational Experience, paragraph (a): “Cite at least one reference for work performed by the prime offeror, no more than one per subcontractor, and no more than three (3) references total. Cite references in the following order: work performed by the prime, then work performed by the subcontractor(s).” Therefore, the total number of Past Performance Questionnaires is limited to three.

Q17. Section L, 3.5 Section E (d), Page 110: The last sentence of (d) on top of page 110 reads “All of the work described in the summary description (i.e., the 5 pages attached to the Reference Information Sheet) must have been performed on or before 01 February 2012.” Is this date correct or should it read “on or after” 01 February 2012?

A17. Section L, 3.5 Section E (d), Page 111: The last sentence of (d) has been changed to read:

“All of the work described in the summary description (i.e., the 5 pages attached to the Reference Information Sheet) must have been performed on or after 01 February 2012.”

Q18. Section J, Page 5 Attachment 5: How can we address commitment to specific suppliers when task awards are unknown?

A18: Offerors are required to submit their small business participation plan based on the tasks and requirements identified in the Statement of Work. The purpose of the Small Business

Commitment Sheet is to identify the small business concerns which are proposed for contract performance as either a prime contractor or subcontractor.

Q19. Section J, Attachment 5, Page 1: The second paragraph in Attachment 5 states that “In accordance with L-317, part 3.5, offerors must ensure that the subcontractor names and values listed in the Small Business Commitment Sheet match the subcontractor names and values listed in Volume II of the proposal.” Part 3.5 in Section L-317 does not refer to this statement. What is the correct paragraph reference in Attachment 5?

A19. Section J, Attachment 5, Page 1: The second paragraph in Attachment 5 has been changed to read: “In accordance with L-317, Section 3.3 “Small Business Participation,” offerors must ensure that the subcontractor names and values listed in the Small Business Commitment Sheet match the subcontractor names and values listed in Volume II of the proposal.”

Q20. Section J, Attachment 6, Page 1: The first paragraph in Attachment 6 states that “In accordance with RFP provision L-317, paragraph 3.2(a), complete and submit the following matrix.” Part 3.2(a) in Section L-317 does not refer to this statement. What is the correct paragraph reference in Attachment 6?

A20. Section J, Attachment 6, Page 1: The first paragraph in Attachment 6 has been changed to read: “In accordance with RFP provision L-317, paragraph 3.5(a), complete and submit the following matrix...”

Q21. Section L, Section 3.1(b), Page 106: Will the government allow offeror’s to submit an Attachment 4 “Past Performance Questionnaire” which can be used to elaborate on a PPIRS entry for the same reference?

A21. Per Section L, Section 3.1(b) “For contract actions where past performance information does not reside in the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), offerors shall contact their past performance references and request that each complete Attachment 4 “Past Performance Questionnaire.” Additionally, per paragraph (e), “The offeror shall facilitate the submission of a Past Performance Questionnaire for each reference or submit a statement that past performance information for an individual contract resides in the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).”

Q22. Section L, Volume II, 2.1(c), Page 100: Section (c) requests offerors to propose a 40% on-government site and 60% off-government site split. This is inconsistent with previous similar efforts. Please confirm the government does want a 40% on-government site and 60% off-government site.

A22. Section L, Volume II, 2.1(c), Page 100: Section (c) has been changed to “(1) Propose on- Government-site overhead rates (i.e., rates associated with performance at Government facilities) for 80% of the level of effort for each labor category specified in paragraph 2.3 below; and (2) Propose off-Government-site rates (i.e., rates associated with performance at Government facilities) for 20% of the level of effort for each labor category specified in paragraph 2.3 below.”