Industry Questions_Final RFP_QA 1.pdf

Naval Aviation Enterprise Support Services (N68520-22-R-0008)

Final RFP Questions & Answers #1

Question 1:

In Section B-1 Table Estimated and Negotiated Labor Rates (Page 3/4 of 108), the Government requests composite fully burdened labor rates across 23 labor categories. Each of these 23 labor categories appear to be the result of composite average of labor rates derived from multiple positions (numbered 1 – 154) listed in Section J Attachment 2 and Attachment

L10. However, Attachment L10 lacks a tab that contains the formulas to mathematically transform 154 positions to 23

LCAT rows in Section B. Both Section J Attachment 2 and Attachment L10 show 154 LCAT positions (each in a different row), not the 23 Labor category rows listed in Section B. Will the Government update Attachment L10 to include a tab with formulas that calculate the 23 labor categories in Section B-1 from the 154 LCAT rates? By including the excel tab with embedded formulas, the Government will ensure all offerors use the same calculations to transform rates from Attachment

L10 to Section B. This will also enable the Government to easily audit the data in Section B-1.

Government Response: See Amendment 1.

Question 2:

Section L, Para 2.0 – Electronic Proposal Format (Page 88/89 of 108) describes the formatting requirements for offerors responses. It states, “Graphs and tables shall be presented in no smaller than a 10 pt font and should contain a grid, which allows values to be read directly from the graph.” Will the Government confirm that graphs and tables is inclusive all illustrative content which includes drawings, tables, graphics, figures, and call out boxes?

Government Response: The 10 pt font minimum requirement applies to all illustrative content, to include drawings, tables, graphics, figures, and call out boxes; however, a grid is not required for drawings, graphics, and call out boxes.

Question 3:

The table in Section L, para 3.0 (page 89/90 of 108), includes the details required for an offerors response broken down by

Volume, Section, Title, Page limit, and Example File. Within Volume 2B, Section 2.3 – Workforce (Key Personnel

Resumes), the Page Limit column states, “Four (4) page limit per employee / Limited to Attachment L5.” However, the example file column and the instructions in para 2.3 (Page 93 of 108) also include Attachment L12. Will the Government update the table, Page Limit Column to state, “Four (4) page limit per employee / Limited to Attachment L5 and Attachment

L12” to ensure consistency across the table columns?

Government Response: The four page limit per employee applies to attachment L5. Attachment L12 will be removed as a requirement. See amendment 1.

Question 4:

Within Attachment 12, each of the headers of Columns G (Name), L (Education Qualifications), and M (Experience

Qualifications) state, “(only required for KP requiring a resume).” Will the Government update the solicitation to state

“(only required for KP)” for each of these columns to clarify the requirement? This will ensure consistency and alignment with the Section L instructions in Part B, 2.3 Workforce, in which the Government states, “The Offeror shall provide a staffing plan for all key personnel (39) using Section J, Attachment L12, “Workforce Qualifications Staffing Plan”. This staffing plan is in addition to Attachment (L5) “Workforce (Key Personnel (KP) Resumes)” requirements. All data fields must be completed and no other format will be considered.”

Government Response: Attachment L12 will be removed from the RFP. See Amendment 1.

Question 5:

Section L, Part B, 3.1 (g) (Page 95 of 108) states, “The Offeror (and subcontractors) shall complete and submit Attachment

(L10), titled, “Cost/Price Spreadsheet”. In Attachment L10, Column D of the tabs for Base Ordering Period 1 and Ordering

Period 2, 3, 4, and 5 require offerors to provide Name (only required for KP requiring a resume). Will the Government update Attachment L10 to state (only required for KP)? This will ensure consistency between non-cost and cost proposals as Section L Instructions in Part B, 2.3 Workforce states “The Offeror shall provide a staffing plan for all key personnel

(39) using Section J, Attachment L12, “Workforce Qualifications Staffing Plan”.

Government Response: Attachment L10 will not be updated. Attachment L12 will be removed from the RFP. See

Amendment 1.

Question 6:

The last sentence in Section L, Para 2.0 – Electronic Proposal Format (Page 88/89 of 108) states, “When using Government supplied templates (e.g., Attachment L1, Attachment L2, Attachment L3, etc.) no modifications to font or scaling required.”

Many of the excel templates and embedded tables within word documents contain cells in which an offerors response will run over to the next line but will be hidden due to the current formatting. Will the Government confirm that offerors are permitted to “wrap text” and adjust row/column widths and heights to increase visibility of the content within the cell, so long as offerors do not change the right/left margin width or header/footer margin width?

Government Response: Yes, offerors are permitted to “wrap text” and adjust row/column widths and heights to increase visibility of the content within the cell, so long as offerors do not change the right/left margin width or header/footer margin width.

Question 7:

In Section L, Part B, 2.1 (Page 93 of 108), the Government states, “The Offeror shall complete and submit Attachment (L3), titled, “Planned Small Business Participation”. No other format will be considered. In addition, the Offeror shall submit its subcontracting plan in accordance with the requirements of FAR 19.704.” Attachment L3 does not contain a section for the offerors subcontracting plan. The Subcontracting Plan is a formal document containing company subcontracting practices as well as specific solicitation goals and subcontractor information to address the extensive requirements of FAR 19.704.

Will the Government update the solicitation and require offerors to submit its subcontracting plan as part of Section L, Part

B, Para 3.1 and update Attachment L9 accordingly to include a box for the subcontracting plan?

Government Response: See Amendment 1.

Question 8:

In Section L, 3.2(b) (Page 96 of 108), the Government states, “Escalation: Rates for years 2 through 5 will automatically be calculated for each labor category by an escalation factor embedded in the Cost/Price Spreadsheet (L10). This escalation factor is determined by an averaged Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Cost Index (ECI).” Will the Government remove the sentence “This escalation factor is determined by an averaged Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment

Cost Index (ECI)” as Attachment L10 does not include an escalation factor in any spreadsheet? Further, will the Government confirm offerors should enter escalation values IAW approved estimating practices?

Government Response: Attachment L10 has been updated to include the escalation. See Amendment 1.

Question 9:

In Section M, Para 2.0 – Small Business Utilization & Technical (Page 103 of 108), the Government lists the four elements of the Volume 2 requirement “Small Business Utilization, Understanding of the Work, Workforce (Key Personnel Resumes and Workforce Qualifications Staffing Plan) and Management Approach. However, the Government does not provide evaluation criteria amplification on how the Small Business Utilization will be evaluated. Instead, it goes directly into

Volume 2B: Technical to articulate the evaluation criteria for Understanding of the Work, Workforce (Key Personnel

Resumes and Workforce Qualifications Staffing Plan, and Management Approach. Will the Government update the solicitation to include Volume 2A Small Business utilization evaluation criteria to include percentages for each adjectival rating associated with Volume 2A – Small Business Utilization?

Government Response: See amendment 1.

Question 10:

In Section M, Para 3.0 (Page 102 of 108), the Government states “Proposals will be evaluated using the factors listed below:

Corporate Experience, Technical, and Price/Cost.” It does not include Small Business Utilization. Will the Government describe how the Small Business Utilization content of the proposal will be evaluated and update the RFP accordingly?

While Small Business Utilization is a separate volume as Technical, (2A and 2B, respectively), it appears the Government combines them in Section M, Para 2.0 – Small Business Utilization & Technical. As Cost/price data is contained in Small

Business Utilization, will the Government confirm that the Small Business Utilization content will not be evaluated as part of the Technical Factor evaluation?

Government Response: Small Business is being evaluated as part of the Technical Factor and will not have a separate rating. See Amendment 1.

Question 11:

In Section M, Para 3.0, Cost Realism section (Page 103 of 108), the Government states that various price analysis techniques will be used IAW FAR 15.404-1 (b)(2) to ensure prices are fair and reasonable. This section of the FAR refers to price analysis and specifically the reasonableness analysis aspects of price analysis. FAR 15.404-1(d) describes the practices for cost realism. Will the Government confirm that cost realism analysis will be performed IAW FAR 15.404-1 (d). To clarify the RFP, will the government also remove the reference to FAR 15.404-1(b)(2) from the Cost Realism portion of Section

M, 3.0 and add the reasonableness paragraph referencing FAR 15.404-1(b)(2) into the Section M, 3.0, Price Reasonableness section?

Government Response: See Amendment 1.

Question 12:

In Section M, 3.0, Cost Realism section (Page 103 of 108), neither the realism nor reasonableness section make direct reference to unbalanced pricing IAW FAR15.404-1 (g). Will the government include a paragraph for an analysis of unbalanced pricing to include reference to FAR 14.404-1(g)?

Government Response: See Amendment 1.

Question 13:

Section L, Para 3.0 (Pages 93-97 of 108) requires offerors to provide information for Volume 3, to include the signed SF33

(L.3.1.a); Completed Section B Pricing Information (L.3.1.b); Completed Section K – Representations, Certifications and

Other Statements of Offerors (L3.1.c); DD Form 1861 (L.3.1.i), DCAA Information/Payroll Verification (L3.1.j); Certified

Cost or Pricing Data (L.3.1.k); and Supplemental information to substantiate pricing information (Signed Contractor

Business Systems Approval Letter, Signed Forward Pricing Rate Proposal Letter inclusive of FPRP Indirect Rates, and

Singed Provisional Billing Rate Letter). However, this information is not contained within the designated templates within attachments L7, L8, L9, L10 or L11. Will the Government confirm that offerors should include all requirements not contained within the provided attachment templates as Volume 3 for price/cost with a cover page and TOC and should reference attachments L7-L11?

Government Response: Yes they should be included with Volume 3 as indicated by Section L, Part B, Paragraph 3.1.

Question 14:

Within Section L, Para 3.0 – Proposal Content and Volumes (Page 90 of 108), the RFP states each volume shall contain the following information: Cover and title page….table of contents”. However, the Government requires offerors to submit separate files for each volume, with each attached file having a separate file name. Will the Government strike this instruction from the RFP as it conflicts with the instruction above it that offerors shall submit files for each of the attachments? In the alternative, will the Government revise this requirement such that it states, “each submitted file shall contain the following information, which will not count against page limitations” This will enable a cover page and table of contents for each attachment rather than for each volume.

Government Response: See Amendment 1.

Question 15:

Attachment L9 includes boxes for various components for each offeror to complete. In many cases, we will include substantiating documentation which is often in the form of pre-formatted documents such as signed letters and FPRP submissions. We are unable to alter the font (type and/or size) of these pre-formatted substantiating documents. Will the

Government confirm that the inclusion of these types of documents are not subject to the formatting requirements outlined in Section L Para 4.0?

Government Response: The inclusion of these types of documents are not subject to the formatting requirements outlined in Section L Para 4.0.

Question 16:

Attachment L10 contains incorrect formulas on row 160 of each ordering period tab and the grand total tab. These formulas are summations, but do not include all rows. Will the Government correct these formulas and provide a corrected version of Attachment L10?

Government Response: Yes, see Amendment 1.

Question 17:

Section L, paragraph 4.0 (Page 90 of 108) states proposals are to be submitted electronically through PIEE. Section L, paragraph 3.0 Proposal Content and Volumes (Page 89 of 108) states proposals shall be received electronically via DoD

SAFE prior to the closing date/time stated in this solicitation. Will the Government update the solicitation and clarify the required method of submission?

Government Response: Proposals are to be submitted electronically through PIEE, see Amendment 1.

Question 18:

In deference to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), will the government consider acceptance of electronic proposal submissions via email rather than hard-copy as a back-up alternative in the event that either PIEE or DoD SAFE systems are down at time of submission? In the alternative, will the Government permit a 48-hour extension in the event these systems are down at the time of submission? Due to the size of this proposal to print and courier to the Government location, 48 hours will provide offerors with reasonable time to submit.

Government Response: No. In the event of a PIEE system outage, Contractors shall follow the instructions in Section L, Part A, Paragraph 4.1. Alternatively, Contractors may also follow the instructions in Paragraph 4.2.

Question 19:

Section L, Para 4.2.1, Page 90. Will the government consider striking the reference to CD-ROM proposal copies in light of their near obsolescence of this requirement?

Government Response: No. Offerors are not required to provide CD-ROM proposals; however, it is an alternate method of proposal submittal available to Offerors.

Question 20:

Section 5.0 of the SOW outlines the minimum Personnel Qualifications to include level of education, training, experience, and clearance. SOW Section 5.6 defines the three experience levels (Junior, Journeyman, and Senior) of LCATs. Section

5.7 (Page 17 of 108) defines the NAE Concentration Areas. SOW Section 2.0 defines the NAE Teams. SOW Section 5.8

(Page 19-23 of 108) lists the labor categories, experience requirements and the functional descriptions of each. These requirements are cross-walked into Section J-Attachment 2 “NAE Workforce Qualifications Staffing Plan.” Will the

Government update the Analyst Junior, Curriculum & Training Developer Journeyman, Data Engineer Journeyman, Data

Engineer Senior, Data Scientist Journeyman, Data Scientist Senior, PowerApps Developer Journeyman, Software Engineer

Journeyman, Software Engineer Senior, and UX Designer Journeyman labor qualification functional descriptions in PWS

5.8 to include “Minimum knowledge and experience in the applicable concentration area required as defined in SOW 5.7 and as it relates to the NAE Team (SOW 2.0) as defined in Section J-Attachment 2 ‘NAE Workforce Qualifications Staffing

Plan’ for the corresponding position.”?

Government Response: The Government will clarify the requirement in SOW Paragraph 5.0. See Amendment 1.

Question 21:

Section 5.0 of the SOW outlines the minimum Personnel Qualifications to include level of education, training, experience, and clearance. SOW Section 5.8 (Page 19-23 of 108) lists the labor categories, experience requirements and the functional descriptions of each. Will the Government add a functional description for the Software Engineer, Junior labor category in

PWS 5.8?

Government Response: Yes. See Amendment 1.

Question 22:

Section L, para 3.0 (page 89 of 108) states, “The Offeror must present proposal information in a manner that facilitates a one-to-one comparison between the information presented and this Proposal Instruction. Proposal information must be structured such that its Volume/paragraph number matches the Proposal Instructions Volume/paragraph number provided in section “Part B Specific Instructions” to which it is responding. Will the Government update the solicitation to allow an introduction section within Volume 2B: Understanding of the Work and Volume 2B: Management Approach?

Government Response: No, an introduction section is not requested and will not be allowed within Volume 2B.

Question 23:

In describing resume requirements for the 16 Key Personnel, Section L, Para 2.3 -Workforce (Page 94 of 108) states

“demonstrate the experience and specialized qualifications, as specified in Section C, SOW Para 5.0, of each key person proposed.” Within SOW 5.0 – Personnel Qualifications (Page 16 of 108), SOW 5.6 outlines the Education Levels required for Junior, Journeyman, and Senior positions to be a BA/BS degree in a related field. Specific to education requirements, will the Government confirm that if an individual has earned a Master’s degree in a related field, the person would be considered qualified as a Master’s Degree follows a BA/BS in postsecondary education?

Government Response: Yes, a Master’s degree is acceptable.

Question 24:

In reviewing the substantiating documentation required as part of Annex A (Section L, Para 1.2 (Page 92 of 108), many supporting documents contain information that the sponsoring/ contracting government organization for the corporate experience contract views as mission sensitive information. While classification and distribution statements reflect information are releasable within the DoD, the customer/sponsoring/buying government organization requires a specific routing, review, and approval process to attain permission for industry to directly submit this information for DoD procurement and source selection purposes. This process includes reviews by Technical Codes, COR, Contracting Office /

Contracting Officer, Public Affairs and Legal Departments, even though the information is being submitted for official government purposes within DoD only and is not being shared publicly. Industry does not control the Government buying/sponsoring/customer or contracting organization processes and it is out of industry’s control to expedite as the supporting documentation is government-owned work product.

(1) Based on past experiences in routing less but somewhat similar information for these approvals and for use for solicitation submission, there is a higher likelihood an offeror can meet the solicitation deadlines by proactively redacting more detailed information such as POA&Ms, program status updates, the names of weapons systems, stakeholders (organizations, nations, etc), as this tends to streamline the government adjudication process.

Conversely, sensitive program information that is not redacted can elongate the review process beyond the solicitation period. Due to the timeline, will the Government permit the submission of partially and proactively redacted documents provided enough information is submitted to demonstrate how the contract reference(s) meets the requirements identified in Volume 1 Corporate Experience?

(2) In the event that a Government sponsoring/buying organization or contracting agency is unable or unwilling to authorize the release of the information by the solicitation deadline, even if redacted, will the Government access and use the information in CPARS database for the referenced contract? Much of the information necessary to substantiate the work performed is contained in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System

(CPARS), the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), the Electronic

Subcontract Reporting System (eSRS), etc.

(3) Will the Government access CPARS, FAPIIS, eSRS and other these data sources directly, if/as needed, to help substantiate / evidence the contract reference meets all of the requirements?

Government Response: The offeror must provide sufficient documentation to meet the requirements of the RFP. The

Government will evaluate what is provided in the offeror’s proposal.

Question 25:

Section J Attachment 2 shows positions 85 and 90 as Key Personnel positions in support of the Future Readiness Team.

Section L, Para 2.3 – Workforce includes position 90 as the Key Personnel position requiring a resume at RFP response;

Position 85 is not a Key Personnel position requiring a resume. Position 85 is an Advisor, Senior in Arlington, VA on Gov’t site at 1,920 hours or full time and Position 90 is an Advisor, Senior in Arlington, VA on CTR site at 480 hours or 25%

FTE. Given the criticality of the full time Position 85 position, it appears that the designation of Position 90 (25% FTE, 480 hours, at Ctr Site) as the resumed position and Position 85 (100% FTE, 1920 hours, at Gov’t Site) as the non-resumed position appear to be transposed. Will the Government update the RFP such that Position 85 (full time, 1920 hours, Gov’t site) is identified as the full-time resumed position vice Position 85 (1,920 hours – Gov’t site)?

Government Response: Yes, see Amendment 1.

Question 26:

Section L, Para 2.0 (Page 88 of 108) states, “Proposals must be formatted using a Times New Roman 12 pt Normal font (no reduction permitted), single-spaced with 1-inch margins all around, and formatted for standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper. All pages should be numbered with section and page numbers. The use of pages not to exceed 11 x 17 inches is allowed for drawings, graphs and tables and will be counted as 1 page…When using Government supplied templates (e.g. Attachment

L1, Attachment L2, Attachment L3, etc.), no modifications to font or scaling required.” In its current file format, Attachment

L2 is currently formatted to be printed as a document on 8.5 X 14 inch paper. While proposal submission is electronic, will the Government confirm that offerors can use the current formatted page size legal page size of Attachment L2?

Government Response: Yes, offerors can use the current formatted page size legal page size of Attachment L2.

Question 27:

Section L, Para 2.0 (Page 88 of 108) states, “Proposals must be formatted using a Times New Roman 12 pt Normal font (no reduction permitted), single-spaced with 1-inch margins all around, and formatted for standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper. All pages should be numbered with section and page numbers. The use of pages not to exceed 11 x 17 inches is allowed for drawings, graphs and tables and will be counted as 1 page…When using Government supplied templates (e.g. Attachment

L1, Attachment L2, Attachment L3, etc.), no modifications to font or scaling required.” In many cases the font color of blue on a blue background within a table is very difficult to read. In addition, some cells such as in Attachment L5, default to bold text. Will the Government confirm that offerors are permitted to change the font color from blue to black font and

“unbold” our provided text if the setting is defaulted to bold?

Government Response: Yes, offerors are permitted to change the font color from blue to black font and “unbold” our provided text if the setting is defaulted to bold.

Question 28:

Section L, Para 3.0 (Page 89 of 108) states, “The Offeror must present proposal information in a manner that facilitates a one-to-one comparison between the information presented and this Proposal Instruction. Proposal information must be structured such that its Volume/paragraph number matches the Proposal Instructions Volume/paragraph number provided in section “Part B Specific Instructions” to which it is responding, although the Offeror may add lower tier subparagraphs.”

Since the Technical Factor will be evaluated as a single factor, to minimize duplicate content in responses, will the

Government confirm that offerors are allowed to cross-reference within specific attachments (e.g., Attachment L4 and

Attachment L6) the section in which content is provided so as not to have to duplicate content in multiple sections of their response? For example, within Section 2.2 Understanding of the Work, the Government lists 15 specific SOW tasks to which offerors are to provide a response. The SOW tasks overlap in some cases, which require the re-statement of information provided in other areas; likewise, the risks to successful performance also apply to multiple SOW tasks.

Allowing the offeror to cross-reference within the Understanding of Work and also within the Management Approach will enable offerors to present a more clear and concise response rather than duplicating the same content in each section where it applies.

Government Response: No. Cross-referencing will not be allowed.

Question 29:

The template for Understanding of the Work, Attachment L4, provides an area for each of the 15 SOW tasks offerors are required to respond to. Per Section L (page 93 of 108), offerors shall (1) Provide a detailed procedure and methodology which would be used in accomplishing each of the critical tasks listed above, and (2) Identify any risks that may impact successful performance and actions required to mitigate the risks. Will the Government modify the template to include risks in a single section at the end of the section rather than inside of their response to each SOW section? If not, and in lieu of modification, will the Government permit offerors to cross-reference risks to reduce duplication due to overlapping tasks?

Government Response: No, the template and what is required in the template will not be revised.

Question 30:

The professional employee definitions for a journeyman described in paragraph 5.6, of the SOW (Pg 16 of 108) defines a journeyman as an individual with 3 to 15 years of experience. This range is much too large of an experience range for a single experience level; the capability of an individual with 3 years of experience varies so significantly from an individual with 15 years of experience that the Government will be unable to clearly define the performance expectations for journeyman. Moreover, the price for this experience range varies so wide that it will be problematic for the Government to reasonably perform a cost evaluation, especially when there are so many positions aligned to the journeyman LCATs. The

Journeyman Analyst requirement states that this position requires a “minimum of three (3) years of direct experience in the applicable concentration area required and as identified in SOW 5.7 and as it related to the NAE Team (SOW 2.0)….” To gain this experience, more than 3 total years of experience is required. The LCAT further states that “experience as a commissioned officer, senior enlisted or mid-level DoD government (E7-O4, GS 11-13) is desired.” An E7 and a GS11 as well as a post-service commission officer will have more than 3 years of experience. Will the Government change the experience levels of the Journeyman from 3 to 15 years of experience to 8 to 15 years of experience to be more commensurate with the actual requirement? This will also prevent bidders from simply bidding the minimum 3 years as the requirement for this labor category, as “desired” is not explicitly required.

Government Response: No. See Amendment 1 for all updates to personnel qualifications.

Question 31:

We respectfully request an extension for the solicitation due date from 15 April to 22 April. Given the FAR requirements for electronic submissions, we must submit proposals by 5:00 pm the working day prior to proposal deadlines, 14 April. As of the afternoon of 04 April, we have not received the answers to submitted questions, which have a substantive and material impact on our proposal. With only 8 working days remaining between now and proposal deadlines, we believe an extension is necessary to ensure we develop and align our proposals with the results of Q&A as well as any accompanying amendments received. Given the magnitude and complexity of the proposal, to include a large number of attachments to include cost proposals and staffing plan templates, all of which must be synchronized with prime and subcontractors, additional time is needed to develop and prepare the submission of compliant proposals.

Government Response: Yes. An extension was granted to 22 April 2022.