OER_Scientific_and_Program_Support_Administrative_Questions_and_Answers_Part_II.pdf

12/20/2018

OER Scientific and Program Support

RFP-NIH-LM-01800097

Questions and Answers

1. Who is the Contractor? This is considered a new requirement. There were several contractors previously providing some aspects of the support described within the

PWS. They include DS Federal, Master Key Resources, LLC, and Endyna, Inc.

2. What is the contract number? The contract numbers include HHSN276201400003C, HHSN276201500228U and HHSN276201600124U.

3. When does the contract expire? There are several contracts expiring at different times.

4. What is the current contract value? This is considered a new requirement by the government.

5. Will the government provide a receipt for the hand delivered proposals? If so, who can the delivery person contact for the receipt? The government will provide a receipt.

The Assistant at the front desk will give that receipt.

6. Form NIH-2043 seems to be geared for pure research and development purposes. Since the scope of this solicitation is not pure research and development, please waive the requirement for NIH-2043 as redundant to the proposal information in the business proposal. Proposal Summary and Data Record is a standard NIH Form used as part of the business proposal. The Offeror must complete the Form NIH-2043, with particular attention to the length of time the proposal is firm and the designation of those personnel authorized to conduct negotiations.

7. Can an attachment for Form NIH-2043 be used for the subcontractor information to handle multiple subcontractors? The government would prefer that the offeror use the breakdown of proposed cost for any subcontractors.

8. Since subcontractor Cost information is provided in a sealed bid, can we provide only the name and location of the subcontractor on Form NIH-2043 and not basis for selection, responsible person, and cost. Proposal Summary and Data Record is a standard NIH

Form used as part of the business proposal. The Offeror must complete the Form

NIH-2043, with particular attention to the length of time the proposal is firm, and the designation of those personnel authorized to conduct negotiations.

9. Please confirm that NIH-2043 is intended to be an attachment to the business proposal.

This is an attachment or an appendix to the business proposal.

10. Can the government confirm that if the offeror plans to certify our cost and pricing data that we should follow the guidance under Sections L.2.c.4. Please follow the instructions under L.2.c.4.

11. Total Compensation Plan - In responding to this section, is it the governments intent

a. that the offeror provides our written Compensation Plan policy detailing our methodologies on setting salary levels and retaining staff or does the government expect the submittal of a spreadsheet detailing salaries and fringe by labor category, information that will be provided elsewhere in our submittal? The government would like for the Offeror to submit a Total Compensation Plan detailing a sound management approach, understanding of the requirements, and retention. The spreadsheet information should be included with the offeror’s cost/price information.

12. 12."The RFP states that ""NIH now provides offerors the opportunity to propose a multiple Principal Investigator (PI) model on research and development contracts." Is this procurement considered a Research and Development (R&D) or a Professional, Administrative, and Development procurement? This is not considered a Research and

Development Contract. The purpose of this contract is to provide scientific and program support services to the OER organization to include professional, scientific, analytical, consultative, and subject matter expertise.

13. Government is requesting vendors to provide “Current GSA Schedule Contract Number appropriate to this Solicitation.” This solicitation is not being procured under any GSA schedule. Please confirm that GSA Schedule contract Number is not needed for this solicitation. The GSA schedule contract number is not needed for the solicitation. It has been corrected.

14. The RFP states the following: “The Government will assess the offeror's ability and plan to assume full contractual responsibility for sustaining the NIH enterprise wide grants management system without degradation of high quality.” Please clarify the need to assume responsibility for “sustaining the NIH enterprise wide grants management system without degradation of high quality” under this contract. Per PWS, it seems out of scope.

a. The plan should address the requirements that are within the scope of the

PWS. This sentence has been removed from the RFP.

15. Please provide a list of the incumbents and their contract numbers. See response to questions 1 – 4.

16. What is the value of the current contracts performing this work? See response to question 4.

17. If a subcontractor would prefer to submit proprietary cost and business information (e.g., documentation of NICRA or indirect rates) to NIH via a sealed bid, to whom shall they submit the file? This is in accordance with FAR Part 15 and not a Seal Bid solicitation.

18. Please state the number of originals and copies required for the Past Performance

Volume, and delivery address for the Past Performance Volume. The number of originals is 1 with 7 copies; 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Suite 105, Bethesda, MD

20817.

19. This section references requirements for large business prime contractors but this is a small business set-aside. Suggest removing this requirement. This section has been removed from the RFP.

20. There appear to be two sets of distinct instructions for contents of the Pricing Volume

(III) (e.g., instructions for the contents of the cover page on pg. 61 & then again on pg. 63 with differing guidance). Can the government reconcile these instructions and provide one set of clear instructions for content for the pricing volume? This section has been removed from the RFP.

21. Page five is completely blank on page. Please confirm that this is a formatting error and no information is missing. This was a formatting error.

22. Regarding the Solicitation 1/RFP_NIH-LM-01800097_Rev 12-13-18 file:

a. Page four lists section “f” which doesn’t align with the formatting of the rest of the page. Please confirm that this section is in the correct place and the information listed accurate. This section is in the correct place, and it has been revised in the RFP.

b. Pages 15-16 under article G.3 number 2, there are two sub-heading b. Please confirm that both “b” headings are in the correct place and the information listed is accurate. This is in the correct place.

c. Page 28 contains a table under Article H.17. The text above the table notes “the following conferences and/or meetings have been approved.” It is intentional that the table is blank? Yes, this intentional. This table should be used if there are any conference or meetings. This is a standard article that we put in all solicitations.

d. Pages 46-47 contain inconsistent content and formatting. Page 46 is numbered through eight and discusses submission, submission revisions and withdrawals.

However, the top of 47 starts with lower case letters, offer expiration date, and use of data disclosures. Please confirm that no information is missing and that the information listed is correct. No information is missing. The format is correct;

d) is a part 8 on page 46.

e. Page 49, please confirm that no information is missing and that the information listed is accurate. Currently, the page is missing sub-header “a” and starts with “b

Notice of Small Business Set-aside”. There is no missing information. The

“b” being referenced is next in sequence to “a. Instructions to Offerors –

Competitive Acquisition” on the next page.

23. Reference “Breakdown of Proposed Estimated Costs (plus fee) w/Excel Spreadsheet.”

Can the government confirm that we are required to submit the Excel version of the

Breakdown of Proposal Costs? If we are, can the government confirm that we can make changes to the spreadsheet to conform to the requirements of the submittal? For example, the provided spreadsheet has 7 contract years and other fields not required under this proposal. The government confirms that Offeror can make changes to the spreadsheet.

24. Other Considerations Record - Can the government please clarify the submittal requirements for subcontractors under the Business Proposal Instructions section. Will subcontractors be required to submit, under a sealed bid, all the same pricing documents as required by the prime contractor? The Prime Contractor shall submit cost in accordance with the RFP instructions for Cost / Price proposals.

25. General Instructions: Page limit table. The table indicates that Personnel Qualifications and Staffing has a 7 page limit and Key Personnel and Non-Key Personnel resumes should be 2 pages each. Can the government confirm that page count for resumes is not included or inclusive within the 7 page limit for Personnel Qualifications and Staffing?

The government is confirming that the resumes are not part of the 7 page limit.

26. "RFP states: ""The Government will assess the offeror's ability and plan to assume full contractual responsibility for sustaining the NIH enterprise wide grants management system without degradation of high quality." Can the Government confirm whether responsibility for sustaining the NIH enterprise wide grants management system is within the scope of this contract? See response to question 12.

27. RFP language indicates that direct cost and rates information to be included in the technical proposal: “The technical proposal must include direct cost and resources information, such as labor-hours and categories and applicable rates, materials, subcontracts, travel, etc., and associated costs so that the offeror's understanding of the project may be evaluated”. This section has been revised.

28. Personnel subsection indicates that the offeror should name a Principal

Investigator/Project Director for the project. On the other hand, the PWS (page 11, Personnel) indicates that the Offeror should provide a Program Manager for the contract and does not mention the need for a Principal Investigator/Project Director. Since this is not a research and development contract, can the Government confirm that the Program

Manager role as described in the PWS is considered an appropriate substitute for the

PI/Project Director role described in the RFP document? The government is confirming that the Program Manager role described in the PWS is considered an appropriate substitute for the PI/Project Director role stated in RFP. This section has been removed.

29. Please state the number of originals and copies required for the Past Performance

Volume, and delivery address for the Past Performance Volume. See question 18.

30. These pages detail requirements that are a direct copy and paste from the CIO-SP3 (on-ramp) procurement and do not map to the Technical Volume layout provided in this solicitation on page 52 or as detailed in Section M. In addition, multiple requirements in this section do not apply to this procurement (i.e., Principal Investigators, Mentor

Protégé, Technical Cost Proposal Summary, etc.). Please clarify the Technical Proposal

Instructions. Some of the language is standard in all solicitations. The Technical proposal instructions has been removed.

31. Should this read “Offeror's ability to staff and manage requirements similar to the OER

Program Support tasks”? This has been revised in the RFP.

32. Is this requirement required for proposal submission or only upon award? If a vendor is currently in the process of upgrading their accounting system, and would be fully compliant prior to award, does this satisfy the request. Offeror has to be fully compliant with the requirements of the FAR prior to contract award in determining the adequacy of their accounting systems, and these systems’ suitability for use in administering the proposed type of contract.