QA Amendment_final.pdf

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION: NIST-RFQ-24-7300809-2

Scientific and Engineering Technical Report Preparation Support for National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Investigations and Related Studies

AMENDMENT NO. 0001: Question and Answers (Q&A)

1. Is there an incumbent on this contract?

Answer: No. This is a new requirement, and no incumbent is applicable.

2. Would the Government please remove Items 5 and 6 (Provision Responses and

Assumptions) from page count?

Answer: Yes. Items 5 and 6 (Provision Responses and Assumptions) are removed from the total page count of the Technical Response. The Technical Response page count is not inclusive of the “completed provision responses” or the “list of assumptions and/or exceptions made in preparing the quotation.” The solicitation is revised to reflect this.

3. Can we assume the first solicitation for this requirement that was cancelled was due to receiving proposals that were excessively priced?

Answer: The government does not confirm any assumptions may be made. The first solicitation, no. NIST-RFQ-24-7300809, was cancelled and replaced with the current solicitation, no. NIST-RFQ-24-7300809-2, due to a change in requirements from the first solicitation.

4. Can the government allow for minimum education substitutions or “or similar degree” language for the key positions?

Answer: No substitutions for minimum educational requirements may be made beyond what is described in the PWS. The Government requirements are accurately represented in the PWS.

5. Besides a reference to FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors (FAR Provisions document), are there any additional instructions for proposal submission including packaging of technical and pricing proposal, number of pages per section or total, size/type of font, spacing, and other?

Answer: All instructions for quotation submission, including font size and page length, are identified under the solicitation section “INSTRUCTIONS TO QUOTERS (Addendum to FAR 52.212-1).”

6. About the technical approach, key personnel: can the proposal indicate that some key personnel will be “TBD” if the small business does not have the person/role hired?

Answer: No. Key personnel proposed must be known, either hired or with a letter of commitment, and may not be “TBD.” As stated in the PWS, The Contractor, at minimum, shall assign three (3) key personnel, meeting or exceeding the minimum qualifications for each Key Personnel.

7. What does Management Approach refer to?

Answer: As specified in the solicitation, the Management Approach refers to a required item that the Contractor’s quotation shall include and is one criterion the Government will use in evaluating quotations.

8. If the company submitting the RFQ is a small business (women owned, minority owned), will the sub-contracting small business still applicable?

Answer: Small Businesses that are registered in SAM.gov as such under the applicable NAICS code are not required to submit an Individual Small Business Subcontracting Plan.

9. How does providing accelerated payments to SBZ works and applies? Should the intention to request these "accelerated payments" be included in the RFQ?

Answer: As stated in the PWS under section XVII Payment Schedule, the payment schedule proposed by the contractor will be reviewed and shall be included in the contract only after acceptance by the Contracting Officer.

10. About Data Visualization:

a. What is the format (csv files, excel, matlab, etc...) of the existing data to use for report?

b. What is the size of the data in GB or TB?

c. How many photos are part of the data?

d. What are the size of the photos?

Answer: Source formats for graphs, tables, charts, maps, and drawings are expected to include Excel, MATLAB, STATA, SPSS, PowerPoint, ArcGIS, and AutoCAD. Photo and image formats may include JPEG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, GEOTIFF, Enhanced Metafile, Encapsulated PostScript, and PDF. In some cases, the Government may provide raw data in formats such as CSV, and the Contractor shall be required to generate professional-grade graphs, tables, and charts to convey the data. In other cases, the Government may provide hand-drawn images, and the Contractor shall be required to generate professional-grade graphics that effectively communicate meaning and appeal to the audience. The report content is still in preparation at this time, so the Government cannot specify the total size of the data in GB or TB or the number and size of the photos. The proportion of graphics in the reports is anticipated to be similar to previous NIST NCSTAR reports, and examples of previous reports can be found at the following website links:

https://www.nist.gov/world-trade-center-investigation/publications-and-reports https://www.nist.gov/el/disaster-resilience/joplin-tornado-investigation-publications

11. Budget:

a. Can the overhead fees, and the purchase of equipment hardware or software (if needed) be included in the budget?

b. For companies who can do the Spanish language translations in house, as it is part of their services, can those fees can be included in the budget?

Answer:

a. This is a firm fixed price solicitation. Overheard and materials purchases should be included in the firm fixed price proposed. Additionally, ss stated in the solicitation, the Quoter shall provide a breakdown of the proposed labor and materials costs per task identified in the PWS. The proposed labor breakdown shall include proposed labor categories and estimated hours per labor category. Please see under Instructions to Offerors in the solicitation for more detail.

b. The Government does not require Spanish language translation services, beyond any requirements described in the PWS. Quotations should include all services proposed in their firm fixed price figures.

12. Billing:

a. Is the invoicing done per milestones or should it be done by increments of six minutes?

b. If needed, how are budget/contracts amendments negotiated and finalized?

Answer: Invoicing shall be done by milestone, per the milestones identified in the PWS.

Quoters shall submit their best quotations. Per the solicitation, the Government intends to issue a purchase order without discussions but reserves the right to enter into discussions if in the best interest of the Government.

13. How does the contact extension works?

Answer: Please see the Place of Performance/Period of Performance/Lead Time section of the PWS for details on optional task periods of performance.

14. If the SBZ intends to do the optional reports, is that something that is expected to be included in the RFQ or can it be decided later?

Answer: Quoters shall quote pricing for all optional requirements identified in the PWS.

The Government reserves the right to exercise, or not exercise, any of the optional requirements as specified in the PWS.

15. Is the expectation that the RFQ be specific as to indicate what equipment and software will be used to conduct the work?

Answer: Yes, the Contractor shall be specific in their Technical Approach as to the methods they will use for accomplishing all work specified in the PWS.

16. About the reports and the number of words and pages mentioned in the proposal, is that an exact number, or a minimum or maximum number or guidelines?

Answer: The numbers provided represent the Government’s best estimate at this time.

The base tasks in the PWS represent a maximum of 2,900 report pages in English and 2,900 in Spanish for the Hurricane Maria NCST and NWIRP studies. Optional tasks also include a maximum of 4,000 pages for the Champlain Towers South investigation, and 1,000 pages for the Hurricane Ian study, along with a total of 10,350 pages which may be split across any of the reports.