Q&As_for_Request_for_Proposals_(RFP)__NNC18ZCE01R_2.pdf

Questions & Answers (Before RFP Due Date)

Q.1 Previously, was the requested services provided by the government or by an incumbent?

A 1. Incumbent

Q.2 If there was an incumbent what is their name?

A 2. Paragon TEC, Inc.

Q.3 What was the amount awarded to the incumbent for the previous contract?

A 3. $24 M (Base + Options)

Q.4 What was the duration of the incumbent contract?

A 4. April 2013 to 9/30/2018

Q.5 If a different contractor is the successful bidder, How long will the transition period last?

A 5. This procurement includes a 30-days Phase-In period.

Q.6 What is the expectation of any new contractor with the incumbent?

A 6. The Government’s expectation is a smooth and seamless transition process.

Q.7 What is Excel Schedule GRC 533 Baseline?

A 7. The Baseline is a projection of your cost over the life of the contract. A few 533 templates along with training/guidance will be provided to the awardee during the phase-in period.

Q.8 See 2.03, H, pg. 9-10 of SOW - Is “project management” referring to NASA project management?

A 8. Yes. NASA’s project management.

Q.9 See 2.8 pg. 11 of SOW - Will government provide guidance on entering data into

OEPM?

A 9. Yes.

Q.10 K.3.a(1) - Please confirm NAICS Code for this solicitation. It is our understanding the NAICS code is 611710 – Educational Support Services. The solicitation shows a NAICS Code of 621999 – All other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Healthcare Services.

A 10. 611710 – Educational Support Services is the correct NAICS code for this procurement. The RFP will be amended.

Q.11 K.3.a(2) - Please confirm small business size standard. It is our understanding the small business size standard is $15M.

A 11. Yes the size standard for this procurement is $15M annually.

Q.12 L.10 Section 6 - If an offeror is unable to demonstrate it has an adequate government-approved accounting system before contract award, are they responsible to receive award of the contract?

A 12. Section 6: Business Systems Reviews and Status Information

Pursuant to FAR 16.301-3(a)(3), an Offeror may be awarded a cost-reimbursement type contract only if the Offeror’s “accounting system is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract.” This also applies to any subcontractor that is proposed to receive a cost-reimbursement type contract. Therefore, Offerors and their proposed subcontractors must submit documents from the cognizant Government agency showing their accounting system is approved for tracking and separating costs for cost-reimbursement contracts. Offerors who do not have an approved accounting system pursuant to FAR 16.301-3(a)(3) may, based on their sole discretion, employ at no cost to the government a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who is in good standing, who should prepare and execute an audit program designed for the evaluation of the Offeror’s accounting system pursuant to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the requirements identified on Standard Form 1408 ‘Pre-Award

Survey of Prospective Contractor Accounting System’. A copy executed SF 1408 signed in block 3 by the auditor should be provided with the Cost Volume in Part 1, Section 6 The information will be reviewed by the Contracting Officer, for a determination of acceptability of the Offeror’s accounting system applicable to this contract, only if the Offeror is first selected for contract award. If the Offeror cannot demonstrate it has an adequate government-approved accounting system before award, the contract cannot be awarded to the Offeror.

Q.13 L.6 - The solicitation requires proposals to use Arial 12-point type. This includes figures, charts, and tables. Will the government allow Arial Narrow 10-point type font or equivalent for figures, charts, tables, and graphics to allow more room for required information within the page limits?

A 13. No. The Offerors shall use Arial 12 – point type or larger.

Q.14 L.10 Section 4 Labor Estimates - The solicitation provides, for informational purposes, incumbent labor demographic information. Is this information presented as example only or are the labor categories and direct labor rates actuals used on the current contract?

A 14. The labor categories and direct labor rates are historical actuals used on the current contract.

Q.15 L.10 Section 4 Labor Estimates - Are labor categories provided in Table L-2 representative for PMO, Basic Service, or IDIQ CLINs?

A 15. The labor categories provided are PMO and Basic Services. Please note that all rates and labor categories are historical and the Offeror shall provide their own skill mix that they deem appropriate to accomplishing the full requirements of the RFP.

Q.16 L.10 Section 4 Labor Estimates - Are Offerors expected to provide labor categories and direct labor rates for interns, post-doctrinal fellowship and faculty anticipated for pricing of the sample tasks?

A 16. The labor rates and labor categories were provided in the NASA INTERNSHIP & FELLOWSHIP sample task. (Sample Task 1). This information should be used to calculate total stipend costs in pricing template L-4 (Tab 2 Sample Task 1 Costs).

Q.17 L.10 Section 6 Business System Reviews and Status Information - If the accounting system is approved by DCAA for cost type contract is that is all required or do accounting systems need to be approved for all systems included in Attachment L-1?

A 17. An approved accounting system will be required before contract award. All other systems mentioned in L.10 Section 6 Business System Reviews and Status Information may not be applicable to all Offerors. (See answer A.12)

Q.18 L.10 Section 6 Business System Reviews and Status Information - If any of the systems contained in Attachment L-1 have not been reviewed, but the contractor operates using a DCAA-approved accounting system that is used on similar contracts to perform contractor estimating and contractor purchasing, will the DCAA-approved accounting system satisfy solicitation requirements?

A 18. No, the accounting system will not satisfy the requirement for an estimating or purchasing system. We are requesting the status of the Offeror’s business systems.

(See A.17)

Q.19 L.10 Section 6 Business System Reviews and Status Information - If contractor estimating and purchasing systems are not reviewed, will offerors be required to employ a CPA firm in good standing to prepare and execute an audit program and complete the SF1408 to include in the proposal?

A 19. No, the Offeror will only need a CPA for the accounting system. (See A.17)

Q.20 L.8 Electronic Data Submission - Are PDFs acceptable for electronic submission?

A 20. All electronic data submission should be unlocked, searchable, and editable.

Q.21 Attachment B Sample Task: 3 Section D - Is there a desire to not only enhance the Educator Professional Development teacher training program but also grow partners?

A 21. Yes.

Q.22 Attachment B Sample Task: 1 Section A - Are the NASA Higher Education programs to be focused with partners and resources in the local and regional States area?

A 22. Primarily, however this procurement does have IDIQ requirements that could result in opportunities to complete tasks outside of the local and regional States area.

Q.23 Ref L 10 Section 4 - Will you provide government data similar to Table L-2 “Incumbent Labor Demographics” for all efforts (PMO, Base, IDIQ) for the last 3 years of performance? Understanding the historical scope of effort for the total contract will enable bidders to provide more accurate estimates for our proposals.

A 23. No other data will be provided at this time.

Q.24 Ref L 10 Section 4 - Will you provide details on historical task orders executed on the incumbent contract to include a list of tasks, period of performance, associated SOWs, incumbent labor categories and FTEs?

A 24. The Government does not intend to provide this information. The Offeror should bid to the current requirements as stated in the RFP.

Q.25 Ref L 10 Section 4 - Will the contractor need to support 150 programs in 25 states or will the focus be within the six-state region? How many after-school programs and students reside within the six-state region?

A 25. No there is no requirement for 150 programs in 25 states as a part of the base requirements, but the IDIQ requirements has the potential to provide services outside of the primary six-state region.

Q.26 Section L.6(b) states that Arial 12-point type or larger shall be used for type, figures and charts as well. Please clarify whether pages, figures and/or charts that use font that is smaller than Arial 12-point will be evaluated, discarded or returned to the Offeror. How would such an issue be handled?

A 26. See A.13.

Q.27 Section L.6(b) states that Arial 12-point type or larger shall be used. Given that “Arial Narrow” is smaller than Arial, please clarify whether “Arial Narrow” is acceptable.

A 27. See A.13.

Q.28 RFP Section L.2 Government Property Management Information requires an eight-part submission pertaining to the Offeror’s management of Government Property. Which of the three proposal volumes described in Section L.6 should contain this eight-part submission? If the information is to be provided in either Volumes I or III, is it excluded from the page limitations of those volumes?

A 28. Volume I. The Government does not anticipate any Government Furnished

Property (GFP), outside of those listed in Section G.14 of the RFP, however Offerors shall provide a brief narrative describing how they would manage GFP.

Q.29 RFP Section L.7(a) states that each proposal volume shall stand alone and disallows reference to another volume. This disallowance appears to be contradicted in Section L.7(f) where it states: ‘where necessary, a cross-reference sheet to other volumes shall be included.” Please clarify.

A 29. The response to each Volume (I,II,III) shall stand alone, but references can be made when necessary to help the Government further understand the Offeror’s technical approach and cost volume.

Q.30 RFP Section L.9 instructs Offerors to provide a matrix identifying where SOW and other contractual requirements are addressed in Volume I. Is this matrix excluded from Volume I page limitations, similar to exclusions listed Section L.6(c) for the title page, table of contents, and resumes of Key Personnel?

A 30. No the matrix does not count in the page count.

Q.31 RFP Section L.9, Subfactor B, RT1 instructs Offerors to provide appropriate cost data and information as stipulated in Section L.10 of the solicitation. Section L.10 stipulates the completion of three ESS3 Sample Task Cost Templates. Are these cost data and information to be cross-referenced between Volumes I and II? Are the three Sample Task Cost Templates to be provided in both Volume I

Technical Capability and Volume II Cost/Price? If the three Sample Task Cost Templates are to be provided in Volume I, are those templates excluded from the Volume I page limitations?

A 31. No, the cost data should not be provided in Volume I. The Sample Task Cost breakdown should be cross-referenced in accordance with Subfactor B:

Representative Task Orders (RT1) detailed in the RFP. Please note that if any cost data is provided in Volume I will count against the page limitations.

Q.32 RFP Section L.9, Subfactor C, MP1, Business Plan requires a detailed narrative of the operations of the Offeror’s Project Management Office (PMO). Similarly, Subfactor C, MP1, Human Resource Plan requires the identification and resume of the proposed project manager. However, The Statement of Work (SOW) CLIN I details the requirements for a Program Management Office (PMO) for the ESS3 contract. Is it the Government’s intent that the initialism “PMO” not have a singular and unique definition, and the terms “Project” and “Program” be used interchangeably? If not, what is the singular definition of “PMO” when referring to the ESS3 contract management organization and, the appropriate title for the Offeror’s ESS3 contract manager?

A 32. Yes, for this procurement the terms “Project” and “Program” may be used interchangeably when the discussion is PMO.

Q.33 SOW Appendix A1: Reports, paragraph A stipulates that a Management Operations Plan shall be submitted by October 10th of each year. SOW Appendix A2: Reports Table shows the Management Operations Plan submission date as January 20th annually. Please clarify the submission date for this report.

A 33. The Management Operations Plan shall be submitted by October 10th of each year. (Please see updated SOW posted with this Q&A document.)

Q.34 SOW Appendix A1: Reports, paragraph C stipulates that the Technical Task Report shall be submitted October 10th of each year. SOW Appendix A2: Reports Table shows a submission date for an unnamed draft and final Annual Report highlighting all ESS2 (sic) supported projects to be identified by Feb 1, 2019.

Please verify that these are the same reports and that both reports refer to the ESS3 contract. If these are the same report, please clarify the submission date.

A 34. The two reports have been combined. “Annual Report” (Renamed ESS3 Year End Report) of Appendix A2 has been combined with “Comprehensive Technical Task Report” A1 C. Technical Task Report/ESS3 Year End Report due date will be October 10th of each year beginning Fiscal Year 2019.

Q.35 SOW Appendix A1: Reports, paragraph E stipulates that a Service Contract Injury Report shall be submitted within 7 days after the end of each month and a NASA Mishap Report (NASA Form 1627) submitted within one workday of the incident. Appendix A2: Reports Table shows only the submission of NASA Form 1627 per accident occurrence. Please clarify the submission of non-incident related safety reports.

A 35. The “Service Contract Injury Report” (SCIR) was inadvertently omitted from the SOW, APPENDIX A2. The SOW has been modified to reflect the inclusion of the SCIR in the table of Appendix A2.

Q.36 RFP Section K.3 states: (a)(1) The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 621999 - All other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Health Care Services. FedBizOpps states that the NAICS Code and the small business size standard for this procurement are 611710 and $15M respectively. That code corresponds to Educational Support Services, which seems more appropriate. Please verify which is correct and update accordingly.

A 36. See A.10

Q.37 Table L-2 reflects current demographics of labor for base staffing. The Offeror is instructed to propose the staffing level deemed adequate for complete and efficient performance of the contract regardless of the Government's provided incumbent labor demographics. It appears that the chart reflects portions of people that are allocated to base staffing, while they may be allocating the remainder of their hours to other tasks, including the IDIQ functions. The government provides a plug number of $17,330,000 for the IDIQ pricing exercise.

Since 6.3 WYE’s is extremely small when compared to $17,330,000, it is likely that Offerors could gain a competitive advantage by stating that a higher percentage of the employees will be charged to the IDIQ tasks. We suggest that the Government specify use of the 6.3 WYEs or another number chosen by the Government for costing purposes so that they can get a more realistic comparison of likely costs.

A 37. The 6.3 WYE is historical data and Offerors should use the WYE and labor rates that they deem adequate to accomplish the requirements outlined in this solicitation.

Q.38 Section M.4 states “For purposes of source selection, and in accordance with FAR 52.217-5, "Evaluation of Options," the total proposed price will be evaluated.

The total proposed price consists of phase- in period, base and option periods, fee, and Government provided IDIQ estimate.” The Government’s use of a large IDIQ plug number in their cost evaluation ($17,330,000) does not accurately consider the potential savings proposed by each individual Offeror. Given that Offerors are proposing fully burdened IDIQ rates, would the Government consider substituting the IDIQ plug number with a calculated IDIQ price that the Government evaluators determine by applying an Offeror’s IDIQ rates to an undisclosed labor mix?

A 38. A significant amount of the IDIQ is stipends that will the Contractor will pass-through to the interns, post-doctrinal fellowship and faculty. The remaining IDIQ is unknown at this time.

Q.39 Section L.7(b) states "Plastic Bindings Only are requested for the submitted paper proposal information.”. Please clarify whether this refers to plastic “comb” style bindings, spiral bindings or some other style of bindings.

A 39. Any plastic bindings will be acceptable.

Q.40 Sample Task 1: A.2(B) states "NASA has provided 6 informational webinars to University audiences". Please clarify the contractor’s role in providing these webinars, and verify that this an annual metric (e.g. 6 webinars a year)?

A 40. Contractor’s role – Provide the following services, IT, design, script writing, implementation, advertising, and solicitation to designated audiences. Yes, this is an annual metric.

Q.41 Sample Task 1: A.2 instructs “Adhere to Agency internship policies, processes and guidelines”. Will the Government please provide these policies, processes and guidelines?

A 41. The successful Offeror will have access to this information once inside the firewall, after Award.

Q.42 In Section A of Sample Task 1, paragraphs 1-10, the Government provides an outline for the required NASA Glenn Higher Education programs plan. As such, will the government please clarify the intent of Section C, titled Elements of Plan.

Are these intended to be included into the outline for the Plan that is provided in Section A?

A 42. The expectation is that the Offeror utilizes all of the information provided to do what is written under the heading Instructions at the top of the first page. This includes everything listed under “Elements of Plan”.

Q.43 Sample Task 2: A. Background and Scope of Work states "NASA OE can provide examples of previous evaluation studies on design challenges". Will the Government please provide examples of previous evaluation design challenge

A 43. The following information provides links to two previous evaluation studies on design challenges.

• FY2016: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/21cclc-middle_school-final-report.pdf

• FY2014:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/21CCLC_P1_Eval_Report.pdf

Q.44 Sample Task 3: C. Curriculum Development instructs “Propose recommendations and a plan to modify existing Engineering Design Challenges and associated curriculum materials to align with grade 3-5.” The instructions for Sample Task 3 (page 16) do not include any references to a Plan for modifying existing EDCs. Will the Government clarify how offerors are to respond to this portion of the Sample Task?

A 44. The following link is listed in Sample task 3, the link identifies the templates and

Standards that the guide are to be aligned to. https://www.nasa.gov/glenn-engineering-design-challenges

Q.45 Section L.11, Preparation of Volume III-Relevant Experience and Past Performance requests Item g. “Names, telephone number, and email of at least two persons knowledgeable with their performance on that contract” and Item h., “Name of the Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for any Government contract”. Please confirm that persons used for items g and h under Section L.11 can be the same. Or is the government looking for different names for each item?

A 45. The same people can listed for both g and h.

Q.46 Section M.4 Volume II - Cost/Price Evaluation Factor, states “A lack of resource realism may adversely affect the Offeror's Mission Suitability findings and adjectival ratings and may result in cost realism adjustments under the cost factor. Similarly, an Offeror's failure to substantiate the cost of its proposed efficiencies and/or unique methods of performance and materials may adversely affect the Offeror's Mission Suitability findings and scores and may result in cost realism adjustments under the cost factor.” Will the Government please confirm that the bolded references to “Mission Suitability” findings should be to “Technical Capability” findings?

A 46. Yes Mission Suitability should be Technical Capability. Amendment will be issued to make this change.

Q.47 Section G.14 (c) states “The following property and services are provided if checked:”. None of the following items are checked but it appears that all or most should be. Please clarify what property and services are provided.

A 47. Amendment will be issued to make this change.

Q.48 Attachment A - SOW 2.05 B states ”For staff integrated into the contract at later dates, the Contractor shall ensure that the hired staff is fully qualified and possesses any necessary certifications within 30 calendar days of the transition date.” Should that be within 30 days of hire date (or prior to hire date)? Please clarify the requirement.

A 48. Contractor shall ensure that the hired staff is fully qualified and possesses any necessary certifications prior to the hiring date.

Q.49 Ref. Attachment B – Sample Tasks, p. 16. The SOW states that “The Glenn EDC project will connect students, at both in-school and out-of-school (OST) settings". The remainder of the SOW describes primarily OST settings. What is the anticipated ratios between the in-school and OST audiences?

A 49. 85% out-of-school and 15% in-school.

Q.50 SOW 1.02.C specifies that encrypted email is required. What encryption protocol is required and if required by the protocol) how will key sharing be handled?

A 50. Once inside the NASA firewall, encryption protocol will be provided.