SENSE_RFP_QUESTIONS_AND_RESPONSES__2_.pdf

SENSE RFP QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES #2

No. RFP Section/Reference

Question Response

5 RTO 1 SOW (Sect 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0)

The RTO-1 SOW requires the contractor to perform sustaining engineering for the NEN Alaska Satellite Facility (Sec. 2) and perform maintenance for the NEN Alaska Satellite Facility (Sec. 4), however there is no requirement for the contractor to operate the Alaska Satellite Facility. Is operations of the NEN Alaska Satellite Facility within the scope of

RTO-1?

The RFP is amended to include the operations of the NEN Alaska Satellite Facility to be within the scope of RTO-1.

6 RTO 1 SOW (Sect 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0)

The RTO-1 SOW requires the contractor to perform sustaining engineering for the NEN VHF system at WSC (Sec. 2) and perform maintenance for the NEN VHF system at WSC (Sec. 4), however there is no requirement for the contractor to operate NEN VHF system at WSC. Is operations of the NEN VHF system at WSC within the scope of RTO-1?

The RFP is amended to remove WSC VHF requirements from RTO1.

7 Past Performance;

L.9(b); Sentence No.

(1) Table, Page 85

The table in L.9 (b) does not include recent customer evaluations of past performance in the excluded page count, although it is listed as excluded from the page limitations in L.14 (a), bullet 13, under Information from the Offer.

Will the government please confirm that this customer evaluation information of past performance is excluded from the 30-page limitation under past performance?

The table in L.9 (b) is amended to indicate that recent customer evaluations of past performance are excluded from the page limitation.

8 L.12 (c), Subfactor C(a)(7)(NOTE) and M.3(a), Subfactor C(a)(1)

In Section L.12(c), Subfactor C (a)(7)(NOTE), states “the Small Business Subcontracting Plan proposed goals shall be stated as a percentage of Total Subcontracts, not as a percent of the IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value”, but at the same time Section M.3(a), Subfactor C(a)(1), states “the evaluation of the Small Business Subcontracting Plan will be based on the IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value.” Will the Small Business Subcontracting Plan evaluation be based on the percentage of IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value, and do we need to add the percentage of IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value to the Small Business Subcontracting Plan?

Yes, the Small Business Subcontracting Plan evaluation is based upon the Offeror’s proposed subcontracting goals in comparison to the Contracting Officer’s assessment of the appropriate subcontracting goals for this procurement (which is based on IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value). The instructions call for both: subcontracting goals based on Total Planned Subcontracts per the FAR Clause 52.219-9--Alt II and also based on IDIQ Maximum Ordering Value per Exhibit 12, SMALL

BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN

GOALS, which provides a breakdown of the offeror’s proposed goals, by small business category, expressed in terms of both a percent of the IDIQ MAXIMUM ORDERING and a percent of TOTAL PLANNED SUBCONTRACTS. Therefore, the Small Business Subcontracting Plan submitted is to include small business subcontracting goals based upon total planned subcontracts per FAR Clause 52.219-9—Alt II AND the Offeror is required to complete Exhibit 12.

9 L.9(a)L(3) and L.9(a)L(5):

RFP requirements are:

L.9(a)L(3): A table of contents shall be provided with figures and tables listed separately.

L.9(a)L(5): Each volume shall contain a table of contents/compliance matrix specifying the evaluation criteria being addressed in each

Yes section of the proposal volume. This table of contents/compliance matrix is excluded from the page limitations contained in paragraph (b)(1) below.

May we assume that the requirement is for a standard table of contents AND a compliance matrix organized by the TOC, both of which are excluded from page count?

10 L.9 (b); Sentence No.

(1) Table, Page No. 85

The table in L.9 (b) indicates that “OSHA recordable injuries and illness records” are excluded from the page limitation. However, in L.14, Information from the Offer, under the first paragraph after the last bullet on page 115, the government requests “contract past safety performance and “company OSHA recordable injuries and illness”, but lists neither of these as excluded from the page limitation. Will the government please confirm that both the contract past safety performance and OSHA information is excluded from the 30-page limitation under past performance?

Yes, the RFP is amended to exclude the required statement of contract past safety performance from the page limitation.

11 (b) Proposal Content and Page Limitations

(b) Instructions (9)

BOE

Note at the bottom of the table in Section L.9

(b) (1) indicates that the pages count for BOEs is a component of Prime and Significant Sub (which presumes that specific portions can be clearly set aside for significant subcontractors).

Section L.13 (b) (9) indicates that the Prime’s BOEs should describe how the subcontracts are estimated. The Prime submission will account for all subcontractors (including

RFP L.13 (b) (9) is amended to clarify that “BOEs shall be submitted for both the Prime Offeror and all Significant Subcontractors”.

The total of all BOEs submitted for the Prime Offeror and all Significant Subcontractor must stay within the specified page limitation (50 for total component).

significant subs) in order to reflect a complete BOE. Recommend that the BOE is only required in the Primes Submission so that there is a complete BOE within the page limitation.

12 L.12 (c), Subfactor C(a)(7), page 98

Instead of Exhibit 12 – Production Work Year Calculation in this section, should it be Exhibit 15 – Small Business Subcontracting Plan Goals?

The RFP is amended to identify “Exhibit 15” instead of “Exhibit 12”.

13 L.13(b)(21), page 112 Could not find Exhibit 15 – Small Business Subcontracting Plan Goals template in the 9m.

Cost Exhibits; can it be added?

The RFP is amended to add Exhibit 15.

14 L.14( b) Requirement is as follows:

“The Offeror shall include a list of prior customers, including name of individual, phone number, organization, and contract number.”

In answer to question, government indicated this information shall be provided for all prior customers within the last 5 years of the RFP release date.

This could consume considerable space in an already page-limited volume. Request that this list be excluded from page count.

The RFP is amended to exclude the list of prior customers, including name of individual, phone number, organization, and contract number from the page count.

15 L.14 (a); Sentence No.

Information from the Offeror, bullet 14;

This bullet requests that we provide Small Business Subcontracting Plan history, the latest ISRs/SSRs, and supporting rationale. Can the government clarify what “supporting rationale” is to be included with the other information requested in bullet 14?

‘Supporting Rationale’ refers to rationale or justification for not meeting small business subcontracting goals.

16 Section L, Cover Letter, Para 17, Sentence 1 and Para 3, Sentence 2&3

Question: Cover letter notes that “… the anticipated award date of on or about April 1, 2109. The Phase-In will be conducted under a separate contract or purchase order, during the 90-day period prior to the effective date of the contract.” Based on this the Phase-In will start on or about January 1, 2019. However, Section L, paragraph (17) Phase-In Plan notes that “… the phase-in, which is expected to commence on or about July, 2018.”

Will the Government provide a projected award date of the phase-in contract or purchase order and the projected start date of the 90-day phase-in period?

The RFP is amended to indicate that phase in is expected to commence on or about January 2019.

17 I. Technical Task Requirements contains the following sentence: “The TIP shall also include a Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) and WBS dictionary for both phase 1 and phase 2.”

Question 1 - Will the Government please exclude the WB S and WBS Dictionary from the page count limitations?

Yes, the RFP is amended to exclude the WBS and WBS Dictionary from the page count limitations.

18 L.9 (b) (1) Past Performance Volume,

p. 85 and L.14 (b) Prior Customer List

The Prior Customer List required in the Past Performance Volume is not excluded from the Volume page count. Since prior customer lists can vary in size by Offeror and could disproportionately impact the page count

The RFP is amended to exclude the prior customer list from the page limitations.

among the Offerors, would the Government consider excluding it from the page count?

19 Proposal Content and Page Limitation (L.9.b.2) paragraph 2,

p. 86

No font type was given for graphics. Would the Government amend the RFP to allow the use of Arial Narrow font type for graphics?

Diagrams, tables, and artwork must be readable without magnification. The RFP is amended to state that line spacing shall be no less than 1 ½

20 Proposal Content and Page Limitation (L.9.b.2) paragraph 2, No font type was given for tables. Would the Government amend the RFP to allow the use of Times New Roman font type for tables?

The RFP specifies a Times New Roman font in L.9.b.2. It applies to page limited items including tables.

21 Proposal Content and Page Limitation (L.9.b.2) paragraph 2

Diagrams, tables, artwork and photographic may be reduced in size providing the text is no smaller than 10 point.

Are there default line spacing requirements for diagrams, tables, artwork that are created using graphic software?

Diagrams, tables, and artwork must be readable without magnification. The RFP is amended to state that line spacing shall be no less than 1 ½.

22 Cost Exhibit 2A

In Q&A responses to the draft RFP Offerors were instructed that the Attachment B rates were ceiling rates and that rates proposed for RTOs and future task orders (after award) may be less than the ceiling rates. However, verbiage at the bottom of Cost Exhibit 2A (marked with **) states “Rates must match the DL Hourly Rates included in the Contract Attachment entitled, "IDIQ Direct Labor Rates, Indirect Rates, and Fee Matrices."”, which contradicts the prior direction. Would the Government please confirm whether or not

The proposed direct labor rates for RTOs 1, 2, and 4 must match the Not To Exceed rates included under Attachment B. For new task orders issued after contract award (other than for the RTO 1 and RTO 4 requirements), the selected contractor may propose lower rates than those specified in Attachment B.

Offerors may propose direct labor rates for RTOs 1, 2, and 4 with this proposal response which are below the ceiling rates included in Attachment B?

23 Cost Exhibit 15

There seems to be a formatting issues with the Cost Exhibits which caused the omission of Exhibit 15 from the file. The file provided simply contains a black rectangle where Exhibit 15 should have been. Would the Government please update the Cost Exhibit file to include the intended format for Exhibit 15?

The RFP is amended to add Exhibit 15.

24 Cost Exhibit 13A

It appears column widths on Cost Exhibit 13A may have been adjusted prior to conversion to PDF (as compared to similar Exhibit 13B which appears correctly). Due to this change, the conversion of the Exhibit 13A to Excel does not present correctly. Would the Government please correct the format of Cost Exhibit 13A to be consistent with the format of Exhibit 13B, which is the same form?

The RFP is amended to change the formatting of Exhibit 13A to be more consistent with Exhibit 13B.

25 Section L.13 (5) - Prime Offeror RTO Elements of Cost Summary by WBS

Is it NASA’s intent that Offerors should propose the non-proposed cost values in the table included in paragraph 5 of the cost section as presented, indicating that they are inclusive of all applicable burdens and fee, or should Offerors assume these are the actual cost amounts to which burdens and fee must be added? Would the Government please clarify whether or not the non-proposed costs directed in the RFP are inclusive of all burdens and fee?

The non-proposed cost values are not loaded.

Offerors may apply appropriate burdens and fee in accordance with their cost accounting system.

26 Cost Exhibit 3

There seems to be an error in the 5th column header in Cost Exhibit 3. The header states “Personnel to be Obtained from the Incumbent/Government Position Category Description”. It appears the “/Government Position Category Description” is included in error. Is it the intent that this information should be included in a separate column or will this be removed from the exhibit completely?

If an Offeror proposes to use the incumbent workforce, but submits its own labor categories in Attachment B, DIRECT

LABOR RATES, INDIRECT RATES, AND

FEE MATRICES), the Offeror shall provide labor category mapping information. To the extent the labor categories utilized by the Offeror do not directly correspond by title to the Enclosure DD (Government Labor Categories and Position Descriptions) categories, then the Offeror must provide sufficient mapping information to allow the Government to compare proposed labor rates by category to the provided incumbent rates. This mapping may be one-to-one position matching, or may be based on a weighted composite of two Offeror labor categories to accurately match the incumbent category position description. This mapping only pertains to the labor categories/position descriptions that the offeror is proposing for capture.

The intent of the 5th column is to assist in the mapping process by identifying the appropriate Enclosure DD (Government Labor Categories and Position Descriptions), if applicable.

23 9na.__Enclosure_AA_- _RTO_2_, Page 7

There are several references to EIRP in units of dBWi. The usual units used with EIRP are dB or more commonly dBw (dB referenced to one dBWi is defined as Decibels referenced to one watt isotropically radiated power watt). What is the unit of measure, dBWi as it does not appear to be a recognized unit?

24 9na.__Enclosure_AA_- _RTO_2_, Page 6

The reference document, “NEN Ka-band Project ESC Overview”, does not appear to be anywhere in the libraries. Where is this document located?

NEN Ka-band Project ESC Overview is removed as a reference document. It is not needed to respond to the RFP requirements, and it will not be provided in the procurement reference library.

25 SENSE eLibrary

In the current eLibrary, the government has identified all of the labor for “SCNS IDIQ Estimated GFY17 – WYE by WBS and Location” in the spreadsheet entitled “SCNS Estimated GFY17 WYE.” Many of the Task Orders in the spreadsheet where labor has been identified are not in the library, specifically TOs: 001, 014, 022-23, 032, 066, 082, 101, 119-120, 123, 127, 131, 139, 142, 145, 148, 156-159, 167, 171, 176, 179, 180, 182, 184, 195. Could the government provide the missing Task Orders (TOs) to ensure complete coverage?

The SOWs for all current task orders have been placed in the eLibrary or EAR library.

Expired tasks will not be put in the procurement library.

26 RTO 1 SOW 4.1

Maintenance Engineering

The FRFP Enclosure RTO 1 removed the requirements for Sustaining Engineering and Maintenance at Tel-IV and JDMTA, but retained a requirement for certification training. Is this training still required, despite the fact there is no longer a sustaining or maintenance requirement for these sites?

The RFP is amended to remove the requirement for certification training.

27 F.2; G.2; Section L, Subfactor B, B.6;

Section L.13(b)(17)

The Solicitation states the Contract Award Date and Contract Effective Date to be April 1, 2019.

Section L.13 (b)(17) states that the Phase-in is expected to commence on July 2018. Assuming the phase in will occur just prior to the contract effective date of April 1, 2019, should the expected commencement date for phase-in be January 1, 2019 (or next business day of January 2, 2019)?

Yes. The RFP is amended to reflect a phase-in beginning on or about January 2019.

28 F.2; G.2; Section L, Subfactor B, B.6;

Section L.13(b)(17)

The Solicitation states the Contract Award Date and Contract Effective Date to be April 1, 2019.

Section L.13 (b)(17) states that the Phase-in is expected to commence on July 2018.

Assuming phase-in commences 90 days prior to the contract effective date, should the contract award date also be January 1, 2019 (or next business day of January 2, 2019) and the effective date of the contract would be April 1, 2019? Otherwise, it would seem the phase-in will be awarded prior to the contract.

The RFP is amended to reflect that the phase-in is expected to commence on or about January 2019 (90 days prior to the contract start/effective date).

29 F.2 Place of Performance

There is a “TBD” in the table for Contractor Facility. Is the “TBD” considered a “fill-in” for the contractor to complete and provide it its Offer Volume?

Yes

30 DD254, Block 1b

The approaches to safeguarding SECRET information can vary based on the type of information and the amount of information.

Will the Government describe the type of

The contractor will be required to safeguard SECRET vulnerability and COMSEC material on RTO 1. The information that is classified is mostly related to potential system vulnerabilities and COMSEC material that is information and the amount of information required?

deployed within the Space Network. The amount of material varies and is held at Government facilities within Government furnished GSA approved security containers in most cases.

Safeguarding at the contractor facility would be an extremely limited quantity (i.e. could be stored in a standard 2 drawer GSA container). Classified information system processing is not required at the contractor facility. There is no existing requirement for open storage of classified material at the contractor facility.

31 DD254, block 13

Block 13 states “See Page #3”. The DD254 does not have a page #3, will the Government amend the solicitation to include Page #3?

The RFP is amended to remove “See Page #3). Additional requirements are included in the attachment to the DD-254.

32 DD254, block 14

Block 14 states “See Attached Page”. The DD254 does not have an “attached page”.

The RFP is amended to change “See Attached Page” to “See DD-254 Attachment”.