OPM3315R0001_INDUSTRY_QA_FINAL.pdf

Objective: The purpose of these answers provided by OPM to vendor submitted questions is to assist with the industry’s understanding of our requirement. Vendors should thoroughly review all of the solicitation documents and applicable provisions prior to submitting any proposal in response to this announcement. The questions and answers are as follows:

Q1. Provide the total hours of services needed for the project and if possible a breakdown by task.

A1. OPM cannot share its estimate. The resultant contract award shall be firm-fixed-price contract for the services as described in the solicitation and will not be adjusted for the contractor’s actual costs incurred during performance. The contractor should propose all direct and indirect costs such as the labor, materials and supervision that it considers necessary to successfully provide the services as described in the solicitation. Proposals that include an hourly rate only will be rejected as noncompliant and will not be evaluated for award.

Q2. Please consider a T&M contract with agreed to labor rates for anticipated labor categories.

A2. Refer to A1.

Q3. Are the services to be performed done so in support of the annual financial audit, or to validate findings discovered by the auditor during the audit?

A3. The services to be performed confirm the developed sampling methodology statistically valid. In addition, a service will be to analyze the collected data to prepare the annual report, such as the adjudication accuracy rate. Numbers derived from the methodology contribute to the AFR. These numbers will be validated again by two independent reviews.

Q4. Will the contractor need to work on-site in Boyers, PA full time or is it as needed?

A4. The contractor is not required to be physically located on-site. Refer to A9.

Q5. Is this is a small business set aside?

A5. Yes.

Q6. Does OPM3315R0001 contain requirements similar to a current contract? If possible, please provide the current contract number.

A6. Yes. The current contract number is OPM3310C0001.

Q7. Is the RFP subject to the Service Contract Act?

A7. Yes.

Q8. Is there an incumbent and, if so, what is the name of the contractor and the final year amount?

A8. Analytic Focus has provided similar services previously for OPM via contract. Refer to A6.

Q9. Where is the Place of Performance?

A9. Services are to be performed in support of OPM’s Retirement Services Division that will be located at the Theodore Roosevelt Building in Washington, DC. The contractor is not required to have one its employees physically sit at this location to provide these contract services.

Q10. Is this on a specific GWAC?

A10. No.

Q11. Is there a requirement for the personnel to be onsite or can this be performed virtually?

A11. Refer to A9.

Q12. Are there specific guidelines on the proposal itself (e.g. a section L…)?

A12. There is no Section L as this is not an acquisition that is governed by FAR Part 15. It is recommended that vendors submit their electronic proposal in readily severable parts (i.e. technical, price, representations and certifications and completed SF1449) for ease of evaluation. OPM intends to use best value, has communicated evaluation factors of prior experience, past performance and price and may award without discussions. Refer to Solicitation Number OPM33-15-R-0001, the description (specifically as it relates to FAR 12.6) and its attachments including both the SF1449 and SF1449_addendum.

Q13. Is there an incumbent vendor for this contract? If yes, how much was the previous award?

A13. Refer to A8.

Q14. Is this a follow-on procurement? If so, please confirm the name of the incumbent contractor? If so, please clarify if the incumbent contractor that provides or has provided similar work in this area is eligible to bid on this procurement?

A14. This is a new procurement. Refer to A8. Analytic Focus will be permitted to submit a proposal in response to this announcement.

Q15. Will the written report detail overpayment, underpayment and total (improper) payments need to be Section 508 compliant? If yes, please detail reader software does OPM use?

A15. Refer to the solicitation provisions.

Q16. Please provide a history of the number of retirement claims per year over the time period that OPM would like for the contractor to use as the population from which to draw the sample.

A16. Refer to A52.

Q17. Will the contractor work as a liaison with another outside Auditor firm?

A17. No.

Q18. How many times per year will OPM R&B undergo an audit?

A18. This is determined by the OIG and varies by fiscal year. R&B undergoes an audit at least once per year.

Q19. How many meetings with the Auditor should the contractor be prepared to support?

A19. Outside of the annual report, RS would contact the successful firm on an ad hoc basis as needed and would anticipate a timely response for the selected contractor. Said meetings are incidental to the primary performance objectives of this contract and are not expected to present a significant time burden to the contractor.

Q20. What are the key personnel positions that OPM anticipates the contractor will provide for this procurement?

A20. OPM has not established key personnel requirements or clauses for this contract. Each contractor should propose the proper mix of individuals that it believes are necessary to deliver all services as described on a firm fixed price basis in accordance with the stated performance expectations and all other contract terms and conditions.

Q21. What yearly level of effort (number of hours) does OPM anticipate the contract key personnel will provide?

A21. Refer to A1 and A20.

Q22. The last bullet/sub-bullet under Work Requirements states: “Attend/consult/advise during additional meetings as needed; and respond to ad hoc requests from R&B management”. How many meetings per year and ad hoc requests does OPM anticipate?

A22 Refer to A19.

Q23. Please provide background information on the types of ad hoc requests so that we can determine appropriate level of effort and skill set?

A23. The contractor selected would be consulted to help to develop internal controls that would achieve consistent and repeatable results. Often times this is to address recommendations from audits.

Q24. Where is the place of performance?

A24. Refer to A9.

Q25. Is it anticipated that the contractor will have one or two resources work on-site at OPM?

A25. Refer to A9.

Q26. May the contractor facilitate meetings remotely via virtual meeting technology such as GoToMeeting?

A26. Yes.

Q27. If travel to OPM is needed to attend the Entrance Conference with Auditor or to attend other in person meetings, can we include those travel costs in our quote as an Other Direct Cost?

A28. Travel will not be necessary. Refer to A9.

Q29. Please provide Section L – RFP Instructions. What are the page limitations per volume? What are the font type/style requirements? Please provide instructions for the format of each proposal volume (e.g. technical, price, etc.).

A29. Refer to A12.

Q30. Has the Government received contractor support for these work requirements in the past? If so, which firm(s) has provided these services in the past 3 years? Will any of these firm(s) be restricted from bidding on this RFQ?

A30. Refer to A8. Refer to A14.

Q31. We request that the Government provide general guidance regarding the overall level of effort and cost estimates for the work requirements.

A31. Refer to A1.

Q32. Will the prime contractor be required to sign written report deliverable? If so, does that require that the prime contractor be a CPA firm?

A32. The prime contractor may submit an electronic copy of the written report deliverable and must represent its content as prepared in accordance with all contract terms and conditions. The prime does not need to be a CPA firm.

Q33. We request that the Government provide examples of past reports that have been issued (redacted if necessary).

A33. The reports prepared are not publicly available and contain highly sensitive information related to OPM’s mission. As such, they will not be shared in this forum.

Q34. Who is the incumbent?

A34. Refer to A8.

Q35. What is the existing contracting number for the incumbent?

A35. Refer to A6.

Q36. Are you using any statistical analysis tools?

A36. RATstat Q37. How big is the total data set?

A37. Refer to A52 for information about the number of retirement claims sampled in previous audits.

Q38. Where is the source data coming from? Single system or multiple systems?

A38. Single system.

Q39. If from multiple systems, are you expecting vendor to perform the work for data extraction, transformation and loading?

A39. No.

Q40. Do you have any centralized system where you maintain all data?

A40. No.

Q41. How frequently do you expect the vendor to perform sampling and analysis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually)?

A41. The contractor develops the approach and analyzes the data supporting the approach. The vendor does not pull the sampling.

Q42. Is this work under OCFO or Retirement Services?

A42. Refer to A9.

Q43. It appears this is a BPA or IDIQ. Please confirm.

A43. Refer to A1.

Q44. What is the format of the response (technical and pricing)?

A44. Refer to A12.

Q45. What is the page limit for response?

A45. Refer to A12.

Q46. Are you looking for any past performance? If so, how many and what’s the format?

A46. Refer to A12.

Q47. Do you encourage partnership (prime and a sub) for this?

A47. OPM requires that the work be completed on a firm-fixed-price basis in accordance with all of the resultant contract’s terms and conditions. Refer to A5.

Q48. Do you give any additional preference to socio-economic status of the vendor such as HUBZONE?

A48. No. Refer to A5.

Q49. Are the services to be performed done so in support of the annual financial audit, or to validate findings discovered by the auditor during the audit?

A49. Services to be performed are to validate the findings discovered by the auditor during the audit.

Q50. Who is the auditor for the annual financial audit?

A50. There are two independent reviews done of the AFR (KPMG & OIG). This contract is not for that service.

Q51. Which contractor(s) or organization has done the audit sampling for OPM in the past?

A51. Refer to A8.

Q52. How many retirement claims were sampled in the previous audit? Is OPM expecting a similar number of claims to be sampled for the next audit? Does OPM have certain sampling strata in mind?

A52. 840 cases is the sample size every year. The current contractor utilizes the reviews that are conducted each month by the staff at OPM, hence the emphasis on monthly sampling. This monthly sampling allows stratification of the estimates, which improves the reliability of the estimates if the error rate changes from month to month.

Q53. One of the tasks listed for the contractor to perform is to “identify potential sources of data that could be used as audit evidence considering the validity and reliability of the data”. Please clarify and provide a few examples of potential sources of data that could be used as audit evidence.

A53. Refer to A23. This would be generally related to the workloads that RS does and the task described, which is ancillary to the primary performance objectives of this contract, is felt clear enough to estimate contractor support for pricing purposes.

Q54. Another one of the tasks listed for the contractor to perform is: “Estimate Underpayment and Overpayment error amounts for the population”. Is OPM expecting the contractor: (1) to estimate error amounts in the sample drawn and then extrapolate to the population or only (2) extrapolate error amounts estimated by the auditor?

A54. OPM expects the contractor to estimate error amounts in the same drawn and then extrapolate to the population.

Q55. Is there a page limit to the technical proposal?

A55. No.

Q56. For Past Performance, is there specific contracting information that is required (i.e. Contract Number, Dollar Amount, Contact Information for COR/COTR, etc.)?

A56. Refer to A12.

Q57. Can the government provide a Section L & M for this solicitation with guidance on how to complete a Technical Proposal, and how the Technical Proposal will be evaluated?

A57. Refer to A12.