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Date: February 7, 2012
Subject:
Response to the Questions from Vendors - RFP# PBGC01-RP-11-0019, Actuarial Expertise and Systems Support
| Q1 |
| Section C, 5.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY - states the Government is providing GFE. Will this include providing contractors an email account? |
| A1 |
| Yes we will provide e-mail accounts after the award. |
| Q2 |
| Section F.3, Place of Performance - states all work will be performed at the PBGC facilities unless otherwise stated in an individual Task Order. Please confirm whether Contractors are allowed to use Contractor equipment, or to perform work outside of PBGC facilities, unless otherwise stated in individual Task Orders. |
| A2 |
| We expect that the contractors working on this effort will be on site at PBGC. However, when approved, they may be allowed to work at alternate sites. We do require that all work be performed on our network, using a secure remote access token. |
| Q3 |
| Section Numbers G.1 and G.5 appear to be duplicate. |
| A3 |
| Yes, it is a duplicate |
| Q4 |
| Finally, in accordance with Section C, 2.2 O&M Services and Enhancement of Actuarial Expert Systems, Deloitte hereby requests copies of the following documents: |
· IPVFB User Procedures Guide
· IPVFB Technical Reference Guide
| A4 |
| Posted to the FedBizOpps website |
| Q5 |
| Section C.2, page 7, last paragraph - The second sentence of this paragraph states that “[a] communications between the Contractor and the Corporation shall be with the Contractor’s personnel in the Washington Office unless PBGC grants prior permission to do otherwise.” Please clarify what it meant by this paragraph. |
| A5 |
| This means that the PBGC’s communication with the Washington office staff will constitute communication with the contractor and the PBGC will not be required to communicate with other offices regarding the work on the contract. |
| Q6 |
| Section H.11.2 Non-Key Personnel Qualifications: The personnel qualifications for the Associate Actuary appear to be similar to the Senior Actuary – in fact some of the requirements related to FSA, ASA and EA for the Associate Actuary require more years of experience than the Senior Actuary. Will PBGC considering revising this labor category to an Assistant Actuary and/or add an Assistant Actuary LCAT to the list of non-key personnel to enable staffing this contract with a broader set of actuarial skills and experience? |
Suggested requirements for this Assistant Actuary are:
A bachelor's degree that included courses in actuarial science, mathematics, relevant statistics, business, finance, economics, insurance, or computer science. Must have a minimum of 7 years of actuarial experience. Must have a minimum of 7 years experience with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position including applying knowledge of the theories, principles, and techniques of actuarial science as it relates to pension benefits. Must have a minimum of 4 years experience working on and/or reviewing Title IV pension valuations or be a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) or Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) or an Enrolled Actuary (EA). Personally direct contracted tasks. Review tasks prepared by other contract actuaries. With advanced PBGC consent, may direct and review administrative matters of the contract.
| A6 |
| PBGC will not make any changes to the experience requirements for any of the proposed positions at this time. With regard to the actuarial experience requirements for the actuaries, the key distinction between the senior position and the others is that the experience requirement for the senior position is for experience after the employee has achieved the designation, while the actuary for the other positions can meet the experience requirement prior to achieving the designation. For example, an actuary that completed their FSA in the current year would not be eligible for the Senior Actuary position regardless of how many years they had worked on DB pension plans. However, if that same actuary worked on DB pension plans for five years prior to achieving their FSA, then that actuary would qualify for the Associate Actuary position. |
| Q7 |
| Section L.10 Phase I – Offerors Written Proposal: Does the Compliance Traceability Matrix count against the 90 page limit? |
| Q8 |
| Section L.10 – Factor 3 Past Performance: Section L seems to require only a list of references that are responding to the questionnaires and the competition of those questionnaires – however Section M indicates that PBGC will evaluate the proposed Past Performance Information (PPI) based on information received from the prospective contractor. Please clarify if the contractor is also required to submit a past performance citation/narrative for each of the references or are we required to only provide a list of names of the specific references that are responding to the questionnaire? |
| Q9 |
| Attachment F, Task Oder 2: Will PBGC please provide the IPVFB User Procedures Guide and IPVFB Technical Reference Guide referred to in Attachment F, Task Order 2 - O&M Services and Enhancement of Actuarial Expert Systems? |
| A9 |
| Posted to the FedBizOpps website |
| Q10 |
| Please clarify if the Senior Manager job description is a Systems/IT manager or an Actuarial executive? |
| A10 |
| The Senior Manager position is the person ultimately responsible for all of the contractor staff. This person does not need to be either an IT or Actuarial executive. The requirements for this position are as specified in the RFP. As envisioned, one of the primary duties of this position will be in hiring and/or replacing contractor personnel as needed. |
Please clarify if this intended to be an actuarial role as under prior contract. If so please specify some actuarial experience.
| Q12 |
| The actuary positions seem to have similar requirements. Is it possible that a more junior position maybe contemplated as under the BCVS contract or similar to: |
A bachelor's degree that included courses in actuarial science, mathematics, relevant statistics, business, finance, economics, insurance, or computer science. Must have a minimum of 7 years of actuarial experience. Must have a minimum of 7 years experience with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position including applying knowledge of the theories, principles, and techniques of actuarial science as it relates to pension benefits. Must have a minimum of 4 years experience working on and/or reviewing Title IV pension valuations or be a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) or Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) or an Enrolled Actuary (EA). Has experience reviewing tasks prepared by other contract actuaries. With advanced PBGC consent, may direct and review administrative matters of the contract.
| A12 |
| Such a role is not envisioned at this time. |
| Q13 |
| In Section C.6.5, page 19 paragraph 1 through paragraph 6 of the RFP the following is stated: “The contractor shall be in compliance with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) 748-A-1998 (2002) Earned Value Management System guidelines on all DME projects as required by OMB. The contractor shall actively manage and report on Earned Value (EV) on a monthly basis or as requested. The contractor shall conform to standards established by the Project Management Office (PMO) for tracking EV. The contractor shall track and report EV using PMO's EV methodology. The contractor shall adhere to changes to the EV tracking and reporting methods as PBGC/OIT matures in automating and conforming to Federal Mandates for EV tracking and reporting. The contractor may also be required to deliver management briefings using OIT’s established templates.” |
a. Since this effort is primarily supportive in nature and therefore does not met the OMB guidelines for requiring ANSI-Compliant EVM, does PBGC intend for the contractor to actually perform the best practices of EVM as opposed to full ANSI compliance?|
b. For efforts that are primarily supportive in nature and therefore do not met the OMB guidelines for requiring ANSI-Compliant EVM, does PBGC intend for the contractor to actually perform the best practices of EVM as opposed to full ANSI compliance?
| A13 |
| PBGC does not use ANSI; a lighter version is used. We do calculate EV on our steady state work, but we do require that planned and actual spending for all work be tracked. The tool of choice for all project and support work is Primavera, Currently Primavera P6. |
| Q14 |
| In Section L Factor 3, page 68 first paragraph of the Factor of the RFP the following is stated: “Offerors shall be responsible for forwarding the Past Performance Questionnaire found in Section J to three (3) references for whom, during the past five (5) years, the Offeror has performed work substantially similar to the work described in Section C and the 2 Task Orders in Section J of this solicitation.” |
a. As per the RFP the Questionnaires were requested to be submitted separately. In addition, can the offeror provide past performance write up as part of the Written Technical proposal?
b. Does that refer to just 3 single individuals or 3 different client references with multiple references that are applicable to the past performance?
| A14 |
| a. See Q& A 24 below. b. Three different clients |
| Q15 |
| In Section L.10, page 66 paragraph 2 of the RFP the following is stated: “Part I of the written technical proposal shall include only the offeror's Qualifications of Personnel, Company Profile and Experience, and Past Performance, as outlined herein, and shall be limited to 90 pages. Those pages in excess of 90 pages will not be evaluated or considered. Cover pages and tabs are not included in the count. “ On page 66 paragraph 3 bullet 2 of the RFP the following is stated: “12 pitch print or larger, Times New Roman style font” |
a. Does the 90 Pages include the Written Technical Proposal and a PWS?
b. May a smaller font size be used for graphics & tables included in the written proposal? (RFP, Section L, Paragraph 3)
| A15 |
| a. Part I of the written technical proposal shall include only the offeror's Qualifications of Personnel, Company Profile and Experience, and Past Performance, as outlined herein, and shall be limited to 90 pages. b. a smaller font size may not be used for graphics & tables. |
| Q16 |
| In Section C 2.5, page 7 paragraph 1 of the RFP the following is stated: |
“Modernize the existing system to improve the ability to maintain the system and keep the system aligned with technological advances, while developing new components, as necessary, to improve the overall actuarial and related business operations of the system.”
a. Has PBGC begun the Architectural Analysis? What is the scope (Infrastructure, Application, and Business)?
b. Are there preliminary results that can be shared?
| A16 |
| We expect to begin our Architectural Analysis very soon. We expect that we will complete the analysis before we issue a contract for this RFP. |
| Q17 |
| In Section C 3, page 14 paragraph 1 of the RFP the following is stated: “In order to maintain the IPVFB application in production and provide user support, the contractor shall do the following in order to meet the customer’s needs and the organization’s goals and objectives to provide timely, accurate and responsive customer service.” |
a. Is the incumbent currently performing all the support activates requested in this section
| A17 |
| This is a new contract and this will be a requirement with the new contract for the successful contractor. |
| Q18 |
| In Section C 3.16, page 15 paragraph 1 of the RFP the following is stated: “Provide after-hours and weekend support to users/stakeholders as requested by PBGC during quarterly processing and other critical times.” |
a. Please identify and quantify “other critical times” when additional support will be needed. Outside of the quarterly valuation exercises, what are the required hours of support (i.e. 7-7 m-f)?
| A18 |
| Other critical times may include annual Continuity of Operations (COOP) exercises, emergency deployments, or other urgent needs. Required hours of support are during PBGC core business hours 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. PBGC operates on a flexible work schedule such that PBGC staff regular work hours are any time between the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.. The specific hours of contractor work are dependent on the agency needs and budget constraints; however, the contractor may typically expect to perform their work during normal PBGC business hours. The PBGC does not anticipate that contractor staff will be required for all of the hours between 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The PBGC will work with the contractor to develop a work schedule that works for both parties. |
| Q19 |
| In Section C 2.6.2, page 13 paragraph 9 of the RFP the following is stated: Use WEBEX tool or any other web conferencing software approved by PBGC for remote training;” |
a. Please state what other tool apart from webex is currently used.
| A19 |
| Since this section of the proposal was written, Citrix GoToMeeting has become the tool for PBGC. |
| Q20 |
| In Section K.152.204-8, page 57 paragraph (a)(1) of the RFP the following is stated: “ “The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541512.” On Page 58 paragraph (C) of the RFP the following is stated: “including the business size standard applicable to the NAICS code referenced for this solicitation).” |
a. Is this the only NACIS code for this Solicitation to use?
| Q21 |
| In Section C 2.6.1, page 12 paragraph 2 of the RFP the following is stated: The Phase-In plan shall begin at a date specified by the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative and be accomplished in no more than 90 calendar days.” Section C.2.6.1, page 12 paragraph 2 bullet 2 of the RFP the following is stated: “Continuance of standard operations during the 60-day transition period.” |
Section M Factor 5 paragraph 7 Subfactor 1 of the RFP the following is stated: “The offeror shall submit a plan which includes a Start-up Plan which contains a reasonable and realistic approach for assuming full contractual responsibility without disruption or degradation of performance during the start-up period. The start-up period shall not exceed 60 days.”
a. Should the Transition plan be accomplished in 90 calendar days or 60 calendar days?
| Q22 |
| In Section L Factor 1, page 67 paragraph 9 on the page (bullet j.) of the Factor of the RFP the following is stated: “The offeror shall provide the names, position descriptions and any relevant information to support the qualifications of the proposed Non-Key personnel. Full resumes are not necessary.” |
a. May we submit resumes for non key personnel?
| A22 |
| See L10, B. Part I – Factor 1 Qualifications of Personnel (j) |
| Q23 |
| SECTION L, Page 67, Factor 1, part d: In this section it states that the start and end dates of employment be in the date format mmyyyy. Does this mean examples such as 10/2011 or October 2011 is acceptable? |
| Q24 |
| SECTION L, page 68, Factor 3: In this section, is it expected that the past performance questionnaires be completed, but also that each offeror should elaborate on those specific past performances as the work relates to the specificities in the PWS? |
| A24 |
| We expect to receive the Past Performance questionnaires directly from the references. The questionnaires are required. The offeror may choose to elaborate on its specific past performances but that is not required. |
| Q25 |
| What amount was spent on Task 1 actuarial services during 2011? |
| A25 |
| The current contract is not an IDIQ |
| Q26 |
| What amount was spent on Task 2 O&M services during 2011? |
| A26 |
| The current contract is not an IDIQ |
| Q27 |
| H.11.1 mentions Unix and Cron experience for the Senior Database Developer, although IPVFB is indicated as a Windows 2003 application. What role does Unix/Cron play? |
| A27 |
| The Senior Database Developer needs Unix/Cron experience because all Oracle databases are housed in Unix servers and all the SQL scripts are done with Cron jobs. |
| Q28 |
| In the Subject RPF there appears the following: |
Currently, there are two main IPVFB system documents:
a. IPVFB User Procedures Guide,
b. IPVFB Technical Reference Guide.
PBGC will provide these documents electronically upon request. Are these documents available to bidders or only after contract award? If they are available now Hay Group requests a copy.
| A28 |
| Will be posted to the FedBizOpps website |
| Q29 |
| Is this contract to award to one vendor only or multiple vendors? |
| 29 |
| This will be a single award IDIQ contract |
| Q30 |
| Is PBGC01-RP-11-0019, Actuarial Expertise and Systems Support, a new procurement or a follow-on to previous work? If it is a re-compete, can you please provide the incumbent contractors name, contract number, value of contract, and period of performance? |
| A31 |
| This is a re-compete. Contractor name: Lynchval Systems Worldwide, Inc. The total contract amount: $8,952,046 for one base year plus four options years. |
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation