PD2111USA103 QA Response.pdf

RAPID PROTOTYPING AND

TECHNOLOGY INSERTION SUPPORT

Q&A 0718/2011

Project Number: PD2111USA103 Client Name: QRBCSD

General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)

Greater Southwest Region

Questions and Answers

Task ID: PD2111USA103 Project Title: RAPID PROTOTYPING AND TECHNOLOGY INSERTION

SUPPORT

1. Reference Page 14 of 33, Total estimated Direct Labor hours Total states : 32,400.

Question: Will the Government clarify the total hours 32,400 versus 41,040?

ANSWER: The total estimated hours for the 9-month base period of performance + the three 1-month option periods is 43,200 hrs as describe in PWS Table 4.

2. 2. Reference Page 15 of 33 Question: Travel: JTR ‘while not wholly applicable’ conflicts with Section ‘B’, page B3, stating Travel will be reimbursed IAW the Joint Travel Regulation/Federal Travel Regulation (JTR/FTR). IAW Order of Precedence, will the contract travel be as stated in Section B of the solicitation?

ANSWER: Travel is anticipated and has been estimated by the government. Use the government estimate in your proposal.

3. Reference: Section C, Para. C.5: Titled: Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative Question: Will the Government clarify if this should be titled “Client Representative” as stated in paragraph: “Primary Client Representative”

ANSWER: COTR, COR, CR and PCR are all referring to the Contracting Officer’s Representative or Client Representative.

4. Reference: Section E.2.4, Acceptance Testing by Client Rep Question: Will the Government clarify if this will be replaced with Government Technical Lead?

ANSWER: The QR&BCSD Client Customer Representative will be assisted by technical personnel as required to perform the inspection and acceptance activities required. The CR is the interface between the client and the contracting office.

5. Reference: Section I, Clause I.2.3 and I.2.4: First Article Approval/Contractor Test: applicable for production quantity IAW FAR 9.308 Question: Will the Government clarify if First Article Testing is required?

Q&A 0718/2011

Project Number: PD2111USA103 Client Name: QRBCSD

ANSWER: FA Testing may be required and the clause language has been included to support FA testing. It is not anticipated to be required regularly but it may be needed.

6. Reference: Section B.2 Question: The Government states that “the offeror shall propose loaded rates in the pricing schedule for ALL labor categories to be used on this contract.” However, in regard to the application of the Service Contract Act (SCA), Section B.3 states that “the applicability of the SCA will be determined on a case by case basis as part of the evaluation of proposals submitted for special projects issued as task orders against the basis IDIQ award.” While the majority of categories proposed may be evaluated and proposed as professional (non-SCA), please confirm that any labor categories identified as subject to SCA should be priced based on the current Wage Determination(s) that map to those labor categories. Please provide the DOL WD for Harford County (APG).

ANSWER: The website has been provided so that each vendor can pull a Wage Determination for their county and submit it as part of their proposal. The WD is for all non-professional labor categories. Again it is the vendor’s responsibility to obtain the WD because the CO cannot determine in advance what vendor’s will submit quotes and what counties apply.

7. Reference: Section: B.5 Question: Since this is a T&M effort, please confirm that the extended “total estimated prices” for each labor line item should be the total estimated price of the total hours times all labor rates for each labor line item.

ANSWER: Yes – confirmed.

8. Reference: Section 5.7.1 Question: States that “because it is impossible to fully delineate and detail all requirements a priori, work will be further defined during the period of performance by means of a series of work orders (WOs).” Will the contractor that is awarded this IDIQ contract be permitted to propose additional, task order specific labor categories/rates on a task order basis to account for unique skill sets or subcontractor utilization that may be required?

ANSWER: Subcontract labor may be required to support work orders. Your proposed labor may have to be supplemented with subcontracted materials and services to support Work Order requirements.

9. Reference: Section 2.1.8 M.2.2.1 Question: Is the resume for the Task Order Manager counted toward the 20 page TMA limit page?

ANSWER: No.

Q&A 0718/2011

Project Number: PD2111USA103 Client Name: QRBCSD

10. Reference: Section L.1.2 Proposal Format Question: The Technical Portion is made up of several sections which are individually page limited. Will the Government clarify if the Technical Approach (TA) (which is limited to 12 pages) is part of the 20 page limit for the Technical and Management Approach (TMA)? Please specify the total page allotment for the Technical Portion combined.

ANSWER: The technical approach (TA) is limited to 12 pages, the management approach (MA) is limited to 8 pages, for a total of 20 pages.

11. Section/Page/Paragraph: Section M.2.4 page M Question: The bullet on profit/fee states that “the Government will not pay profit or fee to the prime Contractor on materials, subcontracted services, or travel.” We assume that when referencing “subcontracted services”, it correlates to use of a subcontractor to acquire materials or ODCs rather than labor hours. Therefore, an offeror is permitted to include fee/profit in its fully burdened T&M labor rate for hours performed by a Subcontractor. Please confirm the accuracy of this assumption.

ANSWER: You will not be allowed profit or fee on subcontracts which include subcontracts for labor or materials. So the assumption is incorrect.

12. Section/Page/Paragraph: Section L, page L6, paragraph L.4.1(e) Question: The paragraph states that the contractor’s FPRA with the proposal. If the contractor does not have an approved FPRA, may the forward pricing rates that have been submitted to DCMA for approval be provided?

ANSWER: If DCAA has yet to approve your indirect rates, the Forward Pricing Rate Recommendations may be submitted. If you do not have DCAA involved in reviewing your indirect rates, see the solicitation for additional instructions as to how you can provide support for your indirect rates.

13. Section/Page/Paragraph: Section F, page F1, paragraph F.3 Question: The paragraph states that the primary place of performance is the vendor’s facility, but that performance may also be performed at Government facilities. May the contractor submit both on-site and off-site rates?

ANSWER: You will have to respond to the government’s LOE. How you will divide those hours between offsite and onsite rates without knowing where the work will be performed in advance may be difficult. We need to evaluate your labor rates against the government’s LOE. Those rates cannot be increased after award. We need to know the price of your labor in response to Schedule B line items. We will leave it up to each vendor as to whether they wish to use their higher priced labor rates to develop line item pricing.

Q&A 0718/2011

Project Number: PD2111USA103 Client Name: QRBCSD

14. Section/Page/Paragraph: Section L, page L2, paragraph L.1.2 Question: The paragraph states that the page limit for pricing is 5 pages. Would the Government consider making the pricing page limit unlimited?

ANSWER: No. In addition to the page limits the spreadsheets must be legible (no small type (less than 95%) that must be magnified to read.

15. Section/Page/Paragraph: PWS, page 20 of 33, paragraph 6.5.9 Question: The paragraph requires disclosure of any potential organizational conflict of interest. Will the contractor be precluded from participating in any follow-on solicitation for the production of any product developed under this contract?

ANSWER: Receiving an award under this bridge task will not, in and of itself, preclude a vendor from competing for the award of the follow on task.

16. Section/Page/Paragraph: N/A Question: Responses to questions being submitted may generate follow-on questions.

Will the Government respond to follow-on questions that come up due to the responses from previous questions?

ANSWER: The Q&A period has ended as of the submission of the government’s responses to initial questions.

17. Section/Page/Paragraph: Appendix D, PWS, page 14, paragraph 5.4 Question: Highest level of experience cited in the RFP is a Bachelor’s degree. The tasking required by sponsors of future projects may require technical skills beyond a Bachelors degree, and may require Masters or PhD level educations. To provide additional flexibility in responding to future task orders, recommend the Government add four additional labor categories with the same criteria as the Engineer (General), Senior/Lead and the Engineering (System), Senior/Lead positions: Two with a Masters education and two with a PhD education. Would the Government agree to adding labor categories to Appendix D and PWS paragraph 5.4 as described above?

ANSWER: If the offeror desires/chooses to propose alternative solutions the offeror must provide the rationale explaining why they chose to deviate from the proposed mix (labor category and hours) so that it is clear that they understand the requirement. Any deviation without supporting rationale may render your proposal unacceptable as the government may be unable to determine if the offeror sufficiently understands the task order requirements.

18. Section/Page/Paragraph: Appendix E, DD 254, Block 10.a.

Question: The DD 254 states that the contractor will require access to Communications Security (COMSEC) information. Will the contractor be required to have COMSEC equipment at the contractor’s facility?

Q&A 0718/2011

Project Number: PD2111USA103 Client Name: QRBCSD

ANSWER: On the DD-254 #10.h we do not require the contractor to have a COMSEC account. The activities requiring this information will occur at the government facility.

19. Section/Page/Paragraph: RFP PD2111USA103, Section 5.5, Travel page 14-15 of 33 Question: Level 5 OCONUS Travel - How far in advance will the offeror get notification for the OCONUS travel to level 5 countries? Will CRC requirements apply to individuals traveling for less than 90 days? Will Milair be available for these trips?

ANSWER: Notification for OCONUS travel will occur as soon as possible. CRC/NDC training will be required unless a waiver is processed (for travel of less than 17 days only). MILAIR will not be offered.