HSPD-12_CSA_Solicitation_QTA0016LYA1005_-_Additional_Questions_and_Answers_-_Amendment_5.xlsx
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- HSPD-12 CORE SERVICES ACQUISITION (CSA)
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- QTA0016LYA1005
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GSA Federal Acquisition Service
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HSPD-12 CSA Solicitation QTA0016LYA1005 - Additional Questions and Answers - Amendment 5
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Questions & Answers
| RELEVANT RFP SECTION | PAGE NUMBER | ORIGINAL QUESTION | ORIGINAL ANSWER | ADDITIONAL QUESTION | ANSWER |
| General | Please confirm that multiple emails can be submitted to GSA for this response with the various parts of the proposal submission to ensure that we do not exceed the 5mb limit that GSA has placed on email document attachments. See below what we are referencing. |
1. The proposal shall contain the name, address, email and phone number of the POC authorized to represent the offeror for this acquisition.
Proposals shall be submitted in electronic format only; hard copies will not be accepted. Use separate files to permit rapid location of all portions of the quotation, including attachments, if any. If files are compressed, the necessary decompression program must be included. Please use unique and clear document file names.
Proposals shall be submitted in a format readable by Microsoft (MS) Word 2007 (Technical Proposal) and PDF MS Excel 2007 (Price Proposal), as applicable.
| A document/attachment size restriction for email is 5MB. | Offerors may send separate emails of the proposal submission. Emails should be from the same sender and the "subject line" labelled appropriately (e.g 1 OF 3). | ||||
| General | While the answers back from the Government have greatly increased clarity for offerors, there are also scope changes related to Biometric checks, term changes for Clins 1, 2, 4, 9,12, and 13, new LA kits for CLIN 7 separate from Credentialing equipment for CLIN 2, services that will need to be adjusted for refreshment term changes, as well as significant changes to the written response. Based on these changes, will the Government grant a request to extend this solicitation to July 1. | The submission date for proposals is now June 22. | |||
| General | This offeror suggests the Government update the RFP to incorporate all changes as a result of answers provided in Amendment 2. | The Government updated the RFP with all accepted changes. | |||
| Section I | Please incorporate the appropriate Buy American Act provision into Section I in accordance with FAR 25.1101 Acquistion of Supplies wherein it is required for acquisition of services wherein supplies are to be furnished. | Under FAR 25.103(e), the BAA does not apply to an acquisition for information technology that is a commercial item. | |||
| Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | |||||
| Section L Section M Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | The Pricing scenario, Equipment Cost by CLIN, and Labor breakdown by CLIN tabs in Attachment U do not have all of the CLINS that are in Section B of the RFP. Should attachment U contain all the same CLINS as section B of the RFP? | The Government has added the sub-CLINs (i, ii) for CLIN 2 in the base and all option years and has updated the NTE for travel to $50,000 in option year 5. | |||
| Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | |||||
| Section L Section M Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | In Attachment U, the Equipment Cost by CLIN and Labor Breakdown by CLIN tabs do not contain the “UNIT” column that is present in Section B of the RFP. Should we assume that the units in Attachment U are the same as the units in Section B of the RFP? For the purposes of calculating the Total Price in the Price Scenario tab of Attachment U should we assume the top of the ranges in the CLIN Descriptions? | The unit column was removed from Attachment U with Amendment 2. The offerors should use the volumes and units described in the updated CLIN description. | |||
| Section F.6.1 Training SLA | F-16 | Amendment 2 modified the Performance Management Metrics Table by adding "/CLIN" to the PWS Task column. Should the appropriate CLIN reference for the Training SLA be CLIN 0006? If so, would the Government add the CLIN reference to the Training SLA? | CLIN 6 reference has been added to the Performance Management Metrics Table for Training. | ||
| Section F.6.1 Transition SLA | F-16 | Amendment 2 modified the Performance Management Metrics Table by adding "/CLIN" to the PWS Task column. Should the appropriate CLIN reference for the Transition SLA be CLIN 0011 not CLIN 0004? If so, would the Government update the current CLIN reference to the Transition SLA? | The Performance Management Metrics Table has been updated to refer to CLIN 11 not 4 for Transition. | ||
| L.8 - Volume I - Technical Proposal Go / No Go Elements | L-4 | Can the offeror offer products listed on the APL manufactured by third parties other than the offeror themselves? | Yes. For categories of items that are not covered by the APL, there is no requirement that such items must come from the APL. However, where a category of product is covered by the APL, then the offeror must offer items from the APL. Those APL items need not be manufactured by the offeror, and may be sourced from third parties. | ||
| L.8 - Volume I - Technical Proposal - Go / No Go Elements 1. The Government will only consider proposals from offerors that have products and services on the GSA FIPS 201 Approved Products List (APL), where applicable, found here; https://www.idmanagement.gov/IDM/IDMFicamProductSearchPage. The contractor shall provide, as part of their proposal, a completed APL self-certification worksheet (Attachment P). | L-4 | In answers to questions 91 and 141 the Government states that it is not the intent of the Government “that the entire service must be listed on the APL. The Government will adjust the RFP language to clarify.’ However the adjusted language does not clearly state this. Will the Government please clarify L.8 to state that “The types of equipment or service used to fulfill the requirements of the contract must be procured from the applicable category types of the APL.” | The Government has updated L.8, #1 with the suggested language. | ||
| L.9.1 General Instructions - Pricing Offeror's Pricing Proposals must include the following: |
Offerors shall complete the pricing scenario in accordance with Attachment U. The pricing scenario will be used for the purpose of standard evaluation, and is NOT a guarantee of any volume. It is based on the MSO’s estimate of future requirements, and is only a tool for evaluation to determine total evaluated price.
Offerors shall complete all of the pricing tables in Section B to provide a total proposed price to include labor costs, non-labor costs, transition costs and travel for each of the service areas described in the associated Section C.5. Offerors shall submit a labor and equipment breakdown per CLIN for each of the contract years.
For each year of proposed performance, offerors shall use Attachment U provide a breakdown of equipment costs, labor categories and labor hours allocated by CLIN. L-13 Question 1: Will the price evaluation be on the “pricing scenario” or will the price evaluation cover all CLINS listed in B.2.1?
Question 2: Is the price breakdown required in Attachment U solely for the pricing scenario?
| Question 3: Offerors shall complete all of the pricing tables in Section B to provide a total proposed price to include labor costs, non-labor costs, transition costs and travel for each of the service areas described in the associated Section C.5. Offerors shall submit a labor and equipment breakdown per CLIN for each of the contract years. Is the labor and equipment breakdown per CLIN to be reported in B.2.1? | 1. The price evaluation will consider both the pricing scenario (Attachment U) and the pricing provided for all of the CLINs listed in B.2.1. 2. The equipment cost by CLIN, Labor Category by CLIN and Labor Category description should be completed for all CLINs listed in the tabs, which is all CLINs listed in B.2.1. This allows the Government to see the details for the total price listed per CLIN in Attachment U and B.2.1. 3. The total price per CLIN should be reported in B.2.1 and the breakdown should be listed in the corresponding tabs in Attachment U. | |||||
| Attachment B | J-7 | No. 84 - Will the Government clarify whether the Risk Management Framework Configuration Management Tool is provided by the Government or Offeror. If provided by the Contractor, will the Government provide additional detail about the functionality and capabilities of this tool? | Information about the RMFCM Tool can be found here: NIST SP 800-53 R4 Online Database http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SMA/fisma/support_tools.html | Can the Government please clarify if the tool will be provided at the cost of the contractor or the Government.? | The Government is not requiring the offeror to purchase or use of a particular tool, but the offerors are required to use the Risk Management Framework as described in NIST SP 800-37. | |
| Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | ||||||
| Section L Section M CLIN 9A through 9G | No. 95 - Will the Government change the UNIT from “Monthly per Station . . . .” to Monthly per Subscriber …” so that the price sheet and attachment U pricing scenario are consistent with the price sheet CLIN 9A through CLIN 9G? | |||||
| Section L.9.1 & Section M.3 references pricing scenario with volumes, would the Government please provide a volume in the unit column to multiply times the “Monthly per subscriber” FUP unit value from the Price Sheet CLIN 9A through 9G instead of what is there now”? | The Government has updated the Pricing Scenario to reflect the unit as "Monthly per Subscriber" for CLIN 9A - 9G and has added a volume. Attachment U has been updated. | The unit column was removed from Attachment U, is the Government planning on putting the unit column back into Attachment U or is the offeror to assume the unit descriptions from the B table? | The equipment cost by CLIN, Labor Category by CLIN and Labor Category description should be completed for all CLINs listed in the tabs of Attachment U, which is all CLINs listed in B.2.1. This allows the Government to see the details for the total price listed per CLIN in Attachment U and B.2.1. | |||
| Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | No. 99 - CLIN 13A through 13 G all describes subscribers in the description field. Will the Government Please change the description to write to cards instead of subscribers? | |||||
| CLIN 13A from the Price sheet makes sense for the volume of a Temporary Card. However as the CLIN 13 tier description changes from cards to subscriber the volumes appear to be inflated for what the Government would expect for Temporary cards as evidenced in the volume in CLIN 13 A (50,000 versus 1,000,000). Will the Government please change the volumes in CLIN 13B through 13G to be realistic? | The Government has updated CLIN 13C-13G to include units of cards instead of stations and has adjusted the anticipated volume of cards. | The Governemnt has indicated they will update the anticipated volumes. Will the Government be updating these volumes in a future amendment? | The Government updated the volumes in CLIN 13. Offerors should use the descriptions in Attachment U to provide a price for each tab of Attachment U. | |||
| General | No. 167 - Please incorporate GSA’s backup retention policy within the PWS. | The Government will add this to the PWS | Question 167 stated that the Government will add the Backup and Retention policy to the PWS but this was not included in Amendment 2 or 3. Will the Government provide this in a future amendment? | The Government has added the backup and retention policy to the RFP in C.5.6 #2 and section C.5.4. | ||
| F.6 - Financial SLA | F-15 | No. 174 - Please define deviation. Please confirm that spelling errors and minor non-material inconsistencies do not count in the SLA calculation. Do agency questions count against the contractor even if found invalid. | The Government can confirm that minor errors that do not affect financial and business operations do not count in the SLA calculation. Agency questions do not count against the contractor if found invalid. | The Government provided the answer "The Government can confirm that minor errors that do not affect financial and business operations do not count in the SLA calculation. Agency questions do not count against the contractor if found invalid." for the Financial SLA. Will the Government update the SLA table to reflect this? | The Performance Management Metrics Table, Financial SLA, has been updated to include the suggested language. | |
| Factor II, Sub-factor B, Small Business Utilization Plan | M-5 | Section M of the RFP states that “other-than-small business concerns that submit a Commercial Plan that does not meet GSA agency-wide FY2016 Goals will receive an Average rating.” Is it correct that the determination of whether or not a plan meets the GSA agency-wide Goal will be performed using the overall percentage of small business participation and not evaluating each of the individual small business socio-economic sub-categories? | Correct. The determination of whether or not a plan meets the GSA agency-wide Goal will be performed using the overall percentage and not an evaluation of each of the individual small business socio-economic sub-categories. | |||
| Sub-Factor C | M-3 | Question 56 on the original answers to questions regarding innovation stated that the government would provide “Innovative approaches to items in the As-Is documentation are encouraged. Descriptions for the To-Be and Gap analysis were added to the amended RFP to clarify where this innovation should be placed.” The RFP that was released as part of Amendment 2 did not have a clear area where direction regarding innovation was place. Will the government update the RFP in accordance with the answer to question 56 from Amendment 2? | The Government updated the To-Be description to include where innovation should be placed. | |||
| Proposal Format, L-7 | L-3 | We request permission to include a two page Executive Summary in each Sub-Factor that would not be considered within the existing Sub-Factor page count. | Offerors may include an Executive Summary in each Sub-Factor, however, it will not count towards page count and will not be evaluated. | |||
| Proposal Format, L-7 | L-4 | The offeror requests that the Sub-Factor D Written Technical Proposal section be expanded from 50 pages to 60 pages to take into consideration answers to questions. | The Government updated the page count for the Written Technical Proposal to 60 pages. | |||
| L-7, Q&A Answer 54 | L-1 | The Amendment 2 Q&A document indicated in question 54 that there would be 10 additional pages granted for Sub-Factor B Transition. However, this page count expansion was not reflected in the updated RFP that was released with Amendment 2. Can the government please update the RFP to reflect the 30 pages now allocated to Sub-Factor B Transition? | The Government updated the Transition Plan page count to 30 pages. | |||
| Section F | F-9 | To be consistent with the answers to questions 37 and 82, will the Government modify the description of the Gap Analysis in F.5 to read “Detailed description of the differences between the As-Is state and the contractor’s To-Be Solution.” | The Government updated the description of the Gap Analysis with the suggested language. | |||
| L.8.1 | L-7 | To be consistent with the answers to questions 37 and 82, will the Government modify the instructions in L.8.1 for Sub-Factor C - To-Be Documentation and Gap Analysis to read “The offeror shall provide a To-Be Document and a Gap Analysis. The To-Be Document shall clearly describe the contractor’s proposed end-state for the USAccess program. This shall include business processes. The Gap Analysis shall detail the differences between the As-Is state and the contractor’s To-Be Solution. Detailed descriptions of how the contractor will get from As-Is to To-Be should go in the Transition Plan.” | The Government updated the instructions in L.8.1 for Sub-Factor C with the suggested language. | |||
| M-2 | M-3 | To be consistent with the answers to questions 37 and 82, will the Government modify the evaluation criteria in M.2 for Sub-Factor C - To-Be Documentation and Gap Analysis to read “The contractor shall provide a To-Be document and a Gap Analysis. The To-Be Document shall clearly describe the contractor’s proposed end-state for the USAccess program. This shall include business processes. The Gap Analysis shall detail the differences between the As-Is state and the contractor’s To-Be Solution.” | The Government has updated M.2 with the suggested language. | |||
| Amendments General | Given the extent of clarifications provided by the Government, would the Government please incorporate the questions and answers into the RFP so they become part of the solicitation? | The Government updated the RFP with all changes. | ||||
| Section I | Is TAA a requirement of this RFP; and if so will the Government be updating the APL to be TAA compliant? If TAA is not a requirement of the RFP, does the Government have a waiver for TAA compliance? | Per FAR 25.402(a)(1), the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) provides the authority to waive the Buy America Act (BAA). However, under FAR 25.103(e), the BAA does not apply to an acquisition for information technology that is a commercial item. This acquisition is for information technology that is a commercial item, and thus the BAA does not apply, and the TAA also does not apply because there is no need to waive the non-applicable BAA. | ||||
| Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | ||||||
| Section L.9.1 Section M Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U | L-13 | Section L of the RFP requests a break out of the labor and equipment by CLIN. Attachment U provides two tabs for contractors to provide the requested labor and equipment breakout. However, the Attachment U does not include all of the Tabs in Section B. Will the government update Attachment U to include all CLINs in the "Equipment cost by CLIN" and "Labor Breakdown by CLIN" so we can provide the requested information for all CLINS? | The Government updated all tabs of Attachment U to include all CLINs and sub-CLINs from Section B. | |||
| Attachment U | Should the offeror assume that the prices in CLINs 2A-H include the price of all equipment in the field in Option Years 5-9 even though the Government added refresh CLINs in those years and that these refresh CLINs should not be subtracted from the base CLINs? | CLINs 2A-H are for the monthly charge for credentialing sites. Credentialing equipment in the field that needs replacing or refreshment will be under CLINs 2Ai/ii - 2Hi/ii. | ||||
| H.1, C.4, F.5 | H-1, C-2, F-2 | The prescription provision FAR 27.405-1 Special Works for Rights in Data states that 52.272-17 is for use in contracts “that are primarily for the production of or compilation of data (other than limited rights data or restricted computer software) for the Government’s own use, or when there is a specific need to limit distribution and use of the data or to obtain indemnity for liabilities that may arise out of the content, performance , or disclosure of the data.” The primary purpose for the resulting contract is not for the production of or compilation of data. The Government produces the data, the contractor stores the data and provides certification life cycle management. Further the deliverables identified in Section F with 52.227-17 are not the type that would create liability for the Government for which they would need indemnification from the contractor. Accordingly, we respectfully request that all the deliverables be governed by 52.227-14 Data Rights-General. This still affords the Government unlimited rights to data first produced under the contract and protects any contractor provided data that was first produced at the contractor’s own expense. | RFP has been updated to add 52.227-14 Alt II & III. | |||
| Section C.4., Amendment 2 Question and Answer Number 15, and H.1. | C-2, H-1 | Aside from the list of Deliverable in Section F, the contractor is providing services and the system and software is provided as a service. Given the answer to question 15 wherein the Government states that they do not expect any hardware or software will become Government property, we respectfully request that H.1 be revised to read, |
"H.1 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TECHNICAL DATA RIGHTS
| Upon completion of the period of performance, the incumbent shall physically turn all data, including third-party software licensed by the Government in accordance with the contractor-developed, Government-approved Transition Plan. (See Section H.2). With the exception of third-party software licensed by the Government, all data, shall be with Government exclusive or Government unlimited rights as specified in Section F. Documentation provided as part of the transition out should not contain Contractor brands, logos, or other proprietary legends. The documents shall be marked “First Produced in the Performance of Contract No. [Insert Contract Number]” with any contractor data first produced at contractor’s expense notated for redaction." | RFP Section H.1 has been updated. | |||
| K.2 | K-1 | Will the Government please advise in which volume the Section K Representations and Certifications should be included and confirm it is excluded from page count. | Offerors' Section K Representations and Certifications should be included with the Written Technical Proposal. This is excluded from the page count. The Government updated the RFP. | |
| L.8 | L-4 | In Section L, the Government states, "The Government will reject any proposal that does not provide a BuyAccessible Government Product /Service Accessibility Template (GPAT) indicating full compliance with Section 508." Would the Government please rephrase this requirement to state, "The Government will reject any proposal that does not provide a BuyAccessible Government Product/Service Accessibility Template (GPAT), Attachment V, indicating the offeror's capability to comply with Section 508 requirements."? Doing so will align with industry standard and the average technology evolution cycle for 508 Compliance and with the rest of the Section L requirement (included in the paragraph below for reference). |
| "Any proposal that does not provide a completed copy of Attachment V indicating the offeror’s capability to comply with Section 508 requirements throughout its performance of this Contract shall be eliminated from further consideration for award." | The government concurs with the proposed wording and updated the RFP. | |||
| Answer #49 in Amendment 2 states, “The Government will schedule OCDs no later than 5 business days after the proposal due date. It is anticipated that OCDs will take place approximately 4-5 weeks after proposals are due to the Government.” Due to the complexity of the OCD and for offerors to be fully prepared, this offeror respectfully requests the Government consider extending the OCD date to 7-8 weeks after proposals are due. | The Government is scheduling OCDs 4-5 weeks after the extended proposal due date of June 22. | |||
| Section C.5.2.1.10 | C-9 | Based on the answer to Question #6 in Amendment 2, would the Government consider it acceptable for the contractor to make a test environment openly accessible to GSA and its customers instead of the development environment? | The Government does not intend to prescribe the offeror's solution. The requirement is for the offeror to provide a non-Production environment that is accessible to Customer Agencies and the MSO. The offeror should propose the best environment for the Government and its customers to access with their solution. | |
| C.5.2.8 & Attachment U | C-19, Pricing Scenario Tab - CLIN 9A-9G | The ENTRUST PIV CA is the ENTRUST Managed Service but ENTRUST issues PIV-I certificates from their NFI/PIV-I CA which is a different interface. Will the Government please update their answer? | The Government has updated the RFP to specify the two Entrust CAs. | |
| Section B – Services and Price/Costs And all corresponding CLINs on the Pricing Scenario EXCEL File Attachment U - B.2.1 CLIN Tables |
CLIN 1A through 1H CLIN 9A through 9G 12A through 12G B 2 to B 6 B 18 to B21 B 22 to B 26
| B 27 to B 29 | Will the Government please change “Subscriber” to “Identity” in all CLINs, where applicable? | The Government has updated all applicable CLINS to "identity" rather than "subscriber." | |
| Section B – Services and Price/Costs - B.2.1 CLIN Tables |
CLIN 13A through 13G
| And Attachment U Pricing scenario | B-32 to B-34 and also in Pricing Scenario Attachment U | The Government has made the language change from “subscriber” to “card” in the Unit field of CLIN 13 tiers but not in the Description field. Will the Government please change the Description field also for CLINs 13B to 13G? | The Government updated CLIN 13 descriptions. |
| Section B – Services and Price/Costs - B.2.1 CLIN Tables |
CLIN 13C through 13G
| And Attachment U Pricing scenario | B-32 to B-34 and also in Pricing Scenario | The maximum volume in the CLIN 13C description is 500,000 and the minimum volume in CLIN 13D is 1,500,000. Will the Government please change the volumes in CLINs 13 D through 13G to eliminate gaps in volume from tier to tier within the CLIN? | The Government updated CLIN 13 descriptions. | |||
| F.6.1 Table - Help Desk | F-15 | Given that calls can be abandoned for many reasons outside of the contractors control such as miss-dials, Finding their own answer before speaking to an associate, sudden issue requiring the caller’s immediate attention the “Call Abandonment Rate” statistic has been losing significance in industry. Would the Government be please change the Call Abandonment Rate to Less than 14%? | The Government updated the Call Abandonment Rate to "Less than 14%." | |||
| Section C.4 Scope | C-2 | “All work that the contractor completes at the request or payment of the Government becomes property of the Government, and the contractor shall transfer it to the Government at the end of the period of performance.” |
Can the government please confirm the solution provided at the end of the transition is completely owned by the vendor?
Secondly, please confirm the intent of the government is that any solution which the government will expect to become property of the government will be clearly defined and agreed to by both parties prior to any funding activities to ensure there is no confusion on who owns what. The government does not expect that any hardware or software will become Government property. The Government will retain data rights as detailed in the Schedule of Deliverables in the RFP. The Government revises its response to Amendment 2, Question 15 The Government requires unlimited or exclusive data rights for data delivered or first produced under this contract in accordance with FAR 52.227-14 and FAR 52.227-17. The Government is not requiring unlimited or exclusive rights to data (including the contractor’s solution), if that data is developed at the contractor’s expense or is not first produced under this contract.
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