RRB16R0005_AAS_Answers_to_Offeror's_Questions _Attach_2.docx

Solicitation No. RRB16R0005 Page 2 of 78 Attachment 2 Actuarial Audit Services

Answers to Potential Offeror Questions

A. Potential offeror questions and RRB answers are incorporated into the solicitation as follows:

1. General: Is there an incumbent performing this work? If so, who?

Answer:

Yes, the incumbent contractor is the Segal Company, of Chicago IL..

2. General: What is the Government’s estimate of the level of effort required to perform the requested services?

Answer:

This solicitation is calling for performance based acquisition. Each offeror must plan their resources to accomplish the objective and workload. PThe RRB OIG estimates that the contractor could experience potentially high effort in the first year and likely low to moderate effort for the option years.

3. General: What was the fee and level of effort for this work in FY2015?

Answer:

The at firm fixed-price for the FY 2015 option year services is information is available at usa.spending.gov, under contract no. RRB11C005. .

4. General: Does the Government require this work to be performed onsite at the RRB/OIG headquarters or offsite at the Offeror’s facilities? If onsite, what percentage of the work should be performed onsite?

Answer:

The work may be performed at the offeror’s facility or onsite at the RRB as needed. See RFP; section IV, page 14. The offeror shall complete the designated fill-ins, if required, in FAR 52.215-6.

5. General: Please confirm that the offeror can retain copies of work papers and deliverables.

Answer:

No, the offeror may not retain copies of work papers and deliverables. See RFP; section III.E.2, page 10, entitled Data Rights.

6. General: Does the audit of the RRB SOSI include determining the accuracy of the FI payment to RRB?

Answer:

No.

7. General: If data is coming from an RRB information system, to what extent is the auditor required to trace data back through the primary sources or development of such data?

Answer:

Data comes from RRB systems but the contractor is not expected to trace back to this source. A database will be provided through which the contractor will trace data.

8. General: Please provide the number and description of each of the actuarial models, spreadsheets, estimation tools, etc., used to generate the information used in the RRB SOSI.

Answer:

The actuarial valuation model is supported by multiple sources of information including Excel workbooks. During the triennial year, approximately 45 sources of information were provided to the previous contractor that included reports, minutes, notes, fund balances, data set, and record layouts.

9. General: What kind of documentation exists for the SOSI prepared by RRB (i.e., prepared documentation, spreadsheets, or models)?

Answer:

In addition to the response provided for number 8, published reports, fund balances, Excel workbooks, and other documentation support the actuarial valuation model.

10. Section II – Schedule of Supplies and Services, B, Page 6 of 31. The amount of out of pocket costs on engagements such as this is very hard to predict. We would prefer not to bill the government for more out of pocket costs that are actually incurred. Therefore, we respectfully ask that out of pocket costs (i.e., travel, per diem) be shown in separate Cost Reimbursable Contract Line Items (CLINs) in the pricing and billed as incurred, rather than being included as part of the fixed price.

Answer:

See section V.II.B. The government requires firm fixed-pricing for all proposed services to provide the solicited Actuarial Audit services.

11. Section II – Schedule of Supplies and Services, C - Scope of Work, 2, Page 9 of 31. Would the Government consider inserting “To the extent consistent with applicable professional standards,……” at the beginning of the first sentence? Comment by usrrb: Can we provide a standard for the contractor to follow? GAAP, AICPA, SFFAS, FASAB, etc.?

Answer:

This question seems to be applicable for Section III, Scope of Work number 2. RRB , to which the response is thatwill not accept the suggested language insert in section III. will not be made.

12. Section III – Statement of Work, D - Scope of the Actuarial Audit, Page 10 of 31. This section states: “The contractor shall perform such work as is required to make the following determinations for each year’s actuarial audit as awarded.

This includes an actuarial analysis that is done in a spreadsheet using cell data. In addition, every third year the contractor must reconcile cell data back to source data in the spreadsheet.” Does the Bureau of the Actuary, or more broadly stated, RRB personnel, prepare the spreadsheet subject to audit?

Answer:

RRB personnel prepare the spreadsheet.

13. Section III – Statement of Work, E - Reporting Requirements, 2, Page 10 of 31. Would the Government consider deleting "or developed by" in the first sentence? Also, would the Government consider replacing the second sentence with: "All written reports and other items specified herein as a 'deliverable' shall be owned by the federal government.' Also, would the Government consider adding at the end of the third sentence: "provided that the contractor may retain a copy of information received or developed in connection with this engagement to the extent necessary to comply with applicable professional standards." Comment by usrrb: Should we revise this section to allow the contractor to keep copies of the deliverables and whatever documents/information was generated to produce the deliverables?

Answer:

The government will not revise section III.E.2. Data Rights. The government modifies the end of the third sentence to add “provided that, with the consent of the Contracting Officer, the contractor may retain a copy of information received or developed in connection with this engagement to the extent necessary to comply with applicable professional standards."

14. Section III – Statement of Work, E - Reporting Requirements, 5, Page 11 of 31. This section states, “The contractor’s report must describe any limitations on the scope of their work caused by lack of documentation.” Does the IG expect there is a reasonable possibility that there may be a lack of documentation available to perform the procedures required under this SOW and if so, can the IG provide a description of the type(s) of documentation that may be missing?

Answer:

The RRB OIG does not expect to provide, or the contractor to experience, a lack of documentation. However, there is not expected but is a possibility of such. In that case, the contractor is required to document any mutual lack..

15. Section III – Statement of Work, J – Confidentiality, Page 11 of 31. Would the Government consider adding at the end of the second sentence: "provided, however, that the Contractor is permitted to disclose such information to the extent disclosure is required by law, legal process, or applicable professional standards."? Comment by usrrb: This seems like a reasonable request. However, isn’t this a standard exception and always understood?

Answer:

The government will not revise this provision.

16. Section IV – General Terms and Conditions, 52.228-5 Insurance, Page 14 of 31. In the first bullet, would the Government consider deleting "and policies shall include such terms and provisions as may be required by." Also, in the second sentence of the sixth bullet, would the Government consider replacing "liability policies" with "certificates of insurance" and in the last sentence of the sixth bullet, replace "policies" with "certificates"?

Answer:

The government will not revise this FAR provisionclause.

17. Section IV – General Terms and Conditions, 52.224-1 Privacy Act Notification and 52.224-2 Privacy Act, Pages 15 and 16 of 31. Would the Government consider deleting 52.224-1 and 52.224-2 on pages 15-16 as these requirements are not applicable?

The government considers these FAR clauses and provisions applicable to the solicited services and willwill not remove themse provisions.

18. Section IV – General Terms and Conditions, 52.239-1 Privacy and Security Safeguards, (e)(9) Pages 16-17 of 31. In (e)(9), would the Government consider inserting "except as otherwise provided in the contract" at the end of the first sentence? Also, would the Government consider deleting the second and third bulleted items at the end of the provision?

The government will not revise this FAR provisionclause.

19. Section IV – General Terms and Conditions, RRB.B.01 B. Security Provisions, Page 17 of 31. Would the Government consider deleting the last sentence of RRB.B.01 on page 17?

Answer:

The government will not revise this provisionClause.

20. Section IV – General Terms and Conditions, Audit of Records, Page 23 of 31. Under the Audit of Records heading on page 23, would the Government consider adding a new paragraph to include: “4. The contractor is under no obligation to provide access under this paragraph to the extent that such access could, in the contractor's reasonable opinion, violate applicable professional standards or undermine the integrity of the audit."?

Answer:

The government will not revise this FAR provisionclause.

21. Section V – Proposal Submission Instructions, D. Technical Proposal Submission, 4.a.1) f) Staffing Plan, Page 27 of 31.

a. In addition to the professional staff with actuarial experience to meet the RFP requirements, may offerors propose personnel (partner, manager, and staff) with appropriate audit experience in Federal accounting and auditing standards (e.g., SFFAS and GAGAS)?

Answer:

Offers may propose personnel it deems appropriate in its technical proposal. There is no change to the evaluation factors.

b. Also, if the base task is an audit of the statements and note disclosures, would the Government consider making an audit partner the lead professional managing the engagement in order to ensure the work is performed in accordance with professional audit standards?

Answer:

The lead professional should be a principal actuary as described in the RFP Section V.D.4.a.1.f.6 (page 27 of 31).

22. Section V – Proposal Submission Instructions, D. Technical Proposal Submission, 4.a.1) f) Staffing Plan, 6, Page 27 of 31. This section requires the principal actuary be an enrolled actuary, which is somewhat uncommon. Would the Government consider the deletion of this requirement?

The government will not consider Ddeletion of this item requirement.will not be considered.

23. If an offer does not contain any Technical Assumptions, Conditions, or Exceptions, as described in Section V D.3. (on Page 26 of 31), is it correct that no such information need be identified or provided to the RRB? That is, there is no need to even mention such information in the offer.

Answer:

The government requires that Technical Assumptions, Conditions, or Exceptions shall be submitted only if they are applicable to an offer. In such cases, the offeror must submit, under separate cover, all assumptions, conditions, or exceptions, cross-referenced to See section III SOW and section V.D Technical Proposal Submission V.D.3. The government will not seek out and identify assumptions, conditions, or exceptions within the offerors proposal.

24. Regarding Section V D.4.a.(1)(d) (on Page 26 of 31), in connection with the past five years of actuarial audit services performed by the current auditor (sic), have any task/work steps been assigned to the RRB and/or OIG staff? That is, has the actuarial auditor depended in any manner upon RRB and/or OIG resources in order to accomplish the tasks required by the Statement of Work (Section III)? If so, please describe in detail the nature of any such task/work steps and include the job titles of the RRB and/or OIG resources involved.

Answer:

The current cNo contractor has not assigned any tasks/work steps have been assigned to RRB and/or OIG staff. However, actuarial data supporting the SOSI in the form of spreadsheets are prepared by the Bureau of Actuary and provided to the OIG for audit purposes. RRB OIG reviewed the data for PII and provided it to the contractor.

25. Please provide the approximate hours spent by the current contractor for each year of the most recent 5-year contract period.

Answer:

This was a fixed firm price contract. and it is unThe government does not kknownown to the government the actual or approximate hours spent by the previous contractor.

26. Please explain whether the results of the 26th Actuarial Valuation as of December 31, 2013 were used in connection with the final audit conducted in 2015 by the current actuarial contractor. If they were used for that audit, please explain whether these results were used directly or whether adjustments were made to these results.

Answer:

Yes the 26th Actuarial Valuation was used by the previous contractor. Adjustments were made to the results, as necessary.

27. Will the contractor need to reconcile the cell data back to the source data once or twice during this contract period?

Answer:

Reconciliation is discussed in Section III.D, Scope of the Actuarial Audit.

28. Does the valuation spreadsheet use macros to perform the actuarial calculations (which can be more difficult to audit) or do all calculations use standard Excel formulas (which are generally easier to audit)?

The valuation spreadsheet uses both macros and formulas.

29. Will the contractor be provided with the actual data and spreadsheets (with calculations intact) that are used by the RRB’s Bureau of the Actuary? If not, please describe the exact data, spreadsheets, and calculations that the contractor will receive.

Answer:

Yes, the actual data and Excel workbooks with the calculations intact will be provided to the contractor.

30. Please provide us with copies of the annual written reports prepared by the current actuarial auditor.

Answer: Comment by usrrb: I know we’ll not provide these reports during the RFP phase. However, will we provide them after contract award? Also, are these reports typically needed for contract performance?

The government will not, aAt this time, release the previous contractor prepared the annual written reports will not be released.

31. Regarding Section V.C.1.c on page 25 of the RFP, can the position/labor/skill levels table be submitted as an appendix to the Business Proposal or does it have to be a completely separate attachment?

Answer: Comment by usrrb: I believe this is ok. Please advise.

The position/labor/skill levels categories submission requirements, (see sections II.C. and V.C.1.c.), may be submitted as an appendix to the Business Proposal submission.

32. Are there any font restrictions for text? Are there any font restrictions for text in tables and graphics?

Answer: Comment by usrrb: There is no font size requirement stated in the RFP. Should we state 11 or 12 font, etc.?

See Instructions to Offerors, section V.B.1. The contractor shall submit proposal documents in either MS Office 2010 format or Adobe pdf file format, with a font size of 11 or 12.Font size shall be no less than 10pt. The proposal submission instructions should be followed.

33. Is the incumbent eligible to bid on this response?

Yes. See page 1, block no. 10, SF 1449. This is an unrestricted acquisition. Any qualified firm is eligible to submit a proposal in response to this solicitation.