Questions and Answers_Cabling_20090529.pdf

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR SOLICITATION NUMBER

SAQMMA09R0212

CABLING CONTRACT

Question Reference in PWS Government Answer or

Clarification

1. Question: For pricing purposes, would the Government please specify an expected start date for the contract?

July 1, 2009 is the tentative date

2. Question: The SF33 Form/Cover Sheet, Section 9, indicates that the submission deadline for proposals is 12:00 noon on June 15, 2009; however, Solicitation Section L.10.1 (Proposal Instructions) says “All proposals must be received by 10:00 am EST, Monday, June 15, 2009.”

Question: Would the Government please confirm the submission deadline time for proposals?

SF33 Form/Cover Sheet

The correct submission deadline will be set for June 15, 2009 at noon

3. Question: Should the Items in fact be made consistent, and if so, which Section‟s titles should prevail?

Section B.3, p. 9: The CLIN descriptions listed in B.2 “Prices/Cost” and B.3 “Table of Overtime Rates” vary slightly from each other. Section B.2 lists Item 03 as “Installer” and Item 04 as “Installer‟s Helper,” but the Table of Overtime Rates reflects Item 03 as “Installer‟s Helper” and Item 04 as “Carpenter.”

Follow the CLINs listed in Section B.3 for pricing any Overtime Rates

4. Question: a. Please confirm that dollar values for these other costs are therefore not required with the cost proposal

b. If dollar values are required, will the Government provide the NTE amounts for all offerors to include in their cost proposals?

Section B.7 through B.9: For materials, other direct costs, and travel, the RFP states that these items will be defined in each individual delivery/task order.

NOT REQUIRED for the Cost Proposal. This is a Time and Materials contract so the materials will be invoiced and have the backup documentation for the material costs.

5. Question: Would the Government please clarify those personnel it considers “key” for this engagement?

Section B, H.4, and L.12.2: Key personnel listed in section H include the installation supervisor, site coordinator/manager, draftsman, and logistics/material specialist. However, Section B lists Key Personnel as only the Installation Supervisor and Site Coordinator/Manager, and Draftsman (and does not include the Logistics/Material Specialist), and adds the technical consultant as key personnel. Finally, Section L.12.2, in the footnote regarding letters of commitment, references the Program Manager and Program Assistant

Installation Supervisor, Site Coordinator/Manager, Technical Consultant, Draftsman and Logistics/Material Specialist will be the Key Personnel positions. A Program Manager and Program Assistant may not be a position proposed but if it is by the contractor then it will be a Key personnel position.

Section L.12.2 footnote has been revised to reflect the correct information.

Manager as key personnel.

6. Question: Would the Government allow the Offeror to include its response to the Test Plan in an appendix, without page limits?

Per Section C.5.2.3, a response to a Test Plan is required in Volume I

The Test Plan is prepared as per each Delivery/Task Order as described in C.5.2.3. This Test Plan also known as ‘Installation Plan’ and testing coincides with a deliverable as stated in F.2 and F.4

7. Question: Would the Government consider changing the due date to the 10th or 15 th of each month to allow all costs to be processed through the contractor‟s system for previous month?

Section F.2.c, p. 25: The RFP states that monthly reports are due by the 5 th of each month

The monthly reports are due No Later Than the 5th of each month – no changes will be made.

8. Questions: Are these individuals considered key personnel and should they therefore be factored into the staffing plan and cost estimate?

a. If so, what are the CLIN and estimated hours for each?

b. Is one or both of these positions synonymous with the Site Coordinator/Manager (as reflected in B.2 and H.4?

Section H.24, p. 43: This clause requires that the contractor‟s Project Manager be available on the effective date of the contract. However, a Project Manager labor category is not provided in Section B. Similarly, in Section L.12.2, Factor 2, Footnote 18 references a program or project manager(s) and assistant program manager(s) or project manager(s);

however Sections B and H do not include a labor category for program or project manager(s), and assistant program manager(s).

Question A: N/A

Question B: See the explanation for Question 5.

9. Questions:

a. Does the Government expect or desire an Executive Summary to be included?

b. If so, is the Executive Summary included in the 50 page limit?

The instructions provided in Section L do not specify a requirement for an Executive Summary in Volume I, Technical Volume.

Answer to a. – Yes

Answer to b. - Yes

10. Question: Is there a software requirement associated with the files that will be copied to CD (i.e., MS Word and Excel 2003 or 2007, Adobe Acrobat .pdf, etc.)?

Section L.10.a.2:

Yes, files should be MS Word 2007, Excel 2007 and Adobe format. Some contractors choose to submit their proposals as a PDF file so information cannot be changed. This is recommended.

11. As “pitch” is no longer provided in Microsoft Word, would the Government please confirm that it requires a “10-point font”?

Is the font size a requirement, or a minimum? In other words, must the document be entirely in 10-point font, or may it simply not be in any font smaller than 10-point?

Would the Government permit a separate font size requirement of [no smaller than] 9 point font for tables, charts, graphs, graphics, and captions?

Section L.10.a.5.c on p. 62 states: “The font size shall be „10 pitch‟.”

Yes, 10-point font is acceptable.

No font smaller than a 10-point will be accepted unless it is in tables, charts, graphs as stated below in question c for tables, charts, etc.

Yes – no smaller than a 9 point font for the tables, charts, graphs, etc. – this is acceptable.

12. Question: Would the Government consider allowing color graphics, flow charts, graphs, tables, and/or figures?

Section L.10.a.5.f, regarding general format and content, indicates that color representations shall be avoided.

Yes, the Government will accept color graphics, flow charts, graphs, tables and figures.

13. Question: Please confirm that the referenced volume should be “Volume III,” which is designated as the Cost/Pricing volume, per Section L.10.a.2.

Section L.10.a.6 states “The offeror is cautioned that only Volume II may contain cost and price references.”

Yes, Government acknowledges that this was a typo and Cost/Price is actually Volume II and the correct volume is III.

14. Question: Are resumes of key personnel and any required letters of commitment included in the page limitation (50 pages) for Volume I/would the Government consider excluding them from the page count? Would the Government consider permitting the resumes and/or letters of commitment to be provided as an appendix to Volume I?

Reference Section L.12.2, Factor 2:

Personnel Qualifications and Staffing Plan

The resumes are part of Volume 1 and thus included in the page limitation of 50 pages.

15. Question: Would the Government please clarify whether it requires letters of commitment only from current employees proposed as key personnel, from those personnel not currently employed by the Offeror, or both?

Section L.12.2 Factor 2: Personnel Qualifications and Staffing Plan, footnote 18 (p. 64), second paragraph states, “If the proposal program manager and program assistant manager are employees of the Offeror at the time the proposal is submitted, the resume shall be accompanied by a signed letter of commitment.” Typically, letters of commitment are provided for key personnel not already employed by the Offeror or both.

Letters of Commitment are required for both. As stated in the paragraph referenced above – ‘The letter of commitment must be signed by that person and shall certify that the person will be the key personnel’. . The Government is stating that Letters of Commitment is required by the Key Personnel for the contract whether they are already employed by the Offeror or will be at the time of contract award.

16. Question: Is the staffing plan included from the 50-page limit/would the Government consider excluding the staffing plan from the page limitation?

Would the Government consider permitting the staffing plan to be provided as an appendix to Volume I?

Section L.12.2, p. 64: This is limited to 50 pages.

The staffing plan is to be part of the 50 page limitation

17. Question: Would the Government consider allowing the Offeror to include its response to the QC Plan in an appendix, without page limit?

Section L.12.2, Factor 2, p. 64, specifies that the Offeror‟s Quality Control Plan is included in Factor 2. However, proper Quality Control Plans are often lengthy and detailed.

Yes, for the Quality Control Plan it can be an attachment or appendix once referenced in the technical portion. The limit will be 10 pages.

18. Question: Are the teaming agreements excluded from the 50 page limit?

Would the Government consider permitting them to be provided in an appendix with volume II?

Per Section L.12.3, Offerors are expected to include the teaming agreements for subcontractors with their proposals.

Yes.

The Teaming Agreements can be provided as an appendix or attachment once referenced in the technical portion.

19. Question: Please clarify the requirements for past performances for Offerors with subcontractors:

If the offeror has subcontractors supporting this effort, will each sub be allowed to submit up to 4 past performance references, or is four (4) past performances the maximum that may be submitted for the entire team?

Is there a requirement for the mix of past performances, or minimums/maximums from each team member? In other words, must a certain number of past performances be from the prime contractor (or “is there a maximum number of past performances that may be from subcontractors”)? If permitted, will past performances of subcontractors be evaluated?

Section L.13: Past Performance Volume.

The prime must provide 4 past performance references.

Each sub can provide up to the 4 past performance references as well.

Yes, the prime has to provide four past performances as described in L.13.

The sub past performances will be evaluated but the emphasis is on the prime.

20. Question: Who is the incumbent and when does the existing contract expires?

American Systems Corporation (ASC) and the existing contract ends on June 15, 2009.

21. Question: Is the incumbent eligible to bid this contact?

Only 8(a) companies are eligible to bid on this requirement.

22. Question: How many contract awards One contract will be awarded are expected on this IDIQ procurement?

as a Time and Material IDIQ contract.

23. Question: What is the expect timeframe for this contact award?

The tentative contract award date is July 1, 2009.

24. Question: Of the four past performances can one or two of them be from the subcontractor?

See Question 19

25. Question: Is the propensity of the work to occur in the Washington DC area?

For other areas do the technicians fly out to support? If not, how should we accommodate variances on Wage Determination for unionized cities?

The Labor Determination rates apply for all of Washington DC, MD and Northern Virginia. The Government does not anticipate any wage variances for this contract.

26. Question: What is the anticipated work volume in terms of orders? What is the typical order size? What percent of orders are placed on a credit card vs.

task order?

The anticipated work volume varies depending on the DoS requirements from the individual bureaus. The typical order size also varies.

The government does not intend to allow credit cards payments under this contract.

27. Question: What is the historical work load for the FY2007 and FY2008 by dollars spent?

The government does not have an accurate estimate and can not provide that information.

26. Question: Any off-site storage requirements to support? If so, what are those requirements?

The Government does not foresee any off-site storage at this time; however, the contractor does have to hold a TS facility clearance as stated in Section H.9 for the Security Requirements for this contract.

28. Question: In a teaming situation, does the prime 8(a) contractor have to be the team member who possesses the Top Secret facility clearance for this contract?

See Answer to Question 26.

29. Question: Must we have a TS facility available prior to award of the contract, or can it be upon award of the contract?

The TS Facility clearance is to be in place at the time of award or within 90 days from the contract award date.

Review Section H.9.1 of the PWS for further guidance.