Amendment 004 Questions and Responses.pdf

Amendment 004 Solicitation SB1341-12-RP-0005

The purpose of this amendment is to provide responses to questions posed by potential offerors. The questions and their responses are detailed below:

Questions & Responses

1. The PWS states “The contractor shall be able to provide at least four Key Personnel contract employees for each individual task order. However, the level of effort required for individual task orders may reach up to ten Key Personnel contract employees”. Is this to assume that there will be two (2) primary task orders (i.e., IA support services/operation for both locations) and numerous individual (i.e., sub-tasks) assigned to the primary?

Response: No, there is no limit to the number of task orders that may be issued under this contract. However, the ceiling amount of the contract, cumulative of all task orders issued, is $9,000,000.00.

2. Does a Public Trust clearance qualify for a Moderate-level Risk background investigation?

Response: Yes.

3. Does Section K- Offeror Representation and Certifications need to be completed by the Prime;

does Section K- Offeror Representation and Certifications need to be completed by the Sub- Contractors; and if section K is required in which Volume should they be located?

Response: Section K- Offeror Representation and Certifications needs to be completed for the prime contractor only. This section may be submitted as an attachment to the Technical Volume.

4. Does winning this IDIQ pose an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) with the NIST ISS IDIQ (PWS for 893.03 ITL/CSD)?

Response: No. However, if/when it is determined that OCI is a possibility; the contractor will be required to submit a mitigation plan for government review/approval.

5. In which volume (Technical or Business) should vendors include the Representation and Certifications?

Response: See response to Question 3 of this amendment.

6. What is the minimum number of past performances required?

Response: Offerors are encouraged to submit a minimum of two (2) past performance questionnaires. Offerors should submit the past performance questionnaires that are the most relevant to the work to be completed under this contract.

7. What is the maximum number of past performances allowed?

Response: There is no maximum number of past performance questionnaires required. Offerors should submit the past performance questionnaires that are the most relevant to the work to be completed under this contract.

8. How many past performances must be submitted from the prime?

Response: See response to Question 6 of this amendment.

9. How many past performances must be submitted from each subcontractor?

Response: See response to Question 6 of this amendment.

10. What is the page limit for past performances?

Response: See response to Question 7 of this amendment.

11. Section H.16: Key Personnel does not list key personnel – is this up to the vendor’s discretion?

Response: Section H.16 does not list key personnel because this is a clause that will be inserted into task orders. However, the names and positions of the key personnel for individual task orders are unknown until the time of task order award.

12. Numerous sections state, “The subsection is limited to X pages in length, excluding diagrams and graphics. The Government will not evaluate any pages after the Xth page of this subsection.”

However, diagrams and graphics are often included alongside content. Could the Government clarify what the maximum page count is?

Response: The maximum page counts are included in the instructions to the offerors. Diagrams and graphics will not count against these page limits and can either be included in the body of the text or referenced as attachments. The page limits given in the RFP remain intact, and do not include the diagrams and graphics.

13. Numerous sections state, “The subsection is limited to X pages in length, excluding diagrams and graphics. The Government will not evaluate any pages after the Xth page of this subsection.” Can diagrams and graphics be provided in an Appendix/Attachment that follows the subsection content? If so, will the Appendix/Attachment still be evaluated if it exceeds the subsection page limit?

Response: Yes, diagrams/graphics can be incorporated as appendix/attachments and will not count against the page limit.

14. Could the Government provide a Microsoft Word version of the Past Performance Questionnaire?

Response: Please see response to Question # 11 in Amendment 003 to the solicitation.

15. What is the Government estimate of the number of base year task orders?

Response: The government estimates no more than two task orders per base year, but that is subject to funds availability and changing A&A requirements.

16. Are all personnel on the awarded task orders considered Key personnel?

Response: That is up to the discretion of the Offeror when submitting a proposal for a given task order. As stated on page 76 of the solicitation document, in Technical Volume Instructions, A(4)(ii), for task order 1 the Offeror must assign, at a minimum, one contractor employee as key personnel at the NIST Gaithersburg, MD campus and one contractor employee as key personnel at the NIST Boulder, CO campus.

17. Which systems are located in Gaithersburg, MD and which are in Boulder, CO?

Response: NIST 194-02 and NIST 194-03 include assets that solely reside in Boulder, CO.

However, many systems comprise of assets that reside in both Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder, CO. locations.

18. Which agencies will the COR accept clearances from?

Response: NIST is working to compose a definitive answer to this question and will provide one as soon as possible.

19. Is a US SECRET clearance acceptable as having passed a Moderate-level Risk background investigation ?

Response: Yes. A US SECRET clearance or above meets the minimum background investigation requirement.

20. Will the Government issue a DD 254 or equivalent document outlining the security contract security requirements?

21. Are other IA certifications, such as Security + acceptable ?

22. Is the NIST new staff orientation available at both the Gaithersburg and Boulder locations? If only at Gaithersburg, will the Government reimburse travel to Gaithersburg for our Boulder, CO staff ?

Response: New staff orientation is available at both locations.

23. All subsections have page limitations “excluding diagrams and graphics”. Should we include diagrams and graphics for each subsection on subsequent/attachment pages? Or if they are included within the text portion of the pages, how will page count be verified?

Response: Diagrams/graphics do not count against the page limit. Vendors can either incorporate their diagrams/graphics where they are pertinent or can incorporate them as enclosures.

24. Do cover pages, table of contents, glossaries, index pages count against page count limitations?

Response: No.

25. How many contractors are currently performing the work, by location?

Response: There is currently one contractor performing this work in Boulder, CO. For Gaithersburg, MD, the number of FTEs performing this work has and will continue to vary, depending on level of effort required on new systems, existing systems with significant changes, and security officer support. The number of FTE’s performing work in Boulder, CO could also change in the future as requirements change.

26. How many handheld devices are in the NIST Network? Which OS? How many were added in 2011?

Response: The government considers this information sensitive and will not answer this question prior to award. Detailed information regarding government assets will be provided to the contractor after award, as appropriate based on the work being performed.

27. Regarding Solicitation SB1341-12-RP-005, on www.FedBizOpps.gov, it states under the section Synopsis, paragraph three, that "THIS PROCUREMENT IS 100% SET ASIDE FOR SERVICE- DISABLED VETERAN OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES." Could you please clarify what is meant by this? Does this mean that large businesses are prohibited from teaming with a Service- Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, where the SDVOSB performs at least 51% of the work?

Response: The prime contractor must be a SDVOSB. Large businesses are not prohibited from subcontracting with the prime SDVOSB. However, the terms of FAR 52.219-14 still apply to the prime contractor.

28. Regarding page count for the subsections of Volume 1, RFP states that these subsections are limited to either 15 or 10 pages (depending on which subsection) “excluding diagrams and graphics” yet the RFP also states that the Government will not evaluate any pages after the 15th (or 10th, as applicable) pages of the subsection. How are offerors to account for the space that diagrams and graphics take up? Does this only affect diagrams or graphics that take up a whole/separate page?

Response: See response to Question 23 of this amendment.

29. If the contractor includes an introductory section before the first subsection of Vol. I, does this page count against the page count for the first subsection of Volume I? Are the cover page, table of contents, and glossary excluded from the page limit?

Response: Offerors may provide an Executive Summary or Introduction section at the beginning of the proposal, in the Technical Volume. This Executive Summary or Introduction is limited to five (5) pages in length.

30. Is there a limit to the number of past performance citations that can be used? Are the past performance citations subject to any page limitations?

Response: See response to Question 7 of this amendment. The template for the past performance questionnaires is provided in the solicitation document in section J, so there is no limit to the number of pages that these questionnaires may encompass.

31. On page 76 of 82 of the RFP, the description of the Contract Management Plan states that “the costs incurred by the Offeror under each task order of the base contract” shall be included. Given the earlier wording that “there shall be no pricing information or labor rates included in the

Technical Volume” on page 75 of 82, is the offeror limited to only discussing the costs incurred in the Contract Management Plan in generic terms? If so, what generic information does the government want an offeror to include?

Response: This section states “The Offeror shall submit a Contract Management Plan that demonstrates the Offeror’s ability and plan to successfully manage the quality of the work performed under each task order of the base contract, the costs incurred by the Offeror under each task order, and the schedule of the work being performed under each task order.” This means that the plan shall demonstrate the Offeror’s ability to successfully manage…the costs incurred by the Offeror under each task order. The Government is not asking for information about what those costs are in this plan.

32. Is the government willing to entertain the use of software or hardware tools that may benefit the government other than HP WebInspect or Tenable Security Center?

Response: An Offeror may propose additional toolsets, but there is no guarantee that NIST will award based on these toolsets or choose to host or use the proposed toolsets.

33. What additional tools besides HP and Tenable are currently authorized for use by the government? Can we get a list of all authorized tools?

Response: The government uses a Government Off-the –Shelf (GOTS) product named Cyber Security Assessment & Management (CSAM) for Plan of Action & Milestone (POA&M) tracking, system inventory, and FISMA reporting. Other tools include normal desktop management software and in-house developed tools.

34. Is the basis of evaluation of proposal costs based on the cost estimates for Task Order 1 or the costs laid out for the Base IDIQ contract, or some combination of the two. If a combination, what would be the relative weighting between the costs for Task Order 1 and the Base IDIQ estimates?

Response: Proposed labor categories for IDIQ and the first task order will be evaluated for relevancy, appropriateness, etc. The Government will consider both in the evaluation of the Business Volume of the proposals. No further details of our source selection plan will be provided.

35. How will the task orders be scheduled and rolled out? Do you anticipate overlap in Task Orders?

Do you anticipate any gaps periods between the Task Orders?

Response: The government intends for the task orders to be sequential and does not anticipate overlap or gaps in period of performance. However the possibly exists that overlap could occur if additional resources are required while an existing task order is in place.

36. Is the ISSO FTE in Boulder, CO expected to work on only Task Order 1, or is it anticipated that this FTE will be working on additional Task Orders continuously for the remainder of the contract base period and any exercised option periods?

Response: The ISSO FTE in Boulder, CO is expected to only work on one task order at a time.

37. Is the ISSO FTE in Boulder, CO expected to also work at the government’s site in Gaithersburg, MD? If so, what is the expected breakdown of work expected to be performed in Boulder, CO

vs. Gaithersburg, MD?

Response: The ISSO FTE work will primarily be conducted in Boulder, CO. Occasional travel may be required to the Gaithersburg, MD location.

38. Page 75 of 82 of the RFP states that the offeror must email the day before the proposal is hand-delivered the “name of the person delivering the proposal and confirmation that the person is a US citizen ship.” This information is generally not known if delivery is made by UPS or Federal Express. Will the government accept hand-delivery of the proposal by UPS or Federal Express mail even if the vendor is unable to provide the name and citizenship of the person delivering?

Response: UPS, FedEx, and USPS deliver packages/mail to NIST on a daily basis and have access to Building 301 at NIST Gaithersburg campus in Maryland. Your package must be received and logged in by NIST Receiving station by or before the due date/time.