Question&AnswerTable-SBAHQ-17-R-0010.pdf

Q&A Table – SBAHQ-17-R-0010 – SBIC Examinations and Related Services Page 1 of 8

SBAHQ-17-R-0010

SBIC (Small Business Investment Company) Examinations and Related Services

Questions and Answers

Questions Answers

1-Is this acquisition for a follow-on contract?

Is there an incumbent?

1-This contract is for a new requirement. There is no incumbent.

2-For the SF-1447, what time frame should be put in Box 11?

2-Leave Box 11 blank. Your Offer is open and firm for Government acceptance for 60 days if you leave this block blank.

3-For the SF-1447, what should be inserted in

Box 13?

3-Include offeror’s official name and mailing address, telephone number, and DUNs number.

This is also a good place to include two working email addresses for Offerors as required on page 11 of the Provisions.

4-For the SF-1447, what is meant by prompt payment discount in Box 15?

4-Box 15 is used if the acquisition calls for a discount for the Government if payment is

“prompt.” Leave this box blank as it does not affect this acquisition.

5-For the SF-1447, Boxes 21 and 22 – are they to be completed with the information on

Contractors’ Pricing Schedule and the Pricing for the Dummy Task Order 0001?

5-Offeror need not add additional information in Boxes 21 and 22 – if the Offeror completed the Pricing Schedule and also the pricing for the Dummy Task Order.

6-On page 3 of the SF-1447, it states that the minimum value of task orders against each awarded IDIQ contract will by $50,000.00. It also states that the maximum value of TOs under each IDIQ contract will be $6 Million.

Are these figures per year or cumulative under the entire contract? What is the relation of the task order to the pricing schedule?

6-The $50,000 minimum for each IDIQ contract is a one-time figure and will be met by the issuance of a first task order against the

IDIQ contract.

The $6 Million is the maximum amount for all task orders issued against the IDIQ contract over a possible five years.

No funding is placed on the IDIQ contract.

The completed pricing schedule will be attached and incorporated into the IDIQ contract. The pricing schedule will be used to price task orders. Funding is placed on task orders.

7-On page 3 of the SF-1447, it states that a wage determination will be attached and made a part of the IDIQ “for the county where the majority of the work is to be performed.”

Where is this county?

7-It will be assumed that the majority of the work performed by the awardee will be at its home offices, and that will be the county used.

8-It states in the Combined Synopsis /

Solicitation notice that “it is expected that a task order will be issued against each IDIQ

8-It is expected that the SBA will be able to award 2-3 IDIQ contracts based on the Request for Proposal (RFP). After award, each

Q&A Table – SBAHQ-17-R-0010 – SBIC Examinations and Related Services Page 2 of 8 contract in FY2017 for approximately

$100,000.00 to $300,000.00.” How does this pricing range relate to the Dummy Task Order

0001?

Also, should the Dummy Task Order be priced using base year pricing or also include the four option years pricing?

awardee will receive a task order with stated work, using its pricing schedule for the base year, to put in place the first task order. This first task order is expected to be in the

$100,000 to $300,000 range.

The Dummy Task Order presents an imaginary scenario and will be used to compare pricing among offerors only – and to see how the

Offeror applies the pricing on its pricing schedule. The Dummy Task Order is unrelated to the real task orders that will be issued to awardees.

9-The notice language when it refers to 52.212-

1 refers to the “Performance-Based Statement of Work (SOW) with its 3 attachments.” What are these 3 attachments?

9-The three attachments are labeled: (1) 4a-

Attachmt1-SAMPLE-CoverMemo, (2)4b-

Attachmt2SAMPLE-ExamReport, and (3) rc-

Attachmt3-Non-Disclosure-Form. All three are a part of the SOW, and will be referenced in the award text of the SF1447 and attached to any IDIQ contract award. The first two attachments are work samples and are meant to assist the offeror in seeing how and in what detail the examination work is to be presented to the SBA. The third form will be signed by a person representing the awardee and also all of awardee’s employees. The third form requires the examination data be treated in a confidential manner and not disclosed to outside parties. The third form also deals with the reporting by an awardee of any conflict of interest it may have.

10-The Notice states that a completed proposal will include “a Technical Approach submitted in accordance with the SOW and attached

Solicitation Clauses and Provision.” Provide an example of such a Technical Approach.

Provide an explanation of what is expected with the Technical Approach.

10-The SBA does not have an example of a

Technical Approach to provide you. A well-written and complete Technical Approach can be written a number of ways. One way is to carefully read the SOW and state exactly how you would provide the services for each task, and also how you would control quality and timeliness while working on tasks. Rather than simply re-stating the wording in the SOW, a better approach might be to provide details of how you would plan, perform, and document each task. Such details could include a description of your particular means, methods, process, and procedures as a contractor providing professional staff for performing this

Q&A Table – SBAHQ-17-R-0010 – SBIC Examinations and Related Services Page 3 of 8 sort of work. Remember, you are allowed to attach key personnel resumes which will not count toward your page limitation. Remember, also, to attach a signed Conflict of Interest and

Non-Disclosure Statement. Also, your proposal is strictly limited to 15 pages plus attachments.

The evaluators will not read beyond 15 pages.

11-As for the Past Performance / Past

Experience form, it would not apply to us since we have not performed work for the SBA before – correct?

11-No, this interpretation is incorrect. You should fill in the form with all of your relevant past performance / past experience – whether or not you have worked for the SBA before or not. Read the form carefully and provide the information requested.

12-Should a signed Conflict of Interest and

Non-Disclosure Statement be part of a proposal?

12-Yes, a complete Technical Approach will include this Statement signed by someone who can obligate the vendor. Refer to the instructions in the clauses and provisions, particularly pages 10, 11, and 12 concerning submittal. The signed statement is an attachment and does not count toward the page limitation.

13- Do you want a hard copy of the completed proposal in addition to the “compact disc containing all part of the proposal”?

13-Yes, a paper copy of the proposal is required. See page 11 of the provisions.

14-As to Dummy Task Order 0001 (Dummy

TO 1), what pricing should be used? What is the Period of Performance (POP)?

14-The POP for Dummy TO 1 is missing. It is now changed to have a POP of September 28, 2017 – September 27, 2018. Use your base year pricing to submit a price for the Dummy

TO 1 as part of your proposal.

15-As to Dummy TO 1, the different tasks call for multiple units. Is this per year or for the entire contract?

15-The Dummy TO 1 is to determine if your pricing is firm, fixed, and fully inclusive – and if you have the ability to accurately price a task order. A POP of September 28, 2017 –

September 27, 2018 is added to the revised

Dummy TO 1. Price for the added POP using your base year pricing.

16-Is the Dummy TO 1 in essence a summary of the Pricing Schedule?

16-Vendor’s completed pricing schedule should be used to complete pricing for the

Dummy TO 1. Dummy TO 1 does not serve as a summary of the Pricing Schedule.

17-As for the Contractor’s Pricing Schedule, what relevance does it have to the Dummy TO

1?

17-Awardee’s completed pricing schedule will be attached to the IDIQ award. The Dummy

TO is used to evaluate pricing and will not be attached to the award. Offeror should use its completed Pricing Schedule to price Dummy

TO 1.

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18-As for the Contractor’s Pricing Schedule, what relevance does it have to columns 21 and

22 of the SF-1447?

18-The information called for in the Pricing

Schedule could be added to the SF-1447 for each awardee as CLINS in columns 21 and 22.

However, at this time the CO plans instead to attach the awardee’s completed pricing schedule to the award.

19-In completing the Pricing Schedule, may prices be adjusted for inflation at a future date?

19-No, Awardees’ pricing will not be adjusted for inflation. An Awardee should include an inflation factor in its fixed and fully loaded pricing for the base year and each option year as it sees fit.

20-As for the Non-Disclosure and Conflict of

Interest Statement, is it part of the proposal submission?

20- Yes, it is. See Answer 12, and the Clauses and Provisions document.

21-As for the sample documents attached to the SOW, what is their relevance? Are they to assist Offerors in any way? What is the purpose of their inclusion?

21-The samples are included to further explain the nature of the services to be supplied as set forth in the SOW. The samples show the format and details in a general way to assist a potential offeror in determining if it can perform this sort of work at a high standard, whether it should make an offer, and, if so, how to price the services in that the documents, along with the SOW, illustrate the required level-of-effort by the Awardee.

22-There appears to be a date conflict between the notice and the provisions as to the date the paper proposals are due in the CO’s office.

What is the date?

22-The date is July 27, 2018. The provisions have been corrected.

23-Referring to SF1447, Box 13, it is assumed that it will be filled in by the SBA at the time award – is that correct?

23-As an Offeror, please fill in Box 13 and sign the SF1447 at the bottom. The SF1447 is being used both for the RFP phase and later for the award phase. Also, see Answer 3 above, and the instructions in the Provisions.

24-There are a number of references in the documents to “Contractor’s GSA Schedule contract.” If a vendor does not have GSA

Schedule contract, is it precluded from making an offer?

24-Inclusion of references to a “GSA Schedule contract” is a mistake. The CO attempted to remove all GSA Schedule references. Please disregard these words. All vendors – with and without GSA schedule contracts – are invited to submit offers.

25-Please confirm that the limitation to provide any professional services to the subject SBIC is limited to the specific SBIC fund and no other funds within the firm, (i.e. no other SBIC funds within the firm, or other non-SBIC funds, management company, general partner, or firm in general).

25- The limitations will apply to subject

SBICs as well as Affiliated or Associated

Funds, but it will not apply to other funds that the vendor supplies services to which are unaffiliated with the subject SBIC.

The Contractor will not be allowed to provide

Q&A Table – SBAHQ-17-R-0010 – SBIC Examinations and Related Services Page 5 of 8 services to any Affiliate or Associate of the subject SBIC having been examined for at least one year after the report has been issued. SBA does not intend to assign a contractor an SBIC to examine if the contractor has provided services to any Affiliated Fund within the past year.

26- In the Conflict of Interest and Non-

Disclosure Statement, it states that an Awardee is unable to advise or provide any professional services to the subject SBIC during the term of the examination and for a period of one year following the report date of the examination of such SBIC pursuant to this contract. Given that an Awardee may be in the business of providing fund administration services to SBIC funds, we would be prohibited, for a period of one year following the report date, from providing our core services to any SBIC where we were contracted to conduct SBA exams.

Can this language be modified or can the one-year timeframe be reduced such that it doesn’t limit us from providing our core fund admin services to such funds following the exam date?

26-This language cannot be modified.

27- As for travel and given that on-site work will or may need to take place for some percentage of the exams, and the SBIC fund community is located nationwide, how should pricing for airfare, hotel, meals and related travel (i.e. taxi, Uber, etc.) be addressed? Are we able to qualify for government rates as a contractor or are we subject to normal commercial rates for airfare and hotel?

27-Travel will be limited to the Continental

United States, and should be included in your pricing schedule as part of the fixed prices on the Pricing Schedule. You will not necessarily qualify for Government rates. You should factor in normal commercial rates for airfare and hotel accommodations. You will not always need to travel for certain audits.

For most SBIC examinations, the vendor should expect to perform site visits requiring travel. An SBIC being examined may be local, a desk exam or may be across the country. An

Offeror’s price must accommodate either extreme. Examinations of non-leveraged

SBICs are expected to include travel. On the other hand, limited activity and special purpose examinations may not require travel.

Invoices will not include a separate CLIN for travel.

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Should travel be required for an SBIC audit outside the Continental United States, that additional travel amount will be negotiated with the Awardee as part of the placement of the individual Task Order (TO).

28-As to the Past Performance / Past

Experience Information form, a vendor may not have provided services in connection with any SBA contract. For instance, if a vendor is an independent 3rd party fund administrator that provides fund administration and SBA reporting services to SBIC funds, how should the vendor approach the completion of this form? Should the vendor provide a summary list of our client performance that it thinks is relevant to these contract requirements? Please confirm if this is what is needed.

28-See the answer to question 11. You are discouraged from providing a summary list.

Instead, please use the provided form.

29- As to the Certification required in Section

19.0 of the SOW, it states that the Contractor shat submit a completed responsibility form with its Technical Proposal. This does not appear to be a standard government form but rather each contractor’s own representation/certification. If we are incorrect on this, where can the actual form be found?

29-Section 19.0 of the SOW refers to the certification spelled out in FAR 52.209-5, Certification Regarding Responsibility Matters

(OCT 2015). FAR is the Federal Acquisition

Regulation. The form can be found on-line.

Attach the completed form to your proposal.

The Provisions have been changed to clarify that the inclusion of this form is necessary for a

Technical Approach to be complete.

30- In reading the proposed rule by the SBA on

12/16/2016, a vendor may understand that the

SBA is seeking to increase SBIC licensing and examination fees, as per the statements made within the proposed rule that the fees charged are not reflective of the work performed and cost incurred by SBA. For the purposes of this contract, has the SBA set any thresholds for exam fees?

30-The SBA has not set any thresholds to exam fees.

31- For this proposal the vendor understands that it only need to price based on a “per unit” -correct? This pricing approach ignores the complexity and size of each fund to be examined, which (as the questioner understands) is the current and proposed manner in which the SBA charges examination fees. Can you provide an approximate range of targeted funds by asset size groups as follows:

31-You are correct - the SBA is looking for firm-fixed unit pricing.

Although there are expected to be SBIC examinations of differing sizes and levels of complexity, it is anticipated that labor requirements will generally fall within the ranges provided in the Expected Level-of-

Effort in the SOW.

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Fund asset base: Estimated number of funds:

Assets less than $20 million X

Assets between 20 and 50 million X

Assets over $60 million X?

32-It appears to this vendor that the SBA is not soliciting offers for “the entire examination the entire contract at this point.” Is this correct?

32-This question is not understandable to the program office. Please read the SOW tasks and requirements as it states the services this

SOW and solicitation are requiring.

33-Will the cost incurred for each examination be passed on to the SBIC fund?

33-The examination fees charged by the agency to SBICs are set by regulation, and the basis and factors for determining those fees are outside the scope of these questions and answers. The costs of this contract are separate and distinct from the examination fees charged to SBICs.

34- A vendor states it is aware of aware of “the planned changes in SBIC exam expense, and intend to use this as a guide to our projections”

– for pricing in the option years. Can you confirm that this is an acceptable approach?

34-SBA cannot offer the requested pricing advice. Each offeror is expected to make its own determinations as to pricing, reasonableness, and risk based on its professional and business knowledge.

35- Can the contractor deploy its examiner resources depending on whether the exam is a

“desk exam” or if it requires travel? The questioner states that it may have a greater degree of flexibility regarding staffing and resources if it can designate some examiners as primarily desk examiners and others as field examiners.

35-Yes, as this is a pricing and business decision to be made by an Offeror. However, please explain your approach fully in the

Technical Approach – and also in the Pricing

Schedule, if it appears to be relevant to offered pricing.

36- As for exam timing - can exams be scheduled by the contractor, in conjunction with the SBA and subject fund, such that exams are not scheduled during key peak times for the examiner staff that are involved with core client work for the contractor, (i.e. months of March, April, July and October)?

36-An offeror should factor in having available, qualified personnel for this contract during all months of the periods of performance (POPs).

37- As for exam requests, can a contractor choose to decline a particular exam request from the SBA should the contractor already be engaged with the subject SBIC fund as a prospect, (i.e. if contractor is already in an active sales cycle with the fund, but have not yet signed an agreement for our core fund administration services)?

37-The SBA intends to award more than one

IDIQ so that it can work with contractors if conflicts arise. This matter would be negotiated by the parties to the IDIQ contract.

A more definite answer cannot be provided at this time.

38-Must contractor’s employees who provide these services pass a Government security clearance?

38-Yes, the Government technical point-of-contact (POC) will work with the contractor to obtain clearance for contractor-employees.

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Contractor-employees will need to complete basic forms that the contractor will provide to the POC. The SBA pays security clearance costs. Awardee will need to build time for clearance into its business processes.

The SOW has been modified to address security clearance for the contractor-employees.

39.-To ensure consistency / continuity in planning, coordination, and execution to complete examinations and report findings, will SBIC provide any limited training related to desired approach and documentation in appropriate work-papers?

39-The SBIC will provide limited training related to desired approach and documentation in appropriate work-papers. The POC will also work with the contractor as issues arise.

However, SBA will not pay for contractor employees to attend the training. Training costs should be built in to contractor’s pricing.

40- How important is it for Contractor to provide staff with specific SBIC examination experience?

40-If contractor has the ability to provide staff with specific SBIC examination experience, it should feature that fact in its Technical

Approach. Such ability would most likely be viewed as a positive attribute. However, this ability is not required, and it is not a make-or-break attribute for a successful Technical

Approach.

41- Will individuals with other financial institution examination experience be acceptable for this project?

41-Yes, individuals with other financial institution examination experience would be acceptable. Note that you can attach resumes of key personnel to your technical approach, and that these resumes do not count toward the page limitation. A better Technical Approach might address how and to what extent various key personnel will be used for the subject services.

42- What is the expected lead time from SBIC for contractor to begin planning and assign staff to perform exams?

42-An exact lead time cannot be provided.

However, following award of the IDIQ contracts in August, task orders will be issued this fiscal year (in August or September) so that performance, which may include clearance, training, and planning, can commence this FY 2017 (which ends

September 30, 2017.)

43- Are there any preferences to qualified SBA

8(a) firms in the selection process?

43-This contract is set-aside 100% for small business. There is no preference for any sub-group of small businesses. There is no preference for 8(a) firms.