Responses_to_RFQ_Question_4-7-2016.docx

1. Is there a budgeted amount or target cost? The government has established an independent cost estimate, however this information will not be revealed.

2. How many leaders would be interviewed? This depends on the analytical design laid out by the contractor. There might be a fairly limited number of individual interviews, but that depends on how the contractor designs its data collection approach.

3. How many employees do those leaders manage? Unclear which leaders this question is referring to. Some supervisors have very few direct reports, while others have very large numbers. The scope of inquiry is to address the Department’s workforce writ large, with an emphasis on mid- and senior-levels.

4. How many different facilities are those leaders in and is travel to them expected? No travel outside DC areas is expected. FSI (Arlington, VA) and State Department headquarters (Washington, DC) are likely to be the only locations, but additional site visits, including other DC annexes, may be deemed necessary by the contractor.

5. Where are they located? Most facilities are in downtown DC and FSI is in Arlington, VA.

6. Due to the potentially large nature of the three tasks defined in the Performance Work Statement, would the Government consider extending the Period of Performance to 18 months? No. 18 months is too long. The work is expected to be completed in 6 months, as specified in the original RFQ. Any unanticipated obstacles which may hinder the work process must be immediately brought to the attention of the Contracting Officer Representative. A determination will be made by the COR and Contracting Officer on whether or not the unanticipated obstacles warrant a contract extension in accordance with FAR 52.217-9.

7. How is the COR selected? Is it someone designated from within FSI? Yes, the COR will be someone designated within FSI at the time of contract award.

a. Regarding the Needs Assessment:

8. How many staff members are involved in the level of leadership development we will be looking at for the needs assessment portion?

The SOW states that this is for “the Department’s workforce.” The general size of the workforce is publicly available and includes approximately 13,000 Foreign Service and 11,000 Civil Service. The focus will be on these populations of employees who are U.S. citizens.

9. It is important to know the scale so we have an idea, for example,

a. How many will be taking the online survey?

b. How many will we include in the round(s) of interviews?

c. How many focus groups with how many participants will we hold?

These questions are for the contractor to determine. As explained in the RFQ, the design of the assessment will be “led by the contactor, but must incorporate regular consultation with, and feedback from, leading LMS staff members.” We are hiring contractors for their expertise in making these decisions. We do not want to box contractors into narrowly defined parameters of numbers of individuals or a specific number of focus groups, etc. That is all part of analytical design. We can share what has been done via existing surveys, including the publicly available Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, for comparison purposes. Internal surveys and analysis can be shared once the contract is awarded.

10. In the RFP it mentions different levels and I know this is focused on mid- and senior-level tracks. Are there these two tracks in those categories or more? And there are different career paths, so will this assessment be focused on both the Foreign Service and civil service paths? Are there more delineated paths than those two? Still trying to get a better understanding of scope.

Project will focus on for Foreign Service (FS), including generalists and specialists, and Civil Service (CS) employees. Mid- and senior-level categories are not “tracks” per se, and are mainly based on rank or grade levels. See more at www.state.gov/aboutstate/ and http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/111812.pdf.

11. Will we be reaching out to participants outside of the US for surveys? Yes, that is expected. Focus groups? Interviews? (Which can be done over Skype, etc. for interviews and focus groups.) The bidder proposes how to reach out to the various audiences. Overseas posts will have their own limitations and Skype and similar services might be possible, but there are security restrictions that often prohibit some of these commercial services. Most focus groups will likely be DC based given those limitations/differences with overseas staff. Overseas staff do have access to the Internet, but some have relatively low/poor bandwidth.

12. Is there a determined main focus of the audit, such as competencies? Objectives? Methods of learning? Assessments and evaluations? All of the above and maybe more? As stated in the SOW, the main focus is to “audit FSI courses to assess consistency in the implementation of the leadership and management principles and suitability given the findings of the ...needs assessment.” See here for the Foreign Service Core Precepts and here for the Civil Service uses OPM Competencies. The Department’s Leadership and Management Principles can be found at http://careers.state.gov/work/culture-of-leadership.

13. Are there competencies/objectives already set in the current courses? I understand that even if they are currently set they may alter once the needs assessment is completed.

Yes, each course has its own set of specific objectives as well as specific OPM CS competencies and FS precepts that are addressed in the respective courses. These will all be accessible to contractor once the award is granted.

14. Is there existing data on participant performance in the current courses?

For some courses, students are evaluated on the material they learned, especially with distance learning courses. However, most courses do not test or evaluate students through exams or similar means. Increasingly, LMS is incorporating Kirkpatrick evaluation levels 1 through 4 among its leadership courses. LMS also incorporates 360 assessments of participants into several of its mandatory leadership courses.

15. Are there existing evaluations from current courses? Yes and these can/will be shared.

a. Regarding the Benchmarking:

16. Is FSI willing and able to gain access for us to other federal agencies to conduct benchmarking? Yes.

17. Are there for-profit and non-profit organizations that FSI is willing and able to gain access for us to conduct benchmarking? Yes. However, we prefer to gain exposure to some organizations with whom we are less familiar with but that have promising approaches.

18. Pages 3 and 41 notes that the proposal must be submitted in hard copy. Since it is not an extensive submission, rather than producing hard copy proposals, can the Government change the requirement to only electronic submission of proposals? No, all proposal submissions shall be submitted in hard copy, with the exception of past performance surveys. See Section L.2 Page 3 refers to hard copies of the reports to be produced by contractor after award. Yes, we want hard copies in addition to electronic versions of materials produced under the contract performance.

19. Page 5 notes that existing internal surveys, assessments, focus groups reports and related materials will be reviewed by the Contractor. Can State provide specifics of what documents are available, the recency/currency of the documents and the number of pages of the documents so that Offerors can estimate time to review the materials? Internal surveys and assessments include research conducted in the past 5 to 10 years (or earlier if there is interest). These products include quantitative and qualitative research. There are between 10 and 20 other surveys and reports, some of which are publicly available (e.g. FEVS) and some of which are short and discreet (e.g., less than 20 pages or brief PowerPoint summaries). There is likely to be less than 300 to 400 pages in total, depending on how one counts these resources. FSI can advise which ones are particularly important from its perspective.

20. Page 6 requires the Contractor to meet with internal subject matter experts, clients/students and other categories of stakeholders. Does State have a preference on how many of each to anticipate? There is no specific number and the decision will be up to the contractor. There are many ways to uncover information and to engage with stakeholders and we are open to discussion with the contractor on their recommended approach. Are there mandatory organizations and or personnel that State requires be part of this information discovery? There are no mandatory bureaus, offices, or personnel that must be included, but we will communicate with the contactor the priority ones that we have identified (e.g., HR offices, other training offices and individuals at FSI, etc.).

21. In meeting with internal subject matter experts, does State anticipate that travel will be required outside of the Washington, DC area? Not required and not recommended. If yes, where and how much travel should Offerors anticipate? Offeror may propose.

22. Page 6, Audit of FSI Courses – Please provide the number and length of courses by delivery method (e.g., classroom, online) that must be audited. Would FSI provide a course catalogue that lists all the intended courses that will be part of the audit?

Contractor will have access to the online (and printable) version of the catalog, which is searchable by keyword, school (e.g., Leadership and Management School), and other filters and parameters. The total number of mandatory leadership courses in the Leadership and Management School (LMS) is less than 10. The total number of other (elective) courses offered by LMS is less than 15. Some leadership training/modules are incorporated into other schools at FSI.

23. Page 6, Audit of FSI Courses – Will the Contractor be able to review all materials at its location, or will the Contractor have to be onsite at a State computer to access the materials? Both. Contractor can print out the course catalog but the online access with search functions will have to be done here at FSI through our internal system.

24. Page 10, Government Furnished Property – Please confirm that access to the Learning Management System (LMS) and access to all relevant content will be provided by State for the audit. Contactor will have access to certain elements of the learning management system(s), but not full access since there are PII and security restrictions in place.

25. Pages 19-20 and page 41 #7, Reps and Certs – If the Offeror has current representations and certifications in SAM.gov, is it required to also submit the representations and certifications in the solicitation? No, but the offeror shall submit a printout of a current SAM account and DUNS registration.

26. Page 42, Past Performance – To save government personnel time, if the past performance has a completed CPARS/PPIRS record, rather than sending the questionnaire, can the Offeror note in the past performance volume that a CPARS/PPIRS record already exists? No, past performance questionnaires are required. The government will also check CPAS/PPIRS in addition to the past performance questionnaires.

27. Pages 43-44, Evaluation Factor 1 – Since this contract will be for an assessment and an audit, the first bullet is relevant, but bullets two, three and four seem more relevant to developing a leadership program than assessing/auditing a program. Bullets one and five seem to be sufficient for the scope of work. Can bullets two through four be removed or can Evaluation Factor 1 be refined to better align with the requirements? No. FSI seeks contractors not only with expertise in researching and analyzing these issues, but with the practical experience in designing and implementing enterprise-wide training programs, curriculum design, and blended learning approaches.

28. Page 44, Evaluation Factor 3 – Must each past performance meet all three of the bullets, or must each past performance meet at least one of the bullets? Evaluation factors will be rated on the following scale:

i. Excellent

ii. Good

iii. Fair

iv. Poor

v. Unsatisfactory

b. As stated in Section M.2 “A proposal that has no weaknesses and no particular strengths above and beyond meeting the basic requirements defined for a particular evaluation criteria element, will receive less than the full credit available on that element. To achieve the full credit for an element, the offer must go well beyond the requirement by offering exceptionally innovative or particularly well thought out or insightful methods, procedures, solutions or new opportunities for major improvements.”

29. Would the contractor conducting the initial assessment, audit, and benchmarking be conflicted out of future leadership development projects with FSI? At this time, FSI does not currently anticipate a follow on contract for this requirement. However, if FSI were identify a follow on requirement, the awarded contractor would be precluded from submitting a proposal in response to a solicitation which required the implementation and application of the findings and recommendations which result from this contract. This would be seen as a conflict of interest. The awarded contractor will not be precluded from submitting a response for unrelated opportunities. Any future requirement which is seen as a conflict of interest would be identified within Section C of the requirement.

30. Are there specific requirements for key personnel (i.e. degree, years of experience, etc.)? If so, can you please provide them? No. FSI purposely did not specify number of years or specific degrees since those criteria sometimes screen out some of the most effective contributors. However, we will closely review and evaluate the resumes and related credentials in accordance with Section M.

31. The RFP mentions an Action Plan for Leadership Training that was created by FSI in response to the QDDR. Can you please provide a copy of this document? No, this is not a public document. Upon award, this will be provided.

Regarding the Leadership Training Needs Assessment

32. Can you please provide more detail on the existing internal surveys, assessments, focus group reports and related materials? At a minimum, can you please provide an estimated number of documents or number of pages that the contractor will need to review for this task? See response to question 19.

33. SOW states “Contractor will conduct and publish a comprehensive leadership and management training needs assessment for the Department’s workforce. Can you please explain with LMS means by “publish” in this case? By the term publish, we mean contractor will submit a written document that will be owned by the Department of State.

Regarding the Audit of FSI Courses

34. Does LMS expect that the Contractor will physically sit in on one iteration of every LMS course and course module as part of this audit? No, there is no expectation of this. It would be unfeasible.

35. Can you please provide an estimate of the number of courses the will need to be audited? The total number of mandatory leadership courses in the Leadership and Management School (LMS) is less than 10. The total number of other (elective) courses offered by LMS is less than 15. Some leadership training/modules are incorporated into other schools at FSI.

Regarding the Benchmarking Study

36. Is travel anticipated for this requirement? The DC metropolitan area is likely to be sufficient to cover the spectrum of organizations we suggested. If so, should the travel costs be included as part of the contractors firm fixed price offer or would travel be funded outside of this mechanism? Please include travel costs for contract personnel in the firm-fixed price offer. Travel will not be reimbursed separately.

37. If travel is anticipated for the government program manager or COR, should this be factored into the firm fixed price for these requirements or would government employee travel be covered out of program budgets. No travel is anticipated for government personnel. Any government travel will be covered separately by the government and therefore, shall not be included in the offeror’s price offer.

38. Is there an incumbent contractor currently performing these services? No, this is a brand new requirement

39. If so, can the DOS provide the contract number and value? N/A

40. What is the current vendor's level of effort? N/A

41. Will the new vendor joining in these endeavors have access to all historical related benchmarking studies, assessment reports and other materials? We will provide access to as many as is legally possible.

42. As referenced on page 14, the Government specifies that any prime contractor has to incur greater than 50% of the costs associated with performing the work required. We do not see any verbiage or reference to teaming or subcontracting restrictions, or options, within the procurement. Can we assume that a prime contractor can utilize the services of a subcontractor or subcontractors as a means to deliver against this procurement? Yes, however if the offeror plans to utilize a subcontractor, the offeror shall submit an informal subcontracting plan within the proposal. The subcontracting plan shall indicate how the offeror plans to utilize subcontractors during contractor performance as well as specify key personnel and resumes of the subcontractors.

43. Related to the minimum requirement for the prime to incur more than 50% of the costs associated with performing the work, can the prime utilize the services of a resource or resources that would have a 1099 relationship with the prime, as compared to being a W-2 resource(s) that works directly for the Prime? Yes

44. For the benchmarking study, will the government determine which organizations will be used to benchmark or will the contractor determine that as a part of the benchmarking plan? The RFQ provides general guidelines and suggested numbers by category. The contractor chooses the specific organizations, but in consultation with our LMS staff.

45. The solicitation calls for contract financing payments (p. 4) and includes FAR 52.232-29, Terms for Financing of Purchases of Commercial Items. Under the financing structure set forth, the prime contractor will be unable to collect 70% of the total cost of the contract until the contract is complete. This structure could present a financial burden for the successful WOSB awardee. Would the government consider allowing for monthly invoicing over the six-month Period of Performance instead of the current contract financing structure? The offeror may propose an alternate payment plan in the proposal. However, payments must be directly linked to a deliverable under the requirements of the PWS, such as a report, presentation, etc. The government reserves the right to approve, negotiate, or reject the proposed payment plan.

46. What, if any, security will the awardee be required to provide in order to receive contract financing payments under FAR 52.232-29, Terms for Financing of Purchases of Commercial Items? None, any type of financing will be directly related to a deliverable.

47. What is the total number of the total population you expect this study to affect? Ultimately, this will affect all Department staff at some point in their careers. The current annual enrollment specifically for leadership training is roughly 7,000 students (in person). An additional 5,000 or more students are enrolled in online training annually. LMS also conducts crisis management training at overseas posts.

48. What limitations, if any, apply in determining a stratified population to survey or interview? The offeror will propose.

49. What expectations does the State Department have in regards to participation of Embassy personnel? “Embassy personnel” essentially includes any FSO, thousands of whom are currently and temporarily based in DC. Those currently based overseas may be reached via electronic means if the contractor deems this to be necessary.

50. Will Embassy personnel be available for interviews or focus groups? Yes

51. Will Embassy personnel have access to on-line surveys, if we use a program like Survey Monkey? Yes. We already use Survey Monkey for some evaluations.

52. Is there an expectation that the contractor will travel to obtain information? FSI anticipates that the DC area should be sufficient – mostly at FSI but likely to include some visits/meetings at State Department headquarters in DC if the research design incorporates that form of engagement.

53. When benchmarking the leadership continuum, is there an expectation that other Agency information will be included? If so, how many Agencies? Unclear what is being asked here.

54. Is there any other pricing guidance you would like us to consider? No

55. Are there any special on-line hardware/software requirements to access on-line courses or information? No. Security regulations will be shared upon award. Contractors may use office space, computers, and have network access as needed once awarded.

56. Are the students, referred to in the solicitation, those attending the Foreign Service Institute? Yes and students who have previously been enrolled at FSI.

57. Page 3. Given that there is a security inspection of the proposals as they come in, please clarify if the 3-4 day margin is necessary for proposals we (the offeror) hand-carry to submission? The security inspection applies to postal mail (USPS) only. There will be no security inspection for a hand-delivered submission.

58. Page 42. For the samples of past performance, will relevant international experience with foreign or international organizations, such as the UN System, be accepted? All past performance will be evaluated against Section M.2, Factor 3, Past Performance.

59. Page 6. Given the large number of courses organized at FSI and in other schools/divisions, does FSI have a suggested number of total courses (to include instructor-led as well as online courses) that should be audited? See response to question 22.

60. Page 6. Will FSI provide a list of and access to the 10 organizations to be included in the benchmarking activity? Or is the list of organizations to be developed collaboratively with FSI upon award? See earlier response. The RFQ recommended that the benchmarking study include a total of 7 to 10 organizations, including, for example….” If contractor selects organizations where FSI has no contacts, then the contractor will have to use its own network to gain access. Otherwise, FSI will open doors wherever it can.

61. Pages 5-6. Please clarify that FSI would like reports for each of the three activities – assessment, audit, and benchmarking – as well as one final report incorporating the findings from each of these activities, as well as one in-person presentation of the final report. Yes, three reports and a summary report. The RFQ also requires in-person presentations of each of the written reports. It may be possible to combine more than one in-person presentation together (e.g., audit plus assessment into one in-person presentation).

62. Has a budget range for this project been established and can you share the range? See question #1.

63. Will FSI consider a time and materials contract instead of a firm fixed price contract for award? No

64. Please provide additional instruction on the level of detail needed for the presentation of the budget. The price offer shall be a fully-loaded, firm-fixed price in accordance with Section B and C. See also question #44.

65. Is there an incumbent currently providing these services? No Will the Government please provide the current incumbent(s), contract number(s), and dollar value(s) for this effort? N/A

66. When does the government intend to make an award? See Section F.1

67. Will there be an opportunity to submit additional questions? No

68. The Government requires offerors to submit a completed Representations and Certifications. If we are registered in SAM, can we just complete paragraph b of the Representations and Certifications? Yes In which volume should we include our Representations and Certifications? Price Volume

69. Which volume should we include the completed SF1449? Price Volume

70. We assume, subcontractors references can be used to satisfy the past performance requirement. Please confirm. Yes, please see question #41

71. As a WSOB, we intend to team with a subcontractor. Do we need to do 51% of the work? Yes If we bring in a subcontractor, are there any requirements regarding the workload? Yes, please see question #41

72. What are the government’s expectations regarding a representative sample that would need to be surveyed for the leadership needs assessment? A representative sample will include an appropriate balance of Foreign Service and Civil Service employees at various ranks and grades and functional areas of expertise and responsibilities. FSI will not pre-determine a set number for the contractor.

73. How many courses will need to be included in the leadership audit to be completed by the contractor? See responses above (question #22). The audit intends to include all courses that address leadership principles and competencies.

74. What can the government share regarding the extent of the work that has been done internally by FSI professionals? See details in earlier responses.

75. Was any of the services; including: Leadership Training Assessment, Audit, and Benchmarking” done before with an external contractor? If so, who did this work? What was the outcome of these efforts? No

76. FSI issued an RFI several months ago about the need for Leadership Training Assessment, Audit, and Benchmarking” services. My recollection is that this was issued and requested responses from small businesses. Now, the RFP is designated as a set aside for women owned small business. What can the government share regarding what led to the decision to restrict the contract for the specific services? This decision was based on the RFI responses received.

77. How will the government provide us access to examine the library of courses currently provided by the FSI? See earlier responses for details (question #22). The government will provide access according to our security regulations.

78. Would be prevented from providing follow-up services such as coaching if we are involved in doing the needs assessment? See question #28

79. We assume that subcontracting or teaming arrangements can be established to perform the work outlined in the RFP. Please confirm. Please let us know what if any restrictions that might apply to subcontracting work or teaming arrangements. See question #41

80. What expectations does the government have regarding research that might influence the leadership needs assessment or other work performed under this contract? Unclear what this question is asking.

81. What expectations does the government have regarding the final report that needs to be issued? Expectations are outlined in the RFQ. Reports should be of the highest quality and meet the contract requirements with an executive summary and substantial data to support the summary. Does the government have any specific expectations regarding the length of the report? No. How many copies will be provided or can we provide one electronic copy to be provided and shared with FSI professionals? This is already spelled out in detail in the SOW, with the exception of the length of the reports. The length and other research design elements are purposely not specified in the SOW to allow to the contractor to determine the best approach and format, as long as the length and design comply with the specific criteria laid out in the SOW. 7 hard copies of each report as well as electronic versions are required – This is specified in the SOW.

82. What expectations as a government have regarding the number of review cycles to be provided by FSI staff regarding the outcomes of the Leadership Training Assessment, Audit, and Benchmarking”? The government will set a review cycle with the selected contractor.

83. What clarification from the government provide regarding the statement, "additional in person meetings will be held at the expense of the contractor"? This is to be determined by the contractor and depends on contractor’s design/approach. Extensive or frequent in-person presence (e.g., on 10 or 15 or more days/occasions) would give contractors ample access to OpenNet, greater interface time with trainers, students, administrators, etc. However, a specific number of visits is not pre-set since the contractor might have an innovative approach / design proposal that requires fewer in-person meetings yet still meets our needs.

84. When will the government clarify the need for oral presentations? After the proposal submission deadline, during the evaluation process.

85. Will the Government please provide a one week extension to account for the incorporation of questions and answers as well as the required mailing time? Not at this time.

86. Page 3 of 46, Section A.1 states, “…(3-4 Days)…” Please confirm that while offeror are due by 04/15/2016 at 14:00, the Government is suggesting packages arrive by 4/11/2016. No. The government is indicating that it may take 3-4 takes for security screening if your package is sent via USPS postal mail. Offerors are due in the Foreign Service Institute’s Acquisitions office by 4/15/2016 at 14:00, or the offer will be considered untimely.

87. Page 4 of 46, Section B.2 states, “…for the entire requirement.” Will the Government please provide a Not to Exceed Amount or projected ceiling value for this effort? No

88. Page 5 of 46, Section C.1 states, “…and more fully incorporating continuous and blended learning elements, online modules, coaching, and other mechanisms to best meet…” Would the Government please clarify what online modules exist? There is a very small number of online modules currently in use at LMS and these include facilitated webinars and discussion boards.

89. Page 5 of 46, Section C.1 states, “…and more fully incorporating continuous and blended learning elements, online modules, coaching, and other mechanisms to best meet…” Would the Government please clarify what is meant by “other mechanisms”? This could include greater incorporation of 360 assessment tools into the coursework and coaching services, self-directed or cohort-based learning tools and approaches, job-specific assignments built into training, etc.

90. Page 5 of 46, Section C.1 states, “…will compliment in-house work already under way…” Would the Government please clarify that in-house means work completed by Government personnel? In-house means work already conducted at this time by FSI and other Department of State offices.

91. Page 5 of 46, Section C.1 states, “…will compliment in-house work already under way…” Would the Government please clarify, through examples, what is meant by work already under way? Currently offered courses.

92. Page 5 of 46, Section C.1 states, “…core content throughout existing courses…” Would the Government please provide a list of these existing courses? Yes, see earlier responses.

93. Page 6 of 46, Audit of FSI Courses states, “…courses and course modules”, “…courses and modules in LMS..” and “…online courses…” Will the Government please provide a complete list of existing courses referenced under the Audit section in order to promote offerors ability to effective price the effort? See response to question #22 and elsewhere.

94. Page 7 of 46, Please confirm the RFQ is intended to go from Section C.2 to Section E.1 and that Section D was not accidently left off. Correct, there is no Section D.

95. Page 44 of 46, Evaluation Factor 2 states, “…sensitive to constraints…” Would the Government please clarify what these constraints are? Constraints unique to the Department include the distinct and highly differentiated categories of employees (e.g., FS and CS as well as specialists, generalists, political appointees, etc.), the global distribution of the workforce, its overall size, national security sensitivities, etc.

96. Page 44 of 46, Evaluation Factor 3 states, “…similar organizations…” Would the Government please clarify what they consider similar organizations? This is specified in the RFQ and includes, for example, other federal agencies, organizations that operate globally and in the international affairs and foreign policy realm, etc.