Tech Cost Questions - March 13 2012.pdf

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 1

Technical related

1. We have been to the USAID website and have gathered information on the Global Health Initiative. The pre-solicitation states, "This activity will support the GH Bureau and other health-related operating units of the Agency to implement the GHI and support its seven principles." Can you provide us with the names of the other health-related operating units and links to their websites? Will industry comments be requested prior to the final solicitation?

2. What technology stack is the current consultant database build upon including operating system, database, application / web server, etc?

(It appears .asp is being used in the front end, but trying to understand the complete stack from front end to back end.)

3. What commercial products are used for application, reporting, etc?

Where has customization been applied?

4. How large is the current database? (i.e. number of records, number of users, etc).

1. The health-related operating units are those given in RFP

Section C.1: Bureau for Global Health (GH), regional bureaus, and Missions. The web-available information on those operating units is available on the USAID website:

www.usaid.gov . No, industry comments are not being requested in this solicitation.

2. Under the GH Tech contract with QED Limited, the webserver and consultant database were operated under a subcontract with a server provider. The consultant database is on SQL. The SQL is Microsoft SQL server 2005. The operating system is Windows Server 2003 with SP2.

3. The database system was developed on the PeopleMatrix database package (Web link: http://www.pmtrx.com/ ).

While some of the consultants’ names were added by Contractor staff members, most of them were added by individual consultants, themselves, who logged-in to the project website section for consultants’ registration.

4. The current database contains approximately 4,000 records of consultants’ personal and professional data. Approximately 20 people within the Contractor’s staff could be considered users.

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5. Will the contractor be responsible for manning a helpdesk to support the application? If so, what tiers of helpdesk will be required and what are the hours of operations for helpdesk. What are the expected service level agreements?

6. What performance / usage metrics are available that highlight the usage / loadiing on the database (number of users per day, number of updates per day, number of searches per day, external and internal report consumption, etc).

7. How many people currently support the current application? If a number can be provided, what is the current breakdown of the team.

8. How many servers are included in the current technology stack including development, test, and production?

9. How is code control managed for custom components?

10. Are there any planned upgrades / new requirements that are being planned? If so, what are they?

5. Because the only users of the consultant database are the Contractor’s own staff members, all of whom are using the database on a frequent basis, there is no real need for a help desk.

6. The number of Consultant Database users is a function of the number of Contractor staff members currently managing GH Tech assignments and searching for consultants, typically between 3 and 12, over the life of the Contract.

7. No Contractor-employed people supported the current website and consultant database, other than the periodic development and posting of GH Tech Project-related information on events and products of the project.

8. The GH Tech project Contractor supported the consultant database and website with servers from a service provider firm. There is currently 1 server.

9. Program code for the consultant database and website were managed for the current GH Tech contractor by the service provider firm.

10. No specific upgrades or new requirements are planned. As stated in RFP Sections C.6.5, the Contractor will conduct an assessment and determine if any changes are required.

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11. Summary Estimate of Requirements by Assignment Type is provided on Page 102. Are Assignments evenly scheduled in the current contract? If not, what was the highest number of assignments, and what was the lowest number of Assignments, being scheduled at any given time? What are the usual mixes of Assignments at any given time?

12. On page 98 Annex 1 organization chart under L.9.4, management plan, please clarify if names are being requested or only delineation of roles and responsibilities.

13. On page 98 Annex 2 labor distribution chart under L.9.4, management plan, please clarify the chart should show the firm name, if it is a SDB, and the percentage it will complete under the contract. Is there a particular template the offer should follow?

11. The GH Tech Project had a widely varying rate of arrival of requests from Headquarters and field Mission offices. The pattern of requests arriving was affected by factors such as start and end of the budget year, crunch periods for design of new projects, highly individualized situations in certain countries necessitating major build-ups of activity, and, more generally, the newly adopted USAID Policy on Evaluation, which boosted the frequency and scale of performance evaluations. Viewed operationally, the workloads among the Contractor’s individual program managers varied greatly, with assignments spread among them depending on the scale and complexity of the evaluation or design methodologies required. In the aggregate and at peak times, the Contractor managed between 80 and 100 simultaneous activities for at least brief periods of time—with each activity at a different stage of completion in the operational cycle outlined in RFA Sections C.6.4, Typical Assignment Responsibilities.

12. In L.9.4, management plan, the organization chart only requires titles or functional descriptions. Names are not required.

13. In Section L.9.4, management plan, the chart should show the firm’s name, Small and Disadvantaged Business status, and percentage it will complete. There is no particular template.

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14. On p111, Staffing/Consultants Criteria. The RFP requests "The extent to which the narrative overview and the illustrative consultant resumes demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the mix of skills and expertise..." Can you please clarify what type of narrative overview you are looking for here? With page limits and requested number of illustrative consultants, could you please explain where the narrative overview should go? Can this be depicted in a matrix?

15. The database in C.6.5 “Consultant Database and Labor Categories” would be transferred to the Awardee. To best identify skills for any IT specialist that may be hired or contracted to, in part, support its maintenance, please indicate what software was used to create the consultant database.

16. Regarding section C.4.2.4 Mission Support. “… Potential activities could include: providing common office space and logistical support for a home base for both resident and intermittent cooperating agency technical support;…” Can you explain what this means? Is the contractor to provide home office space in-country or in the DC area?

17. Section L.9.6 – Past Performance: This section asks the offeror to complete Annex 5 for three(3) past performances. Is this form to be sent to the respective client for completion of Part II? If so, when is the completed form due to USAID? To whom should it be addressed and what is the preferred means of transmission?

14. In Section L.9.3, consultants, the RFP states, “The offeror shall provide a narrative overview of how 40 illustrative consultants possess a mix of skills and expertise required to carry-out successfully the components of this contract.” The narrative is included in the suggested page estimate for the section on Staffing. No, this information cannot be provided in matrix form.

15. See Answers 2 through 10, above.

16. In Section C.4.2.4, Mission Support, the majority of requests are for consultants to sit in U.S. Government space at USAID Missions overseas. Rarely, there may be a need, as depicted in this section, for the Contractor to provide local, in-country office space for one to five people for short periods of time.

17. No. The offeror is required to complete only Part I (name of awarding entity, award type, contact information, etc.) of the Past Performance Short Form (Annex 5) for each past performance reference. These references are to be included as an annex to the Technical Proposal. As part of our technical review, USAID will contact the reference and ask that the

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 5

18. Section L.0.6 – Past Performance: Are the four bulleted items in this section in addition to Annex 5 of the RFP, or items that are required to included in Annex 5?

19. On page 112, Past Performance Criteria states: …”offerors without relevant past performance or where past performance is not available will not be evaluated favorably nor unfavorably.

Therefore, the total possible points that offerors without relavant past performance will be eligible to receive will be 95. These offerors’ score will be the percentage of a total of 95. For example:

if the offeror without previous past performance receives a score of 75 out of 95 then the score will be 79 or 79%”. This example seems to indicate a 4% score increase. Please clarify how offerors with relevant past performance will be scored in contrast to those without.

appropriate official complete Part II of the form and return it directly to USAID.

18. No, the bullet points summarize the items in Part 1 that the offeror is to complete.

19. To clarify, the total points possible for the technical application are 100, if an offeror has relevant past performance. However, if an offeror does not have relevant past performance, the total points possible for the technical application are 95 (in this case, there are zero possible points for Past Performance, and the maximum available points for all other sections remain the same). Therefore, if an offeror with no relevant past performance receives an overall technical application score of 75, then that offeror’s score on the technical application is 75 out of 95, which is equal to 79% (rounded from 78.9%). If another offeror receives the same 75 points but does have relevant past performance and receives a past performance score of 5 out of 5 points, that offeror’s overall score on the technical application would be 80 points out of 100, or 80%. If a third offeror receives the same score of 75 points and has relevant past performance that is scored 1 out of 5 points, that offeror’s overall technical application score would be 76 out of 100, or 76%.

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20. Please clarify section L.9.6. The RFP notes “please complete past performance information (Annex 5 for three (3) past performance references which describe any contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements which the offeror, as well as any substantive (providing 20% or more of work) sub-award partners, has implemented involving similar or related work over the past three years.”

21. Does USAID request only 3 past performance references completed during the past three years? OR does USAID request only 3 past performance references from the prime, and additional past performances from subs providing 20% work or more? If so, how many past performance references in total from each sub are being requested?

22. Regarding Instructions for the Preparation of the Technical

Proposal: Past Performance, The RFP states that we need to include three PPRs for similar work over the last three years, and it says the requirement also includes any sub-award partner providing 20% or more of the work. Please clarify if sub-award partner PPRs would be included within the three requested or additional to the three requested from the offeror.

And if in addition, do you require three for each firm (i.e.

three from the offeror and three from each substantive sub-award partner)? Please clarify.

20. Three past performance references are required for the prime.

If it is anticipated that a subcontractor(s) will perform at least 20% of the work then 3 past performance references are required for each subcontractor that is expected to perform at least 20% of the work as well.

21. See answer to 20 above.

22. See answer 20 above.

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 7

Questions Submitted and Answered During the Pre-Proposal Conference, March 2, 2012

23. Regarding the assignment cycle: After the assignment Scope of Work, how long does the contractor have to identify and recruit consultants for the assignment?

24. The current contractors are maintaining a database of consultants. Will the new contractor inherit the database and freelance consultants?

25. What are the typical logistics that a contractor must be able to handle?

26. How many people are currently employed by the incumbent for the GH Tech Bridget contract direct support?

27. Will the 533 total activities anticipated on page 4 of the slides be awarded as separate task directives? (Section C.4, L.10)

23. The Contractor is required to provide a fast turnaround time for recruiting consultants for each assignment. While client offices and Missions are asked to give ample lead-times, often their needs are quite urgent. Realistically, all assignments are urgent, and the Contractor should respond as soon as possible.

24. Yes, see RFP Section C.6.5, Consultant Database and Labor

Categories. The number of consultants changes hourly as people leave and sign-up.

25. These are listed in the RFP Section C.6.4.6, Step Six—

Logistics Support, and include international travel, arrangement in country, meetings, and moving consultants from place to place.

26. This number is flexible; but we want to be frugal and efficient. In the life of the agreement, the number of staff employed will vary based on the volume of activities assigned during that period.

27. No. These are task directives/actitivities under this contract. .

These activities will be assigned separately to the contractor by the COR., They are not task orders to be awarded.

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28. Can you give us a sense of where the individual activities will be performed (i.e. U.S. or overseas)?

Questions Submitted but Not Answered During the Pre-Proposal

29. Page 110 – The evaluation criteria weighted heavily toward personnel (staffing), which appears to give an advantage to an incumbent. Will the government consider adjusting the scoring criteria?

30. Can we bring a foreign government agency (health ministry) on as an official sub?

31. Being about “Global” Health, can we assume that quality past performance from outside the U.S. will be acceptable?

28. Some work will be done in the U.S., and some will be done in the developing countries where we work – roughly 85 countries.

29. The weight given to the personnel criterion recognizes its heavy contribution to overall project success in relation to the other criteria being rated in each offer. No, the weights given in the RFP will not be changed.

30. Yes, however, there are additional regulations with regards to sub-contracting with a non-US government.

31. Yes, an organization’s record of past performance can include experience from outside the U.S.

Cost related

32. L.10 Note 1 states, “Prime offerors must propose ceiling indirect cost rates. These ceiling indirect cost rates will be utilized in the Cost budget format and will be incorporated into the contract (See Section B). The indirect costs proposed must not exceed the indirect costs ceiling rate proposed in Section B.” Is it correct to assume that subcontractors are also to be held below the ceiling rates that are

32. No.

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 9 being proposed by the prime offeror?

33. In Paragraph L.10, Note 7, government requires audited financial statements, audited indirect cost allocation, and audited indirect rates calculation. For company that does not have audited financial statements, audited indirect costs allocations, and audited indirect rates calculations, will government accept reviewed financial statements and related indirect cost information?

34. The amounts in the TOTAL column in the cost proposal schedule on Page 100 & 101, are not the correct TOTALs for their respective rows. Will government makes the corrections or should offerors just make the corrections in their cost proposal submission?

35. On page 100, Cost proposal budget submission. The plug numbers for each year do not add up to the total column. Please confirm offeror can amend the total column.

36. Plug figures have been given for Consultants. In presenting our cost proposal, if a subcontractor is going to be responsible for some of the short term technical assistance under this procurement, should the subcontractor put a portion of the plug figure in their budget and the prime contractor reduce the plug figure?

37. Given the fact that the estimated cost is $94 million +, will you allow 8(a) primes to team up or partner with other companies?

33. It is unclear what is meant by “reviewed financial statements.”

If an offeror does not have audited financial statements, the offeror will be required to undergo a pre-award audit.

34. There are typographical errors in the table given in Section L.10b. The corrected table is given in Annex A, at the end of this table. The RFP has also been corrected with this amendment.

35. See answer to question 35.

36. Yes, the cost proposal should accurately reflect the offeror’s proposed budget. If a sub-contractor will be responsible for some of the short term technical assistance then the budget should reflect that. That being said, the total amounts for the consultants must equal the plug figures provided.

37. Yes.

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 10

38. Is DBA coverage in the government ODC plug#?

39. For the cost proposal will the government allow charts/tables/graphs to be 8pt font versus the 12pt requirement for the narrative portion?

40. What is the page limit for the cost proposal?

41. Are we required to present the budget in Excel format on the soft copy/CD-Rom?

Other questions

42. Endnotes are not listed as an acceptable annex to the technical proposal (reference L.9 d). Do endnotes count in the 50 page technical proposal limit or can they be submitted as an annex that does not count towards the 50 page limit?

43. We very respectfully request that the Government will release the answers to these and the questions from other vendors in a rolling fashion rather than holding answers until the

38. DBA insurance has been included in the Travel, Transportation and Per Diem plug figures.

39. Fonts in charts, tables or graphs may be smaller than the 12pt requirement for the text. However, they must be legible.

40. There is no page limit for the cost proposal. However, offerors are encouraged to be concise, yet provide the necessary details of the proposed costs. See Section L.10(b) Part 2, page 101 of the RFP,

41. Yes. And formulas must be unlocked so that USAID may easily understand the offerors calculations.

42. The only allowable annexes are those specifically required in the RFP. Anything other than those requirements will not be reviewed. Anything submitted in the body of the technical proposal will count toward the 50 page limit.

43. USAID considered this and agree that it would benefit potential offerors to receive answers in stages as we review the questions. This is the second posting of Q and As. We

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Government has completed all of them. Many of the answers will affect our ability (and most likely the abilities of other potential bidders) to submit an effective and competitive offer. We hope that the Government is able to address these questions with dispatch.

44. We respectfully request that the Government consider an extension to the submission deadline.

45. Will USAID share the attendee list from the Pre-proposal conference?

46. Which type of contracting mechanism was used to solicit the “Bridge Contract” for GH Tech?

47. Is this new work or is there an incumbent? If so, please provide name of the incumbent and estimate amount of contract?

48. Is this a re-compete? If so provide the name of the incumbent.

49. We are very interested in the opportunity, but cannot compete for it if competition is limited only to 8a firms. I am wondering whether USAID might consider expanding competition beyond 8a to include other socially disadvantaged continue to review questions and will post a third set of Q and As in the near future.

44. USAID will extend the closing date to Tuesday, April 3, 2012

45. Yes. See attachment “Pre-proposal Conference Attendee List”.

46. A sole source 8(a) set aside.

47. This is a follow on contract which has been an 8(a) set aside.

See Section C. 2.2 History of this Contract in the RFP. The previous contract ended in December and the incumbent was QED Group LLC. We currently have a “bridge” contract in place held by dTS, Inc. We are not at liberty to discuss the amount of a contract.

48. No. See answer to 44 above.

49. This requirement has been an 8(a) set aside dating back more than 20 years. Thus, in accordance with FAR 203(c) which states “if a requirement has been accepted by the SBA under the 8(a) Program, it must remain in the 8(a) Program unless SBA agrees to its release in accordance with 13 CFR 124, 125

March 9, 2012 USAID Global Health Technical Assistance ‐‐ RFP# SOL‐OAA‐12‐000025 ‐‐ Questions Page 12 businesses.

50. For the technical proposal will the government allow charts/tables/graphs to be 10pt font versus the 12pt requirement for the narrative portion?

51. Will the government allow 11x17 pages for pricing charts/tables/graphs? If yes, are they counted as 2 pages?

Questions Submitted and Answered During the Pre-Proposal

52. Must we submit detailed budgets for line items with government furnished values (i.e. consultants and travel)?

53. Would you mind spending time to go over in detail the pricing spreadsheet?

54. Can you offer other plug amounts for part of the general budget?

and 126.” this procurement will remain in the 8(a) program.

However, subcontractors are not required to be 8(a) firms.

50. Offerors may use 10pt font for charts, tables, and graphs, so long as the information contained in the charts, tables and graphs is legible.

51. No.

52. No.

53. Cannot spend time on this. As a brief guide the cost elements provided are the overall categories. Offerors are expected to provide details of what they will include in these categories.

For example: under salaries, offerors must include the total spent in salaries and lists the separate costs, such as staff positions and benefits, that make up that total.

54. No. Offeror must use the plug figures provided.

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55. What kind of supporting documentation is needed for subcontractors with a NICRA to substantiate indirect rates?

56. How can subs send in their financials if they don’t want to share them with the prime?

57. There is a max value. Is this just a GCE or is it a contract ceiling?

58. Will USAID provide a format for budget submissions?

59. We see a lot about how subs have to be cost plus also. But this seems to run counter to FAR 52.216-7 which says subs can be paid in other than cost plus ways when the prime has cost plus contract.

What is the answer her?

60. Proposal deadline is on a Monday. Notification to hand deliver provided 24 hours in advance will be on a Sunday. Do you mean 24 business hours in advance?

61. Would you describe your projected procurement timeline? That is, what is your award timeline?

55. Essentially, the last three (3) years of their financials. See Note 7 on pages 103 and 104 which requires, audited balance sheets and profit and loss statements for the last two (2) complete years, and the current year-to-date statements (or such lesser period of time if the Offeror is a newly-formed organization).

56. They can send them directly to USAID. They must be clearly marked so that we can match them to the prime offeror and the must be received by the closing date and time. Or they can provide them to the prime offeror in sealed envelopes and the prime offeror can include them as part of their cost proposal.

57. It is the ceiling.

58. No.

59. Subcontract can be other than cost plus fixed fee contracts.

60. 24 business hours is preferable, but we do have access to email on the weekend and will be in around 8 am on Monday.

61. We expect to award in June.

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62. When will you respond to the questions sent by email? By what date?

63. Who are the incumbents on the contract? Can you list all the current USAID contractors? Is the incumbent an 8(a) certified company?

64. For past performance, is there a minimum # that can come from the prime?

65. Are resumes included in the 50 page limit?

66. Who is the incumbent?

67. May we get a copy of the list of attendees?

68. Since the Pre-proposal conference and questions cut off was delayed by one week, please extend the closing date one week.

Questions asked, but not answered at the conference

69. Please explain how “allocable” will be evaluated in these budgets, since SINS are not defined.

62. As soon as possible. It usually takes a week. (Note: due to the large number of questions, we are staggering the responses to give potential offerors needed information to prepare their proposals. We continue to review questions and expect to post a third set of questions and answers in the near future.)

63. The incumbent of the previous GH Tech was QED. That contract has ended. The incumbent for the “bridge” contract is dTS. QED was an 8(a) when their contract started and dTS is currently an 8(a) firm.

64. Yes. Three (3) past performance references are required for both the prime and any subs that will perform a substantial part of the contract. For this contract we define substantial as 20% of the work.

65. No. Resumes should be included as an annex.

66. QED for the recently ended contract and dTS for the bridge.

67. Yes. The list will be posted.

68. USAID did not provide an answer at the conference. We are now considering an extension and will post a decision in the near future.

69. This question was not clear. SINS is usually associated with

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GSA contracts. USAID asked that the person who asked the question provide a more detailed question. A follow-up question was not received.

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Annex 1.

Corrected Budget Table

The total estimated cost for this acquisition 94,500,000.

Contractors shall use the following for the cost proposal submission.

COST

ELEMENT

YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 TOTAL

Total Direct Labor

Salary Fringe Benefits Consultants 2,909,570 5,333,124 6,465,799 6,341,478 5,233,010 26,282,981 Subcontracts Travel Transportation & Per Diem

2,306,700 4,197,147 5,097,222 4,989,693 4,151,280 20,742,042

Equipment $174,000 $182,700 $191,835 $201,427 $211,498 $961,460 Supplies Other Direct Costs (ODC) Headquarters

Other Direct Costs (ODC) Assignments

798,000 1,501,740 1,863,480 1,811,580 1,498,560 7,473,360

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TOTAL

DIRECT

COSTS

Indirect Costs Overhead G&A

TOTAL

INDIRECT

COSTS

COST

Fixed Fee __%

COST

INCLUDING

FEE