SOL-OAA-16-000029.SEC.AdminFinanceServices.Amend.1.pdf

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question 1: Is this a follow-on requirement? Who is the incumbent contractor? Please provide the incumbent contract number.

Government Answer: Yes, this is a follow-on requirement. The incumbent contractor is Administrative Services Inc. and the contract number is AID-OAA-M-11-00018.

Question 2: Will the incumbent company, Administrative Services Inc., be allowed to respond to this

RFP?

Government Answer: All offerors who meet the requirements of this solicitation will be allowed to respond to the RFP.

Question 3: When will this solicitation be awarded?

Government Answer: Award is anticipated in February 2016.

Question 4: Did any private company assist with the preparation of the SOW? If so, who are they?

Government Answer: No.

Question 5: Did USAID already see the demonstration of a similar online system from one 8(a) vendor?

Government Answer: No.

Question 6: What was the obligated amount for the previous CLIN 1 in 2014?

Government Answer: There was no CLIN 1 in 2014.

Question 7: Would the Government provide a historical Level of Effort of this effort, and the labor category description?

Government Answer: No.

Question 8: RFP Section D.2 lists the place of performance as the "United States of America". The description of the work implies primarily online activities but performance of those activities will still require a physical location for Contractor personnel and support equipment. Can you verify whether the actual physical work location will be on-site (USAID facilities) or off-site (Contractor locations)?

Government Answer: The work must be performed at Contractor facilities in the United States of America.

Question 9: Is there a preference for work being done on site vs. remotely?

Government Answer: The work must be performed at Contractor facilities in the United States of America.

Question 10: Will the ownership of the system belong to USAID or the Contractor?

Government Answer: The Contractor will retain ownership of the system.

Question 11: Will the incumbent Contractor provide a partial online system?

Government Answer: No.

Question 12: Must this system follow all federal security requirements?

Government Answer: No. The system will be the property of the Contractor. It will not interact with any USAID systems.

Question 13: Once awarded, how long will the transition period be between Contractors?

Government Answer: There will be no transition period. The Contractor must begin work immediately.

Question 14: What is the anticipated transition plan with the incumbent? The assumption is a fully manual process today for the workflow of POs, vouchers, invoices, etc. and therefore people heavy.

Should the proposal assume the incumbent continues the manual process while the new vendor gets the B2B process online? Or does the new vendor take over the manual process within some form of transition timeframe?

Government Answer: The incumbent Contractor will not continue work once this contract is awarded.

There should be little to no transition period for the new Contractor.

Question 15: Section C.4, item a.1, states “contractor must create an online central repository of information with appropriate interfaces”. Please clarify if: 1) the online repository is new, based on the award, or if USAID has a repository already available by the incumbent a new vendor can utilize; and 2) what are the “appropriate interface” requirements.

Government Answer: 1) the online repository will be new and created by the Contractor who is awarded the contract under this solicitation; 2) the online repository must be able to provide information to the Government in Excel and PDF format.

Question 16: Will the hardware for the new online system be provided by the government or purchased by the vendor and thus part of the proposal?

Government Answer: No government furnished property will be provided with this award.

Question 17: Will the winning vendor be required to provide the required IT infrastructure capabilities (servers, networks, etc) for the desired on-line capabilities?

Government Answer: No government furnished property will be provided with this award.

Question 18: To what extent will the incumbent contractor provide electronic files of previous and current payments to the winning vendor to populate the new on-line repository? In what format will the information be provided?

Government Answer: The incumbent Contractor will not provide files or information to the new Contractor.

Question 19: How many POs are issued per month or per year?

Government Answer: Depending on the workload of the Agency, approximately 400 to 600 POs are issued per month.

Question 20: Do investigators issue vouchers for reimbursement upon full completion of the PO or do they issue vouchers weekly as work is performed?

Government Answer: Investigators will submit vouchers for payment once work has been fully completed.

Question 21: Can the COR amend the PO during the performance of an investigation? If a change is needed, must a new PO be issued, or must the existing PO be modified to reflect the change?

Government Answer: The system must allow for POs to be modified during the course of the investigation without generating a new PO.

Question 22: What is the average number of weekly payments to investigators?

Government Answer: Approximately 40 to 50 payments per week.

Question 23: The solicitation requires the winning vendor to provide an on-line system/repository/portal.

Please provide a target timeframe for the implementation of this capability.

Government Answer: The Government requires the online system to be ready and operational at time of contract award.

Question 24: The solicitation requires the winning vendor to provide an on-line system/repository/portal.

Please provide a definitive statement of requirements, decomposed to a level of detail required to develop the user acceptance test.

Government Answer: The solicitation details the needs of the Government. Offerors should detail in their proposal the proposed plans, methods, and tests they believe necessary to meet the needs of the Government and successfully implement the contract.

Question 25: To what extent will the incumbent contractor continue to provide services while the winning vendor implements the on-line capability and transitions the data?

Government Answer: The incumbent Contractor will not continue to provide services and there will be no transition of data.

Question 26: If it is the Government’s intent that the vendor must already possess an on-line capability on the first day of contract performance, please provide a list of the Initial Operational Capability requirements this capability must provide.

Government Answer: The solicitation details the needs of the Government. This is a commercial item procurement, and it is expected that the successful Offeror will have existing capabilities to meet the needs of the Government. Offerors should detail in their proposal the proposed plans, methods, and tests they believe necessary to meet the needs of the Government and successfully implement the contract using their existing capabilities.

Question 27: Will the actual cash payable to the vendors be given lump sum to the successful bidder for distribution to vendors?

Government Answer: Refer to section C.4.b.7 and sections E.1, E.2, and E.3 of the RFP for payment information.

Question 28: Can the successful bidder utilize the services of commercial banks for cash management / treasury services?

Government Answer: The Contractor is responsible for their own financial management under the contract.

Question 29: Which entity in USAID will provide the EIN or FEIN to open commercial accounts?

Government Answer: It is the Contractor’s responsibility to open the necessary accounts and obtain the necessary identification numbers to manage the award.

Question 30: Regarding the Contractor Performance Report, if our Past Performance reference is as subcontract, since most of the time the Government agency will not complete the questionnaire for a subcontractor, can we submit the report form which is completed by prime contractor of the referenced effort?

Government Answer: Yes.

Question 31: Regarding Contractor Performance Report, if our Past Performance reference is a completed prime contract with Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) report in place, which covers all the performance evaluation areas such as Qualify, Schedule, Cost Control, Management, etc., can we submit the CPARS report in lieu of the Contractor Performance Report form?

Government Answer: No.

Question 32: I would like to confirm about the CLIN numbers given in the solicitation as under these you have mentioned about the FFP, will you please help me out with the right positions or CLIN items needed.

Government Answer: The Government does not understand the question.

[END OF AMENDMENT]