CONT QA FINAL.pdf

CONTRACTING QUESTIONS FOR MERIDIAN

92. CBA PG 6-Article 6 Grievances- Can the Government please provide the number of grievances filed over the last 24 months?

Answer: The Government is not a party to the CBA and is unable to answer this question.

93. CBA PG 18-Article 17 Seniority- Can the Government please provide the seniority list of the incumbent contractor team?

Answer: The Government is unable to provide the information requested. Per FAR clause 52.222-41(n), the contracting officer will turn over the seniority list to the successor contractor under this solicitation at the commencement of the contract.

94. CBA PG 18-Article 17 Continuity of Service Dates- Can the Government please provide the SCA continuity of service dates for each member of the incumbent contractor team?

Answer: The Government is unable to provide the information requested.

Pursuant to FAR clause 52.222-17(d)(2), the successor contractor under this solicitation will be provided the employee list but not before contract award.

95. Can the government please provide a breakdown of the current number of full and part-time employees per union contract bid position? For any other vendor other than the incumbent to accurately bid this contract on a Firm Fixed Price basis while remaining consistent with the currently in place Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), this information is critical. The CBA sections 13.5 handling vacation accrual and pay as well as CBA sections “Article 10” & “Article 17” require offerors honor the current vacation accrual agreement for full and part time employees which is handled different, as well as retain staff in their current bid position based on seniority. To appropriately bid this contract without this information severely prejudices all vendors but the incumbent. The lack of this information could cause a vendor unknowingly to underprice the current CBA seniority bid positions, causing significant disruption or inviting grievances, a offeror would need to know how many full and part-time staff are in each bid contract position to accurately price the contract and remain consistent with the

CBA.

Answer: As stated in the answer to Question #94, the government will provide the employee list but not before contract award. The Performance Work Statement under section C-1.6 Staffing describes the personnel positions to meet the government’s requirements. Each prospective offeror will provide its own staffing approach to address the requirements, which will be evaluated.

FAR 22.1008-2(b) provides that “a successor contractor must pay wages and fringe benefits (including accrued wages and benefits and prospective increases) to service employees at least equal to those agreed upon by a predecessor contractor.”

FAR 52.222-41(f) states that if the successor contract is “subject to the Service Contract Labor Standards statute under which substantially the same services were furnished in the same locality and services employees were paid wages and fringe benefits provided for in a collective bargaining agreement, in the absence of the minimum wage attachment for this contract setting forth such collectively bargained wage rates and fringe benefits, neither the Contractor nor any subcontractor under this contract shall pay any service employee performing any of the contract work (regardless of whether or not such employee was employed under the predecessor contract), less than the wages and fringe benefits provided for in such collective bargaining agreement.”

The CBA attached to the solicitation provides prospective offerors with the bargained wage rates and fringe benefits. The Government recognizes that prospective offerors may not have access to information regarding accrued fringe benefits of current employees and prospective wage and fringe benefit increases that cover the entire duration of the contract; however, all prospective offerors must submit a proposal with a staffing approach that meets both the requirements and the minimum wage rates and fringe benefits provided for in the CBA. Once a successor is awarded the contract under the solicitation, if the awarded price needs further adjustments to comply with the Service Contract Act after the successor has received the employee list information, the successor contractor may seek a price adjustment pursuant to FAR clause 52.222-43. The Government believes that sufficient information has been provided to prospective offerors.

96. CBA PG18 Article 17 SCA Exemptions- Which positions are not SCA covered hourly positions?

Answer: The Collective Bargaining Agreement identifies Page 14/Article 10/Wage Rates of the CBA identifies the minimum wage rates for the job classifications that are subject to the CBA. The classes of service personnel applicable to this contract are identified in the Performance Work Statement undersection C-1.8. The offeror is responsible for determining its staffing matrix to meet the government’s requirements.

97. Clauses PG109 Section L.b.i- PPQ- Will the Government accept CPARS in lieu of PPQ?

Answer: The Government will utilize information obtained from databases such as CPARS, but requires the submission of PPQs pursuant to FAR 52.212-1.

98. Clauses PG117 Section M, Price Evaluation- Written notice of acceptance What is the expected duration of time from contract award notification to actual start of work?

Answer: The duration of time between award notification and the actual start date can vary. The ESTIMATED time of award is 120 days after solicitation. The current performance start date is December 1, 2020, and will not change unless an unforeseen issue arises.

107. Clauses Executive Order- Does the contract include/incorporate the executive order 13706?

FAR 52.222-62 is included in the solicitation and it implements Executive Order 13706.

110. Question: Is the 80-page technical/management discussion inclusive of the two page list of Contractor-furnished vehicles and equipment or in addition to?

Answer: See revised text in Amendment 0004. There is no separate page limitation. The Contractor-furnished vehicle and equipment information shall be included in Volume I.

Question: It appears that the Section J Attachments are informational or related to other proposal volumes. Please clarify what the Price Proposal Worksheet consists of and which, if any, Section J attachments are to be included in it.

Answer: The Section J reference has been changed to Section B for Volume III:

Price Proposal. The Pricing Proposal is located in Section B: B-0001 B34.01 Services to be Furnished and Prices (DLA Energy FEB 1991). See revised text in Amendment 0004.

79. DD1449, Box 10; IAW U. S. Small Business Administration Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to North American Industry Classification System Codes, NAICS Code 493190, Other Warehousing and Storage, the Size Standard is $30 million annual receipts. Please confirm that only those respondents who meet the NAICS standard of $30 million in annual receipts will be qualified to receive a contract award.

Answer: Yes. This is a 100% Small Business Set-Aside requirement.

70. Reference Section L – Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors, Proposal Content, g. a. Volume 1, ii Contractor Furnished Vehicles. Please clarify whether the 2-pages for Contractor Furnished Vehicles is separate from/or included as part of the 80-page Technical/Management proposal.

Answer: See revised text in Amendment 0004. There is no separate page limitation. The Contractor-furnished vehicle and equipment information shall be included in Volume I.

71. During the pre-proposal conference call, you advised that when pricing for labor costs, we are to account for the scheduled wage and benefit increases for each year listed in the CBA. It was explained the intent is to avoid the requirement to process price adjustments for periods in which labor costs are a known factor.

This is a departure from past practices in which we have been instructed to use the wage rate in effect on the date at the beginning of the performance period. In any case, annual price adjustments will still be required to account for changes to worker’s compensation and unemployment insurance rates. Please confirm the method we are to use for pricing labor. Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

Answer: See the answer for Question 95. FAR clause 52.222-43 is included in the resultant contract. The intent is NOT to avoid doing price adjustments to which the contractor is entitled under the terms and conditions of the contract and applicable statutes and regulations.

65. Reference Section 1.1. Please confirm that the CBA for NAS Meridian is also applicable to employees at NOLF Joe Williams Field.

Answer: Yes, NOLF Joe Williams Field employees are subject to the attached CBA.66. Per the teleconference discussion regarding CBA labor and benefits rates. Since the current CBA expires in March of 2021, and rates beyond that point are subject to negotiations which must take place after contract award, will DLA allow annual price adjustments for annual rate increases for the newly negotiated CBA as is the current norm?

Answer: FAR clause 52.222-41, paragraph (m) provides that a contractor shall promptly notify the government of increases to wages and fringe benefits based upon a CBA. Price adjustments are pursuant to FAR clause 52.222-43, which applies to contracts subject to collective bargaining agreements. Under paragraph

(d) of FAR 52.222-43, the contract price, contract unit price labor rates, or fixed hourly labor rates will be adjusted to reflect the contractor’s actual increase or decrease in applicable wages and fringe benefits to the extent that the increase is to comply with or the decrease is voluntarily made by the contactor as a result of the Department of Labor wage determination applicable on the anniversary date of a multiple year contract. Since the resultant contract will include base and option periods that exceed one year, section 4(d) of the Service Contract Act allows for the award of such contracts on the condition that the contract will be amended no less often than once every two years during the term of the contract to include a new or revised wage determination which may be applicable. The period is considered to begin on the date that the contractor commences performance on the contract which is the anniversary date. Prospective offerors should also review the provisions under FAR 22.1008-2 and FAR 22.1010.

Therefore, prospective offerors are notified that any changes or revisions to the CBA to which the contractor seeks a price adjustment must comply with the terms and conditions of the contract and applicable statutes and regulations.

67. If DLA will not allow annual price adjustments for future wage and benefit increases, please describe how changes in CBA rates for the next 8+ years will be incorporated into the contract.

Answer: See answer to Question 66.

68. Extension Pricing Section M, Factor 3, Price: Will the USG outline the methodology for determining the pricing for the six-month extension period and how the six-month extension pricing will be calculated into the total evaluated price.

Answer: See FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION- COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014) under Factor 3: Price outlines the method of evaluation for the Option (Extension Provision) price.

21. Reference PWS C-1.3.6. Please provide the estimated number of days the contractor will have between contract award and the start of the performance period. This information is critical to our ability to properly price our offer. This contract requires us to provide fully functional fueling vehicles at the start of the performance period in full compliance with all PWS specifications. These vehicles are not normally available to purchase in the marketplace without a 60-90 day lead time for delivery; therefore it will likely be necessary to provide temporary leased vehicles pending delivery of new equipment; particularly since the procurement cycle for this contract is relatively compressed with the anticipated start date of Dec 1, 2020. For planning and pricing purposes, we need to know the anticipated award and start dates so that we can account for the cost associated with the potential lease periods for vehicles meeting PWS requirements.

ANSWER: The Government is unable to provide an anticipated award date. The anticipated performance start date is in the solicitation and unchanged. The contractor is responsible for having all vehicles and equipment necessary to perform the PWS requirements by the anticipated start date.

58. Reference PWS Appendix A, Table 7. Since fuel used in contractor provided vehicles must be included in our CLIN 0001 price, please provide the historical annual fuel costs reimbursed to the current service provider so we can accurately forecast this additional expense.

ANSWER: Prospective offers must include the fuel costs in their pricing under both CLIN 0001 and CLIN 0002. Please refer to PWS, Appendix A, for workload estimates. This will be a Firm-Fixed-Price contract and it is the responsibility of the contractor to account for all costs and risks in its pricing.

109. PWS Contractor Equipment Maintenance- Is there any space available for contractor equipment maintenance? If yes, where and how much space?

• PWS C-1.2, state “Truck parking and maintenance are located at the fillstand area, in front of Bldg. 31”.

Question: Please clarify the proposal requirements regarding vehicle and equipment contingency plan(s)