Questions and Answers to RFP Visitor Escort Services.doc

Responses To Questions Is a Secret facility clearance for the above mentioned solicitation required with the contractor's bid submission?

Is there an incumbent contractor? Any additional details would be appreciated.

· A secret facility clearance is required at the start of performance; however it is not required to submit a bid. The Contractor will be required to provide documentation of a facility clearance prior to start of performance of the contract. There is no incumbent and this is a new requirement for FinCEN.

The referenced solicitation announcement in FedBizOpps indicated that the set-aside is N/A, but the RFP doc indicates that is it a HUBZone set-aside.

· This requirement is set-aside for HUBZone small businesses.

WHAT SECURITY GUARD LEVEL ARE YOU SPECIFYING FOR THIS SOLICITATION, GUARD I OR GUARD II?

· Guard I

SECTION D.1 INDICATES THAT TWO ESCORTS ARE TO WORK FROM 7:00 AM TO 3:30 PM AND ONE ESCORT IS TO WORK FROM 8:30AM TO 5:00PM. IF ASKED TO REPORT ONE HOUR EARLIER THAN NORMAL, OR STAY ONE HOUR LATER THAN NORMAL, DOES THAT MEAN THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED WORK HOURS ALSO CHANGE, SO THAT THERE ISN'T ANY OVERTIME REQUIRED. I.E. IF YOU COME IN AT 6:00 AM. AS OPPOSED TO 7:OOAM DOES THE WORK DAY THEN END AT 2:30 PM AS OPPOSED TO 3:30PM. PLEASE CLARIFY?

· If the contractor is asked to report one hour earlier than normal, or stay one hour later than normal, the regularly scheduled work hours does not change. The escorts on occasions maybe required to be present 1 hour earlier than scheduled time and stay 1 hour later than scheduled leave time at no cost to the Government. I.E. If the escort is asked to come in at 6:00 AM as opposed to 7:00 AM, the work day ends at 3:30 regular scheduled time.

ARE THESS POSITIONS ARMED?

· No

REFERENCE PAGE 3 PRICING. THE HOURS INDICATED ARE 108 PER WEEK. HOWEVER, THE SCHEDULE ON PAGE 7 REFLECTS 120 HOURS PER WEEK. CAN YOU ADVISE THE REASON FOR THE DIFFERENCE?

· This is a firm fixed price requirement, the offeror should submit pricing based on the estimated level of effort for three full time escorts for 5,640 hours.

OUR INTENT IS TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL AS THE PRIME, SINCE WE ARE A QUALIFIED HUBZONE COMPANY. HOWEVER, WE DO NOT HAVE THE PAST PERFORMACE AS SPECIFIED IN THE SOLICITATION. WILL YOU RECOGNIZE THE PAST PERFORMANCE OF A SUB CONTRACTOR THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE A MENTOR-PROTÉGÉ RELATIONSHIP THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY?

· YES; An offeror with no past performance information will receive a neutral rating (i.e., the rating will not add to or detract from its rating).

Under section C.2 Staffing Level, the Solicitation states that “The Contractor shall identify a Program Manager at no cost to the Government who shall be the main point of contact for the COTR to coordinate contract related actions.”

· The Program Manager shall be the main point of contact for the COTR to coordinate contract related actions.

Does the term “no cost” include indirect burdening such as Overhead and G&A, or should the term be modified to state at no direct cost?

· “No cost” means any indirect and direct cost. This is a firm fixed price requirement, meaning fully loaded rates.

Is the Program Manager position considered a dedicated position or may they perform other tasks and responsibilities for the Contractor?

· The PM position is not a dedicated position however they must be available, responsive, and be the main point of contact for the COTR to coordinate contract and performance related actions.

Under section D.1 Hours of Work, the Solicitation states that “The Visitor Escorts on occasions may be required to be present 1 hour earlier than scheduled and stay 1 hour later than scheduled leave time at no cost to the Government.”

Question; How frequently have these extensions occurred?

· This will happen infrequently.

Question; Does the term “no cost” include indirect burdening such as Overhead and G&A, or should the term be modified to state at no direct cost?

· “No cost” means any direct and indirect will be no cost to the Government.

Under section 52.212-2 – Evaluation – Past Performance, The Solicitation states “The Contractor will provide the last 10 awarded contracts that are the same type as this requirement.”

Question, Considering this solicitation is set aside for HUBZONE companies it may be difficult to provide the required 10 contracts of the same type. Would the Government consider lowering the requirement to five?

· The offeror should submit what you have.

Pages 5&6; Para C.3.1.A – Visitor Escort Requirements: If the Government’s visitor escort tasks description only describe the functions for escorting visitors, when will it become necessary to provide protection of classified information? It appears that there is no requirement to protection classified documents when the visitor escorts will have little to no access to classified documents.

The Visitor Escorts will be used to escort uncleared visitors into FinCEN space. The visitors that the escorts will control will be in areas that the Office of Security has mitigated. The escorts will continually protect any classified and CUI information while in FinCEN Space and will receive training by the Office of Security upon arrival.

Page 6; Para C.3.1.B – Additional Services ay Special Events: The Government has defined that Visitor Escorts may be needed for special events to include “… , construction, …”. Please define what type of construction event, and the type and nature of special protective wear that will be needed for these events. Also will the Government or the Contractor be responsible for any type of liability that may occur due to Visitor Escorts being in a construction environment?

Our construction will be limited in nature, will be indoor, office renovation only, requiring escorts to need only safety glasses. There could be a need for a hard hat and safety shoes, but this would be rare. The Government will be liable for the visitor escorts safety.

Page 10; Bullet 1 – Technical: It states that the following, “The offeror must provide knowledge and expertise of the protection of classified information.”

· What is the level of classification of the documents that will need protection?

· If the protection of documents is not necessarily a visitor escort task requirement, is the Government projecting this to be future requirement?

Visitor Escorts will only be in areas up to Secret. Visitor Escorts will have the responsibility to safeguard all classified information and will receive training from the Office of Security in their duties.

Page 10; Bullet 2 – Past Performance: On page 10 it states ten references should be submitted yet on Page 38 it states three references will be submitted. This appears to be a conflict.

· How many past performances is the Government requiring? The contractor should submit what they have.

· Does the Government have a preferred format for submittal of past performance references? No format preference;

· If we intend to use a Subcontractor to provide additional resources, should we include the subcontractor’s past performance, in addition to our own, to satisfy this requirements. YES Pages 38 & 39; Para 3 & Para 9 – Proposal Submission: Does the Government prefer inclusion of the Quality Assurance Plan as a part of the Technical or Business volume? If Technical Volume does it count against the total page count of 25? Similarly for the ORCA/Certifications and Representations, part of Technical or Business? If Technical Volume, does it count against the Total Page Count of 25? The same question would apply to Past performance and the DD254.

The QAP, past performance, and DD254 should be submitted separately from the technical and business volume. Inclusion of Reps & Certs into the technical proposal does not count against you. Including Past Performance into the business proposal does not count against the total page limit of 25.

General: Based on the changing landscape of the HUBZone program, will the Government be conducting any independent verification of HUBZone status? We ask this question due to the fact that many firms that had previously been listed as a HUBZone are no longer be qualified or have not been recertified by the SBA.

YES

The Prime Contractor bidding this effort is a HUBZone, but does not possess a facility clearance; however, the subcontractor for this effort has a Top Secret Facility Clearance. Would the facility security requirement be deemed acceptable with respect to the team composition, and could the subcontractor sponsor the employees for this? YES