Question AnswersolicPART2.doc

66. General Proposal Administration

In addition, will a Table of Contents and/or Table of Exhibits be counted against the page count for the respective volumes? ANSWER: Yes.

K.5 52.204-8 Annual Representations and Certifications (Jan 2006).

ANSWER: Refer to the response to question 18.

The RFP/PBWS states:

"IRSAP 1052.239-9004 Instructions to Offerors – Software Development Prerequisite (Jan 2006)

This CMMI information shall be made a part of VOLUME I- TECHNICAL PROPOSAL as an attachment."

Please confirm the following:

) Is the required CMMI information/documentation to be included in the 150 page limit for Volume I: Technical Proposal.

ANSWER: No. 2) Is there any additional data that will be required to be submitted along with an offeror's proposal response per statement 8. ANSWER: NO. ["Additional data to be completed by the Contracting Officer."]

"VOLUME I: TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

RESUME PAGE LENGTH- Resumes are limited to THREE (3) pages and shall be submitted on standard 8.5 by 11 inches. Pages shall be numbered sequentially 1-3 pages in excess of 3 will not be evaluated. That is page number 1 through 3 will be evaluated; pages number 4 and beyond will be set aside and not evaluated."

Please clarify the following:

1) Are resumes included in the 150 page limit of Volume I: Technical Proposal? ANSWER: Refer to the response for number 61.

2) If all pages within Volume I: Tecnical Proposal are to be numbered sequentially [1-150], and the resume pages are to be numbered sequentially [1-3], should an offeror number the resumes WITHIN the body of the resume separately from the overall numbering of the Technical Proposal? ANSWER: Yes.

The RFP/PBWS states:

"KEY PERSONNEL RESUMES

Resumes of Contractor key personnel will be provided with the proposal…"

Please clarify if ONLY the resumes for Key Personnel are required to be provided and, therefore, only THREE resumes are to be included with the offeror's response.

ANSWER: Yes.

"H.6 IR1052-96-063 KEY PERSONNEL

The key personnel cited below are considered essential to the work being performed under this contract...

Program Manager Security Specialist Subject Matter Experts

On page 76 ofthe RFP/PBWS it states:

"[L.8] Section 4– Past Experience Address the following Past Experience Criteria elements. Past experience information should be relevant to the three customers identified under the past performance references. In this section the offerors shall describe the experience and previous performance of their proposed Key personnel and service staff. Key personnel consist of the Program Manager, Project Manager and Subject matter Expert.

Since there appears to be some disparity between the labor categories that are listed as Key Personnel in these two sections, please clarify the three (3) labor categories that are to be considered as "Key Personnel" - Program Manager/Security Specialist/Subject Matter Expert OR Program Manager/Project Manager/Subject Matter Expert.

ANSWER: See response to question 19.

"[L.8 Section 4– Past Experience Address the following Past Experience Criteria elements. Past experience information should be relevant to the three customers identified under the past performance references. In this section the offerors shall describe the experience and previous performance of their proposed Key personnel and service staff. Key personnel consist of the Program Manager, Project Manager and Subject matter Expert. Offerors shall provide complete references for all contracts in the past three years for which the proposed personnel provided services. Include the resumes and reference information in this section. Offerors may submit commercial references as welll as government references. Information provided shall be supported by and directly relate to references supplied within the technical proposal."

Please clarify this statement; is the government looking for the references for the contracts of the proposed Key Personnel to be the same references that the offeror is listing as part of their Past Performance references? This is not always possible if the proposed Key Personnel individual did not work directly for the offeror on the referenced Past Performance contract. ANSWER:Please see response to 16 and the revision on Section L.8 as it pertains to Past Experience.

"Submission of Proposal Each offeror's proposal submitted in response to this solicitation shall be in three (3) volumes as described below. The technical proposal (volume I) shall be submitted in an original and four copies. The business proposal (volume II) shall be submitted in an original and four copies. The cost proposal (volume III) shall be submitted in an original and four copies."

Please clarify if the proposal response Volumes I, II, and III are to be submitted only in hardcopy or will a CD-ROM copy/copies need to be provided to the government as well? ANSWER:Yes, only hard copy.

"Volume II - Business Proposal

Compliance In this section, the offeror shall respond to each requirement of Sections D through K, inclusive, of the RFP and indicate whether it proposes to comply. For the purpose of facilitating discussions, for every instance where the offeror does not propose to comply with or agree to a requirement, the offeror shall propose an alternative and describe its reasoning therefore. It is not necessary to respond on a paragraph by paragraph basis except as required for clarity; for example, if the offeror agrees to the terms of Section H of the RFP in their entirety, a single statement to that effect will suffice, If the offeror agrees to sections D through K in their entirety, a single statement to that effect will also suffice. This Section shall contain an original signed copy of the face page of the RFP, as well as the Certifications and Representations which make up Section K of the RFP."

Please clarify that the "face page of the RFP" is Page 1 of 28 in the document named "TIRNO12R00004" OMB Control No. 1505-0081. ANSWER: See response to question 18.

76. How may FTEs are currently required? ANSWER: The number of FTEs are to be proposed.

77. Given that the proposal preparation window spanned the end of year holidays; will the Government be willing to grant a two (2) week extension for the receipt of Technical, Business and Cost Proposals? ANSWER: No, a two week extension will not allow adequate time to complete the entire Acquisition Process and meet the contract start date of May 1, 2012. However, the Government will extend the due date for proposals (not the Past Performance) to 3:00p.m. Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

78. Page 4- Can you provide additional details or other basis for the firm fixed price portion of the RFP for CLINS 1 and 2?

Answer: Sections C.3 through C.3.2.8 completely identifies the basis for the work to be done in CLINS 1 and 2.

79. Page 11 Middleware O&M and technical support spans several geographically separate locations including: IBM Web-Hosting centers located at Sterling, VA, and Chicago, IL; the IRS NCFB, and the Enterprise Computing Centers at Martinsburg, WV ECC-MTB, Memphis, TN ECC-MEM and Detroit, MI ECC-DET. The production environment serves internal users, external taxpayers, Third Party Tax Preparers, and States on a twenty-four hour yearly basis for seven days a week (24 x 7 x 365 days per year basis). The duty station for all contractor personnel shall be at NCFB. Can you provide additional detail to the number of trips and duration to the sites identified in Section C.1.1? Answer: There are no planned trips in advance. From time to time support may require a SME to attend a work session at Martinsburg, Chicago or Memphis; however in recent years it has been limited to 3 - 4 day trips to ECC-Martinsburg, WV per year.