Transcript - 2023 Pre-Proposal Conference Morning Session.pdf

US DOT FTA Project Management Oversight (PMO)

Pre-Proposal Conference

Session 1

00:00:00 James Harper Jr.

This program, as you well know, is to support the FTA in this mandatory requirements, reg latory requirements from the Congress for giving our projects and our recipients the best oversight that we possibly can and with you all helping us to do that, it brings about the ability for them to carry out their responsibilities and we really appreciate it. This is the first of two sessions today. As I said, many of you in the audience have been with us for a while, so if you are a prime contractor on the PMO, if you are prime, will you please stand We would like all of you who are looking to become prime and ourselves to take a look at these folks. Let's start, would you please identify yourself with your company?

00:01:30 Samantha Scott

My name is Samantha Scott. I'm with Harmonia Holdings Group. We have most work at Goldby.

00:01:38 Alex Cucciniello

Alex Cucciniello, also from Harmonia.

00:01:47 Bill Thompson

Bill Thompson, I'm with Urban Engineers. We've been on the program for a few years.

00:01:53 Debbie Boe

Debbie Boe, Urban.

00:01:58 Vince Gallagher

Good morning, everyone. I'm Vince Gallagher with HNTB

00:02:03 Justine Belizaire

Justine at HNTB.

00:02:07 Pete Hankovszky

Pete Hankovszky with David Evans and Associates.

00:02:12 Kam

Good morning. Kam with PMA consultants.

00:02:17 Pete

Good morning. Pete from Delon Hampton and Associates.

00:02:21 Doug Nauman

Doug Nauman, DHA.

00:02:25 Eric Chang

Good morning, Eric Chang, David Evans and Associates.

00:02:31 Rajesh

Good morning, Rajesh here with KKCS.

00:02:35 Brett Rekola

Brett Rekola with KKCS, we've been a sub since 98 and a prime since 2009 and we always want to help SB's get into the program if you have any questions call us.

00:02:49 Tim Mantych

Tim Mantych Burns Engineering.

00:02:55 Catherine Neary

Catherine Neary, Burns Engineering.

00:02:59 Victoria Maliszewski

Victoria Maliszewski Envision Consultants we were self-consultant and then moved into being a prime in 2014 and 2019 contracts.

00:03:10 Robert James

Good morning, everyone, I'm Robert James with PMO partnership, we've been in the program since 2011.

00:03:18 Brain Pieters

Good morning, everyone. Brian Pieters PMO partnership.

00:03:22 Mike

Morning Mike, KKCS.

00:03:27 Jonathan Spencer

Morning, Jonathan Spencer at LS Gallegos.

00:03:33 Melanie

Melanie with LS Gallegos.

00:03:38 James Harper Jr.

Well, thank you all. For any of you who are interested in subbing with some of these primes. Our success story, as you heard, was that some of these folks started as subs and have grown into primes. That’s what we would like to have more of. Learn the process, learn the operation and then give us your proposal to become a prime. We are happy to have grown some of our sub's enterprise. We ask Mr.

Corey, will you come up front, Sir. Corey is the head of the Program Management section.

00:04:52 Cory Walker

So good morning, everyone. I'm Corey Walker. I'm the director of FTA's Office of Capital Project Management here in headquarters. I'm joined by others on the team and notably, Matt Nawn, who's the division chief for our Technical Services Division and is the Program Manager for the PMO program and the contract that we're all here talking about today. I just want to say thank you so much for your interest. For those that have been in the program and that are interested in continuing with us, we very much appreciate that, and for those of you that are new to the program and are looking to learn more, looking to partner, looking to become a sub, looking to become a prime. That's what this event is all about is to learn more about the program, but also the reason we're doing it in person in these days of virtual meetings and hybrid meetings is it's so important for these introductions and these partnerships that hopefully come out of this conversation. So, I don't want to steal a lot of the thunder that's already built into the agenda, but I will just highlight what we do in this contract and the criticality of it. And at this moment in time when there is historic levels of funding for transit projects around the country but also, when transit projects are costly, more than they ever have before, the demand for talent to deliver these projects is at an all-time high and there's competition across all the industries and we just want to deliver and at FTA of a very small but mighty agency with a really wonderful mission. We have a great opportunity, and we lean heavily on the support that our Project Management Oversight Contractors provide us in our most high-profile visible projects which give us serious FTA and federal investment. So, we’ll go over some more of that today, but I just want to say mainly, thank you very much for being here.

00:06:42 James Harper Jr.

To echo that again, we say thank you and some of you were escorted in by another member of the TPM team, Latonya Peeples, probably met you at the front door and brought you into here. For the contracting side of the house, to my FAR right is Sonja Rousey, who is a Contracting Officer for the PMO Program. Next to me is Dorian Ridley-Curtis, the Division Chief for the PMO Program. And to my left is LaStar Matthews who is a Contracting Specialist. According to the agenda, that was the introductions, draft RFP summary. Rules of etiquette. The restrooms are out that back door and to the left. If there is an emergency, please follow one of us out of the building. We have assigned assembly points, if there happens to be a case, but we certainly hope not.

00:08:37 James Harper Jr.

Materials presented and discussed at today's pre-proposal conference are for informational purposes only. The issued RFP is the only underlying document that should be relied upon in the government environment. The formal RFP posted on system for award management system. All official requirements and information, as well as any resulting RFP will be posted on SAM.gov. Please register because again, if you’re not on SAM you cannot be awarded the contract. And if you’re not on there, then you won’t get paid for any of the efforts that you put forth which will be enforced so please, please, please you, your subs and all of those folks need to be registered on SAM.gov.

00:09:35 James Harper Jr.

Q&A. Focus on the requirement and forthcoming of the questions. Question should be asked in the following format. Draft, the page number of the question, we will not entertain questions that are confidential, proprietary we’ll answer as many as possible, all will be posted on the SAM website. This is being recorded over here, we’re going to transfer out everything that’s said. When you ask a question, please raise your hand so we can get the mic to you so we can hear the question that is being asked.

Now, we will answer as many of the questions that we can today, if there are questions that are beyond our scope of answering here, then we’ll document that question and get the answer out.

00:10:48 James Harper Jr.

We appreciate you coming, and we know that it will take some effort on your part and put together a proposal to send it to us and we will do the evaluation and then go into negotiations if necessary and eventually award a contract. Presently, we have 19 contractors working on this PMO. As Corey said, the amount of money that is going out to our recipients may require additional PMO’s. So, we’re glad that you’re here, if you are in fact interested in that, well you are interested, that’s why you’re here. So, we will do our best to come together to make a good contract. One that is good for you as well as us.

00:11:45 Sonja Rousey

Good morning. Our acquisition summary, the title of our program is the Project Management Oversight.

Place of performance to be various locations across the United States and that information will be at the task order level. We anticipate awarding a multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, contracting vehicle with the provisions to utilize various contract types at the task order level. The NAICS Code for this requirement will be the 541611 Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services and our product service code will be R4O8. This award will be for five (5)years from the date of award.

00:12:39 Sonja Rousey

Ok, contract overview. We will be utilizing FAR Part 15 full and open competition. We will be reserving at least two IDIQ awards for women owned small businesses. As I previously mentioned, we will have the provisions to award various contract types at the task order level under this particular requirement. All cost proposals shall be subject to an audit. We anticipate releasing the actual request for proposal first quarter of FY2024 and we will be making staggered awards during fourth quarter of FY2024. As my director, Mr. Harper previously stated, please make sure that you are registered in the system for award management system. All offers prime and sub must be registered in the system and have an active registration. In addition to being registered in the SAM system, you have to make sure your online representation and certification is current within that system. Information related to that will be under Section K of the solicitation.

00:14:10 Sonja Rousey

Accounting system. So you must have an adequate accounting system in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, generally accepted government auditing standards, and in accordance to the FAR and cost accounting standards in place prior to you submitting your proposal for this particular requirement. The accounting system must be audited prior to award. You should have a DCAA audit or a third party CPA firm that has audited your accounting system and deemed it adequate for this particular requirement and you will need to submit supporting documentation to support that. The requirement for an adequate accounting system depends on the type of contract awarded, not the contractor size. Information related to that is listed on www.dcaa.mil, so if you require further clarification on an adequate accounting system, please visit that website so you can get additional information.

00:15:49 Sonja Rousey

Continue on with accounting system. This slide just speaks to cost accounting. The various FAR citations in which we utilize to deem that you have an adequate accounting system and please note at the bottom, please be advised if the offeror does not have an adequate accounting system that is not sufficient for determining cost applicable to the contract. In accordance with FAR 16.301 and for accumulating and segregating costs, you will not be eligible to receive the contract award.

00:16:11 Sonja Rousey

Ok, so this section just speaks to important sections of the actual solicitation. Section C will list our Statement of Work or Performance Work Statement. Section L will list the proposal instructions, how you're going to submit your proposal, what information will go in your proposal. Section M will list the evaluation criteria that the government will be evaluating your proposal.

00:16:38 James Harper Jr.

OK, at this point this is where I become a teacher. Right now, for those of you who have a lot of government experience, lots of answering RFPs and those kinds of things, you already know the drill, but if this is your first rodeo, those three sections you have to pay close attention to. Especially C and M.

If there’s a requirement called for in C, there should be a corresponding evaluation element in M. When you cross reference those and write and speak to each one of those, that will help you, that will help us.

It makes it easier for us to reach your proposal, connect the dots, and know that you are in fact talking to us with your knowledge of what we’re asking for. But please, please, please pay close attention to those two.

00:17:37 Sonja Rousey

Alright, thank you, Mr. Harper. Next slide, ok, we're going to go through some of the sections of the actual solicitation. This just lists the uniform contract format that we have, our solicitation and sections A through M again as a highlighted section, C, L, and M are very important to pay attention to when you're submitting your proposal.

00:18:09 Sonja Rousey

Section C - Supplies or Services and/or Price or Cost. As I mentioned previously, we will be reserving two awards for women owned small business. Again, the minimum and maximum value that we anticipate on our solicitation, the minimum, will be $25,000, the maximum will be $670 million collectively amongst all awardees. The proposed fixed fee shall be considered a ceiling fixed fee to accurately reflect the risk level and level of effort at the task order level. The fixed fee goes if we award a cost-plus fixed fee type task order then this is where this will come into so that when we negotiate your fixed fee, we utilize the weighted guidelines method to establish your profit method as well.

00:19:13 Sonja Rousey

We're going to speak on source selection procedures. The government anticipates choosing the contractor that provides the best value to the government, all considered factors. We anticipate obtaining thorough use of comprehensive evaluation process and utilize a high quality, fair and consistent evaluation of the proposals that we receive. We anticipate awarding a contract based on the initial evaluation of proposals. However, we will reserve the right to conduct discussions if it will result in the best interest of the government. With that being said, I’m going to turn it over to Mrs. Ridley-Curtis.

00:20:00 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

Good morning. I'm going to provide an additional overview of the source selection methodology. We will be utilizing FAR 15 procedures the government anticipate using a best value trade off analysis and we will be utilizing technical and risk ratings. The next slide provides an overview of the source selection organization, so that’s a visual of how the source selection will be composed. Typical RFP evaluation factors are technical, the technical and management approach, management capability, past performance, performance risk, experience, and final cost. So again, this is the review of the evaluation factors for the upcoming RFP. Under evaluation criteria, we use qualitative, not quantitative. So, we'll be looking at the narrative related to the qualitative. We'll be using proposal rating for the technical rating scheme outstanding, good, acceptable, marginal, and unacceptable. Under the proposal risk for technical being low, medium, and high. Under the performance risk relating to past performance and experience, we’ll be utilizing high, moderate, low, and neutral. Past performance confidence rating scheme only is applicable to the performance risk.

00:21:50 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

The next slide speaks about the technical evaluation. We'll be assessing the offers understanding in totality and the proposal compliance and proposal risk. We’ll be utilizing trying to make a determination if the proposal meets or exceeds our requirement. How is it going to benefit the government? So, we're looking, as Mr. Harper stated, high quality premium of what you can offer the government to support the PMO program. Another example, does the proposal provide benefits? How are you going to benefit the program and minimize risk?

00:22:36 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

The next slide provides a visual of our grading, of how we anticipate providing the grading scheme for the technical evaluation. The government will be utilizing past performance to make a determination of the offers experience as it relates to the PMO program. We would prefer to use relevant, recent contract experience as it relates to this type of work that the government anticipates. The evaluation of the past performance will be utilizing proposal information, CPARS and also customer feedback through questionnaires. The information for your past performance will be due approximately two (2) to three

(3) weeks after the proposals are due and the information to provide your past performance will be detailed in the RFP. The government will have to make a substantial evaluation on cost. The government will be utilizing evaluation of your costs to make a determination, is it fair and reasonable? Does it coincide with our technical approach? And also, is the cost realistic to the government with a person who would pay for it. Basis for award. The government, again under this high-level program, is in the stance of trying to obtain the best quality offers, so the selection will be based upon your proposal, performing to the solicitation, and if the most people that's the highest qualified to meet the government’s requirement. As stated earlier, failure to submit a proposal for all items listed shall be a cause for rejection of the proposal. I’m going to restate that again. Failure to submit a proposal for all, not some, for all items listed shall be cause for rejection of the proposal. Proposal preparations consideration.

Please ensure that you submit and sign fully executed RFP, complete Sections B through K, submit your proposal in accordance with Section L, Section L of the proposal is your instructions. We anticipate that the turnaround time for your proposal will be approximately 60 days. The FAR states that we have to give you 30, but FTA is giving you 60. So, we're going to give you additional time because we know you’re going to put together an awesome proposal. Please don’t just make simple claims. Please ensure that if you’re putting something in your proposal that it can be definitive. Because again, this is what the proposal will be evaluated for, technical evaluation.

00:26:10 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

These are some typical proposal shortfalls that we found that offers have historically provided to us that has been a negative. Not following instructions, not providing the requested information, cannot support the claim or statement in your proposal, unorganized proposal and proposed skill set is lacking, so you’re not providing the proper skill sets that’s stated in the RFP. Again, as a friendly reminder, today’s remarks are not guaranteed regarding what we’re stating, you need to look at the RFP and what is proceeding in the future contract award. So again, what is in the solicitation if there’s questions once you get the solicitation, you will utilize that opportunity to ask those questions so that the government can provide you with a sound answer so that you can provide an excellent proposal. For follow on communication, we anticipate that the RFP will be put out the first quarter of 2024. I will try to be a little more definitive, we anticipate sometime before Thanksgiving that we will provide the RFP on SAM.gov. For the integrity of this acquisition process, the only two individuals that you should initially make that contact to is the Contracting Officer, Miss Sonja Rousey, Sonja, please raise your hand again. So, you know who she is, you have her name, and you have her contact information. Also, the Lead Contract Specialist for this program, LaStar Matthew. And if you don’t get any resolution from them, you know who I am, Dorian Ridley-Curtis. Ok, so we provide you with the government contact personnel for this requirement again, those are the individuals that can provide you with information if you have any questions.

00:28:36 James Harper Jr.

Before we move to Matt, another member of our team, Miss Brittany Young from Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization is also a valued member of our team here for the first session this morning and this afternoon.

00:29:09 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

OK. We will now hear from Matt Nawn.

00:29:13 Matthew Nawn

Thank you, Dorian. Good morning, everyone. Welcome again to Washington. I am the PM Program Manager through my role as the Chief of the Technical Services Division at FTA. And I do want to mention a few things before we open. First, Corey, mentioned a little bit about the Office of Program Management who I work for and our team, and a couple individuals in particular for this contract really deserve mention as the heart and soul of this program. First, as Mr. Harper introduced briefly, LaTonya Peeples. LaTonya was escorting many of you in this morning. LaTonya is the Contracting Officer's Representative. Many of you, if you are incumbents, you know LaTonya, you work with her. I look at our CORs as well as our ACORs, our alternate CORs, our folks that are out in FTA’s, 10 geographic regions throughout the United States. Our CORs and ACORs are the heart and soul of our program for the technical team. So you probably had a chance to meet LaTonya when you came in through the desk this morning while the lady who checked you in is Michelle Daigle. She is an ACOR from Region One in Boston. Michelle, we've been very grateful to have her serve our team on an interim basis to help us make sure this event went well and RFP and joining her someone who also may have been introduced you or walked you in this morning, Miss Ariana Valle, who's in the back. Ariana is also one of our ACORs.

She's from region 9. Ariana herself is based out of Arizona, but again with LaTonya as our COR and the support of Michelle and Ariana, it’s really given us an opportunity to make sure our upcoming RFP is everything it should be representing the needs, and again the CORs and ACORs are the heart and soul of our program.

00:31:06 Matthew Nawn

So my focus this morning, you can see the topic is up on the screen, primarily is to talk about the technical work largely defined in Section C, I will reference other sections as well. A little bit of the why we do what we do could give you an introduction, there's a little more of the detail that I'll go into. And how that's structured around the statement of work, we're going to talk about the deliverables, what they're based upon. That is one of the most important things in this program, that is what you are paid upon is your deliverables, your hours, and then your deliverables. The work itself under the base contract is broken down by task orders, I'll walk through a basic structure for that, including our contract line-item structure in brief. I’ll talk about the role of oversight procedures, labor categories, and finally, how conflicts of interest are managed, at least at the initial level.

00:31:59 Matthew Nawn

So, our requirements description is up there in long form, I promise I'm not going to read all of it to you, but I will give you some key points. First of all, our oversight is congressionally directed. It dates back to what is called the PMO rule in 1989, it's codified in US code. It requires FTA to provide oversight of major capital transit projects and other significant projects that's defined by the rule throughout the

United States. This is again, a Congressional direction, and why is how and why we rely so much on our PMOC as we are not staffed to do this ourselves, the rule and the requirement doesn’t go away if we didn’t have a PMO program, but the oversight remains, and we are not staffed up to do this. That’s why our program exists, that’s why it was created in 1989 and it continues on today. Our PMOCs are the eyes and ears for us out at the project level working hand in hand with our regional staff and our regional ACORs. This is the value you bring to the table for us to help us make risk and fact-based decisions to ensure that projects, the fundamentals that they're done on time, on budget, deliver level of quality, deliver the level of service that they expect that they are planning to deliver and certainly most importantly, why we are here, to ensure the taxpayer dollar is protected. It really centers around the last bullet I have up there. We'll talk a little bit more about the project management plans, the project sponsors. Some may say your transit agencies, those were building the project itself. We do not build it at FTA, you do not build it as the PMOCs. You provide that oversight and support of us, but the project management plan is really the heart of where it begins, and I’ll talk a little more about that next slide please.

00:33:56 Matthew Nawn

So why are we here? As I have up on the first bullet, we're here so that we can work with you all for us to obtain the services of qualified support contractors to help us manage this oversight mission. As I mentioned, you know, compliance with the project requirements, compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. Safety, proper management of funds, proper construction. The PMOCs again, you were in that critical link to help us with this oversight of our capital projects. The labor requirements, which I’ll talk a little bit about the requirements what we expect of you, it is very stringent. Many of these positions are very high level, they have very strict requirements and that's for a reason. You are assisting us working with those professionals both here at FTA as well as with our project sponsors who have the experience in building, operating, overseeing projects. That experience, what we have in our contract and what we expect from you all is commensurate with those you’ll be working closely with.

Some of the keys are listed last I mentioned the project management plan, also the capacity early on in projects, we rely on our PMOCs to advise our regional staff and those of us here at headquarters. Does a project sponsor, or grantee, or again project sponsors are a technical term, but if you think of a Transit Authority, if you're new to this type of work. Do they have the capability? Do they have the manager or the technical capability and capacity to take this project on? Has the project sponsor set this up for success? And what are we doing to ensure that?

00:35:38 Matthew Nawn

So, you know, if you boil our statement of work down to a couple of key areas at the top of the screen, we rely on those deliverables which you provide. Monitor reports, quarterly reports, I'm just touching the high-level, risk analysis, Buy America compliance reviews, those technical reports to ensure that our oversight is being done properly, this project is going to be a success. You’re relying a lot on third party data, much of the information you’ll be reviewing almost all of it comes through project sponsors. It’s your review, your insights, your technical capabilities that help us make the best possible decisions. As I say in there, it goes along with your professional opinions based on your experience and your professional analysis. The PMOC role largely is to provide FTA information to help us make decisions.

Now, the work itself is broken down into 4 categories and these align, as I'll talk a little bit more about in a few moments, with the claims, or the contract line-item numbers. These areas, when we talk about oversight procedures, what they are certain oversight procedures as outlined in the RFP align with the claims. You can see I’ve listed them here. Optional, I don’t want to confuse anybody, if you’re saying it, what do you mean by optional? We have a baseline optional things we may not need on every project, Buy America compliance you’re doing, for example, is something that may not be needed on every project, is just one example. That’s what the difference between baseline and optional as I have there.

Lessons learned are very important to us. That's why it's in CLIN One, we try to grow this program and its capabilities, we try to ensure better outcomes. We've been in the process, it's been a long process.

We've been in the process of trying to further enhance, grow and utilize our lessons learned program.

We’ll be relying on you. We have an oversight procedure, when we assign it to different task orders related to lessons learned documentation, it helps us make better decisions. Eventually, if we can tie it to our risk process, it will help us make better risk-based decisions.

00:38:03 Matthew Nawn

Next slide please. Statement of work. It's all in Section C, these key sections I've listed here the breakdown I should say, particular areas to pay attention to. Well, number one, all of it is important. But C6 Labor Categories and Minimum Personnel Requirements, these are stringent requirements, please, as many of you, I'm going to assume everyone has looked at least at the draft RFP that's been posted.

You've seen this, this is again one of the most critical pieces that your teams, they bring professional expertise, we rely on. Again, please pay particular attention to this, and the minimum requirements, and how we break our personnel down. What categories are in, there will be more clarified in the final RFP.

You’ve got to see the draft, more will be clarified in the final RFP’s release.

00:38:55 Matthew Nawn

This is just a general list of deliverables. The deliverables are defined by OPs, oversight procedures, which I'll talk again in more detail. Our current oversight procedures are listed on FTA’s public website transit.dot.gov. If you just search oversight procedures you’ll see the list. You can expect in a final RFP to see updated OPs, but they give you a sense and the OPs define those deliverables, those reports, those products which you submit to us, which then you can bill to and receive your fee based upon. But just to give you a range, there's several here, I'll call out the review of the project management plan, I've hit that a couple of times, why that is so important that review is a sample of deliverable. Our cost, scope and schedule reviews, which lead up to our risk assessments, we have a very detailed, a very well established risk assessment process that’s been developed over years with support of some industry experts with support of some TCRP, Transit Cooperative Research Project, that reviews in the past of project success and failure. Risk assessments are very important to us, that’s one of our key deliverables almost every project. Readiness reviews, readiness to enter Revenue Service, I guess particular attention we have a lot of projects coming online. How do we ensure they are ready? How do we ensure our project sponsors have not missed something critical? We have a challenge in that area right now with the particular sponsored particular project. These reviews are critical. Technical assistance and special tasks, you’ll lump them together. These are things for which you all have the expertise to help us with, that may not be codified in an OP. I’ll give you two examples, some years back, Memphis, TN had a problem with Vintage Street cars catching fire, not a good thing. We relied on a special test to one of our PMOCs to help our team assess the root causes, the remedies and how to return the line to safe operation. Another one we have Buy America oversight reviews, but occasionally we get directed by Congress to do a Buy America compliance review. We’ve done with that I know of in the past decade, but where we partner with you and we physically go out and do a review, not just oversee the results of

it. There are just two examples of technical assistance that could lead to what's called a special task, things which may not be defined in an OP, but for which we'll submit a scope and there'll be a task order for the work to do.

00:41:28 Matthew Nawn

Next slide. So I mentioned the work, there's a base contract. Then there's the work itself is broken down, defined and put out, for lack of better phrase, through our PMOC task orders. Now, they can be competitively awarded, we can use means other than fair opportunity, our procurement staff can talk more about that, but all the work you’ll be doing is defined under a task order. As I mentioned, we have the CLIN structure, contract line-items where we have baseline and optional oversight. Not every task, and not every oversight procedure and associated deliverables are going to be in every task order. We construct our task orders based upon the particular attributes and needs of each project. Again, where do we define? Deliverables are defined by our oversight procedures.

00:42:26 Matthew Nawn

So let's talk about them. As I mentioned, and it's listed here, they are currently on our public website transit.dot.gov. You can expect updated OPs again in the final RFP, but what is current now you're welcome to look at. The OP structure is listed just like I have here. They all follow the same format. Not every piece, not every OP has every single piece, but they're all structured to be similar. Again, this is to define what is to be done, for lack of a better phrase, our expectations and then most importantly, what are the associated deliverables?

00:43:07 Matthew Nawn

Next slide. The CLIN structure again contract line-item number I mentioned earlier, how we define the work through the first four CLINs the last CLIN, CLIN 5 is your travel. There is travel with this work, I think that you may know that already, hopefully you’ve gathered that through your own research, but monitoring often, typically, requires going to the field, working with our regional ACORs, our regional staff and going to the projects themselves for things like monthly oversight, if it's applicable or quarterly, key reviews, etcetera. So that's why there's CLIN 5 there's travel, it is a direct reimbursement.

00:43:49 Matthew Nawn

Now, our labor categories are broken down into three areas. I'm going to talk about the two that are most important, key personnel and our mission critical personnel. These are your senior team members.

The Program Manager has the overall responsibility for the program, there is very detailed education and experience requirements for this. Then under the Program Manager the Task Order Manager I and the Task Order Manager II. Now they're listed in numerical order, but I don't want to confuse anybody.

Task Order Manager II is for the most complicated projects, you're most senior task order manager. In accordance with requirements section, say your Task Order Manager I are for projects which may not be as complicated. A general example, a large capital new starts rail project would have a Task Order Manager I required. A bus rapid transit project, typically, would have a Task Order Manager I.

00:44:56 Matthew Nawn

Now your mission critical personnel again under your Program Manager, Task Order Managers, these are the folks that we rely on the most they have the most stringent requirements for education and experience and in some cases the license and or certification as defined in Section C I've listed them here. One key thing, and it’s spelled out in the RFP, please pay particular attention to the requirements for these staff and the notification that if you have them and any one of them leaves the timelines for providing the FTA through your COR, your ACOR, and Contracting Officer, replacement personnel, there are strict timelines and requirements for that. It is in Section C, of course, that will be in your RFP. Please pay particular attention because that is very important for your key and your mission critical personnel.

00:45:51 Matthew Nawn

Next slide. Conflict of interest. This is a small world between those who design projects, those who oversee projects, and those who manage projects. Often, we find ourselves at a confluence of all the above. Some of you probably do work for our project sponsors and related entities. First of all, I should mention so we’re crystal clear, we are not asking for design services. Design service or entirely different category. This is not a Brooks Act procurement. We are soliciting for oversight services, and that is very clearly defined in the RFP. But we know many of you do that again, perhaps you are a designer of record for project sponsor, or you're a consultant and overseer, etcetera. Conflicts of interest can become a challenge. That is why we ask you to provide and require you to provide, through attaching J-11, your conflict of interest matrix. We look at that, we review that prior to issuing any RFPs for task orders. Also, if you have a new conflict develop, we need to be notified. Again, this is spelled out, but the FTA needs to be notified. This also includes your subs, so this is very important. This is very important for the integrity of the program, for the integrity of the projects. Again, we look at this, we get questions in the past for competitive RFPs, “Why did I not receive an RFP?” Because our conflict of interest matrix showed you have a conflict here. Again, it’s very important, it’s required, you spell that out, attachment J-11. It is equally important if you are awarded a contract that you notify us immediately if you have a conflict or a potential conflict. Again, very important for your integrity, very important for a project sponsors integrity and for the integrity of the entire Federal Transit Administration Program.

00:47:48 Matthew Nawn

So, I will now turn it over to Brittany to talk about small business utilization.

00:47:52 James Harper Jr.

If you don't mind. But that’s a lot of information. Let’s take 10 minutes and we’ll come back and start with Brittany. 10 minutes. Thank you.

00:48:14 James Harper Jr.

We are so happy that you are intermingling and exchanging cards and things, that’s what this is all about.

We appreciate that. Mrs. Dorian has a couple of announcements to make before Brittany.

00:48:33 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

I just would like to make two clarifications. The proposal is going to be this fiscal year. We're under the government's first quarter 2024 Fiscal Year but reality, real time, that solicitation will be going out November of 2023, it’s not going out next year, November. So, when I say the government calendar year, we’re in the government fiscal year first quarter. I just want to make that clear, somebody brought that to my attention for people who may not be familiar with that. So, I wanted to make sure that I clarify and for clarification for the past performance, that information again will be in the RFP, but it is due before proposals, and it will be sent to that e-mail address that we highlighted on one of the slides, but it will be in the RFP. It will be due two (2) to three (3) weeks before the proposal. The government will then incorporate it with your information, but again, those past performance information will be due two (2) to three (3) weeks before the proposal and you will submit that information to a special e-mail that will be provided in the RFP. And again, if you have any other questions, we will let Brittany go ahead and speak and then we can answer any other questions you have and then you know how to contact us, if you have additional questions.

00:50:10 James Harper Jr.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce Ms. Brittany Young, from the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

00:50:26 Brittany Young

Thank you, Mr. Harper, and thank you to the FTA, for the invite. As he mentioned, my name is Brittany Young, I'm a small business specialist and the woman owned small business advocate upstairs in the office on the 7th floor. Natalie Rosa, who is our HUBZone advocate, will be joining the afternoon session.

00:50:46 Brittany Young

So here in the US Department of Transportation in our Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization or what we call the OSDBU, our mission is to ensure that the small business policies and goals of the Office of the Secretary are implemented in a fair, efficient and effective manner. So, as you can see, we have about 10 different operating administrations that we work with regularly. Each operating administration has its own mission and independent procurement authority. We work with literally all of them. As you can see, if you get the slides you can click on each individual one so if you can’t work with one, there’s nine others to choose from.

00:51:34 Brittany Young

Next slide please. So in OSDBU, we have two divisions, which is the Procurement Assistance Division as well as our Regional Assistance Division. I happen to fall under the Procurement Assistance Division where we work closely with DOT's Office of the Senior Procurement Executive and all of the 10 different operating administration business specialist that I mentioned before. And we want to ensure that those opportunities that are out there for you all are put on the forecast, but we work with them to ensure that everything is up to date on the forecast as well as on SAM.gov. We also work with SBS Procurement Center Representatives to ensure that small businesses have an opportunity to compete for those DOT contract and subcontracting awards. Additionally, we oversee them into our Protégé program, and we also just launched our Connections Marketplace platform where small businesses can meet and greet with the different people within DOT, as well as we do matchmaking on the platform and multiple other things. And you can also find someone who, if you wanted to partner with someone, you can use the platform for that as well.

00:52:43 Brittany Young

So, in our regional assistance division, they typically work with our small business transportation resource centers. There are about 11 offices all across the US no matter what state you’re in, you have a resource there to help you with anything that you need, whether it's business planning, whether it's getting a certification, anything dealing with the state DOTs, if you have any questions they’re similar to the PTAC or now the APEX Accelerators, but they’re just small business and DOT focused. Although we do have the DBE program, DOT oversees the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, but we do provide support. Also, FHWA, FTA, FAA have their own programs and those goals are set at a grantee level, but they have more project specific goals.

00:53:38 Brittany Young

So, this slide just covers the small business goals here within the agency. The government wide small business goal is 23% and that's already mandated by Congress. So, every year our office is charged with negotiating those small business goals on behalf of DOT. So last year, as you can see, our goal was 34% and we exceeded that, and the overall small business percentage is going to change every year, But those various socioeconomic categories typically stay the same. So WOSB, veteran owned, hub zone, small disadvantaged business, all that to be safe. And I also wanted to mention, for the last 13 years we’ve received an A rating with the SBA on our scorecard for meeting and exceeding those small business goals.

00:54:30 Brittany Young

This slide just covers the FY22 DOT spend within the agency. As you can see, Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Highway Administration typically take up the bulk of our budget, but you can see a lot of money being spent on the DOT.

00:54:50 Brittany Young

So overall, we buy a lot of goods and services, anything as small as paper clips. As you can see on the slide, engineering services, highway road and bridge construction are some of our biggest purchases, but this just covers where we were at for FY22 based on those top NAICS Codes.

00:55:13 Brittany Young

So, this is similar to the slide a little earlier with our small business goals. That just goes as I mentioned before for those social economic categories typically stay the same, as well as that negotiated prime goal. But as far as the subcontracting goes for small business, this year we were trying to get to 46%. So, we shall see where we’re at, but typically we do good.

00:55:38 Brittany Young

Next slide, please. So as far as subcontracting plans, we typically require a subcontracting plan when we know that we're going to award to other than small business, when we know there is a opportunity for a small business to compete, or when the award will be over $750,000 and when a construction award would be over $1.5 million. All the plans must be considered as well as the socio-economic goals or we’ll consider it unacceptable, and it also must be approved by the small business specialist. In this case, it would probably be LaStar, and after we hear back from the LaStar about the actual subcontracting plan, it simply goes to my office for approval. So, if a plan is not submitted then it will not be considered, and you can also go back and reference all this information throughout FAR Part 19.

00:56:30 Brittany Young

There are several key components to those socioeconomic categories that I mentioned earlier. Some of the key elements here are the dollar amount, the description of the supplies and services that we're looking for, and the method used to identify who the potential awardee would be.

00:56:49 Brittany Young

And then next slide, this is just a continuation of the previous slide, some additional elements will be the subcontracting plan administrator, assurance that the firm who's participating will cooperate in surveys as well as the submissions into the E-Subcontracting Plan System, or ESRS to include reporting and lastly, a description of the records for the purposes of compliance.

00:57:19 Brittany Young

This slide just covers the resources that I would like to give you all. Of course, our office is the first link we're always having events, so you can subscribe to our small business events portal. We typically do at least like 3 events a month, matchmaking. We're actually having an event, next month, November 15th here in the building. It’s an event getting towards veterans, but it’s open to all small businesses, and we're also supporting innovation on that as well. We have matchmaking opportunities where you can meet not only with our small business specialists, but other federal agencies will be here so you could be matchmaking with them as well. Additional links, are our small business transportation resource centers that I mentioned, SBA, the dynamic small business database that is one place we use for our market research efforts, so make sure that your profile is up to date. SAM.gov, of course, is where you are going to find all your opportunities and the APEX accelerator platform where it used to be, the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, is a great resource if you need help there. And then the last one I typically add to all my information is the issue is our agency Council. So typically all of the possible offices across the federal government, The directors meet and share ideas or opportunities that they’re having. I’m actually one of the people who helps through their website, but it’s kind of a one stop shop resource so you can find all the information about all the other possible offices.

00:58:53 Brittany Young

This last slide is just all the contacts for everyone in our office, hub zone advocate, me, the WSOB advocate, our veteran owned advocate and as well as all the managers and everything in the office. But if you need anything, I'm here, upstairs. And if you have any questions later, ask right here. Thank you.

00:59:17 James Harper Jr.

Thank you. So at this point, we’ve come to the Q&A. If you have questions about anything that we presented at this point, please let us know what those questions are. And as I said earlier, for the ones that we can't answer here, all of those will be recorded and an answer will be provided to you. Yes ma’am, please identify yourself.

00:59:49 Danielle Gains

Danielle Gains for Burlington Management Company, the small business goals, is that the goals in the RFP, the 46% and 5% I can't remember them all, but what you showed at the start that's included in this

RFP?

01:00:06 James Harper Jr.

The subcontracting goal will be determined by your award.

01:00:16 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

I'm not understanding the question.

01:00:27 Danielle Gains

She had a slide that said 46% then it said at the bottom that these goals will be included in the RFP so I’m wondering what the actual small business goals for this RFP is?

01:00:38 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

We’re in support of the DOT small business goal. If you’re a small business, what we’re talking about for the subcontracting plan would be for the large business and then we provide detailed information on how they have to prepare that in accordance with letting FTA and DOT know how they’re going to meet those goals.

01:00:53 Danielle Gains

I just want to know if that's the goal they have for me, that was my only question.

01:01:00 Mike

Mike, KKCS, can you confirm that electronic delivery of the proposal will be acceptable? No longer has to be a physical delivery?

01:01:12 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

Yes Sir. And we will provide detailed information in the RFP as far as how to do that.

01:01:19 James Harper Jr.

One piece of caution please. When you send it, there’s an outlook that says when it was open when it was received, make sure you click that, for your safety.

01:01:37 Sonja Rousey

We're working with our Information and Technology department with the office of Secretary and FTA IT department and we will have the submission submitted through a secured channel. It will not come through e-mail. It's going to be a secured electronic channel line, and details on that will be in the solicitation, we'll be doing testing and all of that good stuff just to make sure you can submit it and there are no issues.

01:02:06 Dorian Ridley-Curtis

So you can't submit your proposal to me, OK?

01:02:16 Jack Angel

Good morning, Jack Angel with Deloitte, are PPQ's and CPAR’s also due two to three weeks before the proposal?

01:02:26 Sonja Rousey

Yeah, the exact date will be listed in the request for proposal, but that’s the anticipatory date too, so maybe two weeks or three weeks before, but the details on this specific date will be listed in the actual solicitation.

01:02:45 Jack Angel

And by that date we have to submit CPARS and PPQ's is that correct?

01:02:46 Sonja Rousey

So it will just be past performance questionnaires only.

01:02:58 Bobby

Good morning, Bobby with Tal team. Just want to get clarity on the conflict of interest. I think I heard that if awarded, right, and you have work that’s similar, but it hasn’t been awarded yet, you could be awarded but…