Response_to_Questions_-RFQ_VOA_Central_News_Multimedia_Stringers.pdf

Questions RFQ VOA-CN-00047-PA

Q: Who is the incumbent contractor(s) providing these services today?

A: There is no incumbent. VOA has previously contracted directly with a consortium of independent journalists to provide news products. VOA is seeking an Offeror to consolidate and manage a network of on- demand, freelance journalists for hire by news product.

Q: What is the incumbent contractor(s) contract number?

A: There is no incumbent. This is a new requirement.

Q: The proposal instructions references a price schedule in Section I, however, there is no schedule of prices included in Section I. Please clarify

A: The solicitation has been amended to remove the reference to Section I pricing. All pricing shall be submitted in Attachment A.

Q: Does VOA expect the pricing to be the same per assignment regardless of where the stringer is performing the work?

A: Yes. This is correct.

Q: The RFP requests a copy of the offeror’s Reps & Certs from SAM. Based on the length of this information, please confirm the Government will instead accept a statement indicating that our Reps & Certs in SAM are current and accurate.

A: The Government will accept a statement indicating the offeror(s) Reps & Certs in SAM.gov are current and accurate if accompanied by Offeror(s) Business Name/Address and DUNs number.

Q: The price proposal instructions indicate offerors should use a quantity of 10 for each item, however, the pricing table includes a quantity of 5 for each item. Please clarify which quantity should be used.

Q: How will incidental (local travel, internet connectivity, etc.) expenses be reimbursed?

A: The Government intends for pricing provided by the Offeror to be inclusive of incidental expenses.

Q: Is this a best value or LPTA based evaluation?

A: This is best value

Q: The RFQ references termination of existing contracts or not exercising options – what contracts is this referring to?

A: The solicitation has been amended to remove this reference. There is no incumbent contractor to terminate.

Q: The Government references domestic and international support. Does a current contract(s) exist for these services? Will the Government identify the current providers and stringers?

A: There is no current contract or incumbent. VOA has used a consortium of freelance journalists to provide news products.

Q: The Government has requested a Project Manager for this effort – where is that to be priced?

A: After review, the Government has determined a Project Manager is not required for this effort.

The solicitation has been amended to remove this.

Q: The RFP indicates BBG may communicate directly with the stringers. If this is correct, what is the role of the required Project Manager? How is the awardee to be notified by BBG of assignments that have been issued directly by BBG?

A: Following on to the previous question. The Project Manager is been removed from this requirement. The Government intends to communicate directly with the domestic and international stringers via a web-based scheduling portal. The Offeror shall include their scheduling methodology for availability and assignment work within their Technical Capabilities.

Q: How will the issuance of assignments; the ordering of assignments; and the acceptance of assignments be coordinated with the contractor if BBG is communicating directly with the stringers?

A: The Government intends to communicate directly with the domestic and international stringers via a web-based scheduling portal. The Offeror shall include their scheduling methodology for availability and assignment work within their Technical Capabilities.

Q: The Government is requesting a contracting company to coordinate activities of stringers, but the evaluation instructions indicate samples of past work could be used in the evaluation. The use of samples of past work is not applicable as the rights to sample work would be retained by the stringer and VOA. This should be removed or further explained how it will be used in the evaluation process.

A: The solicitation has been amended to remove samples of past work and replaced with: Offeror’s ability to validate journalists’ technical skills to satisfy the news product assignment

Q: Since this RFQ is for a contracting company to coordinate activities of stringers, why is sample work of stringers (freelance contractors) relevant to the evaluation process? The contracting company seems to only serve as a pay processing company so past performances should be based on pay processing type capabilities.

Q: The evaluation criteria includes a review of qualified and committed journalists. How does the

Government intend to evaluate this? For example, are 5 committed journalists evaluated more favorably than 2? Are certain locations evaluated more favorably than others?

Q: The evaluation criteria includes an evaluation of the quality of samples of past work. This is a totally subjective evaluation criteria – how will the Government ensure this criteria is being applied uniformly to all offerors? The Government should provide specificity on how each work product will be evaluated in order to minimize grounds for protest.

Q: Is the Government seeking samples of work for all personnel proposed? In what format is the

Government looking to receive these samples? What is the basis for reviewing and ranking work samples from one offeror to another?

ability to validate journalists’ technical skills to satisfy the news product assignment.

Q: The past performance criteria specifies offerors must have experience on similar projects as the prime contractor on complex overeas service contracts. Since this effort includes US based stringers – this requirement should be removed.

A: The solicitation has been amended to include both complex overseas AND domestic contracts.

Q: The past performance criteria specifies offerors must have experience on similar projects as the prime contractor on complex overeas service contracts. This looks to be an extremely limiting criteria designed with the sole purpose of limiting competition. It should be removed.

Q: Since this is an ad-hoc, as needed requirement, why is the Government asking for committed stringers? This is in direct conflict with the ad-hoc nature of this requirement.

A: VOA is a 24/7 News Organization. The Government is seeking an Offeror that has the technical capability to provide journalists at any given time for story coverage. The solicitation has been amended to remove the word “committed” and replaced with “vetted”.

Q: Is it the Government’s intention that existing stringers will be migrated under this vehicle? Will the Government provide the existing rate structure that is in place today?

A: VOA has previously contracted directly with a consortium of independent journalists to provide stories. It will be up to the independent journalist(s) to determine whether they wish to migrate under this vehicle. VOA is seeking an Offeror to consolidate and manage a network of on-demand, freelance journalists for hire by news product.

Q: Does the Government have current locations that are under served by the current stringer population? Will the Government identify those locations and the services that they would like to see increased?

A: VOA is a 24/7 News organization with a global presence. The Offeror’s technical capability should address the ability to provide freelance journalists in multiple cities/countries for the CLINs outlined in Attachment A.

Q: Does the Government expect a flat rate for each service regardless of location (domestic or international)? Locality pay differences, exchange rates and availability of experienced personnel in some geographic locations makes proposing a flat rate difficult or inaccurate.

A: Yes. The Government is seeking a flat rate regardless of geographic location.

Q: The Government’s reference to stringers not being full time employees is out of context as this determination must be made by an employer for each employee based on specific IRS regulations not based on an individual agencies suggestion. Suggesting this narrative may inadvertently give bidders the impression they are exempt from following IRS regulations.

A: The language in the RFP specifies they do not need to be employees but can be freelancers. This is continued to state the Contractor shall be solely responsible for all necessary paperwork and payments related to the employment and payment of said stringers, including taxes, tariffs, etc., as applicable.

Q: The Government requests a Project Manager who is fluent in Spanish and English. Why is

Spanish language fluency relevant? Will the Government delete this requirement? Since the Government is requesting coverage anywhere; why would Spanish fluency be relevant if the stringer is located in Afghanistan?

A: The solicitation has been amended to remove the Spanish language requirement.

Q: Can the government clarify if their intent is to award these BPAs using a GSA Schedule, and if so, which schedule?

A: The requirement is set aside for total small business. There is no GSA schedule used or referenced.

Q: Is the Government asking for letters of commitment from all proposed personnel? How many resumes is the Government seeking?

A: The Government is not seeking letters of commitment. The Offeror’s technical proposal shall include their ability to recruit and supply journalists for the news products identified in Attachment A.

Q: The Government requests past performance that involves prime contractor experience on complex overseas service contracts. This appears to overtly restrict fair and open competition.

The focus of this procurement appears to be payment services and to a lesser degree recruitment. Although payment of services outside the US requires a different approach than payment within the US the need to have experience in complex overseas service contracts appears to be unnecessary. Will the Government accept experience managing large scale vehicles in place of the current wording?

Q: Will the Government extend the due date by 30 days to allow for sufficient time to identify personnel and prepare work samples? The current due date appears to be overly restrictive and looks to be designed to limit competition.

A: At this time the Government cannot extend the due date by 30 days. The Government, will however, end the due date through Friday, June 15th. The solicitation has been amended to reflect the new due date. This requirement is set aside for total small business but refutes the suggestion this is designed to limit competition.