Attachment 0007 RFP Questions.pdf

Attachment 0007 RFP Questions (Close date for RFP Questions and Answers is 08:00AM CENTRAL 10 January 2023)

Q. Question 5 of Phase 2 has "AI/ML/Data Science", however, Question 1 for Phase 1 only has "AI". Please confirm that "AI/ML/Data Science" is presumed in Question 1 for Phase 1 (i.e. -- "How the Offeror contributed or directly developed an AI/ML/Data Science solution with industry, academia, or government."

A. Per Attachment 0001, “Phase I – Interested parties shall provide examples of corporate experience (real use cases vs past performance/CPARS) within the field of AI/ML/Data Science.”

Q. Please confirm that the SF1449 does not need to be submitted until Phase 2.

A. Per Attachment 0006, page 2, “Completed and signed SF1449 – Submit for Phase II”

Q. Please confirm the government requires 4 documents to be compliant with submission requirements—2 documents for Phase I, and 2 additional documents for Phase II, if invited.

Phase I submission:

1: pdf Cover Letter entitled Section 1 Offeror Name AI Talent 2.0 BOA Cover Letter

2: pdf Phase I response no longer than 5 pages, excluding cover page and questions.

No specific title is required.

Phase II submission:

3: pdf Phase II response no longer than 7 pages excluding cover page and questions, entitled: Offeror Name AI Talent 2.0 BOA Questionnaire

4: signed and completed pdf SF1449 (and any amendments) entitled: Section 4 Offeror Name AI Talent 2.0 BOA SF1449

A. Yes

Q. Please confirm since the Federal Government has requited the use of Unique Entity ID (UEI) as of April 2022, the government will accept the offeror’s UEI in lieu of DUNS number in the cover letter required information.

A. UIE will be accepted in lieu of DUNS number.

Q. Please confirm there is no SF1449 associated with Amendment 01, Attachment 0005

- RFP Questions

A. Amendment 0001 will be included with Amendment 0003, allowing for signature.

Q. Can a table of contents to added to the Phase 1 response and be out-side the page count?

A. Per Attachment 0005, “Responses for Phase I shall be no longer than 5 pages, excluding cover page and any questions.”

Q. For the first Phase 1 submittal that the cover page mentioned in the Q&A’s is the cover letter mentioned in the solicitation instructions?

A. Cover Letter is only needed for Phase I.

Q. Would the Government consider lowering the facility clearance level to Secret?

A. No. Dependent on the work at the Task Order level, Top Secret may be utilized;

therefore, the facility clearance level does need to stay at Top Secret.

Q. Would the Government consider the facility clearance of a teaming partner that possesses a Top-Secret FCL?

A. Teaming is a business decision and although the Government will not dictate how teams are arranged, please note, this is a 100% Small Business set-aside.

Q. For the PROG MGT task area, is “Training” to train Government personnel or Contractor staff?

A. It could be for both or either, depending on the needs of the Task Order.

Q. After Phase 2, please advise if there are additional next steps?

A. After Phase 2 if additional steps are needed, the Government will make it known at that time.

Q. Following Phase 1 down select, please advise the timeframe for the Phase 2 submission?

A. The timeframe is unknown as of now, but the Government intends on moving quickly from Phase I to Phase II.

Q. I wanted to provide some additional context on the questions that we and other offerors have asked about teaming and use of subcontractor corporate experience and appreciate any further consideration on this.

The use of subcontractor corporate experience increases risk of performance post award given the current evaluation criteria does not provide any requirement for the prime offeror to possess experience with this highly technical subject matter. As it stands, a prime offeror may rely entirely on the experience of their teaming partners.

Allowing teaming and the use of subcontractor corporate experience for Phase 1 will not allow the Government to clearly evaluate the expertise that each prime offeror possesses with AI/ML.

Question

1) Will the Government please confirm that Phase 1 corporate experience is limited to the experience of the prime offeror.

A. It does not state in Attachment 0001 whether the corporate experience comes from a prime or sub experience. Again, as stated previously, this is a business decision as to what experience is submitted to the Government that best represents the Offerors capabilities.