W56HZV-20-R-0108_QA_as of 01 June 2020.pdf

1. (Answered May 13th, 2020) Section A.11.1 states that questions regarding the solicitation shall be submitted NLT close of business on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.

Since the RFP was not released until May 04, 2020 is there a revised cutoff date for questions to be submitted?

A) (Answered May 13th, 2020)The solicitation will be amended to change Wednesday, April 29, 2020 to Tuesday, May 19, 2020.

2. (Answered May 13th, 2020) Section L.4.1.1 states that “For the Experience Factor, the offeror shall substantiate recent and comparable experience by providing the requested information below. The offeror may provide up to five recent Contracts. The Contract(s) must have been performed by the offeror as the prime contractor. Contracts may include foreign, federal, state, local and private industry Contracts. The Government will not consider the experience of subcontractors, individuals or key personnel; only corporate experience will be considered.”

My question is pertaining to the underlined sentence above stating that experience must have been performed as the prime contractor. As a small business, the majority of our work is captured and executed as a sub-contractor.

A) (Answered May 13th, 2020)The RFP does not require an offeror to demonstrate experience specifically as the prime contractor of a U.S. Government contract. In this context, a prime contractor is considered to be any party that executes an agreement with another party to perform work. The Government will accept recent private industry contract(s) to substantiate corporate experience, if that is what the Offeror performed as the prime contracted party (Reference L.4.1.1 “Contracts may include foreign, federal, state, local and private industry Contracts.”), so long as that instrument meets the RFP definition of a Contract (See L.4.1), and subject to the Contract limits set forth in Section L.4.1.2. If so, then the private Industry contract(s) would be the Contract information required to be submitted as detailed in L.4.1.4.4 (a)-(j), in addition to any other necessary substantiation for its proposed Experience that may be applicable pursuant to L.4.1.4.1 - L.4.1.4.3.

3. Can the prime offeror use a subcontract as corporate experience?

A) Yes. Refer answer #2 for further details and clarification.

4. Can the prime offeror use a subcontractor’s prime contract as corporate experience?

A) No. The Government will not consider the experience of proposed subcontractors. Refer to Section L.4.1.1 which says “The Government will not consider the experience of subcontractors, individuals or key personnel;

only corporate experience will be considered.”

5. Are the work activities listed in Section L.4.1.3 missing the rest of the work activities from the Task Areas?

A) No. The Government listed the most relevant work activities that will be performed on this contract, and also limited the work activities in Section L.4.1.3 to reduce the solicitation package to a reasonable submission for evaluation.

6. How is the beginning value of the contract defined?

A) Reference paragraph A.2.1, “Acquisition Approach”, on page 2 and FAR clause 52.216-19 “ORDER LIMITATIONS” on page 35 of the solicitation.

7. How is the ending value of the contract defined?

A) Reference paragraph A.2.1, “Acquisition Approach”, on page 2 and FAR clause 52.216-19 “ORDER LIMITATIONS” on page 35 of the solicitation.

8. RFP Page 60, Section L.4.1.3 states, “the complexity and the extent to which the proposed recent experience is comparable in scope to the following statement of work activities: Development of Program Office Estimate(s), Life Cycle Cost Estimate(s), Analysis of Alternative(s)(AoA), Business Case Analysis(s), and Cost and Software Data Reporting (CSDR) Analysis in direct support of U.S. Army or Marine Corps military ground vehicle (combat or tactical) programs.”

a. Question 1: Will any consideration be given to the complexity of submitted examples that exhibit experience at lower levels detailed in Section C.3.2, Cost Analysis Products and Support? For example, Section C.3.2.4.2, Earned Value Management Analysis. Or will the complexity designation be limited to the higher level products listed in Section L.4.1.3?

A) The Government will evaluate proposed experience for comparability and complexity against the criteria set forth in Section L.4.1.3. See also Answer #5 above.

b. Question 2: Similarly, will past experience examples that represent work performed as defined in Section C.3.2, Cost Analysis Products and Support (same example, Section C.3.2.4.2, Earned Value Management Analysis) be assessed as higher risk if they do not explicitly fall under one of the activities listed in Section L.4.1.3 as part of the definition of complexity for this solicitation?

A) Refer answer #8.a. for further details and clarification.

9. Exhibit A Page 5, Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL). The requirement for Data Item Number A004, Contractors Progress, Status and Management Report lists the following as part of a monthly report: “16. REMARKS: The Contractor shall prepare and submit monthly task order status reports in Contractor format 30 days after task order award, and on the last day of every month thereafter. The reports will summarize progress within the reporting period, track progress against completion schedule and highlight any roadblocks or issues. Note: Delete paragraphs 10.3 g. and k. from DID DI- MGMT-80227 and include the following additional information in the report: q. Total funding by CLIN r. Costs reported by CLIN s. Description of services performed t. Field Technical Representative (if applicable) u. Person hours reported by individuals name and the hourly pay rate of the individual v. Budget at completion w. Budget over/under if hours continue to be expended at current rate”

a. Question 1: Are items ‘r.’, ‘u.’, ‘v.’ and ‘w.’ of this section were inadvertently included in the solicitation since all task orders issued against this contract will be Firm Fixed Price in accordance with FAR 16.202 (as opposed to Time & Material or Labor)?

A) This is not an error as the CDRL is still required. Even though the tasks are FFP, the reports provide the government with a status, keeps the contractor accountable, and gives the government a tool for checking monthly voucher that need to be approved in WAWF.2

b. Question 2: FAR 16.202-1 describes that a Firm Fixed Price contract is to provide “maximum incentive for the contractor to control costs and perform effectively and imposes a minimum administrative burden upon the contracting parties.”

Therefore, the CDRL inclusion for Data Item Number A004 appears to be not applicable for Firm Fixed Price. Will it be in the government’s consideration to update requirements ‘r.’, ‘u.’, ‘v.’ and ‘w.’ to be specifically for Firm Fix Price?

A) Refer answer #9a for further details and clarification.

10. Section L.4.1.3 states that "The Government will evaluate the complexity and the extent to which the proposed recent experience is comparable in scope to the following statement of work activities: Development of Program Office Estimate(s), Life Cycle Cost Estimate(s), Analysis of Alternative(s) (AoA), Business Case Analysis(s), and Cost and Software Data Reporting (CSDR) Analysis in direct support of U.S. Army or Marine Corps military ground vehicle (combat or tactical) programs."

Will the offeror only be evaluated for these statement of work activities in support of ground vehicles? Or will our experience with these activities supporting other programs be considered?

A) The offeror will be evaluated for comparability to the statement of work activities listed in L.4.1.3, and proposing experience for programs other than what is listed in the criteria may render the proposed experience to be less comparable/complex or not comparable/complex. See M.4.1.1.2 and M.4.1.1.4.

11. L.4.1.1: This section states: “The Government will not consider the experience of subcontractors, individuals or key personnel; only corporate experience will be considered.” Would the Government allow the use of past performance of the offeror's teaming partners as part of the five recent contract(s) for the offeror's response? If so, how many of the five responses should be those of the prime contractor versus those of its teaming partners?

A) Refer to answer to #4 above and to paragraph L.4.1.4.3, Individual Partners of a Joint Venture, of the solicitation.

12. C.1.0.7 Place of Performance: Can the Government provide an estimated percentage split of the level of effort anticipated in each of the geographies mentioned in section C.1.0.7?

A) This is a customer driven contract with Tasks Orders awarded on request from various offices. Therefore working locations are unknown at time of award. For the first Task Order, work can be performed at the contractor’s facility.

13. C.1.0.7 Place of Performance: Can the Government provide an estimate of the level of effort required at Government site versus Contractor site?

B) Refer answer #12 for further details and clarification.