Q&A_04May2018.pdf

W81K04-18-R-0004 Questions and Answers

04 May 2018 Document Pg # Para # Question Government Response

Solicitation 143/183 B.1.c

Question 1:

Referencing Para. B.1.c of solicitation, page 143 of 183), please confirm that electronic Proposals (on CD-ROMs) should be delivered to the address in Block 15 of the SF-1449 and not Block 9 as directed in the solicitation. Also, please confirm that hand delivery to the address in Block 15 is acceptable.

a. Page 143 of 183, FAR 52.212-1 Addendum, B.

Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, Paragraph 1.c., "The proposal shall be submitted to the address identified in block 9 of the SF 1449, Solicitation/Contract Order for Commercial Items. "

b. Hand delivery of proposal to the address in Block 9 is acceptable.

Solicitation 144/183 B.1.j

Question 2:

Referencing Para. B.1.j of solicitation, page 144 of 183, please confirm Government's acceptance of multiple electronic files on the CD-R for Voume V - Factor 4 - Price, wherein the CD would contain a .PDF file of the full Price volume in .PDF format and a completed Attachment 3 (Price Spreadsheet) in its native Microsoft Excel (.xlxs) format.

Yes, multiple electronic files on the CD-R for Volume V - Factor 4, Price is acceptable.

Solicitation 145/183 B.1.k, Table 1.k

Question 3:

Referencing Para. B.1.k, Tabl 1.k of solicitation, page 145 of 183), please explain discrepancy between Volume II page limit of 85 pages, while breakout of page limitations for Sec. A, Sec. B, Sec. C, and Supplement C-1 total only 76 pages. Please advise how offerors should adhere to these disparate instructions.

Page limit discrepancy is corrected on Amendment 0001.

Solicitation 146/183 B.2.b.(1)

Question 4:

Referencing Para. B.2.b.(1) of solicitation, page 146 of 183, regarding Sanitized Volume II, can Government please confirm their acceptance of a redacted version of this document (PDF format) wherein all company-identifying information (sans CAGE code in upper-right corner of each page) is blacked-out?

Example: XXXXXXXXX will perform at its XXXXXXXXX, XX location."

Yes, a redacted version is acceptable for the sanitized Volume II.

04 May 2018

Solicitation 40/183 PWS Para

1. General

Question 5:

Referencing Para. 1. GENERAL of Performance Work Statement of solicitation, page 40 of 183, can Government please advise if you plan to issue a separate contract to cover the costs of developing and executing a Transition Plan for transitioning from contractor-provided testing to government-provided testing should the decision to transition these services be made?

In the event of a transition from contractor-provided testing to government-provided testing (in-house), the government will request a proposal from the contractor for the transition costs related to the transition requirements. A bilateral modification to the contract for de-scoping of Government requirements will also occur.

Solicitation 43/183 PWS Para.

1.5.5.3.1

Referencing PWS Para.

1.5.5.3.1, page 43 of 183 of solicitation, It is our understanding that anyone that has contact with any of the Army Specimens or information will need to have a backround check run by the government. Are we understanding this requirement correctly?

Yes.

Referencing PWS Para.

1.5.5.3.1, page 43 of 183 of solicitation, How long will it take to receive notification of "the Office of Personnel Management has scheduled the employee's investigation"?

The Contracting Agency is unable to provide a timeline for OPM to schedule an employee's security screening investigation.

Referencing PWS Para.

1.5.5.3.1, page 43 of 183 of solicitation, Employees shall (must) have at a minimum an ADP Sensitivity Designation of Level II to access the DOD Network. How long will it take to find out if an employee meets this requirement?

The Contracting Agency is unable to provide a timeline for OPM to provide a status of an employee's security screening investigation.

Solicitation 142/183 PWS Para.

1.5.5.1.2

Referencing PWS Para.

1.5.5.1.2, page 142 of 183 of the solicitation, Is there a specific paragraph in the Army Regulation that must be followed? Will this supercede any RMF criteria or will the RMF be the gold standard?

The referenced Army Regulations define the overarching policies, procedures, and requirements for information technology and information assurance requirements. This process is currently implemented via the RMF, however changes in Army Regulations could result in changes to the approved C&A process. In this sense the Army Regulations are the "gold standard".

04 May 2018

Solicitation Exhibit F B.5.b

Referencing Para. B.5.b of Exhibit F (EXHIBIT F -

SPECIMEN HANDLING AND

TESTING REQUIREMENTS) to Attachment 1 to the PWS, QASP, page 116 of 183, The Requirement states no more than 20% of rejected specimens that meet PWS requirements for forwarding to HDRL should be reportable using Government's current in-house testing methods…Will the government's in house testing methods and criterea for rejection be shared with the company awarded the contract?

Following contract award information on the Government's in-house testing method and criteria for rejection can be shared with the Contractor upon request.

Solicitation 55/183 PWS Para.

4.2.10

Referencing PWS Para. 4.2.10, regarding the the QASP, What if the government in-house testing method mentioned in Exhibit F para B.5.b and the company awarded the contracts testing method are different and the assay or testing method of the contractor does not allow for the specimen to be tested per FDA guidelines? If there is a difference in the criterea for testing between the government's and contractors methodology that does not allow the contractor to test the specimens because they will be out of compliance will this still be held against the contractor?

Testing will be performed in accordance with the manufacturer's package insert for theFDA approved 4th Generation HIV test method in use by the Contractor. Any conflicts between the Government's requirements indentified within the PWS and the manufacturer's package insert (e.g., specimen collection, preparation, and storage requirements) should be identified at time of contract award. In the event of differences in sample acceptability requirements between the manfacturer's methods in use by the Contractor and the Government's methods the Contractor shall minimally comply with the manufacturer's requirements.

04 May 2018

Solicitation 40 PWS Para.

The governmment's intent is to bring testing in house after one year. Should one year be the time frame used to recoup all investments?

Page 40 of 143, PWS Paragraph 1. General, second paragraph states, "IT IS THE

GOVERNMENT’S INTENT TO

TRANSITION TO

GOVERNMENT PERFORMED

TESTING OVER THE COURSE

OF THIS CONTRACT.

TESTING WILL TRANSITION

FROM CONTRACTOR

PERFORMED TO

GOVERNMENT PERFORMED

TESTING IN A PHASED

MANNER FOLLOWING THE

FIRST YEAR OF

PERFORMANCE.

ANTICIPATED COMPLETION

MAY BE AS EARLY AS THE

THIRD YEAR OF

PERFORMANCE."

The above statement does not state an intent "to bring testing in house after one year;" the transition will be over the course of the five-year ordering period, in a phased manner following the first year of performance and "anticipated completion may be as early as the third year of performance." An offeror's decision on how to price the tests to "recoup all investments" is an internal, business decision. See Government Response to Question 5.

Solicitation 51 3.2.1

This paragraph only mentions providing CHCS labels to the sites. Will the contractor be expected to provide Genesis labels when the sites convert?

Contractor will only be required to provide barcode labels to sites that do not have barcode generating capability (i.e., non- CHCS and non-MHS Genesis sites). References within 3.2.1.

and 4.3.3.4 have been revised accordingly.

04 May 2018

Solicitation 42 1.5.5.1.1

What agencies need to be contacted to follow and implement the process needed to interconnect through the established Military Health System (MHS)Virtual Private Network (VPN) Business to Business (B2B) gateway? Is it the same agency or group needed to establish connection to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)-established Web Demiliterize Zone?

Requests for new B2B connections are processed through the DHA B2B Program Office. Specific contact and coordinating information will be provided upon contract award.

Solicitation 42 1.5.5.1.1

Once the appropriate group has been contacted to start the process of implementing the connection through MHS VPN B2B how long does the process of getting the connection take?

Once the Government has received a B2B questionnaire (Exhibit S incorporated in Amendment 0001), it takes an average of 2-3 months for the vendor to purchase and send the router, MEDCOM COI to configure the router and return, and have the Cisco device installed and connected, dependent on if the vendor already has security approval from Cyber.

Solicitation 145/183 Para.

B.2.a.(1)

Referencing Para. B.2.a.(1) of solicitation, page 145 of 183, can the government please confirm that submission of a scanned signed SF-1449 (blue ink) is acceptable as the "original signature" stated in this requirement. If not, please advise how Offerors are to meet this requirement using electronic only submission.

Yes, a scanned signed SF-1449 (blue ink) is acceptable as the "original signature."

Solicitation 144/183 B.1.j

Referencing the Electronic Offers instructions in Para. B.1.j of solicitation, Page 144/183, can the government please confirm that offerors should also submit Volume V in electronic format on read-only CD-R CDs clearly labeled with the offeror’s name, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, volume number and volume title. ITO only references Volumes I through IV.

Amendment 0001 correctly cites "Volumes I through V" for first sentence, Paragraph B.1.j.