Q A_10-18-2016.pdf

*See attached for changes within the solicitation.*

Q1. Does the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation under solicitation number W911NF16R0020 contain requirements similar to a current contract? If possible, please provide the current contract number.

Or, is this a new requirement for the government?

A1. Please refer to Section L.1, Article 5 on page 64 of the Solicitation.

Q2. 2.2.3 SBIR/STTR HELPDESK

The Army SBIR/STTR PMO has a requirement for helpdesk support to provide assistance to small businesses, involved organizations, and interested individuals. Can this be set‐aside at this time?

A2. No, portions of this contract will not be set aside separately.

Q3. No DD‐254 was included in the solicitation – will the Government please provide a copy of the DD‐

254?

A3. An unsigned DD 254 has been added to the FedBizOpps posting.

Q4. Section B, CLIN 0402 Is the NTE ODC value correct at $20,559? This is much lower than the NTE costs on the other ODC CLINs.

A.4 The correct amount for value of CLIN0402 should be $320,559.00.

Q5. Section B, Item No 0501, 0502, 0503 – Please confirm offerors are to leave these sections blank and they will be completed by the Government if FAR 52.217‐8 if exercised.

A5. Yes, these sections are to be completed. The NTE amount for the ODC CLIN 0502 should be $220,559.00.

Q6. Section B, Item B.3 Can the Government please clarify the statement concerning the option periods will be negotiated and the ceiling amounts will be the subject of those negotiated amounts?

A6. The contractor shall include the option periods as part of their master budget and total cost. This includes the NTE amounts for each ODC CLIN and the Offeror’s proposed ceiling for each performance CLIN (including the final 6 month option period).

Q7. Section B, Page 9 item B.7 – Is the Government’s definition of an FTE 1920 hours per year? If not, please provide the definition of an FTE.

A7. An FTE is expected to be 2080 hours per year (40 hours per work week at 52 weeks per year). Only those hours actually worked may be billed under the performance of any contract awarded as a result of this solicitation.

Q8. Office Space Requirements – Is it the intent of the Government to allow the awardee to bill/invoice the Government the required office space cost as an ODC? If not, are offerors to assume the required office space cost is to be included in their indirect rate structure/cost?

A8. Yes, it is anticipated that the office space cost will be proposed and billed as an ODC, although this may depend on the offeror’s accounting system. The ODC NTE amounts have been updated to account for this at an estimated additional $120,000.00 per year.

*Proposed leasing costs shall be submitted with justification as part of the proposal and will be reimbursed at the actual cost of leasing the facility.*

Below are the updated NTE amounts (assuming the proposal includes rent/lease as a direct cost):

0002 NTE should be $305,000.00.

0102 NTE should be $314,250.00.

0202 NTE should be $323,963.00.

0302 NTE should be $334,161.00.

0402 NTE should be $320,559.00.

0502 NTE should be $220,559.00.

Q9. Section C, 14.2 Office Furniture and Equipment Requirements – Is it the intent of the Government to allow the awardee to bill/invoice the Government the required office furniture and equipment as an ODC? If not, are offerors to assume the required cost should be included in their indirect cost?

A9. It is anticipated that these costs will be billed as Other Direct Costs under the ODC CLINs; and will be billed in accordance with actual expenditures.

Q10. Section L, II The Government references a transition plan but does not ask offerors to separately price a transition/phase in period. Will the Government please clarify if offerors should price a separate transition/phase in?

A10. There will not be a separate transition plan budget. This will be a part of the contractor’s proposed budget and will be billed the same as the rest of the period of performance under any resultant contract.

Q11. Section C, 3.1.2 The Government has stated personnel replacing departing individuals must have qualifications equal to or greater than the replaced personnel. The Government has provided key personnel credentials/qualifications and offerors are required to provide non key personnel labor category descriptions/qualifications. Will the Government please change the language for replacement personnel to “equal or greater than the key personnel credentials/qualifications listed in the solicitation and non key personnel labor descriptions/qualifications proposed in the offerors response”?

A11. No, this language will remain as written in the solicitation and any resultant contract will contain the same language.

Q12. Section L, item b Business (Volume 2) Section I The Government is requesting a projection, with clear descriptions, of other direct cost (ODCs) but has also provide NTE amounts for the ODC CLINs/ITEMs. Will the Government please clarify or remove the requirement providing projections?

A12. Proposals shall include justification for any known ODC’s at the time of the proposal (including rent/lease, equipment, known travel, etc.) for purposes of cost evaluations. Items under $1,000.00 need not be justified at the time of proposal.

Q13. Section L Will the Government allow a PDF file format to ensure attachment files sizes can be received via email?

A13. Files shall be submitted in MS Word format in accordance with the requirements in Section L.

Q14. Section L Will the Government allow offeror’s cost builds to be submitted in Microsoft Excel format with formulas?

A14. Yes, this is allowable.

Q15. Section L, item 5 Material Items The Government is requesting offerors to submit a listing of each major material proposed with an extended value exceeding $1,000.00. Will the Government provide the other direct cost (ODC) historical data from the current contract?

A15. Historical data will not be provided. Please reference the answer to question 12 above for ODC requirements.

Q16. Section L, item 5 Material Items The Government is requesting offerors to submit a listing of each major material proposed with an extended value exceeding $1,000.00. Given the Government has provided NTE plugs, and ODCs will be billed at cost during execution, will the Government please remove this requirement.

A16. See question 12 and 15 above.

Q17. Section M, item 5 Cost Will the Government please clarify how the offerors total evaluated price (TEP) will be calculated/determined?

A17. Selection will be made per the evaluation criteria in Section M, including realism and reasonableness in terms of cost. There is no method for TEP listed in the solicitation; cost elements will be evaluated as described in the solicitation.

Q18. Section M, item 5 Cost (c) Has an independent Government cost estimate been established? If so, will the Government please provide?

A18. The Government will not be providing the IGCE, however proposals should follow the NTE limits placed on the ODC CLIN’s in the solicitation. The Performance CLIN’s shall be proposed by the contractor.

Q19. Section M Factor 5 Cost The Government references a probable cost analysis but it does not clearly state if the offerors cost will be adjusted in regards to the total evaluated price (TEP). Will the Government please clarify if the most probable cost (MPC) total will be used as the basis of determining offerors evaluated price?

A19. Most probable cost will be determined based on the Government’s evaluation of the proposals received for realism and reasonableness. The evaluation criteria listed in the solicitation will be followed with regards to factors and order of importance.

Q20. Section M Factor 5 Cost (e) The Government references wage determination rates and utilizing a three (3) percent escalation factor.

Will the Government please identify any key labor categories it considers being covered under the service contract act? In addition, escalation for wage determination labor categories are traditionally not proposed but adjusted when the Department of Labor issues a revision at which time the rates are adjusted. Will the Government please remove the statement with regards to the three percent or clarify if three percent is a method of evaluation or a requirement for offerors?

A20. The Government does not currently foresee labor positions being covered under the service contract act. However, if the contractor proposes positions falling under the services contract act, those wages will be adhered to.

Based on the preceding statement with regards to the service contract act, the Government is instructing offerors to account for an estimated 3% escalation in labor rates per year within the proposal for consistency across proposals.

Q21. Section M.3 Are Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs) required? Per Section M, "Documented results from Past Performance Questionnaires ... will form the support and basis for this assessment." However, Section L does not list the submission of PPQs as a requirement.

A21. The Government evaluation team will obtain feedback as a result of the contract information submitted by the contractor. Offerors shall not obtain and submit these themselves.

Q22. Section L In what volume should the Proposal Adequacy Checklist be submitted?

A22. The Adequacy checklist may be submitted as a separate attachment or as an Exhibit/Attachment as referenced in the Table of Contents of the proposal, as long as it is submitted in some fashion along with the proposal.

Q23. Section C, 3.1.2 Please clarify that the contractor shall replace no more than 2 contractor personnel at the convenience of the contractor in any revolving 12 month period. Personnel who remove him/herself from contractor employment are exempt from this calculation.

A23. The contractor shall aim to replace no more than 2 contractor personnel for any reason, including personnel who remove him/herself from contractor employment, to the maximum extent practicable.

Q24. The PWS requirements are defined with enough specificity to allow for accurate cost estimates to be developed. As such, will the government consider a firm fixed price proposal?

A24. No, any contract awarded as a result of this solicitation will be awarded as a cost‐type contract.

Q25. PROPOSAL ADEQUACY CHECKLIST

Given the fact that this is a small business set aside for services which should result in adequate competition and that certified cost and pricing data are not required, will the Government please remove the requirement for a Proposal Adequacy Checklist?

A25. The requirement for certified cost and pricing data shall remain in place. Per the FAR, certified cost and pricing data shall not be required when cost/price is a substantial factor in source selection.

Per the solicitation, cost is noted as the least important factor. Additionally, the Proposal Adequacy Checklist shall remain in place.

Q26. In accordance to the RFP instruction under Section L, the Offeror shall provide evidence that its accounting system is adequate.

If a company had not been audit by DCAA, what can the Offeror show to prove that they have an adequate accounting system?

A26. Reference DFAR clause 252.215‐7002 (incorporated by reference on page 43 of the solicitation).

Q27. I am trying to find out if this is an 8a set‐aside?

A27. No, this is NOT an 8a set‐aside.

Q28. Section I ‐ Identify the specific labor categories being offered. Insert name and individual qualifications for each person proposed in Key Personnel labor categories identified in Section Hof this solicitation. Names for non‐key staff are not required. Indicate where any subcontractors are proposed.

For subcontractors, indicate business type/size of each entity proposed. Indicate allocation by percentage of total dollars for the Offeror and each subcontractor.

Section V ‐ Include a staffing plan that includes a matrix listing of all personnel (both key personnel and non‐key personnel) of the contractor and, where appropriate, the contractor's subcontractors; their government‐related experience, and the commitment of these personnel to the contract.

It appears that the Government is asking for very similar information on staff, labor categories and subcontractor participation in both Section I and Section V of the RFP. Given that there is a rather lengthy set of PWS tasks to be responded to in Section I, will the Government please consider shifting the request for all Personnel and Subcontractor related information to Section V so there can be a little more room in Section I to provide an appropriately detailed response to how the tasks will be performed?

A28. The requirements in the solicitation will stand as is. There is one mistake in Section L.3, Article 3

(a) of the solicitation. Under this Article, “Section I Technical Approach and Project Team”, the third sentence should read “Insert name and individual qualifications for each person proposed in Key Personnel labor categories identified in Section C of this solicitation”. Please keep in mind that the description in Section V “Key Personnel” requires actual resumes and matrix, whereas Section I Technical Approach and Project Team” speaks to actual performance.

Q29. The evaluation of the proposed staff’s education and experience is part of the criteria for Section I of the proposal. But Section V of the proposal contains the staff resumes. Does the Government want the personnel education and experience information from the resumes repeated in Section I of the proposal? Section I has to also address all of the PWS tasks, which makes the page count for this section quite limiting.

A29. No, the intent of Section I of the proposal is to describe the technical/performance plan. As noted in the solicitation, this includes discussing Key Personnel categories, names and qualifications to perform tasks in the PWS.

Q30. Page 68 Proposal Content says to refer to Section H of the RFP for the designated Key Personnel labor categories. However, Section H simply says that Key Personnel are those identified in the proposal and have resumes submitted. Does this mean that we can decide on who we want to propose as Key?

These instructions appear to differ from Section 3.3 Key Personnel in the PWS. Would the Government please clarify?

A30. The Government has listed the expected key personnel in section C. See Question 28 above and attachment for correction to the solicitation language.

Q31. Given the instructions that we are to submit the names and qualifications in Section I and resumes in Section V for all Key Personnel, does this mean that the Government expects us to name and submit resumes as part of the proposal for all 10 TAA's?

A31. Yes, resumes and qualifications shall be submitted for all 10 TAA’s.

Q32. This notation indicates that Section V is to include Letters of Intent, but they are not asked for on Page 68/ 3. Proposal Content Section V. Does the Government expect Letters of Intent for all Key Personnel resumes submitted?

A32. Yes, letters of intent/commitment are expected for all proposed key personnel.

Q33. We have two questions regarding Past Performance:

1. Instructions on Page 68 say "up to four' contracts. Does this mean that less than four is acceptable?

And is there a minimum number required?

2. As long as at least one of the Past Performance is from the Prime contractor, can the other Past

Performance be from subcontractors?

A33. Up to four will be evaluated. If the offeror does not have 4 related contracts, they should submit as many as they can which they feel are relevant.

Past performance records may be submitted for both the prime and sub, although the prime offeror should attempt to submit as many relevant records as possible. Per FAR stipulations, if substantial subcontracting is expected, the Government should evaluate subcontractor performance as well.

Q34. A matrix shows a relationship between two sets of items. You are asking for a lot of personnel, their related experience (which was asked for in Section I of the proposal) and their commitment. Two questions:

1. What are we relating this personnel information to, or was the matrix simply a list of people and their experience/commitment?

2. How do you want commitment to the contract to be defined? Are you referring to the % of their time that will be spent on this contract?

3. Since the experience and commitment information was asked for in both Section I and V of the proposal, would you please consider dropping the requirement from Section I since that section is also asking for the entire approach to the PWS?

A34. The matrix is intended to be a reference point in one spot to include the facets requested in the matrix in the solicitation.

Commitment refers to the commitment letter or letter of intent to work under the contract if awarded.

Per previous question, Section I and V shall be addressed as explained in the solicitation.

Q35. It is difficult in advance of award to estimate ODCs (including travel) and it is understood that all

ODCs will be approved by the Government before invoicing the Government. Since the Government provided Not‐to‐Exceed (NTE) amounts for all ODC CLINs, may offerors use the NTE amount as a plug figure in their price quotes? If yes, can the Government please exclude ODC amounts from price evaluation?

A35. Reference answers to questions 12, 15 and 16 above.