QUESTIONS_AND_ANSWERS_-_9_AUGUST_2016.pdf

1. 39. Reference “(b) Three (3) sample course packages (f) Page Limit does not include training materials list, instructor resumes, instructor‐training materials, or required syllabi and lesson plans.” Sample course packages including syllabus, schedules, and hourly lesson plans can be quite extensive. Does the Government intent for these packages in their entirety to be excluded from the page count? May we create the entire basic course packages as separate appendices and make a references in the proposal to the corresponding appendix for each?

ANSWER: Packages are excluded. No separate appendices – the packages are part of the core submission.

2. Does this mean that the Government would like all items not included in the page limit of the

Technical Volume to go into the body of the document? If so, should page numbering continue throughout all packages, or can the offeror put separate page numbers on packages to ensure that everything included in the page count is numbered 1‐60? (Additional numbering difficulties arise with numbering PowerPoint presentations to be inserted into the document.)

ANSWER: Do not number the packages, just add a tab or marking stating these are the packages

3. Also, for course materials that have audio and video, how should offerors submit these in one file? Instead of using PDF for the entire technical, can offerors reference "Attachment X" for items such as PowerPoint presentations?

ANSWER: That is OK. Audio and video not required but vendor may submit is they want

4. Does the Government want to see all resumes submitted into the body of the Technical Volume, or referenced and explained in the Volume and included as the last pages of that volume, so as not in interrupt the technical document with pages of resumes?

ANSWER: Referenced and then added at the end of the Volume.

5. 62. C‐9.2 Key Personnel: Does the government intend to require the Academic Advisor to have five years teaching experience and an additional five years of advising/teaching experience?

ANSWER: Yes.

6. C‐9.2.2. Among the language training supervisors, a language Academic Advisor (specialist) must be identified and designated. In addition to meeting language training supervisor’s qualifications, the language Academic Advisor must have at least a Master’s degree in foreign language education or related field and 5 years of relevant experience. The Language Academic advisor will provide academic support to the other language training supervisors and will work closely with DLI‐W Academic Advisors.

If the Academic Advisor has 5 years of experience in the field of foreign language teaching, is that sufficient? Or does the Government mean that the Academic Advisor must have 10 years of experience in the field of foreign language teaching?

ANSWER: Academic Advisor must have a minimum of 5 years of relevant experienced as defined in C‐9.2.2.

7. 57. It is our intent to issue each of our subcontractor teammates either a Firm Fixed Price/Level of Effort (FFP/LOE) or Time & Materials (T&M) subcontract. As such, our presumption is that as an FFP/LOE or T&M subcontractor executing no cost reimbursable efforts it will not be necessary for these teammate companies to submit an unsanitized cost proposal for their non‐ cost reimbursable efforts in the same detail as required of the prime contractor..... We further presume that these subcontractors would not be required to submit any basis for their direct and indirect rates. Instead, each of these subcontractors would submit a sanitized cost proposal that would include their fully burdened rates in attachment 5. Is this acceptable?

ANSWER: The Government has no involvement on any agreements between primes and subcontractors. The Government should not receive any cost information from a subcontractor– this contract will only work directly with prime vendors.

8. FOLLOW‐UP QUESTION: In reviewing the conformed solicitation, Amendment 0002 and Q&A

#57, the requirements for subcontractor cost & pricing data submission directly to the government in the conformed solicitation Section L.C.3(e)(3)(b) and L.C.3(e)(3)(d) on page 119 of 132 (page 37 of 39 of the Amendment 0002) was not removed. Was it the Government's intent to remove this requirement?

ANSWER: As stated in Volume V: Cost/Price, (d), “The prime contractor is responsible to enter its subcontractor pricing.” The following bullet states that “If a subcontractor does not want to reveal proprietary information to the prime offeror, the Government will accept a direct submission of the pricing spreadsheets from the subcontractor in order to protect its proprietary information. Such direct submission must include the same information as specified in (b) above, in the same format and media, and must exactly mesh with the prime contractor’s proposal.”

9. Amendment 1, Question 4 asked how to handle the uncounted material. The Government’s response was, “Please add “non‐page counted material” as separate Appendixes at the end of each appropriate Tab (must be clearly identified).” Amendment 2 Question 39 asked, “May we create the entire basic course packages as separate appendices and make a references in the proposal to the corresponding appendix for each?” to which the Government responded by saying, “No separate appendices”. These two answers seem contradictory. Will the Government please clarify how/where offerors should include the non‐counted pages?

We recommend including them as attachments to the volume so they can be placed in separate binders for clarity and ease of access of the printed proposal. In the electronic document, they will follow at the end of the volume, in a same file as the rest of the volume, to ease counting of pages and proper automated numbering of attachments.

ANSWER: Agree.

10. In the answer to Question 57, the Government stated, “The Government should not receive any cost information from a subcontractor– this contract will only work directly with prime vendors.” This seems to contradict the requirement in Section L‐C.3 (e) (3) (b) on page 119 of the conformed solicitation which states, “If the offeror is in a teaming arrangement, then the calculation details and assumptions leading to all subcontractor’s rates shall be identified, except as limited in (d) below.” In light of the answer to Question 57, will the Government remove the requirement to provide detailed subcontractor cost data from Section L‐C.3 (e) (3)

(b)?

reveal proprietary information to the prime offeror, the Government will accept a direct submission of the pricing spreadsheets from the subcontractor in order to protect its proprietary information. Such direct submission must include the same information as specified in (b) above, in the same format and media, and must exactly mesh with the prime contractor’s proposal.”

11. C.12.2.1 states that no indirect costs are to be applied to Travel costs. In Amendment #2, in the answer to Question #27 the Government reiterates that G&A is not to be applied to Travel costs, and travel costs are directly reimbursable only, with the 200/100 stipend.

However, In Attachment 5, the Government has included an automatic calculation of G&A on

Travel costs at cell I34 for Year 1, and cell I35 for Years 2‐5. However, given the answer to

Question 27, this amount is not allowed and therefore should not be included in the total evaluated price because it will eventually be the same for all offerors. May we change the rates in the referenced cells to 0.00% in place of the current formula?

ANSWER: ODC for travel arrangements ‐ $200.00 per instructor per MTT can be charged and

$100.00 per change per instructor per MTT. This is not G&A. This is a flat ODC charge per instructor, per MTT.

12. Reference L.c.3.e.3.a.i, page 115. This section requires a cost/price proposal corresponding to CLINS 0001‐ 4005 as well as filling out the Pricing Worksheet (Attachment 5). How does the

Pricing Worksheet (Attachment 5) correlate to the CLINs to be priced? There is no breakout of

CLINS or SUBCLINS in the Pricing Workbook.

ANSWER: Offerors pricing on Attachment 5 is a complete breakdown of your proposal. The CLIN Structure is the overall pricing.

13. Should the Total Estimated Price and Ceiling Price amounts be the same for the CLINs and

SUBCLINs?

ANSWER: Only enter in amounts for the “Total Estimated Price” for CLINs and SubCLINs.

14. Reference L.c.3.e.3.c & d, page 116. If the subcontractor rates are being proposed to fit within the Prime Contractor’s developed rates, do the subcontractors need to submit their pricing information to the Government?

reveal proprietary information to the prime offeror, the Government will accept a direct submission of the pricing spreadsheets from the subcontractor in order to protect its proprietary information. Such direct submission must include the same information as specified in (b) above, in the same format and media, and must exactly mesh with the prime contractor’s proposal.”

15. Reference L.c.3.e.3.c & d, page 116. Is the pricing for all subcontractor’s required even if no workshare has been determined?

ANSWER: Pricing for all subcontractors will be needed if a teaming arrangement will be utilized.

16. Reference L.c.3.e.3.g, page 117. Materials/Supplies/Other Direct Costs (ODCs)‐solicitation states that these shall be listed on a separate spreadsheet to include the types of items, quantity, and unit price proposed. Are we to provide this or use the provided NTE amounts for CLINs x0003

(Instructional Materials) and x0004 (ODCs)?

ANSWER: Offerors can utilized the NTE amounts for CLINs x0003 and x0004.

17. Should the footers on all the tabs be changed to show Attachment 5 rather than Attachment

(7a) and should the solicitation number be changed from W900KK‐15‐R‐0006 to W911S0‐16‐R‐

0001?

ANSWER: Yes, the tabs should say Attachment 5 and the solicitation number should say

W911S0‐16‐R‐0001.

18. Since no class specific details are provided for the CLIN pricing (for example, no number of classes to price based on the Language Difficulty Categories), are we to propose pricing for the

SUBCLINs based on the assumption of the most difficult languages (i.e., Cat IV) with the number of hours specified in Section B (for example, for SUBCLIN 0001AD, Cat IV for 291,000 hours)? If not, please provide the basis for the estimated number of hours/days so all offerors are proposing based on the same information.

ANSWER: It is up the offerors to determine how to price the SubCLINs based on their individual business practice utilizing the hours specified in Section B.

19. Attachment 5 for the Year 1‐5 tabs, column A indicates “Government Provided Labor

Categories”. Since the solicitation did not contain the Government Provided Labor Categories, please provide these labor categories.

ANSWER: The Wage Determination is required to be placed into the Solicitation. It is up to the offeror to determine if the required labor categories are exempt or not.

20. Instructions tab indicates for “Travel/ODC Do enter proposed amounts for ODCs (Other Direct

Costs)”, are we to use the provide NTE amounts for ODCs or are additional ODCs to be provided in addition to the NTE amounts for CLINs x003 and x004?

ANSWER: Offerors can propose any amount for ODC just as long as they do not exceed the NTE amounts for CLINs x0003 and x0004.

21. For SUBCLIN x001AE, Remote Training, please provide an estimated breakdown of where the remote training may occur – at least for evaluation purposes. Pricing is dependent on what location training is provided – CONUS and OCONUS would require different pricing rates.

ANSWER: Historically less than 10% of Remote Training have been OCONUS. It is up the offerors to determine how to price based on their individual business practice.

22. What is to be included in the pricing for CLIN 0001? Should this be the total of all of the

SUBCLINs?

ANSWER: No, CLIN 0001, CLIN 1001, CLIN 2001, CLIN 3001, and CLIN 4001 are Informational

CLINS only.