| Will the Government please clarify what UNCOSTED information is required for submission? | | | Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.34 has been removed. Please refer to paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.33 "Sanitized Excel Cost Proposal". | | | | | |
| 16 | Solicitation | 65 | L.3.1.1.7.5.35 | Instructions | Will the Government please clarify if there are any notices that were supposed to be included in this paragraph? | | Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.36 and paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.37 have been re-numbered under paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.35 as subparagraphs L.3.1.1.7.5.35.1 and L.3.1.1.7.5.35.2, to provide general notices to offerors. No notices are to be included in paragraph L.3.2.2.7.5.36. |
| 17 | Attachment 9 | | | Instructions | Will the Government please confirm that this attachment is informational only to demonstrate the overall labor categories and hours to be proposed for evaluation purposes and that there is no completion requirements for this attachment? Further, please confirm this attachment does not need to be returned with the Offeror's proposal? | | Attachment 9 has been removed from the solicitation under Section J |
| 18 | Solicitation | 61 | L.3.1.1.7.4.8 | Instructions | States "Blank past performance questionnaires can be found in Section J as Appendix A." Will the Government please confirm that this should state "can be found in Attachment 7" since there is no Section J or Appendix A? | | Please refer to solicitation amendment two, posted 27 July 2021, on beta.sam.gov on as paragraph L.3.1.1.7.4.8 was removed and indicates "reserved" and "Attachment 7" has been removed from Section J of the solicitation. No Past Performance Questionnaires will be utilized for this effort. Paragraph M.3.1.5.2 has been revised to remove the following language: "along with responses received from utilizing the forms and questionnaires set forth in Appendix C provided to Offerors with the RFP". |
| 19 | Solicitation | 57 | L.3.1.1.6.1 | Instructions | States "In accordance with the instructions provided in paragraphs (1) through (4) below…" There are no specific paragraphs identified as (1) through (4) in this section. Please clarify which specific paragraphs the Government is referring to and where they can be found. | | Paragraph L.3.1.1.6.1 has been revised to " In accordance with the instruction provided in paragraphs L.3.1.1.6.2 and L.3.1.1.6.3 below and within the TO, the offeror shall provide a narrative response describing their technical approach, along with supporting documents as described". |
| 20 | Solicitation | 57 | L.3.1.1.6.3 | Instructions | States "Matrice of proposed labor hours showing the number of hours for any proposed labor categories, skill level, and grade, by PWS requirements." Paragraph C.1.2 of the Executable Task states the "objective of the task order is to obtain qualified non-surety technical support, one FTE, for the DEVCOM CBC BSD mission relating to the biomanufacturing effort". Please confirm the Government is requiring offer's to include a labor matrix for the one FTE proposed. | | The first sentence in paragraph L.3.1.1.6.3 has been revised to "The offeror shall indicate the number of hours for the proposed labor category and skill level by PWS requirements. |
| 21 | Executable Task | | C.1.2 | Objective | Paragraph C.1.2 of the Executable Task states the "objective of the task order is to obtain qualified non-surety technical support, one FTE, for the DEVCOM CBC BSD mission relating to the biomanufacturing effort". Since this language states that this is non-surety work please confirm that this person does not need to be in the PRP. | | The Government confirms that The first executable Task order will be performing Non-surety work and PRP is not required. |
| 22 | Solicitation | 13-14 | C.3.4.3 | Non-Surety Chemical and Biological Laboratory Support | States in the first bullet “Real Time PCR instrumentation to include” but a list of PCR instruments/thermocyclers is not provided. Did the government intent to list these instruments? | | The statement "to include" was removed from the first bullet point in Section C.3.4.3 of the PWS. |
| 23 | Solicitation | 17 | [C.] 3.9 | Safety/Hazards Information | States that the contractor will perform surety operations with chemical and biological agent agents as well as stimulants [simulants], nonagent compounds and TICs. How will the government address Hazard Pay when working with chemical and biological agents? How should this be reflected in our pricing of both the Base Contract and the Executable Task? | | The following language was incorporated into parapgraph L.3.1.1.7.5.12.1 to reflect paragraph C.3.9 of the PWS. "Hazard duty Pay" - Will be evaluated at the Task Order level. Offerors may propose an anticipated duty rate only for hazard duty pay, in accordance with standard and approved accounting practices, to reflect only those labor categories/rates for direct labor hours that are performing surety operations in accordance with applicable tasks detailed in the base PWS. Please note that the first executable Task Order will NOT involve surety operations and the hazard duty pay percentage shall not be applied". |
| 24 | Solicitation | 10 | C.3.1 | Key Personnel | States "All proposed substitutions must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer (KO) 30 days or 180 days if security clearance is to be obtained, in advance of the proposed substitutions." Is the government requiring that the offeror submit the replacement candidate's resume 180 days in advance of the departure of the staff member being replaced? If so, this is unrealistic given employees rarely, if ever, provide 180 days notice, let alone 30 days notice. Please clarify. | | The following language was be removed from paragraph C.3.1 of the PWS, “or 180 days if security clearance is to be obtained”. |
| 25 | Attachment 10 | | | Level of Effort Tab | This tab appears to show many of the staff equally splitting their time between an on-site (1040 hours) and off-site (1040 hours) work location. Are these hours a notional placeholder or does the Government truly expect these staff to split their time between onsite and offsite work locations? Please clarify. | | The Government confirms that anticipated hours on Attachment 10 are a notational place holder for evaluation of the level of effort for the base IDIQ contract only. Actual hours for onsite/offsite work locations will be evaluated at the Task Order level upon issuance of future awards. |
| 26 | Solicitation | 1 | Item 14 | Proposal Due Date | Respectfully request that the Government extend the due date for proposal submission to Friday August 27, 2021 at 5:00 p.m EDT. | | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment Three. |
| 27 | Solicitation | 38 | M.3.1.5.2 | Past Performance Evaluation Factors | The evaluation factors still references using "responses received from utilizing the forms and questionnaires set forth in Appendix C provided to Offeror's with the RFP" to assess past performance. Since Amendment 2 removed requirements related to submission of questionnaires, will the Government please remove the language associated with the evaluation of such questionnaires? | | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment Three. |
| 28 | | | | | Additonal Offeror's questions | | Please note that any revisions made as a result of the below responses will be reflected in Purple Text in Soliciation Amendment four. |
| 29 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 6 & 64 | B & L.3.1.1.7.5.19 | Fee on materials, travel, and ODCs | Section L.3.1.1.7.5.19 states “No fee shall be allowed on Material, Travel and Other Direct Costs” but in Section B, CLIN 0006 “Contractor Acquired Property” is depicted as Cost Plus Fixed Fee. Please clarify. | CLIN 0006 has been revised to "COST" only in accordance with paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.19. | CLIN 0006 has been revised to state "COST" in accordance with paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.19. |
| 30 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 10 | C.3.1 | Key personnel | In Section C.3.1 Key Personnel, the requirements for Staff Support Level III and Staff Support Level II in Table 1 are decidedly administrative in scope. Would the Government consider allowing a substitution of specific experience in the areas listed for these two categories for the degree requirements? | | The government will consider a substitution, specific experience is preferred over degrees for Support Staff Level III and Support Staff Level II. |
| 31 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 22 | C.3.17 | C.3.17 is skipped | Section C.3.17 is skipped in the RFP. Should offerors assume this is just an error in the sequencing of subparagraphs or is there information in in C.3.17 that the Government inadvertently omitted and intended to include? | Paragraph C.3.17 has been revised to "RESERVED" | Paragraph C.3.17 has been revised to "reserved". |
| 32 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 32 | I | Small business subcontracting plan | On Page 32, the Government has included the clause 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan, Paragraph (a) of which reads, "This clause does not apply to small business concerns." In that this is an SB set-aside, shouldn't this clause as well as 252.219-7003 be removed from the RFP and any resultant contract? | FAR Clause 52.219-9 and DFARS clause 252.219-7003 has been removed from the RFP | FAR Clause 52.219-9 and DFARS clause 252.219-7003 has been removed from the RFP |
| 33 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 32 | I | Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) | Because this is a small business set-aside and considering that contracts awarded to small businesses are exempt from CAS requirements, can the Government remove 52.230-3 and 52.230-6 from the RFP and any resultant contract? | FAR Clause 52.230-3 and FAR 52.230-6 have been removed from the RFP. | FAR Clause 52.230-3 and FAR 52.230-6 have been removed from the RFP. |
| 34 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 55 | L.2.2 | Line spacing, margins, page numbers, and logos | Section L.2.2 Line Spacing, states that "Page numbers, company logos, and headers and footers may be within the page margins ONLY". Does this mean that the Government wants the margins (i.e. the outer edges of the pages) to be entirely whitespace and or does this mean the Government wants these outer edge margins to contain such things as page numbers, etc.? | Language in paragraph L.2.2 has been revised to "shall be within the page margins only". | Language in paragraph L.2.2 has been revised to "shall" be within the page margins only". |
| 35 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 55 | L.2.4 | Acronyms list | Can the Acronyms list in Volumes I and II be excluded from the page count for those volumes? | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L. | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L. |
| 36 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 55 | L.2.4 | Table of contents | Can the Table of Contains (TOC) in Volumes I and II be excluded from the page count for those volumes? | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L. | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L. |
| 37 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 56 | L.2.5.1 | Volume cover pages | If an offeror includes a cover page on any volume, would that cover page count toward the page count limits on volumes that have page count limits? | Please refer to the Government's specific Content Requirements in paragraph L.2.4 of the RFP. | Please refer to the Government's specific Content Requirements in paragraph L.2.4 of the RFP. |
| 38 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 56 & 62 | L.2.5.1 & L.3.1.1.7.5.5 | Volume IV instructions | Table L-1 Format for Submission on Page 56 of the RFP has the following four items under Volume IV Cost/Price: Base Level of Effort Total Cost Summary, Executable Task breakdown, Executable Task Basis of Estimate, Executable Task Pricing Methodology. The detailed item by item requirements of Volume IV start on Page 62 and do not correspond to the items in Table L-1. Can the Government clarify exactly what it wants in Volume IV and how it wants it laid out? | Table L.2.5.1 has been revised. Please refer to paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5 VOLUME IV - Cost/Price for requirements. | Table L.2.5.1 has been revised. Please refer to paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5 VOLUME IV - Cost/Price for requirements. |
| 39 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 56 & 58 | L.2.8 & L.3.1.1.7.2.4 | Pricing information in Volume II | Section L.2.8 Alternate Proposals, states that, “All price data shall ONLY be contained in the COST.zip file.” However, L.3.1.1.7.2.4, which is part of Volume II Program Management, requires fringe rate data (L.3.1.1.7.2.4(a)) as well as salary data (L.3.1.1.7.2.4(f)). Please reconcile and clarify. | Please refer to Solicitation amendment three as paragraph L.2.8 has been revised. Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.2.4 refers to the requirements the Government is requesting IAW FAR 52.222-46 and will be evaluated IAW paragraph M.3.1.3.3 of the RFP. | Please refer to Solicitation amendment three as paragraph L.2.8 has been revised. Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.2.4 refers to the requirements the Government is requesting IAW FAR 52.222-46 and will be evaluated IAW paragraph M.3.1.3.3 of the RFP. |
| 40 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 56 & 62 | L.2.5.1 & L.3.1.1.7.5.5 | Cost volume table of contents | The table at L.2.5.1 does not have an asterisk (*) next to Volumes IV and V which indicates no Table of Contents is needed for those volumes. But L.3.1.1.7.5.5 on Page 62 references a Table of Contents requirement for the cost volume. Please clarify. | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L that defines ALL the elements required for Volumes with an (*) in table L.2.5.1. | Please refer to paragraph L.2.4 "Content Requirement" in Section L that defines ALL the elements required for Volumes with an (*) in table L.2.5.1. |
| 41 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 58 | L.3.1.1.7.2.4 | Evaluation of Compensation for Professional Employees | Section L.3.1.1.7.2.4. There are subparagraphs for a, b, c, f, and g. With subparagraphs d and e missing, should offerors assume this is just an error in the sequencing of subparagraphs or is there information in subparagraphs d and e that the Government inadvertently omitted and intended to include? | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment three. | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment three. |
| 42 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 59-60 | L.3.1.1.7.2.6.m | | Section L.3.1.1.7.2.6.m. “ . . . the Offeror shall provide, with the proposal, all required solicitation information for all parties including a copy of the teaming/partnering or joint venture agreement . . .”. Since teaming agreements can be very lengthy, can the copy of any teaming agreements be excluded from the page count? | Please refer to Solictation Amendment three. | Please refer to Solictation Amendment three. |
| 43 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 60 | L.3.1.1.7.2.8 | Collaboration Innovation/Technology | Section L.3.1.1.7.2.8. “Collaboration Innovation/Technology. The Offeror shall demonstrate their approach of establishing relationships with universities, corporations, etc. and methods of leveraging support for innovation/technology. The Offeror shall discuss already established relationships with universities and previously used methods of leveraging support for innovation/technology as it specifically relates to the requirements in paragraphs C.3.2.2, C.3.5, C.3.4.8 and C.3.2.4 of the PWS.” The referenced paragraphs include fork lift operations. Are these references correct? | | The reference to paragraph C.3.2.2 has been removed from parapgraph L.3.1.1.7.2.8 in Section L. |
| 44 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 63 | L.3.1.1.7.5.10 | Information supporting labor rates | L.3.1.1.7.5.10 Direct Labor reads in part, “Offerors shall provide the following information and documentations to support the proposed rates. For each labor category provide 1) typical education and years of experience, 2) a brief (one sentence will suffice) description of job duties, and 3) if proposed labor will be composed of mostly current employees or new hires, ...” The example that follows doesn’t address No. 3 above and it then goes on to site things like “Employee Makeup: 5% Current Workforce” and “Basis of Estimate: Payroll Data” neither of which have anything to do with the three things the Govt is requiring offerors to provide. What does “Employee Makeup: 5% Current Workforce” even mean? Would the Government consider re-writing this example or even just deleting it from the RFP? | The language under paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.10 has been revised. Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.10.1 has been added to define "basis of estimate". Pagragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.11 has been revised to "reserved". | The language under paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.10 has been revised. Paragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.10.1 has been added to define "basis of estimate". Pagragraph L.3.1.1.7.5.11 has been revised to "reserved". |
| 45 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 65 | L.3.1.1.7.5.34 | Uncosted information | Section L.3.1.1.7.5.34 is confusing in that it refers to “the following UNCOSTED information” but nothing follows in that section. What uncosted information is the Government referring and to which volume does it belong. | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment three. | Please refer to Solicitation Amendment three. |
| 46 | W911SR-21-R-BMRC Solicitation | 65 | L.3.1.1.7.6.1 | Certifications and Representations | In the RFP’s discussion of Volume 5, specifically at L.3.1.1.7.6.1, should the reference to Section G be deleted since there is nothing in the RFP’s Section G that would require an offeror’s fill in or signature? | Section G has been removed under paragraph L.3.1.1.7.6.1 in Section L. | Section G has been removed under paragraph L.3.1.1.7.6.1 in Section L. |
| 47 | B08 -Attachment 9 Labor Cost Estimate | | | | | | |
