Questions and Answers 2 May 22 update.docx

Questions:

What are the number of students?

How many learning hours will be assigned to each student?

Are there any specific requirements needed to be compliant with DLPT standards?

Answers:

On average, we are planning on authorizing 10 hours per student for 50 Soldiers (500 hours). This may vary depending on each Soldier’s need, but 10 hours should be the most common. The goal is to help prepare each Soldier just prior to them talking their Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT).

As far as the specifics for the DLPT, it is the ability to understand the Interagency Language Roundtable (https://www.govtilr.org) and how those scores affect a Soldier’s standing in the organization (qualified vs unqualified).

Questions:

The PWS requires that the offeror provide “additional resources for the Linguist to conduct self-study.” Can the Government give a description of the types of resources that are anticipated for self-study?

Is there a minimum amount of lead-time between when a student schedules tutoring hours and when the tutoring takes place?

What is the maximum amount of hours that a student might schedule tutoring hours for within a day?

Are students scheduling tutoring for a number of structured sessions or is it on an informal drop-in basis? If the tutoring is structured, does it follow a formalized program of instruction? If yes, does the government supply that program of instruction? Or does the government anticipate that tutoring sessions are customized solely to the individual student’s needs?

Is there an anticipated start date for this contract?

Answers:

Resources that support listening and reading in the target language (news articles, translation sites, short clips, etc.)

We would like it as flexible as possible but also understand that finding instructors can be difficult. One to two weeks would be optimal.

It is expected that a student would not be scheduling more than 4 hours in a day.

The tutoring will be on an informal drop in basis. Ex. Student is preparing for a RU DLPT within 45 days, student is provided 10 hours of tutoring to prepare, student will schedule with provider to meet the specific needs of the student (listening/reading). Student schedules five two hour sessions in the evening and splits the time equally between reading and listening practice. Tutor supports the students progress by assigning additional reading assignments between sessions.

Would like to begin scheduling students by 15 June. However, the period of performance start may vary but will cover the 500 hours within a 12-month period following the date of contract whenever that may be.

Questions:

Technical Response. Should offerors provide a technical response specific to the PWS section of the Solicitation Notice?

Technical Response: Are there any page restrictions, specific font size, or other proposal layout guidance for the technical response? We assume the Government requires a MS Word version for submission format. Can the Government confirm?

Pricing: How would you like the pricing? Should it be a single, fully hourly loaded Firm Fixed Price rate or should offerors submit individual hourly rates for each of the languages listed i.e. Chinese Mandarin, Russian, French, Spanish, Korean, Modern Standard Arabic, German, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Portuguese, Tagalog, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Indonesian? If not hourly, would you prefer a FFP for each 10 hour course? Can offerors submit a different FFP cost for each language noted?

Past Performance: To determine qualified offerors, does the Government require any Past Performance citations or narrative to support their technical response? We recommend Past Performance to ensure the Government awards to proven vendors.

Answers:

The proposals will be evaluated on a Lowest Price Technically Acceptability. So, responses must demonstrate capabilities in relation to the Performance Work Statement. A simple affirmation such as, “We will…” or “We can…” is not sufficient. Please give detail how you plan to meet the specification There are no page restrictions, or formatting requirements. And, Word documents or PDF are both acceptable. This is a procurement under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold so it isn’t assumed that proposals will be lengthy in general.

Please provide Firm Fixed Pricing for this requirement. Hourly rates and a total contract cost is appropriate withing your response We don’t want to place Soldiers in a situation where they are trying to use all 10 hours if 5 hours are sufficient. Trying to keep the scheduling as flexible as possible. The following will approximate the number of hours per student per language:

Each at an average of 10 hours each Chinese Mandarin: 8-10 students Russian: 5-8 students French: 5-8 students Arabic: 5-8 students Spanish: 8-10 students Korean: 5 students Low Density Other: 5-10

Please include one to five recent past performances in demonstrating your capabilities to meet the specifications. Past performance should include the contract number, contracting agency, languages supported by the contract and dollar value. No past performance survey is required.