W912BU18R00170001_Q&A_001_to_050.pdf

W912BU-18-R-0017-0001 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Q&A) #001-050

Q001: Page 14, Volume II, Sec 1. A questionnaire is referenced to be sent to previous clients prior to submittal date. Form was not included in attachments. Will this be provided? Also, various categories of government representatives are identified to be listed. We have never had an occasion to interact with a Pre-Award Monitor and not aware of any listed on prior contracts. Is this information required?

A001: A NAVFAC/USACE Past Performance Questionnaire is included as an attachment to this amendment. The bullet referring to “Pre-Award Monitor” has been deleted.

Q002: Page 17, Volume III. Concerning SCA…to properly complete the pricing for the RFP it is necessary to know each of the AFOS area of responsibility by center location to determine the correct labor rate based on wage determination. We are assuming the rate applies to the location of work area and not area of residence which could be different. Can you provide this information?

A002: Prevailing labor rates at AFOS locations were provided, and apply to the work locations.

Q003: Page 59, PWS 1.5 and 1.5.1. In reviewing start, transition dates and periods of performance, it appears the dates are inconsistent with the Phase In/Out and period of performance dates identified in the chart. Will this be updated?

A003: The 30-day phase-in period starts upon contract award. The base period is eleven (11) months plus the phase-in period.

Q004: Page 1. Standard Form 1449, Block 8, “Offer due date”. The due date for offerors’ proposals is Saturday, March 24, 2018. Will there be a government official available on

Saturday to accept the delivery of proposals? Would the government please consider extending the proposal due date to Friday, March 30, 2018?

A004: The due date has been amended to Monday 26 March, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Q005: Page 1, Standard Form 1449, Block 9, “Issued By”. Is this the physical location of where the offeror’s proposal shall be delivered to?

A005: Yes. Mark for delivery to “US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS PHILADELPHIA

DISTRICT, Wanamaker Building 6th Floor, ATTN: David MacIntyre, 100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia PA 19107”

Q006: Page 12, Proposal Submission Requirements. In which proposal volume should the offeror submit the Solicitation, Offer, and Award Documents and

Certification/Representation?

A006: Include the completed SF 1449 in Volume III, “Price”.

Q007: Page 7, “Delivery Information”, CLINs 0001 and 0002. CLIN 0001 (Phase-In Period) is listed with a POP of 4/1/2018 to 4/30/2018. CLIN 0002 (Base Period) is listed with a POP of

4/1/2018 to 3/31/2019. Does the Phase-In Period coincide with the Base Period, making Base

Period only 11 months in duration? Please clarify.

A007: The 30-day phase-in period starts upon contract award. The base period is eleven (11) months plus the phase-in period.

Q008: Page 7, Delivery Information, CLIN 0007. CLIN 0007 (Phase-Out Period) is listed with a

POP of 4/1/2019 to 4/30/2019, appears to contradict with the first month of Option Period 1 (CLIN

0003). Should the dates for CLIN 0007 be corrected?

A008: The phase-out period will be the final thirty days of the period of performance. Do not presume any or all options will be exercised.

Q009: Page 7, Delivery Information, CLIN 0008. CLIN 0008 (Contractor Manpower Reporting

(CMPR) is listed with a POP of 4/1//2018 to 3/31/2019, which appears to be the Base Period date range. Is the CLIN 0008 CMPR only required during the Base Period, 4/1/2018-3/31/2019?

A009: Contractor Manpower Reporting is an annual requirement, so this CLIN is applicable to the base period as well as any option periods which are exercised.

Q010: Page 12, Instructions for Offerors, Proposal Submission Requirements. Volume III, “Price”, is limited to a maximum of 25 pages in the table. The required in this volume listed on pages 16 and 17 (complete breakdown of direct and indirect rates by labor category and rationale thereof;

letters of commitment; labor hours and rates by labor category, by contract year; indirect expense rates by contract year; crosswalk of proposed labor categories against the applicable wage determination) and the size of this effort (multiple locations with multiple personnel in each location) will exceed the limited maximum page count. We may be forced to not comply with the other parameters for the proposal (margins and font sizes) to provide all the data required for evaluation. Would the Government consider removing the page limit on the Price Volume for offerors to comply and provide all the required data for evaluation?

A010: Yes, there is no page limitation on Volume III, “Price”.

Q011: Page 13, Volume 1, “Technical”, Tab 1, First Bullet. How are all competitors supposed to provide the name of the employees to complete the deliverables if they are not the incumbent? Can the name be replaced by a labor category?

A011: Yes, use labor category instead.

Q012: Page 14. Volume 1, “Technical”, Tab 2, First Bullet. Please define deliverables mentioned in Subfactor 2; are these deliverables those listed in Technical Exhibit 2, or are these deliverables areas of scope in the PWS section 1.4.1.1-1.4.1.12?

A012: They are the same.

Q013: Page 14. Volume II, “Past Performance”, Past Performance Questionnaire forms. The Past

Performance Questionnaire form is not included in the RFP package. Please provide the Past

Performance Questionnaire form.

A013: A NAVFAC/USACE Past Performance Questionnaire is included as an attachment to this amendment.

Q014: Page 15. Volume II, “Past Performance”, Section 4. Are the Letters of Commitment required in this volume the same Letters of commitment for key personnel required in

Volume III Price, bullet #4?

A014: The requirement to provide “Letters of Commitment” was removed from Volume II, “Past

Performance”.

Q015: Page 16, Volume III, “Price”, first bullet. DD1449 is not included in the RFP package. Is this form supposed to be Standard Form (SF) 1449? Please clarify

A015: Yes, include a completed DD Form 1449 in Volume III, “Price”.

Q016: Page 17, “Instructions for Offerors”, Proposal Submission Requirements, Volume III

(Price). In the Delivery Information section (page 7), the POP is listed to start on 4/1/2018. On page 17, the RFP states that for proposal preparation purposes, the expected or approximate date for initiation of contract performance is 1 June 2018. Please clarify the contract performance start date, as this will affect the composite rate calculations.

A016: The 12-month base period (which includes the 30-day Phase-In period) begins upon contract award. “Hard” dates have been removed from the RFP.

Q017: Page 40, (r), Compliance with laws unique to Government Contracts. Do all employees need to have up-to-date training to be 100% compliant with EM-385?

A017: Having all employees trained to 100% compliance with EM-385-1-1 is NOT a requirement of this PWS.

Q018: Page 63, Paragraph 1.6.11, “Contractor Travel”. We are advised that travel may be required in the performance of this effort, inclusive of information gathering, meeting attendance, site condition assessment, conference attendance, and off-site training. It is also indicated that travel expenses will be authorized consistent with JTR and limitation of funds specified in this contract, and that all travel requires prior approval/authorization. Is travel to be included as part of the base bid, or is there a separate CLIN breakout that GAT needs to include as part of the proposal package? If this is part of the base bid, do employees need to gain approval from the COR to travel? Is there an expectation that all employees will be gathered for annual/semi-annual/quarterly meetings?

A018: Additional (cost) CLINs for travel have been established in order to facilitate payment for reimbursable travel required for training, conferences, etc. IAW PWS paragraph 1.6.11. These

CLINs for travel are “not separately priced” (NSP); offerors will not provide prices for these

CLINs within Volume III, “Price”. This does NOT include day-to-day travel to and from the various work locations throughout the 99th Division’s Area of Operations. All travel under this

CLIN will be pre-approved by the COR, and in compliance with the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR).

Q019: Page 63, Paragraph 1.6.10., “ID of Contractor Employees”. What is the contractor’s responsibility when they have a delay in an employee receiving a CAC Card, but need the card to access the network to perform data entry? Is the expectation that another employee needs to work OT to complete this reporting as the other member of the team is waiting for approval to receive the CAC Card?

A019: The expectation is that the contractor fulfills all work requirements in accordance with the

PWS.

Q020: Page 12, 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS –COMMERICAL ITEMS (JAN

2017), Proposal Submission Requirements, NOTE. The Solicitation, Offer, and Award Documents and Certification/ Representation will not be included in the proposal submission page counts.

Pages that exceed the required page limitations will not be evaluated. Additional pages over the maximum allowed will be removed or not read and will not be evaluated by the Government.

Question: Are covers, table of contents, cover letters, acronym list, and/or summary section excluded from page count?

A020: No, the only exemptions from the page count are past performance questionnaires.

Q021: Page 13, 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS –COMMERICAL ITEMS (JAN

2017), Proposal Files, File Packaging. All of the proposal files shall be compressed (zipped into one file entitled proposal zip using WinZip version 6.2 or later, or as separated uploads in their native format, i.e. doc, xls, ppt, etc,. and provided on CDs or DVDs. Zip disks are not permitted.

Files shall be in read-only format, using PDF files. Can the Government please clarify, shall the electronic copies of proposal files be submitted in their native format, i.e. doc, xls, ppt, etc., or in a read-only PDF format?

A021: Offerors will submit files in BOTH native format and read-only (.pdf).

Q022. Page 12, 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMMERICAL ITEMS (JAN

2017), General. The offeror’s proposal shall be submitted in hard copy, with accompanying digital copies, as set forth below. How many digital copies of the proposal shall be submitted?

A022: Offerors should submit two (2) copies of digital file media (CD-ROM/DVD).

Q023: Pages 15-16, 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS –COMMERICAL ITEMS (JAN

2017), Volume II, “Past Performance”, Section 5. The offeror shall complete Part I of the Past

Performance Questionnaire and e-mail the questionnaire to both the Government contracting activity and technical representative responsible for the past/current contract. Where is the Past

Performance Questionnaire located in the RFP?

A023: A NAVFAC/USACE Past Performance Questionnaire is included as an attachment to this amendment.

Q024: Page 20, 52.212-2 EVALUATION—COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014). The

Government may use data provided by the offeror in its proposal and data obtained from other sources, including data in Government files or data obtained through interviews with personnel familiar with the contractor and their In Response to Solicitation # W912BU-18-R-0017 Proposal to Provide Facility Assessment Engineering Services for 99th DIV(R) DPW March 24, 2018 RFP

Questions and Comments. Use or disclosure of the data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this proposal. 3.b Past Performance Factor current and past performance under Federal, State or Local government or commercial contracts for same or similar services as compared to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 237130.

Question: Did the Government intend to write North American Industry Classification

System (NAICS) 561210 bolded above?

A024: Yes, the correct NAICS code for this requirement is 561210.

Q025: Page 20, (ii), “Relevancy” evaluation criteria states “Any past performance information that involves power generation in a contingency environment will be considered relevant” does not fit scope of work. Please clarify the past performance information that will be considered relevant to the FAES contract.

A025: The reference to “power generation” was erroneous; it was removed. “Relevant” past performance is any work performed under NAICS code 561210.

Q026: Page 15, Section 5, “Past Performance Questionnaire”. Please clarify the information required for Section 5, Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ); should offerors include Section

1 of the PPQ in this section or will Word for Windows Table Format submitted in the email be sufficient for this Section?

A026: Offerors should complete the attached NAVFAC/USACE Past Performance Questionnaire.

Q027: Page 16, last paragraph. (USACE) is requesting Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA)?

Should this language be a part of this contract because it’s a FFP, has no reimbursable CLINs and we have competition. This language may have been in the previous direct award contract. Plus 17 of 72 is requesting a copy of the offeror’s proposal be mail their cognizant DCAA. Please address if this is correct?

A027: It is not. There is no DCAA involvement.

Q028: In the RFP, Section 1.6.7.3, AFOS Qualifications/Job Descriptions, it is unclear as to whether the AFOS is a specific role, separate from the others listed within that section, or if those qualifications and duties are to be shared across all key personnel. Could the government please clarify?

A028: The qualifications and duties are to be shared across all key personnel.

Q029: Will the government be responsible for providing the required GFEBS training? Can you provide a listing of the specific courses that will need to be completed for qualification?

A029: GFEBS training is available on the ALMS website. The 99th will assist the contractor in obtaining needed training.

Q030: Section 5, “Past Performance Questionnaire”. Will the Government accept completed

CPARS in lieu of PPQs?

A030: No, offerors must submitted completed PPQs.

Q031: Instructions to Offerors, Volume I, “Technical”, sub-factor 1. The proposal instructions for

Tab 1, sub-factor 1 provided in the document “W912BU18R0017_Instructions_to_Offerors” differs from the proposal instructions provided in “W912BU18R0017_RFP” for the same sub-factor. Please clarify what the Government requires the offeror is to include in their proposal for sub-factor 1 (Professional and Technical Approach).

A031: The corrected version of sub-factor 1 follows:

VOLUME I (Technical) shall be organized into the following sections:

Tab 1 – Sub-factor 1 (Professional and Technical Approach) which shall include the following:

The offeror’s draft internal and external communication plan(s) to report both the status of the deliverables in the PWS and the name of the employee assigned to complete that deliverable to the Government. The plan should address who (by position title) will communicate this information to the Government, how that person will communicate that information to the Government (ex: email, shared drive), the format the offeror will use to communicate the status of the deliverables and the name of the employee assigned to complete that deliverable to the

Government (ex: GANTT chart, narrative), and how often the offeror will report the required information to the Government. The plan will also be evaluated to ensure it addresses continuity of communication with the Government in the event of personnel changes, illness, vacations, etc.

The offeror’s transition plan. It will be evaluated to ensure it addresses how the offeror will a) onboard current contractor employees who choose to continue working under the new contract; b) replace positions left vacant by current contractor who choose not to stay; and c) learn existing systems from current contractor. Key to this plan is ensuring that all contractor identified positions are filled by the end of the transition period. The Government will evaluate whether the transition plan includes enough detail to assure the Government that it is reasonable and achievable.

The offeror’s quality control and site monitoring plan. It shall describe the offeror’s systems and explain how those systems will ensure that the deliverables are performed in accordance with the PWS and comply with all applicable standards and codes. It shall also describe how often audits of the deliverables will be done and the qualification of the individuals who will be performing quality control for the various deliverables.

Q032: [REDACTED] respectfully requests a 14-day extension to the due date for the proposal to allow time to include the responses to this Request for Information (RFI) in our technical proposal and cost estimate.

A032: The RFP has been extended until Monday, 26 March 2018.

Q033: There are conflicts in the instructions to offerors included in the RFP when compared to the individual pdf file provided as instructions to offerors. Which set of instructions has the correct information?

A033: In case of conflict, the offeror should use the language in the RFP. CENAP has de-conflicted several instances in this RFP amendment/Q&A.

Q034: Can a bid form be provided for the estimate to be developed for CLIN 001?

A034: None is available.

Q035: Can a Past Performance Questionnaire template be provided?

A035: A PPQ is attached with this Amendment.

Q036: The RFP requires a cross-walk table of actual labor rates versus the rates included with the applicable Wage Determination (WD) in the RFP. The WD file is 872 pages long and includes many thousands of categories. Most of these categories will not be employed to perform the project. Can the cross-walk table be limited to only the labor categories we are proposing to perform the work?

A036: Yes, the cross-walk table can be limited to those labor categories that are being proposed.

Q037: The RFP instructs offerors to provide a copy of Volume III to the appropriate DCAA office. Have the DCAA offices been notified of this pending submittal?

A037: This requirement has been removed from the soliciation

Q038: The Performance Work Statement (PWS) does not include a schedule for the centers that details the status of work in progress and scheduled for the duration of the contract.

Further, the PWS includes terminology such as “as needed”, “requires full-time support” and “may not be required”. The use of indeterminate language for quantities makes accurately estimating the level of effort for even CLIN 001 (Mobilization) impossible.

Only the incumbent has the information to provide an accurate estimate. Can more definite quantities with respect to the field work be provided?

A038: See the PWS for the required effort for this task

Q039: The solicitation’s title is Facilities Assessment Engineering Services. Is the firm selected required to be licensed to practice engineering? Is the selected firm required to be licensed in all the states that require work?

A039: No to both questions.

Q040: If the requirement is to procure engineering services, should the government be procuring using Brooks Act, which requires firms to be selected based on their competency, qualifications, and experience, rather than price. Should price be removed from the solicitation until a firm is selected?

A040: No engineering services are required for this contract.

Q041: Is the intent to award one contract or multiple contracts? It appears that historically the contract had multiple awards to the same company in one year.

A041: CENAP plans on awarding a signal contract for all AFOS Regions

A042: How much of the work needs to be done by the prime and how much work can be subcontracted?

A042: At least 51% must be performed by the prime.

Q043: Page 13, Volume I, Tab 1, second bullet, requests a transitional plan. Can you provide the previous transition plan or the current organization structure under the current contract?

Q043: This is not available.

Q044: Page 58, paragraph 1.4.1.1 requires consultant to provide technical designs for facility repair and upgrade projects. Should the government provide the CIP for the next 5 years to forecast level of design effort?

A044: The AFOS will not be required to provide technical designs for facility repair and upgrade projects

Q045: Page 58, Tasks 1.4.1.2 through 1.4.1.8 requires a significant number of visits but it is not clear as to who is performing that field work. Under the various positions identified in 1.6.7.3, can you clarify which individuals are conducting this work?

A045: The facility visits are conducted by the AFOS assigned to the facilities/Region.

Q046: Is it safe to assume, based on all the visits/year that each center needs to be visited at a minimum twice a month? This appears to be a bit excessive considering the number of facilities. Is it safe to assume that the field visit can be conducted by one individual?

A046: Facility visits are identified in the PWS.

Q047: To provide the level of service required by the contract, is the intent to have a response team for each of the ten (10) AFOS?

A047: The Contractor shall provide AFOS personnel as required in the PWS Section 1.4.1.

Q048: Based on the title of the solicitation, we assume that the requirements under 1.6.7.3 for AFOS, Program Manager, Project Manager, Sr. Associate, Sr. engineer, and Mid-level engineer will all require to be filled with licensed engineers?

A048: See the requirements contained in Section 1.6.7.3 and sub-sections for the specific personnel qualifications.

Q049: Please confirm if it is the intent of the government to have included the requirement for a payment and performance bond on this services contract?

A049: No bonds are required under this contract for services.

Q050: If it is the intent for contractor to supply a P&P bond, what should the amount be for? Should it be the total proposed price of the base year and all option years?

A050: No bonds are required under this contract for services.