EIM_4_Sep_2015__W912DY-15-T-0372_Question_ _Responses.pdf

Response to Questions

Q 1. The Synopsis of this Opportunity states that questions for this opportunity are due by Sunday, September 6, at 1PM and gives John Trudell and Phyllis Watson as points of contact.

The Instructions to Offerors gives a due time of noon on September 8, and gives Barbara Osterkamp rather than John Trudell as a point of contact. Would the government please clarify?

Response: Tuesday, September 8, 2015, 12:00, Noon, Central Time is the final day to submit question. All official questions and responses will be through the contracting office.

Provide questions directly to Barbara Osterkamp (KO) and Phyllis Watson (contract specialist).

Q 2. The FBO notice as well as the synopsis and instructions to offerors all state that a single firm fixed-price contract will be awarded, but the PWS contemplates multiple Tiers of companies and the clauses incorporated by reference in the delivery information includes FAR 52.216-22 – Indefinite Quantity. Will the government please clarify?

Response: Only one firm-fixed Contract will be awarded for this acquisition. The base period of performance of this indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract shall be for a period of one year and shall have three one-year option periods, which may be exercised at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. The period of performance will be specified in each task/delivery order. Rates in effect at the time of ordering apply regardless of duration of the performance period.

Q 3. Section 2.0 of the solicitation states on page 5, “The Contractor must be a certified government sector installer by the software vendor and provide documentation with the proposal submission.” Can teammates fulfill this requirement or does the prime offeror have to be certified?

Response: The teammates can fulfill the requirement but the prime offeror must be able to fulfill the requirements as stated in the RFP.

Q 4. Are contractors applying for higher tiers required to qualify for and seek admission to lower tiers as well? For example, does a Tier II or III contractor have to meet the demonstrated capabilities for Tier I contractors on pp. 8-9 of the solicitation?

Response: The contract is awarded as a Single Award Task Order Contract (SATOC). Only one company will be awarded the contract but must be able to provide the work for all three Tiers.

Q 5. Will awards under this contract and subsequent Task Orders be designated for specific tiers? For example, will a prime awardee be given a contract for specific tiers only or for all three tiers? Will Task Orders then be given under one tier only, or can individual Task Orders combine work under Tiers I, II, and III?

W912DY-15-T-0372

Response: Only one award will be issued for this acquisition. Thus, the basic award will cover all three tiers and subsequent task order may cover all three tiers or a combination thereof.

Q 6. The second paragraph of page one of the Instructions to Offerors indicates a four volume proposal submission. The bulleted list near the top of page two, as well as the evaluation factors indicates a five volume submission. Please confirm whether the five volume version is desired.

Response: Five Volumes is desired.

Q 7. The Instructions to Offerors and the Synopsis both reference a twenty page limit. Does that apply to Volume I only, or all non-price volumes? Are there specific page limits for the management approach, financial capability, and past performance volumes?

Response: The 20 page limit is inclusive of all five volumes. Diagrams and resumes can be added as appendices.

Q 8. Will the government please define a period of performance?

Response: One base year and 3 option years.

Q 9. Are resumes desired and, if so, do they count against the page limits?

Response: Resumes are desired. Resumes will not count against page limit. Place them in an appendix.

Q 10. The key personnel in Section 12.0 of the solicitation do not match the labor categories in the Excel template provided. Will the government please clarify?

Response: See attached sample price worksheet. The Contractor must propose the labor categories and hourly rates to meet the requirements of the RFP.

Q 11. The task areas scope of work identified in the RFP do not align to labor categories in Appendix B; can you please provide guidance on the discrepancy?

Response: See attached sample price worksheet. The Contractor must propose the labor categories and hourly rates to meet the requirements of the RFP.

Q 12. Can you please define the maximum 20 page count allocation is that per Volume or for entire proposal?

Response: The 20 page limit is inclusive of all five volumes. Diagrams and resumes can be added as appendices.

Q 13. While COTS is requested, no single COTS product can meet all of the requirements. Is it intended that the Vendor provide a solution platform? If such does it include all hardware for deployment including networking? Failover, Redundancy, etc. are generally part of infrastructure and not a COTS software solution.

Response: See Section 2.0 OBJECTIVE of the PWS. Garrison level networks will be used. See diagram on page 48 of the PWS.

Q 14. Is it intended that WAVES be installed at multiple locations (Garrison level) or a single enterprise location?

Response: See Section 2.0 OBJECTIVE of the PWS.

Q 15. WAVE Data Storage System. The Level of specificity does not allow for almost any energy management. These specifications lend themselves seemingly to either a specific system or something as generic as an RDBMS. Is there a product in mind that USACE is looking to have implemented as the core COTS software?

Response: See Section 2.0 OBJECTIVE of the PWS.

Q 16. WAVE Data Storage System 3.c: Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher or Windows Server 2003 x64 SP2 or Higher. Windows Server 2003 goes out of life cycle prior to contract award, and severely limits a number of modern systems, can the government please clarify the intent behind any use of Windows 2003?

Response: The software must be able to operate on the Windows Server version in use by the government at the time of install and operate on updated server versions when installed.

Q 17. What type of submittal is required – hardcopy only, hardcopy and electronic, or electronic only?

Response: Electronic only.

Q 18. Does the 20 page limit include all 5 volumes to the proposal?

Response: The 20 page limit is inclusive of all five volumes. Diagrams and resumes can be added as appendices.

Q 19. What is expected in the pricing without a sample project? Are only hourly rates acceptable?

Response: The Contractor proposal price(s) hourly rates are acceptable. Therefore, the labor categories and hourly rates submittal will meet the requirements of the RFP (See attached sample price worksheet).

Q 20. Are tasks to be priced as per task areas outlined in section 4, or is the intent to price tasks imagined throughout the entire PWS?

Response: Requirements and deliverables will be required under the base contract and shall therefore be applied to any task order issued. Additional requirements specified in each task order once awarded may complement, emphasize, or add to the PWS requirements. The Government reserves the right to expand the requirements of any task order so long as the requirement does not force the Contractor to perform outside the scope of what would be considered reasonably within the bounds of this contract. Each task order will identify the nature and scope of the work required. The tasks orders may require one or more of the tasks listed in the PWS. The price of each task order may be negotiated at the time of the requirement. See attached sample labor template. The Contractor must propose the labor categories and hourly rates to meet the requirements of this RFP.

Q 21. Is the price worksheet (SF 1449) to serve as a summary for prices of individual tasks or is the worksheet to be completed as an overall project summary cost?

Response: Proposal prices shall be in an excel format. Costs shall be classified into the following six basic categories: (1) labor, (2) other labor, (3) equipment (4) material and supplies,

(5) subcontracts, and (6) travel, etc. See sample price worksheet attachment and page for below “Proposal Price and General Information”.

Q 22. There are contradicting dates for questions in the solicitation. There is one date is 1300 Sunday September 6 and the other is 1200 Tuesday 8 September. Pls clarify the date that questions are due.

Response: The final time and date for questions is noon 8 Sep 2015 indicated in the Instruction to Offerors document.

Proposal Price and General Information:

Any proposal submitted to the Contracting Officer shall include a price breakdown, itemized as required by the Contracting Officer and furnished by the date specified by the Contracting Officer. Detailed cost estimates are required in all proposals. Cost estimates shall clearly separate the prime contractor’s costs from subcontractor’s costs.

a) Labor Costs: Prime and other labor (subcontractor/consultants/etc.) costs shall be based on the labor rates as negotiated and/or the appropriate wage determination. Contractor may propose lower rates per individual task order; however, rates shall not exceed the maximum rate included in the basic contract. Contractor’s proposal shall provide in a separate tab a breakdown of each labor category and the number of man-hours proposed.

The rates negotiated by task order shall remain in effect throughout the life of the task order.

b) Subcontracting. For task order proposals utilizing subcontractors, the subcontract format shall also be in Microsoft Excel for the breakout of pricing and quantities. The prime contractor shall also include the scope of the project with the subcontractor’s proposal.

c) Travel. All travel and related expenses associated with the execution of work shall be reimbursed in accordance with the rules and rates of the Joint Travel Regulations current at the time of the task order award. No markups are allowed on travel cost. Also, all travel and related expenses associated with the execution of work shall be reimbursed in accordance with the rules and rates of the Joint Travel Regulations; However, the Contractor is responsible for obtaining all necessary documents/permits required for travel and performance of work.

d) In accordance with FAR 9.103(a) contracts shall be awarded to responsible prospective contractors only. To be determined responsible, a prospective contractor must meet the standards at FAR 9.104. FAR 9.104-1(a) requires that a prospective contractor must have adequate financial resources to perform the contract, or the ability to obtain them.

e) Service Contract and Davis-Bacon Acts. This contract is subject to the Service Contract

Act (See FAR 52.222-41) for service task orders.

f) Quality Assurance (QA): The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), and will include an evaluation of the Contractor’s performance. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

The Government will conduct QA inspections at any time on all phases and types of work performed. If any Government QA review identifies a process/work product failure or identifies noncompliance with safety practices, the Contractor will be issued a Corrective Action Request (CAR). Each CAR will be annotated as a Critical nonconformance, Major nonconformance, or Minor nonconformance. Definitions and required Contractor response times are:

Critical Nonconformance: a nonconformance that is likely to result in hazardous or unsafe conditions for individuals using, maintaining, or depending upon the supplies or services; or is likely to prevent performance of a vital agency mission.

Contractor is provided 24 hours (1 business day) to provide written response to the CAR.

Minor Nonconformance: a nonconformance that is not likely to materially reduce the usability of the supplies or services for their intended purpose, or is a departure from established standards having little bearing on the effective use or operation of the supplies or services.

Contractor Performance. A contractor not receiving a satisfactory evaluation may be in danger of not have options exercised or receiving an adverse past performance report.

g) Period of Performance: The base period of performance of this indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract shall be for a period of one year and shall have four one-year option periods, which may be exercised at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. The period of performance will be specified in each task/delivery order. Rates in effect at the time of ordering apply regardless of duration of the performance period.

h) Exercise Options: The Government has included four one-year options to extend the term of this ID/IQ contract. The Government makes no guarantee that any or all options will be exercised on any or all of the resultant contracts. When deciding whether to exercise the option, the Contracting Officer will consider the quality of the contractor’s performance under this ID/IQ contract, as well as the requirements specified at FAR 17.207-Exercise of Options.

i) Wage Determination: The Wage Determination for the geographical area where the work is to be performed will be incorporated by reference at the task order level. Wage determinations may be found at www.wdol.gov.