Amendment_0001 _W912DY-16-R-0015_Attachment_2_-_Questions_and_Answers.pdf

Solicitation W912DY-16-R-00015 for Army Corps of Engineers – Information Technology (ACE-IT)

Radio Services and Support (ARSS) Vendor Questions and Government Responses

Question 1: Please confirm the small business size standard/NAICS code assignment for the subject solicitation. Is it 1500 or 500?

Answer 1: The size standard for this acquisition is 1,500 Employees. The conflicting information from FAR 52.212-1 is not applicable to this services NAICS code and has been struck to avoid confusion.

Question 2: The solicitation specifies Motorola make and model specification radios, as well as a Micom branded radio. Specifying make and model restricts competition for the services and related support specified on the SOW. Will the Government consider separating the hardware products from this services/support RFP in order to broaden the potential vendor community for this action?

Answer 2: After extensive research and careful consideration, the Government determined that it is in its best interest to acquire the hardware and related services necessary to satisfy its radio requirements under one acquisition. Accordingly, there is no plan to remove the hardware items from this acquisition at this time.

Question 3: Given that this solicitation is designated as a Small Business Set Aside, can the Government clarify whether the 50% small business requirement will apply per a specific task order or overall contract spend? Will the equipment be excluded when calculating the small business participation percentage?

Answer 3: The small business requirement will apply to the overall contract. Additionally, the 50% small business performance requirement only applies to labor; materials are excluded.

Question 4a: Page 46, Section “4.3 Repair and Sustainability Services” states, “The Contractor shall provide a proposal of the repair to include labor, travel and expected parts.” For emergency repairs, is the Contractor required to wait until the proposal is approved? If yes, when does the Level of Service (LOS) for “Target Dispatch time” of “Onsite Arrival ≤8 Hours” begin?

Answer 4a: Yes, the Contractor is required to wait until the proposal is approved. The target dispatch time begins calculating after the NTP is provided by the Government.

Question 4b: If the proposal submission requires a site inspection to determine the causes of failure and estimation of costs required, does the Contractor need to submit a separate proposal for “Discovery and Survey”?

Answer 4b: The phrase “Discovery and Survey” typically refers to surge and not repair. For repair: It is expected that the initial proposal provided would be for travel to the site to include the labor needed to perform the initial evaluation of the problem reported. It should also include the anticipated labor needed to resolve the issue (based on the initial information captured when the call was placed). Once onsite, if it is determined that extensive/ongoing repair labor, parts etc. is required, then a separate proposal must be submitted and approved before continuation of the repair.

Question 5: Page 31, Section 4.1.1.n refers to “Government Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR)/Radio Systems Design Subject Matter Expert [SME]”. Will these be two different individuals? If these are different positions, then who will the Contractor PM report to?

Answer 5: They will be the same person.

Question 6: For labor categories listed in Attachment F, should the contractors assume 2000 hours per year for FTEs?

Answer 6: No. It’s the vendor’s decision as to which, if any, positions are full/part time.

Question 7: In the Pricing Template under the “Labor Categories and Rates” tab can the Government define the On-Site versus Off-Site designations? Does On-Site mean at a Government facility or at a remote field location such as a tower site?

Answer 7: Off-site contractors do not have a USACE facility as their daily duty station and therefore office space is not provided by USACE. On-site contractors have a USACE facility as their daily duty station and therefore office space is provided by USACE.

Question 8: “Labor Categories and Rates” tab under the “Pricing Template” refers to “RF Telecom Technician“ that is defined in Attachment F. “Service Catalog” tab under the “Pricing

Template” refers to “Repair - RF Telecom Dispatch Technician”. Does “Repair - RF Telecom Dispatch Technician” have the same responsibilities as “RF Telecom Technician“

Answer 8: Yes, equal to or greater. The intent is to resolve issues during the initial call to avoid dispatch (if possible). The Dispatch Technician should have significant RF trouble-shooting knowledge.

Question 9: The “Surge” Tab under the “Pricing Template” refers to 4 Sample TOs. Can you please clarify which task order corresponds to each of the 4 TOs in Attachments M and U?

Answer 9: There are only 3 sample surges. 2 of the surges are in Attachment M and 1 surge is in Attachment U.

Question 10: Section 7.2.a, page 52 requires a Quality Control Plan be included in the proposal submission. Will the Quality Control Plan document be excluded from the page count limit?

Answer 10: The applicable PWS language has been revised. The Quality Control Plan will be required 30 days after award, and should not be included with the proposal.

Question 11: Section 3 on page 29 states that a Project Management Plan shall be submitted with the proposal. Will the PMP be excluded from the page count limit?

Answer 11: The applicable PWS language has been revised. The Project Management Plan will be required 60 days after award, and should not be included with the proposal.

Question 12: For system repair PWS 4.3.1a states contractor will provide parts. Listed on page 9 g of the redacted JA “In the event spare parts are not on-hand, Motorola is a dominant brand that has authorized shops accessible within one day to every USACE site”. Is the contractor required to carry certain spare parts in stock? If so can the government tell us if the current contractor performing the work has a stockpile and if so are we to negotiate for the parts and or a list of expected spare type, model and quantity

Answer 12: No, the contractor is not required to carry certain spare parts. It is the contractor’s decision if they want to carry spare parts.

Question 13: Under 4.1.2d Contractor(s) shall provide 10 days of onsite warranty for new equipment installation. Is this warranty parts and labor? If not can the government give historical data as to how many warranty calls per month and location we can expect.

Answer 13: Yes the warranty is parts and labor.

Question 14: 4.1.2 e: e) When the Contractor replaces a defective part during the warranty period, the newly installed part shall become Government property. The defective part shall become the property of the Contractor. The effective warranty for all replacement items shall be the greater of (1) the remaining warranty period on the original item, or (2) a 30- calendar day warranty. Is it the intent of the government to buy the replacement part from the contractor and the contractor to return the defective part for government credit or is it expected that the contractor will purchase the new part, in effect be considered the owner of the part, sell the part to the government and then take ownership of the defective part to work with the OEM for a refund to be given to the contractor?

Answer 14: During the warranty period: If the part is covered by a manufacturer’s warranty, the contractor is expected to work with the manufacturer to obtain the covered replacement part.

If the contractor recently replaced a defective NON-warranty part (and charged the government for the part), and that part again fails within the warranty period of this contract, then the contractor is expected to replace the part at their expense.

Question 15: Attachment H Figure 1-1. ARSS Service Portfolio Summary CME Workload Data. Is it the government’s intent that the historical workload data found in attachment H was supported by 4 contractor full time equivalents during year 1 and then year 2 and only 3 FTEs during year 3? If so please confirm if this is the total level of effort for PWS 4.2 and 4.3. If not can you further explain the significance of Attachment H fig 1-1

Answer 15: Not all of the Contractors were full time dedicated support to USACE. Years 1 and 2, there was a heavier contractor workload due to a major enterprise radio refresh. This size of a refresh will not occur within the timeframe of this contract. The significance of the overall attachment is merely to show the history and distribution of tickets in USACE and was a contracting requirement of this package. The significance of figure 1-1 is just to show the change in number of contractors based on workload.

Question 16: Attachment M describes 2 tasks; Little Goose Project Office task and the Longview Lake Project Office task. Attachment U describes 1 task, Microware Facilities

Upgrade. Will the Government specifically identify by attachment reference which surge task should be priced on the “Surge” tab?

Answer 16: The SOWs in Attachment M and Attachment U should be priced on the Surge tab.

There are only 3 sample surges. 2 of them are in Attachment M and 1 surge is in Attachment U.

Question 17: Will the Government please clarify that the "Service Catalog" is specific to radio repair? And will the Government also please clarify that services related to Microwave, Satellite systems, Tower repair, site surveys, site engineering and design, etc. will be priced through a proposal submission to the KO after award? Is it the Government’s intention that the rates defined in the Service Catalog are used for Surge (PWS 4.2) and Repair (PWS 4.3) proposals?

Answer 17: The Service Catalog rates apply for Repair and Surge proposals. Services related to Microwave, Satellite systems, Tower Repair, Site Surveys, Site Engineering and Design, etc will be priced when a specific proposal is requested. If positions outside of the service catalog are needed to complete one of these services, they should be indicated in the proposal.

Question 18: Will the Government please clarify that the "Service Catalog" tab in the ARSS Pricing Template can also be further defined and additional optional cost items may be suggested?

Answer 18: No, the “Service Catalog” should be completed as is.

Question 19: Will the Government please clarify if Past or Current projects may be provided by a "key subcontractor" – i.e., any subcontractor contributing greater than 10% to the project?

Answer 19: Yes, the past or current projects of a “Key Subcontractor,” as defined in the solicitation, may be submitted.

Question 20: Will the Government confirm CDRL A001 is a post award deliverable and is not required in Volume 1, Element 1?

Answer 20: CDRL A001 is required post award. The PMP is not required with the proposal. As mentioned in a previous answer, the language indicating that the PMP was required at the time of award has been corrected.

Question 21: Since the government has required adherence to the Government Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) in section 7.8.14 Contractor Travel, it would appear that all "Travel Cost" references in Attachment 1 should be a "plug" number in tabs "Centralized Support - Lab & Tra", "Surge", and "Repair". Will the Government please verify this requirement?

Answer 21: For this acquisition, adherence to the JTR is required when determining which travel related expenses can be billed to the Government and which ones cannot. The contractor should propose prices for travel in the “Centralized Support…” tab, which will become part of the contract, as well as in the “Surge” and “Repair” tabs, which apply only to the sample projects and will be used strictly for evaluation purposes.

Question 22: Will the Government please confirm "off-site" means work at a location that is NOT the Central Support organization; i.e. at a USACE location?

Answer 22: Off-site contractors do not have a USACE facility as their daily duty station and therefore office space is not provided by USACE. On-site contractors have a USACE facility as their daily duty station and therefore office space is provided by USACE.

Question 23: Can the Government clarify how the rates in the "Service Catalog" tab will be used in the development of proposals to KO for radio repair, surge request and emergency request.

Answer 23: The rates provided in the catalog will be binding for the life of the contract, and will serve as price ceilings for the individual orders. When providing a proposal for an order (after the contract is awarded), the contractor may provide further discounts, but will not be allowed to exceed the prices specified in the catalog. This concept applies to the Radio Catalog and Service Catalog, as well as the Labor Categories and Rates.

Question 24: Since Surge and Repair requests are priced “when needed” and there is specific tab for “Centralized Support” will the Government explain the purpose of the “Labor Categories & Rates” tab and provide instructions to complete?

Answer 24: The rates proposed for these labor categories will be binding for the life of the contract. For surges, repairs, and emergencies, the proposed rates will serve as ceilings for the rates proposed under the individual orders to be placed against the contract post-award. For centralized support, the proposed rates will likewise serve a ceilings in the event the contract is later modified in a way that impacts the centralized support component.

Question 25: Concerning the “Centralized Support – Lab and Tra” Tab of the pricing template:

The Government has requested that vendors "Only input information in the yellow highlighted cells." Column "C" appears to require the Labor Categories we would price in the cells in the row. It also appears that column "A" would be an item number we will assign for easy reference to the Labor Category. In order to adhere to the Government’s instructions, would the Government please highlight the cells appropriately?

Answer 25: The cells for columns A and C were indeed inadvertently omitted. They are now highlighted in yellow.

Question 26: Concerning the SF 1449: CLINs XX02, XX03, XX04 and, XX05 refer to PWS requirements that are priced “when needed”. Will the Government explain the requirement to complete these CLINs in the SF1449.

Answer 26: The contractor does not need to fill-in any information into the CLINs of the SF 1449. The government will populate the CLINs at the time of award, based upon information provided in the contractor’s proposal (particularly the pricing template).

Question 27: Will the Government confirm that Volume 2 Price consists only of the printed workbook “W912DY-16-R-0015_Attachment_1_-_ARSS_Pricing_Template” and the offeror should format the workbook pages to print correctly?

Answer 27: This is correct.

Question 28: Will the Government confirm CDRL A023 is a post award deliverable and is not required in Volume 1, Element 1?

Answer 28: CDRL A023 is required post award. As mentioned in a previous response, the language in the PWS, which previously indicated that QCP would be required with the proposal, has been corrected.

Question 29: Concerning PWS 4.1.2: Is the contractor providing a method for the government to purchase the equipment directly via the equipment catalog or will the contractor be purchasing the equipment based on a government task order?

Answer 29: As mentioned in a previous response, the rates included in the catalog will serve as rate ceilings for the individual orders. The Government will order the equipment it needs via post-award task orders, and it will be the ARSS contractor’s responsibility to provide this equipment.

Question 30: Does ACE-IT have volume buying agreements with the equipment vendors that we should/can use?

Answer 30: Motorola and other providers typically provide federal enterprise pricing for equipment/services that are coordinated at the centralized enterprise level. We do have approved J&As and standard configurations to be followed.

Question 31: The Government provided a list of the OCONUS sites, and the sites listed in the table below were not on it; however, they are listed as minimally supported sites (MSS) in attachment E. Please clarify if vendors should include the sites listed below as well:

Wiesbaden, Germany

Seoul, Korea

Camp Zama, Japan

Kabul, Afghanistan

Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan

Answer 31: No, vendors should not include the sites listed in the table above.

Question 32: Concerning the Place of Performance, please clarify the following: Where is the location of the program office (COR) for the ACE-IT ARSS program?

Answer 32: ACE-IT is a virtual organization, and the COR may sit in any USACE location.

The KO resides in HNC as part of a Contracting Center. Several Radio SMEs, the Radio Engineering and PM leads and are located in Pittsburgh, PA. There are other Radio SMEs located throughout USACE (with one in Vicksburg MS).

Question 33: Concerning PWS 4.1.1: Where are the USACE Radio and Satellite Community of Practice (CoP) meeting held?

Answer 33: When the meetings begin, they will be conducted virtually.

Question 34: Concerning PWS 4.1 and Attachment 1 (Pricing Template): The Paragraph indicates that the offeror has the option of putting two personnel in either Vicksburg or Pittsburgh, yet the pricing table (Labor Categories and Rates tab) shows at least four categories on-site. None of these categories shown falls within the Centralized Support area. Can the government please provide some additional clarification on this issue?

Answer 34: Each labor category description contains duties that are normally performed to meet this requirement. This document does not mean that a separate full-time individual is required for each position/category but rather these tasks are typically required as part of centralized labor. There is 1 Key Personnel that is expected (shown with *). When looking at the Labor Category, consider the associated Labor Area. When considering this, all of the categories fall within centralized support.

Question 35: Concerning the SF1449 CLIN structure: There are no instructions in the attachment for filling in the CLINs other than the labor on the Centralized Support tab. The Surge and Repair tabs are based on sample tasks with no definitive breakdown of costs other than totals. Can the government provide clarification or identify the means for the offeror to provide assumptions (if required) as to how the CLIN Net Amounts were derived?

Answer 35: The contractor does not need to fill-in any information into the CLINs of the SF

Question 36: Concerning proposal content Element 1, Tab A, “Technical Approach”: The paragraph states “The Contractor’s proposal shall provide their overall program management plan for the execution of the services in this PWS.” Can the government provide clarification on the requirement to deliver the PMP in the proposal as there are no instructions about what to include or where in the proposal it should be included?

Answer 36: The PMP is not required with the proposal. The PWS has been revised to remove the language which indicated that the PMP was required at the time of award.

Question 37: Concerning proposal content Element 1, Tab A, “Technical Approach”: The paragraph states “The Contractor(s) shall develop and deliver a QCP with the proposal.” Can the government provide clarification on the requirement to deliver the QCP in the proposal as there are no instructions about what to include or where in the proposal it should be included?

Answer 37: The QCP is not required with the proposal. The PWS has been revised to remove the language which indicated that the QCP was required at the time of award.

Question 38: For Centralized Support, would the Government consider allowing the contractor to place personnel in both Vicksburg and Pittsburgh?

Answer 38: It is the contractor’s discretion how many personnel are needed. Yes, there can be personnel located in both Vicksburg and Pittsburgh USACE facilities if the contractor desires.

There are a maximum of 2 seats available in Vicksburg and maximum of 2 seats available in Pittsburgh that can be utilized but are not mandatory.

Question 39: Concerning Proposal Content, Volume 2, Factor 3 Price, Note 2: The OBJECTIVE paragraph states “Sample Scopes of Work (SOW) are provided in Attachment M – Sample Scopes of Work; Attachment V –Sample Repair SOWs. A sample of a Microwave PWS is available in Attachment U – Sample Microwave PWS.” Note 2 indicates that the offeror is to use the same attachments to complete the Surge and Repair Tabs of the pricing template. Attachment M provides two tasks – Walla Walla and Longview and Attachment U provides a microwave upgrade task. Attachment V provides three repair tasks which correspond to the pricing template. The pricing template (SURGE Tab) lists four tasks with only three being provided. Can the government provide clarification as to how offerors are to price the sample tasks as it relates to Attachments M, U and V?

Answer 39: The SOWs in Attachment M and Attachment U should be priced on the Surge tab.

There are only 3 sample surges provided. 2 of them are in Attachment M and 1 is in Attachment U. There are 3 sample Repair SOWs in Attachment V that should be priced on the Repair tab.

Question 40: The 1449 Continuation Sheet provides a CLIN structure for all contract tasks and years. Attachment H provides historical data relating to support over a three year period. Can the government provide clarification on utilizing Attachment H to provide input for completing the CLIN pricing on pages 5-19 of 120?

Answer 40: The contractor does not need to fill-in any information into the CLINs of the SF

Question 41: Can the Government provide the determination of the components of hourly travel?

Answer 41: Travel Hourly as described in the Service Catalog is the hourly rate charged while the technician is traveling to the location. Labor Hourly is the rate charged while the technician is onsite working on the call. Mileage is not included in Travel Hourly and is calculated separately based on standard JTR rates.

Question 42: Concerning the pricing template: The Centralized Support tab has a footnote relating to the addition of other personnel that are required. If the personnel qualifications do not match the existing labor categories, does the Government wish the offeror to add any new categories to the Labor Categories tab?

Answer 42: The footnote (on the title page) does not indicate that other personnel are required by the Government. The Labor Categories as they are related to the Labor Areas were selected because they typically are utilized to fulfill this requirement. Yes, the contractor should propose additional categories if they believe that other categories best meet the labor requirements.