Contractor Questions_IOT_31 Jan 2020.pdf

Initial Outfitting & Transition Program III Solicitation Contractor Questions

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31 January 2020

Review Reference Contractors Questions Resolution/Action Taken

Solicitation Contractor Questions

It appears that this solicitation is a small business set aside under NAICS 541614, with a size standard of

16.5 million. Will there be a separate solicitation for large businesses or will all large businesses need to partner with a small business to be considered?

Amendment 0001 to solicitation changed block 10 to unrestricted.

G. Evaluation Approach, Factor 1, a. Technical Experience

This section states, "Under this Factor the Offerors will be required to demonstrate that both the prime (to include any joint venture partners) and all key subcontractors have acceptable experience in the performance of IO&T services for medical facilities." How many Experience Reporting Forms can be submitted for a key subcontractor?

Referance p. 103, a minimum of two projects, or maximum of five projects.

Attachment 0001

Is the government ok with the offeror recreating Attachment 0001 Experience Reporting Form in a different format aside from pdf as long as all the information remains the same?

Offerors can convert document to word version as long as the submittal is in the same order.

p.29

Please confirm if the government would like to see proof of insurance with the proposal submission. If so, which volume would you like the insurance certificate to be included in?

Reference p.38, for insurance requirements.

This applies to successful offerors.

p.102

Page 102 of the RFP states that the use of hyperlinks in proposals is prohibited.

Page 104 states to provide a link to access a sample demonstration of how the collaborative tool will be utilized to support the requirements.

Can the government please clarify this requirement? If a link is desired should it be included in the CD version of the Volume?

Hyperlinks are prohibited except for the requirement on p. 104 which states “Collaborative Project Management Protal/Sharepoint Site – Provide a link to access a sample demonstration of how the collaborative tool will be utilized to support the requirements”

Include the link in CD version of the Volume.

1.17.2, Task Order Schedule

Is a sample sync matrix required with the ID/IQ proposal?

If yes, should the bidder use conceptual dates and milestones?

If yes, can it be a proposal attachment?

If yes, is it part of the page count?

Please clarify. Thank you.

No, a Sync Matrix is not required.

PPQ

To reduce the burden on contractor clients, can the offeror re-use/resubmit PPQs that have been used on previous Huntsville RFPs?

Yes, as long as the correct solicitation is listed on the PPQs.

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Attachment 0002

On attachment 0002 Letter of Commitment (Key Personnel) please clarify who the authorized official of proposer is?

In this case would it be the key personnel named on the form?

The name of proposer is the Contractor’s Company name .

Attachment 0003

On attachment 0003 Letter of Commitment (Key Subcontractor) please clarify who the authorized official of proposer is? In this case would it be the ranking official at the subcontracting company?

The name of proposer is the Contractor’s Company name.

Addendum, Instructions to Offerors b.

Please further explain the intention of this statement:

“Proposal organization and cross-referencing are mandatory.”

This is self explanatory

Addendum, Instructions to Offerors PPQ

We have a project that was completed in the past 3 years and we possess a signed PPQ (same exact template) that was completed/signed for another proposal. May we provide this PPQ rather than reaching out for another completed/signed PPQ?

Yes, as long as the correct solicitation is listed on the PPQs.

Instructions to Offerors – Item D, a. Proposal Volume Table

The table on page 99 details Tab A for Volume I as “Solicitation with ALL Amendments and Attachments 0001- (Signed).” Can the Government detail what exactly is required in this tab for Attachments 0001-0005? It appears these attachments are incorporated in other tabs throughout the volumes.

Volume 1, Tab (A) is self explanatory. These same attachments are to be placed in other tabs as indicated.

13 Page 104 Volume I, Tab D, Key Personnel Qualifications, Program Manager

For the Program Manager key personnel position, will the Government accept the substitution of years of experience in lieu of the four-year college degree in architecture, interior design, engineering, business or a related field from an accredited college/university?

No.

Solicitation page

Regarding CPARS requirements listed on page 105 of the Solicitation, some projects last multiple years and have multiple CPARS associated with them. Does the Govn’t want us to submit only the most recent CPARS for a project?

The solicitation states on page 102 that there is no page limit for CPARS or PPQ.

15 Attachment 0001 Experience Reporting Form Item f.

Can the Government explain what is required to address “pricing arrangement”, which is Item f. in Attachment 0001 – Experience Reporting Form?

Pricing arrangement is any contract financing arrangement.

Section H. Proposal Format states, “The Offeror shall submit one (1) original hard copy with all volumes in a single binder”…" but further down on the page it state“, "Each Volume/Factor shall be in separate binders”.." Please advise whether the original document volumes should be in one binder or separate.

Both. One original hard copy contains all volumes in a single binder of proposal and include a CD as stated in Section H. Also, the offeror shall submit four hard copies of Volume’s I and II, with each Volume separately bound and include a CD as stated in Section H. Also, the offeror shall submit

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31 January 2020 one hard copy of Volume III separately bound and include CD as stated in Section H.

6. Ordering

Similar to MATOC II, are you planning to award two pools of contractors – unrestricted/open to all and a pool set aside for small business?

This acquisition will have one pool with a reserve for Small Business that will share the $495M capacity.

Award Value Question

Historically, what were the equipment plug values for the MATOC I and II RFPs?

This question does not pertain to current solicitation and will not be addressed.

Is the Government looking for a Sync Matrix to be submitted as part of the proposal, and if so, are the pages included in page count?

No.

RFP Section H

Proposal format This paragraph asks for a link to a sample Sharepoint site, but page 102 states hyperlinks are prohibited. Please clarify.

Hyperlinks are prohibited except for the requirement on p. 104 which states “Collaborative Project Management Protal/Sharepoint Site – Provide a link to access a sample demonstration of how the collaborative tool will be utilized to support the requirements”

Include the link in CD version of the Volume.

99, 102, 103 Proposal Organization

On page 99 of 114, Volume I is stated as Technical Experience & Management Approach, however on pages 102 and 103, Volume I is stated as Technical Experience and Technical Approach, respectively. Would the Government please clarify the title for Volume I?

Volume 1 title is Technical Experience & Management Approach. On page 103, Volume 1, Factor 1 is Technical Approach.

22 104 Volume I, Tab C, Management Approach, Collaborative Project Management Portal/SharePoint Site

Volume I, Tab C, Management Approach, Collaborative Project Management Portal/SharePoint Site SharePoint requires a USER specific email and password to access the system. Please clarify how the Offeror should provide the Government access to the Collaborative SharePoint Site in our proposal.

Offerors will need to provide one fictitious user name and password.

Volume I, Factor 1 – Technical Approach, Tab B – Technical Experience

In the previous solicitation in 2014, the Government allowed Offerors to submit project experience that were started or completed in the last five years. Would the Government consider changing the current solicitation from three years to five years for project experience?

No.

Addendum, Instructions to Offerors Key Personnel LOCs

The Attachment 0003 template indicates that an authorized official of the proposer must sign. And the form letter is written in such as way that it is not coming from the key person.

However, the Addendum, Section G states that letters of commitment must be signed by the proposed key personnel.

Which would you like?

Authorized official of the proposer must sign.

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Attach 5 Does Small Business have to fill out this Attachment 5?

Please advise.

The attachment states that both Other than small and small business are required to complete a Small Business

Commitment Proposal.

Item 14.

WORKERS

COMPENSATION

INSURANCE

(DEFENSE BASE ACT)

INSURANCE

Is it correct to assume the requirement for Defense Base Act insurance only applies for work on awarded task orders that are performed outside the United States? 2) There is no order of importance in an Acceptable/Unacceptable rating scheme. Delete “in descending order of importance:”

All U.S. government contractors and subcontractors working abroad are required to have Defense Base Act (DBA) workers’ compensation insurance to cover injury or illness to employees. There is no mention of order of importance in solicitation.

Part-1 GENERAL, 1.2

Will the Government provide the work locations under the existing contract?

Work location will be specified in the individual task orders.

Part-1 GENERAL, 1.7 Safety and Health Program

Will the offeror be allowed to include training costs as costs associated with the proposal if different from standard company training?

The government intends to award a contract or contracts resulting from the solicitation to all qualifying offerors as stated in Class Deviation 2018- O0006. Price will not be evaluated.

Executive Summary, 5.

Contract Capacity

The solicitation states that "A MATOC awardee can only elect to withdraw from submitting a proposal on two task order RFP's during the course of each year of the contract (3 year base, with two 1 year options), unless the awardee has made the request to be in a dormant status. QUESTION: Please provide clarification of whether during the 3-year base, the MATOC awardee can elect to withdraw from submitting a proposal on six (6) task order RFP's during the 3-year base period?

Yes. the MATOC awardee can elect to withdraw from submitting a proposal on six (6) task order RFP's during the 3-year base period (two per year).

Executive Summary, 5.

Contract Capacity

How long can an awardee stay in the dormant status?

Contractors can request to be placed in a dormant status if they are knowingly unable to propose for a period of time. Once the contractor is able to propose again then they can request to be taken out of dormant status.

31 Executive Summary, 5.

Contract Capacity

Will an awardee in a dormant status risk not having the exercise of an option by the Contracting Officer?

This will be evaluated at the time of Task Order award.

32 Section 1.8.2 on p. 6 Contractor Key Personnel Replacement:

Is it the Government's intent for all personnel to be designated as key or will you consider identifying a select group of lcats as key?

We are of unsure as to the meaning of “lcats”. Key personnel are listed on pages 6-8 of solicitation.

Section 1.8.6

Section 1.8.6 identifies the Program Manager, the Senior Contracts Manager, and the Senior Interior Designer are listed as key on the base contract. The Project Manager, Interior Designer (Project), the Medical Equipment Planning Specialist, the Transition Planner, and the Information Technology Planner are listed as potential key positions on

All Key Personnel are listed in section 1.8.6.

Personnel Qualifications and standard requirements for each key position is included.

Section 1.8.2 describes the procedures for replacing Key Personnel.

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31 January 2020 individual task orders. Please clarify whether Section 1.8.6 positions are key or all positions as listed in 1.8.2.

Section 1.8.7 Organizational and Conflicts of Interest-p.8 & Section G.6 on p. 44

These sections indicate that mitigation plans must be submitted with our proposal submissions. Is it the government's intent for bidders to submit a general mitigation plan that will be applicable to all subsequent awarded task orders? Or shall the bidders submit another "supplemental" mitigation plan suited to the facts surrounding the awarded task order(s)? We suggest a mitigation plan be submitted with the Task Order proposal and subsequent award, instead of with the base contract award.

As stated in Section 1.8.7: All mitigation plan(s) must be included in your proposal and be accepted by the Government in order to be considered for task order award.

Section 4 on page 25

This section indicates that "The only authorized ordering office is the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Other agencies may be delegated this authority, in which case, an advance written notice will be give to the contractors." Does this mean that other Dept. of Defense agencies may use the IDIQ MATOC vehicle or are civilian agencies included also? If this is a vehicle that can be used by multiple agencies with a delegation of authority from the Huntsville office, then can awardee market the vehicle as well?

Other agencies may be delegated use of this vehicle by the Huntsville office. The awardee is not allowed to market the vehicle.

Executive Summary, 1.

The solicitation states, "The scope includes project support for planning, outfitting, and transitioning the staff and patients associated with healthcare construction projects during FY21 through FY25," what is the anticipated start date for the awarded contract?

Anticipated start date for the awarded contract is projected for March 2021

Performance Work Statement, 1.8.2.

Given the stated Contractor key personnel, are Offerors allowed to utilize additional personnel in response to request for task order proposals?

Yes

Performance Work Statement, 1.5.

Given the place of performances are CONUS and OCONUS, do the OCONUS hours vary greatly from the CONUS hours, for example, working 12-hour days while OCONUS versus the standard CONUS 8-hour day?

No

Executive Summary, 2.

Can the Government provide the anticipated number of awards?

Requirements are fluid. The capacity over POP of MATOC is $495M.

Executive Summary, 7.

"The wage determination is available on the WDOL website:

https://beta.sam.gov," can the Government specify which wage determination is applicable?

The Wage determination will be determined at the task order level.

Section B Pricing tables.

Are we required to complete Section B in our submission? If so, what Volume? To complete Section B pricing, can the Government provide an anticipated level of effort?

Deviation 2018-O0006 is incorporated into the solicitation. Price will not be used as part of the award determination. Therefore, there is no need to complete Section B.

Clause 52.244-2

Consent to subcontract means the Contracting Officer's written consent for the Contractor to enter into a particular subcontract. Does the Government require consent at the IDIQ level or only at the task order level?

Consent will be required at the task order level.

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Graphic Font Size: The instructions on page 102 state: "Font size for spreadsheets, tables, charts, etc. may be reduced to font size 8. NOTE: Offerors may only include narrative in the chart, table, etc. that explains the chart, table, etc. Information in the chart, table, etc. that goes beyond this purpose may be deemed to count as regular text subject to the page restrictions." Please confirm that this includes graphics/images.

The reduced font size to 8 does not include graphics/images.

Attachment 0001

Is it the government's intent that offerors copy and paste the content from the PDF attachment 0001 into our MS Word document for completing the technical experience write up? In its current form, the attachment is non-editable.

Offerors can convert document to word version as long as the submittal is in the same order.

Synchronization Matrix: On page 104, the solicitation requests offeror's approach to the "IO&T Synchronization Matrix". As the Synchronization Matrix is specific to a given task order, please confirm that what is required here is an overall approach to preparing a synchronization matrix, rather than including a completed matrix in the proposal.

A Synchronization Matrix is not required.

Demonstration for Collaborative Project Management Portal/SharePoint Site: On page 104, the solicitation states that offerors must "Provide a link to access a sample demonstration of how the collaborative tool will be utilized to support the requirements." Due to security and proprietary content concerns, we cannot host a link open to the public with a demonstration. Can the government please provide the names and email addresses of any parties who will require access to the link so that they may be given permissions to access it? Additionally, does the government have any other instructions on how they want this to be provided?

Offerors will need to provide one fictitious user name and password.

Evaluation Criteria for Factor 2: On page 110, the Factor 2 – Past Performance evaluation criteria appear to list elements that would not be included in a conventional CPARS report.

The instructions for Factor 2 ask for PPQs or CPARS, but give no instructions for additional narrative that could be used to answer such items as "list of key subcontractors". Will the government please move these requirements to the Factor 1 evaluation criteria, or consider otherwise amending the instructions?

See PPQ form attachment 0004 to solicitation. The government will not be moving past performance requirements to Factor 1.

Evaluation Criteria for Factor 2: On page 110, the letters of commitment that are listed under the Factor 2 evaluation criteria are asked for in Factor 1. Will the government please move these requirements to the Factor 1 evaluation criteria, or consider otherwise amending the instructions?

No, the government will not move Factor 2 evaluation criteria to Factor 1.

Technical Experience Recency: In order to allow for highly relevant experience, particularly for OCONUS projects highlighted in the solicitation, will the government expand the

For this solicitation, technical experience on these projects must have started or completed within three years from the closing date of this Solicitation.

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31 January 2020 recency requirement to allow for projects within the past five

(5) years?

On page 104 the RFP states "The Offeror shall provide a resource chart with the number of personnel on-board by labor category that will be committed to the contract." Does the government want the number of personnel on-board by labor category committed to the MATOC (i.e., the 3 identified key personnel) or the number of personnel on-board by labor category potentially available for future task orders coming out under the MATOC?

Offeror’s shall provide the number of personnel on-board by labor category committed to the MATOC.

On page 104 the RFP states "It is important that the Offeror clearly define the organizational roles and responsibilities, the authority and degree of autonomy at each level, and the contractual responsibilities of the team or joint venture units..."

Does the government want the authority and degree of autonomy at the organizational level or the labor category level?

As part of Management Approach, this is for the offerors to determine.

Solicitation Section 1.8.6

No reference is made to the qualifications for the BMET position. Is that position not required for this program or will the qualifications be based on the specific task order?

Key Personnel are correctly listed in solicitation.

Any additional personnel will be at task order level.

Solicitation pages 44 - 50

Since there is no task order associated with this solicitation, can we assume that the pricing table on pages 44 through 50 does not need to be completed?

Correct. Pricing is not included in this solicitation in accordance with Deviation 2018-O0006.

RFP par 1.8.6.4

If multiple task orders are issued at once, will it be viewed as a weakness if we submit the same PM for multiple projects, assuming we would win one? We understand this would mean only one of the multiples could be won at a time if we take this approach.

Each requirement at the task order level will have its own evaluation criteria that you will be evaluated against.

SOW 1.17.7

Please confirm whether the government expects this to be an actual schedule or a narrative that "factors in" and describes how the Procurement Plan, Transition Plan and others relate to one another. If the government expects this to be an actual schedule, please describe how this schedule differs from the Task order Schedule and the Sync Matrix.

A schedule is not required.

If a small business supports a large business and the same large business supports the same small business will this be viewed unfavorably as limiting the amount of competition in the MATOC?

This question is unclear. However, if each business was a separate contract holder as a prime on the MATOC, it should not limit competition for task orders.

To enable fair competition and collaboration between small-large partnerships, will the government please separate the small businesses into one competitive pool and the large businesses into another competitive pool?

MATOC task orders will be either competed unrestricted and open to all contract holders (other than small businesses or small businesses) or specifically set aside (under FAR 19) for the small business awardees in accordance with the competition matrix in the solicitation.

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Solicitation page 8

For the Information Technology (IT) Planner, would they government be willing to accept in lieu of 4yr degree, provide an IT Planner with 2yr AAS Degree in Drafting & Design, RCDD Certification (highest engineering certification in Telecommunications), NICET IV (highest engineering certification in Life Safety & Fire Detection), and a myriad of manufacturer certifications?

No.

SOW 1.8.6.9

Please confirm the government will allow a contractor with a "current" but not "active" clearance to meet the requirement.

We understand "active" clearance cannot be maintained unless the contractor is working on a project that requires a secret clearance.

For purposes of this solicitation, the IT Planner is not Key Personnel. 1.8.6.9 is a task order requirement and at that time would require a current active secret clearance.

Contracting

Will the SharePoint site be hosted on DEPS or another DoD SharePoint environment, or will vendor be expected to host SharePoint?

This is a contractor requirement to provide.

Contracting

If the SharePoint site is hosted by DoD, will vendor be granted "Site Collection Administrator" or "Full-Control" permission to a SharePoint Site Collection?

This is a contractor requirement to provide.

62 Page 108 Contracting

Will all users of the SharePoint portal be internal to DoD? Yes.

Volume 1 Tab D General

For the Senior Contract Manager key personnel position, will the Government accept the substitution of years of experience in lieu of the four-year college degree in business or related field from an accredited college/university?

No.

SF1449 - pages 29 & 38 General

Insurance requirements are conflicting in Sections 6 (page 29) & 16(page 38). Please confirm Section 6 takes precedence and Section 16 shall be deleted.

Paragraph 6 has been deleted. Paragraph 16 has been replaced with new language regarding Insurance requirements.

65 SF1449 - page 30-32 & 39- General

Antiterrorism & Operational Security: Sections 9 & 19 have conflicting information. Please advise which one is correct.

Section 9 is correct.

66 p. 8

1.8.7 Organizational and

Conflicts of Interest:

General

If an offeror's team does not include a subcontractor or consultant that would present a Conflict of Interest regarding procurement of equipment, is an OCI Mitigation Plan still required to be submitted with the offeror's proposal response?

Yes.

Factor 1: Technical Exp & Mgmt Approach General

The three-year requirement to demonstrate OCONUS experience may severely limit a small business' ability to compete. Will the government consider the OCONUS IO&T experience of the small business offeror's staff/personnel to qualify them as acceptable?

No, the experience must be that of a business, not of individual staff/personnel.