Q and A 2020APR02.docx

Solicitation No. W912HQ20R0005

Q1: Does the $250,000 limit for BPA calls include options?

A1: Yes, the $250,000 limit applies to all work under a call.

Q2: Is the intent of rotating some calls non-competitively to try and give each BPA holder an equal share of work in terms of dollars awarded?

A2: No, the intent of rotating some work is to maintain a competitive pool of vendors. The BPA vehicles are still intended to be competitive.

Q3: If you have recent and relevant PPQs that were submitted for a different solicitation, can they be resubmitted for this solicitation?

A3: Yes, all recent and relevant PPQs can be used for this solicitation.

Q4: For the small business plan, is a GSA-approved plan acceptable?

A4: No, the GSA format does not meet DoD requirements. HECSA Contracting Office will send a DoD template to Offerors as requested.

Q5: What is the approximate forecast for total work under these BPAs?

A5. The requirements are initiated by the Corps’ field offices and can be highly variable depending on policy interpretations and Congressional appropriations. Our best estimate at this time is approximately 10-15 calls per year with a total annual value of about $1,500,000. Once the BPAs are in place, IWR will provide and update a forecast of the number of expected calls to the best of our ability.

Q6: In Attachment 2 the dates to submit questions (1 April 2:30 pm ET) and the proposal (15 April 4:30 PM ET) do not match the overarching BPA RFP dates (2 April 2:30 PM and 20 April 4:30 PM). Do the dates provided in the BPA RFP take precedent (i.e., questions on all RFP content due by 2 April 2:30 PM and proposals in response to all BPA RFP content due by 20 April 4:30 PM)?

A6: Questions are to be submitted by 2 APR 2020. Proposals are due by 20 APR 2020 at 4:30 p.m. (ET).

Q7: Attachment 2 states under the Format Section - “Resumes for key personnel do not count against the proposal page count. Resumes for key personnel are limited to 3 pages per key person.” Key personnel are not discussed in Attachment 2, 3, or in the other Solicitation documentation. Please clarify what is meant by key personnel.

A7: Per the Instructions to Offerors in the main solicitation, under Factor 4: “The sample BPA Call proposal response shall include evidence of the Offeror’s understanding of the sample IEPR requirements, the Offeror’s approach to fulfilling the requirements, their understanding and ability to utilize NAS’ policy for selecting committee members, and their understanding and ability to adhere to the BPA Call schedule.” Attachment 2, “REQUEST FOR BPA CALL PROPOSAL (RFBCP)” states: “Resumes for key personnel may be submitted with your proposal. Resume pages do not count against the proposal page count. Resumes for key personnel are limited to 3 pages per key person.” If the Offeror would like to provide resumes for key personnel as part of the evidence provided for Factor 4, those resumes will not count against the page count for the example proposal, but should be limited to 3 pages each.

Q8: The file named RFP for IEPR BPAs.pdf page 28, Factor 4 states – “2. Offerors shall provide a one-page example resume for each review panel discipline listed in Task 2 of the PWS for Example Call. See Attachment 3 for Example Call PWS.” However, Attachment 2 says resumes are limited to 3 pages. Please clarify the page limitation (1 page or 3 pages) to be included in response to the Example Call in order to be compliant with Factor 4.

A8: See answer, A7. The 3-page limit applies to key Offeror personnel. The 1-page limit applies to example resumes for expert panel members who meet the required discipline expertise specified in the example PWS.

Q9: During previous contracts there has been a requirement that all peer reviewers must be subcontractors to the prime. Has that requirement been removed from this BPA’s expectations?

A9: Per section 3.1.2 of the BPA PWS: “The Contractor shall be solely responsible for establishing the review panel, ensuring the availability of review panel members for the duration of the work and managing the performance of the review panel independent of Government supervision or control.” In theory a member of a peer review panel could be an employee of the Outside Eligible Organization (the prime contractor), as long as the panel member does not present a conflict of interest under, and the overall panel meets the intent of the National Academy of Science’s (NAS) “Policy on Committee Composition and Balance and Conflicts of Interest.” However, note also the requirement that: “The Contractor is also expected to provide programmatic balance in the use of individual reviewers across multiple calls. Continued use of the same reviewers across a majority of calls will not be considered balanced.”

Q10: Factor 3 – Past Performance (page 27) requires PPI for 3-5 “contracts or subcontracts”. Does “contracts or subcontracts” include all of the following: IDIQ/BPA-type contracts, task orders/projects issued under IDIQ/BPA-type contracts, and/or stand-alone projects?

A10: Yes.

Q11: The current situation caused by the COVID-19 may cause inadvertent delays in receiving the required PPI information, and that situation may continue for an indeterminate period of time. What does the Government want proposers to do under those circumstances?

A11: We need the PPI info by 20 APR 2020. We will make an adjustment in the due date only if most or all offerors are unable to comply with the due date.

Q12: Page 27 of 34 Factor 3b - b. The Naval Facilities (NAVFAC)/USACE Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) included in the solicitation (Section L, Attachment 1) is provided for the offeror or its team members to submit to the client for each project the offeror includes in its proposal for “Factor IV” – Past Performance. Are we correct in assuming that should read Factor 3?

A12: Correct, Factor 3 is the Past Performance evaluation factor. Please disregard the reference to a Factor IV.

Q13: Attachment 3, Page 13 – The Notice to Proceed is listed as June 1, 2020, however in Attachment 2 it indicates that May 15, 2020 as the estimated start date. Which date is correct to use for scheduling in our BPA Call proposal response under Factor 4? If the start is May 15, 2020, should we still use July 1, 2020 for the receipt of the review documents and July 22, 2020 for the Public comment receipt or do we use the NTP plus calendar days?

A13: Please disregard the reference to “May 15, 2020” in Attachment 2 and base your example proposal response (Factor 4) on the draft schedule stated in Attachment 3.

Q14: Factor 5 – Price Factor: Will the Labor Rates used to price the Sample BPA Call be considered BPA-level rates upon award, and therefore will the Offeror be required to use those rates when pricing future BPA Calls under the awarded BPA? If so, will the BPA allow for annual escalation of those Labor Rates?

A14: The Offeror will NOT be required to use the labor rates used to price the sample BPA call when pricing actual calls. Please note the discussion of price evaluation in Section M2 of the solicitation. Regarding the sample BPA call: “The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the proposed prices are unreasonably high, unrealistically low, or significantly unbalanced.” Regarding actual future calls: “The Price Factor on individual BPA Calls will use price analysis to determine the total evaluated price in order to support the selection of the best-value proposal using a trade-off analysis. Price history will be maintained by the Government and may be used to conduct price analysis for BPA Calls that are no subject to competition (Calls that are rotated to a specific BPA holder). […]The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the prices are unreasonably high, unrealistically low, or significantly unbalanced.”

There is no escalation, since we will keep record of rates submitted by each BPA holder each year, and most calls will be competed. That is, all BPA holders can adjust their rates on each competed call. Therefore, each BPA holder can adjust their rates as they want, while taking into consideration both escalation, and the economizing forces of competition. For rotated calls, we will have recent pricing history in our files.