Points_of_Clarification_-_W91QEX-16-Q-0051-0002.pdf

**** POINTS OF CLARIFICATION BASED ON ADDITIONAL/FOLLOW-ON QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ****

SOLICITATION W91QEX-16-Q-0051

1) A follow-up question to Question/Answer 38 and 39 as it relates to the SBA's Ostensible Subcontractor Rule has been submitted as follows:

"Q&A numbers 38 and 39 suggest contacting the applicable SBA office regarding JV approval and the Ostensible Subcontractor Rule. We contacted the office, and the SBA confirms that the JV needs to be approved upon Award, not by proposal submission. Could the government please confirm the JV will need to be approved upon award, as long as the JV package is under review by the SBA?"

ANSWER: No. Based on the Government's timeline to make contract award and a need to ONLY evaluate offers from responsible 8(a) concerns, whether stand-alone or via a Joint Venture, Mentor/Portege, etc., the requirement remains the same. The SBA has confirmed that approval for a partnership can be obtained prior to proposal submission. Also, this requirement has been prevalent since the inception of the solicitation and should have provided perspective offeror's sufficient time to propose a partnership agreement through the SBA with enough time to obtain review and approval from the SBA prior to the closing date of the solicitation. Any Offer who submits a proposal in response to the solicitation as a partnership, joint venture, mentor/protégé, etc. will be submitted to the SBA for verification and validation that the partnership represents an active 8(a) concern eligible for contract award.

2) A follow-up question to Question/Answer 21 as it relates to an Offeror's response to be submitted in PDF file format.

ANSWER: At this time, and after discussion with the administrator of SOUTHCOM's email server in relation to IT security protocols, firewalls, and other security infrastructure, the Government is willing to accept Adobe PDF files as an acceptable format for proposal submission. Please note; however, it is the Offeror's responsibility to assure that the Government receives a proposal which is complete, accurate, and submitted timely. Should there be an email rejected for reasons of file format, embedded documents, etc., the Offeror shall revise and resubmit in an acceptable format and must assure that the Government acknowledges receipt of the Offeror's email and complete proposal submission.

Additionally, for compatibility purposes, the Offeror shall not submit proposals in a Microsoft Word Application newer than Microsoft Word 2010. NOTE: Solicitation Amendment W91QEX-16-Q-0051-0002 has been issued with this change highlighted in red text.

3) Reference: "Addendum to FAR 52.212-1" of the solicitation, Volume 2 / Factor 2 - Past Performance – A question in reference to the above section of the solicitation has been submitted regarding who is the responsible part which must submit Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs). As written in the addendum to FAR 52.212-1, the section reads that the “Offeror” must submit a complete and accurate Past Performance Questionnaire and then references Attachment 1. The Attachment reads correctly regarding the submission of the PPQs. The Offeror need not submit the PPQ's themselves, but rather shall have their referenced point(s) of contact submit the questionnaire(s) directly to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. As a point of clarification, the Offeror is not required to submit the PPQs directly to the Contract Specialist (CS) or Contracting Officer (KO) but should assure their past performance reference point(s) of contact does submit the completed PPQ to the CS and KO. NOTE:

Solicitation Amendment W91QEX-16-Q-0051-0002 has been issued with this change highlighted in red text.

4) A follow-up question regarding whether the Government is willing to extend the solicitation deadline.

ANSWER: No. At this time, the Government does not anticipate the deadline for proposal submission will be extended.