DDE_Questions_1st_Year.docx

Questions applicable to both RFQs

1. Please identify more explicitly DDE’s desired qualifications for candidates, and the weighting given to each qualification in determining their fair-trade-off-value as embedded in Factor 1. Implied qualities seem to be: Joint Qualified Officer or JPMEII, academic credit hours beyond a master’s degree or PhD, and longevity in teaching senior service college topics.

Response: Paragraph 4.2.’x’ provide indicators where you find ques such as “plus”, “highly qualified”, or “Highest qualified” depending on the year group.

2. How do DDE bid evaluators use existing USAWC COR and CPARS reports to determine continuing suitability of existing contractors as part of the determination for Past Performance?

Contracting- In the case of knowledge-based services, past performance is determined off of CPARS & COR reports on the vendor, not the key personnel (unless they are one and the same). Unsatisfactory reports are noted, and can be used to determine the vendor Not Responsible and therefore, ineligible for award.

3. To ensure the quality and diversity of scholarship among faculty instructor candidates, should DDE consider expanding its desirable qualities for this bidding cycle to include: experience and longevity in teaching via distance education, other military services and interagency experience, specialty schools (e.g., SAMS and SAAS), and research and publishing on topics relevant to DDE’s curriculum?

Response: Follow the RFQ. See paragraph 4.2.’x’.

4. The new on-going requirement for matrix games has proven to add significant time to the preparation for resident courses, especially if scenarios will be swapped regularly. Such preparation includes the instructor learning the new scenario, additional work with students (e.g., notifications to students, additional explanations to questions, rehearsals) in organizing them and preparing for the course, and an additional, rather complex evaluation during SRC. Although an excellent learning and evaluation tool for the students, this extensive requirement is not mentioned explicitly in the 1st Year and 2nd Year RFQ. What is the full extent of the time and effort requirements that DDE expects of its contract FIs?

Response: Level of effort was adjusted internally.

5. What is DDE’s procedure for handling academic integrity issues, and what is the role and level of effort expected of the contract FI? Under what CLIN are contract instructors compensated for this process?

Response: Follow the RFQ. See paragraph 5.2.’x’ and 5.3.’x’.

6. Currently contract faculty working remotely from Carlisle, as allowed in the contract, are shutout of important elements needed to teach including documents on Share Point, the G: drive, Fair Use and Events Manager databases, and other items behind the Carlisle Barracks’ firewall. Under Para 3.0 Government Responsibilities, will DDE change access to the VPN to allow access, or issue VPN capable computers to contractors? If not, what will the government do to enable contract faculty to perform these required tasks?

Response: A Fair Use PDF is sent to the course director as needed. Follow the RFQ.

7. The new and rather time-consuming additional requirement to evaluate students based on the Course Evaluation Report (CER) and then incorporate that data into the Army Evaluation Report (AER) is not covered in either RFQ. What are the additional time and effort requirements expected of contract faculty in order to complete these tasks?

Response: Level of effort was adjusted internally.

8. The 2nd Year RFQ, paragraph 4, Contractor Qualifications

a. This paragraph states that, “If two Faculty Instructors are submitted, the evaluation of the submission will be based on the lowest qualified of the two ….” No such requirement is shown in the 1st Year RFQ. Does this same standard apply to 1st Year?

Response: Follow the RFQ.

b. A team of two instructors bring greater diversity of experience, have more time and attention available for students, and have built in flexibility and back-up to ensure “an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks” as required by RFQ paragraph 1.6.4. Will DDE give weighting in its desired qualities to the importance of two-person teams for providing more capability, by removing the current requirement of awarding a lower evaluation if team members have different capabilities? Would DDE consider giving partial credit if one team member is a JQO, for instance, and the other is not?

Response: Follow the RFQ. See paragraph 4.

9. The 2nd Year RFQ, paragraph 5.1.1.3 includes a parenthetical statement about the completion of an external online training course. What is the nature of this training course? Are all contractors, even those with prior USAWC distance education teaching experience expected to complete an external training course? By when must the contractor complete it? Will a similar requirement be included in the 1st Year RFQ? Will this requirement be compensated under the CLIN for faculty training?

Response: The parenthetical example requirement is applicable to the student of the faculty member.

10. Both RFQs, paragraphs 5.12 and 5.13, respectively address contractor manpower reporting. These entries should be consistent across both RFQs, to include their descriptive paragraphs, since they are an enterprise-wide mandate. The ECMRA process is inadequately explained in the text of the RFQ. In order to avoid confusion and meet expectations, what exactly are the requirements to complete the ECMRA requirement? For example, how many reports must be submitted over the course of the entire contract? Our calculations reflect six for 1st Year and seven for 2nd Year, are these accurate? What specific data is required for the report?

Response: ECMRA is required for each fiscal year contract activity occurs regardless of the number of option years. You will invoice up to 5 times for ECMRA regardless of the number of time you access/input to the system during the 5 year period. Reporting requirements are determined by contractor activity.

11. 2nd Year Addendum, page 6 includes a detailed explanation of how two quotes will be awarded five-year contracts, two others will be awarded four-year contracts, and the fifth award will be for one year. No such statement appears in the addendum for 1st Year. Is this an oversight or intentional?

Contracting- This is not an oversight. 1004 is running all 6 positions as Base+4 (five year). Please note that the numbers for 1005 are: two (2) 5-year contracts, two (2) 4-year contracts, and one (1) 3-year contract. All contracts awarded from 1005 will have a two-month extension at the end. The government’s intention is to break up the contracts so that they do not all expire at the same time.

12. The new requirement for FlipGrid oral presentation evaluations is addressed in a cursory fashion in the RFQ. What are the additional time requirements and the tasks expected to support this new requirement?

Response: Level of effort was adjusted internally.

13. Please confirm that any Contractor travel costs associated with travel to Antietam and Sharpsburg, VA and Gettysburg, PA for the Battlefield Staff Rides shall be included in the Battlefield Staff Ride CLIN pricing.

Contracting- The only event that will provide a separate travel allowance is the trip to Washington DC, which the amount is Not To Exceed $75. All other travel expenses shall be included in the appropriate CLIN.

14. Addendum TO 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items, Paragraph C, Quote Preparation Instructions, Page 2. This paragraph states that quoters are to submit a completed solicitation as part of proposal submission. Please see the below as it relates to this request:

Questions applicable to Amendment 1 of both solicitations:

17. Both state, “Please note that the these contracts are for Base +2 option years, and the requirement is for Base +4” What does this note mean? Are we bidding on contracts with two-option or four-option years?

Contracting- In the note, a ‘requirement’ is just that, a requirement for services. A ‘contract’ is a requirement that has been awarded a contract. The old contracts are base+2 (with 2nd year also having the 2-month extension), while the new will be dependent on which solicitation you are working from. 1004 has all six positions as base+4. 1005 has varying lengths (see 11). Any information gained from those previous contracts for this year’s requirements would need to be adjusted for the difference.

Questions applicable to DDE Instructors 1st Year, W91QF0-19-Q-1004

19. May 1st Year instructors also teach a graduate seminar, as has been done in the past, since they are already teaching SRC, and most graduate seminar coursework is completed before the summer? This could be done on a contractor and government optional basis akin to the optional battlefield staff ride CLIN in existing contracts.

Response: Follow the RFQ.

20. May one 1st Year instructor from a teamed pair also teach a 2nd Year online elective, as has been done in the past, while the other addresses the DE2304 requirements? This could be done on a contractor and government optional basis akin to the optional battlefield staff ride CLIN in existing contracts.

Response: Follow the RFQ.

21. Paragraph 5.7 identifies course development as a requirement; however, the written description includes researching, formatting and editing, updating, and serving as a point of contact during the course and FRC, in addition to development. In the Performance Requirement Summary and Deliverables Schedule, this requirement is further defined to include facilitation, and evaluation of written requirements. These tasks blur the line between development, which most likely will occur once during a contract, and execution and update which happens every year. Could DDE please clarify the tasks of the Regional Studies Course Development CLIN and the Core Paper and Forums CLIN given these conflicting descriptions?

Response: Contractor will invoice for the development CLIN if s/he leads the development of a region.

22. Paragraph 5.7 indicates that the course development CLIN is optional. However, CLIN 0006, on page 25 of 80 does not reflect optional. Is 0006 optional as well?

Contracting- XXX6 is optional, to be funded at the option of the Government, unlike XX12, where quoting is at the option of the vendor. Vendors shall quote for XXX6 or their quote shall be considered non-compliant.