Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF DECEMBER 14, 2006 FBO #1844
MODIFICATION

R -- T&A and Payroll Processing System

Notice Date

12/12/2006
 

Notice Type

Modification
 

NAICS

541214 — Payroll Services
 

Contracting Office

Agency for International Development, Overseas Missions, Egypt USAID-Cairo, Department of State Unit #64902, APO, AE, 09839, UNITED STATES
 

ZIP Code

09839
 

Solicitation Number

263-07-008
 

Response Due

12/16/2006
 

Archive Date

2/28/2007
 

Point of Contact

Jonathan Palmer, Contract Officer, Phone 011-2-02-522-6910, Fax 011-2-02-516-4739, - Botros Wilson, Acquisition Specialist, Phone 20-2-522-6921, Fax 20-2-516-4739,
 

E-Mail Address

jpalmer@usaid.gov, bwilson@usaid.gov
 

Description

The purpose of amendment # 01 to RFQ # 263-07-008 is to Include the attached questions and answers. Q 1: Is there an incumbent contract? A 1: No Q 2What kind of contract do you anticipate awarding? A 2: It will be Commercial Items Order. Q 3 Can you please provide the name and contact information for the technical representative? A 3 At this time all communications should be with the Procurement Office. Contact names and addresses in the synopsis. Q 4 Can you please provide the program office? A 4 Question is not clear and does not affect the proposal submittal Q 5 Is the place of performance the contractors facility? A 5 Yes Q 6 How many employees will be on payroll each year? A 6 Up to 150 Q 7 Are all of these employees in the military? If not, how many are civilian? A 7 All are civilian Q 8 How many employees will be in a combat zone, and how long will they be in a combat zone? A 8 None Q 9 Is the pay for these payroll services $50,000--$100,000 for five years? If not, then what is the pay for each year? A 9 Each company will submit their costs to USAID. USAID does not determine the price for services charged Q 10 When is the very last day to e-mail this proposal? A 10 The solicitation closes on December 16, 2006 at 17:30 hours, Cairo Local Time Q 11 Will these supervisors have their own computers? A 11 Yes. Q 12 If so, what types of computers will they have? A 12 USAID will not accept any proposal where software and/or hardware must be installed on our system. So, it shouldn't matter what kinds of computers we have. Q 13 Is this a new request for quotation not related at all to the previous request? What is different on the RFQ that wasn't on the previous RFQ? Was the previous RFQ awarded? A 13 This should be considered as the only solicitation to meet current requirements. No award was made before. Q 14 Are all employees salaried employees? The reason for asking this is that T&A systems usually track hourly employees. Salaried employees are paid automatically with exceptions noted within the payroll system; vacations, illness, unpaid leave, etc. - there is no need for Time Clocks. A 14 Employees are generally salaried, but the system must be able to accommodate part-time and temporary workers. Q 15 What specific capabilities must the Time and Attendance system have? A 15 The system should be flexible enough to be used in many ways. We are looking for the best off-the-shelf system at the lowest price. We want to be able to enter our time and attendance information into the system and have it feed directly into the payroll system". Q 16 : s there a need for lien, garnishment or child support payments? A 16 Yes, although such payroll offsets are not common, the need may arise from time to time. Q 17 Do you have a requirement for checks, stubs, and reports to be generated at your location or are we express shipping documents? A 17 We should be able to print the reports and stubs right out of the system. No checks. Q 18 If you are printing checks locally, do we quote for reams of check-formatted blank paper or alternatively specify our suppliers? A 18 We don't send checks. All employees receive ETF from the Treasury. Q 19 What happens when an employee does not provide a valid US bank account? A 19 They are not allowed to work for USAID. Q 20 Do we cut a paper check, or reverse the transaction for local disbursement? A 20 Absolutely no paper checks allowed. Employees will receive pay stubs, but not checks. We should be able to print the pay stubs right out of the system. Q 21 Do we need to provide ATM cards for employees without valid US bank accounts? A 21 No Q 22 Alternatively, can we deposit payrolls into employee travel cards? A 22 No Q 23 You have not indicated a requirement to validate employee social security numbers, provide Justice Forms I-9, etc. Are you certifying that all employees are US citizens or have the proper Green Cards? A 23 All US citizens and have valid SS numbers. . Q 24 Who will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy and validity of Social Security Numbers? A 24 USAID? Q 25 Where are the employees headquartered? A 25 Most are headquartered in Egypt and other Middle East countries. However all salary payments are made to the employees bank accounts in the US. Q 26 For how many states will State Tax withholding and reporting be required? A 26 Although State Tax withholding and reporting will generally be limited to a few states, proposals should identify any increased costs associated with processing for multiple states.? Q 27 Are you exempt from Workers Compensation insurance? A 27 Yes Q 28 Do we need to calculate a self-insurance? A 28 No Q 29Unemployment - are you exempt from Federal and State unemployment funds or do we calculate into the Federal fund at the higher 6.2% rate without ceilings? A 29 We are exempt Q 30 You indicated a direct deposit requirement previously. Are you accessing a bank for that service (provide a file) or are we? If you are, we need to know the format for the bank. Standard NACHA formats are often a jumping off point for a bank. A 30 Contractor will not be paying the employees. Payments are the responsibility of USAID. Q 31 If we are providing a file for your use in direct deposits, we presume you absorb the bank fees for batch transmission, stop payment, etc? A 31 We are a US government organization and use the US Treasury to pay our bills. The contractor will not be making the payments to the employees. USAID will. Q 32 Is there a requirement for non-scheduled special payrolls? If an employee doesn't get paid for any number of reasons, do we await the next cycle, or create a special payroll? Q 32 Either way would be fine. We usually correct it the following pay period. Q 33 Your requirement for a toll free telephone number for customer service is daunting. Very few Middle Eastern, Asian, or African countries are serviceable on a toll free basis. There is the exception of International Callback, but we do not have an authorization to skip past the local telephone authorities' billing systems, do you? A 33 We have a US based telephone system, so we only require a toll free number within the US. If you have a 1-800 number, then that is enough. Q 34 Are you exempt from national treaties about international callback? A 34 N/A Q 35 Instead, could you use an Autovon circuit to dial to a US toll-free number? A 35 N/A Q 36 Are there payments to local government authorities? A 36 No payments to local government authorities. Q 37 Are you considering ex-PATs and their tax exemptions within this quotation? Usually if ex-PATs are considered part of a contract, payments to local taxing authorities have to be considered too - e.g . taxes to the nation where the employee is working. A 37 Our employees do not pay local taxes. USAID only deducts US federal tax for their income. Q 38 Similarly, is there a 1099 payment requirement? A 38 No. Q 39 Insurances, medical policies, cafeteria plans, pretax exemptions, etc. - are we required to send paper checks for these services? A 39 No paper checks will ever be sent for any reason. Q 40 Is there a requirement to manually enter other systems to key in employee data, earnings or payments? Or are we providing reports on a memorandum basis? A 40 USAID should enter time and attendance information into the contractor's website. The contractor will process the payroll and send us a payroll report showing all income and deduction items. Q 41 Data security & the Privacy Act. What are you expecting for a certification? Could you show a generic contribution so we can understand what you are looking for? A 41 No. The format isn't important. It is up to the contractor to show whether or not they understand what is in the Privacy Act and how they comply with it. USAID must comply with the its terms, so our contractors will as well. The Act can be found at www.usdoj.gov/foia/privstat.htm There are guidelines we must follow to access, protect, use, and disclose sensitive information. Questions you may want to answer are (this is in no way a complete list): Are written policies and procedures in place regarding collection, disclosure, use, maintenance of the system of records, system security, etc, etc of personal info, and are those policies and procedures being followed? Who is your organization has access to the personal info, and is it necessary that these people have access to perform their duties? Are you aware of what sort of circumstances require the disclosure of personal info? If so, describe those circumstances. Q 42 Is this a question of data encryption for transmission? A 42 Encryption is a small part of compliance Q 43 What kind of computer are you using and what is its operating system? Are these USA IBM formatted desktop or laptop computers with Windows 98 or XP? A 43 Windows based systems Q 44 Are you trying to access demonstrations with Apple operating system computers? (Citing Apples will generate quick No-Quotes.) A 44 No Q 45 Training materials - do we presume employees using this system read and comprehend American English? A 45 Yes NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (12-DEC-2006); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
 

Web Link

Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.fbo.gov/spg/AID/OM/EGY/263-07-008/listing.html)
 

Place of Performance

Address: Egypt

Country: EGYPT
 

Record

SN01195398-F 20061214/061212222036 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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