Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF APRIL 02, 2008 FBO #2319
MODIFICATION

D -- NFIRS HELP DESK SUPPORT

Notice Date

3/31/2008
 

Notice Type

Modification
 

NAICS

541513 — Computer Facilities Management Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, NETC Acquisition Section, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD, 21727, UNITED STATES
 

ZIP Code

21727
 

Solicitation Number

HSFEEM-08-Q-0024
 

Response Due

4/7/2008
 

Archive Date

4/22/2008
 

Point of Contact

Charles Tama, Contract Specialist, Phone 301-447-1455, Fax 301-447-1242
 

E-Mail Address

charles.tama@dhs.gov
 

Small Business Set-Aside

Total HUB-Zone
 

Description

The purpose of this amendment is to answer potential offeror questions which were due no later than 4:00 PM Washington, D.C. local time, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 2007. 1. If teamed with another contractor, can their past performance be used? ANSWER: Yes. 2. Can we include personal/employee past performance? ANSWER: No. The services are non-personal which means that contractor employees must meet minimum qualifications to do the work required. We?re contracting for the services, not for particular people. 3. Since the Technical and Management Plan is the most important evaluation factor, will the government increase the page count to 15 pages exclusive of the Cover Page and Table of Contents Resumes? This would enable prospective contractors to more thoroughly and accurately respond to the requirements outlined in the solicitation. ANSWER: No. The government expects a great deal of competition for this requirement based on the very large response to the sources sought notice. This expectation requires the government to place reasonable limits on offerors proposals to ensure that adequate time is available for limited evaluation resources to be effectively utilized. 4. Are resumes excluded from the page count? ANSWER: Yes. 5. The solicitation states the contract type will be firm fixed price (Section Q) but requires hourly rate pricing. Will the resulting contract be a Firm Fixed Price Hourly Labor Rate (time and materials) or Firm Fixed Price (based on total level of effort defined) contract? Answer: Firm Fixed Price (based on hours cited in the solicitation) contract. 6. Please confirm a separate Price Proposal is required. ANSWER: A separate Price Proposal is required. 7. Should the Reps and Certs be included as a separate attachment (or with the Price Proposal if required)? ANSWER: Include Reps and Certs as a separate attachment or certify that these have been accomplished via On line Representations and Certifications (ORCA) IAW combined synopsis/solicitation provision ?N. Participants shall include a completed copy of the provision at 52.212-3, OFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS with quote?. 9. In reference to the above solicitation I have an item that I would like some further clarification on. In regards to the 4,160 man hours that are required the first year, I assume this is for two support staff working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. In the event that one of these staff members should become ill or request a leave of absence what is the expectations for staffing the support center? Should we have another staff member ready to step in or will short gaps in time with only one staff member be permitted? ANSWER: The current contractor provides one full time employee and two part time employees. The government does not put any restriction on Potential offerors. They are free to propose any combination of full and/or part time workers to cover the hours of service required. How the successful contractor maintains services when their employees are sick or otherwise absent is an internal decision of the contractor?s management. The government is contracting for the services and has a reasonable expectation that it will receive them. 10. Who is the incumbent? ANSWER: C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. 11. Is the incumbent qualified to bid? ANSWER: No. 12. What is the current staffing level of the NFIRS center? ANSWER: The current contractor provides one full time employee and two part time employees. 13. The RFP indicates the number of hours will support only two full time personnel, does this include a project or program manager or should that be quoted separately from the hours stated? ANSWER: The government is contracting for services. How an offeror proposes to provide the required services is completely up to the offeror. 14. Is an incumbent or are Government personnel currently performing this work? If so, would you please identify? ANSWER: Incumbent - C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. 15. If there is an incumbent, please provide any releasable contract information. ANSWER: Current contract is EME-2003-CO-0184 with C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. 16. If there is an incumbent, are they eligible to participate in this solicitation? ANSWER: No. 17. If Government personnel are currently performing the work, is this solicitation the result of an A-76 study? ANSWER: Government personnel are not currently performing this work. 18. Since much of this work seems to lend itself well to remote performance, would the customer consider solutions that propose remote support, with site visits provided when needed, as long as this method provides advantages (e.g., cost savings) to the Government? ANSWER: No. The government requires on-site service. 19. Will the contractor use an existing tool for tracking NFIRS Vendor Issues, or should this be included in the bid? ANSWER: The government provides the necessary tools. 20. Is there background information that you might be able to share with us, such as the current size of the team, budget, skills set, type of coverage, current contractor, etc. ANSWER: Potential offerors are free to propose any combination of labor to cover the required service hours. The size of the current team is 1 full time and 2 part time individuals. The current contractor is C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. The skill set of the workers is a function of the work, which is identified in the Performance Work Statement. The required coverage is spelled out in the Performance Work Statement. The FY 08 year budget is $375,000.00. 20. How is the NFIRS Help Desk being supported today? ANSWER: Through contract EME-2003-CO-0184 with C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. 21. Is the NFIRS Help Desk managed by Government or Contract personnel? ANSWER: Contract personnel. 22. Are there currently processes and procedures (such as a Standard Operations Procedures Manual, SOP) in place for operation of the NFIRS Help Desk? ANSWER: Yes. Procedures are in place. 23. If not, is development of an SOP part of the contract? ANSWER: Development of an SOP is not part of the contract. 24. Regarding transition planning, who is the eventual contractor to transition to at the end of the contract? ANSWER: If these services are still required, they will be recompeted about six months prior to the expiration of any contract resulting from this solicitation. It is impossible to know at this point who the new contractor, if any, will be. 25. Regarding the statement, ?Employee benefits of the firm?, is the government intending to evaluate the benefits provided by the firm to the employee or the benefits of the employee to the government? Please clarify. ANSWER: The government intends to consider the benefits provided by the firm to the employee(s) in its evaluation. 26. If supplied, are the key personnel resumes included as part of the 10 page limit of the Technical and Management Plan? ANSWER: No. 27. Regarding Past Performance is the 2-page limit inclusive of all three Past Performance Qualification or is it a 2-page limit per Past Performance Qualification. ANSWER: The 2-page limit on Past Performance is per Past Performance. 28. Section L, Period of Performance states for CLIN 0004 and CLIN 0005 that the associated Option Periods are respectively Option Period 1 and Option Period 2. Should this not read Option Period 3 and Option Period 4? ANSWER: Yes. Thank you for pointing out this error. The pertinent portion of Section L should read: Optional Periods of Performance are in one year increments as follows: Option Period 1: June 1, 2009 through May 31, 2010 (CLIN 0002); Option Period 2: June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011 (CLIN 0003); Option Period 3: June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012 (CLIN 0004); Option Period 4: June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013 (CLIN 0005) 29. Please confirm that resumes and past performance do not count against the 10pg Technical quote submission. ANSWER: Resumes and past performance do not count against the 10 page Technical quote submission. 30. Would you please provide the current Contract information (Contract Number and Incumbent Vendor)? Is the current vendor Hubzone and if not, are they able to bid on this opportunity? ANSWER: EME-2003-CO-0184 with C2 Technologies, Inc., 1921 GALLOWS RD STE 840, VIENNA, VA 22182-3900. C2 Tech is not a Hub Zone company and therefore is not eligible to bid on this requirement. 31. Please explain the reason for the decline in estimated hours over the potential 60 month award (Base year: 4,160; Option Year 1: 4,000; Option Year 2; 3,845; Option Year 3: 3,695; Option year 4: 3,550). ANSWER: Historical data indicates a decline in the number of inquiries as users become more familiar with the NFIRS system. The government expectation is that the services won?t be as necessary in the out years, because the number of questions is anticipated to continue to decline, thereby making the action of reducing hours reasonable. Funding for the NFIRS program may be constrained as well, going forward. These considerations resulted in the hours quoted in the solicitation. 32. Emmitsburg, MD, 21727 is not listed as an SBA Hubzone area. Will vendors be prohibited from proposing personnel (and if the need arises in the future) replacing personnel that live outside of a Hubzone, such as Emmitsburg? Or is the compliance requirement that the proposing vendor be an SBA Hubzone, with a small business size standard for $23M? ANSWER: The compliance requirement is that the proposing vendor be an SBA Hubzone, and a small business with a small business size standard for $23M for the NAICS code being solicited. NAICS code is: 541513. 33. Is the reason that there is a decline in the hours each year economically motivated or is it due to less hours required due to reduction in work effort? ANSWER: See answer to Question 31 above. 34. Paragraph O - Evaluation Factors: 18th line - submit a staffing plan for achieving the SOO. What is SOO? Statement of Objective? Is this same as Statement of Work? ANSWER: SOO is a Statement of Objectives. It is not the same as a Statement of Work. A SOO is part of a performance based Acquisition whereby the government relies on the contractor?s expertise to propose a methodology to fulfill a requirement. A SOW is not usually performance based and normally spells out in some detail how the government wants work accomplished. 34. Do the required resume pages count against the 10 page technical submission? If not is there a limit to the number of pages for resumes? ANSWER: Resume pages do not count against the 10 page technical submission. 36. We note that there are 22,000 fire departments that report an average of 14 million incidents and 1 million fires each year; can the government provide call volume statistics in terms of average calls per day, most frequent type of calls, or the average time to respond to an inquiry? ANSWER: Last year we received 1,685 inquiries via telephone, fax, and email. The most common questions involved general questions about the NFIRS program and how to participate, followed by questions about the reporting tool. We do not have estimates on the average response time per inquiry. 37. We are working on the proposal response and I wanted to clarify format for the pricing section. It states that the award is anticipated to be Firm Fixed Price. It also states the proposal must reflect hourly rate, hours, and extended price for each labor category for the base and option years. Should we be providing a total FFP at the end of the pricing section showing a total bid amount or are you looking for a simpler format? ANSWER: Provide a total overall price at the end of the detailed pricing section. 38. "To comply with the requirements HSAR Clause 3052.204-71, and Department policy, the contractor must complete the following forms for applicable personnel who will be performing work under this contract as indicated: a. Standard Form (SF) 85P, Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions. b. FD-258 fingerprint cards. c. DHS Form 11000-6, Conditional Access to Sensitive But Unclassified Information Non-Disclosure Agreement. Required of all applicable contractor personnel. d. DHS Form 11000-9, Disclosure and Authorization Pertaining to Consumer Reports Pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)." Question: Are all of these forms required for purposes of the proposal response or can they be provided post award for key personnel? ANSWER: The successful offeror will have to provide these forms after award but prior to any employee beginning work at the government facility. These forms are NOT required for the proposal. 39. I was hoping to clarify the required delivery method for the "NFIRS Help Desk" solicitation proposal responses due April 7th. It states email version and hard copies in separate areas. Is an (email) electronic version acceptable for purposes of the response or is a hard copy required as well? ANSWER: An (email) electronic version is acceptable. We recommend all offerors follow up with a hard copy which need be dated on or before 7 April 2008, to ensure that a proposal is received. The government does not take responsibility for corrupt data files, files which cannot be opened using standard MS Office 2003 applications, nor for omissions/failures/mistakes caused by or attributable to any hardware/software malfunctions. 40. Had a quick question in reference to solicitation HSFEEM-08-Q-0024. Is this existing requirement or new requirement? ANSWER: It is an existing requirement. 42. We are working on writing a proposal for you and would like to know if you have any clarification on total number of staff. ANSWER: This is a Performance Based Contracting action, which means that the government leaves it to the discretion of the offeror(s) to propose the appropriate labor categories and number of workers to accomplish the work described in the Performance Work Statement. 43. I was hoping to obtain an additional clarification. It states the following in the solicitation regarding personnel clearance: "To comply with the requirements HSAR Clause 3052.204-71, and Department policy, the contractor must complete the following forms for applicable personnel who will be performing work under this contract as indicated: a. Standard Form (SF) 85P, Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions. b. FD-258 fingerprint cards. c. DHS Form 11000-6, Conditional Access to Sensitive But Unclassified Information Non-Disclosure Agreement. Required of all applicable contractor personnel. d. DHS Form 11000-9, Disclosure and Authorization Pertaining to Consumer Reports Pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)." Question: Are all of these forms required for purposes of the proposal response or can they be provided post award for key personnel? ANSWER: They can be provided post award. They are NOT required with the proposal. 44. What is the current COT or technology that is utilized for issue tracking and updating of incidents? ANSWER: We have a database application that was developed for tracking inquiries. The contractor will not be required to modify or maintain the database application and it will be accessed through computers that we provide. The successful offeror will not have to supply hardware and they don't have to maintain the software. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO FEDBIZOPPS ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (31-MAR-2008); 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/DHS/FEMA/NETC/HSFEEM-08-Q-0024/listing.html)
 

Place of Performance

Address: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Emergency Training Center, United States Fire Administration, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD

Zip Code: 21727

Country: UNITED STATES
 

Record

SN01545751-F 20080402/080401073315 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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