Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 19, 2011 FBO #3374
DOCUMENT

R -- OPP Umbrella Acquisition (previously ePMO IPT) - Attachment

Notice Date

2/17/2011
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541611 — Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
 

Contracting Office

Center Acquisition Innovation Frederick;Department of Veterans Affairs;7485 New Horizon Way;Frederick MD 21703
 

ZIP Code

21703
 

Solicitation Number

VA79811RI0040
 

Response Due

2/24/2011
 

Archive Date

3/4/2011
 

Point of Contact

Melissa Maloy
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

The purpose of this amendment is to make changes to the RFI and to provide responses to questions. Following are the changes: The title of this RFI is changed from "ePMO IPT" to "OPP Umbrella Acquisition." Under Task Areas, "Actuarial Analysis" is added. Under SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS, "10 pages" is added to "Capabilities Statement and Market Information." Following are questions received and responses: 1.Judging by the sources sought, it sounds as if these services are not being procured on this comprehensive of a scale; however, I was wondering if there was an incumbent contractor performing these services, possibly on a smaller scale. If so, could you please provide the contractor, contract number, and award date? ANSWER: Currently there is no such incumbent contractor in place. However, there may be multiple incumbents on the task order level. 2.Could you please clarify, is this related to a business environment for a software environment? ANSWER: This RFI relates to requirements for services in the task areas described. 3.Can a company respond to this RFI focusing on only selected skills sets or areas of interest? ANSWER: Yes, a company can respond focusing on only selected skills sets or areas of interest, but the Government requests that the company be specific as to which areas they will be able to perform (i.e., provide answers to Questions 1 and 2 of the RFI). 4.There does not appear to be a page limit to the response, but only a one page limit to the cover page and also one page for the index. Is there a page limit, or at least a recommended length for responding to the ten questions? If yes, please indicate whether the cover sheet and index are included in the page limitation (e.g. font size, margins, spacing)? ANSWER: Please limit the responses to 10 pages not including the cover sheet and index. Please use a minimum font size of 10 point and margins of 1 inch on all sides. Single spacing is acceptable. 5.Is this a procurement for Veterans Affairs's Office of Policy & Planning or for Veterans Health Administration's Office of Policy & Planning? ANSWER: The primary customer is VA's Office of Policy & Planning. However, VA's OPP has multiple VACO clients it supports, including, but not limited to, Veteran Health Administration's (VHA's) Office of Policy and Planning. 6.Who is the owner? Is this a procurement for a specific Office within the Office of Policy & Planning, or does it cover all of OPP's activities? ANSWER: All of OPP and its existing and potential clients. 7.Could the Government provide clarification on the type of records that require analysis and verification? ANSWER: Most commonly, veteran records. Administrative records of various kinds may also be included. 8.Could the Government provide examples of the processes that would require sustainment. To what extent would these processes need to be sustained? ANSWER: Examples would include, but not be limited to, functional processes, such as the process of providing meals to Veteran patients, the process of maintaining VA facilities, and the process of operating Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) laundries. Sustainment would pertain to sustaining gains achieved in business process redesign efforts. 9.Does the Government anticipate awarding multiple ID/IQs? If so, how will the task areas be grouped? ANSWER: The Government reserves the right to award multiple IDIQs. It is currently unknown whether the Government will award one set of ID/IQs to cover all task areas or multiple sets of ID/IQs to cover groups of task areas. The Government anticipates using information from responses to this RFI as a resource for this decision. The individual task orders shall be placed as the requirement is needed and may cover multiple task areas. 10.Does the Government anticipate finding one firm to cover all task areas or are firms that can only address some of the tasks encouraged to propose? ANSWER: This is a request for information rather than a request for proposal. At this time, companies that can cover either all or a portion of the requirement are encouraged to respond. 11.Would a subcontractor under a T4 contract be prohibited from receiving a contract award under this new initiative or will an approved conflict of interest mitigation plan be acceptable? ANSWER: Submitting an offer and/or being awarded a contract as a result of the T-4 solicitation will not preclude a company from submitting an offer on the upcoming RFP or being awarded a contract in support of this requirement. Conflicts of interest may arise depending on the nature of future requirements. The VA anticipates the RFP and resulting contracts will include language to address this issue. 12.Please provide examples of requirements for the "Corporate Analysis and Evaluation" task area. ANSWER: Examples would include, but not be limited to: Corporate planning, programming, budgeting and evaluation; studying the availability of services and benefits provided by entities other than VA, such as state and local governments; and studying the capacity of VA to meet future Veteran needs. 13.Is the "Studies and Analyses" task area intended to represent studies as they are defined in the Management Analysis/Business Process Reengineering Program Management Manual? If not, please provide examples of requirements for the task area. ANSWER: Studies and analyses are not intended to be limited by such a representation. They could include a variety of projects, such as various management studies and statistical analyses. 14.The "Key Examples of Requirements" section of the RFI lists "Analyze and verify records". Is there additional detail about the type of record and what is being verified? ANSWER: See the answer to question 7. 15.What is the anticipated release date for the solicitation? ANSWER: The anticipated release date for the solicitation is unknown at this time. 16.Does the agency anticipate having the contract staff on-site, embedded with agency staff? ANSWER: This is possible and will be defined at the task order level. 17.Should responses to the RFI be individual firms or collectively as a potential team? ANSWER: Either is acceptable at the discretion of the responder. 18.Does the agency anticipate a firm fixed price or time & materials contract? ANSWER: VA anticipates any awarded contracts will allow for firm fixed price and time and materials task orders, dependent upon the requirement. 19.Will some of the contract staff be full time FTE? ANSWER: This is possible and will be defined at the task order level. 20.Is all of the work in Washington, DC or other locations? If other, where? ANSWER: The Government intends to provide the anticipated scope in the RFP and resultant contracts. Actual place of performance will be specified at the task order level. 21.What is the anticipated contract period of performance? ANSWER: The anticipated contract period of performance 5 years from the date of award. 22.Will VA provide definitions for the task areas? Could task areas be combined for those with much overlap - for example, business process improvement could encompass quality management, change management, business process reengineering, etc. ANSWER: The VA intends to define the task areas in the RFP and contract level. Further definitization may be provided at the task order level. 23.For this effort is VA primarily seeking subject matter expertise or program management expertise to support Transformation 21 initiatives? ANSWER: VA seeks a wide variety of expertise which is described in the RFI. This includes, but is not limited to, both subject matter expertise and program management expertise in a broad number of potential requirements in support of various initiatives, including, but not limited to, Transformation 21. 24.In the Quality Management task area is VA seeking clinical quality management expertise or business-focused quality management qualifications? ANSWER: Both would be considered desirable expertise/qualifications. 25.The RFI includes actuarial analyses in the Description of Requirement section, yet actuarial analyses are not included in the list of Task Areas. Is it VA's intent that actuarial analyses be a required task area? ANSWER: VA's intent at this time is that actuarial analyses represent a potential task area. 26.Will only respondents to the RFI be eligible to respond to any resulting RFP? ANSWER: We encourage all interested parties to respond to the resulting RFP. 27.What proportion of task orders would be conducted on a government site? ANSWER: No such proportion has been definitized at this time. 28.Does the Dept. of VA foresee a potential conflict of interest regarding future development work? ANSWER: Conflicts of interest may arise depending on the nature of future requirements. The VA anticipates the RFP and resulting contracts will include language to address this issue. 29.What would the typical task order duration be? ANSWER: No such typical task order duration has been definitized at this time. 30.Does the government contemplate designating any set-asides? ANSWER: The acquisition plan has not yet been established. The goal of this RFI is to gather capabilities and market information pertinent for acquisition planning. The responses to this RFI will contribute to determining the method of procurement and identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement. 31.Can you provide examples of the type of training to be provided by the contractor? ANSWER: Examples of training would include, but not be limited to, training in the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence criteria; performance improvement approaches; and quality management. 32.The scope of work outlined in the RFI is potentially quite broad. Does the VA anticipate that requirements in all areas will be well-defined enough for firm fixed price Task Orders, or does VA anticipate a blend of firm fixed price and time & materials Task Orders? ANSWER: See the answer to question 18. 33.The RFI mentions that there is a significant amount of current support work performed for the office. Please state the areas of support currently leveraging contractor support and which companies are providing that support? ANSWER: Some areas of support include assessment and analysis, business process improvement, and project management expertise by Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; predictive modeling by The Lewin Group; management analysis, business process reengineering, and program/project management support with Grant Thornton LLP; quality management support and studies by The MITRE Corporation; and data analysis by Altarum Institute and Acxiom Corporation. 34.How many procurement vehicles are currently being used to obtain contractor services and are these commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tools or in-house developed? ANSWER: Multiple vehicles are currently being used to provide services in these task areas. Both COTS and developed tools have been used to satisfy the VA's requirements. 35.Do you envision this procurement replacing or augmenting the existing support that you have? ANSWER: Task orders under the awarded contracts may replace, continue, or augment existing support. 36.Are you seeking to satisfy small business goals with this procurement? ANSWER: The Department of Veterans Affairs has a commitment to satisfy small business goals whenever possible. 37.Are you seeking to satisfy additional socio-economic goals with this procurement? ANSWER: The Department of Veterans Affairs always seeks to satisfy socio-economic goals when possible. 38.You indicate a multiple award IDIQ scenario, and suggest GSA Federal Supply Schedule access. Are you considering a GSA procurement? ANSWER: At this time we are considering all options available. 39.Are you considering a GSA Blanket Purchase Agreement for agency wide access? ANSWER: At this time we are considering all options available. 40.Will you have an Industry Day in conjunction or prior to the solicitation? If so, will you consider a "Webinar" or virtual based forum? ANSWER: We may conduct an industry day, and we will consider all options including a virtual industry day. 41.Will you have a veteran owned business preference? ANSWER: The Department of Veterans Affairs always seeks to satisfy socio-economic goals when possible.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/AFMLOVASS/VASSMD/VA79811RI0040/listing.html)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: VA798-11-RI-0040 0001 VA798-11-RI-0040 0001.doc (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=177264&FileName=VA798-11-RI-0040-0001000.doc)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=177264&FileName=VA798-11-RI-0040-0001000.doc

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN02382307-W 20110219/110217234303-7f6a022c7e8657f7e256cdbddb5a14d9 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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