U.S. Marshals Service, Business Services Division, 600 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

R -- EXPLOSIVES DETECTION WORKING DOG TEAMS SOL MS-99-Q-0006 DUE 121098 POC Betty P. May (703) 416-8966 The purpose of this notice is to amend the previous notice dated 11/25/98. This amendment answers additional questions as noted below. Q: Is there a contractor or service entity currently providing these services or similar services to the USMS? If so, can the USMS provide the identity, any contract or Purchase Order information (including award amounts) and the numbers of call-outs associated with the provision of these services? A: The current contractor is Michael Stapleton and Assoc.. The current contract for these services is for two teams comprised of explosive detection canine and explosives expert handler for the period 7:00 AM -- 7:30 PM Monday -- Friday and one team 7:00 AM -- 7:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. Q: Is there a minimum contract guarantee? A: The minium guarantee will be $5,000.00 Q: How does the USMS expect an outside offeror to price the hourly costs of canine services (which may be ordered on a 24-hour-per-day basis) if there is no government estimate of the actual servicehours or number of call-outs to be provided over the life of the contract? Is it the intention of the USMS to have these teams exclusively for USMS use, available on a 24/7/365 basis, or is the requirement for emergent, on-call, hourly services? A: The current contract for these services is for two teams comprised of explosive detection canine and explosives expert handler for the period 7:00 AM -- 7:30 PM Monday -- Friday and one team 7:00 AM -- 7:00 PM Saturday and Sunday. The USMS requirement is stated in solicitation MS- 98-Q-0006 Q: If the government expects the selected offeror to provide these services on an "on call" basis, will the contractor be reimbursed only for actual hours on site, or for the annual cost of fielding and maintaining five teams for the USMS? A: The USMS will reimburse for work hours performed. Q: The government considers these services to be "Professional Services, not subject to the Service Contract Act. These professional employees will have to qualify as "exempt salaried employees" and are exempt from the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. There are numerous Internal Revenue Service tests that must be met in order to qualify an employee as an exempt employee". One of these qualification criteria requires that the employee sets his/her working hours and not be directly supervised by an employer. This appears to be contrary to the anticipated performance schedule that will be required under this proposed contract. Please clarify. A: The U.S. Marshals Service has classified this position as a GS-09. This will be forwarded to the Department of Labor for their review. Offerors will be given the opportunity to adjust their cost proposal at a later date. The due date for receipt of proposals (technical and cost) remains December 10, 1998. The following FAR clauses are hereby reinstated: 52.222-41, Service Contract Act of 1965, as amended, and 52-222-43, Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Act. Q: If the government intends to use a government EOD Technician to test the (vendor) dog's responsiveness to materials listed, what will be the qualifications of the EOD tech? Explosives Detection Canines and Handlers are required to be certified to the rigid standards set forth by USMS. Will the government EOD tech have the same or better qualifications? A: Yes Q: The government expects the contractor to provide all training, including controlled devices and explosives, for certification and re-certification of the canine teams. This is extremely costly and is generally prohibitive to small businesses. Would the USMS consider sponsoring and coordinating the utilization of other government agency facilities such as the FAA, Secret Service, US Customs, or United States Air Force for this training support? A: No sponsoring arrangement is contemplated at this time. Q: The government has set 1-2 weeks as the implementation time for this contract after award. The minimum training time to meld an Explosives Detection handler and a canine into an effective team is 11-12 weeks of intensive training. Prospective small business offerors do not have these very costly assets sitting on stand-by awaiting award of this or any other contract. Can the USMS relax such rigid expectations if award is made to a contractor currently not performing these services for the USMS? A: The USMS requirements are stated in Solicitation MS-98-Q-0006. Q: The RFQ states that . . ."NOTE: Quoters responding to this solicitation must submit firm fixed hourly unit price, per team (Handler and Canine)..." Does this mean that the contractor is being paid 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, or only when each team is called out? If so, what is the minimum? A: The USMS will reimburse for work hours performed. See above minimum. Posted 12/04/98 (W-SN277361). (0338)

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