Amendment II The purpose of this amendment is to extend due to the potential Global Microsoft Outage. All RFPs are due NLT 5:00 p.m. 07/22/2024. Amendment I The purpose of this amendment is to respond to vendor questions received. The Q&A timeframe has closed. All RFPs are due 10:00 a.m. Friday 07/19/2024. Is this a brand-new contract or if there is/was an incumbent performing these services? These exact services have not been procured before. Can you please provide the contract number? We do not have a contract number for these services. Would you kindly confirm if this is an entirely new effort or is there an incumbent currently providing these services? If so, would you please provide the incumbent contract details? This is a new effort for these exact services. What will be the contract value for this opportunity? We are not at liberty to disclose at this point in the solicitation. Could you confirm if an incumbent performed this work previously? Or is this considered a new requirement? No, new requirement for these services. On page two it states, “Proposals shall be received on or before 10:00 a.m. Easter, Friday 07/05/2024 at
[email protected].” Can the Government confirm only Phase 1 (Volume I – Contractual Requirements) is due on 07/05/2024, and the following phases are due only upon Government invitation and down-select? No, the entire proposal packet was due by 10:00 a.m. 07/05/2024. This amendment will change the new proposal date to 10:00 a.m. Friday 07/19/2024. The entire proposal packet will be due 10:00 a.m. Friday 07/19/2024. "In accordance with FAR Part 1.602-2(b), the Contracting Officer (CO) will ensure the Contractor receives impartial, fair, and equitable treatment; however, the CO is not required to investigate or validate allegations or wait until a final resolution of the circumstances surrounding the request for replacement before requiring substitution of key personnel." To support this statement, will the Government consider adding the following FAR clause to the SOLICITATION PROVISIONS: DFARS 252.243-7002 Requests for Equitable Adjustment ? Yes Section 9 states " Labor Rate: Contractors shall quote a base and one option period hourly rates that is within the GS- 13(1) - GS-13(10) basic hourly rate for both periods commensurate to their capabilities and experience, as well as, update their respective federal, state, and local tax rates (percentages) in the provided Attachment D - Price Sheet for calculating their total evaluated price.” Other areas of the Solicitation and Attachment D all list the Period of Performance as a Base + 2 Options. Please clarify. The position hourly rates is within GS-9(1) – GS-9(10) What is the font size and style formatting required in the response Volumes? Arial 11 Are there any page limitations for each of the 5 volumes respectively? Please provide the requested information in the most succinct way that you can. Limit attachments, for example, provide the highest level of educations ONLY. Do not submit multiple diplomas, certificates, degrees, etc. as this is not following the specific instructions. You may individually list credentials, diplomas, certificates, degrees, etc ,but do not include a copy of these documents. Can the Government confirm if a narrative is required or a key personnel resume to meet this requirement? No. This is a personal service contract Is there a page limit for responding to Volume II - Minimum Qualifications (6.0 Minimum Qualifications)? Please refer to question ten above. You can itemize credentials, experience, etc on your resume, but we only need a copy of the highest level of education received. Is there a page limit for responding to Volume III - Capability to Perform Requirements (7 .0 Capability to Perform Requirements)? No The instructions state: "Contractors shall provide clear and sufficient information on their capabilities to perform each of the requirements identified in Section 7.0 of the Statement of Work successfully (narrative, identification of prior work experience)." Is the requirement for the Offeror to provide a narrative of the Offeror's corporate capabilities to perform the requirements? Or is the requirement to provide narrative on the proposed Key Personnel's capabilities to perform each of the requirements? No. This is a personal service contract Is there a page limit for responding to Volume IV - Past Performance (8.0 Past Performance)? No This requirement is for a "JR IT Systems Administrator". Per industry standards, a "JR" or "Junior" level Systems Administrator is 0-2 years of experience. The Requirement describes this position to require a "Minimum of five years of experience working with Microsoft Windows Servers (2016 and above) in an enterprise environment." PLUS an additional 3 years of experience in Microsoft Office 365 cloud applications and components. Industry standards indicate this is better aligned for a 'Mid-level' Systems Administrator (typically 2-4 years of experience) to ensure the Government receives the expertise required for delivery success. Can the Government confirm this is indeed for a "Mid-Level" Systems Administrator (to fit closer to the 3-5 years of experience required)? The requirement is 2 years systems administration and 1 year experience with office 365 The Government states, "The Contractor shall have the following minimum qualifications: "Can the Government clarify the definition of Contractor = Key personnel/Jr System Administrator, or does Contractor = Offeror as in the company bidding? Position is for a Personal Service Contractor. Can the Government provide additional detail on what will be required for the "Phase III - Interview". Will this be an Oral Presentation? Or will this be additional requirements through an email outreach? Yes and other provided means by the candidate such as phone number. Is this position currently staffed or is there a vacancy the Government is trying to fill? Trying to fill. How many other System Administrators are part of the team this requirement will support? Just this position. Is this requirement of Junior System Administrator to be part of a contractor team or Government team? No answer Is this requirement of Junior System Administrator to be part of a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Help Desk or Service Desk team? No answer How many users does the Junior System Administrator support? Or does the team have key personnel that will be part of support team? Position is part of a small IT team Is there an escalation team i.e. a Senior System Administrator, that this key personnel (Junior System Administrator) is able to escalate to in the case an incident or request is not resolved or needs more senior assistance? Yes Are there workload metrics the Government can provide for the key personnel/Junior System Administrator? i.e., # of tickets or incidents to be handled per day. No such metrics Are there any SLA or Performance Standard requirements for ticket response and closure? No The Government provided pricing model does not account for all fringe costs associated with performance by a contractor. Elements such as workers compensation, life insurance, etc. are excluded from the pricing model. May Offerors take the conventional approach and apply a fringe rate to direct labor costs in order to capture all allowable fringe costs associated with contract performance? This position is for a Personnel Service Contractor. The Government provided pricing model does not account for any overhead costs, general and administrative (G&A) costs, and fee associated with performance by a contractor. May Offerors take the conventional approach and apply an overhead rate, G&A rate, and a fee percentage to direct labor costs in order to capture all allowable costs associated with contract performance? This is personal service contractor The Pricing template lists $118,500 as the Social Security Cap for 2024. An internet search revealed that the actual cap is $168,600. Please update the pricing template. Pricing template error. Should be calculated based on GS-9(1)-GS-9(10) The formulas in Cells F22 and F23 of the pricing template appear to be incorrect. For FUTA the .6% is calculating on the bi-weekly salary as opposed to the $7000 FUTA limit. For SUTA the 7.2% is calculating on the bi-weekly salary as opposed to the $9000 SUTA limit. Please correct the pricing template. Yes. and it will be based on GS-9 The RFQ requirements for Volume II - Minimum Qualifications states we are to provide a resume and certificates " to support that they have the minimum qualifications as identified in Section 13.0 of the Statement of Work". The requirement implies the Government is looking for copies of certificates however Section 13.0 in the SOW does not list any required certifications. Can the Government please clarify if there are any certification requirements for the Jr Systems Administrator position? Yes, Microsoft MCSA or MCSE In the Evaluation Criteria/Award Determination section, under each Phase "(see below for evaluation criteria)". However, there is no additional detail "below". Can the Government please clarify the Evaluation criteria for each of the Phases I - V. None Section 9.0, page 29, states “Failure to submit any of the requested information above or follow any of the stated guidelines may result in the proposal being determined non-responsive. Non-responsive proposals will not be eligible for award.” The prior two (2) paragraph provides “guidelines” quote rates within the GS-9(1) – GS9(10) basic hourly rate which is then provided as $32.78/basic hour - $42.61/basic hour. Can the Government confirm for the Offeror to be deemed “responsive” by adhering to the ‘stated guidelines’ must propose a rate between $32.78 - $42.61 to avoid being determined as “non-responsive” and therefore ineligible for an award? Yes Page 31, 1st paragraph states “Award will be made to the offeror with the lowest priced, technically acceptable offer with no adverse past performance.” Additionally 2nd paragraph states “It is the Government's intent to evaluate the lowest priced offeror first. If the offer is determined to be technically acceptable all other offers will not be evaluated.” This contradicts with the evaluation criteria provided on page 30: “Technical Factors, when combined, are more important than price. When competing Contractors' proposals are determined to be substantially equal after evaluation of all non-price factors, then price could become the controlling factor.” Can the government correct the content on page 31 to indicate this is a phased best value evaluation and not LPTA. Yes Attachment D Pricing Sheet, indicates Medical insurance estimated at $500 per month (Cell A27), and Maximum # of allowed accrued hours at 240 (Cell C34). Are these values that the Offeror can change to be accurate for our individual companies, or are these values NOT to be changed? Yes **** ORIGINAL SOLICITATION INFORMATION*** Dear Potential Applicants: The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Division of Procurement Services, on behalf of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is seeking applications for a Domestic JR IT Systems Administrator Personal Service Contract (PSC). We are requesting a proposal for the USADF Domestic PSC JR IT Systems Administrator, detailed in the Statement of Work (SOW), and Attachment D – Pricing Sheet, which we ask you complete and return with your proposal. If you are unable to propose in the format provided on the Pricing Sheet, please provide a proposal consistent with your normal business practices. Terms, Conditions, and Clauses will be distributed with award, but can be provide in draft form. Questions Questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing by 10:00 a.m. EST, Friday, 06/21/2024 , to
[email protected] with the subject line "Questions for RFP 20341924R00008 Domestic JR IT Systems Administrator PSC RVB/GLJ ". Proposals Proposals shall be submitted electronically to Fiscal Service to
[email protected] on or before 10:00 a.m. EST, Friday, 07/05/2024 with the subject line "Proposals for RFP 20341924R00008 Domestic JR IT Systems Administrator PSC RVB/GLJ ". It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure/confirm timely receipt. The Offeror assumes full responsibility for ensuring that it is in accordance with Fiscal Services security requirements. The following file extensions are not allowable and proposal materials and/or data submitted with these extensions cannot be considered: .bat, .cmd, .com, .exe, .pif, .rar, .scr, .vbs, .hta, and .cpl. We appreciate your interest in participating in this procurement and look forward to receiving your proposal.