Synopsis Amendment 6: The purpose of this synopsis amendment is to respond to questions from interested parties. Question 1. Is the Government intending to make a single award or multiple awards? Answer 1. The Government intends to make a single award. Question 2. We are a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) that holds a TS Facility Clearance and intends to engage in a Joint Venture with an 8a company that does NOT hold any facility Clearance. The resulting Joint Venture will be the prime contractor. Given that the facility clearance is held by the WOSB-JV member and not the 8a-JV member, is the Joint Venture eligible to bid? Answer 2. The 8(a) participant (or the total of all 8(a) participants involved in the Joint Venture) must perform a significant portion of the contract. Since significant portions of this contract will require both Secret and Top Secret/SCI personnel clearances, the 8(a) participant within the joint venture must have clearance at or above the Secret Level at time of proposal in order to perform a significant portion of this contract upon award. IAW SBA SOP 80 05 3A. Question 3. If the Joint Venture is eligible to bid, does the Joint Venture have to be an SBA approved? Answer 3. The JV is eligible to propose on the requirement, however the SBA approval of the joint venture before award of the contract is required. The Joint Venture applicants must submit all required information to the managing 8(a) participant's servicing District Office as soon as possible,but no fewer than 20 working days prior to the scheduled date for contract award. Incomplete packages will be returned to the participant without action. The managing participant is the managing partner or lead venturer. The JVA must be approved by SBA prior to the award of an 8(a) contract to the Joint Venture. Failure to obtain SBA approval of the JVA prior to award of the contract will result in SBA's request that the buying activity terminate the award to the Joint Venture. SBA must approve in advance all proposed amendments, modifications, or extensions to a JVA. Guidance is in accordance with SBA SOP 80 05 3. Question 4. Can the final RFP state that the Winning Contractor must have TS Facility Clearance at time of the "Contract Start Date" versus the proposal submission suspense date? Answer 4. No, the facility clearance is required at the time of proposal submission. Question 5. Based on the pre-solicitation requirements, we assume that the Government is requesting a cost/price proposal to be submitted by the extended response date of 20 February 2014. Is that accurate? Answer 5. No proposal due date has been established yet. The RFP has not been released and a proposal due date has not been determined. The 20-Feb-2014 date was selected to prevent this Synopsis notice from expiring. Question 6. What is the Government's purpose/intent in soliciting cost proposals as part of the pre-solicitation? Does the Government intend to review cost proposals and then release a formal RFQ? Answer 6. See Answer 5. Question 7. The most recent amendment included posting the DD Form 254. Is the Government requiring contractors to submit the completed DD Form 254 together with their cost proposal? Answer 7. No. Offerors are not required to submit a completed DD Form 254 with their cost proposal. Question 8. The Government did not provide the expected level of effort for the 6 month option. We assume that the Government is only requiring the fully burdened hourly rate for the additional 6 month option and that the total evaluated price be calculated using the base year and 4 option years. Is that correct? Answer 8. A price volume template will be provided with the RFP for the offeror to complete and submit as their price proposal. The price volume template, which will be used to determine the total evaluated price, will include all periods, the basic period, option periods, and the 6 month option to extend services. The offeror may propose various rates per period. Hours for the 6 month option to extend services will be provided in the price volume template. Question 9. Do any of the labor categories on the current contract(s) fall under the Service Contract Act? Answer 9. The Service Contract Act will apply to this contract. Please see 29 CFR 541.605 for possible exemptions. Question 10. Do any of the labor categories in the solicitation fall under the Service Contract Act? For example Technical Writer or Draftsman? Answer 10. The application of the Service Contract Act depends on conditions beyond job title alone. For example, as a general rule, professional employees must be paid on a salary or fee basis and be compensated at a rate not less than $455 per week, whose primary duty is the performance of work, require knowledge in a field of science, etc. Please see 29 CFR 541.605 for possible exemptions. Question 11. Will there be an SF30 released changing the response date to 20 Feb that needs to be returned? Answer 11. The RFP release date and the date for responding to the RFP remains to be determined. Question 12. We are 8(a) small business that intends to engage in a Joint Venture with a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) that holds a TS Facility Clearance. The resulting Joint Venture will be the prime contractor. Given that the facility clearance is held by the WOSB-JV member and not the 8a-JV member, is the Joint Venture eligible to bid? Answer 12. If the 8(a) participant within the JV has clearance at or above the Secret Level, then the JV's proposal will be eligible. If the 8(a) participant has no clearance, then they will not be able to perform a significant portion of the contract upon award. Question 13. If the Joint Venture is eligible to bid, does the Joint Venture have to be an SBA approved? Answer 13. The SBA must approve the joint venture before award of the contract. Question 14. Is the intent to award this contract to Peerless Technologies? Answer 14. This contract action is Competitive 8(a) and will not be directed to a sole source. Question 15. Perhaps there is a target date to release the final RFP (or maybe there will be a draft RFP)? Answer 15. A target date for the release of the RFP will not be disclosed at this time. The government may or may not issue a draft RFP. Question 16. Also, in the option years will there be an increase in the number of CME? Answer 16. The annual estimate given in the labor matrix will be used as the basis for option periods. However, actual hours may vary on actual task orders issued.
