NGA Training Courses

This solicitation is extended until March 30 2011. Below are questions and answers from this solicitation. Q. 1. Attachment 4.1, paragraph 3.1.11 refers to a "reasonably thorough security screening" of instructors. Is NAC/LAC screening required? A. A NAC/LAC is not required; however, because the courses are conducted in NGA facilities, we would appreciate instructors who are not involved with organizations considered questionable by the US Government. In the past, we have had to dismiss instructors who displayed erratic behavior, asking probing questions about the student's work, etc. This creates problems in getting another instructor when the courses are only one week long. Should this occur, we would expect a prompt replacement to ensure minimal disruption to the course or reimbursement for the remaining portion of the course. Q. 2. Attachment 4.1, paragraph 3.3.1 refers to standard classroom instruction. Will NGA facilities be equipped with Smart Boards? Will Advanced Distributed Learning capabilities be required? NGA does not have Smart boards and we do not require advanced distributed learning capabilities at this time. Q. 3. Attachment 4.1, paragraph 3.3.2 indicates that readings should be available via the web. Does NGA provide a portal or is the vendor expected to provide a portal? A. Websites should be accessible to the students from any internet connection (unclassified system at NGA or at the student's home, a library, or other location providing computer access with internet to individuals). We would like to know the websites in advance so that we can let our students know which sites they may access from the workplace and which ones may be prohibited to access from our location. Q. 4. Can you provide insight into the other possible locations and language instruction requirements. A. NGA routinely conducts courses at our facilities in St. Louis and the Washington DC area (Springfield, VA primarily). On rare occasion, we may request a course be held in another location in the CONUS. Q. 5. Will travel be allowable for unusual, non-standard CONUS locations? A. We do not have funding to cover travel costs and rarely conduct classes outside of our St. Louis and Washington DC area facilities. Other vendors in the past were able to acquire local instructors to prevent any travel costs. Q 6. How many hours is each class? A. (The NGA LASTRA courses are 7 hours a day for 5 days, for a total of 35 hours of instruction per class). Q. 7. I see on page 4 of the Solicitation Order (4 of 29) where it states invoice protocol. But, I do not see where it is written in the Solicitation how you pay or when you pay? Can the vendor expect payment by p-card within 5 days of completion of each class? Please advise. A. invoices will submitted to, and Payment will be made by NGA payment office once a month. Q. 8. What happens if materials were purchased for a class that is later cancelled? Will the materials be paid for promptly even if the class does not take place for 6 weeks? A. If materials are delivered and accepted the vendor should submit the invoices to the NGA payment office for payment of supplies. the supplies will be used for the rescheduled class. Q. 9. Attachment 4.3 discusses guidelines and items required for proper proposal submission. My question is in regards to Attachment 4.4. Are bidders required to check the appropriate boxes and submit that Attachment 4.4 with their bid? Are there any other required documents that must be submitted other than what is specifically listed in Attachment 4.3? A. Vendors have to be registered into the CCR/ORCA data bases. If vendors are registered into the CCR/ORCA data base submit a copy of their Reps and Certs with their proposal. If vendors are not registered into the ORCA data base attachment 4.4 need to be filled out and submitted with their proposal. Q 10. Attachment 4.1, section 3.3.5 states that "Course books will be provided...only after a consensus on which books the students will receive has been reached between NGA representatives and the vendor". However, Attachment 4.3, section 8, subsection 2 (Price) states that "Vendors are required to provide a unit price for the books in their proposals." Since the books have yet to be identified, it is not possible to provide a unit price. Also, Optional Form 336 does not include a CLIN for this purpose. Please clarify this requirement. A. Based on the languages listed in the statement of work, you should provide a unit price for the book(s) that your company would recommend for students of those courses. We do realize that the actual cost for the books may be less than or more than what you list in your proposal should the consensus reached be for fewer, for more, or for different books for any given course. We will take that into consideration as we are reviewing proposals for this contract.