14a. The 3.5% increase relates to the increase in the total amount of the contract per year. Also, salary escalation's shall not exceed 3.5%. The number of staff required per year is approximately 6.5.

• Paragraph H.3., Vacations, Sick-Leave Holidays - What is the maximum number of Holidays per year?

15a. If the offeror does not have an approved company leave schedule, the maximum paid holiday schedule would be the same as federal government employees.

• Please clarify the intent of the leave accrual method specified in this paragraph. If the company's accrual method for Holidays is different from that stated here, the company must be consistent with its policy.

16a. The intent of the leave approval policy described in H.3 of the solicitation is to provide contractor's with a written policy in the absence of an established policy. If the contractor's policy is different from the one stated in H.3, it must be approved by the contractor.

• Paragraph H.9., Key Personnel - No Key positions are identified in the RFP. Is this an oversight or do you anticipate identifying the positions after contract award?

17a. For this contract, the Project Director and the Researcher/Analyst positions shall be considered Key Personnel and subject to the provisions of Paragraph H.9.

• Paragraph H. 26, Indirect Costs - Please clarify the intent of this paragraph. Will "Ceiling" (Not to Exceed) Indirect Rates be negotiated based on offeror's "Provisional" Indirect Rates used in the proposal, or will adjustments be negotiated to the "Provisional" Indirect Rates after submission of "Final" Indirect Rates for review (within 90 days of the end of the Offeror's fiscal year)?

18a. If an offeror proposes indirect cost rates that have not been approved by a Federal agency, and is awarded this contract, they would be given a 90-day temporary billing rate per H.26 Indirect Costs of the solicitation. During which time they would be required to submit a complete indirect cost rate proposal to our Office of Cost Determination (OCD) for approval. A indirect cost ceiling rate would be placed in the contract until OCD approves their negotiated indirect cost rate proposal.

• Section C.4 (Statement of Work), Task 1 (Review the Job Corps program's procurement directives, technical assistance tool and practices), indicates that the "contractor will review and become thoroughly familiar with existing Job Corps procurement policy materials including the Job Corps Procurement Notices, Procurement Panel Review Guide, Technical Assistance Guide, Procurement Compendium, and Wage and Salary Survey Handbook and model RFPs." Since these documents already exist, can they be made available for review in preparing proposals?

19a. Since many of these documents are considered confidential source selection documents, they will not be released prior to award of the contract. Since procurement reform, many of the existing documents are very outdated and will need substantial rewrite. To get an idea of the content of model RFPs, offerors may view specific RFPs developed from the model RFPs by locating them on the Job Corps Acquisition web site (www.wdsc.org/jobcorps/)

• Section M.3 (Evaluation Criteria), B (Individual Staff Experience and Qualifications), 4 (Resume for each...), d (Position to which...), iii (Time commitment...), states that "all professional personnel must devote 100% of their time to the project." Does this requirement preclude staff and consultants from working on any other contracts? Will award of this contract preclude the successful contractor from being awarded future contracts with the Office of Job Corps?

20a. All professional personnel must devote 100% of their time to the project. Consultants may work on other contracts. Award of this contract will not preclude the successful contractor from being awarded future contracts with the Office of Job Corps.

• Is/are there an Incumbent contractor(s) who has/have performed an effort similar or the same as the work stated in Solicitation Number RFP-DCS-00-36, DOL Technical and Management Assistant Services? If so, what is/are the contract number(s) and the number of modification(s) to each contract?

21a. There is no incumbent contractor performing these services. Some of the original procurement guides, Procurement Panel Review Guide, Technical Assistance Guide, Area Wage & Salary Survey Handbook, were developed under separate contracts, however, these were completed between 5 and 10 years ago. Information on contract numbers and numbers of modifications are no longer available.

• By August 1, 2000, where can an offeror review, analyze, and status the most current version/release of (1) Procurement Notices; (2) Procurement Panel Review Guide; (3) Acquisition Technical Assistance Guide (may be new); (4) Wage & Salary Survey Handbook; (5) Model RFPs; (6) Job Corp Procurement Compendium; and (7) Guide to assist proposal reviewers in evaluation proposals (may be new).

22a. Since many of these documents are considered confidential source selection documents, they will not be released prior to award of the contract. Bidders may view RFPs developed from the model RFPs by locating them on the Job Corps Acquisition web site (www.wdsc.org/jobcorps/)

• If an offeror cannot view the above documents, when were the above documents updated? By whom? What media are they (paper, electronic PDF files, electronic Microsoft files, databases, automated system(s), etc.)?

23a. Job Corps model RFPs are available as WordPerfect documents. All other documents are available only in hard copy. Some of the original procurement guides, Procurement Panel Review Guide, Technical Assistance Guide, Area Wage & Salary Survey Handbook, were developed under separate contracts, however, these were completed between 5 and 10 years ago.

• What is the total number of contracting officers that this effort will support and where are they located?

24a. The 10 primary Job Corps Contracting Officers and their staff who will use these products are located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

• What is the total number of contract specialists that this effort will support and where are they located?

25a. There are 10 Contract Specialists, one located in each of the regional offices, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

• What is the total number of procurement panel chairs that this effort will support and where are they located?

26a. Procurement Panel Chairs range between 15 and 30. Each Region assigns this responsibility differently. They are located in the regional offices including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

• What is the total number of panel members that this effort will support and where are they located?

27a. Procurement Panel Members are approximately 75 in number. They are located in the regional offices including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle.

• What is the total number of Job Corps operators that this effort will support and where are they located?

28a. Job Corps has approximately 50 operators whose corporate headquarters are located throughout the country. Among those operators, several staff would be involved in the training effort.

• What is the total number of national staff that this effort will support and where are they located?

29a. Estimated to be 5-7 staff, all located in Washington, D.C. except one who is located in Seattle.

• What is the total number of field staff that this effort will support and where are they located?

30a. There are approximately 100 field DOL Job Corps staff located in the Regional Offices including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle. They are covered in questions 24-27 above.

• What is the total number of contractor support personnel, associated with the Job Corps procurements and directives who also use technical assistance tools, what is/are the name(s) of the companies that employ them, and where are they located?

31a. The technical assistance tools will be used by the DOL Job Corps staff identified in Question 30 above. Contractor staff will have access only to the Area Wage & Salary Survey document. Job Corps contractors may be found on the Job Corps home page.

• What is the total number of ALL users/potential users that this effort will support, where are they located, and what is there procurement experience?

32a. Users are addressed above. Experience varies from new user to contracting officers with 20 years experience.

• Do all of the above individuals have access to a Pentium (or equivalent) computer? Do these individuals all have access to high speed Internet access (minimum of 5600 baud modem, T1 lines, T2 lines, ISDN, etc.)? Do these individuals all have computers with sound cards, speakers, and streaming video capability? If all users/potential users do not have Pentium (or equivalent) computers, high speed Internet access, and/or audio capability, then please provide the demographic and what they do have.

33a. Users will all have access and capabilities through the Job Corps Data Center. The contractor will be expected to develop materials in WordPerfect format which will be posted to the websites by the JCDC.

• What are the average experience levels of users/potential users?

34a. Experience varies from new user to contracting officers with 20 years experience.

• Please list the "technical assistance tools" and explain the content and media of each tool (paper, electronic PDF, computer based Commercial Off the Shelf program (if so, what program in what version), computer custom software (developed by whom, what is the computer language written in, etc.).

35a. Technical Assistance tools include:

Job Corps Procurement Compendium

Technical Assistance Guide

Procurement Panel Review Guide

Area Wage & Salary Survey Handbook

Model RFPs

All should be prepared in WordPerfect format, and hard copy format.

• Define the Job Corps "system" (listed under Task 1). If this is an automated "system", or, a process that includes an automated "system", or, a process that includes a number of "systems", please explain the "system(s)" structure (COTS, custom software, programs, etc.). Where can an offeror view and analyze this/these system(s) by August 1, 2000?

36a. The "Job Corps System" refers to all of the Department of Labor Job Corps staff and contractor staff located across the country who administer and operate the Job Corps program. It is not meant to refer to a computer system.

• The Statement of Work requires the Job Corps primary policy, technical assistance documents, forms, and practices to be accessible to ALL JC procurement officials. Please define "accessible" (paper documentation distributed to __ number of users, automated word templates residing on users' computer, Internet based hypertext document/module, etc.) How will this outcome be measured?

37a. All documents prepared under this contract should be prepared in WordPerfect format and provided to Job Corps in electronic versions as well as hard copies where specified. The Job Corps Data Center will post documents as appropriate to the internal and external Job Corps websites so that they will be accessible to authorized users.

• The Statement of Work requires JC operators, national and field staff to have ready access to current, applicable policy and forms. How will this outcome be measured? Please define the form of "ready access" (paper documentation distributed to __ number of users, automated word templates residing on users' computer, Internet based hypertext document/module, etc.).

38a. All documents prepared under this contract should be prepared in WordPerfect format and provided to Job Corps in electronic versions as well as hard copies where specified. The Job Corps Data Center will post documents as appropriate to the internal and external Job Corps websites so that they will be accessible to authorized users. Ready access will be evaluated based on the contractor's responsiveness to meeting timelines for initial development and modifications as requested.

• The Statement of Work requires JC Procurement Officials to be knowledgeable regarding the new procurement technical assistance tools and JC contractors will understand JC policies and systems. How will this outcome be measured? Who assesses who is "knowledgeable" and who is not? Is the offeror responsible for the design of the assessment? Will DOL require the offeror to track, assess, and test who within the JC is "knowledgeable?"

39a. The contractor will devise an evaluation form for the training sessions. Evaluation of the Procurement Officials' knowledge will be the responsibility of DOL.

• Please clarify the coordination and approval process between the offeror and the individual(s) in the National Office of the Job Corps. Who is the approving authority for each of the products/processes produced under the contract? What is the JC's requirement for review and approval of draft documentation (i.e., Job Corps Request for Proposal Model's 1^st draft is submitted by the contractor as an original and 3 copies to ________ in the National Office of Job Corp, the _______will complete the review in 30 days and provide comments/edits to contractor, the contractor has 10 days to make the changes to the draft and submit a 2^nd draft containing all changes, the ___________ will complete the review in 10 days. If all changes/edits are made, the second draft is the final product.)

40a. Job Corps has designated an individual to serve as the Contracting Officers Technical Representative. That person will have authority to approve work.

• The Statement of Work requires the contractor's products comply with ALL Federal Laws and regulations and agency policy, procedures and directives. Please define "ALL." Is "ALL" limited to acquisition and procurement Federal Laws and regulations and agency policy, procedures and directives?

41a. Yes.

• Please provide the number of users of current JC RPF Models and explain the content and media of each JC RFP model (paper, electronic PDF, computer based Commercial Off the Shelf program (if so, what program in what version), computer custom software (developed by whom, what is the computer language

written in, etc.).

42a. Job Corps model RFPs are used by each of the 10 field procurement offices. They currently exist as wordperfect8 for windows documents. RFPs are posted electronically to the Job Corps Acquisition homepage for downloading by offerors.

• Who within the Job Corps will validate "needs" identified by the offeror's effort?

43a. Job Corps has designated an individual to serve as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative. That person will have authority to approve work.

• What is the JC requirements identification process?

44a. Job Corps senior management identifies the requirements.

• Who is the authority to approve of contractor identified requirements? Please define any "constraints" the contractor has (environment, users' computer limitations, etc.) in updating/creating JC RFP Models.

45a. Job Corps has designated an individual to serve as the Contracting Officers Technical Representative. That person will have authority to approve work. Constraints will be identified as the need arises.

• The Statement of Work states the Job Corps Procurement Compendium (JCPC) and Procurement Panel Review Guide (PPRG) are considered "confidential." Please define "confidential" (i.e., paper documentation stamped "confidential", password protected, C2 security, etc.). Will all users/potential users have full access to all parts of the Job Corps Procurement Compendium? How do users access the JC Procurement Compendium now? How many paper copies, original and changes, are distributed and how many copies per JC location? If automated, are updates "downloaded" from Internet-based products? Are documents/updates distributed by paper, computer disk, and/or CD ROM? How many copies per JC location?

46a. Current documents exist in hard copy only. Some are indicated as confidential. Authorized users will have access to hard copy and electronic copies on the Job Corps internal website. Hard copies should be provided as part of the training process to each participant. Updates will be available via download.

• How long ago was the JCPC updated? Who updated the JCPC?

47a. The JCPC was developed "in-house" approximately 15 years ago. It has not been fully updated, however, some changes have been made, again by "in-house" Job Corps staff.

• Please define a "week" (seven calendar days, five business days, etc.)

48a. Seven calendar days.

• The Statement of Work states, "Effective operation of Job Corps centers requires a contractor to be able to recruit, hire land train competent staff." Please list all current contractors, contract numbers, and number of contractor personnel by labor category.

49a. Current center contractors are shown on the Job Corps homepage. Information on contract numbers and numbers of staff by category is unavailable and not necessary for this procurement.

• Define "operational cost models" (if models currently exist). Where do they reside? Is there only one operational cost model, or, does each of the 10 Regional Centers have their own models, or, do each of the 118 JC Center Campuses have their own model?

50a. Job Corps has a cost model handbook which is an internal document. It is used by procurement offices to develop government estimates of costs prior to procurements.

• The Statement of Work requires the Procurement Panel Review Guide to address evaluation of both written and oral presentation of technical submissions. Will the PPRG have to also address evaluation of cost submissions?

51a. Not in an in-depth manner. Only some general guidelines will be included.

• Clause H.8, Key Personnel, is included in this RFP; however, there are NO Key Personnel positions identified. Is it the responsibility of the offeror to determine which positions are "key" and which are not? Is it the responsibility of the offeror to determine who is "professional personnel" and who is not (is this RFP's definition of "professional" the same as that defined by the Services Contracting Act)?

52a. For this contract, the Project Director and the Researcher/Analyst positions shall be considered Key Personnel and subject to the provisions of Paragraph H.9.

• Clause I.2 (c) states, "The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 4 years." This is inconsistent with the period specified in the "Performance Period" clause which states, "2 years and three 1 year options." Is Clause I.2 incorrect?

53a. The period of performance shall be 24 months from the date of contract execution plus 3 1-year options to extend at the discretion of the government. In actuality, the total duration of this contract, including the exercise of options, shall not exceed 5 years.

• Please define where the Government anticipates that the work will be accomplished, Government or Contractor Site, and what GFE will be provided. Additionally, when training is being conducted will this be at the Government site(s) with all facilities, equipment, and other support resources provided GFE or will these be the responsibility of the offeror?

54a. The work will be accomplished at the contractor's site with contractor provided equipment. The contractor will be responsible for training site selection in cooperation with the National Office staff, rental of training rooms, equipment and administrative support for the training conferences. The contractor will be responsible for all logistical arrangements, conference announcements, registration, trainers and training materials. Each participant will be responsible for travel and per diem expenses.

• Is there an incumbent? If so, please provide the name.

55a. There is no incumbent providing these services.

• Section J provides a list of attachments, but no attachments were available. Will those be provided via an amendment?

56a. Forms can be downloaded at http://www.doleta.gov/sga/rfp.cfm under Contract Application Forms and Instructions. (NOTE: Viewing PDF files requires a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

• Section L.4 (B) (4) requests a staffing chart listing names, qualifications, and experience of key staff. No list of key labor categories was provided. Is the offeror to identify who he thinks the key personnel are?

57a. For this contract, the Project Director and the Researcher/Analyst positions shall be considered Key Personnel.

• Section M.3(B)1. requests information pertaining to the Project Director. However, the Project Director is not listed in the labor categories. Will the Project Director be considered "direct" or must any proposed hours be included as overhead?

58a. The Project Director is considered a direct cost. 100% of their time must designated to the contract.

• Valcon Tech is a certified SDB and HUBZone company. We will be bidding the Project as such. Will DOL honor the 10% Price Adjustments for each of these certifications?

59a. This procurement is a 100% Small Business Set-Aside. A 10% Price Adjustment is not applicable.

• In reviewing RFP-DCS-00-36 for "Technical and Management Services," I notice that the procurement involves access to confidential source data. Are existing Job Corps contractors precluded from bidding on this effort?

60a. No.

• Are there incumbents performing on any sections of this RFP's SOW? If so, request these incumbents be identified along with the contract number(s) under which they are performing. If there are incumbents are they eligible to compete for this effort.

61a. There is no incumbent providing these services.

• Under clause "H.9 Key PERSONNEL" no specific labor categories are called out for key personnel positions. Request DOL ETA specifically identify those labor categories that are defined as key labor categories under this solicitation.

62a. For this contract, the Project Director and the Researcher/Analyst positions shall be considered Key Personnel.

• Request DOL ETA identify information systems and data bases existing today that DOL procurement officials use to archive and manage existing procurement policies, regulations, current standardized procurement forms, technical assistance tools, and templates for model Requests for Procurement.

63a. At present Job Corps uses an Acquisition website to post and archive RFPs. Other than that, current systems are not automated. Job Corps is in the process of pilot testing the PRISM automated procurement management system and may implement if it is found to meet Job Corps' needs.

Templates for current model RFPs are word perfect files shared among procurement offices. Other technical assistance tools and manuals are available only in hard copy format at this time.

• Request that a technical library be established and made available to solicitation bidders of publicly releasable Job Corps procurement directives, published procedures, and other DOL ETA procurement guidance documentation including the "Job Corps Procurement Compendium".

64a. Since many of these documents are considered confidential source selection documents, they will not be released prior to award of the contract. Bidders may view RFPs developed from the model RFPs by locating them on the Job Corps Acquisition web site (www.wdsc.org/jobcorps/)

• Section F.3, "LEVEL OF EFFORT" contains some unclear and possibly contradicting statements on the government's estimates of labor mix for the base period and the follow-on option periods. The following questions are submitted to gain further clarifications on the government's desired level of effort (LOE) labor mix and staffing estimates: (A) The LOE of this base period is described as 7.5 to 8.5 "professional person years". Does this total include non-professional administrative personnel such as the "Word Processing Specialist" labor category? (B) The level of effort for each option year is described as being the base year plus 3.5%. Is this 3.5% an increase in annual labor hours between the base contract period's LOE of approximately 7.5 to 8.5 full time equivalents (FTEs) or is the 3.5% a nominal government estimated labor rate/salary annual escalation factor applicable to all bid rates/salaries? (C) The third sentence in the LOE paragraph calls for a "number of staff" needed for this project of 6.5. How is this staff level of 6.5 related to the 7.5 - 8.5 professional person years of the opening LOE for the base period? Is this 6.5 the government's estimate of a reduced total annual LOE for the option years? (D) Section F.3 LEVEL OF EFFORT identifies only 4 specific labor categories as the "areas" under which work will be accomplished. Are additional labor categories allowed under this work effort such as a "Project Director/Manager", Administrative Assistants, and/or Procurement Specialists?

65a. The level of effort for this project is estimated between 7.5 and 8.5 professional person years. A professional person year is between $90,000 and $100,000. The number of staff needed for this project is approximately 6.5. Additional labor categories are allowed, however the positions cited are offered as representative of those anticipated.

• Request further details on the government's definition of "professional person years" and the labor categories that it includes.

66a. Please see 65a.

• Are bidders mandated to bid the labor categories and level of effort in accordance with the government's estimate or can a bidder determine its own labor mix and level of effort?

67a. Offeror's can determine their own labor mix in accordance with 65a. However, offerors should propose costs within the government's proposed estimate, also stated in 65a.

• Is this set of tasks to be performed onsite at DOL ETA Headquarters Washington D.C. using government furnished facilities or are these efforts to be principally performed off site at contractor offices.

68a. Principally at the contractor's site using contractor equipment.

• Request further details on the government's requirements for travel in support of the regional training efforts as well as any other regional sites' support efforts. Request specific locations to be visited, number of expected visits per year and average lengths of stay. These requirement details are needed to accurately cost the travel ODC line requested as part of the RFP.

69a. Travel is anticipated only in support of the training sessions identified.

• Section L.6 SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL, Part 3 ii (a) and Part 3 ii(c) Cost Analysis back-up data. Request further clarifications on the level of detail required by the government in the "backup data" supporting the proposed direct labor hours of sub-section ii (a) and any proposed material and subcontractor costs under sub-section ii(c).

70a. Please submit supporting information and "backup" data as described in L.6 Submission of Proposal.

• Request further clarifications on the support effort required under this RFP related to the Job Corps website and the website's planned role in the electronic distribution of all or most of the deliverables to be developed and maintained under this RFP's SOW. Will the website be the principal distribution vehicle for Tasks 1 through 6 deliverables? If so, what is the planned support role for the performing contractor under this SOW. Are there website maintenance or updating efforts included in this SOW? If so, request further details on these support efforts.

71a. Job Corps does not envision development of a new web-based system. The contractor will be required to develop documents in WordPerfect format for posting to any of the following: Job Corps' public website, Job Corps' Internal DOL website, or Job Corps' public Acquisition Homepage. These websites are managed by the Job Corps Data Center and another contractor. Websites will be the principal means of distribution, however, hard copies of materials must be provided to trainees as part of the training effort.

BIDDER'S LIST