June 24, 2003

NOTICE TO ALL OFFERORS

REFERENCE: AMENDMENT NO. 1
RFP-DCS-03-24

Additional information has been requested by prospective offerors and it has been determined by the Contracting Officer that this information be made available to all bidders. The closing date and time for the receipt of proposals remains July 15, 2003, by 2:00 p.m. local time.

KEITH A. BOND
Contracting Officer

Attachment(s)

Based on the questions received, many offerors appear confused over the format, meaning, and conduct of the Oral Presentation. Therefore, to respond to all of the questions concerning this area, and to avoid repetition, the following clarification is provided.

In accordance with Section L.8, the oral presentation and the question and answer session are not part of the offer and are not themselves offers. The sole purpose of the oral presentation and questions and answer session is to test an offeror's understanding of the work that the Government will require under the prospective contract.

However, in accordance with Sections L.8 and L.9, the offeror shall submit, as part of their offer, a set of overhead transparencies and five (5) copies in a sealed package. These transparencies, which are part of the offeror's technical proposal, shall form the basis of the offeror's Oral Presentation. Both the transparencies and the Oral Presentation will be used to evaluate the offeror's capability to perform the contract (See Section M.2(D)).

The sealed package containing the offeror's transparencies will not be opened until the scheduled date for an offeror's presentation, in the presence of the Contract Specialist and a representative of the offeror.

The Government will provide blank flipchart paper and an overhead projector for the offeror to use during the presentation caucus time period (1/2 hour before oral presentation) as stated in Section L.8, item 8 - Documentation. The purpose of the flipchart paper is for the offerors convenience if they wish to use them during their presentation to clarify points, during the caucus period, and or the question and answer session. The clarifying or explanatory charts and transparencies will be left with the Government following the oral presentation. The Government will not accept for evaluation any additional documentation which may or may not have been referenced during the presentation.

Offerors shall use black and white overhead transparencies (slides) to document key points of its presentation. The purpose of limiting the use of black and white overhead transparencies is to reduce the bid and proposal costs, keep focus on content, and to keep the playing field level.

1. Are there specific labor force areas that this project will be based on, or that you prefer my firm focuses on in our proposal/presentation preparation, i.e. manufacturing, IT, management, food processing, etc...?

a. The evaluation will be based on those labor market areas most relevant to the TAA program.

2. Does section F.3 Level of Effort refer to the cost limit of the project? Does that translate to approximately $11,500,000 for the 60 months of the project? How was this estimate determined? How many hours does it translate to?

a. The level of effort for this project is estimated to be between 115 and 125 professional person years. A professional person year is estimated to be between $90,000 and $100,000. This includes all costs. These government provided estimates are provided for contractor planning guidance only and do not bind the government to a specific level of effort nor are they guaranteed or warranted by the government in any manner. The contractor must use its best judgment to determine an appropriate level of effort for the contract work regardless of the accuracy of these estimates." There are 2080 hours in a work year, this includes hours for vacation, sick leave and holidays. Offerors should use their best business judgment when proposing the number of hours for this project.

3. Can we select a sample of states from which to assess the TAA Program, for example 1/3 of all states or 17 states?

a. ETA anticipates that the evaluation will be based on a sample of states. Offerors should include a proposed sampling design in the technical approach section of their proposals.

4. Do you expect to receive an offer from the firm that performed the TAA evaluation in 1993? Will that firm be awarded special consideration for this contract?

a. The contractor (firm) that performed the TAA evaluation in 1993 is not guaranteed to be awarded a contract under this RFP. They are eligible to compete for this contract along with all other potential offerors.

5. Should the written proposal include such information as an understanding of the goals of the project and a cost evaluation for the project?

a. The written proposal should demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the evaluation. Evaluation of the study's costs should be in the business proposal not the technical proposal.

6. Can the company senior/general manager be a presenter if she is also the Project Director?

a. Yes. The Government is aware that in small businesses corporate officials are often the ones designated to manage the contracts. Our concern is corporate officials or others making the oral presentation that will not manage the projects or will be not part of the performance team. If a company senior manager is proposed as the Project Manager/ Director, or designated in the budget for the requirement, then yes, that person will be allowed to present at the oral presentation.

7. Are the five paper copies to be sent in a sealed package with the transparencies for the presentation copies of the transparencies?

a. Yes.

8. Is there a limit to the number of transparencies we may submit?

a. No. However, when evaluating the offeror's 90-minute presentation, the Government will consider only the information on the transparencies that were actually projected during the presentation. The production and use of an excessive number of slides may be detrimental to an offeror's interests.

9. May we prepare and use other visual aides in our presentation, i.e. PowerPoint, flip charts?

a. No. The purpose in limiting the media available for the oral presentation to "black and white" overhead transparencies (slide) is to reduce bid and proposal costs, keep focus on content, and to keep the playing field level.

10. How many offerors will be presenting? What are the qualifications we need in order to be chosen to present?

a. As stated in Section L.8(4), a maximum of five contractor personnel (prime and subcontractor) may participate. These individuals/ presenters will attend the oral presentation and the question and answer session and shall answer questions directed to them. The presentation shall be made by one or more of the personnel whom the offeror will employee to manage or supervise contract performance on a full time basis or as designated in Sections D.5 and L.10. The Project Director who will have a 100% time responsibility for contract performance, and Principal Investigator(s) shall be present and shall, at a minimum, answer questions directed to him/her during the question and answer session.

11. Will the firm awarded the contract be reimbursed for any travel expenses for this presentation?

a. No.

12. Will the Department allow two small businesses to act in a joint venture on this RFP, and allot the costs incurred by that joint venture to the prime share? Given the size of this bid, allowing such joint ventures would seem to conform to the requirements in CFR 121 that allow joint ventures. Also, we are aware that several small businesses are planning to subcontract out data collection, and count the costs of that data collection in their prime contractor share. Is that permissible on this bid?

a. Joint Ventures are allowed as long as their annual average receipts for the 3 preceding fiscal years fall within the size standard applicable to the industry under the North American Industry Classification System code designated for this solicitation.

13. The RFP says that the technical proposal shall not exceed 100 pages. Does that page limitation apply to resumes, letters of intent, etc.? If not, would you please clarify what elements are in, and what elements are outside, of the 100 page limit?

a. As stated in Section L.9 - Submission of Proposal, the page limit refers to the technical approach/understanding and management plan factors only.

14. Regarding the advisory council, does the proposal need to name specific members? If so, do commitment letters have to be obtained and submitted as part of the proposal?

a. Offerors do not need to name specific members of the advisory council in their proposals. Advisory council members will be selected after award in consultation with the Government project officer for the evaluation. Therefore, letters of commitment for advisory council members should not be obtained prior to award.

15. Are there reports on the trade program that have informed the Department on this RFP, and will those be made available to all bidders?

a. The only report which informed the development of the RFP is the final report on the previous evaluation, "International Trade and Worker Dislocation: Evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program," April 1993, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. To our knowledge, this report is not available on the web. However, offerors may request a copy from Chari Magruder, Contract Specialist, at magruder.chari@dol.gov.

16. Are there figures for the past three years, or longer, on the number of persons found eligible for trade assistance, and, of those found eligible, how many enrolled in the past three years, or longer if such records are available? If these figures are available, are they disaggregated by state or region, personal characteristics, industrial/occupational characteristics, or other factors? If these figures do exist, will the Department make them available to bidders?

a. See Attachment I.

17. The RFP refers in several places to the use of UI wage records. States provide varying access to such records; in some cases, it is extremely difficult to get access to those records, even for research purposes. Will the Department work with state governments to assure that UI wage records are available in all states for use in this study? If not, what are the Department's expectations about contractors' ability to access and use these records in all states?

a. It will be the contractor's responsibility to obtain UI wage records from the states. The Department will assist in this process where possible. The Department does not expect wage records to be obtained from every state and recognizes that this may limit the evaluation's ability to obtain a statistically representative sample.

18. On page M-4, in items (1) and (2) of the evaluation factors, it states that the Project Director and the Principal Investigator(s) must have a Masters Degree. If an individual proposed has considerable graduate level education plus many years of exceptional experience in the field, could that high quality experience be substituted for the actual degree.

a. The Project Director and Principal Investigator(s) must have a Master's Degree as previously stipulated in the solicitation.

19. On page L-7, under Section L.9 Submission of Proposals, under part 2: Does the 100-page limit include resumes and letters of commitment and intent?

a. Please see answer 13a.

20. Please clarify: Sections C.5 and L.10 list required time commitment for key personnel as - Project Direct (40%) Principal Investigator(s) (30%) Task Leader(s) (25%); Section L.8 item 4 list the Project Director's time operational responsibility at 100%; and Section M.B factor number 5 states …. "It is expected that the Project Director will devote a minimum of 40% of his or her time." What is the required time commitment for the Project Director in support of this effort?

a. The time commitment for the Project Director, also known as a Project Manager, is 40%. The Government's definition of "full time operational responsibility," means having "overall responsibility." Therefore, the Project Director/Manager should be assigned as having a full time operation responsibility, but does not have to be committed full-time (100%) to this project.

a. As stated in Section L.7 of the RFP, offerors are to submit the above information for the offeror and proposed major subcontractors. Therefore, the prime and their subcontractor(s) would each have to submit five (5) relevant contracts and subcontracts.

34. Are Letters of Intent and resumes required of proposed Advisory Board members? If so, must the resumes be in the modified format you have specified in the RFP?

a. As stated in Section M.2(B), offerors are to submit Letters of Intent for each professional personnel (all staff excluding administrative staff and consultants), including those designated in key personnel positions. Letters of Intent must include a statement that the individual will be available for the amount of time specified in the proposal. Letters of Intent must be signed (by both employer and employee/contingency hire), and dated. The offeror shall provide letters of intent from current employees that state they: (1) will remain employed by the offeror; and (2) will work for at least six months on the resultant contract if awarded to the offeror. Letters of intent must also be submitted for contingency hires, defined as persons not currently employed but who have executed a binding letter of commitment for employment with the offeror, if the offeror receives award under subject solicitation.

b. Advisory council members will be selected after award in consultation with the Government project officer for the evaluation. Therefore, letters of intent for advisory council members should not be obtained prior to award.

35. Does the language in Section H-24 regarding publishing preclude the contractor from publishing a paper in an academic journal after the contract has expired?

a. As stated in Section H.24, Publication of Materials, offerors are to receive permission from the Contracting Officer prior to publishing any works performed under this contract.

36. If we contract with a survey research firm for the conduct of the survey, can the cost of this effort be excluded from the total labor costs for the project when calculating the 50 percent of the contract going towards the prime contractor/small business?

a. Please see answer 32a.

37. There are special requirements that require task leaders to be allocated at a minimum of 25 percent time. Can we propose task leaders only for tasks for which we deem a task leader to be appropriate? Can we develop our own tasks or must we use those laid out in the RFP?

a. Offerors may propose their own tasks so long as all tasks required by the RFP are accounted for. Each task must have a task leader. However, if the offeror believes a task does not require 25% of the task leader's time, the offeror may prose a lower amount of time, provided sufficient justification is provided in the technical proposal.

38. For the special requirements that specify a time commitment for the Task Leaders, can that time commitment end when that task ends? In other words, if the task leader leads a task that is over after the first six months of the project, can they be committed 25 percent time for the first 6 months and then have no commitment (or a smaller commitment) for the remainder of the project, or is the 25 percent time commitment for individual task leaders applicable for the full length of the contract (5 years?)

a. The 25% time commitment is applicable for the full length of the contract. However, it is expected that time commitments will vary over the course of the contract. That is, a task leader may spend 100% of his or her time on the contract for 15 months while a task is active and no time during the remaining 45 months when the task is inactive. However, see the answers to questions 23, 24, 25, 29 and 37.

39. Does DOL have an expectation with regard to the number of sites they want visited for Tasks 1 and 3?

a. No; offerors should discuss in their technical proposals how many sites they believe will be required.

40. With regard to the qualifications for the Principal Investigator, is five years of experience with the evaluation of adult dislocated worker programs required or is comparable evaluation experience with any adult employment and training program sufficient?

a. Experience with any adult employment and training program is sufficient.

41. The Bidders' List is attached. (Attachment II)

Planmatics, Inc. 15200 Shady Grove Road Rockville, Maryland 20850 301-987-7441 POC: Dave Auble	Abt Associates, Inc. 55 Wheeler Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-1168 617-492-7100 POC: Sharon Christenson
Jack Faucett Associates, Inc. 4550 Montgomery Avenue Suite 300 N Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3304 301-961-8789 POC: Donald Hutson	Exceed Corporation 8100 Professional Place Suite 211 Lanham, Maryland 20785 301-731-3790 POC: Dawne D. Woods
Optimal Solutions Group 6 N. Broadway Suite 2 Baltimore, Maryland 21231 410-342-8674 POC: Mark D. Turner, Ph.D.	MES, Inc. 8230 Old Courthouse Road Suite 320 Vienna, Virginia 22182 703-752-0703 POC: Reena Bhatia
Lee Bruno & Associates, Inc. 9638 Pennsylvania Avenue Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 301-599-1234, ext. 104 POC: Wendy Erlanger