SPECIAL NOTICE
D -- TAC-20-53365 National LEC Next Generation (2.0)
- Notice Date
- 4/8/2020 1:39:45 PM
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 517311
— Wired Telecommunications Carriers
- Contracting Office
- TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION CENTER NJ (36C10B) EATONTOWN NJ 07724 USA
- ZIP Code
- 07724
- Solicitation Number
- 36C10B20R0026
- Archive Date
- 04/19/2020
- Point of Contact
- Colleen E Grasso Contract Specialist 732-440-9689
- E-Mail Address
-
colleen.grasso@va.gov
(colleen.grasso@va.gov)
- Awardee
- null
- Description
- 04/08/2020 - Updated Special Notice to add additional Questions and Answers.� Please see new attachment below. Outlined in this document are responses to questions received relative to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) anticipated National Local Exchange Carrier (NLEC) Services for the Enterprise�Next Generation Voice and Data Services, Solicitation 36C10B20R0026. Please be advised that any information contained herein is for informational purposes only; is offered in response to specific questions posed by prospective Offerors; and, is subject to change throughout the question and answer process. �Accordingly, if there is any discrepancy between the information contained within this document, any previous and/or subsequent Question and Answer document(s), and/or the Solicitation, Offerors are hereby advised that the terms and conditions contained within the final Solicitation control. Please also be advised that revisions to the NLEC-Next Generation Solicitation, some of which are indicated in the relevant Answers below, shall be incorporated by a forthcoming amendment to the Solicitation.- Accordingly, any sections and/or page numbers referenced herein (e.g., Performance Work Statement (PWS), solicitation documents) are also subject to change as a natural consequence of those revisions. Therefore, it is the sole responsibility of the Offeror to review, and submit its proposal in accordance with, those revised documents; not the information contained herein. The specifications outlined for Solicitation No. 36C10B20R0026 sound an awful lot like what Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions vendors do (AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon, etc.). Will Solicitation No. 36C10B20R0026 use EIS? No, the subject solicitation for LEC services is a stand-alone requirement and shall be an independent contract - that will not use the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract. I am hoping to find out if the subject effort is a new requirement or a follow-on to an existing contract? If the latter, can I please find out the incumbent contractor's name and contract number? This Solicitation is a new requirement for the next generation of NLEC Services. The current contract through which VA met, and is meeting, its LEC-service requirements is National LEC with contracts awarded to AT&T (VA118-15-D-0011), Century Link (VA118-15-D-0012) and Windstream (VA118-15-D-0013). I was reviewing the Solicitation posted for the National LEC Next Generation (2.0) effort (36C10B20R0026). I wanted to see if I could verify with you that this is the Next Generation of the NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION OF LEC SERVICES (LEC) effort (VA11814R0349) with contracts awarded to AT&T, INC. (VA11815D0011), CENTURYLINK, INC. (VA11815D0012) and WINDSTREAM CORPORATION (VA11815D0013)? If not, could you provide me with the correct incumbent contracts? Your understanding is correct. On the Pricing Worksheet, the entry options for the Offeror are either a Unit Price or Not Covered.� When pricing is available as non-standard or Individual Case Bases (ICB), what entry can be used by the Offeror?� Please be advised that neither Non-Standard nor Individual Case Bases meet the Government s requirement. Only entries of Unit Price or Not Covered must be used when submitting a Price Proposal. Please be advised that the determination as to which option is appropriate for its proposal submission is left solely to the Offeror. � In order to fulfill challenging and complex solutions, will the micro purchase option continue under NLEC II? No, the micro-purchase option will not be available under any contract resulting from this solicitation. Attachment D PWS paragraph 5.4.1.5. SIP Trunking. Please amend the solicitation to provide the terminating numbers, the number of sessions, and feature requirements. The requested information does not currently exist. Offerors shall propose industry standard services to satisfy the Government s requirements. Accordingly, the Solicitation shall not be amended, as requested. Attachment D PWS paragraph 5.4.1.9. MPLS. Please amend the solicitation to provide the bandwidth requirements associated with this particular service requirement. Offerors shall propose industry standard services to satisfy the Government s requirements. Please price separately. Please be advised that Attachment D (also referred to as the Price .xlsx Workbook) has been revised to reflect this.� Attachment D PWS paragraph 5.4.1.22. DSL U-Verse (Fiber DSL). The U-Verse requirement appears to be based on an AT&T product. Please amend the solicitation to clarify the requirements identified in this particular section 5.4.1.22. The Solicitation has been amended to remove the reference to U-VERSE. Attachment D PWS paragraph 5.4.1.31. TFS. Please amend the solicitation to provide separate entries for Switched Access and Dedicated Access. Please note that the PWS specifically states at current Section 5.4.1.31 that switched access or dedicated access trunks as defined by task order. Please price separately. Attachment D (also referred to as the Price .xlsx Workbook) has been revised to reflect this.� Please extend the due date for submission of responses by thirty (30) days beyond the current due date. The additional time will allow offerors the ability to adequately address the requirements as stated in the solicitation, especially those requirements that go beyond traditional LEC services (e.g., SIP Trunking and MPLS). Further, this will ensure full compliancy with solicitation requirements and a more competitive procurement process in response to the solicitation. The Government has considered the request and has determined it appropriate to extend the proposal submission deadline to April 10, 2020 at 5:00:00 PM ET. RFP Solicitation notice. Response date. Page Number 1. Bidders will not be able to begin development of the pricing tables without answers to Offerors questions. We respectfully request, will the VA extend the proposal submission due date to four (4) weeks from receipt of answers to all rounds of Offeror's questions, so bidders can adequately incorporate and price updates to the RFP. Like the preceding request, the Government has determined it appropriate to extend the proposal submission deadline to April 10, 2020 at 5:00:00 PM ET. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1, 5.4.4 and 5.4.5. Page 11 of 49, 16 of 49 and 17 of 49. The VA requires telephone service portability and that established telephone numbers be retained. For telephone numbers (TN) to be portable and retained, the VA must be the current Customer of Record and to retain the TNs they must be ""native"" to the current serving switch. Will the VA provide a list of TNs and confirm these two conditions? Although the Government will not provide a list of the telephone numbers with the Solicitation, the relevant telephone number inventory will be released with the individual requests for task execution plan. The Government can confirm that it is the current customer of record on all telephone numbers. Although it cannot confirm that the telephone numbers are native to the current serving switch , as requested, the phone numbers to the best of the Government s knowledge - are being provided out of the nearest serving central office. Any exception will be identified in individual task orders. NLEC PSOW and NLEC Attachment A. 5.4.1 (PSOW) and E.10.2.c (i) (2) (Att A). Page 11 of 49 (PSOW) and Page 147 of 150 (Att A). Please provide a specific definition of ""Customer of Record"". There is broad interpretation within the telecommunications industry on what and how Customer of Record is defined. This has broad implications in responding to this procurement particularly in describing a vendor s approach in maintaining the VA as the Customer of Record. The Government requires the VA be the customer of record for Telephone Service Priority (TSP). For the Department of Homeland Security to determine TSP eligibility, an evaluation of the customer of record is performed. The vendor shall comply with the requirement to maintain VA as the Customer of Record. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1. Top of page 12 of 49. This section states ""The Contractor shall not charge for installation of services or features listed in section 5.4 ."". Please confirm the inability to charge for installation of services within section 5.4 is related to the transition period. Please confirm NEW services or features added may incur installation charge(s). Please be advised that an Offeror s proposed price relative to those services within current PWS Section 5.4 is not limited to a transition period but serves over the life of any resulting contract. Accordingly, this hereby confirms that no installation charges are permissible for transition or new services under any contract resulting from the subject solicitation for LEC services. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1. Top of page 12 of 49. This section states ""Special Construction charges, infrastructure build-out charges, or other one-time charges for the establishment or increase of outside plant to an SDP demarcation point by the Contractor shall not be included in any resulting contract."" Please clarify if this requirement includes other related tasks; e.g. site surveys, cross-connects, demarc extensions, risor cabling, cabling between phone closet and desktop, addition or installation of jacks, that are normally chargeable. The examples provided are not included in this contract effort and therefore will not be separately priced or billed. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1. Page 12 of 49. This section states ""Special Construction charges, infrastructure build-out charges, or other one-time charges for the establishment or increase of outside plant to an SDP demarcation point by the Contractor shall not be included in any resulting contract."" As it is related to this requirement, at what specific location on the customer premises site is the SDP (Service Delivery Point)? Please confirm if this is the Contractor's recognized/identified service demarcation point for each site. The current service delivery point (SDP) is the LEC established Minimum Point of Presence, also known as the building Demarcation point. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1. Page 12 of 49. This section states that ""The Contractor shall consolidate existing LEC services in a like for like transition. The Contractor may be required to expand the quantity of services to meet the requirements of the VA."" Please confirm it is the VA's intent that additional quantities for the expanded needs will be of the same service type as that being transitioned in a like-for-like transition. Yes, your understanding is correct with regards to the service types. NLEC PSOW Section 5.4.1.9. Page 14 of 49. Please explain what is meant by Layer 3 Enhancement. Please be advised that this Item was removed and will be reflected in the revised Solicitation. NLEC PSOW Sections 5.4.1.25. Page 15 of 49. Will the VA please provide more details as to services required for Emergency Call Routing and any additional numbers? Additional information such as related services or products will help bidders develop more responsive pricing. The VA requires the ability to have Emergency Call Routing for some of its locations. Emergency call routing is the ability for sites to pre-plan call forward or redirect their phone calls to another location due to outages. NLEC PSOW Section 5.4.1.27. Page 15 of 49. Will the VA please provide detail as to service requested and where calls would be redirected? This will be defined in the individual task orders. NLEC PSOW Section 5.4.1.28. Page 15 of 49. Will the VA please provide service related to screening removal? The Call Redirect relates to the PRIs which will enable the VA to control the caller ID and routing for our Veterans Crisis Line. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.6. Page 17 of 49. This section states that the Contractor shall comply with the assignment of a Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) to all circuits ordered. TSP services are normally provided as specified in an order. Will the VA consider revising this statement to indicate that TSP requirements will be specified in each individual order? The TSP will be specified in individual task orders as not all lines will require this. As specified in current PWS Section 3.0, the tasks described in this PWS are general requirements that may be required in subsequent [task orders (TOs)]. Unless otherwise stated herein, specific requirements will be defined in the individual TOs awarded under any multiple-award IDIQ contract supported by this PWS. Not all requirements described in Section 5.0 will apply to each TO, but those that do apply will be cited and expanded upon in the PWS of each TO. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.4.1.6. Bottom of page 13 of 49. Since blocks of 20 are not available in all states, is it allowable to provide blocks of 20 where the block is available and smaller blocks where necessary? When blocks of 20 are not available, Offeror shall sum the price of smaller blocks of DIDs required to make a total of 20 DIDs for an equivalent service offering. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 5.9. Page 21 of 49. This section states ""As part of this Plan, the Contractor may be required, or elect, to submit Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs) for Technology Refresh with respect to replacement or updating of existing IT LEC hardware for delivery of services or for Technology Insertion with respect to new service types or infrastructure changes..."". Please confirm that a successful IDIQ Awardee will be allowed to modify its NLEC Technical Document to insert additional service types not included in the original submission. Current PWS Section 5.9 provides the mechanism for consideration of, not the definitive governmental approval or incorporation, of an ECP for Technology Insertion or Technology Refresh. Accordingly, any ECPs submitted by a LEC contract-holder shall require VA approval and a contract modification, if approved. NLEC PSOW Paragraph 6.3. Page 25 of 49. This section states that a Performance Based Service Assessment Survey will be used in combination with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) to assist the Government in determining acceptable performance levels. Please further describe the process and frequency the VA will use for the Performance Based Service Assessment Survey. Performance Based Service Assessment surveys are done annually and will be based on a cumulation of performance throughout the year. Contracting Officer s Representatives (COR)s will monitor contractor performance recurrently through input from the sites that services are delivered to. ADDENDUM A Additional VA Requirements, Consolidated. Section A1.0. Page 31 of 49. This section states ""Training requirements: The Contractor shall complete all mandatory training courses on the current VA training site, the VA Talent Management System (TMS), and will be tracked therein."" Please identify which Contractor positions / personnel are required to complete the VA training. Please identify and provide the mandatory training courses. The Government has considered your request and determined that no contractor should require access to VA facilities without an OIT office escort; therefore, this requirement will be removed from any amended solicitation documentation. NLEC Attachment A. C.5 52.216-19 (d). Page 111 of 150. This section states ""The Contractor shall honor any order exceeding the maximum order limitations in paragraph (b), unless that order (or orders) is returned to the ordering office within days after issuance...."" Is there a number of days quantity missing from this requirement? Please be advised that 52.216-19(d) shall be revised to reflect a quantity of seven (7) days after issuance . . NLEC Attachment A. C.7 52.217-9 (a) and (c). Page 112 of 150. These two sections include bolded wording in parenthesis as follows - ""(To be filled in at the order level for orders with options no options to extend the ordering period)"". Does this apply only to task orders? Will this information be filled in if a TO will be extended? Yes, this section is applicable only to task orders with option periods. Accordingly, this clause shall be included in any resulting contract so that it may be used in any task orders issued thereunder. If/When included in task orders, the fill-ins will be completed. NLEC Pricing. Year 1 Unit Prices. Item 29 5.4.1.8 Circuit Mileage (outside local CO). Will the VA please specify if this is Metro-E or PRI mileage, or any other type of circuit with a mileage requirement? If the VA is requesting both Metro-E and PRI, then will the VA update the Pricing Worksheet so each option can be shown separately? Please note that this is for PRI circuits, only. NLEC Attachment A. E.10 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION; (vi) VOLUME VI. Page 149 of 150. This section states ""An authorized official of the firm shall sign the SF 33 and all certifications requiring original signature."" VA submitted the SF 1449 Solicitation for Commercial Items (page 1 of Attachment A file). Please confirm if the VA intends to submit the SF 33. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. An authorized official or the firm shall sign the SF 1449 and all certifications requiring original signature. The Solicitation documentation has been revised to reflect this requirement. BRIs and PRIs are technologies that service providers have begun to phase out as a legacy offering. If the availability of PRI/BRIs become obsolete at a given location does the DVA have a planned alternative solution that would be implemented? Please note that the VA has phased out BRIs; accordingly, BRIs are not a required technology under the subject Solicitation. PRIs, however, are a requirement. As/if the VA changes hardware technology, the PRIs will be switched to new services on contract and compatible with the new hardware. If/when that time comes, contract-holders shall provide an acceptable solution to VA, for approval, via Engineering Change Plan (ECP). Does the DVA have specific expectations or a set number of allowable non-responses by an individual service provider when IFBs/RFQs/RFPs/Task Orders are released for response on the IDIQ? No. Task order requirements will be specified at time of each individual request for task execution plan release. We understand and acknowledge that the RFP is for a 15 year IDIQ. During the IDIQ does the DVA expect to revisit or reevaluate pricing levels after a certain term? Reevaluation would provide the DVA with the opportunity to receive more competitive and accurate pricing as an alternative to a yearly percentage accrual provided at the onset of the 15 year term. No, the VA will not reevaluate any of the pricing proposed and ultimately incorporated into any resulting contract. Pricing proposed in response to the subject solicitation will represent the Offeror s not-to-exceed ceiling prices for each proposed service type, in each proposed state, under any and all future task orders. Contract-holders can propose lower rates at the task order level, thereby promoting competition amongst all contract-holders. I would like to request an extension of time to respond to the solicitation for National Local Exchange Carrier (NLEC) Services for the Enterprise. It will take more than the allotted time to respond appropriately. Please provide a confirmation to this request. Thank you. We look forward to responding to the RFP. The Government has considered the request and has determined it appropriate to extend the proposal submission deadline to April 10, 2020 at 5:00:00 PM ET.
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