The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R) released the final RFP for its Personnel & Readiness Infrastructure Support Management Services (PRISM) acquisition effort on February 2.

OUSD P&R PRISM RFP Overview

In a nutshell, this effort is designed to provide OUSD P&R Directorates with innovative and cost-effective services that leverage industry best practices to address dynamic global threats and security challenges. And to enhance P&R capabilities by delivering enterprise solutions that enable soldiers and strategic partners to collaborate seamlessly and increase readiness for mission success. This Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) features two dedicated pools. The P&R Pool focuses on solutions directly impacting personnel and readiness, while the MDoDS Pool tackles challenges related to major DoD systems. Both pools aim to increase soldier readiness and mission success through efficient collaboration and integration.

PRISM RFP Release

This program has a ceiling of $1.8 billion with a period of performance of up to five years. It’s expected to be a partial small business set-aside with a multiple number of awardees. Performance requirements are worldwide under NAICS 541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services. Small business size standard is $24.5 million.

Draft RFP Review

The response will require the following six volumes:

  • Volume I – General which will include the following five tabs:
    • Transmittal Summary Letter
    • SF 33
    • Section K – Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements
    • Exceptions/Assumptions
    • Completed CLIN structure
    • List of all proposed subcontractors,plus their UEIs and CAGE codes
  • Volume 2 – Responsibility
    • GSA Form 527 Contractor’s Qualifications and Financial Information
    • Another set of Representations and Certifications (expect some clarification on this in the final RFP)
  • Volume 3 – Technical Proposals (more on this below)
    • Technical Approach
    • Key Personnel
    • Corporate Experience
    • MDoDS DEAMS Seed Task Order
  • Volume 4 – Past Performance (two pages per citation for a maximum of six pages; some confusion as to there needing to be a citation write-up or just CPARS)
    • CPARS and/or PPQs
  • Volume 5 – Systems, Certifications, and Clearances
    • The typical, such as approved accounting system, quality, facility clearance, etc.
  • Volume 6 – Cost/Price (in a provided template)

Key personnel resumes are required for 25 identified individuals with very specific experience sets. This will be very important (and difficult) for most small businesses. Letters of Commitment are also required and, if proposing a key person from a subcontractor both the individual and the subcontractors must sign the letter.

Corporate experience will be provided highlighting your experience across the numerous customer organizations and providing a broad set of areas of expertise. The evaluation factor for this area is four-plus pages long, again perhaps providing for a good, annotated outline.

Finally, the MDoDS DEAMS Seed Task Order response itself appears to be a “multi-volumes” response within a response. Volume 1 contains tabs for a staffing plan, a retention plan, and a staffing labor mix/level of effort. This volume is limited to no more than 15 pages.

Volume 2 is the technical capability and is limited to 20 pages. This includes tabs for cost control methods, technical approach to audit support and readiness, a training plan, and a communication plan.

Challenges

The PRISM RFP is going to be extremely challenging for any small business that chooses to respond. Very few small businesses have the staffing levels to identify 25 key personnel by name for the response. This will necessitate a concerted effort to identify all of the subcontractors required to fulfill the key personnel requirements and to chase down the resumes, put them in a consistent format, and then ensure that the commitment letters are compliant.

Second, you really have two separate responses: one for the MATOC, and the second for the task order. The response to the solicitation is expected to be a quick turn given that the OUSD (P&R) is apparently looking for a contract to start in early July of this year.

Recommendations

Consider this as three individual responses from the perspective of the MATOC: the key personnel volume, and the task order. You may well need a team of dedicated resume writers, probably led by a seasoned coordinator, a team for the general MATOC response, and a smaller team for the task order response.

It may well require a proposal manager to spearhead the PRISM RFP effort and another that can work with your capture team to identify and coordinate with the various subcontractors you’ll need for the resume/letters of commitment work.

OCI can provide you with a variety of consultants in the areas of proposal management, coordination, and resume writing to assist. Given the expected nearness of the final RFP release, give us a call now so that may identify the right team members for your effort. Get in touch with us here to learn more.