VAAA Critical Thinking
Added: Mar 24, 2014 4:33 pm This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. The solicitation number is VA791-14-R-0038 and is issued as Request for Proposal (RFP. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect tough Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 2005-72. The associated North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 611430 with a small business size standard of $10,000,000. This requirement is a Small Business set-aside and only qualified offerors may submit proposals. Proposals are due by 1:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) on 07 April 2014. Proposals shall be emailed to david.little@va.gov by the required deadline. It is the responsibility of the offeror to confirm the VA's receipt of its proposal. All questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted electronically to david.little@va.gov and must be received by 31 March 2014. A list of required services is provided below: 0001 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Course for Individual Contributors (20 courses annually) 0002 - Tailoring of Critical Thinking Courses for Individual Contributors (1 annually) 0003 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Courses for Leaders (20 courses annually) 0004 - Tailoring of Critical Thinking Course for Leaders (1 annually) 0005 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops (15) 0006 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops Facilitation of extra day of workshop (15) 0007 - Delivery of Facilitated 2-Day Workshops (4) 0008 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of Face-to-Face content (40 each) 0009 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of eLearning content (40 each) 1001 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Course for Individual Contributors (20 courses annually) 1002 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Course for Leaders (20 courses annually) 1003 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops Facilitation of 2-Day workshops (15) 1004 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops Facilitation of extra day of a workshop (15) 1005 - Development of Facilitated Workshops Price per 2-Day Workshop (1) 1006 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of Face-to-Face content (40 each) 1007 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of eLearning content (40 each) 2001 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Course for Individual Contributors (20 courses annually) 2002 - Delivery of Tailored COTS Critical Thinking Course for Leaders 20 courses 2003 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops Facilitation of 2-Day workshops (15) 2004 - Delivery of Facilitated Workshops Facilitation of extra day of a workshop (15) 2005 - Development of Facilitated Workshops Price per 2-Day Workshop (1) 2006 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of Face-to-Face content (40 each) 2007 - Ad hoc curriculum development for modification of completed content for 15 minutes of eLearning content (40 each) Description of Requirement: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy (VAAA) has a requirement for tee courses designed to develop and refine the critical thinking skills of participants at the individual, leadership, and team levels. Courses shall follow a common methodology, meaning that this suite of courses shall utilize the same foundational information in each course that is delivered. Commercial off the shelf (COTS) courses will be tailored to include government acquisition examples and scenarios that involve the entire acquisition process. The scope of this contract is delivery of tailored and non-tailored COTS critical thinking courses. A complete description of the requirement is attached as a word document (see Performance Work Statement (PWS)). Services shall be provided as indicated in each resulting task order. The primary place of performance is the contractor's site (for development/tailoring of courses) and the VAAA, located at 7485 New Horizon Way, Frederick MD 21704. Travel for course delivery outside of MD, VA, and Washington D.C. will be reimbursable in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations. The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. Addendum to FAR 52.212-1: Interested offerors shall provide firm-fixed-pricing for the above in accordance with the deliverable schedule as well as the Line Item structure in this solicitation. The offeror shall hold the prices in its offer firm for 60 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers. Proposal submission requirements are below: Technical 1. The vendor shall provide evidence of course deliveries by completing the table below. For each COTS course, the vendor will complete the table below. Course Name: Number of course deliveries in last 12 months; Average course rating over last 12 months; and 2. The vendor shall provide a Course outline or syllabus for each COTS course that includes: i. Course title, summary, and intended audience; ii. Description of the critical thinking research, industry standards and best practices used in the course, and where these are reflected in the course; iii. Learning objectives (terminal and enabling); iv. Course agenda; v. Instructional strategies and learning modality for each learning objective; and vi. Delivery strategy and targeted number of participants per class. 3. The vendor shall provide evidence of subject matter expertise in critical thinking and Government acquisitions by: i. Providing a résumé for each SME that is no longer than two pages; and ii. Outlining years and experience in critical thinking and/or Government acquisitions. 4. The vendor shall provide evidence of Instructor/Facilitator experience in teaching critical thinking courses by: i. Providing a résumé for each Instructor/Facilitator that is no longer than tee pages; ii. Outlining years and experience in teaching critical thinking courses and the number of times teaching the proposed courses in the last 12 months; and iii. Average satisfaction ratings for proposed courses taught. 5. The vendor shall provide up to tee examples of tailoring curriculum for the Federal Government. 6. The vendor shall provide a Project Management Plan not exceeding four pages in length that includes the following: i. The management approach for the work outlined in this PWS. ii. Demonstration of how the vendor will work with Government SMEs to tailor curriculum, for example, scenarios, case studies, and exercises. iii. Demonstration of how the vendor will meet the delivery requirements for delivery and tailoring of courses. iv. The vendor shall propose how it will familiarize the critical thinking facilitator/instructor with the acquisition process to ensure applicability of content to participants. Past Performance Provide no more than tee past performance references for relevant work as similar in size, scope, and complexity as possible, include: contract/task order number, description of the services provided, contract value, and the period of performance covered by the contract. Past performance will be evaluated based on relevance and customer satisfaction results. Price Offerors shall complete the attached pricing sheet for submission of its price proposal. The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. Addendum to FAR 52.212-2: Tee evaluation factors will be used. The factors are as follows: 1. Technical 2. Past Performance 3. Price A vendor who is determined by the evaluation team to not satisfy any of the criteria in (a) tough (c) below is ineligible for award and as such price and past performance will not be evaluated. The vendor shall demonstrate the following: a) The Government will evaluate COTS courses based on the following: 1. Number of deliveries shall be at least 10; 2. Average of 85% student satisfaction or higher; and b) For the curriculum proposed, the Government will evaluate the responses to ensure proposed curriculum includes items 1-4 below. 1. Critical thinking industry standards, research, and best practices. Proposed course syllabus demonstrates use of industry standards or best practices for critical thinking courses. 2. The proposed curriculum includes terminal and enabling learning objectives for each course that align back to the industry standards in (b)(1) above. 3. The proposed curriculum includes instructional strategies and application of adult learning theory to meet proposed learning objectives. 4. The proposed delivery strategy is reasonable based on the identified instructional strategy (face-to-face, eLearning, etc.). 5. The Government will evaluate the résumé of both critical thinking and acquisition subject matter experts. i. Critical thinking subject matter experts shall have no less than five years' experience. ii. Government acquisition subject matter experts shall have no less than five years' experience. 6. The Government will evaluate the résumé of Instructors/Facilitators in teaching critical thinking courses. i. Instructors/facilitators shall have a minimum of five years teaching Critical thinking courses and taught the proposed courses at least 4 times in the last 12 months. ii. Average satisfaction rating of at least 85% for proposed courses taught. 7. The Government will evaluate the evidence of tailoring curriculum to Government acquisitions. i. At least tee examples of when curriculum has been tailored for an organization. c) Management Approach. The Government will evaluate the comprehensiveness of a Project Management Plan that outlines, at a minimum, the following: i. Management approach for the work outlined in this PWS; ii. How the vendor will work with Government SMEs to tailor curriculum, examples, scenarios, case studies, and exercises; iii. How the vendor will meet requirements for delivery and tailoring of courses; and iv. How the vendor will familiarize the critical thinking facilitator/instructor with the acquisition process to ensure applicability of content to participants. Proposals will first be evaluated on an Acceptable/Unacceptable basis under the Technical factor. If found technically Acceptable, the past performance and price will be evaluated for the tradeoff, in which past performance is significantly more important than the price factor. The evaluated price will equal the sum of all CLIN totals. In determining the award the Government reserves the right to award a contract to an offeror that submitted other than the low-priced offer. The Government will also consider Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) participation in determining the awardee. The evaluation will consider the extent of VOSB and SDVOSB participation. Full credit will be given to quotes that include the use of SDVOSBs and partial credit will be given for quotes that include the use of VOSBs. The following FAR provisions and clauses apply to this solicitation: FAR 52.212-3; FAR 52.212-4 with the following addendum included: VA Acquisition Regulations (VAAR) 852.203-70, 852.203-71, 852.233-70, 852.233-71, 852.237-70, and 852.270-1. VA Acquisition Regulations can be found at http://www.va.gov/oal/library/vaar/52.216-19 -- Order Limitations. Order Limitations (Oct 1995) (a) Minimum order. When the Government requires supplies or services covered by this contract in an amount of less than $1,000, the Government is not obligated to purchase, nor is the Contractor obligated to furnish, those supplies or services under the contract. (b) Maximum order. The Contractor is not obligated to honor -- (1) Any order for a single item in excess of $500,000; (2) Any order for a combination of items in excess of $1,000,000; or (3) A series of orders from the same ordering office within 14 days that together call for quantities exceeding the limitation in subparagraph (b)(1) or (2) of this section. (c) If this is a requirements contract (i.e., includes the Requirements clause at subsection 52.216-21 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)), the Government is not required to order a part of any one requirement from the Contractor if that requirement exceeds the maximum-order limitations in paragraph (b) of this section. (d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, 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 7 days after issuance, with written notice stating the Contractor's intent not to ship the item (or items) called for and the reasons. Upon receiving this notice, the Government may acquire the supplies or services from another source. (End of Clause) 52.216-22 -- Indefinite Quantity. As prescribed in 16.506(e), insert the following clause: Indefinite Quantity (Oct 1995) (a) This is an indefinite-quantity contract for the supplies or services specified, and effective for the period stated, in the Schedule. The quantities of supplies and services specified in the Schedule are estimates only and are not purchased by this contract. (b) Delivery or performance shall be made only as authorized by orders issued in accordance with the Ordering clause. The Contractor shall furnish to the Government, when and if ordered, the supplies or services specified in the Schedule up to and including the quantity designated in the Schedule as the "maximum." The Government shall order at least the quantity of supplies or services designated in the Schedule as the "minimum." (c) Except for any limitations on quantities in the Order Limitations clause or in the Schedule, there is no limit on the number of orders that may be issued. The Government may issue orders requiring delivery to multiple destinations or performance at multiple locations. (d) Any order issued during the effective period of this contract and not completed within that period shall be completed by the Contractor within the time specified in the order. The contract shall govern the Contractor's and Government's rights and obligations with respect to that order to the same extent as if the order were completed during the contract's effective period; provided, that the Contractor shall not be required to make any deliveries under this contract after contract expiration plus 180 days. (End of Clause) FAR 52.212-5, including: 52.222-50, 52.233-3, and 52.233-4 in paragraph (a)(1), and the following fill-ins in paragraph (b): 52.203-6 Alt I, 52.204-10, 52.209-6, 52.209-9, 52.209-10, 52.216-18, 52.219-6, 52.219-8, 52.219-14, 52.219-28, 52.222-3, 52.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.222-40, 52.223-18, 52.225-13, 52.232-33, and 852.215-71. All provisions and clauses viewed at http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html. VA79114R0038 Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veterans Integrated Service Network 19
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