06_RFP - 16PBGC22Q0020.Final.pdf

RFQ IFB RFP

WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS

(WOSB) ELIGIBLE UNDER THE WOMEN-OWNED

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, & 30

1. REQUISITION NUMBER PAGE OF

2. CONTRACT NO. 3. AWARD/EFFECTIVE

DATE

4. ORDER NUMBER 5. SOLICITATION NUMBER 6. SOLICITATION ISSUE

DATE

7. FOR SOLICITATION

INFORMATION CALL:

a. NAME b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (No collect calls)

8. OFFER DUE DATE/

LOCAL TIME

9. ISSUED BY

13b. RATING

14. METHOD OF SOLICITATION

CODE

15. DELIVER TO 16. ADMINISTERED BY CODE

18a. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODEFACILITY

CODE

CODE

TELEPHONE NO.

17b. CHECK IF REMITTANCE IS DIFFERENT AND PUT SUCH ADDRESS IN

OFFER

18b. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN BLOCK 18a UNLESS BLOCK

BELOW IS CHECKED

SEE ADDENDUM

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

(Use Reverse and/or Attach Additional Sheets as Necessary)

25. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA 26. TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT (For Govt. Use Only)

28. CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND RETURN

DELIVER ALL ITEMS SET FORTH OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED ABOVE AND ON ANY

ADDITIONAL SHEETS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SPECIFIED

29. AWARD OF CONTRACT: REF.

DATED . YOUR OFFER ON SOLICITATION

(BLOCK 5), INCLUDING ANY ADDITIONS OR CHANGES WHICH ARE

SET FORTH HEREIN, IS ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS:

30a. SIGNATURE OF OFFEROR/CONTRACTOR

30b. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 30c. DATE SIGNED

31a. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER)

31b. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 31c. DATE SIGNED

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

PREVIOUS EDITION IS NOT USABLE

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.212

COPIES TO ISSUING OFFICE. CONTRACTOR AGREES TO FURNISH AND

OFFER

13a. THIS CONTRACT IS A

RATED ORDER UNDER

DPAS (15 CFR 700)

11. DELIVERY FOR FOB DESTINA-

TION UNLESS BLOCK IS

MARKED

SEE SCHEDULE

12. DISCOUNT TERMS

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

27a. SOLICITATION INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-1, 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-3 AND 52.212-5 ARE ATTACHED. ADDENDA

27b. CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-5 IS ATTACHED. ADDENDA

17a CONTRACTOR/

OFFEROR.

CODE

8 (A)

SIZE STANDARD:

NAICS:

% FOR:SET ASIDE:UNRESTRICTED OR

SERVICE-DISABLED

VETERAN-OWNED

SMALL BUSINESS

HUBZONE SMALL

BUSINESS

SMALL BUSINESS

10. THIS ACQUISITION IS

EDWOSB

SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM

RQ-32-22-000010

16PBGC22Q0020

Brittany Helmkamp

12:00 PM ET

PD

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORP

PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT

1200 K ST NW

WASHINGTON DC 20005-4026 541611

See Schedule see continuation page for line item details.

See Schedule

FEB 28, 2022

Please

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 2/2012) BACK

19.

ITEM NO.

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

32a. QUANTITY IN COLUMN 21 HAS BEEN

RECEIVED INSPECTED ACCEPTED, AND CONFORMS TO THE CONTRACT, EXCEPT AS NOTED:

41a. I CERTIFY THIS ACCOUNT IS CORRECT AND PROPER FOR PAYMENT

32b. SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32c. DATE

41b. SIGNATURE AND TITLE OF CERTIFYING OFFICER 41c. DATE

42a. RECEIVED BY (Print)

42b. RECEIVED AT (Location)

42c. DATE REC'D (YY/MM/DD) 42d. TOTAL CONTAINERS

40. PAID BY

32d. PRINTED NAME AND TITLE OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT

REPRESENTATIVE

32e. MAILING ADDRESS OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE 32f. TELPHONE NUMBER OF AUTHORZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

32g. E-MAIL OF AUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE

33. SHIP NUMBER 34. VOUCHER NUMBER 35. AMOUNT VERIFIED

CORRECT FOR

PARTIAL FINAL

37. CHECK NUMBER

38. S/R ACCOUNT NO. 39. S/R VOUCHER NUMBER

36. PAYMENT

COMPLETE PARTIAL FINAL

16PBGC22Q0020

SCHEDULE Continued

ITEM NO. SUPPLIES/SERVICES QUANTITY UNIT UNIT PRICE AMOUNT

0001 PIMS Targeted Peer Review

PR NUMBER: RQ-32-22-000010

DELIVERY DATE: 04/30/2022

SHIP TO:

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION

WORKPLACE SOLUTIONS DEPARTMENT

1200 K ST NW

WASHINGTON DC 200005-4026

FOB : Destination

1.00 EA

PAGE 3 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

Table of Contents

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Description

Sections 1-4

ATTACHMENT A

52.204-7 SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (OCT 2018)

52.204-25PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING FOR CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR

EQUIPMENT (NOV 2021)

52.204-26COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES--REPRESENTATION (OCT 2020)

52.212-1INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS--COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021)

52.212-3 IOFFEROR REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (FEB 2021)-- ALTERNATE I (OCT

2014)

52.212-4CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS--COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021)

52.212-5CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT STATUTES OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS--COMMERCIAL

PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES (NOV 2021)

52.217-8 OPTION TO EXTEND SERVICES (NOV 1999)

52.222-22 PREVIOUS CONTRACTS AND COMPLIANCE REPORTS (FEB 1999)

52.224-1 PRIVACY ACT NOTIFICATION (APR 1984)

52.232-18 AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS (APR 1984)

52.239-1 PRIVACY OR SECURITY SAFEGUARDS (AUG 1996)

52.246-25 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY--SERVICES (FEB 1997)

52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

PBGC 52.201-7000 CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE (JAN 2012)

PBGC 52.204-7000 RECORDS MANAGEMENT (SEP 2017)

PBGC 52.207-7001CONTRACTOR TELEWORK (MAY 2020)

PBGC 52.209-7001 ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (AUG 2017)

PBGC 52.209-7002 HANDLING PBGC DATA (MAY 2017)

PBGC 52.231-7000 OTHER DIRECT COSTS (MAY 2012)

PBGC 52.232-7000 SUBMISSION OF INVOICES (FIXED-PRICE) (SEPT 2017)

PBGC 52.232-7006SUBMISSION OF INVOICES/VOUCHERS - IPP (OCT 2018)

PBGC 52.237-7000 KEY PERSONNEL (APR 2018)

PBGC 52.237-7002 FITNESS DETERMINATION (APR 2019)

PBGC 52.237-7004 TRAINING (MAR 2016)

PBGC 52.237-7005 INFORMATION SECURITY TRAINING (MAR 2020)

PBGC 52.237-7007 DISPLAY OF PBGC IDENTIFICATION BADGES (FEB 2013)

PBGC 52.239-7000 SECTION 508 ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS (MAR 2020)

PBGC 52.242-7000 POSTAWARD CONFERENCE (SEP 2020)

PBGC 52.246-7000 INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF DELIVERABLES (JAN 2012)

PBGC 52.247-7000 PACKAGING AND MARKING (JAN 2012)

52.204-24REPRESENTATION REGARDING CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR EQUIPMENT

(NOV 2021)

PAGE 4 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

CLAUSES

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Description

PAGE 5 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

Synopsis/Solicitation Description:

(i) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The Government intends to award a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract under Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) using FAR Part 13.

(ii) The solicitation reference number is 16PBGC22Q0020. This requirement is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP).

(iii) This RFP and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2022-02.

(iv) This solicitation is not set aside for small business. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541611 - Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services.

(v) The Contract Line-Item Numbers, Items, Quantities, and Units of Measure (including options) are listed in SECTION 1 Price Schedule.

(vi) The description of requirements for the services. PBGC is seeking to obtain qualified, experienced, and highly competent contractor to provide professional services as set forth in SECTION 2 the Statement of Objectives (SOO).

(vii) PBGC anticipates one (1) Base Period of 6-months commencing on date of award, as follows:

- Base Period: April 30, 2022, through October 29, 2022

(viii) The provision at 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. Please see SECTION 3 for more information.

Each Offeror shall submit pricing as a separate document that shall include the format identified in Attachment A.

(ix) The provision at 52.212-2, Evaluation – Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.

Please see SECTION 4 for more information.

(x) FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications—Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The Offeror shall complete only paragraph (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certification electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) website located at https://www.sam.gov/portal. If the Offeror has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the Offeror shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (u) of this provision.

PAGE 6 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

(xi) The clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions – Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. The following addendum has been attached to this provision:

Addendum

The clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services is included, as follows:

“The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only because of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days.”

Original invoices shall be e-mailed to: INVOICEMANAGER@PBGC.GOV with a courtesy going to the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COR) and Contracting Officer.

(xii) The provision at 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders – Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition.

(xiii) The date, time and place proposals are due: Proposals shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer (CO), Brittany Helmkamp, at helmkamp.brittany@pbgc.gov and the Contract Specialist, William Grubbs at grubbs.william@pbgc.gov, no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on February 28, 2022.

(xiv) Questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer (CO), Brittany Helmkamp, at helmkamp.brittany@pbgc.gov and the Contract Specialist, William Grubbs, at grubbs.william@pbgc.gov, no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Time on February 03, 2022.

(xv) Failure to submit via instruction (i.e., via) email may result in a proposal not being evaluated.

Responses to all inquiries/questions will be published by amendment to the solicitation. No information concerning this solicitation will be provided in response to telephone calls.

Prospective Offerors are instructed to submit their questions using the template in Attachment A of this solicitation.

Sections 1-4

PAGE 7 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

SECTION 1

SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

A.1 DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

The Contractor shall perform all services for the Fiscal Year 2021 Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS) Peer Review Data Input Assessment to the PBGC as listed in Section 2 the Statement of Objectives (SOO).

A.2 PRICE SCHEDULE

Offeror shall propose a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) for the work to be performed using the following template:

*TBP = To Be Proposed by Offeror

Not to Exceed (NTE) Total Contract Ceiling Price: [TBP].

Contract ceiling prices and total number of hours for each period of performance are not to be exceeded unless modified via bilateral modification.

PAGE 8 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

SECTION 2

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS) Peer ReviewInterest Rate and

Asset Return Modeling Assessment

Requirement Objectives

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21, Pub. L. No. 112-141) was enacted on July 6,2012. Section 40233(a) of MAP-21 requires PBGC to contract with a capable agency or organization that is independent of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to conduct annual peer reviews of the Single-Employer (SE)-Pension Insurance Modeling System (PIMS) and Multiemployer (ME)-PIMS.

The next peer review will provide PBGC with a targeted peer review of PBGC’s SE-PIMS and ME-PIMS. In particular, the Contractor shall focus on the development of PBGC’s capital market assumptions, the projection of interest rates and other macroeconomic variables, and the modeling of plan asset returns. Projected future interest rates and plan asset returns are an important component of the PIMS models, which are used to develop PBGC’s annual Projections Report, a 10-year projection of the financial position of each of PBGC’s two insurance programs – the Single-Employer Program and the Multiemployer Program. PBGC also uses these forecasting models to analyze the potential effects of legislative proposals that impact private sector defined benefit plans and the insurance programs.

The objectives of this PIMS Peer Review are to provide PBGC with an analysis of how effectively future interest rates, other future macroeconomic variables, and future plan asset returns for insured, ongoing single employer and multiemployer pension plans are developed and projected for the SE-PIMS and ME-PIMS models. The Contractor shall review the current capital market framework used by PIMS and develop recommendations to improve the stochastic modeling of these variables.

PBGC is embarking on a multi-year project to update and modernize the current PIMS models. The new versions are referred to as transformational PIMS, or “T-PIMS”. The new T-PIMS models will provide more modeling flexibility and use more sophisticated modeling techniques. Thus, findings and recommendations from this analysis will inform improvements to the current (legacy) PIMS models and the future T-PIMS models.

Project scope

The review will include an analysis of the macroeconomic variables used by PIMS.

Currently, PIMS uses the 30year treasury rate and U.S. aggregate stock returns as its key economic variables for plan asset returns. The30-year treasury rate is projected forward

PAGE 9 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

stochastically under a modified random walk model, where the random walk includes an underlying trend towards a specified level above inflation. Stock returns are then derived stochastically based on an expected spread over the 30-year treasury rate. The proposed peer review will analyze the stochastic modeling of the 30-year treasury rate and the derivation of asset returns from the 30-year treasury rate. Additionally, the peer review will include an assessment of the PIMS assumptions used for future rates of inflation and future growth rates for wages and salaries and flat-rate plan benefits (benefit formulas that are not related to employees’ pay). The peer review will include recommendations on ways the model can improve these capital market assumptions.

In modeling plan investment returns, PIMS currently models only two asset classes – treasury bonds and stocks. A uniform asset allocation between treasuries and stocks is applied to all plans in both SE-PIMS and ME-PIMS. More granular information on plans’ actual asset allocation is reported on Schedule R to the Form 5500 but is not currently used in the models. The proposed peer review analysis will look at actual plan allocations and recommend how use of that data would improve model projections, particularly in times of market stress.

Many single-employer plan sponsors have adopted liability driven investment (LDI) strategies designed to manage or minimize plan funded status volatility. Plan sponsors’ management of interest rate risk and other risks are important considerations when projecting the future funded status of the plans and analyzing PBGC’s risk exposure. The proposed analysis includes gathering information on recent trends in defined benefit plan asset allocation and plan practices related to investment risk management, and recommendations for how this information could improve modeling in PIMS.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) created a new, Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program under which PBGC will provide one-time payments to troubled multiemployer plans that meet statutory eligibility requirements. ARP and the regulations thereunder impose investment restrictions on the SFA provided to eligible multiemployer plans, and as a result, ME-PIMS must allow for separate asset allocations for the two pools of plan assets – non- SFA and SFA. The peer review Contractor should analyze PBGC’s existing modeling techniques and recommend a modeling framework for projecting the performance and balances of the SFA and non-SFA portions of plan assets, reflecting the provisions of ARP and PBGC’s regulations under section 4262 of ERISA. This includes plan sponsors’ expected practices for paying down SFA assets. This framework should include both the modeling of the SFA and non-SFA assets separately, as well as modeling assumptions that reflect the asset allocation policies adopted for total plan assets.

The review includes:

1. The stochastic projection of key economic variables

2. The key economic variables used as the basis for projecting plan asset returns

3. Plan asset allocations, and whether and how the Schedule R data can be used to improve plan-by-plan asset allocations

4. The spreads used from the key economic variables to estimate asset returns for specified asset classes

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5. The stochastic projection of the spreads between key economic variables and plan asset returns

6. The correlation between returns of different asset classes, and how those correlations maychange in down markets

7. Asset allocations for SFA and non-SFA assets and plans’ target policy for total plan assetallocations

8. The tail risk of asset returns in extreme down markets

Recommendations on approaches to reflect plan asset allocations and develop plan asset return assumptionsused in the model must reflect the purposes of the model and must balance the resources required to incorporate the recommendations.

The scope of the review focuses on modeling related to ongoing pension plans, not for modeling the futureperformance of assets managed by PBGC or by terminated and insolvent multiemployer plans that are currently or expected to receive traditional financial assistance under section 4261 of ERISA.

Deliverable

The Deliverable shall be due within six (6) months of the completion of the onboarding process. TheDeliverable shall be a report that provides:

1. A detailed assessment of the current assumptions and methods involved in developing future interest rates, other macroeconomic variables, and plan asset returns used by SE-PIMS and ME-PIMS, and a description of any recommendations and the expected improvements by implementing them.

2. A report on market trends and plan practices related to pension investment strategies, including recommendations for how these trends and plan practices could be better modeled within PIMS.

3. A cost-benefit trade-off analysis related to possible changes, including a recommendation for what refinements and/or alternatives should be pursued. This should include recommendations regarding what changes are feasible to implement with the legacy SE and ME PIMS models and what changes are more applicable to incorporate into the new T-PIMS model.

Supporting Information

Additional information on SE-PIMS and ME-PIMS, including copies of recent PIMS Peer Review reports and detailed descriptions of the model, can be found at the following link:

https://www.pbgc.gov/about/projections-report/pension-insurance-modeling-system

Additional information on ARP and the Special Financial Assistance Program, including PBGC regulations pertaining to ERISA section 4262, can be found at the following link:

https://www.pbgc.gov/american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021

PAGE 11 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

SECTION 3

Instruction to Offerors

3.1 GENERAL

The Offerors shall present a proposal in a clear, concise manner and in understandable terms.

PBGC will not evaluate proposals submitted that are not complete and do not provide all requested information. Proposal’s that fail to furnish required information, representations or reject the terms and conditions of this solicitation may be excluded from consideration.

While the Offeror may add assumptions, nothing contained in the successful proposal shall constitute a waiver to any other requirement in the solicitation. Offerors shall not restate or paraphrase the Government’s requirements.

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items Addendum to Paragraph (e) “Multiple offers.” Paragraph (e) “Multiple offers” is deleted in its entirety. Multiple proposals will not be accepted.

3.1.1 Determination of Responsibility

This contract shall be awarded only to a responsible prospective Contractor. To be determined responsible, a prospective Contractor must:

a) Have adequate financial resources to perform the contract or have the ability to obtain them.

b) Be able to comply with the required or proposed delivery or performance schedule, taking into consideration all existing commercial and governmental business commitments.

c) Have a satisfactory performance record. A prospective contractor shall not be determined responsible or non-responsible solely based on a lack of relevant performance history, except as provided in FAR 9.104-2.

d) Have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics.

e) Have the necessary organization, experience, accounting and operational controls, and technical skills, or the ability to obtain them (including, as appropriate, such elements as production control procedures, property control systems, quality assurance measures and safety programs applicable to materials to be produced or services to be performed by the prospective Contractor and Subcontractors.

f) Have the necessary production and technical equipment and facilities, or the ability to obtain them.

g) Be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive an award under applicable laws and regulations.

PAGE 12 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

3.1.2 Proposal Submission Instructions

Offerors shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer, Brittany Helmkamp, at Helmkamp.brittany@pbgc.gov, and Contracting Specialist, William Grubbs, at grubbs.william@pbgc.gov. Proposals must be submitted by the deadline, as included in Section

3.1.3 of this solicitation. Failure to submit via email may result in non-acceptance of the proposal

3.1.3 Deadline for Offerors

All volumes of the proposal shall be submitted to together to PBGC no later than February 28th, 2022, at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Each Offeror shall complete the appropriate sections of the SF1449 and return it with their proposal. All amendments issued under this RFP must also be signed and returned with the proposal.

3.1.4 Late Proposals

Complete electronic versions must be received before the time and date specified for receipt. If the proposal is received at the destination after the time and date specified for receipt, the proposal will be considered late and will be dealt with in accordance with the late proposal provision of FAR 12.6 and FAR 13.5.

3.1.5 Proposal Format, Instructions and Composition

3.1.5.1 General Instructions:

The proposal shall use the specific format below. These directions assist in providing a fair and equitable evaluation of all proposals. The Government may determine those proposals not following the directions as unacceptable and may reject such proposals from further consideration.

The proposals shall use:

• 8.5 by 11-inch size.

• 12 pitch print or larger, Times New Roman style font.

• Legible tables, charts, graphs and figures shall be used wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall be uncomplicated, legible, and shall not exceed 11 by 17 inches in size. For tables, charts, graphs and figures, the text shall be no smaller than 10-point Arial or Times New Roman.

• 1-inch margin at the top, bottom and both sides of each page.

• All documents shall be in a Microsoft Office Compatible format.

• All pages single spaced.

• Every page sequentially numbered; and

Page numbers shall be centered in the bottom margin.

3.1.5.2 Proposals Page Limits:

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The Offeror shall furnish the proposal into two (2) separate volumes that will address the requirements. The individual volumes, required content, and pages limitations are detailed below.

Description Page Limit RFP Section Reference

VOLUME I – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

(includes both IDIQ and TOR 1 requirements:

Cover Page Not counted in page limit N/A

Cover Letter Not counted in page limit 3.1.5.3

Table of Contents Not counted in page limit N/A

Compliance Matrix Not counted in page limit 3.1.5.4

Factor 1: Key Personnel 2 pages 3.2

Appendix A: Key Personnel Resumes Commitment letters

2 pages per key personnel 1 page per commitment letter

3.2.

Factor 2: Technical Approach and Capabilities 6 pages 3.2.

Factor 3: Management Approach 6 pages 3.2

Factor 4: Past Performance 2 pages per Past Performance Profile

3.3

VOLUME II: PRICE

Factor 5: Price No Page Limit 3.4

3.1.5.3 Cover Letter:

A cover letter shall accompany the proposal to set forth any information that the Offeror wishes to bring to the attention of the Government. The cover letter shall also stipulate that the Offeror’s proposal is predicated upon all the terms and conditions of this RFP. In addition, it must contain a statement that the Offeror’s proposal is valid for a period of 180 calendar days from the submission date of the proposal.

The following introductory information is required in the Cover Letter of Volume I of the proposal:

a. RFP Number

b. Name and address of Offeror.

PAGE 14 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

c. Name, telephone number & email address of main point-of-contact

d. Name of your contract administration office

e. Date of submission

f. Name, title and signature of authorized representative. The person signing the proposal must have the authority to commit the Offeror to all the provisions of the proposal, fully recognizing that the Government has the right, by terms of the solicitation, to make an award without further discussions.

g. DUNS number,

h. CAGE Code

i. Name address, DUNS number CAGE code for each of the proposed teaming partners.

3.1.5.4 Compliance Requirement

The Offeror shall submit a proposal following the instructions listed in Section 3 and addressing the evaluation factors listed in Section 4. All proposals will be evaluated preliminarily to ensure compliance with the requirements set forth in this solicitation, which include timely receipt of the proposal. The Offeror shall prepare a Cross-Reference Matrix cross referencing all RFP requirements to the location of the Offeror’s responses in their proposal. The Offeror’s format is acceptable.

SAM registration must be active at the time of the proposal submission.

Failure to provide the required information will result in the proposal being deemed noncompliant and may not be considered further evaluation or award.

3.2 VOLUME 1 – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

The technical proposal shall address the factors listed in the solicitation Section 4.2 and described in detail below.

Factor 1: Key Personnel

The Offeror shall propose its own staff of Key Personnel necessary to complete the objective in the Statement of Objectives (SOO).

The Offeror must provide resumes for the Key Personnel proposed (Labelled: Appendix A: Key Personnel Resumes). The resumes shall clearly demonstrate the degree of significant experience as it relates to satisfying the requirements of the SOO in Section 2 and shall clearly demonstrate the experience and qualifications of the proposed key personnel, as cited in Factor 1 – Key Personnel as addressed in Section 4 of this Solicitation.

The resumes shall include:

a. Employment history, including employer’s name, position title, duties and responsibilities;

b. Applicable skills, experience expertise and qualifications; and

c. Relevant education, credentials and or certifications.

PAGE 15 OF 60 16PBGC22Q0020

The Offeror must provide a signed letters of commitment by the proposed individuals to serve in the stated position at contract award. (Include these in Appendix A). Key Personnel are subject to PBGC Clause PBGC 52.237-7000 KEY PERSONNEL.

Factor 2: Technical Approach and Capabilities

The Offeror’s proposal to include the proposed Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) must demonstrate the proposed team’s technical approach and capabilities to satisfying the requirements of the solicitation. Also, the Offeror’s must describe a plan that will address how it will staff to accomplish the work based on understanding the requirements, staff roles, skill mix, number of people, level of effort over the duration of the project. The proposal shall show at least 5 years of experience with capital market forecasting, including stochastic projections of treasury rates and rates of return on various asset classes, within their technical approach.

The Offeror must provide proposed staffing, labor category, roles and description, number of FTEs and number of hours. Offeror must also include its approach and process for replacement of personnel.

The Offeror staffing plan must identify any subcontractor (s), if any, who will be used.

Factor 3: Management Approach

The Offeror’s management approach shall fully support the proposed Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) and shall clearly demonstrate the Offeror’s ability to manage work efforts and provide quality control and best practices that will likely result in timely, consistent, professional, and quality support services and deliverables.

1. Managing Staff. The Offeror must demonstrate its capabilities to: effectively manage staff so that work assignments are completed accurately and in a timely manner; its capability to coordinate work together across any teaming structures and among the diverse skill sets needed to execute this effort; its processes for replacement of personnel to minimize impact to on-going tasks; and staffing flexibility and its commitment to perform work and adapt to changing priorities.

2. Communication and Internal Controls. The Offeror must discuss its communication and internal controls that will ensure achievement of all requirements including adherence to contract clauses and compliance with the overall contract.

3. Organization Structure. The Offeror’s proposal must discuss its organization chart with a detailed explanation of the organization structure, including its proposed key personnel and what authority the individuals possess; what parts of the Offeror’s organization are responsible for managing and accomplishing what work; where decision

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making authority lies within the Offeror’s organization; and must identify what work the prime, subcontractors or teaming partners are performing.

4. Reach back and proven practices. The Offeror must describe what reach back and proven practices from the corporation’s experience will be utilized by the Offeror’s team for successful execution of the solicitation.

As Part of the proposal, the Offeror must provide the names, roles, functions provided on other government contracts currently held with PBGC. This is to include any active contracts/solicitation number (s) for a requirement that has not resulted in an award yet, of proposed key and non-key personnel for this requirement which are committed on other requirements but are being proposed on this PIMS Peer Review requirement.

Factor 4: Past Performance

The proposal shall provide three (3) references which clearly describe the experience with the work like the scope of this solicitation. The proposal must provide evidence that each past performance reference is substantially similar in size, scope, and complexity to the required by the solicitation, including quality of products and services, cost control, timeliness of performance, business relations, and customer satisfaction.

When discussing previous Government and/or private sector projects like that proposed, the Offeror shall provide sufficient detail to convince evaluators of the relevance of the skills and objectives involved. Additionally, the Offeror shall provide the following past performance reference information for three (3) past performance references:

Project Title:

Customer/Agency Name:

Contract Number/Task Order Number:

Dollar Value:

Contract Type:

Period of Performance:

Current Status (e.g. Completed, In Progress) Point of Contact Name Point of Contact Email Point of Contact Phone Number:

The Offeror shall include the following information for each of the past performance reference responses:

• Description – The Offeror shall describe the scope of work performed on the past performance reference.

• Recency – The Offeror shall provide past performance references that have occurred within the three (3) years prior to the issuance of this solicitation.

• Relevance – The Offeror shall describe the relevance of the past performance reference to the PWS in this solicitation.

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• Performance – The Offeror shall describe its performance on the past performance reference.

The three references provided shall demonstrate the following:

1. Quality of Service, including: (i) Experience and quality of past actuarial, stochastic modeling, and technology projects; and (ii) Quality of products and services as well as technical support provided, including quality of personnel.

2. Cost Control

3. Timeliness of Performance

4. Business Relations, including problem responsiveness.

5. Customer Satisfaction

3.3 VOLUME II: PRICE

3.3.1 Factor 5 Price

Price proposal shall include the following content:

• Summary Budget: Offerors are required to provide a complete budget utilizing the Budget Template provided in Attachment A to the Solicitation. Budget must be provided in an Excel spreadsheet format. Any assumptions must be clearly identified.

• Detailed Budget: Solely for the purpose of conducting evaluations, the Offeror shall submit a complete Detailed Budget of the pricing workbook that includes the labor breakdown used in developing its firm-fixed prices. This shall include the fully burdened hourly rates for all labor categories it includes for the entire period of performance and any estimates for Other Direct Costs (ODCs), as well as, details to how the ODCs were developed. Failure to provide pricing for every labor category will result in the price proposal being deemed noncompliant and may not be eligible for further evaluation and award. The hourly rate for each labor category shall be fully burdened (include direct labor, all indirect costs and profit).

• No pricing information shall be included in with the Technical or Past Performance Volumes of the proposal. All price information must be submitted in a separate Volume III “Price”.

• Offeror Validity Statement: Offerors shall make a clear statement that their quotation is valid for no less than 120 calendar days from the closing date of the solicitation.

• The Offeror shall provide signed copies of the Standard Form (SF) 1449 and the SF 30(s) of any amendments that may be issued to this solicitation. The individual signing the forms shall have the authority to commit the Offeror to all the provisions of the quotation, fully recognizing that the Government has the right, by terms of the solicitation, to make an award without further

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discussions.

The Offeror shall include a completed attachment of detailed breakout of proposed rates and hours used in developing its firm fixed prices. Failure to provide the pricing for every labor category will result in the Offeror’s proposal being deemed noncompliant and will not be eligible for further evaluation and award. This shall be solely for evaluation purposes.

3.3.2 SF1449 and SF-30

The Offeror shall include a signed copy of SF1449 “Solicitation, Offer, and Award” and complete blocks 12 through 18 of the form. If applicable, the Offeror shall include a signed copy of SF-30 “Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract”.

3.4 QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE SOLICITATION

(a) Questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Time on February 03, 2022.

(b) Prospective Offerors are instructed to submit their questions using the template provided in solicitation Attachment “RFP Questions Template”. Responses to all inquiries/questions will be published by amendment to the solicitation.

(c) All questions concerning this solicitation must be submitted in writing by email to:

- Brittany Helmkamp, Contracting Officer, at helmkamp.brittany@pbgc.gov

- William “Billy” Grubbs, Contract Specialist, at grubbs.william@pbgc.gov

(d) No information concerning this solicitation will be provided in response to telephone calls.

3.5 Expenses Related to Proposal Submission

The Government is not liable for any cost incurred by any proposals in response to this solicitation.

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SECTION 4

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

4.1 BASIS FOR AWARD

The Government intends to make a single award to the responsible Offeror whose offer, conforming to the requirements of this solicitation, represents the best value to the Government, all evaluation factors considered.

The tradeoff process will be used which allows tradeoffs to be made between price and non-price factors that results in the most advantageous proposal for the Government. The Government may determine to award the contract to other than the lowest price proposal, or to other than the highest technically rated proposal. The PBGC will make tradeoffs between price and non- price factors, which may result in a determination that a superior technical solution merits or does not merit a higher price. The award decision will be based on an assessment of a proposals relative capability as measured against the evaluation factors identified in this section.

4.2 EVALUATION FACTORS

The PBGC will evaluate each Offeror’s proposal using the evaluation factors identified below and will assign an adjectival rating to each non-price factor. The following factors will be used to evaluate proposals:

Factor 1: Key Personnel Factor 2: Technical Approach and Capabilities Factor 3: Management Approach Factor 4: Past Performance Factor 5: Price

4.2.1 FACTOR 1: KEY PERSONNEL

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s proposed key personnel to determine their capabilities in successfully performing the technical requirements of this solicitation and the resulting award by meeting or exceeding the minimum requirements outlined within this evaluation factor. The Offeror’s proposal will be evaluated for information which demonstrates that proposed key staff have the education, training, knowledge, and experience to successfully execute the requirements. Collectively, the proposed Key Personnel must meet or exceed the following requirements:

(a) A credentialled pension actuary (minimum qualifications of Enrolled Actuary (EA) or

Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), with 10+ years of pension experience) OR a credentialled financial analyst (minimum qualifications of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA or equivalent, with 10+ years of pension investment experience).

(b) Team member(s) with capital market forecasting experience.

(c) Team member(s) with the training and experience necessary to evaluate and make recommendations on stochastic economic modeling – including but not limited to modeling future treasury rates, stock and bond returns, and correlations between returns of asset classes in various economic conditions.

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(d) Team member(s) with experience managing large asset pools, preferably pension plan assets.

4.2.2 FACTOR 2: TECHNICAL APPROACH AND CAPABILITIES

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s technical capabilities and proposed Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) to determine if they meet or exceed the requirements described in this solicitation. The Government will evaluate to determine if the Offeror provides at least 5 years of experience with capital market forecasting, including stochastic projections of treasury rates and rates of return on various asset classes, within their technical approach. Additionally, the Government will evaluate if the Offeror and proposed team clearly demonstrates experience with time-series statistical variables and a knowledge of forecasting models. Finally, the Government will evaluate to determine if the Offeror clearly demonstrates experience and knowledge of the decisions of asset managers for large private-sector pension plans.

4.2.3 FACTOR 3: MANAGEMENT APPROACH

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s proposed management approach and their ability to successfully meet or exceed the requirements for managing and accomplishing the Government’s SOO requirements and the Offeror’s proposed Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). The Offeror’s management approach will be evaluated to determine the extent in which the Offeror has developed a strategy for the effective and efficient management of contract activities, personnel, business operations, and program management activities. The Government will evaluate to determine if the Offeror has provided clear evidence of the Offeror’s (i.e., firm or organization) personnel resources and the capability to increase supporting personnel at PBGC’s request. The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s management approach to determine if the Offeror provided clear and supportive evidence of the availability of the proposed team during the life of the contract to ensure timely completion of the deliverables and requirements in accomplishing the SOO. The Government will evaluate whether the proposed staff (key and non-key) personnel are being committed on other active Government contracts and the extent that they will be committed to support the award resulting from this solicitation.

4.2.4 FACTOR 4: PAST PERFORMANCE

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s past performance where the Offeror had direct responsibilities as the prime contractor performing recent and relevant projects similar in nature to the work described in the Statement of Objectives. The following will be evaluated to determine the extent to which the effort demonstrates:

• Quality of Services

• Cost Control

• Timeliness of Performance

• Business relations including problem responsiveness

• Customer Satisfaction

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The Government will use relevancy, recency, and performance quality to evaluate the quality of the vendor’s past performance references and whether a vendor consistently delivered quality products and/or services in a timely manner with a reasonable degree of customer satisfaction.

Relevancy is defined as a measure of the extent of similarity between the service/support effort, its complexity, dollar value, contract type, and subcontract/teaming or other comparable attributes to the requirements of this solicitation; and a measure of the likelihood that the past performance is an indicator of future performance.

For the purposes of evaluating past performance, the following definitions apply:

(a) “Recent” is defined as past performance within the three (3) year period preceding the date of issuance of this solicitation.

(b) “Relevant” is defined as similar in scope, magnitude, and complexity to the Targeted

PIMS Peer Review requirements of this SOO.

The Government may also obtain other past performance information obtained from various sources known or identified by the Government, other than the provided references from the Offeror. The Government may consider past performance information from individual references provided by the Offeror, or in the aggregate.

Offerors without a record of relevant past performance or when information on past performance is not available, may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. Thus, Offerors without a record of relevant past performance will be assigned a neutral rating for this factor.

4.2.5 FACTOR 5: PRICE

In evaluating the Offeror’s price proposal, price will not be point scored, assigned a numerical weight, nor adjectivally rated.

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s pricing for reasonableness and to determine if the proposed pricing is reflective of the Offeror’s proposed approach for the technical factors in delivering the Government’s Statement of Objectives and executing the Offeror’s Performance Work Statement.

As part of the price evaluation, the Government will evaluate its option to extend services (see FAR Clause 52.217-8) by adding (6) months of the firm-fixed-price to the Offeror’s proposed total base period price. The Offeror shall not submit a price for the potential 6-month extension of services period in the price proposal. However, solely for the purpose of the Government’s evaluation, the total evaluated price will include both the Offeror’s proposed firm-fixed-price for the base period and calculated amount of the firm-fixed-price of the Government’s possible option to extend services up to 6-months under FAR 52.217-8.

4.3 RELATIVE ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

Factor 1: Key Personnel, Factor 2: Technical Approach, and Factor 3: Management Approach will be given equal weight and are more important than Factor 4: Past Performance. When Factors 1, 2, 3 and 4 are combined, they are significantly more important than Factor 5: Price.

ATTACHMENT A

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Attachment A

TEMPLATES

1. OFFERORS BUDGET TEMPLATE

Summary Budget:

Detailed Budget:

*TBP = To Be Proposed by Offeror

2. OFFERORS QUESTIONS TEMPLATE

52.204-7 SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (OCT 2018)

(a) Definitions. As used in this provision-- Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) indicator means a four-character suffix to the unique entity identifier. The suffix is assigned at the discretion of the commercial, nonprofit, or Government entity to establish additional System for Award Management records for identifying alternative EFT accounts (see subpart 32.11) for the same entity.

Registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) means that--

(1) The Offeror has entered all mandatory information, including the unique entity identifier and the EFT indicator, if applicable, the Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, as well as data required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (see subpart 4.14) into

SAM;

(2) The offeror has completed the Core, Assertions, and Representations and Certifications, and Points of Contact sections of the registration SAM;

(3) The Government has validated all mandatory data fields, to include validation of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The offeror will be required to provide consent for TIN validation to the Government as a part of the SAM registration process; and

(4) The Government has marked the record "Active".

Unique entity identifier means a number or other identifier used to identify a specific commercial, nonprofit, or Government entity. See www.sam.gov for the designated entity for establishing unique entity identifiers.

(b)

(1) An Offeror is required to be registered in SAM when submitting an offer or quotation, and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract, basic agreement, basic ordering agreement, or blanket purchasing agreement resulting from this solicitation.

(2) The Offeror shall enter, in the block with its name and address on the cover page of its offer, the annotation "Unique Entity Identifier" followed by the unique entity identifier that identifies the Offeror`s name and address exactly as stated in the offer. The Offeror also shall enter its EFT indicator, if applicable. The unique entity identifier will be used by the Contracting Officer to verify that the Offeror is registered in the SAM.

(c) If the Offeror does not have a unique entity identifier, it should contact the entity designated at www.sam.gov for establishment of the unique entity identifier directly to obtain one. The Offeror should be prepared to provide the following information:

(1) Company legal business name.

(2) Tradestyle, doing business, or other name by which your entity is commonly recognized.

(3) Company physical street address, city, state, and Zip Code.

(4) Company mailing address, city, state and Zip Code (if separate from physical).

(5) Company telephone number.

(6) Date the company was started.

(7) Number of employees at your location.

(8) Chief executive officer/key manager.

(9) Line of business (industry).

(10) Company headquarters name and address (reporting relationship within your entity).

(d) Processing time should be taken into consideration when registering. Offerors who are not registered in SAM should consider applying for registration immediately upon receipt of this solicitation. See https://www.sam.gov for information on registration.

(End of provision)

52.204-25 PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING FOR CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR

EQUIPMENT (NOV 2021)

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause-- Backhaul means intermediate links between the core network, or backbone network, and the small subnetworks at the edge of the network (e.g., connecting cell phones/towers to the core telephone network). Backhaul can be wireless (e.g., microwave) or wired (e.g., fiber optic, coaxial cable, Ethernet).

Covered foreign country means The People`s Republic of China.

Covered telecommunications equipment or services means--

(1) Telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities);

(2) For the purpose of public safety, security of Government facilities, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security purposes, video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, or Dahua Technology Company (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities);

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(3) Telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment; or

(4)…