RFP_Instructions_1131PL-17-R-DM51055_Amendment_002.pdf

U . S . T R A D E A N D D E V E L O P M E N T A G E N C Y

SUBJECT: COMBINED/SYNOPSIS SOLICITATION: Argentina Energy Sector

Definitional Mission

SOLICITATION NUMBER: 1131PL-17-R-DM51055

ISSUANCE DATE: February 9, 2017

CLOSING DATE: February 27March 3, 2017, 912:00 PAM, local

Arlington, VA Time

This request for commercial item prepared in accordance with the format in Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 and procedures in Subpart 13.1 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only

RFQ; offers are being requested and written solicitation will not be issued.

This procurement is a 100 percent set-aside for Small Business under NAICS Code

541690. Award is limited to U.S. Firms or U.S. individuals. Contractor and U.S.

subcontractor employees used shall be either U.S. citizens on non-U.S. citizens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. Contractor use of subcontractors is limited to less than fifty percent of the proposed price.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS REPRESENT THE "PROPOSAL PACKAGE" THAT

SHOULD BE RETURNED IN RESPONSE TO THIS SOLICITATION (Addendum to FAR

52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items (APR 2014)).

1. Proposal Due Date and Submission:

Your proposal must be received no later than 9:00 AM, local Arlington, VA time on

Monday, FebruaryFriday, March 3 27, 2017 at contractproposals@ustda.gov. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance.

Proposals submitted by facsimile or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

2. Questions Relating to This Solicitation:

All questions must be emailed to the POC listed in the solicitation at jphan@ustda.gov no later than 9:00 AM, local Arlington, VA time on Wednesday, February 15, 2017. Please reference the Solicitation Number in the SUBJECT LINE of your email.

mailto:contractproposals@ustda.gov mailto:jphan@ustda.gov

3. Notice Regarding Suspension/Debarment/Ineligibility:

Any contract awarded to a contractor who, at the time of award was suspended, debarred, and ineligible for receipt of contract with Government Agencies or in receipt of a notice of proposed debarment from any Government Agency, is voidable at the option of the

Government.

4. System for Award Management (SAM) Database:

All Contractors must be registered in the SAM database via https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ in order to be eligible for contract award. Lack of registration in SAM will make an Offeror ineligible for award as described in FAR 52.204-7.

Do NOT delay submission of your offer pending receipt of a CAGE code.

5. Inspection and Acceptance:

All services are subject to the COR's and/or ACOR’s final approval. All work will be inspected and accepted at USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA.

6. Deliveries or Performance:

The performance of this contract shall start immediately after the effective date of award.

The Contractor shall submit all deliverables under this contract to the Contracting Officer's

Representative (COR) as stated in the Performance Work Statement.

The Period of Performance for this contract shall be six (6) months from the date of the

Contracting Officer's signature on the contract. Performance of this contract shall be at

USTDA's Office, Arlington, VA, at other locations in the U.S., and/or the designated host country.

7. Special Contract Requirements:

This solicitation includes the following additional contract requirements and terms and conditions:

CONTRACTOR FOLLOW-ON (INELIGIBILITY). The Contractor and its subcontractors shall be ineligible to compete for, as a prime or subcontractor or otherwise, USTDA funded activities that result from this contract. USTDA reserves the right to grant a waiver, based upon FAR 9.503, if preclusion of the contractor or its subcontractors from the follow-on activity would not be in the Government's interest. This restriction shall remain in effect for three years from the completion of this contract. The contractor agrees to include this provision in all subcontracts to this contract.

8. Contract Clauses:

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

The clauses at 52.214-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items and 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-

Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition.

9. Proposal Content:

SF 1449, Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items – Offeror should ensure the

CAGE CODE and DUNS Numbers are placed in Block 17A and complete blocks 24

(PRICE PROPOSAL), 30A, 30B, and 30C. Finally, the offeror should sign and date in blue or black ink while ensuring that all changes made are initialed. PLEASE DO NOT

SUBMIT YOUR PRICES IN ANY OTHER FORMAT.

Technical Proposal – Technical proposal, not exceeding 10 pages, that documents the

Offeror’s Technical Expertise, Experience, and Approach (as outlined below in the evaluation factors).

Past Performance Information – Please include reference information for at least one but not more than three clients for relevant work of similar size, scope, and complexity you have performed in the last three years. Please provide the name of the client organization, client point of contact and title, point of contact email address and telephone number, a brief description of scope of work/requirement, contract award value, and the contract period of performance. This will not count towards the page limit. In addition to this information, Past

Performance Questionnaires from the client are also required. Please see Section 10, “Past

Performance Questionnaire,” for more information. The Past Performance Questionnaire will also not count towards the page limit.

Resumes – Please provide resumes for proposed personnel to include the level of Spanish proficiency as appropriate. Each resume may not exceed 2 pages.

10. Past Performance Questionnaire:

The Offeror shall provide information for a maximum of three (3) contracts and/or subcontracts held within the last three (3) years. Also, ensure the attached Past Performance

Questionnaire is forwarded by the Offeror to the contract POC for which the past performance reference is being provided. The government will use information submitted by the Offeror’s past performance POC, such as other Federal Government offices and commercial sources, to assess performance. The attached Past Performance Questionnaire

MUST be completed by the POC providing the reference. Upon completion, the past performance POC should forward the completed questionnaire to USTDA via email to contractproposals@ustda.gov no later than the 9:00 AM, local Arlington, VA time on

Monday, February 27, 2017. Proposal/Offer due date for this solicitation.

11. Evaluation Factors for Award:

FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation, Commercial Items (available at www.farsite.hill.af.mil under

FAR), is being used. The non-price factors (Evaluation Factors 1, 2, and 3) are listed in order of descending importance and will be used to evaluate all offers. All non-price evaluation mailto:contractproposals@ustda.gov http://www.farsite.hill.af.mil/ factors, when combined, are significantly more important than price (Evaluation Factor

4).

Proposals will be evaluated strictly in accordance with its written content. Proposals that merely restate the requirement or state that the requirement will be met, without providing supporting rationale, are not sufficient. Offerors who fail to meet the minimum technical requirements of the solicitation will be rated as Unacceptable and will be ineligible for award.

A. Evaluation Factor 1: Relevant Technical and Training Experience and

Expertise

The Offeror’s relevant technical background and professional experience in energy infrastructure projects as it relates to the Performance Work Statement (PWS) shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the Offeror can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance. The Offeror’s relevant experience developing Terms of Reference and budgets for feasibility studies and technical assistance, and experience with relevant financing mechanisms, shall be evaluated.

B. Evaluation Factor 2: Prior Country or Regional Experience

The Offeror’s relevant technical knowledge of the energy sector in Latin America (most importantly, in Argentina) as it relates to the PWS shall be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the Offeror can successfully perform the contract requirements and the degree of the risk of non-performance. The Offeror’s demonstrated proficiency with the Spanish language per Section 1 of the PWS shall be evaluated.

C. Evaluation Factor 3: Past Performance

The Past Performance evaluation will assess the relative risks associated with an Offeror's likelihood of success in fulfilling the solicitation's requirements as indicated by that Offeror's record of past performance. The Government reserves the right to obtain past performance information from any available source and may contact customers other than those identified by the Offeror when evaluating past performance. Because of the wide variety of past performance history of individual Offerors, the Government is not required to ensure that an equal number of references be obtained for each Offeror. Since the Government may not necessarily interview all of the sources provided by the Offerors, it is incumbent upon the

Offerors to explain the relevance of the data provided. Offerors are reminded that the burden of proving low performance risk rests with the Offerors.

In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv) states that the

Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. The Offeror, in this case, shall be rated as "Neutral" - which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

D. Evaluation Factor 4: Price

The Government will evaluate price to determine the following:

Completeness: All information required by the solicitation has been submitted and is accurate.

Reasonableness: Price is fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR.

In support of the Price Factor, the Government is providing the following estimated labor mix for this requirement only as guidance based on historical data and our experience.

1. Project Manager/Energy Specialist –30 days

2. Financial Specialist – 24 days

However, the Offeror is not required to use or follow the estimated labor mix estimate. Labor mix depends on the performer’s experience and expertise level and therefore will be different for each party. The Offeror is expected to determine its own labor mix/level of effort for this requirement.

Technical factor and sub-factors shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Table 1. Technical Ratings

Rating Description

Outstanding Proposal meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Good Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Proposal contains strengths which outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Acceptable Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

Marginal Proposal does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The proposal has one or more weaknesses which are not offset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

Unacceptable Proposal does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is unawardable.

Past Performance factor shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Table 2. Past Performance Confidence Assessments

Rating Description

Substantial Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Satisfactory Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Limited Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a low expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

Unknown Confidence

(Neutral)

No recent/relevant performance record is available or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD: The Government will use Trade-off Source Selection

Procedures to evaluate offers and determine the best value. The Government will award a contract resulting from this RFP to the offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with

Federal Acquisition Regulation, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the RFP requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by this solicitation) and is determined, based on the evaluation factors to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the

Offeror who gives USTDA the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirement affordably. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced Offeror, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical approach of the higher priced offeror outweighs the cost difference.

The Government may award based on initial proposals received, without further discussions.

Accordingly, each Contractor should submit their proposal to the Government using the most favorable terms from a cost/price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to hold discussions if it is deemed necessary. In such instance, the Contracting Officer will establish a competitive range of the most highly rated proposals. If the number of most highly rated proposals exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting

Officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range.

//SIGNED//

JULIE PHAN

Contracting Officer, Office of Acquisition Management