1131PL20RDS91074 Combined Synopsis Solicitation.pdf

Subject: Combined Synopsis/Solicitation: Global ICT Sector Desk Study (DS) Series

Solicitation Number: 1131PL20RDS91074 Issuance Date: March 13, 2020 Closing Date: April 17, 2020, 12:00 P.M., Arlington, VA. Local Time

This request for commercial item prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and written solicitation will not be issued.

This solicitation is being issued in accordance with (IAW) FAR Part 15.203. The Government may award multiple contracts resulting from this solicitation to the respondents who are deemed responsible and are determined, based on the evaluation factors, to represent the best value to the Government.

This procurement is a 100 percent Small Business Set‐Aside with a small business size standard of $15M annual sales under NAICS Code 541690. Award is limited to U.S. Firms or U.S.

individuals. Contractor and subcontractor personnel 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.)

1. Proposal Due Date:

Your proposal must be received no later than no later than the date and time listed in the subject above. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance.

2. Offer Submission:

Submit your proposal by email to contractproposals@ustda.gov which is due no later than the date and time listed in the subject above. Proposals submitted by facsimile or to alternate email addresses will NOT be accepted.

3. Questions Relating to This Solicitation:

All questions must be emailed to the point of contact listed in the solicitation at contractproposals@ustda.gov no later than 12:00 P.M., March 24, 2020. Please reference the Solicitation Number in the SUBJECT LINE of your email.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Special Contract Requirements: This combined synopsis/solicitation includes the following additional contract 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.

7. Contract Clauses: The clauses at FAR 52.212‐4, Contract Terms and Conditions‐Commercial Items and FAR 52.212‐5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders‐Commercial Items, apply to this acquisition.

8. Responses Shall Be Submitted in Two Separate Volumes as Follows:

VOLUME I(a): TECHNICAL PROPOSAL:

**No pricing information shall be included as part of the technical proposal. All pricing information shall be included in a separate volume**

Technical proposal shall not exceed 10 pages in length. Font type shall be “Times New Roman, Size 12”. Proposals not in compliance with the requirement will be determined non‐responsive and will not be evaluated or eligible for award.

The technical proposal shall clearly describe relevant technical background in performing work as it relates to the Performance Work Statement; including experience with railway projects, providing sector specific guidance, completing due diligence for rail sector projects, and/or conducting technical, economic and financial evaluations for rail sector projects as it relates to the Performance Work Statement will be evaluated to determine the likelihood that the offeror can successfully perform the contract requirements.

The offeror(s) shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the proposal and provide an adequate basis for evaluation. Offeror(s) are responsible for including sufficient details, in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. No material may be incorporated in the proposal by reference in order to circumvent the page limitation. Please submit the technical proposal as a searchable PDF.

The following documents are not included in the page limitation:

a. Cover Page

b. Table of Contents

c. Executive Summary: Although this section will not be evaluated, if included, it should allow technical reviewers to quickly understand the critical elements of the proposal including the most salient features of the offerors’ technical vision and approach, the key personnel and capabilities to accomplish the desired results. This section shall be limited to 1 page. Any additional pages will not be reviewed.

d. Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV): Resumes/Curriculum Vitae (CVs) submitted as part of the technical proposal are exclusive of the 10‐page limitation; however, resumes/CVs may not exceed 3 pages per person. Any additional pages shall not be reviewed.

VOLUME I(b): PAST PERFORMANCE:

a. Relevant Past Performance Information:

Offerors shall submit a list of no more than three past performance references within the past five years, consisting of the contract number, contract type (preferably fixed‐price contracts), the entity (federal, state, or local Government, or private sector) for which the work was performed, a summary of the relevant work, and the name of the person (e.g. contracting or technical) to be contacted with their address, telephone, and email address. Past performance will be considered relevant if the contract demonstrates relevant experiences that are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the effort described in this solicitation.

The Government reserves the right to obtain past performance information from any available source, to include the U.S. Government’s Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and may contact customers other than those identified by the offeror when evaluating past performance.

Offerors are authorized to provide information on problems encountered on the identified contracts and the offeror’s corrective actions. The Government shall consider this information, as well as information obtained from any other sources, when evaluating the offeror's past performance. The source selection authority shall determine the relevance of similar past performance information.

In the case of an offeror without any 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 offerors, in this case, shall be rated as “Unknown Confidence (Neutral)" ‐ which is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

VOLUME II: PRICE:

Price Proposal

(a) Offerors shall submit a price proposal with breakdown in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet or the attached Price Proposal Spreadsheet complete with traceable formulas. The price proposal excel spreadsheet must be accompanied with narratives (to support the price proposal) in a word document. All price numbers shall be rounded up, no cents.

(b) Offeror may follow the USTDA’s sample pricing spreadsheet or independently estimate theirs (accompanied with narratives) to include their total proposed mix of labor categories, labor rates (fully loaded), and labor days needed to meet all the requirements contained in the

PWS.

EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Evaluation Factors for Award: FAR 52.212‐2, Evaluation, Commercial Items (available at www.farsite.hill.af.mil under FAR), is being used.

Non‐Price evaluation factors are of equal importance. Non‐Price/Cost evaluation factors, when combined, are significantly more important that cost or price.

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.

EVALUATION FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE: Qualification and professional experience performing activities of relevant similar scope and complexity to the requirement (experience in emerging markets and quality of proposed technical expert(s)) as it relates to the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

EVALUATION FACTOR 2: RELEVANT PAST PERFORMANCE: The Government will evaluate the past performance information submitted in accordance with the solicitation to assess the level of risk of the offeror’s ability to successfully perform the contract. The Government will review records contained in the Contractor’s Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) to assess the likelihood that the offeror can successfully perform the required work. The Government reserves the right to contact and use information provided by the references and any other sources. The Government reserves the right to accord greater weight to the offeror’s past performance at the Government. The offeror will be evaluated neither favorably nor unfavorably on past performance if no relevant information on past performance is provided by the offeror or obtained by the Government.

EVALUATION FACTOR 3: PRICE: The Government will evaluate price to determine completeness (i.e. all information required by the solicitation has been submitted and is accurate) and fair and reasonableness. The Government may also conduct price realism for the purpose of assessing whether an offeror’s unrealistically low price reflects on its understanding of the PWS requirements or the risk inherent in the offeror’s approach. Price proposals found to be unrealistically low (an indication of “buy – in”) will be ineligible for award. The evaluated price will be used in the tradeoff analysis between price and technical factors to determine best value.

Basis for Contract Award: Proposals will be evaluated on the following factors: Technical, Relevant Past Performance, and Price. Award will be made, using the tradeoff source selection procedures process, to the contractor whose proposal represents the best value to the Government. The non‐price factors (Technical and Past Performance) when combined are significantly more important than price. However, as technical merit of the proposals becomes more equal, price may become a determining factor.

Table 1. Technical Ratings ‐ Technical factor and sub‐factors shall be evaluated using the following adjectival 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.

Table 2. Past Performance Confidence Assessments: Past Performance factor shall be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

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.

Best Value Award Determination

The Government will make an award to the offeror whose proposal conforms to the PWS requirements 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 requirements 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 superiority of the higher priced offeror merits the additional price.

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

Accordingly, each offeror should submit their proposal to the Government using the most favorable terms from a technical and price standpoint. Pursuant to FAR Part 15.306(c), if discussions are held, the Contracting Officer shall 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.

Only one award will result from this solicitation. Proposals that do not address all requirements presented in the PWS may not be considered for award.