PreWork Conference Agenda_Meeting Notes_QA 29Dec21.pdf

PRE-WORK CONFERENCE AGENDA & MEETING NOTES

PROJECT: Gypsy Moth Aerial Spraying

SOLICITATION #: 12445022Q0004

DATE: 29 December 2021, 10:00 AM EST

ATTENDEES:

Forest Service:

Keith Friot, Contracting Officer, keith.d.friot@usda.gov Amelia Davila-Garcia, Contract Specialist, amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov

Tom Coleman, PH.D., Contracting Officer Representative (COR), Entomologist

Contractors:

Alex Wilhem, Pilot for Midwest AG Air Terry Hamilton, Midwest AG Air David Strohl, Strohl Aviation, LLC Anonymous

REVIEW OF SOLICITATION:

SAM.gov Posting of Solicitation consists of (1) Solicitation, (2) Performance Work Statement

(3) Historical Application Data (4) Mating Disruption Treatment Blocks from 2017 thru 2021 (5) SCA Wage Determination and (6) Amendment 0001.

Add project to your SAM.gov watchlist to monitor any future amendments. Notes from this call will be posted to SAM.gov as well.

Offers currently due: 07 Jan 2022 at 11:59 PM ET. Due date will likely change to 14 Jan 2022 based on pending issuance of Amendment 002.

Proposals shall be submitted via e-mail per instructions in the solicitation starting on page 33.

*Offers shall be submitted to Contract Specialist, Amelia Davila-Garcia at amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov with a courtesy copy to the Contracting Officer Keith Friot at keith.d.friot@usda.gov

(1) Solicitation Document – SF1449 Complete blocks 17 and 30. This form becomes part of your price submission. Some clauses and provisions are incorporated by reference (IBR) and some are in full text. The full text of any clause or provision can be viewed at https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far by choosing Chapter 52. Some clauses and provisions incorporated by reference are discussed below (these are highlights ONLY, offerors are responsible to review all clauses, provisions, and other solicitation documents and their requirements prior to submitting an offer).

mailto:keith.d.friot@usda.gov mailto:amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov mailto:amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov mailto:amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far%20by%20choosing%20Chapter%2052

Section B, Schedule of Items/Price Schedule:

Fuel Costs o Included in the acreage line items (1 thru 3 of each year).

o Offers must use a base price of $4.99 per gallon for Jet A fuel and $5.45 per gallon for 100LL in preparing unit prices.

o Lump sum adjustment will be made in the final payment of each Task Order based on the actual price per gallon paid for fuel on the project compared to what would have been paid at the prices stipulated above.

o Upward adjustments cannot exceed 10% of the base fuel price. There is no limit on downward price adjustments.

Contract Type: This will be a Requirements Contract.

o Main contract will serve as the ordering vehicle.

o Task Orders will be issues prior to the application period and will reflect acres/areas to be treated, based on main contract pricing.

o Funding and invoicing applicable at the Task order level only.

o Requirements Contract does not guarantee a specific number of acres, only that the awardee will receive all work per the scope (geographic area) of their awarded contract.

Maximum Contract Amount:

o Government shall place orders up to a total amount of $7.5M (Including all option years) o In the event multiple awards results from the solicitation, the total ceiling of all awarded contracts will not exceed $7.5M.

Clauses:

52.212-4 is IBR and includes information changes, disputes, excusable delays, invoicing, termination, SAM registration requirement, etc.

52.212-5 includes many clauses by reference and indicates which clauses need to flow down to your subcontractors.

52.204-10, Reporting Executive Compensation and First Tier Subcontract Awards

- If in the preceding fiscal year, the contractor (or subcontractors) received 80% or more of gross revenue from federal contracts and has $25M or more in gross revenue from federal contracts, they must report total compensation for the five most highly compensated executives. All primes must report any subcontracts valued at $30,000 or more at http://www.fsrs.gov by the end of the month following the subcontract award.

http://www.fsrs.gov/

52.204-15, Service Contract Reporting Requirements for Indefinite-Delivery Contracts – Contractor and any subcontractor must report by Oct 31 of each year the total amount invoiced and the number of direct labor hours expended on the contract.

52.209-9, Updates of Publicly Available Information – The contractor shall update the information in SAM on a semi-annual basis and respond to performance evaluations completed through CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System).

52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting –At least 50% of the cost of the contract incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the prime.

52.222-26, Equal Opportunity –Clause addresses non-discrimination. EEO Posters must be posted, and an EEO-1 report may be required 30 days after contract award.

52.222-37, Employment Reports on Veterans – Contractor must submit a VETS- 4212 report annually by 9/30.

52.222-54, Employment Eligibility Verification - Contractor is required to enroll in E-Verify at the time of contract award and verify employees assigned to the contract (http://www.dhs.gov/E-Verify).

52.232-33, Payment by EFT – SAM – All payments are made by EFT to the bank account set up in SAM.gov. It is the contractor’s responsibility to keep the information updated and inform the government of any changes.

52.222-41, Service Contract Labor Standards – Minimum wages as set forth in the attached wage determinations must be paid to prime and subcontractor employees on this contract. Fringes may be made through bona fide fringe benefits or paid in cash.

Contractor must display wage determinations and the associated Department of Labor poster at the worksite. Wage rates are updated each year if/when the option year is exercised.

52.222-43, Fair Labor Standards Act-Price Adjustment – The contract price will be adjusted annually upon issuance of new wage rate determinations for increases or decreases in wages and fringe benefits applicable to the new wage determinations. The contractor shall submit a request within 30 days for any increase requested as a result of a new wage determination.

52.222-55, Minimum Wages - Minimum hourly wage is $10.95 regardless whether the wage determination shows an hourly wage less than this amount. Contract price adjustments may be made if this minimum wage changes throughout the course of the contract.

52.222-62, Paid Sick Leave – The contractor shall permit each employee engaged in performing work on or in connection with this contract to earn not less than 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. This does not count toward requirement for fringe benefit requirements shown on the wage determinations.

52.222-42, Statement of Equivalent Rates – This clause indicates what the government would pay employees to do this type of work. It is for your information only. The wage determinations represent the only requirements for employee wages.

http://www.dhs.gov/E-Verify

52.222-49, Service Contract Act – Place of Performance Unknown. The government identified possible counties from the airports that may be used in the first year of spraying. If you anticipate working from a county that isn’t included, you should request an additional wage determination by 27 Dec 2021 (which has already passed).

Period of Performance - If exercised, the option years will run from 1 Jan thru 31 Dec of each year, ending with a final option period from 1 Jan 2026 to 31 Aug 2026, allowing for the issuance of task orders thru 31 Aug 2026.

Provisions:

52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – This clause addresses submission requirements that are not included in the “proposal preparation instructions”. Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is late and will not be considered. Intent is to award without discussions so initial submission should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint.

Requirement for an active SAM registration prior to award and throughout the course of the contract. Submitted offers must remain valid for 90 days.

52.212-2, Evaluation - Factors that will be used to evaluate technical proposals are included within this clause.

Offer Submission Package:

Follow detailed instructions starting on page 33 for submitting offers. All offerors shall submit separate Technical, Past Performance, and Price volumes. As part of the price volume, Offerors shall complete and return Section F – Representations & Certifications.

(2) Performance Work Statement (PWS)

(3) Historical Application Data

(4) Mating Disruption Treatment Blocks from 2017 thru 2021

(5) SCA Wage Determination - These are the wages that must be paid to employees working on this contract for both the prime and any subcontractors. Wage Determination information is being updated as part of Amendment 0002, pending issuance.

(6) Amendment 0001- Posted to SAM.gov on 10 Dec 2021

a. Removed clause 52.223-99, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for

Federal Contractors

b. Incorporated clause 52.216-19, Order Limitations

c. This amendment shall be acknowledged by signing the SF-30 and submitting with your price proposal.

(7) Amendment 0002 – Posted to SAM.gov on 3 Jan 2022

a. Update Wage Determinations

b. Several Clause Updates

c. Add Pre-Work Conference notes

Questions received prior to Pre-Work Conference: None

Questions received during Pre-Work Conference:

1) To whom should follow-up questions be submitted?

Points of contact listed in the solicitation:

Amelia Davila, email: amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov Keith Friot, email: keith.d.friot@usda.gov

There is no formal cutoff date for questions but the later they are submitted, there are no guarantee answers will be provided before offers are due.

2) On the material used, is it typically the little pellets or do also use some of the splat liquid stuff?

The last contractor used the Splat Formulation and then we still use the disrupt 2, which is the flake. We had that in our in our study plot. We still use both of them, but operationally the last one we used was the SPLAT in liquid formulation. Both are very effective. It is up to the offeror which one to select.

3) On the SPLAT product, it has been difficult to obtain pricing. Does anyone else have the same problem?

Tom Coleman will contact the SPLAT supplier. Any person to have problems with obtaining pricing from the supplier, please e-mail Amelia Davila to amelia.davila-garcia@usda.gov.

4) Any carding process for pilot and airplane requirements?

We have a person from fire and aviation that does the process. It would be similar to firefighting carding as far as aircraft maintenance and pilot. Make sure all maintenance on plane is up to date as per the Performance Work Statement.