Heritage Cultural Resources Solicitation 12854420R0001- QandA.pdf

Heritage Cultural Resources Solicitation 1854420R0001

Pre-Bid Meeting, February 19, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. MST

Attendees; Cultural Resources Analysis Inc., Hope Archeology Inc., SWCA, Central Wyoming College, ACR Consultants

Question 1.

I am requesting clarification in regard to SOW C.9.3.5, Paragraphs (3) and (4). Paragraph (3) states that

“material from test excavations shall not be collected and curated [unless it meets the criteria of being] …

a. Rare and complete or near complete diagnostic projectile points, etc. However paragraph (4) states that

“All archaeological material retrieved through testing will be curated by the contractor with the

University of Wyoming Archaeological Repository. Does all archaeological material retrieved through testing need to be curated or only rare, diagnostic and other such materials meeting criteria in paragraph

(3) need to be curated?

Answer: Only rare, diagnostic and other such materials meeting criteria in paragraph (3) will be collected and curated. Lithic debitage, for instance, will not be collected and curated.

Question 2.

Volume I- General Information (Section L .3.1.1) does not specify a page limit as following proposal subparts do; is there no page limit?

Answer: No, there is no page limit but don’t go overboard with it.

Volume I- General information- One Original

(i) Completed and Sign the SF-1449 at block 17a and blocks 30a-30c and acknowledge any amendments issued. Signed by authorized person--- Electronic or digital signature will not be accepted

(ii) Cover letter or Capability Statement

(iii) Complete and return all certifications identified in Section K.

Question 3.

Are datums no longer required to be placed at sites?

Answer: Correct, Datums are no longer required.

Question 4.

Do the acreages listed in the Schedule of Items represent a fixed range of project area sizes?

Answer: The acres noted in the solicitation at section B, pages 7-10 are “estimated quantities”-- B.2.1 All quantities listed in the contract schedule are estimates only and do not reflect actual quantities to be ordered over the life of the contract. Actual quantities required in any given year are dependent on the needs of the agency and/or budget. Therefore only certain schedule items may be included on a task order in any given year. Failure to provide a unit price on all items may result in the Offeror’s proposal being found non-responsive.

Question 5.

Are the Class II and Class III survey costs to include site recording and evaluation?

Answer: Yes, the costs should include the site recording and evaluation-

Question 6.

Page 4 top heading "Continuation of Blocks 19 through 24 (Schedule of Services):" - Does this refer to an ongoing project and if so are there reports available?

Answer: The “Continuation from Blocks 19-24” is referring to the blocks from page two of the solicitation. Instead of inputting everything in those blocks, this indicates that the information is on the attached pages.

Question 7.

Page 15 C.4 Level of Difficulty Factors "Unit Cost will be increased by 0.2% for each difficulty factor above factor I." - not sure what this means since we are to break out our unit cost by level of difficulty for the surveys.

Answer: It is stating Unit Cost will be increased by 0.2% for each difficulty factor above factor level I due to the difficulty. Therefore, you would want to factor that into your overall costs.

Question 8.

In the Key Personnel section of the solicitation, it states “Experience in conducting remote high altitude work”. What would be the elevation considered for high altitude work? (Technical Approach, ii-e, page

146)

Answer: For the purposes of this IDIQ and for the types of contract surveys that would be solicited, it would considered to be 7,000 ft Above Sea Level.

Question 9.

Could you please tell me if this is a new requirement, or if there is a current or previous contractor who has performed similar services? If available, can you please send along the incumbent contract or task order number?

Answer: This is a new requirement, however the same work has been completed in the past through a different contract. This is to replace a previous contract (base with four optional years) that has come to an end. Previous contract numbers were AG‐8544‐C‐15‐0006

Question 10.

What is the general turnaround time between the end of fieldwork and when the first draft of the fieldwork report is due?

Answer: In past task orders have generally had a final report due by Jan 31st. Therefore, generally in the fall to early winter contractors are submitting draft documents for review, fixing any edits, and re-submitting reports, etc. The Forest Service then consult with SHPO –

It can vary from project to project. Somethings are needed sooner than later. Generally there is a 90 day time frame for completion of field work. A big acre survey might require more time for report and site record compilation. The size and complexity of the survey would dictate the time allowed for report generation. When a Task Order is issued and if the contractor can indicate reasons as to why they wouldn’t have enough time for the office work Contracting Officer will discuss with the Contracting

Officer Representative to gather information as to whether to extend time on the Task Order. This should be done prior to award of the Task Order, therefore, if the concern is noted when a Task Order is issued, potential solutions can result in extended time of the Task Order.

Question 11.

Will the contract include Paleontological surveys?

Answer: This IDIQ contract will NOT include any Paleontological surveys. Paleontological issues, permits and/or surveys for the Bighorn NF and the Shoshone NF are overseen by USFS Regional

Paleontologist located in South Dakota.

Question 12.

Under the Vol. III Relevant Past Performance Section (L.3.1.1.C.) it states that “Offerors may submit copies of any other past performance evaluations regardless of format”. In that case, I assume emails are considered an acceptable format? If so, I’m worried about exceeding the 3-page limit if we include full printed emails in the section. Can we instead place excerpts in the body of the Past Performance Section or perhaps add the full printed emails as attachments that don’t contribute to the page limit? My preference would be for inserted image or text excerpts in the body of the section, which would be more concise.

Answer:

L.3.1.1-C Volume III-Relevant Past Performance does state Not to Exceed (NTE). After consideration of request, it is determined that up to 8 pages would be more beneficial. An amendment will be issued to increase from 3 pages to NTE 8 pages.

Question 13.

Do the performance evaluations have to be from within the last 3 years (as the completed projects have to

be) or can they be more than 3 years old?

Answer:

The Forest Service will consider all Performance Evaluations that are submitted, however, recency and relevancy regarding similar type requirements are beneficial. For Reference list, at L.3.1.1-C-I, all references shall be from projects completed within the past five years.

Question 14.

In Section L.3.1.5 it states that “Technical Proposal” pages must not number more than 30 (see yellow highlighted excerpts below). But earlier in Section L it gives page number limits for the subsections of the

Technical Proposal, including Technical Approach which has a page limit of 30.

Do we need to fit all of our information for the (i) Technical Approach, (ii) Key Personnel, (iii) Quality

Control Plan, etc into no more than 30 pages for the entire Technical Proposal? Ie, the Key Personnel, Quality control etc. are subsections within the Technical Approach (so all of Volume II can’t exceed 30 pages). Or does L.3.1.5 instead need to read “Technical Approach pages must be numbered and not more than 30 pages in length” (so total page count can’t exceed 44)?

Answer:

Volume II- Technical Proposal, as noted in the information below and highlighted, has a specific amount of pages per criteria. Therefore NTE a total of 44 pages. Volume III, as noted below, has a NTE 9 page limit for Relevant Past Performance and Reference List.

A. Volume I- General information- One Original

(i) Completed and Sign the SF-1449 at block 17a and blocks 30a-30c and acknowledge any amendments issued. Signed by authorized person--- Electronic or digital signature will not be accepted

(ii) Cover letter or Capability Statement

(iii) Complete and return all certifications identified in Section K.

B. Volume II - Technical Proposal - One original

As a minimum, the proposal must clearly provide the following:

(i) Technical approach- (NTE 30 pages)

The technical proposal will be used to make an evaluation and arrive at a determination as to whether the proposal will meet the requirements of the Government. Therefore, the technical proposal must present sufficient information to reflect a thorough understanding of the requirements specifications and a detailed description of the techniques, procedures, and program for achieving the objectives of the requirements. Initial offers should be submitted with the most favorable terms, from a price and technical standpoint. Proposals which merely paraphrase the requirements, or use such phrases as "will comply" or "standard techniques will be employed" will be considered unacceptable and will not be considered further.

(ii) Key Personnel/ Experience (NTE 6 pages):

(a) Provide a list of key personnel with job titles, years of relevant experience and brief experience summary for each of the personnel listed.

(b) The offeror shall provide a detailed summary of experience with work similar to the type of work required under this project.

(c) Experience in and knowledge of northwest plains archaeology.

(d) Meeting the educational qualifications as defined in the Statement of Work (C.5.4)

(e) Experience in conducting remote high altitude work. (7,000 Feet above sea level)

(i) Include the Experience questionnaire with your proposal or alternate format that provides all information requested.

(iii) Quality Control Plan (NTE 3 pages)

Provide a Quality Control Plan to ensure the following items:

(a) Supervisory and instruction measures to ensure that contract specifications will be met for all Tasks, prior to requesting a Forest Service inspection.

(b) Self-inspection measures, including inspection of crews while tasks are being performed.

(c) Correction procedures to correct any work quality deficiencies and or rework.

(d) Provide a sample inspection sheet

(iv) Performance of Work Plan and Techniques (NTE 5 pages) –

The offeror shall provide an approach to performing the required services, to include utilization of manpower and equipment with special attention to the particular requirements of this project. Provide subcontractor utilization plan and identify percentage work being performed by the subcontractor.

(v) Utilization of Biobased products Statement:

The offeror must provide a list of all biobased products that will be utilized for this requirement. If no biobased products are being used a non-applicable statement is required.

C. Volume III - Relevant Past Performance (NTE 3 pages): One Original (now 8 pages)

The proposal must address past performance. Offeror’s shall submit the following information as part of their proposal for both the Offeror and proposed subcontractors. Offeror should provide only the information listed below. General performance information will be received from references provided below.

1) A list of similar projects under contract or completed within the past 3 calendar years.

2) A list of references – a minimum of 4

3) A list of all Federal Contracts awarded within the past 3 calendar years.

4) A list of current project milestones and associated timelines.

Offeror’s that are newly formed entities, without prior contracts as an entity, should list contracts and subcontracts completed by all key personnel.

Include the following information for each contract and subcontract:

1) Name of contracting activity

2) Contract Number

3) Contract Type

4) Total contract value

5) Completion date, or stage of completion if still in process

6) Contract work

7) Contracting Officer

8) Program manager

9) Second contact person

10) Administrative Contracting Officer, if different from Contracting Officer

11) List of major subcontractors

NOTE: For 7, 8, 9 and 10 provide Name, Address, Email, Telephone and FAX number. (You should verify that contact information is valid; especially telephone and facsimile numbers.)

Offerors may submit copies of any other past performance evaluations regardless of format.

The Offeror shall provide information on problems encountered on the contracts and subcontracts identified in 1) and 3) above and corrective actions taken to resolve those problems.

(i) Reference List (NTE 1 Page):

Provide a one page reference list to include contract number, project title, Point of

Contact/Contracting Officer name, phone, email.

All references shall be from projects completed within past five (5) years. The Government may or may not contact any or all references listed.

D. Volume IV - Price Proposal - One original – do not include your technical proposal in with your price proposal. In your price proposal include:

(i) The complete schedule of items with unit price and totals completed. (See attached fillable form)

L.3.1.2 Offeror’s are cautioned that the government reserves the right to award a contract without discussions; thus, initial proposal should represent the best possible effort.

L.3.1.3 The technical proposal must not contain reference to cost; however, resource information (such as data concerning labor hours and categories, materials, subcontracts, etc.) may be contained in the technical proposal so that the contractor's understanding of the statement of work may be evaluated.

An amendment will be issued to clarify at L.3.1.5-c

FROM: Technical Proposal pages must be numbered and not more than 30 pages in length. The

Experience Questionnaire [reference L.3.1.1 (a) and Section M] will not count toward the 30 pages.

TO: Technical Proposal pages must be numbered and not more than 44 pages in length. The

Experience Questionnaire [reference L.3.1.1 (a) and Section M] will not count toward the 44 pages.