1305M225R0027 Amendment 0002.pdf

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a) By completing items 8 and 15, and returning or (c) By separate letter or electronic communication which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by letter or electronic communication, provided each letter or electronic communication makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

E. IMPORTANT: is not is required copies to the issuing office.

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NUMBER 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQUISITION NUMBER 5. PROJECT NUMBER (If applicable)

7.ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 11/2016)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NUMBER

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. is extended. is not extended.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

13. THIS ITEM APPLIES ONLY TO MODIFICATIONS OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NUMBER AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER

NUMBER IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation data, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (Number, street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

Previous edition unusable

PAGESOF

Contractor

The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers to sign this document and return

JENNIFER ROESNER

See continuation page

EAD-NWS

FED BLDG 200 GRANBY ST SUITE 815

NORFOLK VA 23510

EAD-NWS

1305M225R0027

10/01/2025

09/10/2025

1 17

CONTINUATION SHEET

REFERENCE NO. OF DOCUMENT BEING CONTINUED PAGES

NAME OF OFFEROR OR CONTRACTOR

SUPPLIES/SERVICES

(B)

UNIT

(D)

UNIT PRICE

(E)

AMOUNT

(F)

OPTIONAL FORM 336 (4-86)

Sponsored by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.110

ITEM NO.

(A)

QUANTITY

(C)

NSN 7540-01-152-8067

1305M225R0027/0002

Amendment 0002 is to publish further Answers as a result of Questions to this solicitation. In addition, the solicitation has been amended as follows:

1. Provision FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to

Offerors—Commercial Products and Commercial

Services, has been updated to as highlighted in blue.

2. Provision FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation -

Commercial Products and Commercial Services, has been updated to as highlighted in blue.

3. RFP Attachment 2, Price Exhibit, has been updated to further clarify units of issue and quantities.

4. Clause FAR 52.216-19 Order Limitations has been updated to match the rest of the RFP's narrative of "maximum order of $386,500,000.00 or the contractor’s proposed total contract value/price, whichever is higher."

1305M225R0027 0002

Section C - List of Contract Documents, Exhibits, and Attachments

List of Contract Documents, Exhibits, and Attachments was revised as follows.

Table has been revised. The changed row(s) are as follows:

Attachment Number Title Date

2 RFP_Attachment 2 - Price Exhibit_Amend0002 10/01/2025

Section D - Clauses

Clauses was revised as follows.

Summary of Clause Changes:

Clause 52.216-19 is incorporated as follows:

FAR 52.216-19 Order Limitations. (OCT 1995)

(a) Minimum order. When the Government requires supplies or services covered by this contract in an amount of less than $25,000.00, the Government is not obligated to purchase, nor is the Contractor obligated to furnish, those supplies or services under the contract.

(b) Maximum order. The Contractor is not obligated to honor-

(1) Any order for a single item in excess of $85,000,000.00;

(2) Any order for a combination of items in excess of $386,500,000.00 or the contractor’s proposed total contract value/price, whichever is higher.; or

(3) A series of orders from the same ordering office within 90 days that together call for quantities exceeding the limitation in subparagraph (b)(1) or (2) above.

(c) If this is a requirements contract (i.e., includes the Requirements clause at subsection 52.216- 21 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)), the Government is not required to order a part of any one requirement from the Contractor if that requirement exceeds the maximum-order limitations in paragraph (b) above.

(d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c) above, the Contractor shall honor any order exceeding the maximum order limitations in paragraph (b), unless that order (or orders) is returned to the ordering office within 7 days after issuance, with written notice stating the Contractor's intent not to ship the item (or items) called for and the reasons. Upon receiving this notice, the Government may acquire the supplies or services from another source.

(End of clause)

Section E - Provisions

Provisions was revised as follows.

Summary of Clause Changes:

Clause 52.212-1 is incorporated as follows:

FAR 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Products and Commercial Services. (SEP 2023)

Clause 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Products and Commercial Services is incorporated by reference. The following addendum has been added:

52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Products and Commercial Services - Addendum:

(Amendment 0001 Changes in Yellow) (Amendment 0002 Changes in Blue)

(a) The Request for Proposal (RFP) number for this acquisition is 1305M225R0027 and shall be used to reference any proposal provided under this RFP.

(b) This is an RFP prepared in accordance with FAR 12, Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services, in conjunction with FAR 15, Contracting by Negotiation.

(c) The proposal submitted in response to this RFP must be in compliance with the terms and conditions stated in the RFP and attachments. Non-conformance with these instructions may result in rejection of the proposal, an unfavorable proposal evaluation, or being deemed ineligible for award.

(d) The Government intends to issue a single-award firm-fixed-price Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite- Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The IDIQ lifecycle shall consist of a five year ordering period.

(e) The North American Industry Classification System code for this acquisition is 518210, Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services, with a size standard of $40 million. This acquisition is unrestricted (no small business set-aside) and is being solicited under full and open competition procedures.

(f) The RFP requirement is for Commercial Data Program (CDP) services as specified in this RFP via the attached Statement of Work (SOW).

(g) The anticipated IDIQ, as a result of this RFP, does not obligate any funds. The Government is obligated only to the extent specified in the individual orders issued after the establishment of the IDIQ and to any minimums specified in clause CAR 1352.216-75, Minimum And Maximum Contract Amounts.

(h) The offeror shall state in their proposal that they agree to hold their offer open until an award is made unless the offeror formally withdraws their proposal via a written notice at any time before award. If an award is not made within 270 days from solicitation close, and assuming no revised proposals have been sought, the Government is will give offerors the opportunity to validate pricing.

(i) The proposal shall be clearly and concisely written, neatly presented, indexed, and logically assembled. Where page limitations are specified for offers in response to this solicitation, one page is equivalent to one side of a double-sided printed piece of 8.5” by 11” paper. Font must be Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman and no smaller than size 10 type. Spacing should be no smaller than single-spaced.

(j) The proposal shall consist of the following volumes, with each volume having a cover page indicating the title of the proposal, the RFP number, volume number and title, name and address of offeror, CAGE code, UEI, business size, and tax ID number. In addition, each page within each volume shall be numbered. The cover page, acronym list, and table of contents of each volume does not count to any applicable page limits. Failure to provide any volume or subpart of a volume may result in immediate removal from consideration for award:

(1) VOLUME 1, PROPOSAL INFORMATION: The offeror shall submit the following for Volume 1, Proposal Information:

i. A complete and signed Standard Form 1449 in Blocks 17a, 30a, 30b, and 30c by an individual authorized to contractually obligate the proposing offeror. The signature of the RFP constitutes an understanding that the offeror understands the requirement specified within the RFP and will meet the standards and requirements therein and that the offeror has no exceptions to such standards and requirements other than those clearly stated within the offeror’s proposal. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to RFP terms and conditions and must provide a supporting rationale for each exception. The Government reserves the right to evaluate any exception as unacceptable. Any exception determined unacceptable by the Government may result in the offeror’s proposal being determined ineligible for award. In addition, if an offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the CO in writing with an explanation of the claimed error as well as the remedies the offeror is asking the CO to consider. This notification shall be before the solicitation question submission closing date.

ii. An acknowledgment to all proposal amendments, as applicable.

iii. Any provisions and clauses that are not already completed on the System for Award Management (SAM) (accessible at SAM.gov) must be provided by the offeror at time of submission of their proposal package. It is required that all offerors/contractors register on SAM and maintain an active registration during the life of the IDIQ and subsequent task orders. SAM registration is required for award. This RFP includes provisions and/or clauses for this requirement that must be appropriately filled in and submitted within Volume 1, Proposal Information, of the offeror’s proposal package. If the offeror has already completed the provisions and/or clauses in SAM, the offeror shall state as such. NOTE:

System updates may lag policy updates. SAM may continue to require entities to complete representations based on provisions that are not included in agency solicitations. Examples include 52.222-25, Affirmative Action Compliance, and paragraph (d) of 52.212-3, Offeror

Representations and Certifications—Commercial Products and Commercial Services.

Contracting officers will not consider these representations when making award decisions or enforce requirements. Entities are not required to, nor are they able to, update their entity registration to remove these representations in SAM.

iv. FAR 19.7, Small Business Subcontracting Program, requires other-than-small business concerns to submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan that identifies the total planned dollars and percentage goals of the acquisition to be subcontracted to small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns.

The template in the attached Subcontracting Plan outline is attached for assistance in developing a Small Business Subcontracting Plan that complies with Public Law 95-507, Small Business Investment Act, and FAR Subpart 19.7, Small Business Subcontracting Program. The small business participation objectives or requirements shall be clearly stated and, when possible, state percentage goals for work to be performed by small businesses with applicable breakdown of goals for various categories of small business concerns (e.g., small business, small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone small business, etc.).

There is no page limit for Volume 1, Proposal Information. However, information that is not is required (offeror backstories, notable accomplishments, etc.) shall not be included in the proposal evaluation.

(2) VOLUME 2, TECHNICAL INFORMATION: The offeror shall submit the following for Volume 2, Technical Information. Volume 2, Technical Information, shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor I, Technical (do not include any pricing information in this volume):

Technical: The offeror shall submit a technical approach stating the offeror’s technical and management methodology. The technical approach shall be specific, detailed, and complete to clearly demonstrate how the offeror intends to meet the requirements outlined in the SOW with a valid and practical business solution. The offeror shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of its services. The offeror shall not simply rephrase or merely state that it will comply with the Government’s requirements, or provide any other generalized statement such as ‘standard procedures will be employed’.

The offeror shall state how it intends to fulfill all performance requirements and additional requirements, to include:

i. How the offeror shall source and/or acquire meteorological and related environmental observational data (including data rights) from networks operated by the commercial and other non-federal parties, for a wide variety of observing systems types and technologies to extend and increase NWS observing capabilities as required by the SOW. This shall include inventory that provides a detailed geographical distribution of the networks and infrastructure that will be used to provide the data and meet the related requirements as described in the SOW section 2.1-2.5. The inventory shall include information pertinent for each and every type of data described in the SOW section 2.1. This should include technical experience performing as the prime contractor in requirements similar to those of the requirements outlined in the SOW;

ii. How the offeror shall form, direct, and provide oversight of multiple subcontract relationships with partner networks that provide observational data, serving in a non-federal leadership role for the NWS’ CDP, to include creating, fostering, and retaining business relationships, managing the sourcing of data, administrative functions, and 24/7 operational data flows to the Government, thus ensuring quality control and other data-related service requirements for analysis, data availability, uptime, and provision of comprehensive metadata, as required by the SOW sections 2.2-2.5. The Government does not require proof of partnership agreements with platform owners and/or network providers. Rather the offeror shall provide a comprehensive management plan of all planned subcontractors, with the understanding that the relationships required are not static and can evolve over the lifespan on the contract;

iii. How the offeror shall provide data-related support services to the Government, including: quality control, aggregation, integration, processing, dissemination, and support for utilization of data in downstream NWS forecast and warning systems, and other NWS operational systems that are highly reliant on nonfederal observational data to provide forecast and warning services, as required by the SOW sections 2.2 and 2.4; and

iv. How the offeror shall transition from the incumbent contract to the new contract, if applicable. This transition plan must include a schedule with task dependencies for transitioning in all of the SOW requirements from the incumbent contractors/subcontractors. The transition plan shall address the offeror’s plan to effectively and efficiently initiate support at contract award. The transition plan shall describe the contractor’s communication plan for interfacing with the Government and other program stakeholders. In addition, the transition plan shall present a process for transitioning all services to minimize impact and manage transition risk.

There is a 34 page limit for Volume 2, Technical Information. Information beyond what is required is not desired. Any pages in excess of the page limit will be disregarded, and will not be included in the proposal evaluation.

(3) VOLUME 3, PAST PERFORMANCE INFORMATION: The offeror shall submit the following for Volume 3, Past Performance Information. Volume 3, Past Performance Information, shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor II, Past Performance:

i. Past Performance Form: Offerors shall provide past performance information for no more than five recent and most relevant contracts, to that of the solicitation requirements, performed for federal agencies, state/local governments and/or commercial customers utilizing the attached Past Performance Form. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of the offeror’s past performance. Past performance submissions shall provide all necessary information as required in this RFP.

For Past Performance, a contract is defined as a purchase order, a contract, a single task order or call order, an IDIQ, Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), or another indefinite delivery vehicle. An IDIQ, BPA, or other indefinite delivery vehicle can be submitted as only one past performance submission. If an IDIQ, BPA, or other indefinite delivery vehicle is submitted, in addition to the minimum information required in the attached Past Performance Form, the offeror must also provide the total number of orders issued, total average order value, and a list of no more than 10 of the most recent and relevant individual orders, to include identification number (order/call number), dollar value, dates of performance, and project/task order title. For references that are not an IDIQ, BPA, or other indefinite delivery vehicle, the Government reserves the right to not consider multiple delivery orders, call orders, task orders, and/or technical direction letters that are combined to be used as one past performance submission. The contract used for one past performance submission cannot be used as a duplicate reference. If the same contract is used for two past performance submissions, the latter reference will be omitted. If the reference submitted is from a subcontracting effort then the prime contractor’s contract/order number must be submitted as well as the subcontract number.

ii. Past Performance Questionnaire or Contractor Performance Assessment Report: The offeror shall provide a Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR) for each referenced instance of past performance submitted on the Past Performance Form, if available. For IDIQ, BPA or other indefinite delivery vehicle, provide the completed CPAR for each of most recent and relevant individual orders listed by the offeror in the requested supplemental individual order details. Only if a CPAR is not available or if there is insufficient narrative within the CPAR to allow the Government to effectively evaluate the submission, then the offeror shall have a Government representative of the referenced contract(s) (or like position in non-government contracts) submit a completed Past Performance Questionnaire utilizing the template of the attached Past Performance Questionnaire. The Past Performance Questionnaire shall be signed by the Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer’s Representative, or like position of the specific referenced past performance contract. The Past Performance Questionnaire(s) shall then be emailed directly to both Paul Thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov and Jennifer Roesner at jennifer.roesner@noaa.gov from the signee of the Past Performance Questionnaire, not the offeror. It is the responsibility of the offeror to include the completed CPARs and/or ensure the Past Performance Questionnaires are submitted as part of the offeror’s overall proposal package. It is highly recommended that the offeror confirms that the applicable Past Performance Questionnaires have been received by the Government prior to RFP submission closing. As this requirement requires extensive management of multiple subcontract relationships, it is highly recommended that offerors include Past Performance submission(s) that involve subcontracting that include ratings of Small Business Subcontracting Plans and goals.

There is a 30 page limit for Volume 3, Past Performance Information. The Past Performance Questionnaires and/or CPARs do not count toward the page limit. However, information beyond what is required is not desired. Any pages in excess of the page limit will be disregarded, and will not be included in the proposal evaluation.

(4) VOLUME 4, PRICE INFORMATION: The offeror shall submit the following for Volume 4, Price Information. Volume 4, Price Information, shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor III, Price:

i. Price Exhibit: The offeror shall submit complete and reasonable pricing utilizing the template and format of the attached Price Exhibit. All unit prices and total prices proposed shall be to the nearest dollar, i.e., do not submit any values that contain cents. All prices shall be in U.S. dollars. The unit prices shall include all offeror costs and shall not be broken down in any form other than that specified in the Price Exhibit. Offerors shall not alter the structure provided in Price Exhibit.

Offerors shall only provide inputs for Unit Price and Extended Amount for each Exhibit Line Item Number (ELIN) and ordering period. Each ELIN is for a particular data type described in SOW Section 2.1, Data Requirements, for its respective ordering period. Each ELIN then provides for up to seven data right/licensing categories. As it is assumed that the Unit Price for each data right/licensing category will be different, the Extended Amount of each ELIN will be based on the "Default NOAA Only" ELIN. Total Evaluated Price: For the purposes of establishing a Total Evaluated Price, the Government will utilize the “Default NOAA Only,” unit price (Price Exhibit Column E) multiplied by the estimated quantity (Price Exhibit Column C) to calculate the Extended Amount (Price Exhibit Column F) for each ELIN. The sum of all the ELIN's will be the Total Evaluated Price. The “Default NOAA Only” is historically the most commonly utilized data category.

Total Maximum Contract Ceiling: For the purposes of establishing a Total Maximum Contract Ceiling, the Government will utilize the estimated maximum of $386.5M or the Total Maximum Contract Ceiling, whichever is higher. To determine the Total Maximum Contract Ceiling, the Government will utilize the highest per unit price (Price Exhibit Column E) for each platform multiplied by the estimated quantity (Price Exhibit Column C) to calculate the Extended Amount (Price Exhibit Column F) for each ELIN. The sum of all the ELIN's will be the Total Maximum Contract Ceiling.

Offerors shall submit balanced pricing. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable overall price, the price of one or more Unit Price(s) is/are significantly over or understated as indicated by the application of a price analysis technique. Caution is emphasized on the appearance of unbalanced pricing for Unit Prices for data/licensing categories within a given ELIN in an attempt to create a lower proposed total contract value.

Unit Prices proposed shall be incorporated into the resultant IDIQ and all issued task orders for each respective Ordering period. If pricing is static across all Ordering periods (relating to the ELIN per Ordering period), then all Ordering periods and pricing shall be consolidated into one merged Ordering period. The quantities used in the Price Exhibit are estimates for proposal evaluation purposes only. The actual quantities required during each Ordering period may change. Any orders placed off the resultant contract, regardless of quantities ordered, shall utilize the proposed Unit Price per type of data and ELIN for the Ordering period of which that task order is placed against.

ii. Price Narrative: Offerors shall submit a Price Narrative that supplements the pricing proposed in the attached Price Exhibit. The offeror’s price proposal must be based on the offeror’s own technical proposal, the Government’s requirements, and other contractual requirements. The Price Narrative shall provide details of the offeror’s approach to their proposed pricing and include explanations for development of each ELIN Unit Price per data type and licensing category. The offeror may include any assumptions, risks and mitigation strategies associated with their pricing approach and supporting documentation to substantiate their narrative, i.e., published and/or publicly available pricing, price lists, redacted invoices, prior contracts, etc. Offerors are encouraged, but not required, to explain their pricing considerations and why their proposed pricing is appropriate and reasonable.

There is no page limit for Volume 4, Price Information. However, information beyond what is required is not desired.

(k) All questions related to this solicitation are due no later than 1500 hours Eastern Standard Time (EST) on September 26, 2025. Offerors shall email Paul Thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov and Jennifer Roesner at jennifer.roesner@noaa.gov with all questions related to this RFP.

Responses to questions will be answered and published on SAM.gov.

(l) Proposals shall be emailed to both Paul Thomas at paul.thomas@noaa.gov and Jennifer Roesner at jennifer.roesner@noaa.gov and be received no later than the proposal closing date of 1500 hours EST on October 10, 2025. It is highly recommended that the offeror confirms that their proposal and associated attachments have been received by the Government. Late proposals will be processed in accordance with FAR 52.212-1(f), Late submission, modifications, revisions, and withdrawals of offers. NOAA has an email size limit of 25MB. If offerors submit their proposal in separate emails to meet email size limitations, it is requested they annotate the email title with "Part 1 of _", "Part 2 of __" etc., or similar identification that clearly identifies the current email number with a total amount of emails to be submitted.

(End of provision)

Clause 52.212-2 is incorporated as follows:

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation - Commercial Products and Commercial Services. (NOV 2021)

(Amendment 0002 Changes in Blue)

(a) Following receipt of proposals in response to this RFP, the Government will perform a proposal evaluation utilizing a best value trade-off approach in order to select a responsible offeror that is considered the best value to fulfill the requirement of this RFP. The evaluation will be based on the offeror’s response to the factors outlined below, given their stated relative order of importance. The Government may make an award to other than the lowest priced proposal, or to other than the proposal given the highest ratings for non-price evaluation factors. Award will be made to the offeror whose proposal offers the best value to the government, considering non-price and price evaluation factors based on their relative importance as defined in this RFP.

(b) The non-price evaluation factors are Factor I, Technical, and Factor II, Past Performance.

Technical is more important than Past Performance. When combined, the non-price evaluation factors are significantly more important than evaluation Factor III, Price.

(c) The Government intends to issue a single-award IDIQ for Commercial Data Program (CDP) services based on initial proposal(s) submitted without conducting discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to hold discussions if, during the evaluation, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government. Offeror responses to discussions, if they occur, would be considered in making the award selection decision. If the Government determines it necessary to enter into discussions, the Government will engage in discussions with all offerors in the competitive range in accordance with FAR 15.306, Exchanges With Offerors After Receipt Of Proposals.

(d) Evaluation Process:

(1) Initially, the Government will ensure the offeror has submitted/completed all required volumes and/or subpart of a volume as stipulated in the RFP instructions. Failure to comply with RFP instructions may result in being immediately removed from consideration for award. Then, the Government will evaluate the submitted volumes against the stated evaluation factors in this RFP.

(2) VOLUME 1, PROPOSAL INFORMATION: Volume 1, Proposal Information, shall be reviewed to ensure the RFP Standard Form 1449 is appropriately completed and signed by an authorized representative of the offeror, all amendments, as applicable, have been acknowledged, all provisions and clauses such-as representations, certifications, any other statements have been completed and submitted or otherwise a statement that they are completed in SAM.gov, and a Small Business Subcontracting Plan has been completed and submitted.

(3) VOLUME 2, TECHNICAL INFORMATION: Volume 2, Technical Information shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor I, Technical:

FACTOR I – TECHNICAL: Technical approach shall be evaluated based on the offeror’s proposed technical and management methodology to determine the degree to which it meets the performance requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) in a manner that shows an offeror both understands and has the ability to perform the requirements of the contract:

i. Offerors will be evaluated on their understanding and demonstrated ability to source and/or acquire meteorological and related environmental observational data (including data rights) from networks operated by commercial and other non-federal parties, for a wide variety of observing systems types and technologies to extend and increase the NWS’ observing capabilities as required by the SOW section

2.1. The Government will assess the offeror’s ability/approach to demonstrate the geographical distribution and inventory of the commercial and other non-federal party networks and infrastructure that will be used to extend and increase the NWS’ observing capabilities as required by SOW sections 2.1-2.5. The Government will assess the offeror’s ability to expand the procurement of observational data to enhance the forecast and warning mission of the NWS.

ii. Offerors will also be evaluated on their understanding and demonstrated ability to form, direct, and provide oversight of multiple subcontract relationships with partner networks that provide observational data, serving in a non-federal leadership role for the NWS’ CDP, to include, business relationships, managing the sourcing of data, administrative functions, and 24/7 operational data flows to the government, thus ensuring quality control and other data-related service requirements for analysis, data availability, uptime, and provision of comprehensive metadata, as required by the SOW sections 2.2-2.5.

iii. Offerors will also be evaluated on their understanding and demonstrated ability to provide data-related support services to the Government, including: quality control, aggregation, integration, processing, dissemination, and support for utilization of data in downstream NWS forecast and warning systems, and other NWS operational systems that are highly reliant on nonfederal observational data to provide forecast and warning services, as required by the SOW sections 2.2 and 2.4.

iv. Offerors will also be evaluated on their Transition Plan. The Transition Plan will be evaluated for completeness, timeliness of transition process, efficiency, understanding and consideration of the current environment, and risk identification and mitigation strategies that will allow a timely and seamless assumption of services while transitioning all requirements. The Transition Plan will be evaluated for compliance to the RFP, assurance of continuity of services, orderly transition of responsibility, workforce stability, and impact and risk to NWS and its interests.

Any proposal that simply rephrases, states they will comply with the Government's requirement(s), or any other generalized statement may result in immediate removal from consideration for award.

Based on the evaluation of the offeror’s technical factor, the Government shall then assign one of the following ratings:

Rating Description

Exceptional

Proposal indicates an extensive understanding of the requirements and an exceptional approach. The proposal offers significant benefits and far exceeds the Government’s needs. The proposal contains no weaknesses or very minor weaknesses, and there is no or very low potential for schedule disruption, increased costs, or performance degradation. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Very Good

Proposal indicates a thorough understanding of the requirements and a comprehensive approach. The proposal offers benefits and exceeds the Government’s needs. The proposal may contain minor weaknesses that have low potential to cause disruption of schedule, increased cost, and/or degradation of performance. Strengths significantly outweigh any weaknesses and risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Satisfactory

Proposal indicates a sufficient understanding of the requirements and an adequate approach. The proposal fully meets the Government’s needs and may offer benefit to the government. The proposal may contain weaknesses that have little potential of causing disruption of schedule, increased cost, and/or or degradation of performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is moderate.

Marginal

Proposal indicates an insufficient understanding of the requirements and an incomplete approach. The proposal may offer some benefits but overall barely meets the government’s minimum needs. The proposal contains one or more weaknesses likely to cause disruption of schedule, increased cost, and/or degradation of performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

Unsatisfactory

Proposal does not meet one or more requirements of the solicitation and contains one or more deficiencies. The proposal contains a material failure or combination of weaknesses that increase the risk of schedule disruption, increased costs, and/or unsuccessful performance to an unacceptable level. In order to be considered for award, the proposal would require a complete rewrite.

(4) VOLUME 3, PAST PERFORMANCE INFORMATION: Volume 3, Past Performance Information shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor II, Past Performance:

FACTOR II - PAST PERFORMANCE: The Government will evaluate the quality of the offeror’s Past Performance Form(s) and supporting documents (either completed CPARs or Past Performance Questionnaire as detailed in the RFP Instructions) deemed recent and relevant to the requirements of this RFP. For any and all Past Performance information submitted as part of an overall IDIQ, BPA, or other indefinite delivery vehicle, the respective CPARs, Past Performance Questionnaires, and supplemental information, as it relates to each order/call referenced, will be evaluated wholistically as to the overall IDIQ, BPA, or other indefinite delivery vehicle referenced. The offeror’s past performance, based on contracts that are relevant in terms of size, scope, and complexity to the requirement, will be evaluated to determine, as appropriate: successful performance of contract requirements, quality and timeliness of delivery of goods and services, level of communication between the contracting parties, proactive management, customer satisfaction, and compliance with the Small Business Subcontracting Plan/Program.

Additional Past performance information may be utilized to determine the quality of the offeror’s past performance as it relates to the probability of success of the required effort.

Recent is defined as contracts performed within the last three years from the due date of this RFP or for contracts that are currently being performed.

Contracts that are currently being performed must have at least one year of contract performance to allow for the timely submission of a CPAR (or Past Performance Questionnaire if a CPAR does not exist) as required by FAR Subpart 42.15, Contractor Performance Information.

Relevant is defined as an effort same or similar in size, scope, and complexity to that of the RFP.

In assessing relevancy, the Government will consider the degree of similarity of work performed on recent and relevant contract references in relation to the requirement and the amount and type of work each entity has performed. The Government’s evaluation of the degree of similarity of the work is subjective in nature, and may include, but not be limited to the following in comparison to the requirements of the acquisition: size, scope, and complexity. The degree of relevancy is an indicator of success and will be considered in assigning an overall rating.

Note: Offerors without a record of recent/relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available will be assigned a “neutral” rating meaning that it will not be favored/disfavored for the purposes of the evaluation. A proposal package with no recent or relevant past performance history, may not represent the most advantageous submission to the Government when compared to the submission of other offerors with a successful relevant past performance record. It is the offeror’s responsibility to explicitly state in their proposal that the offeror has no recent/relevant past performance to avoid being potentially removed from consideration for award for not submitting all volumes and subparts.

In addition, the Government reserves the right to review any information contained within the CPARS, Past Performance Questionnaire, or any other Government system, source, or individual. These sources, if any, must meet the recency and relevancy requirements to be considered. While NOAA may elect to consider data obtained from other sources, offerors are responsible to submit recent and relevant references that NOAA can readily contact and for presenting information establishing the relevance of their past performance to NOAA’s requirements under this RFP.

An offeror must be determined responsible as defined by FAR 9.104-1, Standards of a Responsible Prospective Contractor, to be eligible for award.

Past Performance relevancy shall be evaluated utilizing the following table:

Rating Description

Very Relevant Past/present performance effort involved essentially the same size, scope, and complexity this solicitation requires.

Relevant Past/present performance effort involved much of the size, scope, and complexity this solicitation requires.

Somewhat Relevant

Past/present performance effort involved some of the size, scope, and complexity this solicitation requires.

Not Relevant Past/present performance efforts involved little or none of the size, scope, and complexity this solicitation requires.

Based on the evaluation assessment of the recency, relevancy, and quality of a Past Performance, the government shall then assign one of the following overall Past Performance ratings (the overall rating is assigned to each offeror’s past performance but not to each individual reference):

Rating Description

Exceptional

The offeror’s performance on previously awarded, recent, relevant contract(s) was consistently of the highest quality and exceeded all contractual requirements to the customer’s benefit. Any problems encountered during performance of prior contract(s) were very few in number and/or very minor in nature, and any corrective actions taken were highly effective. The offeror’s past performance record leads to an expectation that the offeror’s performance on the contemplated contract will be outstanding.

Very Good

The offeror’s performance on previously awarded, recent, relevant contract(s) was of high quality and met all contractual requirements, while exceeding some contractual requirements to the customer’s benefit. Any problems encountered during performance of the prior contract(s) were few in number and/or or minor in nature, and any corrective actions taken were effective. The offeror’s past performance record leads to an expectation that the offeror will be very successful in performing the contemplated contract.

Satisfactory

The offeror’s performance on previously awarded, recent, relevant contract(s) was of adequate or better quality and met contractual requirements. Any problems encountered during performance of the prior contract(s) were addressed and corrective actions taken were effective for the most part. The offeror’s past performance record leads to an expectation that the offeror will be successful in performing the contract.

Neutral

The offeror lacks a record of recent, relevant, or available past performance history. There is no expectation of either successful or unsuccessful performance. A rating of neutral is neither favorable nor unfavorable.

Marginal

The offeror’s performance on previously awarded, recent, relevant contract(s) was of low quality and did not meet some contractual requirements. The offeror’s performance reflected some serious problems that the offeror failed to identify, failed to correct in a timely manner, and/or took corrective actions that were only partially effective.

Performance of completed contract(s) was consistently of mediocre quality. The offeror’s past performance record leads to an expectation that successful performance of the contemplated contract may be difficult without high levels of Government management and oversight.

Unsatisfactory

The offeror’s performance on previously awarded, recent, relevant contract(s) was of consistently poor quality and did not meet most contractual requirements. The offeror’s performance reflected very serious problems that the offeror failed to identify and/or correct, or for which corrective actions implemented were mostly ineffective.

The offeror’s past performance record leads to an expectation that the offeror will not achieve successful performance of the contemplated contract without excessively high levels of Government management and oversight.

(5) VOLUME 4, PRICE INFORMATION: Volume 4, Price Information shall be evaluated against evaluation Factor III, Price:

FACTOR III – PRICE: Price will be evaluated for completeness and reasonableness.

Offerors whose price is determined to be incomplete or unreasonable will not be considered for award.

Completeness is defined as all prices inserted for all unit price(s), amount(s), and total(s) for each ordering period of the attached Price Exhibit. Failure to submit a complete Price Exhibit may result in the offeror being immediately removed from further consideration.

Reasonableness is defined as a price not exceeding that which would be incurred by a prudent person in the conduct of competitive business. The Government must be able to determine the proposed prices fair and reasonable to be able to award to an offeror. Price realism analysis will not be conducted.

Price shall be evaluated by total evaluated price (TEP). For the purposes of establishing a TEP, the Government will utilize the “Default NOAA Only,” unit price (Price Exhibit Column E) multiplied by the estimated quantity (Price Exhibit Column

C) to calculate the Extended Amount (Price Exhibit Column F) for each ELIN. The sum of all the ELIN's will be the Total Evaluated Price. The “Default NOAA Only” is historically the most commonly utilized data category. The TEP will include the option under FAR Clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The option under FAR Clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, will be evaluated by taking the sum of all extended price ELINs for Ordering Period 5 and dividing the sum by two, for a total option price.

Price shall be also evaluated for unbalanced pricing.

Failure for all prices to be in U.S. dollar(s) shall result in the offeror being immediately removed from further consideration.

The Government will evaluate the Price Narrative to determine whether the offeror’s price aligns with the offeror's technical proposal, the Government's requirements, and contractual requirements. The Price Narrative may help shape the Government's determination that the price proposal is complete and reasonable and that ELIN Unit Prices are balanced.

Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b), Options Evaluation, not to be in the Government’s best interests, the Government will evaluate offers or quotations for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement to determine the total evaluated price. This includes options under FAR clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, which applies to this solicitation. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(6) Although non-price factors when combined are significantly more important than Price, Price will become increasingly more important as the non-price factors become more equally rated. As such, the Government may make an award to other than the lowest-price proposal or the proposal with the highest technical and/or past performance rating if the source selection authority determines that to do so would result in the best valued proposal to the Government. The degree of importance of the proposed price will increase as the non-price factors among responses become equal. The perceived benefits of the higher priced proposal must merit the additional price.

(End of provision)

Sponsored by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.110