Questions_and_Answers_0001.pdf

Multiple-Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC)/Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for Design-Build Construction Services for the continental US and Hawaii in any state or US territory for the Department of Interior (DOI)

Solicitation # 140F0521R0004

Questions and Answers

General Information: The Government has received a lot of questions about the funding, list of projected projects, how these MATOCs will be used, contract values, which agencies/bureaus will use them, etc.

• GAOA funding yearly estimations are provided in the solicitation along with the estimated amount each bureau/agency will receive. These estimated amounts is the funding that each bureau/agency will have each year over the next 5 years to fund all GAOA related projects/goods/services.

• No publicly available list of projects for the coming years will be made available through this solicitation. Each bureau/agency will make their own determinations on how they handle their project lists and if they get distributed to the public.

• These MATOCs will be used for BOTH GAOA and non-GAOA funded projects as determined by each bureau/agency. It is important to note that while these MATOCs are an acquisition tool with the intent to support the GAOA funding they are also available to ALL DOI BUREAUS AND USDA FOREST SERVICE to be used for other requirements that are not funded by GAOA. Thus, GAOA funding will not be the only funding available to be used for these MATOCs.

• The maximum contract values listed in the solicitations are estimated ceiling amounts for each IDIQ contract award. For example, the Design-Build estimated ceiling is $250 million over 5 years. This does not guarantee $250 million worth of work over the 5 years. This provides an estimated maximum dollar amount that is allowed to be awarded through task orders against the IDIQ contracts over the 5-year period.

• ALL DOI BUREAUS AND USDA FOREST SERVICE will have the contracting authority to use these MATOCs for any of their project requirements at their discretion.

1. Will the number of states be expanded similar to the renovation/repair MACC?

Response: Yes. Number of states/locations has been expanded to 10 and revised documents have been attached to this Amendment to show the change.

2. If this MATOC and future Task Orders are bid competitively, what is the purpose of the location multiplier? We typically see coefficients with single award, one location type IDIQs, like a SABER, but we've never seen one on a MATOC.

Response: As stated in H.14.8 of the Solicitation, “Location multipliers provided during the initial MATOC IDIQ evaluation and award process shall be incorporated into the contract and shall be used to develop each Task Order Price Proposal in response to a Task Order RFQ/RFP. For each Task Order Proposal offerors shall clearly show how they used their location multiplier applicable to the geographical location of the project to develop their task order pricing.”

3. Are offerors allowed to submit multiple proposals, each one covering a different "set" of states?

Response: No. Offerors are limited to the maximum of 10 locations/states. The expansion to 10 locations/states will be done in an upcoming Amendment.

4. TAA has design-build projects, but not LEED projects. Does this eliminate us having a chance in bidding

Response: No.

5. Are we going to get an extension for the Due date?

Response: Yes. An extension has been provided in this Amendment.

6. Will the Sample Task Order be awarded with this opportunity?

Response: No. The Sample Project is only for making awards under this MATOC. The Sample Project is not being awarded.

7. Is the 180 contracts just for the Design Build, or does that also include the AE Services, Geotechnical, and Alteration/Repair Construction Contract? The amendment just issued for the Alteration/Repair Construction Contract stated 5-16 awards per State...

Response: Only for Design-Build. Clarification: It is estimated that 180 firms will be needed to provide full coverage. Not necessarily 180 contracts. One contract could potentially cover 10 states/locations depending on which states/locations a firm is selected for. Each MATOC Solicitation is separate from each other and does not combine requirements or estimated coverage needed.

8. " Solicitation description denotes the following...""Multiple-Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) for Design-Build Construction Services for the continental US and Hawaii in any state or US territory for the Department of Interior (DOI) and Forest Service (FS).""

The online beta.sam.gov description denotes ""This Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) for Design-Build construction services is for the continental US and Hawaii in any state or US territory for the Department of Interior (DOI); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service (NPS), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Forest Service (FS).""

Presentation denotes all DOI agencies.

How might a prospective offeror determine whether states should be selected based on USFS facility locations versus NPS facility locations, etc.?"

Response: State/location selections will be for all DOI Bureaus and USDA Forest Service.

Which means that USDA Forest Service and any Bureau under the Department of Interior (i.e.

NPS, BLM, USFWS, etc.) will have the contracting authority to issue Task Order awards against these MATOCs in any state/location that a firm received an award for.

9. Is there a list of locations with allocated dollars, deferred maintenance schedules, etc.?

Response: No

10. Do the projects submitted for experience have to have been performed within the states being bid?

11. Will you confirm that Phase II submittals are at a later date and not to be submitted simultaneously with Phase I.

Response: Correct. Phase II proposal will be requested after Phase I evaluations are completed.

12. If the Prime contractor recently acquired Design and AE services, but has not yet performed a single project together that is 25% complete; however, both have extensive past performance that meets the requirements separately, will that be acceptable?

Response: Offerors shall meet the requirements listed in the solicitation.

13. Will you accept a CPARS evaluation in lieu of a PPQ?

Response: Yes. Revised documents have been attached to this Amendment to show the change.

14. May offerors include more than one designer as part of the team?

Response: Yes.

15. You mention that each state will have a pool of 5 - 16 contractors for each category.

Are the categories the areas of work? If not, what are the categories?

Response: There are no separate work categories for the Design-Build MATOC solicitation.

16. It appears that the discussion of the offeror's organization is a Phase II submittal. How / where are offerors to identify designers in Phase I, and are there any other requirements in addition to the single project performed together that needs to be submitted for the designer(s) in Phase I?

Response: Make the identification of that specific designer in the project example submission.

17. Will this contract vehicle have a separate approval process within the DOI given the role of the USFS acting as the awarding agency?

Response: USFWS is the awarding Bureau which aligns under DOI.

18. How many DOR can we propose? are we restricted to a single DOR?

Response: There is no restriction on this. Each task order project would have to have a designer of record.

19. What is the typical task order range for a project?

Response: See Section H of the solicitation.

20. Is there an estimated timeframe between phase 1 and phase 2 deadlines? For instance, two weeks after phase 1?

Response: No. Phase 2 proposals will be requested after Phase 1 evaluations are completed.

21. How will you determine how many contractors are selected for each state? 5 to 16 is a large range. Is it possible to know the number of contracts anticipated per state?

Response: Quality of proposal submissions and Government need will determine the number of awards.

22. Due to an offeror only being able to submit as a prime contractor for up to ten individual states, are there any limitations on an offeror being included as a subcontractor on another prime contractor's team?

23. Where is the Sample Project geographically located?

Response: Sample project has no location. Your pricing for the sample project shall be based on the state locations selected. See Pricing Schedule in the solicitation.

24. Will each of the task orders be a 2 phase Design Build RFP?

25. With the limit on the number of projects, if offerors have multiple DOR to cover the various states they are bidding, please confirm that not every DOR needs to have a project performed with the contractor.

Response: Correct.

26. For the project qualifications, you ask for 1 to 5 projects, but for the Past Performance you ask for only 3 past performance questionnaires or CPARs. Please confirm only 3 past performance questionnaires or CPARs are needed.

Response: This is Correct.

27. Are previously complete PPQs acceptable?

Response. Yes. This has been revised in this Amendment.

28. For the “Recent, Relevant Experience” requested as part of the Phase 1 Submission, similar work is defined as “Small to medium, multi-purpose, buildings that include an educational and/or administrative” – will there be any horizontal DB projects (e.g.

utilities/WWW systems, transportation, stormwater, etc.), in addition to the vertical project work anticipated, under this contract? If so, should offerors provide relevant experience that demonstrates these facility types as well.

Response: Yes. This has been changed and revised documents have been attached to this Amendment to show the change.

29. Should the SF330 templates be utilized for the qualification based selection process?

Or does an offeror have the ability to submit existing templates not formatted to the SF330 standard format?

Response: No. Submit only what is being requested in the solicitation.

30. You ask for an identifying cover page in the RFP but there is no description as to what should be included in an identifying cover page. Please provide.

Response: It is up to your Firm/Team to know what your identifying information is.

31. Does DOI have a list of anticipated projects beyond FY 2021 that could be shared

(FY2022-2025)?

32. Will the recording of this industry day be available?

Response: Yes. The recording along with the presentation slides and list of attendees will be provided in an Amendment.

33. Since the sample project has a LEED Silver and a Net-Zero requirement, understanding the geographic conditions will help facilitate the design. Can you provide a climate-based criterion for design and construction?

Response: Proposal shall be based on the states/locations your firm has selected.

34. Is one proof of bondability statement letter acceptable to submit?

35. Do staff need to be registered in each state we are submitting on, or would a license in any state suffice?

Response: As long as someone within the project team is able to sign the drawings as a registered engineer within the state the work is being done, it is acceptable.

36. Do the projects submitted for experience have to have been performed within the states

37. Please confirm there will be a new RFI period for Phase II and offerors do not need to submit all RFI at this time.

Response: Yes. RFI's will be allowed during Phase II.

38. Any contracts considered for socio-economic groups ( 8(a), HZ, SDVOd, WOSB, ) ?

Response: This MATOC is a Total Small Business Set-Aside.

39. May offerors include more than one designer as part of the team?

40. For factor 2, is there a specific format to submit the recent relevant experience?

Response: Submit in accordance with Sections L & M.

41. How will the contracts be administered given the different states an offeror may respond to? In other words, will the KO be assigned to the totality of the contract and subsequent POPs or will there be individual KOs per individual state?

Response: IDIQ Contracts will all be awarded by one Contracting Officer then administered by the assigned Contract Specialist including the option years. If there are any changes to the Contracting Officer or Contract Specialist awardees will be made aware through a modification to the base IDIQ Contract. Task Orders will be awarded and administered by the Contracting Officer who awards the Task Order. The awarding Contracting Officer could be from any of the DOI Bureaus or USDA Forest Service.

42. Is it expected that the base price for the sample project will be the same for every state

Response: Your base price should be independent of a location. The base price will remain the same, the location multiplier will change based on the state and distance from a major resource location.

43. Will teaming agreements be accepted to propose on the project?

44. Would an offeror who responds as a prime contractor and also as a JV partner be permitted?

Response: Yes. This would be permitted.

45. To confirm, self-performance percentages are 15% for this contract, correct?

Response: Yes. See limitations on subcontracting clause. Prime and subcontractor performance is based on application of FAR 52.219-14(c)(3)

(3) General construction. The concern will perform at least 15 percent of the cost of the contract, not including the cost of materials, with its own employees.

46. Is a list of potential submittal requirements and documents available for review by an offeror to account for the administrative and overhead costs associated with these documents?

Response: No. Each Task Order requirement will be different and require its own set of submittal requirements.

47. Will the DOI leverage internal resources to for the role of COTR or will consultants be utilized by the agency?

Response: Each Bureau/Agency will make its own determination how COR/COTR roles are designated.

48. Does the HUBZone price preference provision apply in the evaluation of the sample project's price proposal? Similarly, will this occur per task order under the contract vehicle?