Questions_and_Answers_2_-_Responses_0003.pdf

Multiple-Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC)/Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity

(IDIQ) contracts for Geotechnical Engineering Services for the continental US and Hawaii in any state or US territory for the Department of Interior (DOI)

Solicitation # 140F0521R0005

Questions and Answers (2)

1. Page 36 of 39, final paragraph, second sentence states: Projects must have a 100% final deliverable completed within 10 years of the date of this solicitation.” Does this mean that all deliverables for an entire project must be completed in order for us to include that project in our proposal, or is it acceptable that the relevant geotechnical-related deliverables (e.g.

Final Geotech Report deliverable) have been completed? Geotechnical work is normally one of the first activities completed on a project and many projects span several years, so if the answer is that 100% of the entire project deliverables need to be completed, that would disallow the use of relevant and recent geotechnical-related experience.

Response: That the relevant geotechnical-related deliverables have been completed.

2. Given that these contracts are state-specific, will per diem still apply to project-related travel expenses?

Response: Yes

3. I have the following question and request for amendment for this Announcement. My

Question is regarding function codes noted in Selection Criteria 2 - Professional

Qualifications.

Request the addition of the following function Codes:

Add Function Code 12 Civil Engineer

Add Function Code 57 Structural Engineer

Add Function Code 16 Construction Manager

Add Function Code 38 for Land Surveyor

Function Code 12 Civil Engineer; Function Code

57 Structural Engineer; Function Code

16 Construction Manager

38 for Land Surveyor

Response: No Amendment of function codes is required - Required disciplines include, but are not limited to: 1. Function Code 27 - Foundation / Geotechnical Engineer * 2. Function

Code 30 - Geologist * 3. Function Code 48 – Project Manager * 4. Function Code 55 – Soils

Engineer *”

4. The solicitation states that “If a firm is competing for this contract under a contractor

Team arrangement as defined in FAR Subpart 9.6, the firm must submit, along with their

SF330, a written, notarized agreement identifying the contractor team arrangements and fully disclosing the company relationships”.

Is this required when a single small business is subcontracting other entities, or only if the response is from a formal partnership or JV? If required when a single small business is submitting, do the subcontractors also need to sign the notarized agreement?

Response: The notarized agreement is only required for official teaming arrangements. This does not apply to subcontracting, partnerships, or JV's. Partnerships and JV's shall be in accordance with the SBA.

5. Based on the response for Q&A #20, it looks like a cover letter cannot be included with the proposal. Only a cover page. Is this correct?

Response: Yes

6. Please confirm exactly which SF330 form Q&A #26 is referring to?

Response: Q&A #26 does not mention the SF330. The Standard Form 330 (SF330) was provided with the original solicitation posting.

7. Regarding Q&A #27, it still is not clear to me whether or not personnel licenses are required to be submitted with our proposal or whether it is just firm licenses? I am assuming firm licenses only?

Response: Firms may use personnel professional licenses/registrations or firm professional licenses/registrations to meet the requirements.

8. The RFQ mentions that “pages defining acronyms” are excluded from the page count. Is this item required to be included or is it at the firm’s discretion to include only if the firm thinks it is necessary in order to provide clarification?

Response: At the firm’s discretion to include only if the firm thinks it is necessary in order to provide clarification?

9. According to this solicitation, resumes are allowed to be two pages but the SF330 shows only 5 boxes for projects. Can offerors fill the second page of a resume with additional projects (show more than 5 projects)?

Response: Please use the resume pages for resumes.

10. Do projects from our Team’s subconsultants need to have a PPQ/CPARs to be included in the proposal?

Response: No

11. We have a question regarding the reference to the wetland in the scope of services of

Amendment 2 of the DOI’s Geotechnical MATOC solicitation No. 140F0521R0005: is the reference only to wetland delineation surveying services or are contractors also responsible for providing wetland delineation services?

Response: This would be for wetland delineation surveying services only.

12. If a team includes a subcontractor firm that is registered in several state in a region, does that put the whole team in a better position in that those registrations apply to the whole team, or is it up to the prime contractor to be registered in those states for the team to do work in those states?

Response: As stated in the solicitation, "The terms "firm" or "team" or "offeror" shall refer to the company or organization that is proposing on this solicitation. The "firm" or "team" will include the prime contractor, partners, subcontractors, and joint ventures that are proposed to work on this contract." Therefore, subcontractor's registrations/licenses can be used. However, that subcontractor (or any other type or partnering/teaming agreement) become part or the "Team" and cannot be changed after any awards are made without the Contracting Officer's approval of the change.

13. Are professional engineering licenses adequate to meet this requirement? If so would professional registration number and expiration date listed on the resumes be adequate to meet this requirement?

Response: Yes, Yes

14. Responses shall not exceed fifty (50) pages single-sided print. Include page numbers on pages that will be counted toward the page limitation. Pages not counted toward the page limitation need not have page numbers, but additional pages that are determined to be not applicable will be removed from the submission by the CO and will not be evaluated.”

Which of the required sections listed below are part of the 50-page limit?

Cover Page

Table of Contents (Format the order of documents as follows)

SF330 Part I: Section A – C

SF330 Part I: D Organizational Chart

SF330 Part I: E Resumes

SF330 Part I: F Example Projects

SF330 Part I: G Matrix - Key Personnel Participation

SF330 Part I: H - I Additional Information – Authorized Representative

SF330 Part II: A-E General Qualifications

Appendix A Acknowledgement of Amendments (if applicable)

Appendix B Geographical Selection Form

Appendix C Teaming Arrangements - Partnership or JV paperwork (if applicable)

Appendix D CPARS and/or Past Performance Questionnaires

Response: All pages submitted will be considered as part of the page count with the exception of the following; cover page, table of contents, amendments, CPARS/PPQs, geographical location selection form, labor categories and rate table, dividers and divider pages/tabs, pages defining acronyms, Part II – General Qualifications, Partnership or JV paperwork, licenses and proof of

A-E firm registration.

15. If our Clients are unable to send PPQs in time do our coinciding projects then not get evaluated? Also, how do we guarantee receipt of emails and guarantee that our PPQ’s will then be organized and attached to our SF330 Section E projects? When you will (I’m sure) be receiving a thousand or more emails of PPQ’s in response to this solicitation.

Response: PPQ's shall not be sent/emailed directly to the Government from the firm's client/customer. Offerors shall submit PPQ forms with their own submission. Offeror's shall send the PPQ form to their client and then have the client submit the PPQ form directly back to the

Offeror. The Offeror shall then submit the PPQ's with their SF330 proposal.

Please refer to following on the PPQ form:

**Important Submission Information**

The Government requests that the client complete this questionnaire and submit directly back to the offeror. The offeror will then submit the completed questionnaire to the Contracting Officer with their proposal.

16. The solicitation does not list disqualification of projects vs neutrality as favorable or unfavorable. If we, for example, submit 6 PPQ’s out of 10 projects, would it not be better to submit zero and be neutral? This is critical to our ability to submit, as we have also heard this same discrepancy from other Geotech firms on this portion.

Response: A submission of zero PPQ's, or any past performance information such as CPARS, would be telling the Government your firm has not performed these types of services in the past or are unable to obtain an evaluation of how well the firm performed. The Government cannot rate something that doesn't exists therefore, would be rated neutral but only for past performance.

However, the Government will perform its own research and if past performance information is found the Government will evaluate the past performance information that was found.

Additionally, if an offeror is stating they have no past performance, then they would also be stating that any specialized experience submitted would not be verifiable and the Government will evaluate the lack of verifiable experience in accordance with the evaluation ratings. Neutral ratings only apply to Past Performance. All other evaluation factors will be evaluated in accordance with the solicitation.