Evaluation_Criteria_0001.pdf

SECTION M -- EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

M.1 52.212-2 EVALUATION - COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2014)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

1. Technical Proposal. Prospective contractors shall submit a Technical Proposal that demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the requirements. This includes applicable product data sheets, validation test of results and the original data from these tests, the technical proposal shall demonstrate the capability of all proposed equipment to meet specifications as indicated in “TestingSpecs2026”.

2. Equipment Testing. For each model of equipment proposed by the Offeror that has not previously Passed testing by Albuquerque Seismological Lab (ASL), 3 units will be loaned and shipped to ASL for testing to verify that the units meet the contract specifications. The Government will accept relevant and recent Passed testing for equipment that has been tested and/or used in the field by ASL within the last three years. If a model of equipment had previously failed ASL testing, documentation must be provided demonstrating that the problem has been rectified. For Data Acquisition Units (DAU), all required accessories and cabling must be provided including GNSS cable/antenna, power supply, Ethernet, and 10- 15meter sensor cables with mass positions and calibration functionality for each 3 channels of the DAU which connects to a STS-2 or T-360 seismometer. For Strong-motion and Broadband sensors, each must come with a 10-15m cable that connects to a Q330 DAU.

Equipment will be tested as-is; firmware updates must be completed before providing the equipment to ASL. If it takes longer than 3 hours to setup and acquire data from a piece of equipment, it will fail due to bad useability. After testing is complete, the 3 loaned units will be returned to the Offeror. The testing result will be pass/fail for each model of equipment.

Equipment is to be delivered to ASL for testing within 30 days of proposal end date.

Expect the loaned equipment to be returned from the government to the vendor within 6 months of its arrival to the government.

Any equipment that has been tested and failed by the USGS within the past 24 months must not be resubmitted for testing and will not be accepted unless it is a newer or upgraded model.

Before shipping upgraded equipment for testing, the contractor must provide the Contracting Officer with documentation detailing the updated specifications and demonstrating how the new model meets the required standards. Approval from the Contracting Officer is required prior to shipment.

3. Past Performance. Prospective contractors shall submit documentation describing at least three recent and relevant experiences successfully performed that were similar in nature, size, and scope to the requirements of this solicitation. Include references with contact information for these relevant experiences. The USGS will also use the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) to the extent data are available. If an offeror has no recent, relevant past performance, the offeror shall submit a statement to that effect. The USGS will also solicit feedback from various organizations in the seismic monitoring industry (Universities, Non-profits, and groups within the USGS) to support or oppose the provided references by the Offeror.

4. Price. Prospective contractors shall complete the Schedule of Pricing, Section B.1.

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

M.2 GS2320 EVALUATION FACTORS (MAR 2019)

a) The Contracting Officer will screen proposals to identify and eliminate any proposal that are so incomplete as to preclude a meaningful evaluation of technical and past performance issues.

b) The remaining proposals will be evaluated based upon the following non-price or cost-related factors. We will award a contract to the offeror judged to represent the best value overall, price and other factors considered, where factors other than price (combined) are significantly more important than price. Evaluation factors are listed in declining order of importance, unless otherwise indicated.

(1) Technical Proposal

(2) Equipment Testing

(3) Past Performance

(4) Subcontracting Plan

(5) Price

c) The Offeror’s proposals in response to the factors will be evaluated based on the following evaluation standards:

Factor Ratings for Factor 1, 2, and 3:

HA (Highly Acceptable) Exceeds performance or capability in a beneficial way; high probability of success; no significant weaknesses.

A (Acceptable) Meets standards; good probability of success; weaknesses can be readily corrected.

MA (Minimally) Fails to meet standards; low probability of success; significant deficiencies but correctable.

UA (Unacceptable) Fails to meet a minimum requirement; needs a major revision to proposal to make it correct

Factor Ratings for Price:

Likely Relatively Inexpensive

Likely About Average

Likely Relatively Expensive

(d) The Government reserves the right to award without discussion.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

1. Technical Proposal. Prospective contractors shall submit a Technical Proposal that demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the requirements. This includes applicable product data sheets, validation test of results and the original data from these tests, the technical proposal shall demonstrate the capability of all proposed equipment to meet specifications as indicated in “TestingSpecs2026”.

2. Equipment Testing. For each model of equipment proposed by the Offeror that has not previously Passed testing by Albuquerque Seismological Lab (ASL), 3 units will be loaned and shipped to ASL for testing to verify that the units meet the contract specifications. The Government will accept relevant and recent Passed testing for equipment that has been tested and/or used in the field by ASL within the last five years. For Data Acquisition Units (DAU), all required accessories and cabling must be provided including GNSS cable/antenna, power cabling (both DC and AC power supply cables must be provide for each DAU), Ethernet cable, and 10-15meter sensor cables with mass positions and calibration functionality for each 3 channels of the DAU which connects to a STS-2 or T-360 vault-style seismometer. For Strong-motion and Broadband sensors, each must come with a 10-15m cable that connects to a Q330 DAU. Equipment will be tested as-is; for example, firmware updates must be completed before providing the equipment to ASL. If it takes longer than 3 hours to setup and acquire data from a piece of equipment, it will fail due to bad useability. After testing is complete, the 3 loaned units will be returned to the Offeror. The testing result will be pass/fail for each model of equipment.

Results of testing evaluation will not be provided. The post-award debriefing will be available upon request.

The Government does not pay for expenses related to providing a demonstration, or for material sent to Government for testing. The Government will return the equipment at no cost after the testing is completed.

3. Past Performance. Prospective contractors shall submit documentation describing at least three recent and relevant experiences successfully performed that were similar in nature, size, and scope to the requirements of this solicitation. Include references with contact information for these relevant experiences. The USGS will also use the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) to the extent data are available. If an offeror has no recent, relevant past performance, the offeror shall submit a statement to that effect. The USGS may also solicit feedback from various organizations in the seismic monitoring industry (Universities, Non-profits, and groups within the USGS) to support or oppose the provided references by the Offeror.

4. Subcontracting Plan

5. Price. Prospective contractors shall complete the Scheduling of Pricing, Section B.1.

It is the offeror’s responsibility to submit sufficient information for each of the above factors to allow a meaningful evaluation; failure to do so may negatively impact the chances of award of a contract.

(b) The Offeror’s proposals in response to the factors will be evaluated based on the following evaluation standards:

Factor Ratings for Factor 1, 2, and 3:

HA (Highly Acceptable) Exceeds performance or capability in a beneficial way; high probability of success; no significant weaknesses.

A (Acceptable) Meets standards; good probability of success; weaknesses can be readily corrected.

MA (Minimally) Fails to meet standards; low probability of success; significant deficiencies but correctable.

UA (Unacceptable) Fails to meet a minimum requirement; needs a major revision to proposal to make it correct

Factor Ratings for Price:

Likely Relatively Inexpensive

Likely About Average

Likely Relatively Expensive

(c) The Government reserves the right to award without discussion.

b. Proposal Organization: Proposals shall be submitted in two volumes, “Technical” and “Price”. Proposals shall be submitted electronically in PDF format, with a separate Electronic File (eFile) for each volume. Volume I (Technical) shall contain the Offeror’s Technical Proposal and Past Performance documentation as required in FAR provision 52.212-2. Volume II (Price) shall contain the Offeror’s pricing documents (Schedule of Pricing, Section B.1) as required by FAR provision 52.212-2.

Files may be combined into zip files for ease of transmission; however, do not combine Volume I and Volume II eFiles in the same zip.