Consolidated QA 19EN1025Q0003.pdf

U.S. EMBASSY TALLINN, ESTONIA

Questions & Answers for

Solicitation number 19EN1025Q0003

Project: U.S. Embassy Tallinn training program lodging services in Tallinn, Estonia

Nr. Question as submitted by bidder Answer from Contracting Office

1. Please clarify whether it is acceptable to submit seasonal pricing (e.g. different room rates for high and low seasons) instead of one fixed room rate per year? If seasonal pricing is allowed, please provide guidance on how it should be formatted in the pricing tables?

A fixed room rate for the entire year is requested since the training session dates for 2026 and 2027 are not confirmed yet and it would be difficult to compare the offeror prices if some of them submit fixed rates and the others seasonal pricing.

2. Please confirm that the fixed rate will be quoted in EUR as the hotel will be directly billing the Embassy in the local currency?

Yes, the fixed rate for hotel rooms should be quoted in local currency EUR. This requirement has been added as an amendment to Section 1 - The Schedule, Paragraph II Prices:

Offers shall be submitted in local currency of euro.

3. Can a Third party submit an offer with the understanding that the hotel will invoice the Embassy directly?

As per Solicitation Section 3-Solicitation Provisions, a third party offer only qualifies if the offeror operates an established business with a permanent address and telephone listing in Estonia (The Estonian business registry outtake is required as evidence).

4. Is there an incumbent or is this a new requirement?

This is a new solicitation requirement for a 3-year indefinite quantity-indefinite delivery type contract.

5. What is the expected monthly utilization in room nights?

How many trainings are taking place each month?

Please see Section 1 – The Schedule, Paragraph I – Scope of Services.

The program is scheduled to conduct one course in 2025 and an additional four to five courses in 2026 and 2027 (dates TBD).

Contractor shall provide a guaranteed minimum of two (2) and a maximum of thirty-three (33) standard or superior rooms in

Tallinn, Estonia per training session with single occupancy for six

(6) to eight (8) consecutive nights.

6. We were contacted by a US travel management company with the same request. They also referred to dates and that the first accommodation period is already July 30- August 8, 2025?

Necessary information has been forwarded to this US travel management company. Kindly advise whether this request will come from different sources. Or how should we proceed?

As a U.S. Government entity, the Embassy is required to post the solicitation notice to the U.S. government official procurement database SAM.gov. U.S.-based companies may pick up the notice and solicitation documents from there and wish to submit their offers acting as intermediaries for local hotels.

Please see Section 1 – The Schedule, Paragraph I – Scope of Services. The contract will be for accommodating attendees and instructors for one training course in 2025 and an additional four to five courses in 2026 and 2027 (dates TBD). The reference to the first training session taking place July 30-August 8, 2025, is not correct. Please note that per the Invitation Letter and SF- 1449, the offer submission due date is August 15, 2025, so the contract cannot begin prior to that date.

7. Is it required for offerors to submit a copy of DBA insurance coverage in order to qualify for the Solicitation?

DBA insurance coverage is required for this solicitation. There is no need to have a valid insurance policy at the time of the offer, but the selected offeror must have the insurance for the contract award. Your offer needs to include the potential cost.

Please see RFQ Section 3 – Solicitation Provisions, Addendum to 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors – it is stated:

The Offeror shall include the Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance premium costs covering employees. The offeror may obtain DBA insurance directly from any Department of Labor approved providers at the DOL website at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/lscarrier.htm http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/lscarrier.htm

DBA is a type of workers compensation insurance required under the U.S. Defence Base Act for employees working outside the United States on U.S. government contracts. Please note that there are no local insurance brokers in Estonia offering DBA insurance directly since it is a U.S. federal requirement.

8. Please clarify if the following point requires us to purchase special insurance in order to qualify or is our existing insurance sufficient and does covering employees mean covering the Hotel employees or the US Government employees?

“Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance premium costs for covering employees. (The offeror may obtain DBA insurance directly from any Department of Labor approved providers at the DOL website at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/lscarrier.htm)”

DBA insurance coverage is required for this Solicitation.

Please see RFQ Section 3 – Solicitation Provisions, Addendum to 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors

There is no need to have a valid insurance policy at the time of solicitation; only the contractor(s) selected to receive the award must purchase the insurance. Your offer needs to include the potential cost.

9. According to our information, there is no specific travel period specified. To prepare an accurate price offer, we need to check the availability of the rooms. Additionally, the price depends on the time period, as demand may vary.

We see that the training course is planned for 2025, with an additional four to five courses in 2026 and 2027 (dates TBD) in Tallinn. Could you please advise on the preferred periods so we can prepare the appropriate offer for the group stay?

The program does not have exact dates set as of now.

Embassy Tallinn may award multiple IDIQ type contracts, meaning if one contractor is unable to fulfil then the embassy will contact another contract holder.

10. According to the provided documentation, the quotation must be submitted electronically via e-mail. Do we understand this correctly? Or should the proposal be submitted through the Sam.gov system? In the requests

Please see the invitation letter, which states how the offer must be submitted.

section, we see that the number of requests is mentioned as 0. Should this request appear in the system? We can find the contract opportunity by searching, but all the documents available are in PDF format, with no option to fill in or edit the information.

Your quotation must be submitted electronically to TallinnGSOProcurement@State.gov. It is important to make sure the submission is made in specific size and format; in MS-Word 2007/2010 or MS-Excel 2007/2010 or Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file format. The files size must not exceed 30MB. If the file size should exceed the 30MB, the submission must be made in separate files and attached to separate emails with less than 30MB each.

11. To ensure the quotation is considered, we need to submit 6 completed documents. Please advise where we can find the Word versions of these documents, as currently the PDF format does not allow us to fill them in. The form does not offer this option. Is it possible to obtain fillable versions of the documents, or could you please let us know where we can find them?

We can send Word versions of the documents if that is needed.

Please contact TallinnGSOProcurement@State.gov with the request.

12. We found the FW14 form on the webpage provided.

Please see the attached file. This form is fillable.

Regarding the FW14 form, should we provide the information only in part I of the document?

Please see the instructions on how to fill the W-14 form on https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw14.

13. There is a notice regarding the proof of SAM registration.

How should the proof be provided? Should we upload it within the system somehow, or should we prepare a report?

The offeror shall download proof of active registration documentation from sam.gov website. Look up your entity in sam.gov and then download the registration file as pdf and attach it to your offer.

14. Please specify what exactly is meant by the grand total for the base period and all option years.

Should we take into consideration the minimum number of rooms to be booked (2) or the maximum number of rooms to be booked?

This is the final pricing chart where you will need to take the total from the Base year line item and the option years line item and calculate them to the grand total. The individual pricing charts have estimated quantity filled. Calculations need to be made taking the price per night and multiplying it against the estimated quantity of nights + VAT to get the estimated total cost for the year. The Grand Total is adding up the base + option years estimated costs.

mailto:TallinnGSOProcurement@State.gov https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw14

15. Do we understand correctly that, by the first option, "year" means 2025, and by the second option, "year" means 2026? Or what do these sentences stand for?

The option year period of performance begins from the expiration date of the base year (or any of the option years) and consists of 12 months. This is based on the contract start date and does not necessarily correspond to the calendar year.

16 The following cancellation condition is specified in the contract: No cancellation fee for cancellations made up to 24 hours before the reservation start date.

Please be informed that in the case of a group booking, we will set certain cancellation conditions. For individual bookings, we can offer special conditions that are valid based on availability. However, we are unable to apply the 24-hour cancellation policy to group bookings. We can offer rooms based on availability but cannot hold any rooms in a block. We hope this is suitable.

The requirement of the solicitation is to have 24-hour cancellation timeframe. Please see Section 1 – Continuation to

SF-1449; SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES, BLOCK 20

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT - paragraph 1.

Scope of work.

17. The hotel/offeror must operate an established business with a permanent address and telephone listing in Estonia.

Can you please confirm if a U.S.-based contractor is eligible to bid on this solicitation, provided the hotel partner is an established business in Estonia with a local address and phone listing?

The offeror needs to have an established business in Estonia that bills U.S. Embassy Tallinn directly. Please see Section 1, Continuation to SF-1449; SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES, BLOCK 20, DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT paragraph 1. Scope of work and also Section 3 – SOLICITATION

PROVISIONS.

18. The hotel will be required to direct bill the US Embassy in Tallinn.

What platform is utilized by the U.S. Embassy for payment processing (i.e. WAWF or ACH)?

U.S. Embassy Tallinn uses EFT for payment.

19. The program is scheduled to conduct one course in 2025 and an additional four to five courses in 2026 and 2027.

The first training session in 2025 is planned for December, dates to be confirmed. Please see Section 1 – The Schedule, Paragraph I – Scope of Services.

Can you provide us with a targeted date or date range for the course to be held in 2025?

20. The hotel must be accessible by bus (40 passengers).

Will there be any parking requirements for these training events? If so, we will need the number of vehicles to accommodate.

There are no parking requirements for participants.

21. Do you have a target date or date range when the final award decision will be made?

We anticipate awarding the contract in September 2025.

22. Is this a tax-exempt requirement to be supported with a tax exemption certificate upon award?

No

23. Is on-site presence required by the contractor for this event? If so, will a contractor authorized hotel staff member suffice?

No on-site presence is required.

24. Will a rooming list be provided? If so, can you provide a date or date range when this will be provided?

The rooming list is provided to the winning contractor once the list is confirmed.