Swimming Pool and Cabana Construction Solicitation 19KE5020Q0002 Pre-proposal Conference Minutes.pdf

MINUTES OF SWIMMING POOL AND CABANA CONSTRUCTION PRE-PROPOSAL

CONFERENCE HELD AT THE US EMBASSY NAIROBI KENYA ON FEBRUARY 10, 2020 AT

10:30 AM

Present (Offerors)

19 prospective bidders from 14 Swimming Pool & Cabana Construction Companies:

Agenda:

1. Familiarization/Orientation to the Embassy solicitation procedure

2. Overview of the project under discussion

3. Contractual requirements

4. Bidders Evaluation Factors

5. Answers to bidders’ queries

Introduction

▪ Sign in sheet was distributed to all the attendees.

▪ Brief introduction was given by the Contracting Officer.

▪ The Contracting Officer introduced the Embassy Team and their expertise followed by the offerors introduction.

▪ The Contracting Specialist inquired if there were any written questions by the offerors. He informed the vendors of the advert that appeared on the local dailies which leads them to the link where the solicitation had been posted.

▪ The Contracting Specialist informed all bidders that all contractual questions should be written and submitted via email to NairobiGSO-Contracts@state.gov. The answers to all the questions will be disseminated to all the bidders as an attachment referenced as “Questions & Answers”.

Project Overview:

• The Contracting Specialist (CS) informed the offerors that the meeting was to enable the prospective bidders to familiarize with the solicitation document –The CS gave an overview of the contract and areas of concerns from the Cover letter, the SF1442 form, Pricing, Scope of work and the Clauses.

• The Offeror shall complete blocks 14 through 20, as appropriate, of the SF1442. Failure to submit a complete proposal by the closing time and date designated in Block 13 of the SF1442 may result in the proposal being deemed “late” and not considered for award.

• The Offeror shall acknowledge all amendments either by signing and returning the SF30 or by acknowledging the amendments in Block 14 of the SF1442. Acknowledgement can only be executed by an authorized company official responsible for the offer.

• The Offeror (authorized company official) must sign block 30A and 30B.

• The CS asked the offerors to give special attention to the Pricing Schedule in Section A and the

SF 1442 cover sheet of the solicitation.

• Offerors were advised to use the pricing table provided and to ensure the tabulations are correctly done. should not include VAT and the VAT amount should be stated as a separate line item.

• The CO reiterated that the Embassy is VAT exempted and will provide the exemption certificate.

▪ It was noted that the Contracting Officer Representation (COR) is the point of contact for this contract.

mailto:NairobiGSO-Contracts@state.gov

▪ The CS noted the importance of getting conversant with the clauses in Section H in the solicitation document and that the clauses are available online.

▪ Offerors raised their concern on registering in SAM. The CO informed the offerors that further guidance on the SAM registration process will be posted on the website.

▪ The CO emphasized that US Government cannot carry out business with an entity that is not registered in SAM. If any Company wants to conduct business with the US Government, they should begin the registration process immediately.

▪ The CS informed the offerors that all the deliverables will be done at the site and drew attention to the liquidated damages amount of US $500 for each calendar day until work is completed. The purpose of liquidated damages is to ensure prompt delivery of the services per the construction schedule.

▪ The CS informed the offerors who had not requested for supplementary documents to submit a request as soon as possible so they can have complete documents.

▪ Emphasis was made on the stipulated working hours in the contract on page 18 of the solicitation.

Any changes on the working hours will be communicated by the Contracting Officer

Representative and the Contracting Officer.

▪ The COR took the offerors through Section B of the solicitation which is under the technical section. He emphasized to the offerors in having all the required permits and drawings necessary for this project. The CO clarified that the permit process entails both local authorities and

Overseas Building Operations (OBO) approvals.

▪ The COR took them through the technical evaluation criteria that will be used to qualify the offerors.

▪ The COR discussed the period of performance of the contract, which was also elaborated by the

CO in detail to be 60 days upon the receipt of the Notice to proceed.

Submittal Requirements:

The CO informed the offerors about the submittal requirements which are:

• Additional questions from the offerors are to be sent by Wednesday February 12, 2020 by

10:00hrs.

• The response to all the questions will be posted by Friday February 14th, 2020.

• Proposals should be submitted by or before February 24, 2020 by 10:00am (local time).

• Technical and Price Proposals should be submitted separately, one original and two (2) copies as per our requirements.

• The COR emphasized on the need to have the bidders arrange the technical proposal in the same order as evaluation factors and stick to materials relevant to the contract.

• The Proposals should be submitted in a sealed envelope to the US Embassy at CAC 2- Truck transfer, addressed to the Contracting Officer, indicating the solicitation number on the envelope

19KE5020Q0002.

• Proposals submitted in electronic copies will not be accepted.

• Late proposals will not be considered for evaluation.

Evaluation Factors:

The CO informed the Offerors about the evaluation factors:

• Bidders should pay specific attention to requirements under section J and section K. This will be the basis of the proposal evaluation.

• Proposals will be evaluated in two phases: Technical Evaluation and Price Evaluation.

• Technical Evaluation: The Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) includes the COR and other personnel, who determine the acceptability of the proposal based on the solicitation’s technical requirements.

• Price Evaluation: The CO will evaluate the price and consider only the lowest priced, technically acceptable offer, and will follow up with negotiations for proposals that fall within the competitive range.

• The award selection will go to the lowest priced, technically acceptable offeror.

Questions & Answers:

The Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer Representatives and Contracting Specialist clarified technical questions that were asked during the pre-proposal conference meeting by the prospective bidders. The bidders were advised to send in questions in writing via email.

The CO informed the prospective bidders that the answers to the written questions will be posted on the

Embassy website for access to all potential bidders.

The conference adjourned at 12:10 pm followed by a site visit.

Site Visit:

• The interested contractors visited the construction site at CMR ( R13013) in Kyuna and based on discussions at the site they were satisfied with the site layout and appreciated the possible logistical factors affecting the project such as roads, gates, possible mobilization space, vegetation at the location and pool/cabana orientation.