MINUTES OF PRE-QUOTATION CONFERENCE_25Q0008.pdf

SBU - CONTRACTING AND ACQUISITIONS

MINUTES OF PRE-QUOTATION CONFERENCE

JANUARY 17, 2025

RFQ: 19RP3825Q0008

CELLPHONE SERVICES FOR U.S. EMBASSY MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Introduction

The Contracting Officer welcomed all attendees and introduced representatives from the Contracting & Procurement Section (C&P) and Diplomatic Technology (DT).

Discussion of the Solicitation Package

The following sections of the solicitation were highlighted:

1) SF 1449 cover sheet

- Deadline of submission of offers: February 6, 2025 (refer to block 8), no later than 4:30pm, No offers will be accepted after 4:30pm.

- EMAIL SUBMISSIONS will be accepted. Kindly follow the submission specific size and format not to exceed 10MB per file (Also, refer to Invitation Letter)

- Fill out page 1, blocks 12, 17, 19-24, and 30 a-c as appropriate

2) Section 1 – The Schedule, Prices (pages 3-5)

Subsection II. Period of Performance

- The Contract will be for a one (1) year period from the date of the contract award, with four (4) one year option to renew and one six-months option, if exercised by the Government.

Subsection III. Contract Price

- This is firm-fixed price contract and shall include all labor, materials, insurance (see FAR

52.228-4 and 52.228-5), overhead, and profit.

** The Price offers are not subject to adjustments due to any escalation in the cost of materials, tools, equipment, fuel, transportation, labor or inflation rate, or because of the contractor’s failure to properly estimate or accurately predict the cost or difficulty of achieving the results required, or due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

- The Government will pay the Contractor on a monthly basis for Standard Services that have been satisfactorily performed.

- Offerors are requested to fill-out the table based on their offer.

- This is an Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity type of Contract under which firm fixed price delivery orders may be placed.

- During the contract period, the U.S. Government guarantees a minimum order of 500 accounts under Tier II. The amount of all orders shall not exceed 1228 accounts per contract year.

Subsection IV. VAT

- VAT is not applicable to this contract. The U.S. Embassy has a tax exemption certificate from the host government

3) Performance Work Statement Continuation

- Discussion by DT

Subsection 1.7 Detailed Billing and Invoicing

- Payment shall be made in Philippine currency for local vendors and USD for US Companies processed at the Voucher Unit, Financial Management Center (FMC). Invoices shall be submitted thru email at MNLFMCDBO@STATE.GOV.

Subsection 4 Permits

- The Contractor shall obtain all permits, licenses and appointments required for the prosecution of work (at no cost to the USG).

- The Contractor shall provide evidence of possession or status of application for such permits, licenses, and appointments to the Contracting Officer with its proposal.

Subsection 5 Government Furnished Property

- The Government intends to use Government Owned Equipment and Accessories as listed under 5.2.

Subsection 6 Additional New Lines

- The Contractor will provide a fully functional SIM card/ Esim, telephone number, and appropriate security codes as deemed necessary to the COR within 3 business days after receiving a delivery order under the contract.

Subsection 8 Disclosure of Information

- Any information made available to the Contractor by the Government shall be used only for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this contract and shall not be divulged or made known in any manner to any person except as may be necessary in the performance of the contract.

Attachment 1 CYBERSECURITY SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT (C-SCRM) C-SCRM

QUESTIONNAIRE

- Please refer to the attached excel spreadsheet/file for the C-SCRM Questionnaire only.

4) Section 2 – Contract Clauses (pages 17-43)

- Contract clauses are incorporated by reference or full text and forms part of the contract. The clauses can be accessed electronically at the website provided under Section 2, Addendum to Contract Clauses. If the Contractor is unable to access the sites, the Contractor may request the Contracting Office for a full text copy in writing, and a copy shall be provided.

mailto:MNLFMCDBO@STATE.GOV

- Statue NDAA 889(a) (1) (B) and the prohibition on contracting with entities using certain telecommunications and video surveillance service or equipment. Please review FAR 4.21 and clause FAR 52.204-25 in Section 2 and the provision 52.204-24 in Section 5 and the offerors requirement to certify:

• That they will or will not provide covered telecommunications equipment or services to the Government.

• Whether they do or do not use covered telecommunications equipment or services that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services

If the offeror does not comply with representations and certification (either in their offer or in SAM), the offer is considered non-responsive. The CO may remove the offer from consideration for award per FAR 4.2103. If the Offeror represents that it does use the prohibited technology or services, it is only eligible for award if a narrow exception applies or if a waiver is obtained.

- FAR 52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-System for Award Management,

– Payments will be made by Electronic Funds Transfer so the Contractor must ensure the correct EFT payment information is provided in SAM or the designated disbursement office.

- FAR 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons, USG has a zero tolerance policy re trafficking. Every instance of trafficking will be examined and could result in termination of employees or subcontractors, suspension of contract payments or contract terminations.

- FAR 29.402-3 Tax on Certain Foreign Procurement Payments (Zadroga Act) PIB 2020- 05., The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 applies to all federal contracts awarded to foreign persons or companies over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT). This Act imposes a 2% Tax on the amount of payment for each payment. Unless the exceptions in FAR 29.402-3 apply. If an exception does apply then you will need to highlight the requirement to fill out Internal Revenue Service Form W- 14 and the form is required with their offer and every invoice. Also review FAR 52.229- 12 in Section 2 or the provision FAR 52.229-11 in Section 5 of the solicitation.

- FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance, The Contractor shall maintain registration in SAM during contract performance and through final payment of any contract.

- FAR 52.228-4, DBA insurance, in accordance with FAR 28.305 , US Embassy Manila has an active waiver. Although contractors are encouraged to review and read this clause.

https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-4-administrative-and-information-matters#id1989H0G40RF https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#id1989I600I4C https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#id1989I600I4C https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-4-administrative-and-information-matters#id1989G0W90SA https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-29-taxes#id205VI010V4Y https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-14 https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-14 https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#id205VI0L0TXK https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#id205VI0L0TXK https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#id205VI0L0TXK https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-52-solicitation-provisions-and-contract-clauses#i1051105 https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-28-bonds-and-insurance#i1087897

- FAR 52.216-18, Ordering, Services to be provided under this contract shall be ordered by issuance of a task orders by the Contracting Officer. Order will be placed by the designated ordering official, who is the Contracting Officer.

- FAR 52.216-19, Order Limitations

- FAR 52.216-22, Indefinite Quantity, o The quantities of services specified in the Schedule are estimates only and are not purchased by this contract.

o Delivery or performance shall be made only as authorized by orders issued in accordance with the Ordering clause.

- FAR 52.217-8 OPTION TO EXTEND SERVICES

o Unilateral right of the government and shall not exceed 6 months.

- FAR 52.217-9 OPTION TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT

o Unilateral right of the government and shall not exceed base plus four (4) one-year option periods and one six-month option (if exercised by the government).

- 52.232-19 AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR

The USG’s fiscal year ends on September 30 of the current calendar year. The USG’s obligation for performance of this contract beyond that date is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made.

- 652.232-70 Payment Schedule and Invoice Submission, Monthly invoices shall be submitted via email at MNLFMCDBO@state.gov.

Payment via electronic funds transfer within 30 days from receipt of correct invoice.

- 652.242-70 CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE,

The COR for this contract is the Computer Management Specialist. The COR is not authorized to issue changes or direct to the Contractor to perform work outside of the scope of the contract. Only the CO has the authority to issue a change or changes to the contract terms and conditions through contract modification(s).

- 652.242-73 Authorization and Performance, Offeror warrants that it is authorized to operate or do business in the Philippines, has licenses and permits required to perform the contract and shall fully comply with the laws and regulations of the Philippines during performance of the contract. If a subcontractor or joint venture partner will perform the work, they too should agree to the requirements mentioned.

mailto:MNLFMCDBO@state.gov

5. Section 3 – Solicitation Provisions

- All offers must be segregated in volumes as required under Section 3 Solicitation as follows:

o A.1 Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management C-SCRM Questionnaire o A.2 SF1449, Section 1 and Section 5 and IRS Form W-14 o A.3 Information demonstrating the offeror’s ability to perform

*NOTE: Vendors are encouraged to submit in detail their value added services as part of the proposal submission.

- FAR52.204-7, System for Award Management, page 47 – FAR 4.1102 requires the offeror to be registered in SAM at the time their offer or quotation is submitted.

- Electronic submissions are allowed. (Refer to Invitation Letter) Offers must be emailed to ManilaContracting@state.gov in 3 separate file folders indicating A.1, A.2 and A.3. Kindly follow the submission specific size and format not to exceed 10MB per file.

Must be submitted in specific size and format; in MS-Word 2007/2010 or MS-Excel 2007/2010 or Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file format. The file size must not exceed 10MB. If the file size should exceed the 10MB, the submission must be made in separate files and attached to separate emails with less than 10MB each.

6. Section 4 – Evaluation (page 49-52)

- The Government intends to establish a single indefinite quantity contract that includes a one-year base year plus four (4) 12-month options and one six-month option (if exercised by the government), resulting from this solicitation to the responsible contractor whose quotation conforms to the solicitation and represents the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered utilizing FAR 13 Comparative Evaluation.

- This selection process will utilize FAR 13 procedures.

7. Section 5 – Representations and Certifications (pages 53-78)

- Fill out only those that are applicable and indicate N/A for item that does not apply.

- NDAA page 53-54 and page 74

- Tax on Certain Foreign Procurements- page 75-76.

Reminders:

- All questions must be in writing. Deadline of submission for questions is on January 21, 2025, 4:30 PM (Philippine local time) mailto:ManilaContracting@state.gov

- Deadline for submission of quotations is on February 6, 2025, 4:30 PM (Philippine local time)

- All questions and answers, minutes of the meeting and amendments (if any) will be posted on SAM.gov.

Conclusion

The Pre-Quotation Conference concluded and attendees were thanked for their presence and expression of interest in serving the U.S. Government. The meeting was adjourned.