36C24220R0130.docx

Contract Opportunity Sources Sought Notice

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Required Field Contract Opportunity Sources Sought Notice

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528-375 PARKING RAMP EXPANSION

14215 36C24220R0130 N

SDVOSBC

541330 Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 2 2875 Union Road, Suite 3500 Buffalo NY 14215 Nicholas Winne Contract Specialist nicholas.winne@va.gov 716-862-7461 ext 22438 Department of Veterans Affairs Buffalo VA Medical Center 3495 Bailey Ave

14215 United States https://www.va.gov Department of Veterans Affairs Nicholas.winne@va.gov Contract Specialist DESCRIPTION: This is a Sources Sought-Pre-Solicitation Notice for the establishment of an Architect-Engineering (A-E) contract with services to be performed at the Buffalo VA Medical Center, 3495 Bailey Ave, Buffalo, NY 14215. This requirement is 100% set-aside to Small Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) firms. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL; NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE WILL BE ISSUED UNTIL AFTER AN EVALUATION HAS BEEN MADE ON THE PROVIDED SF-330s. The SF-330 can be downloaded through the GSA Forms Library at: http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/type/TOP, scroll down to locate and click on the SF-330 hyperlink entitled, “Architect-Engineer Qualifications.”

VA intends to award an Architect/Engineer contract for complete design services (preliminary concepts and layouts, program development, investigative services, preparation of contract drawings and specifications, cost estimating services, and construction period services) for the Design – Parking Garage Ramp, Project# 528-375.

The area of consideration is restricted to firms with offices and key personnel to be assigned to the design located within a 600-mile radius of the Buffalo VAMC site as indicated by a mapquest.com driving directions search from the prime designer’s main or satellite office address to the project site.

Written questions pertaining to this requirement should be submitted no later than 12:00 PM. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), September 1, 2020. Interested firms should submit their current SF-330, Parts I and II, to Nicholas.Winne@va.gov. The SF-330s are due no later than 4:00 PM, EDT, September 9, 2020.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The existing Parking Ramp (Building 29) was completed in 2011. It is a three-story structure comprised of precast structural members, it contains two stairwells and one elevator. Ramp structural system and foundations were pre-engineered for to handle additional loads from a future 3rd and 4th level. The Buffalo VAMC currently uses parking areas on adjacent Erie County owned golf course property and New York State owned university property. The state and county owned areas are anticipated to become unavailable in the near future due to planned development by those property owners. This will place significant load on the already strained campus parking systems.

This work is being funded under the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Minor Construction Program and shall adhere to the rules and regulations outlined in VHA HANDBOOK 1002.02.

Work under this effort will predominantly affect Building 29 (Parking Ramp) and the exterior site work around, near, and leading up to it. This includes all systems of the parking ramp (electric, sewer, structural, automatic transport, security cameras, access control systems, emergency call boxes, etc.) and its surroundings to include exterior lighting, landscaping, and exterior campus wayfinding.

Additional construction work is required where Building 29 connects to Building 1 (Main Hospital), Building 2 (Support Building), and Building 3 (Support Building) to improve pedestrian safety and improve access to the facility.

Parking ramp site work is anticipated to include adding/removing traffic islands, redoing the parking lot layout, repaving some of the existing surface lots, restriping the parking spaces, and adding/removing traffic control devices (pavement marking and signage) as needed to improve pedestrian safety and improve/adjust traffic flow.

Campus site work includes modification, relocation, or creation of campus vehicle access points as required based on the revised parking ramp design to improve traffic flow and be compliant with force protection requirements.

Other considerations to be addressed during the design process include: Parking status systems, snow removal from the parking ramp, suicide prevention measures, wheel chair storage, elevator sizing and capacity (existing and new), stairwell climate controls.

As part of the design, the Consultant shall also produce construction documentation to address any repairs or corrections necessary to the existing parking structure that is not significantly modified under this effort (e.g. caulk replacement, roof replacement, concrete beam repairs, etc.).

1.3 Purpose

The intent of this effort is to correct parking system deficiencies at the Buffalo VAMC and increase parking capacity (i.e. expand the existing parking ramp) as much as possible.

The Buffalo VAMC requires a Consultant to perform the Architectural and Engineering (A/E) services necessary to accomplish this goal.

1.4 Objectives

The supporting objectives to achieve the purpose are:

• Analyze vehicular traffic flow and pedestrian traffic flow to determine current parking demand and estimate future parking needs.

• Site investigation(s) of existing conditions and systems related to the existing parking ramp, underground utilities, and research of facility historical drawings

• Licensed surveying of land and structures as necessary to develop the design

• Consultation and discussion with VA staff to establish Design Basis

• Development of a design narrative to document the design process and delineate the construction impacts to the Medical Center

• Reconciliation of Contractor As-Built Drawings into Record Drawings

• Assess the existing parking ramp and its utility systems to determine condition, integrity, compliance to current codes/standards Coordinate with and obtain approvals (as required) from City of Buffalo officials as required for any required traffic pattern changes and zoning, setback, and easement requirements.

• Coordination with and obtain approvals from the State Historic Preservation Office

• Determine possible courses of action to resolve issues identified by VAMC and identified by the Consultant during site surveys

• Develop detailed construction documents (35%, 65%, 95%, 100%), specifications, cost estimates, and an associated execution plan with constructability review (with phasing, required shutdowns, system bypasses, needed laydown areas, vehicular and pedestrian safety measures, and overall impact on Medical Center) to correct parking system deficiencies at the Buffalo VAMC by modifying/expanded the existing parking ramp

• Identify bid deduct options that total a minimum of 20% of the total estimated construction cost.

• Answering requests for information (RFI)

• Submittal tracking and review

• Oversee construction operations in conjunction with Buffalo VAMC personnel to ensure contractor is in compliance with developed detailed construction documents and specifications.

1.5.1 Bid Deduct Options

The Consultant shall identify alternatives for a minimum of 20 percent of construction costs that can be taken as potential bid deducts in the event construction bids received are higher than anticipated. All project designs must include viable, 20 percent bid deducts. The alternates must be designed so that, if required to award the bid within the approved total project cost, the project remains a stand-alone project and can be activated according to its intended function upon completion.

See VHA HANDBOOK 1002.02: MINOR CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM.

Bid deducts must be clearly delineated on the construction documents to identify the boundary of the deduct and what it includes.

1.5.2 Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic Analysis and Report

The Consultant shall perform a Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic Analysis for the Buffalo VAMC. The analysis and associated report shall:

• Inventory existing parking space supply

• Measure current levels of space usage

• Identify salient parker characteristics

• Quantify demands and needs

Information gathered under this analysis shall be used to drive the design submissions.

See Section 1.1.1 for additional requirements.

1.5.3 Campus Plan for Vehicular and Pedestrian Circulation

As part of the design submissions, the Consultant shall produce a revised campus wide vehicular and pedestrian flow and control layout and plan. These plans will address the needs identified by the Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic Analysis and Report and take into consideration the needs of the proposed parking ramp expansion with the intent to improve overall pedestrian and vehicular circulation and improve pedestrian safety.

While portions of these campus plans will likely not be fully realized under this construction effort, the intent is to ensure the expanded parking ramp fits within an overall comprehensive plan of vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow and that the vision is documented for future development and implementation.

528-375 Parking Ramp Expansion 5 2/27/2020

1.5.4 National Register of Historic Places

The Buffalo VAMC is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (USN ID: 02940.023536). Work under this project is subject to Section 106 review and New York State Historic Preservation Office (NYSHPO) rules and regulations. The Consultant shall be responsible for working with and obtaining NYSHPO approval of all final designs. This includes providing the necessary information/documentation to the NYSHPO for their participation in any project related meetings and to address any questions or RFI’s posed by the NYSHPO.

The VA Contracting Officer Representative (COR) shall be copied on all correspondence between the Consultant and NYSHPO.

1.5.5 Buffalo Green Code

Although structures built on federal property are exempt from state and local building codes, the Buffalo VAMC recognizes that state and local codes also represent important regional interests and conditions, especially when considering zoning requirements, urban development, and land use. As such, the Consultant shall be responsible for ensuring the work performed under this effort complies with the Buffalo Green Code (Buffalo City Code, Chapter 496: Unified Development Ordinance) to the maximum extent practicable. This includes providing the necessary information/documentation to and obtaining approvals from City of Buffalo officials as required and to address any questions or RFI’s posed by the City of Buffalo.

The VA COR shall be copied on all correspondence between the Consultant and the City of Buffalo.

1.5.6 As-Built and Record Documents

Buffalo VAMC has limited as-built drawings for the existing parking ramp and associated systems.

Although the VA makes every effort to keep drawings current to existing conditions, changes and updates are sometimes not recorded. It is therefore the Consultants responsibility to perform field investigation and verify of the accuracy of the drawings with the actual conditions.

1.5.7 Quality Assurance/Quality Control Plan

The consultant is responsible for reviewing the work done by any subcontractors that the Consultant has hired to assist with the completion of this SOW. The consultant must provide the Government with a Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Plan that documents the methods, processes, procedures that are going to be implemented by the Consultant to validate the work their subcontractors perform.

See PG-18-15: MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR A/E SUBMISSIONS (as modified for 528-375), Part I, Section D.

1.5.8 Hazardous Materials

Hazardous material (asbestos/lead/mold) removal is NOT anticipated for this effort.

528-375 Parking Ramp Expansion 6 2/27/2020 The Consultant is required to perform an inspection (to include destructive investigation and testing if necessary) of the area to be renovated to identify and test suspect materials.

• If no suspect materials are identified and no tests conducted, then the Consultant shall document this result in writing on corporate letterhead.

• If suspect materials are identified and test positive for asbestos or lead, then the Consultant shall submit a written report documenting the survey conducted that includes the test results.

The Consultant shall then be responsible for developing the appropriate abatement drawings and specifications in accordance with PG-18-15: MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR A/E SUBMISSIONS (as modified for 528-375), Part I, Section O

. 528-375 Parking Ramp Expansion

OFFERORS WILL BE EVALUATED ON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

The submitted SF-330s will be evaluated on the following criteria:

This acquisition will be in accordance with FAR Part 36.602-1 and VAAR Part 836.602-1. The following evaluation criteria will be used to evaluate SF-330 technical proposals:

The base assumption when evaluating proposals is that ALL OFFERORS ARE PRESUMED TO BE ACCEPTABLE UNLESS PROVEN OTHERWISE. Offeror proposals must have clear strengths and/or weaknesses in accordance with the definitions above to be rated other than Acceptable. if no strengths or weakness are identified for a given evaluation factor, then the Offeror will be rated as Acceptable for that factor

The A/E must demonstrate its qualifications with respect to the published evaluation criteria for all services. Evaluation Criteria (1) through (2) are considered most important and equal among themselves; Criteria (3) through (5) are of slightly less importance than (1) through (2), but are equal value among themselves; Criteria (6) and (7) are the least important and listed in descending order of importance:

1. Specialized experience and technical competence in the type of work required, including, where appropriate, experience in energy conservation, pollution prevention, waste reduction, and the use of recovered materials.

2. Professional Qualifications necessary for satisfactory performance of required services.

3. Capacity to accomplish the work in the required time

4. Past Performance on contracts with Government agencies and private industry in terms of cost control, quality of work and compliance with performance schedules.

5. Experience in construction period services to include professional field inspections during the construction period, review of construction submittals, support in answering requests for information during the construction period, and support of construction contract changes to include drafting statements of work, and cost estimates shall be included as an evaluation criterion when construction period services is included in the statement of work for A-E services.

6. The extent to which potential contractors identify and commit to the use of service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses, Veteran-owned small businesses, and other types of small businesses as subcontractor

7. Location in the general geographical area of the project and knowledge of the locality of the project; provided, that application of this criterion leaves an appropriate number of qualified firms, given the nature and size of the project.

Criterion 1 - Specialized experience and technical competence in the type of work required, including, where appropriate, experience in energy conservation, pollution prevention, waste reduction, and the use of recovered materials. Offerors will be evaluated on specialized experience and technical competence in the performance of services similar to those anticipated under this contract with regard to:

Experience with traffic control/flow analysis and design.

Experience with parking garage design.

Experience with precast concrete structure design.

Experience with State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) processes and requirements.

Experience with force protection and physical security for healthcare facilities.

Experience with elevator design.

Experience in providing post construction award services (shop drawing review, as-built drawing and Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) preparation, construction inspection services, and Operating and Maintenance Manuals).

Submission requirements: Provide up to five (5) projects completed or substantially completed within the past five (5) years that best illustrate specialized experience of the proposed team in the areas outlined above. Example projects shall note project’s square footage. All projects provided in the SF-330 must be completed by the office/branch/regional office/individual team member actually proposed to manage and/or perform work under this contract. To enable verification, firms should include the DUNS number along with each firm name in the SF-330 Part 1, Section F Item 25 “Firms from Section C Involved in this Project,” block (1). Include a contract number or project identification number in block 21. Include an e-mail address, and phone number for the point of contact in block 23(c). Include in the project description the contract period of performance, award contract value, current contract value, a summary of the work performed that demonstrates relevance to specialized experience as outlined above. If the contractor served as a subcontractor on a project, indicate the value of the work they provided towards the performance of the overall project. If a project was performed by a joint venture, and not all joint venture partners are on the team proposed for this contract, the offeror/team should specifically address the work performed by the joint venture partner offering/teaming on this contract. Likewise, if the offeror/team member worked as a subcontractor on a project, the description should clearly describe the work actually performed by the offeror/team member and the roles and responsibilities of each on the project, rather than the work performed on the project as a whole. If the project description does not clearly delineate the work performed by the entity/entities offering/teaming on this contract, the project could be eliminated from consideration.

NOTE: If the Offeror is a joint venture, information should be submitted as a joint venture; however, if there is no information for the joint venture, information should be submitted for either joint venture partner, not to exceed a total of five (5) projects for this criterion. Projects shall be submitted on the SF-330. For submittal purposes, a task order on an IDIQ contract is considered a project, as is a stand-alone contract award. Do not list an IDIQ contract as an example of a completed project. Instead, list relevant completed task orders or stand-alone contract awards that fit within the definition above. Examples of project work submitted that do not conform to this requirement will not be evaluated.

Failure to provide requested data, accessible points of contact, or valid phone numbers could result in a firm being rated lower.

All information for Criterion 1 should be submitted in Part 1, Section F of the SF-330. The Government WILL NOT consider information submitted in addition to Part 1, Section F in evaluating Criterion 1.

Criterion 2 - Professional Qualifications necessary for satisfactory performance of required services. Offerors will be evaluated in terms of the qualifications, competence and experience of the key personnel and technical team proposed to accomplish this work. Key personnel are individuals who will have major contract or project management responsibilities and/or will provide unusual or unique expertise. Provide a balanced licensed and or certified workforce in the following disciplines – Architecture Structural Engineering Civil Engineering Land Surveyor Landscape Design Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Control Systems Fire Protection Engineering

Additional disciplines may be provided/required based on developed and proposed design.

Submission requirements: Provide resumes for all proposed key personnel. Resumes are limited to one page each and should cite project specific experience and indicate proposed role in this contract. Provide professional registration, certification, licensure and/or accreditation. Indicate participation of key personnel in example projects in the SF-330 Part 1 Section G.

Criterion 3 - Capacity to accomplish the work in the required time. Firms/teams will be evaluated in terms of their ability to plan for and manage work under the contract and capacity to accomplish the work in the required time.

Submission requirements: Describe the firm’s ability to concurrently perform and manage multiple projects in different locations to meet aggressive schedules, multiple disciplines, and control costs and the firm’s capacity to accomplish multiple projects simultaneously.

Criterion 4 - Past Performance – Offerors will be evaluated on past performance with Government agencies and private industry in terms of work quality, compliance with schedules, cost control, and stakeholder/customer satisfaction. Evaluating past performance and experience will include information provided in CPARS/ACASS for Criterion 1 projects and may include other information provided by the firm, customer inquiries, Government databases, and other information available to the Government including contacts with points of contact in other criteria. Failure to provide requested data, accessible points of contact, or valid phone numbers could result in a firm being rated lower. NOTE: Past performance information for projects listed under Criterion 1.

Submission requirements SUBMIT A COMPLETED CPARS/ACASS EVALUATION FOR EACH PROJECT UNDER CRITERION 1. IF A CPARS/ACASS EVALUATION IS NOT AVAILABLE, ensure correct phone numbers and email addresses are provided for the client point of contact. If requested by the client, questionnaires may be submitted directly to the Government's point of contact, Network Contracting Office 2 Attn: Nicholas Winne via email at Nicholas.Winne@va.gov prior to the response date.

Criterion 5. Experience in construction period services to include professional field inspections during the construction period, review of construction submittals, support in answering requests for information during the construction period, and support of construction contract changes to include drafting statements of work, and cost estimates shall be included as an evaluation criterion when construction period services is included in the statement of work for A-E services.

Criterion 6 – The extent to which potential contractors identify and commit to the use of service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses, Veteran-owned small businesses, and other types of small businesses as subcontractor.

Submission requirements: Offerors shall provide documentation (awards, certificates, publications, commendations from within the community) as evidence of reputation and standing of its firm.

Criterion 7 - Location within a 600-mile radius to the design site (Buffalo, NY) and knowledge of the location (Buffalo, NY); provided, that application of this criterion leaves an appropriate number of qualified firms, given the nature and size of the project. Provided that the application of this criterion leaves an appropriate number of qualified firms, given the nature and size of the contract, firms/teams will be evaluated on the locations of their office or offices that will be performing the work under this contract.

Submission requirements: Indicate firms/teams location, including main offices, branch offices and any subconsultants’ offices and demonstrate how this will be advantageous to the Government.

Submission requirements: Records and any other documentation of substantiated claims highlighting improper or incomplete architectural engineering services against the firm within the last three (3) years. The SF-330 shall contain a statement affirming that there are no records of significant claims because of improper or incomplete architectural and engineering services.

Evaluation Scoring

Evaluation factors 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 will be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings as follows:

Outstanding: Proposal meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Good: Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Proposal contains strengths which outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Acceptable: Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is moderate.

Marginal: Proposal does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The proposal has one or more weaknesses which are not offset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

Unacceptable: Proposal does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is not awardable. The firm’s proposal demonstrates a misunderstanding of the requirement and the approach fails to meet performance standards. The firm’s proposal has major omissions and inadequate details to assure evaluators that the offeror has an understanding of requirement.

The ratings identified below were used in the evaluation of Past Performance (Criterion 4):

Relevancy will be evaluated using the following adjectival ratings:

Very Relevant: Present/past performance effort involved essentially the same scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Relevant: Present/past performance effort involved similar scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Somewhat Relevant: Present/past performance effort involved some of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires Not Relevant: Present/past performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires

Substantial Confidence: Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. No doubt exists based on the offeror’s past performance that they can satisfy the requirements of the contract.

Satisfactory Confidence: Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. Little doubt exists based on the offeror’s past performance that they could satisfy the requirements of the contract.

Unknown Confidence (Neutral): No recent/relevant performance record is available or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

Limited Confidence: Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has little expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort. Some doubt exists based on past performance that they could satisfy the terms and conditions of the contract.

No Confidence: Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has little expectations that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort. Significant doubt exists based on the offeror’s past performance that they can satisfy the requirements of the contract.

SELECTION INTERVIEW:

Interviews shall be scheduled with firms slated as the most highly qualified. Firms slated for interviews may be asked to explain or expand on information contained in the SF-330 submittal through a formal interview or a discussion questionnaire as determined by the Contracting Officer.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

All design and work will conform to the current edition of the VA Master Specifications and VA Design Standards as published at the following site: www.cfm.va.gov; ASME, OSHA, IBC 2009, NFPA and NEC building codes and standards. Coordinate all work through the COR of Facilities Management Service. Contractor is responsible for all cleanups and refuse disposal throughout the construction period. The A-E firm will prepare drawings and specifications in sufficient detail such that qualified outside General Contracting companies can prepare accurate and timely proposals for the desired construction work. Microsoft Project scheduling and management software will be used by both the A-E and Contractors to allow for regular tracking of schedules and work by the VA Medical Center. Schedules with MS Project will be regularly sent to the COR upon project initiation and whenever significant changes occur in the schedule. The estimated magnitude of construction is more than $10,000,000. The A-E will provide an initial estimate of cost to perform the above work and will design only those items that can be provided within the cost limitation. The Medical Center must remain operational throughout the construction period and a detailed sequence of work will be provided by the A-E to minimize impact of the construction. The A-E will provide documents at each submission as indicated in the statement of work. The NAICS code for this procurement will be 541330, Engineering Services. The current small business size standard for 541330 is $15 million.

Requirement for Electronic Submission Unless paper offers are specifically authorized, all responses to this pre-solicitation notice must be submitted electronically as described below. The only acceptable paper form for this requirement is the receipt of past performance questionnaires. Failure to comply with this requirement may jeopardize the possibility of receiving an award for the contract due to non-compliance with the terms of the solicitation. You must submit your electronic offer, and any supplemental information (such as spreadsheets, backup data, technical information), using any of the electronic formats and media described below.

In addition, contractors are notified of the award via an electronic Notice of Award e-mail. The award document will be attached to the Notice of Award e-mail.

Acceptable Electronic Formats (Software) for Submission of Offers

1. Files readable using the current Microsoft* Office version Products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access. Spreadsheet documents must be sent in a format that includes all formulas, macro, and format information. Print or scan images of spreadsheets are not acceptable. Please see security note below for caution regarding use of macros. When submitting construction drawings contractors are required to submit one set in AutoCAD and one set in Adobe PDF. (Purpose: contracting can open the PDF version and engineering can open AutoCAD files)

2. Files in Adobe* PDF (Portable Document Format) Files: When scanning documents scanner resolution should be set to 200 dots per inch, or greater.

3. Other electronic format. If you wish to submit an offer using another format than those described in these instructions, e-mail the Contracting Officer who issued the solicitation. Please submit your request at least ten (10) calendar days before the scheduled closing date of the solicitation. Request a decision as to the format acceptability and make sure you receive approval of the alternate format before using it to send your offer.

4. Please note that we can no longer accept .zip files due to increasing security concerns.

E-mail Submission Procedures: For simplicity in this guidance, all submissions in response to a solicitation will be referred to as offers.

1. Subject Line: Include the solicitation number, name of company, and closing date of solicitation. Use only one of the terms Quotation, Offer, or Bid depending on the solicitation type.

1. Size: Maximum size of the e-mail message shall not exceed five (5) megabytes. The SF330, in its entirety, shall not exceed one email of 5MB. Only one email is permitted unless otherwise stated in this paragraph or in writing by the Contract Officer submitting the solicitation.

The Microsoft Outlook © Email time/date stamp will be used to date and time stamp offers for the official record of receipt for the submission. The date and time stamp in recipients “inbox” is the official record of receipt.

Security Issues, Late Bids, Unreadable Offers

1. Late submission of offers are outlined at FAR Parts 52.212-1(f), 52.214-7, and 52.215-1(c)(3). Particular attention is warranted to the portion of the provision that relates to the timing of submission.

1. Please see FAR 15.207(c) for a description of the steps the Government shall take with regard to unreadable offers.

1. To avoid rejection of an offer, vendors must make every effort to ensure their electronic submission is virus-free. Submissions or portions thereof submitted and which the automatic system detects the presence of a virus or which are otherwise unreadable will be treated as “unreadable” pursuant to FAR Parts 14.406 and FAR 15.207(c ).

1. The virus scanning software used by our e-mail systems cannot always distinguish a macro from a virus. Therefore, sending a macro embedded in an e-mail message or an e-mail attachment may cause the e-mail offer to be quarantined. You may send both the spreadsheet and the spreadsheet saved in PDF format to ensure that your proposal is readable.

1. Password protecting your offer is not permitted. The Contracting Officer will file the offer electronically which will allow access only by designated individuals.

Important Notice: Apparent successful offerors must apply for and receive verification from the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) in accordance with 38 CFR Part 74 and VAAR 819.70 by submission of documentation of Veteran status, ownership and control sufficient to establish appropriate status, offerors must be both VISIBLE and VERIFIED by the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Verification and Evaluation prior to contract award. Failure to be both VERIFIED by CVE and VISIBLE on VetBiz prior to contract award will result in the offeror’s proposal being deemed non-compliant. All offerors are urged to contact the CVE and submit the aforementioned required documents to obtain CVE verification of their SDVOSB status if they have not already done so.

852.219-10 VA NOTICE OF TOTAL SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SET-ASIDE (JUL 2016)(DEVIATION)

(a) Definition. For the Department of Veterans Affairs, “Service-disabled veteran-owned small business concern or SDVSOB”:

(1) Means a small business concern:

(i) Not less than 51 percent of which is owned by one or more service-disabled veterans or, in the case of any publicly owned business, not less than 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by one or more service-disabled veterans or eligible surviving spouses (see VAAR 802.201 Surviving Spouse definition);

(ii) The management and daily business operations of which are controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans (or eligible surviving spouses) or, in the case of a service-disabled veteran with permanent and severe disability, the spouse or permanent caregiver of such veteran;

(iii) The business meets Federal small business size standards for the applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code identified in the solicitation document;

(iv) The business has been verified for ownership and control pursuant to 38 CFR 74 and is so listed in the Vendor Information Pages database, (https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov); and

(v) The business will comply with subcontracting limitations in 13 CFR 125.6, as applicable

(2) “Service-disabled veteran” means a veteran, as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(2), with a disability that is service-connected, as defined in 38 U.S.C. 101(16).

(b) General.

(1) Offers are solicited only from verified service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. Offers received from concerns that are not verified service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns shall not be considered.

(2) Any award resulting from this solicitation shall be made to a verified service-disabled veteran-owned small business concern.

(c) Agreement. A service-disabled veteran-owned small business concern agrees that in the performance of the contract, the concern will comply with the limitation on subcontracting requirements in 13 CFR §125.6.

(d) A joint venture may be considered a service-disabled veteran owned small business concern if the joint venture complies with the requirements in 13 CFR 125.15, provided that any reference therein to SDVO SBC is to be construed to apply to a VA verified SDVOSB as appropriate.

(e) Any service-disabled veteran-owned small business concern (non-manufacturer) must meet the requirements in FAR 19.102(f) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to receive a benefit under this program.