Instructions to Offerors - PPT-updated.pdf

PART I - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

PART I/SECTION A – REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

I.1A JOINT VENTURES

If submitting an offer as a joint venture as defined by P.L. 109-461 AND Department of Veterans Affairs I.L. 049-06-4, http://www.vetbiz.gov/library/jtventure.pdf , an offeror must provide a copy of the joint venture agreement specific to the project that is consistent with the percentage of required work and net proceed. Additionally, the offeror must provide a breakdown or labor of which is to be performed by the SDVOSB firm and that which is performed by the small business joint venture firm and that which is sub-contracted. All Joint Ventures will be required to be registered and verified as an entity in VETBIZ prior to both offer submission and contract award.

I.2A SELECTION PROCEDURES

This acquisition will be a competitive acquisition utilizing FAR Part 15 source selection employing tradeoff source selection procedures. Competing offerors' past performance history will be evaluated on a basis of significantly more important than, cost or price considerations. By submission of its offer, the offeror accedes to all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements. All such offers shall be treated equally except for their prices and performance records. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being determined technically unacceptable. It is the intent of the Government to award without discussions; however, the Government will reserve the right to have discussions if such are needed.

I.3A PRE-PROPOSAL SITE VISIT

A site visit will be held on February 24, 2021 at 10:00 A.M. Mountain Standard Time at the Grand Junction VAMC, 2121 North Ave., Grand Junction, CO 84501, Building 11. Attendees are required to complete screening at Building 1 prior to the site visit and should allow time for that process. Once screened, Attendees will proceed to Building 11. All offerors, consultants, subcontractors, manufacturers and suppliers are encouraged to attend this meeting to familiarize themselves with the project, project site, and to provide any questions regarding this solicitation and project, in writing, prior to the scheduled conference date. See FAR Clause 52.236-3, Site Investigation and Conditions Affecting the Work, and FAR Provision 52.236-27, Site Visit (Construction) of this solicitation.

I.4A SELECTION CRITERIA

Award will be made based on both price and technical considerations most advantageous to the Government per FAR Part 15.101-1, Tradeoff Process. The Government may consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror if it is in the best interest of the Government considering the following factors:

This acquisition will be a competitive acquisition utilizing FAR Part 15 source selection employing tradeoff source selection procedures. Competing offerors' past performance history will be evaluated on a basis of significantly more important than, cost or price considerations.

By submission of its offer, the offeror accedes to all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements. All such offers shall be treated equally except for their prices and performance records. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being determined technically unacceptable. It is the intent of http://www.vetbiz.gov/library/jtventure.pdf the Government to award without discussions; however, the Government will reserve the right to have discussions if such are needed.

The source selection process will be conducted utilizing FAR part 15.101-1 Tradeoff Process Source Selection Procedures. Offers will be evaluated using the following evaluation factors:

Factor 1 – Past Performance Factor 2 – Price

Initially offers shall be ranked according to price, including any option prices if applicable. The lowest price offer’s past performance shall be evaluated to determine its performance confidence rating.

In addition to the general standards of responsibility found at FAR 9.104-1, in accordance with FAR 9.104-2, the special standards of responsibility described below apply to this procurement.

Offerors who fail to meet any special standard of responsibility will not be eligible to receive contract award.

Adjectival Ratings/Description

The assessment process will result in an overall performance confidence assessment of Substantial Confidence, Satisfactory Confidence, Limited Confidence, No Confidence, or Unknown Confidence. Past performance regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or sub-contractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement will not be considered as highly as past performance information for the principal offeror.

Definitions 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.

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.

Limited Confidence

Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a little expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence

Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

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.

Offerors with no relevant past or present performance history or the offeror’s performance record is so limited that no confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned shall receive the rating "Unknown Confidence," meaning the rating is treated neither favorably nor unfavorably.

References passing the “recency evaluation” shall be evaluated for their Relevancy to the project defined in this solicitation. Relevancy ratings are a subjective assessment of the similarity of an

Offeror’s past performance reference to the current requirement in the areas of Scope, Magnitude & Complexity. Relevancy ratings are assigned on a reference by reference basis and shall be one of 2 defined ratings, Relevant-Past performance effort involved much of the magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Not Relevant-Past performance effort involved little or none of the magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Adverse past performance is defined as past performance information that supports a less than satisfactory rating on any evaluation element or any unfavorable comments received from sources without a formal rating system.

The government intends to award a contract without discussions with respective offerors. The government, however, reserves the right to conduct discussions if deemed in its best interest.

Proposal Organization

Complete proposals shall consist of two (2) separate volumes as follows:

Part 1—Price Proposal Part II—Non-Price Factors Information

Evaluation Factors

This acquisition will be a competitive acquisition utilizing FAR Part 15 source selection employing tradeoff source selection procedures. Competing offerors' past performance history will be evaluated on a basis of significantly more important than cost or price considerations. It is the intent of the Government to award without discussions; however, the Government will reserve the right to have discussions if such are needed.

In evaluating past performance, the government reserves the right to give greater consideration to information on those contracts deemed most relevant to the effort described in this RFP.

Factor 1-Past Performance

The contracting officer shall review an offeror’s relevant performance information based on the past efforts provided by the offeror. The contracting officer may review data independently obtained from other government and commercial sources recent and relevant as defined below.

Relevant performance includes completed performance of efforts involving a project that included interior renovations to include architectural, structural, structural review and electrical in an active medical facility. Project will be similar or greater in scope, magnitude and complexity than the effort described in this solicitation. A recent project is defined as being completed within five years of the due date of this solicitation. The purpose of the past performance evaluation is to allow the government to assess the offeror’s ability to perform the effort described in this RFP, based on the offeror’s demonstrated past performance. Past performance regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or sub-contractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement will not be considered as highly as past performance information for the principal offeror. Offerors with no relevant past performance history or the offeror’s performance record is so limited that no confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned shall receive the rating "Unknown Confidence," meaning the rating is treated neither favorably nor unfavorably.

If the lowest priced evaluated offer is judged to have a Substantial Confidence performance assessment, that offer represents the best value for the government and the evaluation process stops at this point. Award shall be made to that offeror without further consideration of any other offers.

The government reserves the right to award a contract to other than the lowest priced offeror if the lowest priced offeror is judged to have a performance confidence assessment of "Satisfactory Confidence" or lower. In that event, the Source Selection Authority shall make an integrated assessment best value award decision.

Offerors are cautioned to submit enough information in the format specified in the solicitation.

Offerors may be asked to clarify certain aspects of their proposal (for example, the relevance of past performance information) or respond to adverse past performance information to which the offeror has not previously had an opportunity to respond. Adverse past performance is defined as past performance information that supports a less than satisfactory rating on any evaluation element or any unfavorable comments received from sources without a formal rating system.

Communication conducted to resolve minor or clerical errors will not constitute discussions and the contracting officer reserves the right to award a contract without the opportunity for proposal revision.

Factor 2 – Price:

(a) Solicitation Submittal Requirements:

• Standard Form 1442 Solicitation Offer and Award

• All pages of the SF1442 Continuation Sheet

(b) Basis of Evaluation: The Government will evaluate price based on the total price.

Analysis will be performed by one or more of the following techniques to ensure a fair and reasonable price:

• Comparison of proposed prices received in response to the RFP

• Comparison of proposed prices with the IGCE.

• Comparison of proposed prices with available historical information.

Special Standard of Responsibility

Solicitation Submittal Requirements:

The Offeror shall submit the following information: (For a partnership or joint venture, the following submittal requirements are required for each Contractor who is part of the partnership or joint venture and for the entity itself. EMR shall not be submitted for subcontractors.)

(1) OSHA or EPA Violation(s):

Offerors shall provide Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, affirming that the Offeror has no more than three serious, or one repeat, or one willful OSHA or EPA violation(s) in the past 3 years

(2) Experience Modification Rate (EMR):

Offerors shall provide documentation to show that the offeror has an Experience Modification Rate (EMR) of equal to or less than 1.0.

Offerors who fail to meet any special standard of responsibility will not be eligible to receive contract award.

PART I/SECTION B - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

I.1B COST RANGE: Between $500,000.00 and $1,000,000.00.

I.2B GENDER: Wherever the masculine gender is used in this solicitation and contract documents, it shall be considered to include both masculine and feminine.

I.3B METRIC PRODUCTS:

Products manufactured to metric dimensions will be considered on an equal basis with those manufactured using inch-pound units, providing they fall within the tolerance specified using conversion tables contained in the latest revision of Federal Standard No. 376, and all other requirements of this document are met.

If a product is manufactured to metric dimensions and those dimensions exceed the tolerance specified in the inch-pound units, a request should be made to the Contracting Officer to determine if the product is acceptable. The Contracting Officer, in concert with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), will accept or reject the product.

I.4B REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION:

All requests for information must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer for action no later than the date shown in Block 10 of the Standard Form 1442, Solicitation, Offer and Award.

I.5B PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

General – Both technical and price proposal shall be submitted in response to this solicitation. Proposals shall be submitted via email to robyn.young2@va.gov. Emails are limited to five (5) MB. The proposal, in its entirety, shall not exceed two emails (one email for price proposal, and one email for technical proposal) of 5MB each. Technical proposals (not including past performance questionnaires) are limited to 30 pages. Price shall be in a separate electronic document from the technical and past performance portions of the proposal. The offeror’s technical response shall clearly address each evaluation factor listed in this solicitation. Failures to submit in the format required and clearly address those factors may result in rejection of the offer. An original Bid Bond, in the amount of twenty (20%) percent (but not to mailto:robyn.young2@va.gov exceed $3,000,000) of the bid price shall be mailed to the address listed in block 8 of the SF1442 and be received at the address no later than the closing date and time. Failure to furnish the required bid guarantee in the proper form and amount, by the time set for opening, will require rejection of the bid in all cases except those listed in FAR 28.101-4, and may be cause for rejection even then. SEE FAR Provision 52.228-1, Bid Guarantee, of this Solicitation. Electronic copies of the proposals will be time/date stamped by Microsoft Outlook upon receipt of email. Further details on electronic submission are outlined below.

Proposals shall be received by 2:00 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time on March 22, 2021. There will be no public opening of the proposals. Submit proposals to: robyn.young2@va.gov.

Submit bid bonds to:

Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office 19 442-90C Attn: Robyn Young 2360 E. Pershing Blvd.

Cheyenne, WY 82001

Technical and price sections of the offeror’s proposal will be evaluated independently. Therefore, offerors shall submit technical and price sections as separate electronic files.

Offerors shall include all required Representations and Certifications and complete their registration in System for Award Management (SAM). See FAR 52.204-7 and 52.204-8, of this solicitation.

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 enough to establish appropriate status. Offerors must be both VISIBLE and VERIFIED by the Department of Veteran Affairs CVE at the time of offer submission. Failure to be both VERIFIED by CVE and VISIBLE on VetBiz at the time of offer submission and contract award will result in the offeror’s proposal being deemed non-compliant. All offerors are urged to contact the CVE and submit the required documents to obtain CVE verification of their SDVOSB status if they have not already done so.

I.6B PROPOSAL REVISIONS

If it is determined to be necessary, proposal revisions will be requested from the offers received. The Contracting Officer may identify those offerors, whose proposals are within the competitive range based upon the selection criteria identified in this solicitation. Negotiations may be conducted with those firms falling within the competitive range, after which proposal revisions may be requested. Offerors submitting proposal revisions will not be required to re-submit any documents which are unchanged from their proposals. They should provide necessary changes to individual paragraphs, as briefly as possible, together with the Table of Contents that clarifies where within the initial proposal the additional information and/or changed document would be placed. A new bid bond shall be submitted only if the final cost proposal revisions are greater than its initial cost proposal.

1.7B REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF OFFER

Unless paper offers are specifically authorized in an individual solicitation, all responses to solicitations must be submitted electronically as described below. Responses submitted in a paper form are unacceptable. Failure to comply with this requirement may jeopardize the possibility of receiving an award for the contract due to noncompliance with the terms of the solicitation. You must submit your mailto:robyn.young2@va.gov.

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. 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. Another electronic format. If you wish to submit an offer using another format other than 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.

a. 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.

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

c. Unless approved by the contracting officer: DO NOT submit a link to your PDF documents.

Please submit your request in an email for other electronic format at least ten (10) calendar days before the scheduled closing date of the solicitation. Request a decision as to the format acceptability and ensure you receive approval of the alternate format before using it to send your offer.

Each electronic offer must also include a signed and scanned SF-1442, Solicitation, Offer, and Award (Construction, Alteration, or Repair). Please ensure all amendments are included and acknowledged.

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 is outlined at FAR 52.215-1(c)(3). Particular attention is warranted to the portion of the provision that relates to the timing of submission.

http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/acqinfo/ebidnotice.htm#macros#macros http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/acqinfo/ebidnotice.htm#email#email

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

3. 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 15.207(c).

4. 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.

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