Attachment CON-100 INSTRUCTIONS.docx

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INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS TO BIDDERS/OFFERORS

?.## AVAILABILITY OF SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS

All solicitation-related documents will be published to Contract Opportunities at https://sam.gov/.

?.## REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL:

This is a Request for Proposal (RFP) in accordance with FAR Part 15. Award will be made to the offeror whose proposal represents the “best value” to the Government Utilizing the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) method of evaluation. In order to receive consideration for award, a rating of ACCEPTABLE must be achieved for both Factor 1 Technical Approach (Technical) and Factor 2 Project Challenges (Technical). A responsibility determination will be made in accordance with FAR 9.1, Responsible Prospective Contractors. All proposals shall be subject to evaluation by a team of Government personnel. The Government reserves the right to award without discussions based upon the initial evaluation of the proposals.

Evaluations will be based on the following evaluation factors:

1. Technical Approach (Technical)

2. Project Challenges/Phasing and Schedule (Technical)

3. Price

?.## SDVOSB SET-ASIDE

This procurement is a 100% set-aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concerns. Offers received from other than SDVOSB concerns will not be considered. All SDVOSBs must be listed as “certified” by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert). Offerors must be certified in the SBA VetCert database (Veteran Small Business Certification (sba.gov)) at TIME OF SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS AND TIME OF AWARD. Failure to be certified at the time of proposal submission and time of award will result in the offeror’s proposal being deemed unacceptable and ineligible for award.

?.## PRE-PROPOSAL SITE VISIT:

A formal site visit has been scheduled for this project. This will be the only opportunity for potential offerors to visit the site. All potential offerors, subcontractors, and suppliers are strongly encouraged to attend this site visit. See FAR 52.236-27 of this solicitation for further information.

NOTE: Although not required, it is highly recommended that those who attend the pre-proposal site visit for this project, review the drawings ahead of time. Due to the continued care of our veterans, there may be areas that cannot be accessed during the pre-proposal site visit. Any questions regarding these areas can be addressed during the technical question period of the solicitation.

?.## TECHNICAL QUESTIONS:

Questions of a technical nature must be provided in writing and shall be submitted by the prospective offerors to Sandra Mruk. Questions shall be submitted only via e-mail to: Sandra.Mruk@va.gov. The subject line must read: Construct Addition and Renovations to Joint Ambulatory Care Clinic - Laboratory and Infusion Clinic Minor Construction - Pensacola FL - Technical Questions. Oral questions of a technical nature are not acceptable due to the possibility of misunderstanding or misinterpretation. THE CUT-OFF DATE AND TIME FOR RECEIPT OF QUESTIONS IS January 16, 2024 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time.

?.## AMENDMENTS

Amendments to this solicitation will be posted at https://sam.gov/. Paper copies of the amendments will NOT be individually mailed. No other notification of amendments will be provided. Potential offerors are advised that they are responsible for obtaining and acknowledging any amendments to the solicitation. Failure to acknowledge an amendment may result in your proposal being considered unacceptable.

?.## PREPARATION OF PROPOSALS

The Government will not pay for any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of proposals.

?.## PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

A. General:

1. Proposal Submission: Offerors shall submit their proposals via email to: Sandra.Mruk@va.gov. Proposals shall be based on solicitation document issued for RFP number 36C77623R0103. Proposals will be in the format stipulated in this document. Proposals shall be received on or before the date and time specified in Block 13 of the SF 1442. There will be no public opening of the proposals. Only e-mail proposals will be accepted. Hard-copy proposals will not be accepted.

B. Proposal Format:

1. Technical, Price and Administrative sections of the Offerors proposals will be evaluated independently; therefore, the Offeror shall submit the proposal in three (3) Volumes: Volume I Technical, Volume II Price and Volume III Administrative. In order that the Volume I Technical may be evaluated strictly on the merit of the material submitted, the contractor shall include NO price information in Volume I. Offeror shall separate Volumes I, II and III. Each volume must be labeled with the Offeror's organization, business address, and VA Solicitation Number. The volumes shall be submitted in electronic format as searchable PDF documents. The proposal, in its entirety, shall not exceed three (3) emails (one email for each volume) of 5MB each. Include page numbers and the company name in the header or footer of each page.

2. Volume I Technical: Offerors shall format the Volume I Technical proposal as listed below.

a. The offer, including title page, detailed table of contents, preface shall be submitted in one (1) PDF document for Volume I Technical and shall not exceed a total of TWENTY (20) pages (title page, table of contents and preface are excluded from the page limits) in Microsoft Times New Roman 12 font. The Offeror shall not include any price or price related material in the Volume I proposal. Use graphic presentations where such use will contribute to the compactness and clarity of the proposal.

b. A page is defined as each face of an 8.5 X 11-inch sheet of paper with 1-inch margins around the page perimeter containing information. All information (except for document numbers, page numbers, etc.) shall be provided in an image area of 7 X 9 inches. The background color of each page of the submission shall be white or ivory stock only and each page shall count as one (1) page. Excess pages will not be evaluated. Text lines will be single-spaced, and proposals shall be submitted using Times New Roman, with font no smaller than 12 point with normal proportional spacing. A smaller font size for any graphics presented in a proposal is permitted as long as the information is legible to the human eye. Fonts other than Times New Roman are permissible in the presentation of graphic material only.

c. The Offeror’s responses shall clearly address each evaluation factor listed in this solicitation. Failure to submit in the format required and clearly address those factors may result in this offer being rated unacceptable.

3. Volume II Price: Offerors shall format the Volume II Price proposal as listed below.

a. Volume II Price shall not exceed a total of TWENTY (20) pages in Times New Roman size 12 font.

b. Offerors shall complete the Price Schedule in part A of this solicitation.

c. Offerors shall ensure the Signed Standard Form (SF) 1442 is provided. Offerors shall acknowledge receiving amendments by filling out section 19 of the SF 1442.

d. In addition to the Price Schedule, offerors shall submit a complete breakdown of the Division Pricing for Line Item 0001, and each deduct line items 0002- 0005.

e. Bid Guarantee: Shall be submitted as part of the electronic submission. In accordance with Class Deviation from the Federal Acquisition Regulation to Eliminate Hard Copy Original Documents, Signatures, Notarization, Seals on Bonds, and Other Seals for Certain Contract Requirements issued by the VA Executive Director, Office of Acquisition and Logistics and the Senior Procurement Executive on May 11, 2020, the requirement for an original bond, with the original signatures, notarization and seals has been eliminated. Also refer to FAR 52.228-15 (DEV APR 2020).

Failure to furnish the required bid guarantee on the proper form and for the proper amount by the time specified in Block 13 of SF 1442, may result in rejection of the proposal.

4. Volume III Administrative Information: Offerors shall include the following in Volume III. Information concerning Items a. through h. must be provided. An Offeror may be considered unacceptable if Items a. through h. are not provided in the proposal.

a. Representations & Certifications:

As the provision at FAR 52.204-7 is included in the solicitation, FAR 52.204-8 (d) applies and the fill-in for FAR 52.204-8 (b)(2) does not need to be completed. The offeror is required to complete the annual representations and certifications electronically at https://www.sam.gov.

b. Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment:

Offeror shall provide their response to FAR 52.204-24 (d) Representation.

c. Information Regarding Responsibility Matters:

Offeror shall provide their response to FAR 52.209-7 (b) Information Regarding Responsibility Matters.

d. Violation of Arms Controls Treaties or Agreements:

Offeror shall provide their response to FAR 52.209-13 (b) Violation of Arms Controls Treaties or Agreements.

e. Tax on Certain Foreign Procurements – Notice and Representation:

The offeror shall provide their response to FAR 52.229-11 (d).

f. Post Award Small Business Program Representations:

Offeror shall provide their response to FAR 52.219-28 (h), if applicable.

g. Limitations on Subcontracting:

The offeror shall complete and sign the VA Notice of Limitations on Subcontracting - Certificate of Compliance for Services and Construction required in VAAR 852.219-75 and return it with their proposal submission as a separate document (see attachment Limitations on Subcontracting - Construction). The completed and signed form will become part of the official award documentation.

h. Experience Modification Rate:

The Offeror shall include the Safety of Environmental Violations and Experience Modification Rating (EMR) Information, including filling out the attached document (see attachment Contractor Safety - Environmental Form).

(1) Provide offeror’s information pertaining to their past Safety and Environmental record. The information must contain a certification that the offeror has no more than three (3) serious, or one (1) repeat or one (1) willful OSHA or any EPA violation(s) in the past three years. If such certification cannot be made, a Offeror shall explain why and submit as much information as possible regarding the circumstances of its past safety and environmental record, including the number of EPA violations and/or the number of serious, repeat, and/or willful OSHA violations, along with a detailed description of those violations.

(2) Provide offeror’s information regarding their current EMR. This information shall be obtained from the Offeror’s insurance carrier and be furnished on the insurance carrier’s letterhead. If an Offeror’s EMR is above 1.0, Offeror must submit a written explanation of the EMR from its insurance carrier furnished on the insurance carrier’s letterhead, describing the reasons for the elevated EMR and the anticipated date the EMR may be reduced to 1.0 or below.

(3) Self-insured contractors or other contractors that cannot provide their EMR rating on insurance letterhead must obtain a rating from the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI) by completing/submitting form ERM-6 and providing the rating on letterhead from NCCI. Note: Self-insured contractors or other contractors that cannot provide EMR rating on insurance letterhead from the states or territories of CA, DE, MI, NJ, ND, OH, PA, WA, WY, and PR shall obtain their EMR rating from their state run worker’s compensation insurance rating bureau.

(4) If the NCCI cannot issue an EMR because the Offeror lacks insurance history, Offeror shall submit a letter indicating so from its insurance carrier furnished on the insurance carrier’s letterhead, and include a letter from the NCCI indicating that is has assigned Offeror a Unity Rating of 1.0.

(5) The above information, along with other information obtained from Government systems, such as the OSHA and EPA online inspection history databases, will be used to make an initial Determination of Responsibility.

(6) This requirement is applicable to all subcontracting tiers, and prospective prime contractors are responsible for determining the responsibility of their prospective subcontractors.

(7) Failure to provide the above EMR documentation, may result in a determination that an Offerors proposal is unacceptable.

C. Technical Proposal Requirements: The proposal shall address the following submission requirements for Factor 1 Technical Approach (Technical) & Factor 2 Project Challenges/Phasing and Schedule (Technical).

1. Factor 1, Technical Approach (Technical):

The offeror must clearly communicate its proposed technical approach for the solicited project which meets the attached technical specifications and construction drawings. Offerors shall provide a detailed technical approach (thought process) to accomplishing the renovation and construction of the JACC Laboratory and Infusion Clinic project. The narrative will detail how the contractor intends to prepare the site, handle phasing, construct the new addition, renovate the existing spaces, coordinate utility outages and complete the project within the specified time limits. The proposal must include, at a minimum, the following elements:

· Explain how the project is to be managed and safety measures used.

· Anticipated construction hazards and safety measures to mitigate hazards.

· Alternate courses(s) of action in the event items become non-conforming, whether it be material or time.

· How the work in the adjacent to existing facility while remaining operational without impacting patient care.

· Ensuring security measures are in place while actively working in the VA facility.

· Description of the Quality Control and Safety Plan.

· Coordination between subcontractors

· Construction management and reporting requirements.

2. Factor 2, Project Challenges (Technical):

· Order of work elements to include project phasing, submittals, mobilization, excavation, construction/remodeling, punch list, de-mobilization.

· Identification of long lead time materials.

· Clear identification of concurrent tasks needed for successful completion of project within the POP.

· Identification of significant milestones due to winter work conditions.

· Current bottlenecks due to the impacts of shipping/material availability delays.

· The VA’s review and approval of requests for information (RFI), submittals and other pertinent documents.

· Interruption of VA facilities utilities, VA OIT time to swap network gear during scheduled switchovers, rough-in drawings, project phasing and any other specification requirements.

· Offerors shall include a draft schedule showing durations in calendar days that meets the contract requirements. (Note: this is a concept schedule used to assure the contractor understands the scope and sequencing of the project and is not considered a post award construction submittal). Schedule shall also include the identification of the critical path.

D. Volume II – Price Proposal Requirements

a. Carefully follow “Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors”. Standard form (SF) 1442 Solicitation Offer and Award (Construction, Alteration, or Repair) and the Pricing Schedule located on PAGE 6 when submitting price offers. Submit a bid guarantee as stipulated in the solicitation.

b. In addition to the pricing schedule, Offerors shall submit a complete Breakdown of the Division for Line Item 0001, and each deduct line items 0002- 0005. The Division Pricing will be used to determine price reasonableness. The Government also reserves the right to use this Division Pricing breakdown as part of discussions during the competitive range, if they are required.

c. The prices shall be Firm Fixed Price. The Offeror shall take care not to include remarks that take exception to the Government’s Specifications/Drawings or pricing requirements or otherwise preclude the Government from evaluating the offer, which will render the offer unacceptable.

E. Evaluation Methodology:

All Offerors are advised that, in the interest of efficiency, the Government reserves the right to conduct the evaluation in the most effective manner. Specifically, the Government may first evaluate the total proposed price of all Offerors. Thereafter, the Government will evaluate the technical proposal of the lowest priced Offeror only. If the lowest priced Offeror’s technical proposal is determined to be rated as Acceptable, the Government may make award to that Offeror without further evaluation of the remaining Offerors’ technical proposals, provided its price is determined to be fair and reasonable.

If the lowest priced Offeror’s technical proposal is determined to be rated as Unacceptable, then the Government may evaluate the next lowest priced technical proposal, and so forth and so on, until the Government reaches the lowest priced technical proposal that is determined to be rated as acceptable with fair and reasonable pricing. However, the Government reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to evaluate all Offerors’ technical proposals should it desire to conduct discussions, or otherwise determine it to be in the Government’s best interest.

To receive consideration for award, a rating of ACCEPTABLE must be achieved for both Factor 1 Technical Approach (Technical) and Factor 2 Project Challenges/Phasing and Schedule (Technical).

ACCEPTABLE is defined as: the Offeror demonstrated the ability to meet all of the Government’s minimum requirements as identified in the solicitation. UNACCEPTABLE is defined as: the Offeror failed to demonstrate the ability to meet all of the Government’s minimum requirements as identified in the solicitation.

Factor 1 Technical Approach (Technical): The minimum requirements for an Acceptable Rating are as follows:

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror has demonstrated the ability to prepare, renovate, construct, and complete the construction project in accordance with the specifications and drawings.

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror demonstrates a technically achievable approach to meeting the Government’s requirements without impacting clinic operations or patient care.

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror has adequately addressed all topics/subjects identified above and has not simply restated the requirement.

Factor 2 Project Challenges/Phases and Schedule (Technical): The minimum requirements for an Acceptable Rating are as follows:

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror identifies their understanding of the challenges involved in the project and provides a feasible and executable phasing plan in order to complete the project within the stated period of performance.

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror demonstrates an understanding of the construction requirements by providing an actionable mitigation approach to the project challenges within the period of performance.

· Acceptability is determined when the offeror has adequately addressed all topics/subjects identified above and has not simply restated the requirement.

Factor 3 Price: The total evaluated price will be determined by the Offeror's price for Line Item 0001, and each deduct line items 0002- 0005. The Offeror who provides the lowest price will be determined to be the lowest priced Offeror.

Note: If none of the offerors are within the available funding limitation or is otherwise determined to be other than fair and reasonable, the VA reserves the right to enter into discussions with those offerors who are determined to be within the competitive range, if a competitive range is determined to be in the interest of the VA.

If the Offeror communicates in its proposal any qualifications, exceptions, exclusions, or conditions to the proposed prices in the Offerors proposal documents, the Contracting Officer may reject the proposal and exclude the Offeror from further discussions.

?.## DETERMINATION OF RESPONSIBILITY

A Determination of Responsibility will be conducted for the apparent successful offeror prior to award of the project. The above information, along with other information obtained from Government systems, such as, but not limited to the OSHA and EPA online inspection history databases, as well as any other information the Contracting Officer has determined to be valid, will be used to make the Determination of Responsibility. NOTE: Any information received by the Government that would be cause for a negative Determination of Responsibility may make the offeror ineligible for award.

?.## VETS 4212

Title 38, USC Section 4212(d), codified at 41 CFR Section 61-300, requires that federal contractors report, at least annually, the number and category of veterans who are within their workforce. Submission of the VETS-4212 reporting information can be done electronically at: http://www.dol.gov/vets/vets4212.htm. Award cannot be made unless the awardee has filed their VETS-4212 report. Therefore, all offerors are encouraged to file every year. The Contracting Officer may request a copy of the email confirmation of receipt notification prior to awarding the project.

?.## SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM)

Federal Acquisition Regulations require that federal contractors register in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at https://sam.gov/ and enter all mandatory information into the system. Offerors are required to be registered in SAM at the time an offer is submitted in order to comply with the annual representations and certifications requirements (see FAR 52.204-7).

?.## REVIEW REQUIRED REGISTRATION WITH CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT REPORTING SYSTEM (CPARS) As prescribed in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 42.1502(e), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) evaluates contractor past performance on all construction contracts that exceed $750,000 and shares those evaluations with other Federal Government contract specialists and procurement officials. The FAR requires that the contractor be provided an opportunity to comment on past performance evaluations prior to each report closing. To fulfill this requirement, VA uses an online database, CPARS, which is maintained by the Naval Seal Logistics Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. CPARS is available to all Federal agencies and is the system used to collect and retrieve performance assessment reports used in source selection determinations. CPARS also includes access to the federal awardee performance and integrity information system (FAPIIS). FAPIIS is a web-enabled application accessed via CPARS for contractor responsibility determination information.

Each contractor whose contract award is estimated to exceed $750,000 is required to register with CPARS database at the following web address: http://www.cpars.gov/. Help in registering can be obtained by contacting Customer Support Desk @ DSN: 684-1690 or COMM: 207- 438-1690. Registration should occur no later than thirty days after contract award and must be kept current should there be any change to the contractor’s registered representative.

For contracts with a period of one year or less, the contracting officer will perform a single evaluation when the contract is complete. For contracts exceeding one year, the contracting officer will evaluate the contractor’s performance annually. Interim reports will be filed each year until the last year of the contract, when the final report will be completed. The report shall be assigned in CPARS to the contractor’s designated representative for comment. The contractor representative will have thirty days to submit any comments and re-assign the report to the VA contracting officer.

Failure to have a current registration in the CPARS database, or to re-assign the report to the VA contracting officer within those thirty days, will result in the Government’s evaluation being placed on file in the database with a statement that the contractor failed to respond.

?.## BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS AND SPECIAL AGREEMENT CHECKS

All contractor employees are subject to the same level of investigation as VA employees who have access to VA Sensitive Information. The level of background investigation is commensurate with the level of access needed to perform all work as identified in the solicitation documents. This requirement is applicable to all subcontractor personnel requiring the same access. As per VA Directive 0710, costs of background investigations will be borne by the contractor. Please be advised that the awardee will need to coordinate with the VA Medical Center concerning badging requirements. If the site requires an investigation, the contractor shall follow VA Directive 0710.

?.## REFERENCES TO VA ENGINEER, RESIDENT ENGINEER, OR PROJECT MANAGER

Any reference contained within the solicitation/contract specifications and/or drawings to the “VA Engineer,” “Resident Engineer,” or “Project Manager,” or their abbreviations shall be replaced with “Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).”