36C78621Q0056.docx

Contract Opportunity Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE

SUBJECT

CONTRACTING OFFICE'S

ZIP-CODE

SOLICITATION NUMBER

RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE

ARCHIVE

DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS

SET-ASIDE

NAICS CODE

CONTRACTING OFFICE

ADDRESS

POINT OF CONTACT

(POC Information Automatically Filled from User Profile Unless Entered)

DESCRIPTION

See Attachment

AGENCY'S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT'S EMAIL

ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

ADDRESS

POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

GENERAL INFORMATION

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

* = Required Field Contract Opportunity Combined Synopsis/Solicitation Notice B550 NCA Customer Satisfaction Survey. Base plus 4 years.

22172 36C78621Q0056 01-08-2021 16:00

EASTERN TIME, NEW YORK, USA

N

SDVOSBC

541820 Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration Contracting Services 18434 Joplin Road Triangle VA 22172 Paul Zagaruyka Paul N Zagaruyka Paul.Zagaruyka@va.gov 703-630-9366 Winning vendor will work with the National Cemetery Administration but is not required to be locally established.

https://www.va.gov Department of Veterans Affairs Paul.Zagaruka@va.gov Contracting Specialist

RFQ FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

GENERAL INFORMATION

Place of Performance: Virtual. Winning vendor will work with the National Cemetery Administration but is not required to be locally established. Wage rates for Washington DC are attached. However, the wage rates for the area in which the work is ultimately performed will prevail.

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This solicitation is issued as a Request for Quotes (RFQ), solicitation number 36C78621Q0056.

This solicitation incorporates provisions and clauses in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2021-02 Effective 23 Oct 2020.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS) CODE:

The (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541820. The business size standard number of employees is $16.5 Million.

This notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government to ultimately award a contract, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach.

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, National Cemetery Administration, anticipates the award of a Firm Fix Priced Contract for the National Cemetery Administration’s Customer Satisfaction Survey.

RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ): Quotes are due to the Contracting officer no later than January 8, 2021, 4:00 PM EST. Responses to this announcement will result in a Firm-Fixed Priced Contract. The Government intends to make award without discussions. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary and the Government will not pay for information provided nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided for the Government. Offerors are responsible for obtaining any and all amendments or additional information concerning this announcement at beta.sam.gov.

SOLICITATION QUESTIONS:

All questions regarding this solicitation are to be submitted to the Contracting Officer, via email, no later than close of business December 28, 2020. Questions pertaining to this announcement shall be sent by email to: Paul.Zagaruyka@va.gov Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.

PRICE SCHEDULE: Fill in the unit price and total price for each CLIN. See the Statement of Work for additional details for each CLIN. Fill in the total for the base and each option year at the end of each section. Fill in the total for the base and four options at the end of the schedule. Optional tasks 1 and 2 are not mandator but can be provided. Optional Tasks 1 and 2 will not be evaluated for award.

The dates provided are subject to change based on the direction of the CO.

BASE YEAR:

Updated version with supplement as directed by COR throughout POP to reflect fielding for 2021 interments

Deliverable 6B.1: Survey Demonstration, Testing, and Refinement for NC, STVC, MPS

Deliverable 7A: Evidence of Scanning and Data Capture for Interments Years

Deliverable 7B.1: NC, STVC, and MPS NCA Surveys and Documents -Electronic or NOK NC, STVC, and MPS

Deliverable 7C.1: Camera-Ready Surveys and Documents for NOK NC, STVC,and MPS

Deliverable 8C: Sampling for NOK NC, STVC, and MPS

Deliverable 9A: Master Schedule for Mailing of All Surveys and All Waves for 2020 interments and first half of 2021 interments

The fielding dates of April 15, 2021 for 2020 interments and October 1, 2021 for first half of 2012 interments shall be assumed.

Deliverable 13B: Semiannual Reports

* Days are indicated in calendar days unless otherwise specified. If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deliverable is due on the next business day. Specific dates shall be incorporated in the Work Plan (Task 1A).

Total Base Year:

0.00

OPTION YEAR 1:

TOTAL OPTION YEAR 1:

0.00

OPTION YEAR 2:

TOTAL OPTION YEAR 2:

0.00

OPTION YEAR 3:

TOTAL OPTION YEAR 3:

0.00

OPTION YEAR 4:

TOTAL OPTION YEAR 4:

0.00

TOTAL BASE plus 4 OPTION YEARS:

* Days are indicated in calendar days unless otherwise specified. If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deliverable is due on the next business day. Specific dates shall be incorporated in the Work Plan (Task 1A).

NOTE: The first December of the period of performance for the option year is denoted as Dec (1) and the last month of the option year is denoted as Dec (2). All other dates in the SOD are denoted with only month and day and the year is based on the option year as listed below:

OY 1 - December 2021 - December 2022

OY 2 - December 2022 - December 2023

OY 3 - December 2023 - December 2024

OY 4 - December 2024 - December 2025 ** The Funeral Director survey is fielded after the close of the CY and does not require a 90 day mourning period.

Total Optional Task 1:

0.00

TOTAL OPTIONAL TASK 2:

SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED:

Interested Offerors are to review the Statement of Work (SOW) for information concerning the terms of the service. The SOW has been incorporated as an attached PDF document titled SOW.

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS:

Interested Offerors MUST be registered with the System of Award Management (SAM) at http://www.sam.gov and must compete the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA) at http://www.sam.gov prior to the solicitation closing date. Failure to comply will result in the offeror being considered Non-Responsive.

Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) socio-economic category concerns MUST have an active/current registration with the Vendor Information Pages (VIP) and the Verification Case Management System (VCMS) via www.vip.vetbiz.gov (VetBiz.Gov). Failure to comply will result in the offeror being considered Non-Responsive.

Interested Offerors who do not have a current/active Sam account registration or whom are not certified in VIP will be considered non-responsive.

REGISTRATION WITH VENDOR PORTAL: All Interested Offerors must be registered with the Department of Veterans Affairs eCMS Vendor Portal at https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov . Offerors who require registration shall proceed to the Vendor Portal’s Login section and shall click on Request a user account to register. In the event an Offeror is unable to submit a Quote/Proposal through the vendor portal domain, prior to the Quote/Proposal closing date, contact the VAAS helpdesk at 1-877-634-3739, or via email at VA.Acquisition.Systems@va.gov. If an Offeror is still having difficulties in submitting a proposal via the Vendor Portal the contracting officer/Specialist may accept an Offeror’s Quote/Proposal via email under the following circumstances:

1. Offeror must provide evidence that an email discussions or verbal discussion with the VAAS helpdesk could not resolve registration issues.

2. Offerors must meet the time constraints as set forth in the solicitation.

Submitted Quotes/proposals via email without set requirements may be considered nonresponsive. All Quote/Proposals transmissions and uploads submitted via the Vendor Portal or via email are due as specified in this solicitation. Late or incomplete Quotes may also be considered nonresponsive.

QUOTATION PREPARATON INSTRUCTIONS: Offerors shall submit their quotes in four (4) separate volumes, Volumes A through D in PDF format. Each volume shall contain the required information as stated below. Failure to comply with these instructions may result in the Offeror being considered non-responsive.

Information (Volume A) The following information shall be included in Volume A:

· Legal Business/Company Name (as listed in www.sam.gov)

· Complete Company Address (No P.O. Boxes)

· Duns Number

· Company Point of Contract Name and Title

· Telephone Number

· Email Address

· Company Capabilities Statement

· One (1) Signed Copy of all Solicitation Amendments

· One (1) Copy of Completed FAR Clause 52.223-3 “Hazardous Material Identification and Material Safety Data” (if applicable).

· One (1) copy of Completed FAR Provisions 52.212-3 “Certifications and Representations” or indicate whether contractor has completed the annual representation and certifications electronically at www.sam.gov (copy of current SAM status)

Technical Proposal (Volume B) The following shall be included as part of the Offeror’s technical submission, Volume B:

1. A narrative that details and demonstrates the Offeror’s experience and understanding of the complexity and magnitude of the requirement. See evaluation factor entitled Technical Approach for additional details.

2. Offeror’s plan on completing the required surveys.

3. Offeror’s Work Plan and Staffing Plan.

Past Performance (Volume C) The following shall be included as part of the Offeror’s Past Performance submission, Volume C:

· Past performance Questionnaire (Attachment D) from at least three (3) references in the last five (5) years. Past Performance information provided must be similar or somewhat similar to the required service(s). Interested Offeror shall list any National Cemetery Administration (NCA) contracts currently working or previously worked first followed by Non-NCA contracts.

Pricing (Volume D) The following information shall be included in Volume D Proposed pricing shall be submitted on the Price/Cost Schedule of Services EVALUATION PROCESS: The Government intends to award a Firm Fix Contract resulting from this Solicitation to the responsible Offeror whose offer provides the best benefit to the Government, price and other factors considered. Offerors will be evaluated by performing a comparative evaluation in accordance with FAR 13.106-2(b)(3) to determine which response represents the “best” as a whole.

Offerors will be evaluated by performing a direct comparison of one Offeror with another in a uniform manner to determine which Offeror provides the Government with its needs, as identified in this RFQ. The Government reserves the right to consider a response that offers more than the minimum and select that response if it provides a benefit to the Government. The Government has the discretion to accept other than the lowest priced offer that provides additional benefits. The Government also has the discretion to make an award based on whether the lowest priced offer having the highest past performance rating possible that represents the best benefit to the Government.

TECHNICAL APPROACH: Offers will be considered from interested Contractors who are regular established in the business called for, who are financially responsible, and who have the necessary equipment and personnel to furnish the supplies and services required under this contract. This includes the Offerors level of experience the Offeror has in similar type work. Offerors shall also include the following technical information with their offer:

1. A narrative that details and demonstrates the Offeror’s experience and understanding of the complexity and magnitude of the requirement. This includes:

a. The level of experience, within the last 3 years, in the development and management of a large customer satisfaction survey administration greater than 50,000 total samples sets of respondents.

b. The direct experience with, or experience that can reasonably be expected to transfer to managing surveys which are administered nationally, with option for mail-in (paper) and on-lint (interments).

c. Experience with high-end scanning of surveys (or a reasonable alternative), and development of data collection tool that will be used for the purpose of generating reports.

d. Experience with multiple mail notifications and follow-ups that enhances the response rate, and how this mail stream (except the thank you note) can be…