Pre-Proposal Conference Minutes 20230601.docx

GSA New England Region

Location: 275 Chestnut Street, Manchester, New Hampshire 03101

Project Overview:

a. The Cotton Building is in Manchester, New Hampshire. The property is a seven-story, reinforced concrete, and steel structure with two basement parking levels. It was constructed in 1976 as a federal office building. When the building was constructed, it was named for Norris H. Cotton who was a U.S. Representative and Senator from 1947 to 1975.

b. The Cotton Building is not historic. The asset is located on the edge of the Manchester Central Business District (CBD) as part of a multi-building government complex. Across the street from the Cotton Building is the Hillsborough County Superior Courthouse and the Manchester Police Department. Parking is more than sufficient for agency and customer needs. For art-in-architecture, there is a sculpture just outside the facility's main entrance entitled "Facets to the Sun," which has been restored.

c. The VBA provided design intent drawings and a program of requirements that provides a basis for the design, construction and Maintenance & Inspection services required to realign their space to support the business needs of the VA's mission goals.

d. The project work is representative of a typical interior renovation/fit-out that includes Demolition, Wall Assemblies, Electrical, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning), Sprinkler/Life Safety and Commissioning.

e. The VBA floors are occupied and functioning, therefore the selected Contractor must be capable of (and must have demonstrated successful experience) working in that type of environment while minimizing disruption to existing VBA operations.

f. This is an 8(a) Set aside Solicitation.

General Solicitation Requirements:

The purpose of this pre-proposal conference was to exchange information to improve understanding of the Government needs and industry capabilities, which would allow potential offerors to determine if/how they can satisfy the Agency's needs. This would enable potential offerors and the Agency to produce efficiency in proposal preparation, proposal evaluation, and ultimately contract award with Best Value at a fair and reasonable price.

Any discussions held on May 22, 2023, did not change the Solicitation. Questions and answers that are provided are considered information only and do not authorize changes to the solicitation. Only changes made by the issuance of an amendment are to be considered in preparing your proposals.

All documents regarding this solicitation will also be posted on the FBO website. Monitor this website regularly for updates.

The Government intends to award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror(s) whose proposal(s) represents the best value from the selection of the Best Value Continuum-Tradeoff Process.

Offerors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as evaluation factors. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. The offeror's proposal must include all data and information requested and must be submitted in accordance with the solicitation requirements. Any offeror who submits an incomplete package may be considered non-responsive.

Source Selection Evaluation Criteria:

The approach to source selection for this procurement represents the Best Value from the selection of the Best Value Continuum-Tradeoff Process again award will be made based on best value. The proposal will be evaluated on Technical and Price Factors. The Technical Factor is made up of 3 sub factors: Management, Past Performance and Proposed Project Schedule and Phasing of the Construction Project.

The technical factors, when combined, are approximately equal to price. The technical factors are approximately equal to each other. Exchanges with Offerors may occur.

The Government may reject any or all proposals if such action is in the Government’s interest.

All pricing information shall be addressed ONLY in the Price Proposal and SF1442. In addition to the SF1442, detailed breakdown, of your price proposal is to be submitted.

This breakdown should follow the Divisional breakdown as referenced in the SPECIFICATION.”

SAM Registration

All prospective offerors must have a valid System for Acquisition Management registration to be considered for award.

Period of Performance:

Completion time is stated in the Request For Proposal as 297 calendar days from issuance of the Notice to Proceed (NTP). Contractor shall achieve substantial completion within 237 calendar days from the NTP.

Request for Clarification or Interpretation:

As referenced in Solicitation Section III.B: Requests for clarifications or Interpretation (pg.16) Solicitation Documents.

Prospective Offerors should make such requests no later than Wednesday May 24, 2023. All questions are to be emailed to carolyn.weekes@gsa.gov and paul.murphy@gsa.gov. The Government will attempt to answer all requests for clarifications or interpretations of the Solicitation Documents by Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

Receipt of Offers:

In order to be considered for award, offers conforming to the requirements of the Solicitation must be received no later than Wednesday, June 12, 2023, at 2 P.M. EST via email. Reference further details within the solicitation. Faxed offers will not be accepted. Reference the solicitation for mode of delivery.

Additional Important Information Reminders:

This acquisition is a total small business set-aside under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code NAICS 236220 – Commercial and Institutional Building Construction. A size standard is the largest that a concern can be and still qualify as a small business for Federal Government programs. For the most part, size standards are the average annual receipts or the average employment of a firm. For more information on these size standards, please visit http://www.sba.gov/size.

Contractors must acknowledge all Amendments with their proposal. A bid bond is required with submission of your offer. In accordance with FAR 52.228-1, the amount of the bid guarantee shall be 20 percent of the bid price or $3,000,000, whichever is less. The successful awardee will be required to submit both a performance bond and a payment bond each in the amount of 100% of the awarded price.

This construction project is issued pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act, General Decision Number NH20220021 dated 04/07/2023. Contractors may also access the applicable Davis Bacon Wages under the appropriate county Hillsborough County) and type wage determination at Wage Determinations Online (www.wdol.gov).

Determination of Responsibility:

In order to be considered responsible, an Offeror must demonstrate that it meets the requirements of FAR 9.104-1. The Contracting Officer's determination of an Offeror's responsibility or non-responsibility may be based upon any information obtained by the Contracting Officer and is independent of the evaluation of offers.

Proposal Validity:

All proposals submitted in response to this solicitation shall be binding on the offeror for a minimum of 60 calendar days following the closing date of this solicitation. Any proposal offering less than 60 calendar days for acceptance may be rejected. By signing and submitting the proposal, Offerors are affirming that proposals are valid for 60 calendar days from the date of submission.

Document Security:

Current Document security requirements authorize the issuance of this solicitation to be posted on the Internet. The Technical Specifications contain sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information and are subject to the safeguards presented in the RFP. The contractor will be required to follow the procedures when disseminating any SBU building information during the term of the contract.

Information concerning the disclosure of solicitation results:

After receipt of proposals, no information regarding the identity of those submitting offers, the number of offers received, or the information contained in such offers will made available until after award except as provided by FAR 15.503.

See attached list of attendees at the Pre-Proposal con image1.png