Amendment 0001 - Standard Form 30 - Questions and Answerss.pdf

Amendment 0001 – D-B Services - Dunseith, ND Land Port of Entry Page 2

Amendment 0001, June 22, 2023 Continuation of Block 14 of Standard Form 30 Solicitation 47PJ0023R0041 – D-B Services – Dunseith, ND Land Port of Entry

Amendment 0001 is issued to; 1) provide answers to questions received in writing in response to the solicitation document, 2) change the Phase 1 Similar Project definition, and 3) to change the Evaluation Factor 4 submittal requirement. The following revised documents are provided under the cover of this Amendment and are hereby incorporated into the Solicitation.

• The Solicitation – Phase 1, revision dated June 26, 2023

• SOLICITATION ATTACHMENT 04 – Past Performance Questionnaire for General Contractor, revision dated June 26, 2023

• SOLICITATION ATTACHMENT 05 – Past Performance Questionnaire for Architect Engineer, revision dated June 26, 2023

1. Answers to questions are provided as follows:

Question 1: Will you be making the most current version of either the GSA’s LPOE Design Guide or CBP’s LPOE Design

Guide available at this time, or will this be made available during Phase 2 of the solicitation process?

Answer 1: The CBP’s most current design guide standards for Land Ports of Entry (LPOE) will be provided during Phase 2 of the solicitation.

Question 2: How would you like the A/E to complete Section 1 of their questionnaire form for the Similar Projects they will be including in our proposal that their firm designed but were design-build with a different GC? Should they list their firm as the Offeror on the questionnaire to be sent to their client reference that need to complete Section 2 so as not to create confusion with their client reference if the GC did not have any involvement on the project?

Should the email subject line for their questionnaire read as follows?

GSA Solicitation No. 47PJ0023R0041: Dunseith ND LPOE RFQ – <INSERT ARCHITECT NAME> Past Performance Questionnaire

Answer 2: Offerors should provide the A-E Firm as the “Name of Offeror/Firm” on the Solicitation Attachment 05 – Past Performance Questionnaire for Architect Engineer, under Section 1 – TO BE COMPLETED BY THE OFFEROR.

Yes, it is acceptable to include the GC and/or the A-E Firm name in the email subject line.

Question 3: Please consider extending the due date of the Phase 1 proposals by two weeks. The 4th of July holiday provides resource issues as many employees take additional time off to spend with their families. For the Government to receive the most thorough, well thought-out, and competitive proposals, we recommend that the proposal date be revised to July 25th.

Answer 3: After consideration, the Phase 1 proposal submission due date is extended as follows:

FROM: 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 11, 2023

TO: 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 27, 2023

The document titled “A. The Solicitation – Phase 1” has been revised. The revision dated June 26, 2023, is provided as part of this Amendment 0001 and hereby replaces the initial version released on June 8, 2023.

Revised Solicitation Attachments 04 & 05, Past Performance Questionnaire for the GC and A-E Firm are provided as part of this Amendment 0001 to revise the submission date to July 27, 2023. References who have already been provided and/or completed the past performance questionnaire issued under the original solicitation may submit the initial form in lieu of the revised form.

Question 4: The February 8, 2023, Dunseith Industry Day presentation provided a high-level proposal timeline including oral presentations for the Phase 2 shortlisted teams. In order to forecast resources, please confirm if oral presentations will still be part of Phase 2, and if so, what is the current projected timeframe for the initial presentation?

Answer 4: Yes, oral presentations are required under Phase 2. The first oral presentations are anticipated to be held the third or fourth week of October 2023, however these dates are subject to change.

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Question 5: Evaluation Factor 2: Technical Qualifications – Past Performance of the General Contractor and the A-E Firm, RFP page 13, Subfactor 2A: PAST PERFORMANCE OF THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR (15%), the paragraph under Submittal Requirement: indicates that “For each Offeror reference, the Offeror shall complete Section 1 and then distribute the Past Performance Questionnaire (Solicitation Attachment 04 for GCs, Solicitation Attachment 05 for A-E’s), including Section 1, to each Reference for completion. The References shall email the completed Past Performance Questionnaire to Rhonda Widick, Contracting Officer at rhonda.widick@gsa.gov or Christie VandenDries, Contract Specialist at christie.vandendries@gsa.gov no later than 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 11, 2023.”

In recent years, other federal agencies have allowed Offerors to submit PPQs without direct submission to the government and include them as part of the proposal document. Furthermore, Offeror’s have frequently been allowed to submit copies of the PPQs that have been previously submitted with other proposals. This approach has proven to be much more convenient to customers because it streamlines the evaluation process, simplifies the logistics of sending PPQs, and reduces the number of times offerors need to impose on their customers to fill out PPQs. We respectfully request that the government adopt this well-established and effective approach to providing customer past performance evaluations. Please confirm that it is acceptable to submit federal PPQs (e.g., DoD PPQ- 0 format) previously submitted in other proposals in lieu of Attachments 04 and 05 within the proposal response.

Answer 5: No. For each Offeror reference, the Offeror shall complete Section 1 and then distribute the Past Performance

Questionnaire (Solicitation Attachment 04 for GCs, Solicitation Attachment 05 for A-Es), including Section 1, to each Reference for completion. The References shall email the completed Past Performance Questionnaire to Rhonda Widick, Contracting Officer at rhonda.widick@gsa.gov or Christie VandenDries, Contract Specialist at christie.vandendries@gsa.gov not later than 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 27, 2023 (as revised above). The email subject line should contain the solicitation number and the name of the offeror. Completed questionnaires submitted by the Offeror will not be accepted. While the Government may elect to consider data from any source, the burden of providing detailed, current, accurate and complete past performance information by the deadline for initial submissions rests with the Offeror and its evaluator/reference. GSA may also contact and question the past performance references directly.

Information specific to the Similar Project is requested within the Past Performance Questionnaire. This information must be confirmed by the Reference. CPARs evaluations do not allow the Government to properly confirm the project is a Similar Project.

As provided above, the proposal submission deadline has been extended to allow Offerors and their references additional time to complete and submit Attachments 04 and 05.

Question 6: Getting the Government or private sector clients to fill out a new PPQ when a previous PPQ and/or CPARS has been completed is extremely difficult (especially on projects up to 10 years old). Would the Government accept previously provided PPQs and/or CPARS in lieu of Attachments 04 and 05?

If attachments 04 and 05 remain the requirement, what happens if the client does not send the form in to you as dictated in the RFP? This is outside of our control. Do we still get credit for the project?

Answer 6: No. For each Offeror reference, the Offeror shall complete Section 1 and then distribute the Past Performance

Questionnaire (Solicitation Attachment 04 for GCs, Solicitation Attachment 05 for A-Es), including Section 1, to each Reference for completion. The References shall email the completed Past Performance Questionnaire to Rhonda Widick, Contracting Officer at rhonda.widick@gsa.gov or Christie VandenDries, Contract Specialist at christie.vandendries@gsa.gov not later than 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 27, 2023 (as revised above). The email subject line should contain the solicitation number and the name of the offeror. Completed questionnaires submitted by the Offeror will not be accepted. While the Government may elect to consider data from any source, the burden of providing detailed, current, accurate and complete past performance information by the deadline for initial submissions rests with the Offeror and its evaluator/reference. GSA may also contact and question the past

Information specific to the Similar Project is requested within the Past Performance Questionnaire. This information must be confirmed by the Reference. CPARs evaluations do not allow the Government to properly

The burden of providing detailed, current, accurate, and complete past performance information by the deadline for initial submissions rests with the Offeror and its evaluator/reference. Though the Government may elect to consider data from any source, Offerors may only receive credit for past performance information received by the Offeror and its evaluator/reference by the cutoff of initial submissions. Offerors may include points of contact for references included within its proposal.

mailto:rhonda.widick@gsa.gov mailto:christie.vandendries@gsa.gov

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As provided above, the proposal submission deadline has been extended to allow Offerors and their references

Question 7: One of our Superintendents was planning on stopping by the Dunseith LPOE site to take a few pictures for our team pursuing this project in preparation for our Phase 1 Quals submittal package. Is this acceptable to do and can you make the officers aware? The Superintendent will be sure to pull into the port to introduce themselves, explain why they are there, and coordinate what can and cannot be photographed. These would be general pictures of existing conditions and some of the surrounding landscape adjacent to the port for context to share with our design team partners. We would be sure to not have any officers in any of the photos. Please advise if you have any concerns or additional instructions for collecting a few site photos.

Answer 7: Site visits during Phase 1 are not authorized. Phase 1 of the solicitation requests offeror qualifications to determine which offerors are most highly qualified. A project specific technical submission is not required under Phase 1;

therefore, a site visit will not be conducted until Phase 2. Phase 2 shortlisted offerors, and their major subcontractors, will be provided an opportunity to visit the site, therefore a Phase 1 site visit will not be conducted.

Question 8: Phase 1 RFP Subfactors 2A and 2B, for past performance, require that the Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) be completed by a project reference and emailed directly to the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist. It is possible for some our past projects, that our Owner contacts are no longer with their respective organizations or are retired. In the event of this situation, please advise if a previously completed PPQ can be utilized and included within our proposal as an acceptable alternate to this requirement.

Answer 8: No. For each Offeror reference, the Offeror shall complete Section 1 and then distribute the Past Performance

Questionnaire (Solicitation Attachment 04 for GCs, Solicitation Attachment 05 for A-Es), including Section 1, to each Reference for completion. The References shall email the completed Past Performance Questionnaire to Rhonda Widick, Contracting Officer at rhonda.widick@gsa.gov or Christie VandenDries, Contract Specialist at christie.vandendries@gsa.gov not later than 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 27, 2023 (as revised above). The email subject line should contain the solicitation number and the name of the offeror. Completed questionnaires submitted by the Offeror will not be accepted. While the Government may elect to consider data from any source, the burden of providing detailed, current, accurate and complete past performance information by the deadline for initial submissions rests with the Offeror and its evaluator/reference. GSA may also contact and question the past

Information specific to the Similar Project is requested within the Past Performance Questionnaire. This information must be confirmed by the Reference. CPARs evaluations do not allow the Government to properly

The burden of providing detailed, current, accurate, and complete past performance information by the deadline for initial submissions rests with the Offeror and its evaluator/reference. Though the Government may elect to consider data from any source, Offerors may only receive credit for past performance information received by the Offeror and its evaluator/reference by the cutoff of initial submissions. Offerors may include points of contact for references included within its proposal.

As provided above, the proposal submission deadline has been extended to allow Offerors and their references

Question 9: Reference Agreement III.J.2.a, (page 9 of 34) indicates the Government may exercise any option within 120 calendar days, however reference Agreement II.A.4 (page 4 of 34) indicates options may be exercised within 90 calendar days, we recommend 90 calendar days or less.

Answer 9: In accordance with The Agreement, Section III.J Options and Allowances (2) GSAR 552.236-77, Government’s

Right to Exercise Options (MAR 2019), the Government may exercise any option in writing in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract within 120 calendar days after contract award.

For clarification, Section II.A. Basis of Pricing, (4) Options, will be updated to “Unless otherwise specified, all options may be exercised within 120 days of Contract award” prior to the release of Phase 2 documents.

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2. Changes are made to The Solicitation - Phase 1, Evaluation Subfactor 1A (page 11 of 15) and Evaluation Subfactor 1B (page 12 of 15) Similar Project definition as follows:

FROM:

TO:

3. Changes are made to The Solicitation - Phase 1, Evaluation Factor 4: Lead Designer submittal requirement (page 15 of 15) as follows:

FROM:

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TO:

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

The Phase 1 proposal submission is extended from 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 11, 2023, to 10:00 AM Mountain Time, July 27, 2023.

Offerors shall submit a signed/dated copy of Amendment 0001 with their Phase 1 proposal submission.