5. Instructions to Offerors Addendum.pdf

ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-1

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

1.0. Program Structure and Objective

1.1. Number of Contracts to be Awarded. The Government intends to award a single commercial Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract for Base Telecom System Services for Dyess AFB, TX.

2.0. General Instructions

2.1. Guidance. To ensure timely and equitable evaluation of proposals, offerors must follow the instructions herein. Offerors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, and representations and certifications, in addition to those identified as evaluation factors. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale. Non-conformance with these instructions may result in an unfavorable proposal evaluation.

The Government will retain one copy of all unsuccessful proposals. The response shall consist of three (3) separate volumes: Volume I-Price Proposal, Volume II- Technical Proposal and Volume III Past Performance.

2.2. Clarity and Detail. The quote shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims. The quote should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements, but rather shall provide convincing rationale to address how the offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and experience, and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the offeror’s quote.

2.3. Period of Acceptance of Offers. Quotes shall remain valid a minimum of 120 days from the date specified for receipt of offers. The offeror shall make a clear statement in the Request for Quote or Pricing Volume regarding quote validity.

2.4. Retention. IAW FAR Subpart 4.8 “Government Contract Files,” the Government will retain one copy of all unsuccessful quotes.

2.5. General Information

2.5.1. Discrepancies. If an offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the POC in writing with supporting rationale as well as the remedies the offeror is asking the POC to consider as related to the omission or error. The offeror is reminded that the Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial quote, as received, without discussions. This reservation includes matters of additional or substitute pages of the initial quote.

2.5.2. Electronic Reference Documents. All referenced documents for this solicitation are available on the GSA eBuy web site at ebuy.gsa.gov.

2.5.3. Amendments to Solicitation. If this solicitation is amended, all terms and conditions that are not amended remain unchanged and in full force and effect. Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment and provide confirmation upon submission of the offeror’s quote. Any unacknowledged amendments in the offeror’s quote are subject to solicitation provision FAR 52.212-1(f). Acknowledged and/or signed amendments shall not be considered as part of the quote page counts.

2.5.4. Submission, Modification, Revision, and Withdrawal of Quotes. Quotes and modifications to quotes shall be submitted by electronic media to the POC at the email address shown on page 1 of the solicitation, and showing the time and date specified for receipt, the solicitation number, and the name and address of the offeror.

2.5.5. Questions. All questions regarding this solicitation are required to be submitted via email NLT Friday, 28 March 2025, 12:00 p.m. (CST). Questions shall be sent to the POC identified above only on the attached spreadsheet (Attachment 6). Questions submitted after this date/time may not be considered by the Government.

2.5.6. Acknowledgement. Written acknowledgement of this solicitation and all applicable solicitation amendments shall be submitted with quote.

2.6. Organization/Number of Copies/Page Limits

2.6.1. Identification. The offeror’s quote must show solicitation number, name, address, offeror telephone number, and offeror e-mail address.

2.6.2. Content and Submittal. The offeror’s quote shall address the information listed in para. 3.0 and 4.0 below. The offeror shall submit the entire quote via email to the POC identified in this solicitation. Submit offer as follows:

VOLUME CONTENTS FILE FORMAT PAGE LIMIT

Volume One PDF or .doc 15 Volume Two PDF or .doc and .xls 10 Volume Three

Price Proposal Technical Proposal Past Performance PDF or .doc 5

2.6.3. Page Limits. The technical quote volume shall not exceed fifteen pages. The pricing quote volume shall not exceed ten pages. The past performance volume shall not exceed twenty five pages. Page limitations shall be treated as maximums. If exceeded, the excess pages will not be read or considered in the evaluation of the quote. Each page shall be counted except the following: blank pages, title pages, tables of contents, tabs, indexes, glossaries, and amendment acknowledgments.

2.7. Page Size and Format

2.7.1. Page. A page is defined as each face of a sheet of paper containing information.

When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two pages.

Page size shall be 8. 5 x 11 inches, not including foldouts. Page line spacing shall be

1.5 lines. Except for the reproduced sections of the solicitation document, the text size shall be no less than Arial 12 points. Tracking, kerning, and leading values shall not be changed from the default values of the word processing or page layout software. Use at least 1 inch margins on the top and bottom and 3/4 inch side margins. Pages shall be numbered sequentially by volume.

2.7.2. Tables, Charts, Graphs, and Figures. Shall be used and legible wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall be uncomplicated and shall not exceed 11 x 17 inches in size.

Foldout pages shall fold entirely within the volume, and count as a single page. Foldout pages may only be used for large tables, charts, graphs, diagrams and schematics; not for pages of text. The following limitation only applies to the Technical Volume. Text intended for evaluation within all figures, charts, tables, and graphs, to include imbedded images, shall be no less than Arial 8-pt. Any text within figures, charts, tables, and graphs which do not meet this requirement will not be considered in the evaluation.

2.8. Multiple Offers. If more than one solution to the services is available, Offeror may submit multiple quotes from consideration, subject to same page limitations. Each quote will be evaluated separately to determine technical acceptability. Contractors are encouraged to identify or suggest cost effective improvements to existing services and infrastructure. Should the Offeror claim exceptions to any requirement in the solicitation, these exceptions shall be listed and rationale provided. Failure to include exceptions will be deemed as acceptance of all terms and conditions of the solicitation and resulting contract.

3.0. Factor 1 - Technical

3.1. General. Limited to no more than 15 pages. Information the offeror deems appropriate to address the technical criteria should be included in the proposal in an orderly format. Proposal paragraphs shall correspond to the below evaluation factors and pertinent Performance Work Statement (PWS). To facilitate evaluation, the information contained in Volume II shall be detailed, clearly demonstrate that the offeror has a thorough understanding of the requirement for the accomplishment of this effort, and as specifically as possible provide the actual methodologies that will be used to accomplish/satisfy the Dyess BTS requirement. The technical criteria is further broken down into the following subfactors:

Subfactor 1: Transition Plan Subfactor 2: Project Management Plan Subfactor 3: Manhole/Hand-hole PMI

3.2. SUBFACTOR 1. Transition Plan – The offeror shall provide an approach for a 30-day transition/mobilization period that assumes full responsibilities from the incumbent contractor to the contractor selected for this effort at the start of the basic contract period. In addition, the plan shall address the phase out process. The transition plan, or any portion thereof, may become an attachment to the contract at award. At a minimum, the proposed approach shall thoroughly substantiate all the following:

a. The offeror’s overall approach to the transition from the current contract. The plan shall provide a detailed description of the offeror’s responsibilities during the transition period and the offeror’s approach to transitioning to a new contractor at the end of the contract period of performance (i.e., the plan as the incumbent to phase out to a new contractor at the end of the period of performance) to ensure full support and maintain continuity and consistency of the services required by this contract. This includes describing how the offeror plans to transition Government furnished equipment, timeliness to obtain Government issued Common Assess Card (CAC) and how the offeror interface with the Government team and the incumbent contractor.

b. The transition/mobilization length and key activities. This includes a detailed schedule of the transition (phase in and phase out) activities, to include start and end dates.

c. Transition/mobilization shall not be priced.

3.3. SUBFACTOR 2. Project Management Plan - The offeror shall provide an approach to manage and execute the Performance Work Statement within the contract.

The management plan, or any portion thereof, may become an attachment to the contract at award. At a minimum, the proposed approach shall thoroughly substantiate all of the following:

a. The offeror’s overall approach to management. This includes the appropriate number and mix of technical personnel to meet workload estimates IAW Appendix 4.1 of the PWS, with the following minimum required certifications and/or experience:

i. Proof of staffing qualification standards IAW PWS 1.2.6. Certifications must be current throughout the life of the contract.

b. The offeror’s overall approach to maintaining an updated CIPS System including the CIPS Visualization Component (CVC) (AFSPC mandated web based platform for outside plant and inside plant cable drawings.

c. The offeror’s approach to employee recruitment and retention. This includes a detailed description of the offeror’s approach for recruiting, maintaining and retaining a professional and qualified workforce, and should address the offeror’s overall performance regarding recruitment and retention (e.g., success rates, lapse rates, etc.), ensuring low turnover rates, and any other areas applicable to the recruiting, hiring, retaining, and rapidly replacing qualified employees with appropriate security clearances

(e.g. Secret) throughout the life of the contract. Ensure the approach takes into consideration the continuation of services during personnel absences due to sickness, leave, voluntary and involuntary termination from employment such that the impact to the Government is minimal.

3.4 SUBFACTOR 3. Manhole/Hand-Hole PMI

The offeror shall provide an approach to manage and execute the PMIs within the contract. The PMI, or any portion thereof, may become an attachment to the contract at award. At a minimum, the proposed approach shall thoroughly substantiate all of the following:

a. Sequence for at least 5 Manhole/Hand-hole inspections per month to include cable management at each manhole/hand-hole (cable labeling, and accurate cable mapping diagrams) within CIPS CVC.

4.0. Factor 2 - Price. These instructions are to assist you in submitting information required to evaluate the reasonableness of your proposed price. Compliance with these instructions is mandatory and failure to comply may result in rejection of your quote.

4.1. General Instructions. Information beyond that required by this instruction shall not be submitted, unless you consider it essential to document or support your price position. All information relating to the proposed price including all required supporting documentation must be included in the section of the quote designated as the Pricing Schedule.

4.2. Pricing Information. The offeror shall insert a unit price in US dollars and extended amounts for each Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) IAW the basic CLIN structure listed in the solicitation with the exception of the Special Projects CLINs, which is Government provided. Additionally, the contractor shall insert a unit price in US dollars and extended amounts for each item listed in Attachment 4, titled BTS Pricing Table. If the offeror fails to provide an extended amount or if the unit price and extended amount do not calculate correctly, the offered unit price will take precedence. The amount proposed shall be rounded to the nearest US dollar. The total price proposed shall be honored by the Offeror who is awarded the resultant task order. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all CLINs to include the base period, all option periods, and 50% of the last option period to evaluate the option to extend services per FAR 52.217-8, unless otherwise stated in contractor quote. This will constitute the Total Evaluated Price (TEP). Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise such options.

4.4. Price Reasonableness, Balance and Price Realism. Offeror’s proposal will be evaluated for reasonableness (including completeness), balance, and price realism.

Normally, price reasonableness is based on competitive quotes, but may be determined using proposal analysis techniques listed in FAR 13.106-3(a)(2). Unreasonable or unrealistic proposed prices, initially or subsequently, may be grounds for eliminating a proposal from competition on the basis that the Offeror does not understand the requirement. Additionally, unbalanced pricing may pose an unacceptable risk to the Government and may render an Offeror’s proposal ineligible for award. Offers should be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate their price reasonableness, balance, and price realism. The burden of proof for credibility of proposed prices rests with the Offeror.

4.5. Rounding. All dollar amounts/prices shall be rounded to the nearest penny.

5.0. Factor 3 – Past Performance. Offerors shall provide information for no more than five (5) of their most recent and relevant present and/or past performance data from Federal, State, and/or Local Government; as well as, private industry contracts. The Offeror shall submit Attachment 7, Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ), to those agencies responsible for the administration of the identified projects. Prior to forwarding the questionnaire to each reference, the Offeror shall fill out “Section 1: Contract Identification” of the PPQ. Offerors are responsible to ensure their reference sources receive, complete, and return the questionnaires on time. Your references shall return completed PPQs NLT the Offeror due date and time specified in solicitation. Have PPQs sent to:

anthony.parra@us.af.mil and taylor.norris@us.af.mil