QA 19R000016 6_11.pdf

DATE QUESTION ANSWER

5/7/2020

In the RFQ Minimum Requirements section, please clarify subsection B. Is this asking for two projects where the consultant provided both tasks of management and inspection? Subsection A projects already require Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services projects. What would be the additional requirement in subsection B that is not already met in subsection A?

See Amendment 0001 wording changed to I will be issuing an amendment early next week but the statement will be changed to:

B. Two (2) projects from item (A) your firm must have provided Consultant Project Engineer Management

Services and Construction Inspection Services concurrently.

5/8/2020

Would it be allowable to award one of the two full and open contracts to a firm A (non‐small business) and one of the three small business contracts to B / A JV Inc., an approved All Small Mentor‐Protege Agreement Joint

Venture of firm B (a small business) and firm A?

Yes there could be two separate IDIQ awards to firm A and B.

5/8/2020

At what point in the solicitation process does a potential

Joint Venture entity need to have a JV agreement in place?

SBA must approve the mentor/protégé agreement before the offer is due

5/14/2020

Can an anticipated Joint Venture team submit and obtain a DUNS number and register in SAM after selection, or do these need to be obtained prior to submittal?

That answer is no. AN entity (no matter what type) must have an active SAM registration at the time offers are due.

5/14/2020

Can you please let me know if there is a date established for when all questions need to be received by WFL to allow time for responses?

See Amenment 0001 Submit all questions by close of business June 1, 2020 to guarantee a response.

5/18/2020

1) Under Minimum Requirements on page 2, the third sentence states “A project is considered a single awarded Contract, Task Order, Delivery Order, Blanket

Purchase Agreement (BPA) Call, Purchase Order or

Subcontract. An Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity

(IDIQ) or BPA with multiple combined awards will not be considered as a single project.” Under a previous single awarded Term Contract, we were issued two separate task orders to provide CM/I personnel for the same physical project (same project name, location and federal aid number, different personnel roles).

Individually these task orders are less than $125k, but our total consulting services on the project between the two task orders was over $150k. Would this be considered an acceptable single project if listed in our

Section F?

No. As per the definition a project is a single awarded task order, not a combination of task orders for a single requirement.

Q&A 69056719R000019

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

Q&A 69056719R000019

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

5/18/2020

2) Under Minimum Requirements, Section C.ii. on page

3, we are seeking clarification on a ‘rural location.’ US

Census Bureau definitions of a rural location are murky when it comes to remote communities in Alaska, in particular Ketchikan, AK. We have a street and pedestrian improvements project we would like to list in

Section F that our firm performed CM/I services for in downtown Ketchikan, but cannot determine if downtown Ketchikan is considered a rural location.

Ketchikan has a population under 10,000 and is only accessible by plane or marine vessel, but it is one of the larger communities in Alaska. Does the Contracting

Agency believe downtown Ketchikan meets the definition of a rural location? What is the US Census

Bureau definition that will be used to evaluate minimum requirements?

The US Census Bureau defines the term “Rural” as encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. There are two types of

Urban areas, urbanized areas (50,000 plus) and urban clusters (2,500 to 50,000). Ketchikan would be considered an urban cluster based on its population. A project in Ketchikan would not be considered rural.

5/19/2020

What is the definition of, or requirements for, a project that is 100% completed? If the Period of Performance on the Task order has ended, no additional work is being performed and an agency acceptance letter has been submitted, does this meet the requirements of

100% complete?

Just yes your example below would be 100% complete.

100% complete means that the period of performance has ended and there is no more remaining work.

5/19/2020

Are proposing firms permitted to include additional items such as table of contents, cover letter, section cover pages/dividers, and supporting tables and/or charts?

Table of contents, cover letter, and section cover pages/dividers are permitted.

Supporting tables and/or charts would need to be included in the applicable section and count towards page counts.

5/19/2020

On Page 1 of the RFQ, we understand 3 contracts will be awarded exclusively to small businesses. Are the two full and open competed contracts required to have a small business participation goal? If there is a small business goal requirement on the two full and open contracts, can you please provide requirements?

A large business will be required to submit a subcontracting plan with goals for subcontracted work.

FHWA’s current small business goals are located here:

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/cfo/small_business/

5/19/2020

Under item A, it is requested that all relevant experience identified shall have been performed between January

1, 2015 and submission of these qualifications with projects being 100% completed. Are multi‐season projects that were awarded prior to January 1, 2015 eligible as long as the majority of the work was completed in the subsequent years prior to this submission?

For multi season projects as long as there is a 4 month period of performance after January 1, 2015 then the project will count.

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

5/19/2020

On Page 1 of the RFQ, it states, "A/E firms meeting the requirements described in this announcement are invited to SUBMIT A COMPLETED SF 330." Can you please confirm that a completed SF 330 includes all parts of an SF 330, including Part I: Sections A through I, and Part II for all branch offices.

Yes but only complete Part II for any branch offices that will be utilized in completing performance of this requirement.

5/19/2020

In reviewing the RFQ, we did not find the requirement of a traditional Section G – Personnel Matrix. Can you please confirm a Section G is not required by this RFQ?

You should provide a completed section G. The section will be reviewed but nothing will be evaluated.

5/19/2020

On Page 6, under Evaluation Factor 5, can you please provide detail on how WFL is intending to obtain past performance and CPARS evaluations for firms having multiple office locations and multiple DUNS numbers? We will be pulling the past performance of the offeror’s

DUNS number only.

5/21/2020

In Evaluation Factor 1 – Professional Qualifications, the

RFQ says “Submit Evaluation Factor 1 information in

Section E of the SF 330. Complete one Section E for each key personnel identified. Additional supporting documentation may be included for each key personnel identified and shall not exceed two (2) pages single‐ sided, minimum acceptable text size 12‐point.

Additional pages over the two (2) page limit will not be reviewed.” Is the intent to allow the SF 330 Section E form plus two additional pages (3 pages total) or limit content to two pages total per individual? 3 pages in total per individual

5/26/2020

Alaska does not have counties, but rather ‘boroughs’. Is a borough agency considered the same as a county agency? Yes a borough in Alaska translates to a county.

5/26/2020

We are a Small Business offeror currently awaiting approval of our SAM registration. However, we do have a current DUNS number assigned. Based on the feedback we’ve received from SBA, the Federal Service

Desk, and the DLA CAGE Program website, there are longer than normal lead times and delays in processing resulting from COVID‐19 impacts. As such, would the

Contracting Agency consider revising the solicitation requirements so that SAM registration approval is required prior to Contract Award, rather than offer submittal?

There is no rule or memo specifically allowing us to deviate from FAR 4.11 requiring offerors and quoters to be registered in SAM at the time an offer or quotation is submitted because of COVID 19 and we are unable to waive that requirement.

5/29/2020

Does the submitted SF330 need to be structured in the order of the SF330 or in order of the questions asked in the RFQ?

The submitted SF330 should be structured in the ordered sections of the SF30.

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

5/29/2020

Evaluation Factor 1 has been clarified as a Section E with

2 additional pages. Would this be the case for the other

Evaluation Factor with multiple pages that are worded slightly different? For example Evaluation Factor 2 indicates a 4 page maximum per project. Would this be a Section F and 3 additional pages? Yes Section F and 3 additional pages

5/29/2020

3. We are a new SAM registrant and have submitted our information in time to meet the response deadline in accordance with the SAM guidelines. However, under the current circumstances both the SAM website and the CAGE review have given us warning about delays in the system for approval. We have maintained documentation to show we have complied with the

SAM deadlines. Is there any flexibility on the requirement for offerors being current in the SAM system?

There is no flexibility of offerors being current in the

SAM system. We are xtending the due date by 2 weeks to allow for some additional time for SAM approvals due to multiple offerors having similar issues. See

Amendment 0002.

6/1/2020

Please clarify if a subcontracting plan with goals for subcontracted work is required with an Offeror’s response to the RFQ? If so, is there a particular section where the plan and goals should be identified?

A subcontracting plan is not required with response to

RFQ. There is a second phase prior to award where pricing and the subcontracting plan will be requested if your firm is selected for award.

6/1/2020

1. On page 3 of the RFQ it states: ‘Additional supporting documentation may be included for each key personnel identified and shall not exceed two (2) pages single‐ sided, minimum acceptable text size 12‐point.

Additional pages over the two (2) page limit will not be reviewed. Submit a minimum of three (3) Section E’s for key personnel A and B listed above and one (1) Section E for key personnel C and D (if applicable). Do not submit more than fifteen (15) Section E’s total for the four (4) key personnel positions listed above.’

We have interpreted this to mean that a minimum of three (3) CPE and CI resumes should be included, and that we can include more than three resumes; and a minimum of one (1) CMEx and one (1) training and hiring personnel should be included for each role, and that we can include more than one resume for each role; but there can be no more than 15 total resumes. Is our interpretation correct? If not please clarify

You may submit additional resumes for CPE and CI positions but we only want 1 resume for CMEX and 1 resume Trainor (if applicable).

6/1/2020

2. May we use an 11 x17/tabloid page for a flow chart graphic in Section H and have it count as one page? Yes Yes

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

6/1/2020

Could you please clarify which SF330 forms (Part 1 – AD, Section E (Resume), Section F (Projects), Section G

(Matrix), Section H (Additional Information), Part II) are required from any subconsultants being included in our submittal?

We do not require SF330 forms for any subconsultants being included in our submittal. Firms should list their intended use of outside consultants or associates in Part

I, Section C. Outside consultants can supplement a firms capabilities but shall not be used as a basis for your firm to meet the Minimum Requirements, Evaluation Factor

1 or 2.

6/1/2020

Can you please clarify if a separate SF 330 Part II is required for each office location that the proposer intends to use, or can one SF 330 Part II be submitted for the firm? Per SF 330 Part II ‐ General Instructions (9)

"If Part II is prepared for a firm (including all branch offices), enter the number of employees by disciplines in column c(1)." However, General Instructions of SF 330 also state "If a firm has branch offices, submit a separate Part II for each branch office that has a key role on the team."

We only require 1 part II for the offering firm. Lists the branch offices that have a key role in section C.

6/5/2020

We will be submitting a SF 330 to the WFL.AE@dot.gov email address by 2 PM on June 5th, and wanted to confirm that is still the preferred method of delivery.

Our file size is roughly 60 mb. Is there an alternate method (Dropbox, etc) that we should submit to or will the WFL.AE@dot.gov email address accept a file of that size?

Be advised the due date was extended by amendment

0002 to June 19, 2020 at 2 pm. We are only accepting the responses via email.

Our email server will only accept files 20MB or less from external addresses. You can either break the file up into

20 MB sections and put in the Subject line Part 1 of 3, Part 2 of 3, etc. Or if you firm uses a large file transfer system send the submittal email with a link to the location where we can retrieve the file.

I will acknowledge receipt of the submittal.

6/9/2020

In response to a question asked on 5/29/2020, the response stated, “The submitted SF330 should be structured in the ordered sections of the SF30.” Please confirm the intent was for the response to state “The submitted SF330 should be structured in the ordered sections of the SF330” and not “SF30”. Yes SF330

6/9/2020

Following up on your response on 5/29/2020, regarding page limits for Section F, would you like each Section F limited to 1 page, whereas blocks 20 through 25 are all on the first page followed by up to 3 additional pages, or can Section F be 4 pages long, whereas block 25 is on the fourth page?

I am not sure how the PDF could be manipulated but the total number of pages for section F is 4. Either scenario would work as long as there is no more than 4 pages.

The preference would be to follow the PDF and Section

F be on 1 PDF page the continuation of block 24 be on up to 3 additional pages.

6/9/2020

Are the additional pages (2 additional pages for each

Section E and 3 additional pages for Section F) in

Evaluation Factor 1 and 2 being evaluated and scored?

Yes all information contained in the section including additional pages is being evaluated.

Request For Qualifications 2019 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

Support Services for the States of AK, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY

6/9/2020

If including an 11x17 page in Section H, will that count as 1 page regardless of the information that is on it?

Does any 11x17 page used count as 1 page?

We did not specify page size in the RFQ. Each page is a page regardless of size.

6/9/2020

An SF330 typically requires that all offices and branch offices listed on Part C include a Part II. In response to a question asked on 6/1/20, you stated that only one Part

II is required by the offering firm. Please confirm that it is allowable for multiple firms and offices to be listed in

Section C, but that no more than 1 total Part II should be submitted.

Yes only 1 Part II is required. We will not be looking for

Part II for firms and offices listed in Section C.

6/9/2020

If a Section F Example Project crosses the rural/urban boundary line per the U.S. Census Bureau, can the

Project be considered rural if the majority of the work was located in the rural area of the boundary?

At least three submitted projects (whole project) must be in a rural area.