QA_69056724R000004 response_07.31.24.pdf

DATE QUESTION ANSWER

6/19/2024 Under Evaluation Factor 1 ‐ Professional Qualifications, the directions state: "Submit a minimum of three (3) and maximum of five (5) resumes for key personnel A and B listed above and one (1) resume for key personnel C and

D (if applicable)." I interpret this to mean we must submit

3‐5 resumes for the CPE position, 3‐5 resumes for the CI position, 1 resume for the CMEx, and 1 resume for the

Training/Hiring Personnel (if applicable). Please confirm this is correct (as opposed to 3‐5 resumes total between the CPE and CI positions).

Correct, please submit three to five resumes for the

Consultant Project Engineer (CPE) position, three to five resumes for the Consultant Inspector (CI) position, one resume for the Consultant Management Firm Project

Executive (CMEx) position, and one resume for the

Training/Hiring Personnel position (if applicable).

6/19/2024 This question also regards Evaluation Factor 1 ‐

Professional Qualifications. In the Draft SOW, "Project

Office Clerk" and "Project Office Assistant" are listed as positions that may need to be filled under this contract.

These two positions do not fall under C.6 Additional

Services like Contract Dispute Specialist, Scheduling

Specialist, etc., which all include language to the effect of: "Because this position falls under Additional Services, the CMF is not required to have someone who meets these qualifications at the time of the execution of the

IDIQ.". Should we include Section E resumes for these individuals?

Please refer to the Request for Qualifications Evaluation

Factors and Standard Form 330 for information on what resumes to submit for this Request for Qualifications.

The draft SOW is only for additional context for the work that will be performed in the future.

6/20/2024 I am having trouble finding a good source of information for what the US Census Bureau considers rural; I am getting a lot of information about counties/census tracts that are "mostly urban," "mostly rural," etc. A project might be located within a large census area (like Missoula

County) that has an urban area within it, but the project itself it far outside the urban area (though still within that county).

The specific project location will be used to determine whether the project meets the criteria related to rural locations.

6/20/2024 For Minimum Requirement A (Section E's), can you please confirm if there are a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) resumes for key personnel A, and an additional minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five

(5) resumes for key personnel B?

Correct, please submit three to five resumes for the

Consultant Project Engineer (CPE) position, three to five resumes for the Consultant Inspector (CI) position, one resume for the Consultant Management Firm Project

Executive (CMEx) position, and one resume for the

Training/Hiring Personnel position (if applicable).

6/20/2024 On multi‐season projects that are still in progress, can we separate seasons if season one meets the minimum requirements in sections i and ii of the RFQ?

This would not be considered a completed project.

Q&A 69056724R000004

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

Q&A 69056724R000004

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

6/20/2024 For Section F requirements, instead of 100% completed by the submission of the minimum qualifications of this

RFQ, can it be amended to read ‐ "all relevant experience identified shall have met the minimum requirements i and ii below between May 1st, 2018 and submission of the minimum qualifications of this RFQ." This would allow current projects to be included in Section F that are still underway but still currently meet the current qualifications.

See amendment.

6/25/2024 Are we allowed to include a graphical cover, divider pages and a table of contents?

Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFFQ. They will not be scored.

6/25/2024 Is a one‐page transmittal letter allowed? Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFQ. They will not be scored.

6/25/2024 Evaluation Factor 1: Please confirm the total amount of key personnel we are allowed to propose for EACH of key personnel Classifications (A‐D). We interpret it as a maximum of five (5) EACH for Construction Project

Engineer and the Construction Inspector, and one EACH for the Management Executive and the Recruiter/Trainer

(a max total of 12 key personnel). Is this correct?

Correct, please submit three to five resumes for the

Consultant Project Engineer (CPE) position, three to five resumes for the Consultant Inspector (CI) position, one resume for the Consultant Management Firm Project

Executive (CMEx) position, and one resume for the

Training/Hiring Personnel position (if applicable).

6/25/2024 Evaluation Factors 3 and 4. Please confirm how many pages EACH are allowed for these sections.

Information supplied in support of Factor 3 and 4 is limited to five (5) pages total. Do not exceed five (5) pages total for Section H of the SF 330.

6/26/2024 May we use 11" x 17" pages for our organization chart and in Section H of the SF330?

11"x17" chart is permitted as an attachment for Section

D (organization chart). Submissions for all other Section must be consistent with the SF 330 which is 8.5"x11".

6/26/2024 Is the Section G matrix scored? Section G is for information purposes only and is not scored.

6/26/2024 The RFQ does not stipulate page sizes for any individual section of the SF330. Are we permitted to use 11x17 pages for Section D (organizational chart)? Would 11x17 pages in other sections be permitted and, if so, counted as 1 or 2 pages?

11"x17" chart is permitted as an attachment for Section

D (organization chart). Submissions for all other Section must be consistent with the SF 330 which is 8.5"x11".

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

7/4/2024 Is the total page count 4 or 5 pages for Section H four or five total and what is the content breakdown?

Information supplied in support of Factor 3 and 4 is limited to five (5) pages total. Do not exceed five (5) pages total for Section H of the SF 330.

7/5/2024 Can you please let us know which firms are the incumbents for the FHWA Western Federal Lands AE

IDIQ?

Please use the following link for information.

https://highways.dot.gov/federal‐lands/business/ae‐ services/contract‐holders

7/6/2024 My firm is very interested in the above referenced opportunity as a potential subcontractor. Is there an interested vendor list that you could provide us so that we could reach out to potential bidders?

Please use the following link for information.

https://highways.dot.gov/federal‐lands/business/ae‐ services/contract‐holders

7/8/2024 Would a firm registered as a Federal Small Business

Enterprise (SBE) with SAM.gov, under the US Census

Bureau NAICS code of 237310, titled “Construction highway, road, street and bridge,” with a Corresponding

Index Entry of “Construction management, highway, road, street and bridge” be considered as an eligible

Small Business Concern (SBC) for the advertised contract?

The North American Industry Classification System

(NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541330 (Engineering

Services).

7/9/2024 Would you please consider changing Section A.ii. to read

“Four (4) month minimum onsite performance duration.

Pavement preservation projects are not required to meet the 4 month minimum.”?

Please refer to the Request for Qualifications.

7/9/2024 Regarding the subject solicitation, can we include a project in Section F where our CM/I services contract is complete and final invoice approved, even if the project has not completed construction? Basically, our role is complete but physical construction is not complete.

Yes, and must meet the Request for Qualifications, Minimum Requirements.

7/10/2024 Is the CMEx a billable position or will their costs be considered to be included within the Overhead fees?

The award of the contracts, as described in the RFQ, will be based on a two‐step process. The first step is to determine the highest technically qualified contractors.

No cost/pricing information is required for this step.

7/10/2024 How will the resumes (Evaluation Factor #1) be evaluated and scored? How will the 20 points be allocated to the potentially 11 or 12 submitted resumes? Does submitting five resumes garner more points than three? Does a submitted candidate with more years of experience than required or more relevant experience to the SOW garner more points than a resume that meets minimum requirements? Does submitting five CI‐III resumes get more points than a distribution of CI‐I, CI‐II, and CI‐III?

Per the RFQ, resumes will be evaluated and scored according to the Minimum Requirements and in the

Source Selection Evaluation Criteria.

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

7/10/2024 Is a submitted candidate to meet ALL of the qualifications listed in bullets 1 through 4 under C.5.3.A for CI‐IIIs, or must they meet at least ONE of the four requirements?

Please clarify if C.5.3.A is an AND or an OR requirement.

The draft Statement of Work is for reference only. The brief description below C.5.3.A says, shall posses 1‐4.

7/10/2024 Will the Government consider and qualify contracts as

‘Prime’ that are awarded directly to the offeror by contractors responsible for maintenance and operation of Government‐Owned facilities and installations

(GOCOs)? GOCOs are operating on the Government’s behalf and contracts awarded by them are executed by the offeror as a Prime Contractor.”

Prime contractor means the firm self‐performed, more than 50% by dollar, of the Construction

Management/Inspection Support Services.

7/10/2024 Please refine the project definition guidance under

Evaluation Factor #2 in reference to a project being defined as a Subcontract.

A project is considered a single awarded Contract, Task

Order, Delivery Order, Blanket Purchase Agreement

(BPA) Call, Purchase Order, or a Subcontract.

7/10/2024 How will the projects submitted be evaluated under

Evaluation Factor #2? How will the 40 points be allocated to the three to five projects? Does submitting five project garner more points than submitting three?

Per the RFQ, resumes will be evaluated and scored according to the Minimum Requirements and in the

Source Selection Evaluation Criteria.

7/10/2024 How will the narrative requested under Evaluation Factor

#3 be evaluated? How will the 20 points be allocated to items A & C?

Per the RFQ, resumes will be evaluated and scored according to the Minimum Requirements and in the

Source Selection Evaluation Criteria.

7/10/2024 How will the past performance under Evaluation Factor

#5 be evaluated? How will the 10 points be allocated beyond the Neutral rating?

Per the RFQ, resumes will be evaluated and scored according to the Minimum Requirements and in the

Source Selection Evaluation Criteria.

7/10/2024 Will the Government limit the number of the highest technically qualified contractors passed through step two? If so, how will that number be determined? What cumulative evaluation score, on a 100‐point scale, does a firm need to reach to be considered among the highest technically qualified contractors.

Western Federal Lands Highway Division anticipates awarding up to five Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite

Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for Architecture and

Engineering services under this announcement.

7/10/2024 What is the purpose of declaring potential subconsultants/outside consultants in Part I, Section C, and will they be factored into the evaluation? If so, how?

Outside consultants can supplement a firm's capabilities, but shall not be used as a basis for the firm to meet the

Minimum Requirements. Please refer to the RFQ, which indicates that discussion on use of outside consultants may be used in support of a firm's submission for

Evaluation Factor 3 and 4 only.

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

7/10/2024 PDF Page 3 of the solicitation indicates, "Projects of outside consultants will not be considered." Please clarify. Does "outside consultants" refer to consultants not included but listed on our team as subconsultants?

Outside consultants can supplement a firm's capabilities, but shall not be used as a basis for the firm to meet the

Minimum Requirements. The term subconsultant is not defined in the question. Accordingly, this question cannot be answered. Assuming that a subconsultant is a firm other than the A/E firm submitting the completed

SF 330, a subconsultant performing services for the A/E firm submitting the completed SF 330 would be equivalent to an outside consultant.

7/10/2024 Can graphics, tables and matrices in Section H be a smaller font size than 12 point?

Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFQ. They will not be scored.

7/11/2024 For the minimum requirement A for projects, how will the government evaluate onsite performance duration versus task order period of performance?

Onsite performance.

7/12/2024 Is there a page limit for SF330 Part I, Sections A‐D? Please refer to the RFQ. Details for page limits for each section are identified.

7/12/2024 Is there a maximum page count for the SF330 Part I? Please refer to the RFQ. Details for page limits for each section are identified.

7/12/2024 Please confirm that items such as table of contents, cover letter, and section cover pages/dividers do not count towards a page limit.

Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFP. They will not be scored.

7/12/2024 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 "If Part

II is prepared for a firm (including all branch offices), enter the number of employees by disciplines in column c." 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."

A Branch Office is a geographically distinct place of business or subsidiary office of a firm that has a key role on the team. If a firm has branch offices, submit a separate Part II for each branch office seeking work.

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

7/12/2024 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?

Standard Form 330, Part 1, Section C, shall be used by firms to list their intended use of outside consultants or associates. Please refer to RFQ for specific limitations related to the use of outside consultants. In addition to identifying a firm's intended use of outside consultants or associates, discussion on use of outside consultants may be used in support of a firm's submission for

Evaluation Factor 3 and 4 only.

7/12/2024 In reviewing the RFQ, we did not find a point scale evaluation for the traditional Section G – Personnel

Matrix. Can you please confirm its weight/points in the evaluation.

Section G is for information purposes only and is not scored.

7/18/2024 May we use a BPA that includes multiple projects as one example project?

A project is considered a single awarded Contract, Task

Order, Delivery Order, Blanket Purchase Agreement

(BPA) Call, Purchase Order, or a Subcontract. An

Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) or BPA with multiple combined awards will not be considered.

7/18/2024 We understand the requirements on page 3,4, and 5 indicate the response resumes and project descriptions are a minimum of 12 pt font size. Is there an exception to the 12pt font size minimum for graphics, callout boxes, and tables?

Please refer to the RFQ. The requirement for minimum text size applies to all text without regard to location.

7/18/2024 We would like to inquire about the best practices for

SF330 Part IIs for firms submitting responses as a Joint

Venture. Is the following a compliant and responsive approach: If the prime firm is a Joint Venture, the following is required: Submit Part II of the Joint Venture team (only if the JV team is already established prior to the issuance of the synopsis) or Submit an individual Part

II of each firm of the Joint Venture.

All proposing firms need to be registered in SAM.gov;

including Joint‐Ventures.

Part II instructions indicate "If a firm has branch offices, complete for each specific branch office seeking work."

Treat individual firms in a joint venture as a branch office and complete a Part II for each firm.

7/23/2024 On 7/12, there were two questions regarding page counts. One for Sections A‐D and one for Part I. Both answers say single pages. In the SF330 attached to the

RFQ, Section D is permitted to be included as attached to the single page of the Sections A‐D. Part I, to our understanding, consists of all Sections A‐I. Can WFL please confirm that Section D (organizational chart) is allowed to be included as separate page (making A‐D two total pages) and that the full Part I is allowed the full pages as outlined in the RFQ (24 pages for Section E, 20 pages for Section F, one page for Section G, 5 pages for

Section H).

Please refer to RFQ. The SF 330 directions indicate the

Section D organization chart of proposed team should be submitted "As an attachment after Section C…"

Request For Qualifications 2024 Architect/Engineer Construction Management/Inspection

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

7/23/2024 Two questions regarding page dividers (6/25 and 7/12) appear to have conflicting answers. The first on 6/25 says that covers, dividers, and tables of contents are permitted. There is no note regarding page count. The

7/12 answer says that covers, dividers, cover letters, and tables of contents are included in page counts for individual sections.

a.If a proposal cover and cover le er are included, will they be counted against Sections A‐D?

b.Would WFL clarify whether or not each of the following items are included as counted pages in each respective section: proposal covers, section dividers, cover letter, and table of contents?

Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFP. They will not be scored.

7/24/2024 Can you please clarify where in the RFQ a page count is referenced for the entire submittal?

Please refer to the RFQ. Details for page limits for each section are identified.

7/24/2024 Section D includes the organizational chart, and according to your answer for the question asked on 6/26, an 11x17 chart is permitted. Can you please clarify that

Section D can be on its own page, separate from Sections

A‐C?

Please refer to the RFQ.

7/24/2024 SF 330 Part I consists of Sections A‐I. In the RFQ, there are page counts established for Section E (no more than

24 pages), Section F (no more than 20 pages), and

Section H (no more than 5 pages). Can you please clarify if there is a maximum page count for the entire SF 330

Part I?

Please refer to the RFQ. Details for page limits for each section are identified.

7/24/2024 SF 330 Part I consists of Sections A‐I. In the RFQ, there are page counts only established for Section E (no more than 24 pages), Section F (no more than 20 pages), and

Section H (no more than 5 pages). The table of contents and cover letter would come before the SF 330 Part I.

Can you please clarify if these items will count in any page count and what that page count would be?

Please refer to the RFQ. Cover letters or table of contents, dividers, etc. may be included with your submission to facilitate review. These types of pages will not count towards page limitations identified for each section of the RFP. They will not be scored.