Amendment 0001 to RFP. No. 693JJ320R000005.pdf

(x)

693JJ320R000005

x x copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted ; or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT

THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment you desire to change an offer already submitted , such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

x

WASHINGTON DC 20590

HCFA

1200 NEW JERSEY AVENUE, SE

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION & GRANTS MGMT

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

11/06/20190001

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS. IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required) is not extended.is extended, Items 8 and 15, and returning

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended , by one of the following methods: (a) By completing

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

FACILITY CODE CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6)CODE 6. ISSUED BY

PAGE OF PAGES

4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO.3. EFFECTIVE DATE2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

1. CONTRACT ID CODE

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT

11/06/2019

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority) appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return __________________ copies to the issuing office.

ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

The purpose of this amendment to RFP No. 693JJ320R000005 is to: 1) REVISE the text of the

RFP in the sections cited herein; 2) REVISE Attachment J.1; and 3) ADD new Attachment J.6 entitled Summary of Questions and Answers. See attached pages for additional instructions and information to Offerors.

Additional Pages to Amendment 0001:

1) RFP text revisions. - 2 pages

2) Revised Attachment J.1. - 1 page

3) New Attachment J.6. - 4 pages

Note: The proposal due date is not extended.

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

15C. DATE SIGNED 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of person authorized to sign) (Signature of Contracting Officer)

Hector Santamaria

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA

FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9 A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect .

11/22/2019

Amendment 0001 RFP No. 693JJ320R000005

RFP Text Revisions

The purpose of this document is to amend the RFP. Amendments to the RFP include the following:

REVISE the text of the RFP in the sections cited below; REVISE Attachment J.1; and ADD new Attachment J.6 entitled Summary of Questions and Answers.”

For the RFP sections cited below, deleted text is shown in strikethrough and added text is underlined and highlighted (in yellow). If a Section or paragraph is not listed below, no text changes apply as a result of this amendment. See revised Attachment J.1 and new Attachment J.6 for additional information to Offerors.

C.5 CONTRACT LEVEL REQUIREMENTS

C.5.1 LABOR CATEGORIES

Add the following labor category. See Question 5 in Attachment J.6.

Marketing Specialist

A Marketing Specialist shall be responsible for performing geotechnical discipline market research, and other specific marketing and communication activities. A Marketing Specialists shall have a Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience working in the Geotechnical engineering industry related to highway construction.

L.4 WRITTEN PROPOSAL CONTENT AND CONFIGURATION

NOTE TO OFFERORS: No information required in Volume II (Business and Price) shall be included in any part of Volume I (Technical Capability).

L.7 IMPORTANT DELIVERY INFORMATION

Volume I (Technical Capability) and Volume II (Business and Price) shall be included as separate attachments within one e-mail message. Proposals shall be submitted electronically as Adobe (.pdf) files and Microsoft Excel (2016), as applicable. The email size shall not exceed eight Megabytes (8MB) ten Megabytes (10MB). Do not zip files. Electronic documents shall not contain any security restrictions (e.g. password protection) that prevent the Government from distributing and printing the document.

Amendment 0001

SECTION J - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS

Revise Attachment J.1 and add new Attachment J.6. See continuation pages to Amendment 0001.

Attachment Number

Attachment Title Number of Pages

J.1 Revised Labor Rate Schedule 1

J.2 SF-LLL Lobbying Activities 2

J.3 Subcontracting Plan 5

J.4 Other Financial / Organizational Information 2

J.5 Examples of Past Task Orders/Projects 1

J.6 Summary of Questions and Answers 4

-- END OF RFP TEXT AMENDMENTS--

Year Year Year Year Year 1 2 3 4 5

Billing Labor Category Rate Rate Rate Rate Rate

1 Program Manager (PM)- IDIQ Key Personnel*

2 Principal Investigator (PI)- IDIQ Key Personnel*

3 Project Manager/Task Order Lead

4 Geotechnical Engineer

5 Research Engineer

6 Administrative Support

7 Technical Editor

8 Instructional Systems Designer

9 Engineering Technician

10 Marketing Specialist

*IDIQ Key Personnel as defined in Secion I.3

No.

Loaded Labor Rates/Hour RFP No. 693JJ320R000005

Offeror's Name:____________________

Revised Attachment J.1: Labor Rate Schedule

Attachment J.6

ATTACHMENT J.6

“Summary of Questions and Answers”

The purpose of this document is to summarize Questions & Answers regarding RFP No.

693JJ320R000005 received from potential Offerors. Questions may have been organized into sections, paraphrased and/or combined for clarity. FAR 52.215-8 Order of Precedence – Uniform Contract Format (OCT 1997) applies.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1) Question: Teaming/Subcontracting – Are there any guidelines (i.e. joint venture) for responding to the RFP with one or more teaming partners? Can a firm serve on multiple teams (both prime and sub-consultant and/or multiple sub-consultants)?

FHWA Response: The RFP allows for a company/firm to serve as a prime contractor with subcontractors. Prime Offerors may use subcontractors in its provision of services.

Therefore, an Offeror may respond to this RFP as the prime contractor and include a firm(s) as a subcontractor(s).

2) Question: Is there a preferred format/sample report available for the monthly ID/IQ Progress Reports?

FHWA Response: No.

3) Question: How are these services currently being performed? Under contract? In-house?

Who is the Contractor? What is the contract number?

FHWA Response: These services have been primarily performed under Contract No.

DTFH6114D00047 with Parsons Brinkerhoff (now dba WSP USA, Inc.), which is set to expire on December 26, 2019. Additional services, primarily for the development of technical guides, have been procured under Contract No. DTFH6117D00030 with Applied Research Associates, Inc. and Contract No. DTFH6117D00038 with WSP USA, Inc.

QUESTIONS ON SECTION C-STATEMENT OF WORK

4) Question: The Program Manager labor category has the following requirement:

The PM shall have, at a minimum, an advanced degree (e.g. Master’s or Ph.D.) in civil engineering with specialization in geosciences or geotechnical engineering.

Our experience with the FHWA PM role suggests it is primarily a business management role with the primary technical role being conducted by the PI and Subject Matter Experts/key staff. Would the government consider other staffing solutions such as:

The PM shall have, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and an advanced degree (e.g. Master’s or Ph.D.) in business or civil engineering.

FHWA Response: No. The labor category description remains unchanged.

5) Question: Would the Government consider adding a Marketing Specialist or equivalent labor category? The RFP scope includes technology exchange and presentations, etc., but the labor categories don’t seem to allow for marketing/communications staff. While the Technical Editor labor category seems to include graphics development and 508 compliance, a Marketing Specialist category would also be relevant.

FHWA Response: Yes. A Marketing Specialist labor category was added to Section C and Attachment J.1. See edits to RFP. Offerors shall use the revised Attachment J.1 to include the proposed hourly fully burdened rate for a Marketing Specialist for all years.

6) Question: Would the Government consider allowing Offerors to list more than one person for the Administrative Support and Engineering Technician labor categories?

FHWA Response: Yes. For the Administrative Support and Engineering Technician the Offeror may propose one individual or multiple individuals. It is up to the Offeror to propose the personnel, to include key personnel, team members and subcontractors, that it deems best to meet the qualifications and requirements for each labor category specified in Section C.

7) Question: Is it acceptable to identify multiple individuals for each of the following labor categories: Principal Investigator, Administrative Support, Technical Editor, Instructional Systems Designer, Engineering Technician?

FHWA Response: Not for the Principal Investigator (PI). Per Section I.3, the PI is considered a Key Personnel and, thus, one individual shall be named. For the Administrative Support, Technical Editor, Instructional Systems Designer, Engineering Technician the Offeror may propose one individual or identify multiple individuals per labor category. It is up to the Offeror to propose the personnel, to include key personnel, team members and subcontractors, that it deems best to meet the qualifications and requirements for each labor category specified in Section C.

8) Question: Is it acceptable for a single individual to be identified for service in multiple labor categories? For example, can a single individual serve as both a Geotechnical Engineer and Research Engineer on different Task Orders?

FHWA Response: Yes, if the individual meets the qualifications for the respective labor categories.

9) Question: With the exception of the Engineering Technician role, a number of person(s) to be proposed for the various roles is described as “one or more” for all roles on pages 9-

12. Is there a preferred number of individuals to be identified for the Engineering Technician role?

FHWA Response: No preference. It is up to the Offeror to propose the personnel, to include key personnel, team members and subcontractors, that it deems to meet qualifications and requirements for each labor category specified in Section C.

QUESTIONS ON SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO

BIDDERS

10) Regarding references, p56 of the RFP requests that in Volume I, Offerors should “Identify up to five (5) examples of related contracts/representations within the last five years for the prime Offeror. The Offeror may include up to five (5) additional references for proposed subcontractor(s), as applicable.” Page 60 of the RFP requests that in Volume 2, Offerors “shall identify up to five (5) related contracts/references within the last five years for the prime Offeror. The Offeror may include up to five (5) additional references for proposed subcontractors, as applicable.”

a. Question: Are these references/examples required to be identified in both volumes? [In section L.4 on page 55 of the RFP, the NOTE TO OFFERORS states that “No information required in Volume II (Business and Price) shall be included in any part of Volume I (Technical Capability).”]

FHWA Response: The note was removed from the RFP. See edit to RFP text.

b. Question: If these references/examples are to be included in both volumes, can the same examples/references be used in both volumes, or do they need to be distinct references/examples cited in each volume?

FHWA Response: It is up to the Offeror to include the examples it deems best to meet the requirements of the RFP. Offerors may include the same examples/references in both volumes, or can be distinct references/examples cited in each volume.

c. Question: Do the references/examples cited need to be specific to prior work done for FHWA, or can they have been done for any client or agency, provided that the work is relevant to the scope of the subject RFP?

FHWA Response: The references do not need to be specific to prior work done for the FHWA. It is up to the Offeror to include the examples it deems best to meet the requirements of the RFP.

11) Question: What is the distinction between the past performance information requested in Volumes I and II of the proposal? Is it acceptable for related contracts/representations provided in Volume I of the proposal to be included as related contracts/references in Volume II of the proposal? The Note to Offerors on Page 55 of the RFP seems to preclude references in Volume II from being any of the same projects/contracts used in Volume I.

FHWA Response: The note was removed from the RFP. See edit to RFP text. It is up to the Offeror to include the examples it deems best to meet the requirements of the RFP.

Offerors may include the same examples/references in both volumes, or can be distinct references/examples cited in each volume.

12) Question: Can the Government increase the file size requirements or provide an alternate means of electronic delivery for files, such as a secure upload link? The instructions require Volumes I and II be separate attachments to a single email and that files cannot be zipped.

The instructions limit the email size, not each file size, to 8MB. At this time we are uncertain that it will be feasible to reduce the two volumes to a combined file size that will be 8MB or less.

FHWA Response: The email size is hereby increased to 10 MB. See edit to RFP text.