Attachment_1_-_Questions_and_Answers.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1 – QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 72030618R00011_0001

1 We want bit in these projects but i want some information could you please tell us these all in one or we can bit separate for each lot?

Offerors must bid on the entire project.

2 10% performance bond and 100% payment bond are requested. a company based in Afghanistan cannot meet these extreme conditions. Please reduce the performance and payment bonds so a company from Afghanistan can bid on this job.

The Bonding requirements remain unchanged however the Government will notify offeror during Phase II of any bonding requirement changes. See changes to Proposal Submission Requirements Phase I.

3 Is an Afghanistan based bank acceptable to provide bonding for this job?

See answer to Question 2.

4 When is anticipated award and start of this project?

Anticipated award is December 2018.

5 Completed projects in the last 6 years requested as an experience. Because Afghanistan had most power design build projects in 2002 to 2009, please extend 6 to 10 years so companies can qualify. Specialized Experience has been revised. Offerors are allowed to submit projects up to 10 years. Please note: Offerors are not required to submit projects only performed in Afghanistan.

The Specialized Experience has been revised. Offerors are allowed to submit projects performed up to 10 years ago. Please note: Offerors are not limited to projects in Afghanistan.

6 Is it possible to bid Phase I with no existing registration in Afghanistan? Registration is difficult in Afghanistan and we would like to pursue if we have a solid chance or at least qualify for phase II.

Offerors must be registered by time of award; therefore, it is possible to propose for Phase I without an existing registration.

Offerors do not need to be registered under Phase I. However, the successful offeror must have a DUNS number and should be registered in SAM prior to award Further, offerors must be registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industries to be eligible to participate in Phase II of the RFP.

7 641 Days period of performance considered for this project does not look adequate considering security problems as well as Land Acquisition for 100Km+ Transmission line. Please extend the PoP if possible.

The period of performance remains unchanged.

8 Considering the history of this project and Afghanistan security situation, this project can best be managed and implemented by an Afghanistan based company. Therefore, please relief bonding conditions so an Afghanistan based and owned company can bid on this job.

Please see the answer to Question 2.

9 A company having experience in similar type of projects for other clients’ rather than USACE can be titled eligible?

Yes, an offeror who has performed similar projects for clients other than USACE may propose.

10 At this stage (Phase 1) registered license in Afghanistan is required or not for a foreign company?

Please see the answer to Question 6.

11 Do JCCS, CAGE, DUNS, and SAM numbers’ required to be submitted at phase 1?

Please see the answer to Question 6.

12 As it is stated in the document ‘72030618R00011’ in page 73 out of 102 under ‘REQUIRED REGISTRATIONS’; if an offeror is a joint venture (JV), the JV entity must have a valid registration representing the JV as one business/firm/entity. This is applicable to SAM, JCCS, and AISA and MOCI. The Government will not accept separate registrations and licenses for each separate entity representing the JV. We are familiar with the current regulations related to ‘Afghan Investment Support Agency (AISA)’ and ‘Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MOCI)’; therefore, we believe it wouldn’t be realistic to assume that two or more parties would be able to join and form a registered JV before Phase1 submission date. Would the Government consider to reevaluate this criteria and changing the JV requirement post the award or at least to those companies advancing to Phase II?

See the answer to Question 6. References to JCCS have been removed.

13 As it is stated in the document ‘72030618R00011’ in page 57-58 out of 102 under ‘I.6 52.228-15

PERFORMANCE AND PAYMENT BONDS—CONSTRUCTION (OCT 2010)’

(b) Amount of required bonds. Unless the resulting contract price is $150,000 or less, the successful offeror shall furnish performance and payment bonds to the Contracting Officer as follows:

(1) Performance bonds (Standard Form 25). The penal amount of performance bonds at the time of contract award shall be 10 percent (10%) of the original contract price.

(2) Payment Bonds (Standard Form 25-A). The penal amount of payment bonds at the time of contract award shall be 100 percent (100%) of the original contract price.

(3) Additional bond protection.

(i) The Government may require additional performance and payment bond protection if the contract price is increased. The increase in protection generally will equal 10 percent (10%) of the increase in contract price.

Would you please clarify the above statement for the Payment Bond which is currently equivalent to 100 percent (100%) of the contract price? We believe that 100% bond is not attainable for a project that has an estimated budget of $170 to 270 million in Afghanistan.

14 As you are aware, power distribution projects have complicated nature. In order to prepare an equally satisfactory bid, Offerors need to coordinate with international suppliers, vendors and manufacturers. These international firms have their own set of priorities and act on "first come, first serve" basis. Therefore, it takes a significant amount of time to exchange information with these international firms and get the required inputs from them. Due to the mentioned reason, coordination with our international partners has proven to be more time consuming than it was expected. Our international partners have indicated that in order for them to provide the information we need accurately, they need more time to study, analyze and use the project related information that has been provided to them by ZNCC. Therefore, we would like to sincerely request your office to approve a time extension for the bid submission date, because of the reasons mentioned above. We kindly request extension of the bid due date from 20th of July 2018 to 20th of August 2018.

The due date for proposals remain unchanged.

15 Is JCSS a requirement for submission of proposal or USAID has its own Vetting requirement? In Solicitation document for subject solicitation both USAID Vetting Requirement and JCCS is mentioned. Please confirm.

Only USAID Vetting requirement applies. Please also see answer to Question 12.

16 Please kindly clarify the if subject project required bonding when the project went to phase II? As below paragraphs from the solicitations it seems it is required but please kindly reconfirm.

F.7 NOTICE TO PROCEED 3. Performance and Payment Bonds. See 52.228-15 Performance and Payment Bonds— Construction

17 In Phase II proposals shall meet the additional following basic requirements:

b. Volume II: Offerors shall submit a signed Offer, Standard Form (SF) 30 for this solicitation, including verification of all amendments received, and Executed Bid Bond (SF-24 . what is the percentage of the executed bid bonds if required?

If the executed bid bond is required can we submit the bid bonds from local banks of Afghanistan?

providing bid bonds as providing from Treasury Department Circular 570 is not possible for Afghan companies as well performance bond or payment bonds .

As Afghanistan is unsecure country the bonding agencies asking for full payment cash margin in order to issue bonding which is huge amount and not possible for local companies. I am requesting to please consider Afghanistan situation and reconsider the bonds and if possible please waive it.

18 Please Kindly advise if the Offeror is required to provide Bid Guarantee and/or Performance and Payment Bond for this solicitation? If so, please advise if the Contracting Officer will accept non-treasury Bonds as per FAR Clause 28.202(a)(4)(b): “For contracts performed in a foreign country, sureties not appearing on Treasury Department Circular 570 are acceptable if the Contracting Officer determines that it is impracticable for the contractor to use Treasury listed sureties.”

For procurements in Afghanistan, we have had the past experience that it is impracticable for Afghan contractor to obtain Treasury listed bond. As an Afghan company with exemplary qualifications, especially in previous projects in power sector in Afghanistan with the U.S.

Government, we will be able to provide non-treasury bond if required. However, procurement of treasury bonds is impossible for Afghan companies based on multitude of times that we have tried to obtain such bonds.

19 In proposal submission criteria it seems we have to provide the Price Proposal as well, but with requirement it is not. Please see the bellow screen shot.

So, here we got some confusion and you are kindly requested to provide us some clarification that in this stage you are asking only for the Technical Package that include Factor 1:

Experience, Factor 2: Past Performance, and Factor 3: Management Plan.

Per the solicitation, only the Phase I factors shall be submitted during Phase I. Do not submit Phase II at this time. The Price Proposal is marked Phase II.

20 For phase one of this project, one of the most important thing is the experience and experience forms. In page 92 of the solicitation it mentions that the Relevancy Experience should be at least

US$10 million. Does this mean the minimum experience required is similar project with a value of over $10 million.

Yes.

END OF ATTACHMENT 1