Section_M_07-30-19.pdf

SECTION M. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

M1.0. SOURCE SELECTION

M1.1. General.

M1.1.1. Solicitation Requirements, Terms, and Conditions. Offerors are required to address all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical/management requirements, in addition to those identified as factors or subfactors.

Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the offeror being ineligible for award.

M1.1.2. Basis for Contract Award.

This is a best value trade off source selection conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) 15.3, Source Selection, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition

Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and the DISA Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DARS).

These regulations are available electronically at http://www.ditco.disa.mil/hq/aqinfo.asp and http://farsite.hill.af.mil. The Government will select the best overall offeror, based on integrated assessment of the evaluation factors and subfactors described below.

M1.1.3. Evaluation.

The technical proposal should include all information the offeror wants the Government to consider and evaluate regarding the offeror’s ability to perform all required tasks and conform to all required terms and conditions. The best value determination will be based on the stated evaluation factors.

The Government intends to evaluate proposals and award a contract without discussions with offerors. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions or seek clarifications if the Contracting Officer (KO) determines they are necessary. In the event issues pertaining to a proposed contract cannot be resolved to the KO’s satisfaction, the Government reserves the right to withdraw and cancel the proposed contract. In such event, offerors will be notified in writing. In the event a competitive range is established and the KO determines that the number of proposals that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the KO may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition.

M1.1.4. Evaluation of Options.

The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the base period. The offeror shall submit pricing for the base period and all option periods, including option pricing for an additional six-month period that may be authorized IAW FAR 52.217-8. The pricing proposal should include a separate line item for the additional six-month period IAW FAR 52.217-8. These prices shall be identical to the proposed pricing in the six months prior to expiration of the base period, or the final option period, if http://www.ditco.disa.mil/hq/aqinfo.asp http://farsite.hill.af.mil/ option periods are present. The total evaluated price will consist of the contractor’s proposed price for the base period, all option periods, the option pricing for the additional six-month period, and surge pricing, if requested. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

M1.1.5. Number of Contracts to be Awarded.

The Government intends to award one Basic contract for the CTSSIV Program; however, the

Government reserves the right to make no award at all. In addition, the Government anticipates awarding Task Order 0001, concurrently with the award of the IDIQ. The Government reserves the right to make no award.

M1.1.6. Rejection of Offers.

The Government may reject any proposal that takes exception to the terms of the solicitation.

M2.0. EVALUATION FACTORS

M2.1. Evaluation Factors and Subfactors. The following evaluation factors and subfactors will be used to evaluate each proposal.

Factor 1: Technical/Management

Phase 1:

Subfactor 1: (M3.1.1) Task Order (TO) 0001 Highlighted Key Personnel

Qualifications (Pass/Fail)

Phase 2:

Subfactor 1: (M3.2.1) Management Approach

Subfactor 2: TO 0001 Project Staffing, Recruiting, and Retention

Subfactor 3: Corporate Experience

Factor 2: Small Business Participation

Factor 3: Cost/Price

Relative Importance of Factors and Subfactors. The relative importance of each factor and subfactor is as follows: All non-cost factors are listed in descending order of importance. The Technical/Management Factor (including all Subfactors) is significantly more important than the Small Business Participation Factor. Within the technical/management factor, the Subfactors are of equal importance.

In accordance with FAR 15.304(e), all evaluation factors other than cost/price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price.

M3.0. Technical/Management Factor (Factor 1).

The Technical/Management evaluation will consist of two phases as described below.

Phase One:

The Government will conduct a Pass/Fail evaluation to determine if offerors have addressed specific Pass/Fail elements. A failure on any single Pass/Fail criteria will make the proposal ineligible for award, with no further evaluation of the technical and cost proposal conducted by the Government.

Phase Two:

In Phase Two, the Government will evaluate the Offeror’s responses to particular SOW and TO requirements. Phase Two of the Technical/Management Factor will be evaluated using a combined technical rating and risk rating. The combined technical/risk rating includes consideration of risk in conjunction with the strengths, weaknesses, and deficiencies in determining technical ratings. Combined technical/risk evaluations will utilize the combined technical/risk ratings listed in Table M1.

TABLE M1. COMBINED TECHNICAL/RISK RATINGS

Color Rating Description

BLUE Outstanding Proposal indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements and contains multiple strengths, and risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

PURPLE Good Proposal indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements and contains at least one strength, and risk of unsuccessful performance is low to moderate.

GREEN Acceptable Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements, and risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

YELLOW Marginal Proposal has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements, and/or risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

RED Unacceptable Proposal does not meet requirements of the solicitation, and thus, contains one or more deficiencies, and/or risk of unsuccessful performance is unacceptable. Proposal is unawardable.

M3.1-Phase One – Subfactor 1-Pass / Fail Evaluation

In Phase One of the evaluation, the Government will determine whether the Offeror has satisfied the following evaluation criteria:

M3.1.1 Subfactor 1: TO 0001 Highlighted Key Personnel will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis.

a. Named Highlighted Key Personnel: The Government will reject any proposal that does not provide a name for each TO 0001 Highlighted Key Personnel proposed at the proposal submission due date. A proposal that states, “To Be Determined” or TBD for a proposed

Highlighted Key Person, or omits a Highlighted Key Person, will be rejected by the Government

(TO 0001 SOW 6.15).

b. Letters of Intent: The Government will reject any proposal that does not provide a Letter of Commitment, signed by each proposed TO01 Highlighted Key Personnel at the proposal submission due date. Additionally, a proposal that states, “To Be Determined” or TBD for a proposed TO01 Highlighted Key Person and/or omits a Highlighted Key Person, will be rejected by the Government (TO 0001 SOW 6.15). The letter of intent shall include a statement that the proposed Highlighted Key Person named is available to begin work the projected start date identified for TO 0001.

c. Basic IDIQ LCAT and TO 0001 qualifications: The Highlighted Key Personnel must meet the Basic IDIQ LCAT and TO 0001 qualifications identified in TO 0001 SOW Paragraph

6.15.2. The offeror must present a qualifications matrix for each proposed Highlighted key person. The qualifications matrix must include sufficient detail to evaluate the appropriateness and completeness of the experience, skills and experience.

d. Highlighted TO 0001 Key Personnel: Highlighted Key Personnel include the following:

1. Program Manager (LCAT#1)

2. Task Order 1 Project Manager CONUS/OCONUS (LCAT #2)

3. Task Order 1 Site Lead CONUS/OCONUS (LCAT #TBD)

4. A6, Qatar AOR Wide Communication Engineer (LCAT # 13)

5. 379th ECS Communication Planner (LCAT #8)

M3.2. Phase Two - Technical/Management-Combined Technical Risk Rating

M3.2.1 Subfactor 1: Overall Management Approach

The overall Management Approach will be evaluated to assess the degree to which it reflects an effective, efficient, feasible, and practical level of understanding of the operating environment in accomplishing the tasks and ensure continuity of service from a management perspective. The

Management Approach consists of two elements: the draft Program Management Plan and the draft Transition-In Plan. The elements are not sub-factors and will not be separately evaluated, but will be evaluated as a whole to arrive at the sub-factor-level rating.

a. Draft Program Management Plan (TO 0001 SOW 6.1.7.1).

For this element, offeror’s proposal will be evaluated based on the demonstrated approach to meet the following requirements from the TO 0001 SOW 6.1.7.1:

1. An acceptable plan will describe the Basic IDIQ Management Approach in accordance to TO 0001 SOW 6.1.7.1a.

2. An acceptable plan will describe the TO 0001 Management Approach in accordance to TO 0001 SOW 6.1.7.1b.

3. Include the TO Specific Mobilization and Demobilization Plan in accordance to

DoDI 3040.21..

4. An acceptable plan will describe the TO 0001 Quality Management Plan in accordance to 6.1.7.1.d.

The Government may award a strengths to Approaches and plans that show efficiencies.

b. Draft Transition-In Plan (TO 0001 SOW 6.1.13)

The offeror shall provide a Transition-In Plan for Task Order 0001. The Transition-In plan shall be limited to 10 pages total. The offeror shall include in the Transition-In Plan an approach that aligns with the requirements in Task Order 0001 SOW 6.1.13 and provides for a seamless transition from the incumbent to the new contractor that meets the Initial Operational Capability

(IOC) and Full Operational Capability (FOC) objectives identified in the TO 0001. The Plan shall identify the roles and responsibilities of the offeror including proposed schedule(s) and milestones to ensure no disruption of service.

1. The Government may award a strength to plans that provide a degree of relevance, comprehensiveness, risk mitigation, and insight into the transition process. The

Government will not necessarily provide a strength for a decreased timeline.

M3.2.2 Subfactor 2: TO 0001 Project Staffing, Recruiting, and Retention Approach

The TO 0001 Project Staffing, Recruiting, and Retention will be evaluated to assess the comprehensiveness, relevance, feasibility, effectiveness, and practicality of approaches to satisfy the Task Order 01 requirements. Sub-factor 3 contains two elements: TO01 Project Staffing

Plan and TO01 Recruiting and Retention Plan. The elements are not sub-factors and will not be separately evaluated, but will be evaluated as a whole to arrive at the sub-factor-level rating.

TO 0001 Project Staffing Plan

The offeror shall propose the Labor Categories and Level of Effort for Task 1 (and all Sub-

Tasks) under Program Management. The Labor Mix (Labor Categories and Level of Effort) for

Task 2-12 is provided.

The offeror shall provide a Project Staffing Plan Table, in response to TO 0001 Task 1, in accordance with the Project Staffing Plan Table Template (Attachment M1). The offeror shall demonstrate that all Personnel meet the IDIQ Contract Labor Category in Section C of the RFP document and any TO specific qualifications for the proposed functional labor category. The offeror shall describe the rationale for the labor categories used and proposed level of effort.

The offeror shall provide a Project Staffing Rationale for the proposed project staffing solution presented in the Project Staffing Plan. The offeror shall describe its rationale for the proposed labor mix and level of effort to support each TO 0001 Program Management sub-task. The offeror shall also describe what factors drove its proposed labor mix and how its proposed staffing solution will accomplish the Government’s objectives and requirements. If the offeror chooses to propose additional labor categories, the offeror shall provide the rationale within this section of the proposal.

The offeror’s TO 0001 Project Staffing Plan will be evaluated to assess the degree to which it complies with TO 0001 SOW and will be evaluated using the following:

The Project Staffing Plan and Rationale will be evaluated to assess

a. The degree of relevance, feasibility, effectiveness and practicality of the staffing methodology including the skills, experience, and qualifications of the proposed labor categories/labor mix and level of effort for each TO task area.

b. An acceptable plan will address all task areas with relevant labor categories, hours, and rationale. The Government may award a strength for plans that are highly relevant, feasible, practical, and/or effective.

Recruiting and Retention Plan:

The offeror shall provide a plan for recruiting and retention of personnel, which will address all elements outlined in TO 0001 SOW 6.1.7.2. The recruiting and retention plan shall be limited to ten pages. The recruiting and retention plan shall include a detailed explanation of all provided fringe benefits and supplementary bonuses. For supplementary bonus, the offeror shall include what percentage of labor that will be applied to supplementary bonuses (2-5% of the labor CLIN on each task order, as indicated on CLIN X004), and how the supplementary bonus percentage will be implemented (e.g. sign-on, performance, etc.).

The Recruiting and Retention Plan will be evaluated to assess the following elements:

a. A practical level of understanding of the SWA operating environment and the degree of effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility of the approach to recruit and retain qualified personnel.

b. An acceptable plan will provide a feasible approach to recruit and retain qualified personnel and a practical level of understanding of the SWA operating environment.

c. An acceptable plan will provide a supplementary bonus plan, between 2-5% of the total estimated labor cost per year of performance. The plan should specifically outline how the bonuses will be allocated, not to exceed $10,000.00 per employee per year of performance.

M3.2.3 Subfactor 3: Corporate Experience

The offerors shall submit data on current contracts performed by the offeror and/or its proposed significant subcontractors for efforts similar and relevant to the requirements of this Request for

Proposal.

Relevant criteria is as follows:

(1) Current is defined as a contract performed within the last five (5) years.

(2) Relevant is defined as a contract which meets all three (3) criteria below:

(a) Equal to or exceeds $20 Million per year in any given contract year. If non-relevant work was also accomplished under the reference contract, offeror’s shall not include the “other than” work in the dollar totals or claim it as relevant experience.

(b) Scope includes at least 6 of the 11 Functional Task Areas.

1. Task 2: Communications Management and Planning

2. Task 3: Communications Engineering

3. Task 4: Knowledge Operations Management

4. Task 5: Cyber System Operations

5. Task 6: Cyber Transport

6. Task 7: Client Systems

7. Task 8: Cyber Surety

8. Task 9: Radio Frequency (RF) Transmission Systems

9. Task 10: Spectrum Operations

10. Task 11: Cable and Antenna System

11. Task 12: Logistics

(c) Work was performed in Southwest Asia (SWA) for DoD.

This data shall be submitted for at least one, but no more than three of the most current and relevant contracts. If more than the minimum required contracts are submitted, the government will indiscriminately pick the three references; no additional references will be considered for review.

The Government may award a strength for experience that includes more than 6 of the functional task areas.

M4 Small Business Participation Factor (Factor 2).

The Government will use the following ratings for the utilization of Small Business

Participation:

Table M3. SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION RATINGS

Adjectival

Rating

Description Acceptable Proposal indicates an adequate approach and understanding of small business objectives.

Unacceptable Proposal does not indicate an adequate approach and understanding of small business objectives.

The Government will assess the offeror’s submissions to this factor for adequacy of the proposed

Small Business Participation Plan. To be acceptable, the Offeror shall provide a complete and responsive small business participation plan that considers all federal designated small business categories. In accordance with 13 C.F.R. 125.3(g)(3), a small business concern submitting an offer will be rated Acceptable for this Small Business Participation Factor, even if they elect not to submit any information in connection with this factor.

M5 Cost Factor (Factor 3).

The Offeror’s cost/price proposal will be evaluated for award purposes based on the total price proposed for Task Order-0001 to include the one-year base period, four one-year option periods, and the option pricing for the additional six-month period IAW FAR 52.217-8. FAR 52.217-8 authorizes the government to require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. The pricing proposal should include a separate line item for the additional six-month period IAW FAR 52.217-8. These prices shall be identical to the proposed pricing in the six months prior to expiration of the base period, or the final option period, if option periods are present. The Government will calculate a total proposed cost/price for the CTSS IV Pricing Template by applying Government estimated labor hours for each year of contract performance to each offeror’s proposed fully burdened labor rates for each labor category at both Government and Contractor sites. The estimated labor hours used for evaluation purposes will not be provided to the offerors until after award. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise such options. Note: TO 0001 will be awarded with, or shortly after, the basic contract award.

The cost/price proposals will be evaluated using one or more of the techniques defined in FAR

15.404 in order to determine if they are complete, reasonable, and realistic. Reasonableness is established through cost and price analysis techniques as described in FAR 15.404. For a price/cost proposal to be complete, all solicitation requirements shall be priced, figures correctly calculated, and costs are presented within the mandatory CTSS IV Pricing Template provided in

Section L, Attachment L6. The Government reserves the right to remove an incomplete proposal from consideration for award. Cost reimbursable contract line item numbers (CLINs) will be evaluated for realism pursuant to FAR 15.404-1(d) to determine the probable cost of performance for each Offeror. The probable cost shall be used for purposes of evaluation to determine the best value.

Travel/Other Direct Costs (ODC): Due to the likely inability of any offeror to accurately estimate travel and material/equipment purchases associated with this requirement, the Government is providing plug numbers to be used by all offerors when proposing ODCs for travel/material/equipment. Offerors are instructed to propose plug numbers for ODCs in the following EXACT amounts. However, note that actual incurrence of the costs shall be authorized by the COR in writing prior to incurrence and travel and will be paid IAW FAR

31.205-46. No profit or fee will be authorized for ODCs. Applicable burdens (e.g. G&A) may apply to ODCs IAW the contractor’s accounting practices.

TO 0001 CLIN x003 ODC Breakout:

Period Travel ODC

Material/Equipment

ODC Total ODC

Base Period 0 0 0

Option Period 1 0 0 0

Option Period 2 0 0 0

Option Period 3 0 0 0

Option Period 4 0 0 0

6-Month Ext 0 0 0

Plug numbers will be provided for ODC Uplift line items.

Plug numbers are provided in the Cost/Price templates. The Government will verify plug numbers are utilized as directed and amounts appropriately included in proposed pricing. The proposed ODC amounts for travel/material/equipment shall be the EXACT amounts listed above and provided in the Cost/Price template. Any indirect costs associated with travel/material/equipment shall not be added to the plug numbers as they are already included. A proposal that fails to bid the plug numbers EXACTLY as provided may be excluded from further consideration. Note: should there be additional ODCs associated with Cost Reimbursable

LABOR, these costs must be SEPARATELY identified and will be included in the offeror's total evaluated price. Any additional ODCs proposed must be broken out in sufficient detail to identify the methodology used to derive the proposed costs. In addition, the offeror shall provide supporting documents to substantiate the proposed costs. Additional ODCs that are not proposed, or otherwise not adequately substantiated, will be considered unallowable costs and under no circumstance be reimbursed to the Offeror.