RFQ - ModEL BPA - 11.26.pdf

DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY

DEFENSE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION

2300 East Drive, Scott AFB, IL 62225

November 26, 2024

General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Contractors

1. This request for quote (RFQ) is to support the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)

Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) Enterprise Directorate’s (J6 C4) requirement for Modernization, Engineering, Life Cycle Refresh (ModEL) blanket purchase agreement (BPA). The Government reserves the right to cancel this solicitation, either before or after the closing date. In the event the Government cancels this solicitation, the Government has no obligation to reimburse a contractor for any costs.

The specifics are as follows:

Tracking Number 832369812 Task Order Title ModEL Estimated Value $927,000,000 Small Business Set Aside No North American Industry Classification System Code

541512 – Computer Systems Design Services

Special Item Numbers 33411 – Purchasing of New electronic equipment 511210 – Software Licenses 54151S – Information Technology Professional Services 518210C – Cloud and Cloud-Related IT Professional Services

Order Type Firm-Fixed-Price Other Direct Charges (ODCs)

Order-Level Materials

Period of Performance One-year base period plus four, one-year option periods Section 508 Applicable Yes Method of Evaluation Best Value Tradeoff (BTVO) Performance Based Yes DD254 Required No Due Date Click or tap to enter a date.

2. Responses to this RFQ are requested from contractors who have agreed to work together and form a contractor team agreement (CTA). For this RFQ, the term “CTA” will be used to mean the overall CTA and not the individual entities that make up the CTA. A CTA is an arrangement in which two or more GSA Schedule contractors’ team together to provide a total solution to compete for solicited requirements. A CTA shall be comprised of multiple award schedule contractors that will partner to combine capabilities to perform the requirements of this BPA. For this solicitation, the Government will accept up to five GSA Schedule contractors on a single CTA. Each CTA member must have a current GSA Schedule contract. Additionally, each firm shall submit a copy of their GSA Schedule contract.

a. The CTA will be comprised of a CTA lead and CTA members. The agreement shall be an order-level CTA agreement, meaning the agreement will be established to fulfill the requirements outlined in the ModEL BPA Performance Work Statement (PWS). The CTA lead will be the contractor designated by the CTA to be the primary interface with the Government for all matters associated with ModEL. Figure 2-1 below shows a notional structure of a CTA partnership.

b. Once the Government has selected a CTA to receive the BPA award, each CTA member, including the lead, will be issued a stand-alone BPA, giving them privity of contract with the Government. Each CTA member’s BPA will include the overarching CTA agreement submitted in response to this RFQ as well as each CTA’s member’s quoted pricing.

c. Quotes shall be provided by the CTA team and each of the individual CTA team members. The Government advises that to be successful, each team shall be structured to provide subject matter experts in each of the four task areas listed in PWS Section 5.1 (Attachment 1). The Government will utilize the BPA to fill repetitive needs in the acquisition of services in support of the J6 C4.

d. During performance of the BPA, the Government will issue call orders when the need for services arises in support of the J6 C4 mission. Orders will be issued based on details provided in the CTA Agreement for the team. The agreement shall clearly delineate how work will be distributed amongst the team and which firm will be responsible for each BPA PWS task area. The work distribution shall align with the task areas identified in PWS section 5.1. In the unlikely event that the CTA has more than one firm/contractor for a task area, the agreement shall detail the process for equitably distributing the workload, ensuring the small business goals are attained.

e. The Government anticipates the issuance of 50-75 call orders per contract period and it is vital that the work be distributed and completed expeditiously within the CTA.

To facilitate equal workload distribution and to maximize small business participation, each CTA is limited to only one other than small business. The Government anticipates awarding a BPA to only one CTA as a result of this RFQ.

Award will be made to the CTA that represents the best-value for the Government.

Figure 2-1 – Notional CTA Structure

3. Each member of the CTA shall prepare their individual quotation in accordance with (IAW) their MAS. Depending on what portion of the RFQ to which the quotation is responding the quotation should be completed by the CTA as an entity or by each individual CTA member.

For responses that are required by the CTA as an entity, the designated CTA lead shall submit the response. More details about what is to be submitted by each individual CTA member and what is to be submitted by the CTA entity is given in the chart below. A copy of each CTA member’s MAS must be submitted with the CTA member’s quotation and will not be counted against page limits. Further information on submission of technical and price quotations is provided throughout this document. Table 3-1 below provides further detail on items to be submitted on behalf of the CTA and what each CTA team member shall provide.

a. Each CTA member shall specifically identify in its quotation, whether or not any potential or actual Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest (OCCI) as described in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.5 exists for this procurement. The OCCI language is contained along with the FAR/Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) provisions/clauses as H1 – OCCI. If a contractor believes that an actual or perceived OCCI does exist on this procurement, the contractor shall submit an OCCI plan with the quotation, explaining in detail how the OCCI will be mitigated and/or avoided.

b. Items to be purchased under this RFQ are subject to Supply Chain Risk Management

(SCRM) controls as outlined in the PWS (Attachment 1). As a result, CTA members shall submit a detailed SCRM plan as part of their technical quotation for each member of the CTA. The full text of the CTA member’s SCRM plan will be included in the member’s resulting BPA.

If a SCRM concern arises after contract award, the Government will determine whether a continuation of the contract poses an undue risk to both the common defense and security of the United States. If the Government determines that such a risk exists, the Government reserves the right to accept or reject a quoted mitigation plan by the contractor (if one or more is presented within a reasonable time) or terminate the contract.

c. Section 508 Accessibility Standards do apply to this requirement. Section 508 requirements are listed in the attached PWS (Attachment 1). Each member of the CTA shall affirm that the CTA member is compliant with Section 508 standards in their quotation. Any quotation failing to affirm the CTA member’s compliance with the Section 508 Accessibility Standards, as listed in the PWS, may be eliminated from consideration for award.

d. The following administrative requirements will be placed upon the CTA team lead who will submitting the quote on behalf of the CTA in response to the RFQ. The technical portion of the quotation shall include information regarding the CTA as a whole’s ability to conform to all required terms and conditions in the solicitation. A page is defined as each face of a sheet of paper containing information. When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two pages. Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches. Page limitations are identified below under each evaluation factor and will be treated as maximums. If exceeded, excess pages will not be read or considered in evaluation of the quotation. The following items will not be considered when calculating page limits: cover page, table of contents, glossary, OCCI mitigation plans, SCRM plans, MAS, FAR/DFARS Provisions/Clauses attachment, and Section 508 compliance. In the event any exchanges are opened, and evaluation notices are issued, page limitations may also be placed on those. The technical portion of the quotation shall be submitted in Microsoft (MS) Word. The page format shall have a 1-inch margin using no smaller than an 11-point Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier New font for all text to include any text contained in a table. The price quotation spreadsheet shall be a separate document from the technical quotation and shall be submitted in MS Excel. All formulas shall remain present in the spreadsheet for verification. The total size of each email (including all attachments) shall not exceed 20MB. It is the sole responsibility of the CTA and its members to ensure that the electronic files submitted are virus free and can be opened and read by the Government. Quotation submissions shall not be locked, encrypted, or otherwise contain barriers to opening. The Government is under no obligation to seek clarification regarding electronic quotation submissions if submissions cannot be opened or accessed. Page limitations shall not be circumvented by including text boxes/pop-ups or internet links to additional information; such inclusions are not acceptable and will not be considered part of a quotation.

e. CTAs and their members are requested to submit a written technical and price quotation in response to the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS) (Attachment 1). The Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) (Attachment 2) is also attached for reference. The below Table 3-1 provides guidance on what quotation information should be submitted by each CTA member and what information should be submitted by the CTA as an entity:

RFQ Para # RFQ ITEM

PAGE

LIMIT

CTA or Each Member

CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION

Pg 3. b Organizational and Consultant Conflict of Interest (OCCI) Mitigation Plan

No limit Each member

Pg 3. d Section 508 Compliance No Limit Each member

Pg 10. a GSA Schedule No Limit Each member

Pg 14. Sec 6 Attachment 5, FAR-DFARS Provisions and Clauses No Limit Each member

Pg 14. 7 Top-Secret Facility Clearance 5 Pages Each member

Pg 7. CTA Agreement No limit CTA

Pg. 14. 8 SAM.gov Screen Shot No limit Each member

EVALUATION FACTORS

Pg 3. C Technical/Management (Factor 1)

Subfactor 1: Contractor Teaming Agreement/Structure Subfactor 2: Staffing Plan Subfactor 3: Contractor Teaming Agreement

Management Subfactor 4: Zero Trust Deployment Subfactor 5: Cloud Engineering Services Subfactor 6: Customer and Mission Partner

Requirement Analysis

30 Pages CTA

Pg 4. C Price Factor (Factor 2) BPA Pricing Worksheet CTA Small Business Participation Factor (Factor 3) Pg 12 Small Business Participation Plan CTA

Table 3-1 Response Requirements

4. Evaluation Factors and Basis for Award Determination:

a. Award will be made to the CTA whose quotation is determined to represent the overall best value to the Government using a best value tradeoff evaluation process.

With regard to the best value analysis for the award decision, the evaluation factors and subfactors identified in paragraph 3c below will be used in the trade off analysis.

b. The standards for evaluating the below factors are contained in the attached Evaluation Tables (Attachment 3). Quotations that are rated “Red/Unacceptable” in any area at time of contract award are ineligible for award and shall be excluded from further consideration.

c. The Government will use the following evaluation factors to determine the CTA’s relative ability to accomplish the tasks set forth in the PWS (Attachment 1).

Phase One:

Factor 1: Technical/Management:

Subfactor 1: Contractor Teaming Agreement (CTA) Structure

Subfactor 2: Staffing Plan

(Ratings for Subfactors 1 and 2 will NOT be considered in the final best value trade-off)

Phase Two:

Subfactor 3: Contractor Teaming Agreement (CTA) Management Subfactor 4: Zero Trust Deployment Subfactor 5: Cloud Engineering Services Subfactor 6: Customer and Mission Partner Requirement Analysis

Factor 2: Cost/Price

Factor 3: Small Business Participation

FACTOR 1 - TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT FACTOR:

The evaluation of Factor 1 – Technical/Management will consist of two phases as described below.

Phase One: In Phase One, the Government will first evaluate Subfactors 1 and 2 to determine if the CTA team has satisfactorily addressed both subfactors. For each of the Phase One Subfactors, the CTA will receive a rating of Pass or Fail. Pass or Fail ratings will be assigned in accordance with Table 1, below.

Contractors must receive a rating of Pass for both Subfactors to move to Phase Two. CTAs that receive a rating of Fail for either Subfactor 1 or 2 will be eliminated from further consideration for award.

CTAs that receive ratings of Pass for both Subfactors 1 and 2 will advance to Phase Two. The results of the Phase One evaluation rating of Pass will have no impact on the Phase Two evaluation, or on the best value tradeoff determination.

Phase Two: In Phase Two, the Government will evaluate responses to particularly enumerated Subfactors. Phase Two Factor One, the Technical/Management Factor, will be evaluated using a combined technical/management 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.

Phase One – Pass/Fail Evaluation In Phase One of the evaluation, the Government will determine whether responses have satisfied the following evaluation criteria using the ratings below identified in Table 4-1:

Rating Definition Pass Quotation meets the requirements of the solicitation.

Fail Quotation does not meet the requirements of the solicitation.

Table 4-1 -Phase One Ratings

Responses to each subfactor shall address the following:

Subfactor 1: Contractor Teaming Agreement (CTA) Structure: To receive a rating of Pass, a CTA providing a quote shall include the following:

A copy of the final CTA agreement signed by each CTA member A detailed explanation of how the CTA will be structured to ensure the team provides expertise across all task areas. The response shall detail each CTA member’s expertise and alignment to its task area(s) in the PWS

Roles and responsibilities of each CTA member, to include a decision making matrix Details of how the CTA will be structured to have no more than five (5) members while providing support of all task areas.

Details on how the CTA agreement means to on-ramp/off-ramp team members throughout performance.

Subfactor 2: Staffing Plan To receive a rating of pass, the CTA must provide a staffing plan that aligns with all task areas and structure detailed in Subfactor 1. The staffing plan shall enable the CTA to meet and maintain staffing levels throughout the duration of the contract period(s). All staffing across the task areas identified in Table 4-2 below, must have at a minimum a Department of Defense (DoD) SECRET clearance, with approximately 70% requiring a DoD TOP SECRET (TS) with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), or access to Special Access Programs.

Seventy percent (70%) of the work (individual call orders) is anticipated to be TS and conducted in TS secure space; thirty percent (30%) of the work is TS/SCI and conducted in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). Adjudicated clearances must be in place at the time of blanket purchase agreement (BPA) quote submission.

The CTA shall map its proposed MAS labor categories to the labor categories provided in Attachment 4 – BPA Labor Rate Table and against each CTA member’s MAS Schedule. The CTA shall ensure that all labor categories defined in the solicitation are met – failure to meet all labor categories will result in a rating of fail.

The table below provides a government estimate of full-time equivalent (FTE) counts* per task area. FTE counts are meant to provide an estimate and are to be used as a guideline for evaluation purposes. Table 4-2 provides historical staffing estimates.

TASK DESCRIPTION FTEs* Task 1 Program Management 10 Task 2 Solution Development 40

Task 3 Customer Engineering Projects 107 Task 4 Telecom and Networking Professional Services 251

Table 4-2- Historical Staffing Estimates

Phase Two - Trade Off Evaluation

In Phase Two, the Government will evaluate the CTA’s responses to particular PWS requirements. Phase Two of the Technical/Management Factor will be evaluated using a combined technical/management 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 4-3. In the best value trade-off, Factor 1 Subfactors 3-6 are considered equally important.

Color Rating Description

Blue

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

Purple

Good

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

Yellow

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

Red

Unacceptable Quote 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.

Table 4-3: COLOR SCHEME FOR THE COMBINED TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT AND RISK RATINGS

The technical/management subfactors for Phase Two evaluation:

Subfactor 3: CTA Management:

The Government will evaluate the CTA quoted fully executed CTA agreement and the quoted approach to forming, executing work under the approved construct, and maintaining the team throughout contract performance. (PWS 5.2). Additionally, the Government will evaluate the following:

The Government will evaluate the CTA’s quoted approach to distributing the cumulative BPA workload (up to 50-75 call orders annually) among the CTA members in an expeditious manner to ensure a quick turn-around from time of call order issuance to commencement of performance.

The Government will evaluate the CTA’s quoted approach to tracking and monitoring the volume and magnitude of work for each CTA member and describe how the CTA team will ensure successful performance when one or multiple CTA members receive a surge in requirements. The response shall specifically address degradation of service with regards to performance risk, staffing challenges, and/or schedule delays.

Subfactor 4: Zero Trust Deployment The Government will evaluate the CTA’s understanding of zero trust principles and their approach to support an enterprise environment. This shall include deploying the zero-trust solution to a complex, multi-tenant environment and the transition to operations (using the DoD Zero Trust Strategy dated 21 October 2022 as a guiding reference -https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/DoD-ZTStrategy.pdf) Deploy Zero Trust (PWS 6.2.7).

Subfactor 5: Cloud Engineering Services The Government will evaluate the CTA’s quoted technical solutions for providing cloud engineering services for the identification, authentication, and access control credentials. This shall include data migration support of applications hosted on a government network (using the DoD Enterprise Software Initiative as a guiding reference – https://www.esi.mil/contentview.aspx?id=55) Cloud Engineering Services (PWS 6.3.8.4).

Subfactor 6: Customer and Mission Partner Requirements Analysis The Government will evaluate the CTA’s quoted technical solutions for developing engineering plans and designs for network architectural requirements. The proposed approach shall provide innovative solutions with a focus on achieving savings and/or limiting costs to meet or exceed the subtask area of customer and mission partner requirements analysis. J6 Customer and Mission Partner Requirements Analysis (PWS 6.4.2).

FACTOR 2 - PRICE FACTOR:

(a) Price quotations will be evaluated to determine if they are reasonable and complete. Price reasonableness is established through cost and price analysis techniques as described in FAR

15.404. For a price to be complete, all solicitation requirements must be priced, figures correctly calculated, and prices presented in a clear and useful format. The Government reserves the right, but is not obligated, to conduct a realism analysis.

(b) The CTA 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. See FAR 52.217-8 which authorizes the Government to require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. The pricing quotation, Attachment 4 – BPA Labor Rate Table, shall include a separate line item for the additional six-month period IAW FAR 52.217-8. These prices shall be identical to the quoted pricing in the six months prior to expiration of the final option period. The Total Evaluated Price will consist of the CTA’s quoted price for the base period, all option periods, the option pricing for the additional six-month period, and surge pricing as requested below. All non-cost evaluation factors, when combined, are more important than the price factor.

(c) The CTA shall provide their price quote on the BPA Labor Rate Table (Attachment 4). The CTA shall quote a labor rate for each labor category included within Attachment 4 for the base period and four option periods. Each individual CTA member is not required to quote to each labor category, but combined, all labor categories must be quoted across the CTA members. A pricing quotation that does not include quoted prices for each labor category will be considered incomplete and will not be eligible for award. The quoted hourly rates shall not exceed the labor rates of the CTA team member’s GSA schedule contract.

Quoted labor categories and labor rates identified in the CTA price quote shall be in the CTA team member’s GSA schedule at time of quote submittal. The Government is requesting discounts to the rates currently on the schedule contractor’s GSA schedule. Again, the price quote spreadsheet (Attachment 4, BPA Labor Rate Table), shall be a separate document from the technical quote.

(d) The Government will calculate a Total Evaluated Price within the Attachment 4. For each labor category, the Government provided representative annual labor hours. The CTA shall identify the assigned team member to the associated Government provided labor category and allocate the percent of labor hours. The total allocation shall equal 100% for each provided labor category. To calculate the Total Evaluated Price, the allocated hours will be multiplied by the team member’s proposed labor rate for all labor categories. The representative hours will be used for evaluation purposes only.

Upon award, the BPA Labor Rate Table will be incorporated into Section B of each CTA member’s BPA. The BPA Labor Rate Table will be used as ceiling labor rates for pricing of all labor quoted under future fixed priced call orders issued under this BPA. However, the KO will accept rates lower than those reflected on the Labor Rate Table, as appropriate. The reduced labor rates will not be subject to audit.

Order Level Materials (OLMs): Such costs are in direct support of services and are not known prior to award. This category may include travel and other task specific non-labor items. These costs must be preapproved by the Contracting Officer. Any item that falls under the category of OLMs (excluding travel) requires that contractors obtain at least three (3) quotes. OLMs may not exceed 33.33% of the total order and is subject to the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF). Due to the likely inability of any schedule contractor to accurately estimate travel and material/ equipment purchases associated with future call orders, the Government is providing a 33.33% plug numbers to be used by all quoting CTAs when quoting OLM. CTA shall quote a plug number for OLM using 33.33 percent of total base period and all four option periods. Actual travel shall be authorized by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) in writing prior to performance and will be paid IAW FAR Part 31.205-46. No profit or fee will be authorized for travel or ODCs. Applicable burdens, e.g., G&A, may apply to travel and ODCs IAW the schedule contractor’s accounting practices.

The Total Evaluated Price will consist of the contractor’s total evaluated price for the base period, all option periods, and the option pricing for the additional 6-month period.

FACTOR 3 - SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION FACTOR:

The Small Business Participation Plan is an actual commitment document that addresses the extent of small business utilization in the performance of orders under the BPA. The Small Business Participation Plan specifies the details of how the Offeror will maximize the utilization of small businesses within this acquisition.

The CTA will submit one Small Business Participation Plan that considers all team members and their small business status and socioeconomic status. For the purposes of this solicitation, dollars awarded to small business team members, even at a prime contract award level, may be counted as small business participation that is generally counted at a subcontracting level.

This means that the assumption is that CTA Lead is a large business and is considered the “prime contractor” for this factor. Other CTA members are considered “subcontractors” and anticipated dollars awarded to each of these team members shall be counted and considered as though they are subcontractors. Additional, actual subcontractors may and should be included in this Small Business Participation Plan.

For the below minimum quantitative requirement (MQR), the CTA should use a Total Contract Value (TCV) of $927,000,000 for the purposes of evaluation. This TCV shall not be considered minimum guarantees, ceiling amounts, or estimates for pricing purposes but rather an estimate of the work to be performed. Execution percentages will be based on actual dollars obligated.

Each CTA will be evaluated on the level of proposed participation of U.S. small businesses in the performance of call orders under the awarded BPA. The Government will assess if small business participation meets the MQRs of this requirement as identified in the paragraphs below.

Offerors shall provide the following:

a. The total combined dollars and percentage of work to be performed by the prime contractor, any large or small business CTA members, and all subcontractors, both large and small.

b. The total percentage of participation to be performed by each small business category.

The percentage of work performed by small businesses that qualify in multiple small business subcategories should be counted in each category. For example, if a company is a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), the dollars subcontracted to that company should be counted for Small Business, WOSB and SDVOSB.

To be Acceptable, the Small Business Participation Plan must demonstrate participation by small businesses by the minimum percentage of the TCV as outlined below:

CATEGORY MQR REQUIREMENT

Small Business: 26% of the total contract value;

Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) to include 8(a): 15% of the total contract value;

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB): 5% of the total contract value;

Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) SB: 3% of the total contract value;

Table 4-4: Small Business MQR Requirements

The Offeror shall articulate how small businesses will participate through performance as a small business either as a CTA member and/or ‘first tier’ small business subcontracting for one of the CTA team members BPAs only. Second and third tier small business subcontractors will NOT be considered towards the minimum percentage of the TCV discussed above.

c. DISA is focused on removing barriers to entry for small businesses. The number one barrier is the facility site clearance (FCL). Part of maximizing the utilization of small businesses is to remove barriers. This solicitation and any resultant contract/BPA/order requires the prime contractor/CTA lead to sponsor at least two FCLs for small businesses during the first year. To be rated “Acceptable” the CTA shall provide a written guarantee that the CTA lead will sponsor two or more FCLs to small business during the first year of performance of a resultant BPA.

This Small Business Participation Plan is for the overall BPA and will apply to all orders cumulatively.

This Factor will be evaluated in accordance with Table 4-5, below.

Rating Definition Acceptable Quotation indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the small business objectives.

Unacceptable Quotation does not indicate an adequate approach and understanding of the small business objectives. Quotations that receive this rating are not awardable.

Table 4-5: Small Business Participation Acceptable/Unacceptable Rating Method

The final Small Business Participation Plan will be monitored as a measure of contract compliance and execution and results of it may be used in Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting Systems assessments. This Small Business Participation Plan and the quoted MQRs apply to the overall contract and will be incorporated into each individual CTA member’s BPA at time of the BPA award.

4. The Government anticipates awarding to the best-value e.g., best-suited, respondent from initial contractor responses using a tradeoff evaluation process, without engaging in exchanges with respondents. Respondents are strongly encouraged to submit their best technical solution and price/cost in response to this solicitation. Once the Government determines the respondent that is the best-value (i.e., the apparent successful awardee), the Government reserves the right to negotiate solely with that respondent or a group of similarly rated best-value respondents to address any remaining issues, as necessary, to finalize an order. Issues may include technical, price, and/or term and conditions.

If parties cannot successfully address remaining issues, as determined pertinent and at the sole discretion of the Government, the Government reserves the right to engage in negotiations to address issues with the next best-value respondent based on the initial evaluations or group of similarly rated respondents. Once the Government has begun communications with the next best-value respondent(s), no further communications with the previous respondent(s) will be entertained until after an order has been awarded. This process described above shall continue until issues are resolved and there is an award.

5. Attachment 5 – FAR-DFARS Provisions-Clauses, contains provisions that apply to this solicitation and clauses that will be applicable to the resulting award. Some of the provisions and additional Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) instructions require a response from the contractor and must be submitted with the quotation. For any Cost or Time and Material contract/order or line items, the contractor shall provide the applicable Defense Contract Audit Agency Auditor Department of Defense Activity Address Code with the quote.

6. In response to this RFQ, contractor terms, conditions, or assumptions will not be entertained.

If contractor terms, conditions, or assumptions are included in a quotation, the quotation may be excluded on grounds that it failed to comply with the RFQ’s instructions. Any failure to adhere with Government terms, conditions, instructions, or requirements (e.g., administrative, pricing, regulatory, Facility Clearance Verification Notifications) within this RFQ may result in the proposal being excluded from further consideration.

7. Contractors shall submit with their response a screen print of the company’s SAM.gov report showing the contractor's "Entity Registration" and "Exclusions" statuses. This screen print needs to be captured and dated within one week of quotation submission.

8. All contractor responses received in response to this RFQ shall remain valid for 180-calendar days from the quotation due date below. By submitting a quotation in response to this solicitation, you are submitting an offer that the Government may accept, and you agree that if the Government awards you the order, the award document sent by the Government to the contractor is a binding and enforceable contract. The contractor has a legal obligation to perform in compliance with all aspects of the PWS if awarded the order. The Government will treat as confidential any and all documents and/or information submitted by contractors in response to this RFQ.

9. Portions of the contractor’s quotation may be incorporated into the final BPA and associated call orders.

10. Use of Non-Government Advisors. Non-Government personnel will be used on the evaluation team. The non-government advisors may have access to all aspects of the contractor’s quotation except for past performance information. Offerors are advised that the following contractors may participate in the evaluation of quotations as non-government advisors:

Washington Business Dynamics, LLC, 7010 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301

11. Questions shall be provided in writing via Attachment 7 - RFQ Questions and Answers and sent to caitlin.n.huff.civ@mail.mil no later than MONTH DD, YYYY at 2:00pm (CT). The Government reserves the right to not answer questions submitted after this time.

12. Quotations are due on MONTH DD, YYYY at 2:00pm (CT) and shall be submitted to the Contract Specialist at DITCO via the following email address:

caitlin.n.huff.civ@mail.mil.

Sincerely, CHRISTOPHER M. ENRIQUEZ

CONTRACTING OFFICER

Attachment 1 - PWS

Attachment 2 - QASP

Attachment 3 - Technical-Management Evaluation Tables

Attachment 4 - CLIN Pricing Worksheet

Attachment 5 - FAR-DFARS Provisions-Clauses

Attachment 6 - NDAs for Non-Government Advisor

Attachment 7 - RFQ Questions and Answers