D.10_OFFEROR_INSTRUCTIONS_AND_EVALUATION.pdf

Solicitation # 89303919REM000007 Section D

Workers’ Compensation Claims Services Attachment D.10

ATTACHMENT

D.10 OFFEROR INSTRUCTIONS AND EVALUATION

A. General Information

DOE intends to award one contract to the responsible offeror whose quote is responsive to the

Solicitation and determined to be the best value and most advantageous to the Government.

Selection of the best value to the Government will be achieved through a process of evaluating the strengths and/or weaknesses of each offeror's quote in accordance with the evaluation factors in the Solicitation.

In determining the best value to the Government, Technical and Past Performance factors, when combined, are significantly more important than Price. The Government will not make an award at a price premium it considers disproportionate to the benefits associated with the evaluated superiority of one quote over another. Thus, to the extent that offerors' Technical and Past

Performance quotes are evaluated as close or similar in merit, the price is more likely to be the determining factor.

Price/rates will be reviewed separately from the technical capability criterion cited above, based upon the best-value to the government.

B. Offeror Instructions

All offers should be submitted electronically via the FedBizOpps website and emailed to the following address:

Robin Whitney

Contract Specialist

Robin.Whitney@rl.doe.gov

Questions regarding this solicitation must be submitted via electronic submission no later than fifteen days prior to the solicitation closing date. Each question shall clearly specify the solicitation area to which it refers. Responses to questions, as appropriate, will be posted on

FedBizOpps as soon as practicable. The Government will not identify prospective Offerors submitting questions. Offerors must check FedBizOpps periodically to ascertain the status of answers to questions.

All offers and proposal information must be received on or before 15:00 ET, July 8, 2019. Any offer received after this time will be deemed nonresponsive and will not be considered. Offerors shall prepare a separate document for each evaluation factor that contains all the requested information and details as outlined below. In addition, each offeror shall provide their identifying information such as Company Name(s), DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax-Identification

Number, and GSA Contract Number if applicable. Offerors quote shall be made valid for 90 days or more after the due date of the solicitation.

Price Factor: Volume I

The Offeror shall complete the three tables contained in Attachment D.10.1, Summary of Costs

Worksheet.

Table 1, Summary of All Costs shall include the total fixed price for CLIN 1, the total fixed price for CLINs 2 broken out by year as indicated, and the proposed hourly rate for CLIN 3 broken out by year as indicated.

Table 2, CLIN 2 Detail shall include the total fixed price for each of the key personnel described in B.4.1 that the contractor proposes to support the Technical and Management

Proposal broken out by year as indicated.

Table 3, CLIN 3 Detail shall include the cost elements that comprise the total proposed rate as well as the escalation rate between years.

These items will be evaluated in accordance with FAR 52.212-2 and any addenda included in

Section E, as well as the evaluation factors contained in this attachment. For the purposes of evaluating price for services to be performed under clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, the Government will include one half of the amount proposed for CLIN 5002 in the evaluated price.

The Government may reject any quote that does not fully complete the Summary of Costs

Worksheet and/or is evaluated to be unreasonable or unbalanced.

DOE-RL has estimated, based on historical analysis, that there are approximately 340 open claims that will be transferred to the awarded contractor, and there are approximately 480 claims managed through the open and close process annually pursuant to the contract. Be advised that this estimate is meant to aid in understanding of the requirement, but does not represent the minimum or maximum claim volume under this contract. Contractor shall administer all claims regardless of increase or decrease to the estimated volume.

Technical Factor: Volume II

The Technical and Management Proposal shall be specific and complete in addressing the information required. Offerors shall not simply offer to perform work in accordance with the work statement; rather, Offerors shall provide their specific approach and capabilities to perform the required work. Moreover, Offerors shall not merely restate the work scope and/or other solicitation requirements in its technical and management proposal.

No cost or price information shall be included in the Technical and Management Proposal, unless specifically requested in the solicitation.

These items will be evaluated in accordance with FAR 52.212-2 and any addenda included in

Section E, as well as the evaluation factors contained in this attachment.

Offeror shall submit the following:

a. Business Management Approach:

i. The Offeror shall include a description of the proposed approach, and how the proposed approach will provide high quality, efficient, and timely delivery of the required services. The approach shall describe methods in sufficient detail for the

Government to assess the effectiveness of the approach as it relates to the SOW.

ii. Transition of Work

A. The Offeror shall describe its approach for transitioning the work from the incumbent contractor, in accordance with the contract requirements contained in

Section B. The approach shall address those activities, and associated schedule, necessary to be performed to maintain continuity of services from the beginning of the transition period through assumption of full responsibility for the work in accordance with the SOW.

B. The Offeror shall identify key challenges and issues that have the potential to pose significant risks to the orderly and timely transition of the work and its approach that will be used to eliminate or mitigate those risks.

b. Relevant Experience: The offer shall furnish a summary of relevant experience, demonstrating experience in the last three years in performing projects similar in type, scope, and complexity to the services detailed within the solicitation. Experience pertains to what the offeror has done under other, recent contracts.

c. Key Personnel

The Offeror shall propose Key Personnel who are considered to be essential to the successful accomplishment of the work being performed under the contract. The Offeror shall provide written resumes for each proposed key personnel. The Offeror shall describe its proposed

Key Personnel’s experience, demonstrated past performance, and their suitability to the proposed position, leadership, and capability to perform the SOW relevant to their proposed position. The Offeror shall describe its rationale for the selection of the proposed Key

Personnel. Do not provide resumes of non-key personnel. Only one resume may be submitted per key person, and only one person may be proposed for each Key Personnel position. Each resume shall not exceed five pages in length including the commitment statement. Additional pages will not be evaluated.

The Key Personnel positions shall be employed by the contractor to include the Principal

Manager, Washington State Certified Claim Program Manager, and Other Key Personnel as proposed by the Offeror. The requirements for key personnel are in Section B.

Letter of Commitment: The Offeror shall provide a signed Letter of Commitment from each proposed key person. The Letter of Commitment must reflect the individual’s unconditional agreement to accept the position for a minimum of one (1) years from the date contract performance begins if the Offeror is awarded the contract.

References: The Offeror shall provide three references for each of the proposed Key

Personnel. DOE has no obligation to contact references submitted; however, DOE may contact any or all references or past employers on the submitted resume. DOE reserves the right to use any information received as part of its evaluation of the key person, from any other sources available to DOE.

Failure to submit resumes and letters of commitment will result in the Offeror’s proposal being deemed unacceptable.

Past Performance Factor: Volume III

The Government will evaluate the offeror’s compliance with technical requirements and performance standards for previous and present work.

Volume III shall contain three to five references for work performed as detailed in the solicitation. The offeror shall provide a list of references that will include a current contact name, e-mail address, and telephone number with a description of the work performed. It is the offeror’s responsibility to notify its references that the DOE may be contacting them in connection with the acquisition. Additional references may be contacted at the DOE’s discretion.

In conducting its evaluation, the Government may seek information from any source it deems appropriate to obtain or validate information regarding an offeror’s past performance.

C. Evaluation

The offeror selected for award will be the responsible offeror whose quote is determined to be the best overall value to the Government. Quotes received in response to the RFQ will be evaluated using the evaluation criteria set forth in this section.

The quote preparation instructions contained in this section are designed to provide guidance to offerors concerning the type and depth of information the Government considers necessary to conduct an informed evaluation of each quote. If the quote is determined to be so grossly and obviously deficient as to be totally unacceptable on its face, it may be eliminated from further consideration before a detailed evaluation is performed. For example, a quote will be deemed unacceptable if it does not completely address all factors and elements requested in the solicitation or if it clearly demonstrates that the offeror does not understand the requirements of the solicitation. Deviations/exceptions taken to this solicitation will not necessarily cause a quote to be considered unacceptable. However a large number of deviations/exceptions or one or more significant deviation may result in the rejection of the quote as unacceptable.

In conducting its evaluation of quotes, the Government may seek information from any source it deems appropriate to obtain or validate information regarding an offeror's past performance.

Evaluation Factors

The following areas will be evaluated as described;

a. Price

The offeror's price quote will not be point scored or adjectivally rated but will be evaluated on the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to perform services detailed within the solicitation, and used in determining that the total price is reasonable. The price quote will also be used as an aid to determine the offeror's understanding of the requirements of the solicitation, 'price reasonableness' and to assess the validity of the offeror's approach to managing and performing the services detailed within the solicitation.

The Offeror shall complete the Summary of Costs Worksheet, in its entirety. Offerors are cautioned that partially submitted or omitted price offers may be evaluated as unacceptable.

The Government may reject any quote that is evaluated to be unreasonable.

b. Technical:

DOE-RL will evaluate the level of detail and quality of each offeror’s business/management approach and methods to perform the services detailed within the solicitation. The proposed business/management approach will be evaluated based upon its depth, quality, effectiveness, and comprehensiveness for accomplishing the requirements of the solicitation.

The offeror will be evaluated on the Key Personnel it proposes and considers to be essential to the successful accomplishment of the work being performed under the agreement(s). The Key

Personnel will be evaluated for demonstrated capability; demonstrated experience in performing work similar in size and complexity to services detailed within the solicitation; and qualifications

(e.g. education, certifications, licenses) as presented in the resumes. The offeror will be evaluated on its designation of Key Personnel positions relative to the approach to the management and execution of the services detailed within the solicitation. DOE will evaluate the rationale and selection of the Key Personnel, as well as the approach to retention of Key Personnel. The evaluation will also include an assessment as to whether the offeror has proposed the appropriate

Key Personnel.

Offerors and Key Personnel are advised that DOE may contact references and previous employers to verify the accuracy of resume information and further assess the capability, experience, and qualifications of Key Personnel. DOE may consider information received from any source in its evaluation of the Offeror's proposed Key Personnel.

The offer will be evaluated on the Offeror’s technical experience. Experience pertains to what the offeror has accomplished under other, recent contracts. DOE will evaluate each Offeror for its relevant experience in performing work similar in size, scope and complexity to that described within the solicitation. Size, scope and complexity are defined as follows: Size - dollar value and contract duration; scope - type of work; and complexity - performance challenges and risk.

c. Past Performance:

The Government will evaluate the offeror's compliance with any, and all, requirements and performance standards for previous and present work. The offeror's performance includes compliance with process requirements (such as quality assurance), and control systems (such as configuration management) as well as performance requirements. For services and support, the quality of the service or support is considered. The offeror's performance on interim work and deliverables will also be considered as well as the initiative of the offeror in identifying and resolving unforeseen problems. Consideration will also be given in how well the offeror met completion dates. This includes any interim deliverables or milestones such as periodic technical and business reports, system designs, and completion of valid customer direction such as task assignments, invoice actions, communication with government personnel, as well as technical direction.

The information submitted, together with information that may be available to the Department of

Energy, from other Government agencies, and from non-government organizations will be considered in the evaluation.

Evaluation Process

The method for selecting the successful offeror will be the offer that provides the overall best value to the Government as defined by the evaluation factors.

a. Each quote submitted will be reviewed to determine if it conforms to the general requirements of the Request for Quote (RFQ). If it does not conform and would be incapable of being evaluated without significant changes, the quote will be rejected and will not be evaluated.

b. Each quote will be evaluated only against these evaluation factors listed in the RFQ.

c. Each evaluation factor, with the exception of price, will be rated using the following adjectival standards.

i. Excellent. Quote demonstrates a thorough understanding of requirements and approach that demonstrates a high likelihood of success. The quote contains at least one significant strength or multiple strengths and no weaknesses.

ii. Good. Quote demonstrates an understanding of requirements and its approach demonstrates a likelihood of success. Quote strengths outweigh any identified weaknesses.

iii. Satisfactory. Quote demonstrates acceptable understanding of requirements and approach that meets performance or capability standards. The quote identifies few, if any strengths and few, if any weaknesses, or an offsetting balance of strengths and weaknesses.

iv. Unsatisfactory. Quote fails to meet performance or capability standards.

Requirements can only be met with major changes to the quote. The quote identifies at least one significant weakness or multiple weaknesses that outweigh any strengths. The response indicates an inability to meet the required performance standards.

d. Definitions:

i. Strength. A feature or benefit in the quote that increases the likelihood of successful contract performance. A “significant strength” in the quote is a feature or benefit that appreciably increases the likelihood of successful contract performance.

ii. Weakness. A flaw or aspect of the quote that increases the likelihood of unsuccessful contract performance. A “significant weakness” is a flaw or aspect of the quote that appreciably increases the likelihood of unsuccessful contract performance.