Amendment_0003.pdf

NSN 7540-01-152-8070 STANDARD FORM 30. (Rev. 10-83) Previous Edition unusable Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

Page of Pages AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. Contract ID Code

2. AMENDMENT MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (if applicable)

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

(x) 9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (NO., Street, Country, State and ZIP Code)

CODE FACILITY CODE

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of offers is extended, is not extended.

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 items 8 and 15, and returning ______ copies of 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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OR OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your 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.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

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

Check One

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

CONTRACT ORDER NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

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

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

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

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

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

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR 16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

15C. DATE SIGNED

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

16C. DATE SIGNED

Attachment Page

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Clarification on Vendor Q & A

18. (Page 76) As this is an 8(a) SDB set aside, will the government consider making monthly payments to the contractor based on monthly invoice submissions and not on payment tied to milestones? (Tying payment to milestones will put undue pressure of legitimately small 8(a) firms).

Answer: The Department will not accept payments based on the passage of time, but payments may be tied to submission of monthly reports.

Additional Clarification: The payment schedule will become a living document that can be modified throughout the life of the contract. The vendor will not receive a rating on their payment schedule. It will be evaluated as part of the business proposal. We just ask that offerors try their best to develop a payment schedule. This payment schedule can be changed if it is not meeting the needs of either party. The

Department typically pays small businesses with 15 days of receipt of a proper invoice.

28. (Page 70) How long is the Department of Education’s Security Clearance Process take? What are the personnel security requirements for contract staff?

Answer: The process can take up to 2 weeks, depending on how quickly the security paperwork

(eQIP) can be returned to the Department for processing.

Additional clarification: New staff will be allowed to on-board while the clearance is being processed.

Please note that creating the network account requires verification by OM that the security paperwork

(eQIP) has been turned in to the security office; PIV card is issued upon start of the investigation. It is incumbent upon the awardee, upon notification of being awarded the contract, to provide the list of names and SSNs so the security paperwork process can be started, along with ensuring the new staff gets access to the data and systems they need. Non-US citizens pose a high risk to the Federal government; however, they may be granted a Limited Access Authorization (LAA). LAAs are granted in those rare circumstances where the non-US citizen possesses unique or unusual skill or expertise that is urgently needed to support a specific US Government contract involving access to specified classified information

(no higher than Secret), and a cleared or clearable US citizen is not readily available. In this contract the awardee is not required to have personnel with unique or unusual skills; therefore, proposed staff needs to be U.S. Citizens.

32. Schedule of Deliverables - These sections include wording in the column Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL) with performance metrics of “no complaints”. “No complaints from customers on level of service.” And “with no complaints about delivery or content”, for example. Can the Government explain its process to validate complaints and provide the resolution method the Contractor has available to close a complaint? Are all level of complaints from minor to major included in this measure? What qualifies as a complaint? As written, even minor complaints could delay payment for performing the work. The

Quality Level is not measurable except from a perspective of yes/no was there a complaint.

Answer: A complaint is determined by the nature of the issue within the vendor’s control (i.e.

courtesy, responsiveness, timeliness, knowledge, etc.) The Government uses a variety of input methods from customers in determining a complaint. The desired quality level is “no complaints”, major or minor.

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Clarification on Vendor Q & A

Additional Clarification: Minor complaint means log in failed, locked out of system, forgotten password, etc. Major complaint means cannot access system, etc. Data is gathered via customer surveys, email, telephone and personal contacts. AQL’s will be measured as frequently as deliverables are provided to the government for acceptance.

35. Page 74 - Can the government clarify the intent and expectation with regards to why authors of proposal sections are to be included in the table of contents?

Answer: The Department wants to determine that the people who will actually be doing the work wrote the proposal and not just an outside hired proposal writer.

Additional Clarification: The offeror will not receive a rating for their table of contents. The Department has found that it is a more effective use of the Department’s time when someone who participated in writing the proposal attends the kick-off meeting and will be actively working on the contract. The

Department has also found it useful to give feedback to the people who drafted certain sections of a proposal. If an offeror does not have such a person or people participating in writing the proposal, then the offeror may list the company and or team who wrote the section. Again, there will be no rating for the table of contents.

134. RFQ Page 47, Schedule of Deliverables, 1.2: The Government states, “Transition successfully completed within three calendar weeks after award.” Can the Government specify the transition period from the incumbent contractor to the incoming vendor? Does the Government expect the offeror(s) to provide a transition approach and plan to minimize service disruption within the Management Plan section of the response (if so, is it part of the existing page count)? The Government doesn’t discuss anywhere about Transition in the entire RFQ except in Schedule of Deliverables stating, “AQL –

Transition Report with no errors reflecting 100% of client objectives documenting transition and indicating successful transition within four calendar weeks after the award.” Can the Government clarify and provide more detailed information on the “Transition Approach and Plan” requirement? Can the

Government define the criteria for a successful transition for level setting expectations?

Answer: The transition period is three weeks. The transition plan should be contained in the proposal. A successful transition will result in the incoming contractor fully capable of operating all

ITIM processes described in this solicitation.

Additional Clarification: The transition plan does not need to be included in the proposal. This was an error. The winning offeror will participate in transition meetings as described in the PWS.

189. Does the government want a draft WBS in the proposal or 10 days after award? The Management

Plan criteria in Section L #3 bullet 3 and 4 infer a WBS is to be submitted with the proposal.

Answer: See Schedule of Deliverables Section 1, 1.4.

Additional clarification: A draft WBS does not need to be included in the proposal.

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Clarification on Vendor Q & A

General clarification regarding past performance: Please include at least three examples of the prime’s past performance within the past five years. Please see revised instructions and evaluation criteria further clarifying past performance.

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This Request for Proposal (RFP) is in support of the United States Department of Education, Office of the

Chief Information Officer to provide services for the Information Technology Investment Management

Support.

The Government anticipates awarding one contract with a 12 month period of performance and four 12 month option periods. The contract will be a firm fixed price. Please note that this solicitation is being released subject to the availability of funds.

The offeror shall show a thorough understanding of the required tasks, as specified in Attachment A:

Performance Work Statement (PWS). Each technical proposal should address the requirements in the

PWS, not simply repeat the language. Each proposal shall be written in enough detail so that a review panel can adequately judge its full merits.

Although the PWS spells out each task, it is up to the offeror to propose the most effective method for carrying out the tasks and the most feasible timeline and dates for all key activities. The offeror is encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the best methods of attaining the objectives of this requirement.

The offeror's submission shall consist of two volumes: Volume I: Technical Proposal and Volume II:

Business Proposal. All information necessary to judge the technical soundness, experience and past performance, and management capabilities of the offeror shall be contained in the technical proposal. The technical proposal shall NOT contain any reference to specific price or cost. The business proposal will contain all information related to the determination of the price associated with each of the project's tasks.

Technical Proposal

The technical proposal shall illustrate the offeror’s approach for satisfying the requirements contained in this solicitation. The technical proposal must be clear, coherent, and prepared in sufficient detail for effective evaluation of the offeror's proposal against the technical evaluation criteria. Proposals must clearly demonstrate how the offeror intends to accomplish the requirements and must include convincing rationale and substantiation of all claims. Offerors should not expect the technical evaluation panel to make assumptions or guesses; proposals must be detailed and not vague. The technical proposal must disclose the offeror’s technical approach in sufficient detail to provide a clear and concise presentation that includes, but is not limited to, the requirements outlined below.

The offeror shall submit a single technical proposal that addresses the PWS. The technical proposal shall be limited to a maximum of 40 double-spaced 8.5 x 11 inch pages using font size no smaller than 12 points, with margins no smaller than 1 inch on every side. The page limit includes the narrative and corresponding tables and graphics. Figures, tables, and exhibits may be single spaced and Times New

Roman 10 font. Any pages over 40 shall not be considered. The page limit only excludes the cover page;

the table of contents; resumes (Appendix 1); letters of agreements from subcontractors or partners

(Appendix 2). Offerors shall use the same formatting restrictions described above. In Appendix 1, the offeror shall include resumes for all key personnel, including key personnel from subcontractors.

Appendix 2 should include letters of commitment from all subcontractors, proposed consultants and key personnel not employed currently by the offeror. Offerors shall follow the format and content requirements detailed below in preparing their technical proposals. No price information may be included in the technical proposal. Information required for proposal evaluation, which is not found in its designated section and subsection, will be assumed to have been omitted from the proposal. It is the offeror’s responsibility to ensure that each section is clear and comprehensive.

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1. Table of Contents: The Table of Contents with page numbers will provide an easy means to identify major points of discussion. Authors of each section of the technical proposal shall be identified clearly in the Table of Contents (not included in page limit).

2. Introduction: The Introduction should briefly provide an impression of the offeror's general understanding of the project’s objectives, scope of work, intended products, and applicability of those products (starts Page 1 of the page count).

3. Technical Approach - This section shall describe fully the approach that the offeror proposes to perform the tasks in the PWS. General statements of strategy should be accompanied by the specific procedures for each task of the project, and should reflect efficient utilization of the offeror's resources.

The technical approach should demonstrate the offeror’s expertise in Capital Planning, Enterprise

Architecture, Investment performance management, Enterprise Architecture, FITARA, and eCPIC.

4. Key Personnel: - In this section, the roles, responsibilities, and qualifications of key personnel performing tasks in the PWS, and include a list of all subcontractors and partners. As appropriate, the offeror should indicate non-personnel resources, if any, to be applied to each task. The offeror shall demonstrate experience providing expertise in the areas described in the PWS. Key personnel are defined as individuals who contribute to the execution of the project in a substantive, measurable way. Key personnel should have prior experience performing the work. The offeror may determine how many and what labor categories are necessary for key personnel. However, the Department expects to see at a minimum, a Project Manager, an Enterprise Architect, and a labor category to serve as a CPIC Analyst, proposed as key personnel. The proposed Project Manager should be PMP certified.

As part of Appendix 1, resumes shall be included for all key personnel for this order, including key personnel from subcontractors. Resumes shall document experience, educational background, and professional activities related to the tasks that the individual will perform for this order. If key personnel are unknown at the time of submission, a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria) shall be substituted for resumes and may be included in Appendix 1. The offeror must demonstrate that the offeror understands the roles of the key personnel and the offeror must propose a plan for obtaining those key personnel.

As part of Appendix 2, a letter of commitment from all proposed consultants and key personnel not employed currently by the offeror shall be included. The need for any proposed consultants shall also be justified fully, including how they would contribute to the project. Consultant resumes shall be provided.

For informational purposes only, this work has historically been completed by a range of 5-10 FTEs.

56. Management Plan: -The offeror shall identify potential and/or anticipated problems, and suggest proposed variations in the design of the work that may facilitate successful completion of the tasks and objectives in the PWS. The offeror should demonstrate its organizational capacity and ability to carry out all phases of work associated with the major activities stated in the PWS.

The offeror shall include a chart that shows staff mix and staff hours by task and sub-task. The chart shall indicate both job position and employee name. The chart shall indicate which company each employee works for, and if the proposed person is not currently employed with that company, the chart should indicate that the person is a contingency hire. The offeror shall include all labor categories in the chart and demonstrate an ability and present intention to provide personnel to commence work at the time of

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contract award. The offeror shall demonstrate that the proposed personnel are not overextended by including a chart showing how the labor hours on this project compare to other commitments.

67. Past Performance - This section should describe the offeror’s relevant past and current experience in conducting projects of a similar or comparable nature. Please include at least three examples of the prime’s past performance within the past five years. Summaries of such work should be submitted, including the names, current affiliations, and current telephone numbers of appropriate references.

For each past performance reference, the offeror shall include or describe:

(1) Contract number and type,

(2) Client name or funding agency (ED, DOL, HHS, DOT, etc.),

(3) Final dollar value (including options if a contract),

(4) Anticipated or Actual Completion Date,

(5) Description of the effort,

(6) Relevance of this work to this contract,

(7) Why the effort is considered “successful.”

The Government also reserves the right to obtain past performance information from other sources including performance reports from the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS).

Business Proposal

Offerors that respond to this request shall structure their business proposals in a manner that will allow for the Government to conduct a separate analysis of the proposal. The Business Proposal shall be submitted as a separate document from the Technical Proposal. It shall contain complete information in sufficient detail for the Government to make a fair and reasonable price determination. The Contracting Officer may reject a proposal if a negative determination is made, or if proposed prices are found not to be reasonable.

There is no page limit to the business proposal. The business proposal shall be formatted in a readable way (e.g., no tiny fonts). The business proposal shall start with a cover page that provides:

The name of the company.

The website address of the company (if applicable).

The point of contact (name, phone number, email address) of a company representative who can answer any questions that the Department may have.

The offeror’s DUNS number.

Date. (If a offeror is selected for negotiations, and the offeror later updates its business proposal as part of negotiations, the date on the cover page should be updated to reflect the new submission date.)

Price Buildup

The business proposal shall provide a complete price build-up that includes identification of proposed labor categories by named individuals, their functional category, level of effort, effective hourly rate, extended labor price (i.e., labor hours x hourly labor rate), other direct costs (including the identification of any applicable indirect cost and how it is applied to other direct costs), and profit on other direct costs.

Profit on the labor costs should be embedded in the effective hourly rates proposed, so that the proposed labor rates are “loaded.” The price shall be presented by task and/or subtask. The proposal shall describe any applicable assumptions used to formulate the price build-up.

The proposal should show the price for the base period and all option periods as shown below. This price build-up should include a full breakdown of price, task, and labor rate for each period of performance.

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A B C D E F

Base

Period 12 months

Option Period I

12 months

Option Period II 12 months

Option Period III 12 months

Option Period IV 12 months

2 Price

Payment Schedules

The offeror shall submit a proposed payment schedule. This should be submitted as a separate Microsoft

Excel file. The payment schedule should be broken down to show payments for the base and all option periods. The individual amounts should add up to the total amount. The payment schedule need not reference due dates and can generally follow a simple format such as:

Payment Schedule

Description of Payment Trigger

(Deliverable or Milestone Achievement) Payment Amount

Total:

The payment triggers should be based on accomplishments (e.g., submitting a deliverable, or meeting a milestone), as opposed the passage of time (e.g., monthly).

Conflict of Interest

The business proposal shall include a Conflict of Interest Certificate (as provided in the solicitation) and a

Conflict of Interest Plan.

Offerors must submit a Conflict of Interest Plan , providing details on its policies and procedures to identify and avoid potential organizational or personal conflicts of interest (or apparent conflicts of interest). The Plan must also address procedures taken to neutralize or mitigate such conflicts, if they have not been or cannot be avoided. The Plan should indicate that such policies and procedures are operative throughout the period of performance of the contract. The policies should address, at a minimum, gifts, outside activities financial interests, or other significant connections or identifications that would establish, or give the appearance of establishing, a conflict of interest. A method for periodically reviewing financial interests of employees, subcontractors and consultants, and their immediate families, in order to assess actual or apparent conflicts of interest should be included in the plan. In this clause, the term “potential conflict” means reasonably foreseeable conflict of interest.

The thoroughness, completeness, and effectiveness of the Plan will be evaluated as part of the offeror’s overall proposal. The Plan will be incorporated into the contract awarded to the successful offeror.

Other Details:

The business proposal shall list the names and telephones numbers of persons authorized to conduct negotiations;

The business proposal shall include a statement to the effect that the offer is firm for a period of at least 90 calendar days from the date of receipt of offers specified by the Government;

If subcontractors are proposed, a separate price buildup (by task) should be submitted for each proposed subcontractor, and these prices should also be included in the prime's total firm-fixed

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price for each task order. In the master buildup for each task order, it should be clear which costs are associated with the prime contractor and which costs are associated with subcontractors.

If subcontractors are proposed, FAR 52.219-14(c)(1) requires that “At least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the concern.”

The small business primary contractor must perform at least 50% of the labor, as measured by dollars (not hours). The offeror shall include a chart comparing labor prices between the prime and subcontractors to aid in the Government’s analysis of this issue.

Submission Instructions

The technical proposal and the business proposal must be submitted as separate documents, because the

Technical Evaluation Panel is not permitted to view proposal prices while conducting a technical review.

When possible, the technical proposal and its appendices should be combined into a single document.

The business proposal shall be submitted as a PDF and as an Excel document. The technical proposal should be submitted as a PDF. Each attachment submitted should be titled as follows: “Company’s Name

Technical Proposal” and “Company’s name Business Proposal.” Please limit the title of your email to your company name and the RFP number.

Clarification questions shall be submitted by October 6, 2017 at 10:00AM EST. Questions should be submitted via email to the following:

Michael.Bates@ed.gov

Heather.Watroba@ed.gov

Proposals are due on October 23, 2017 at 10:00AM EST. Proposals should be submitted via email to the following:

Michael.Bates@ed.gov

Heather.Watroba@ed.gov

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Award of this contract will be made on a competitive best value basis, using a “trade-off” among price and non-price factors, as determined by ratings assigned from a technical review panel. The relative importance of the non-price factors is significantly more important than price.

The evaluators will apply the following adjectival ratings to each individual criterion:

EVALUATION SCALE

EXCELLENT

The offeror’s proposed solution exceeds specified performance or capability in a beneficial way to the Department. The solution does not contain inconsistencies or incompatibilities. The response to this criterion has multiple strengths in meeting the requirements and does not contain any deficiencies or significant weaknesses. Any weaknesses that exist are minor and can be easily remedied. The approach represents a low risk to the

Department.

SATISFACTORY

The offeror’s proposed solution meets the performance or capability standards. The solution contains minor or insignificant inconsistencies or incompatibilities. The response to this criterion has strengths and may or may not have weaknesses, but the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, and the criterion does not contain any deficiencies and no more than one significant weakness. The approach represents a medium risk to the

Department.

MARGINAL

The offeror’s proposed solution fails to meet some of the performance or capability standards. The solution contains inconsistencies. The response to this criterion may have strengths, but these strengths are offset by either significant weaknesses and/or deficiencies. Corrections of significant weaknesses and/or deficiencies could result in a satisfactory or excellent proposal. The approach represents a high risk to the Department.

UNSATISFACTORY

The offeror’s proposed solution fails to meet the minimum performance requirements. The solution contains numerous inconsistencies, significant weaknesses, and/or deficiencies. The response to this criterion may contain strengths, however, any strengths are outweighed by the significant weaknesses and/or deficiencies. The response to this criterion requires extensive revision that amounts to a rewrite of the criterion in order to be satisfactory or excellent. The approach represents a high risk to the

Department.

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The evaluation factors are listed in descending order of importance. All sub-criteria within each Criterion are of equal weight.

1. TECHNICAL APPROACH

The Department will evaluate the extent to which the solution satisfies the requirements as set forth in the PWS and the likelihood that the proposed solution will result in a successful outcome for the Department.

The extent to which the offeror demonstrates expertise in Capital Planning, Enterprise

Architecture, Investment performance management, Enterprise Architecture, FITARA, and eCPIC.

The extent to which the offeror’s technical approach fully describes the Investment management, Capital Planning and Enterprise Architecture activities, the audience and scope of the listed tasks and subtasks, and provides sufficient oversight and support to ensure consistency in the quality and intensity of technical assistance to be provided.

2. KEY PERSONNEL

The extent to which the offeror’s proposed personnel and partners possess extensive knowledge and demonstrated experience with Investment Management, Capital Planning, Enterprise Architecture activities.

The extent to which the proposed project personnel have the appropriate qualifications and experience to manage this federal contract and to accomplish their assigned project tasks. Experience in meeting planning, logistical support, website management, SharePoint, and collaboration with partners or other entities in designing and executing virtual meetings and conferences is also considered.

3. MANAGEMENT PLAN

The extent to which the offeror describes (in a clear and sequential fashion) a plan for managing the project, and has committed sufficient resources to this effort.

The extent to which the offeror’s organizational chart clearly identifies project management teams as well as key positions. Lines of authority and communications between home office and project management teams and key positions are clear, logical, and effective. Responses to changes in customer needs, tasking, and workload requirements, including appropriateness of the organizational structure in relationship to the ED environment and the approach for accommodating short term increases and decreases in workload, are identified.

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The extent to which the plan provides credible evidence that the management of personnel, physical resources, activities, and work production will result in orderly and timely completion of work within the project performance period and within the project budget.

The extent to which the plan outlines and describes each task, including specific actions needed to accomplish each task, a reasonable timeline for accomplishing each task, and the key personnel assigned to each task.

The extent to which the time commitments of the project director and all project staff, including consultants, are appropriate to the task(s) assigned.

4. EXPERIENCE and PAST PERFORMANCE

The extent to which the prime offeror and partners demonstrates the institutional capacity and infrastructure necessary to accomplish all tasks described in the performance work statement. The offeror’s reputation for effective management of federal contracts, including quality, problem resolution, cost control, timeliness, business relations and customer service, is also considered.

The extent to which the prime offeror and partners demonstrates experience in working to identify Investment Management, Capital Planning and Enterprise Architecture policy needs and issues and create measureable action plans to address those needs and issues.

The extent to which the prime offeror and partners have has knowledge of or experience with a range of Investment Management, Capital Planning and Enterprise Architecture activities, and is an experienced provider of customized technical assistance. The offeror’s experience with meeting planning and execution, particularly the use of technology for virtual events, and with maintaining/moderating virtual networking sites, is also considered.

PRICE:

The award will be made to the Offeror whose proposed solution represents the best value to the

Department. Price will be an important factor. However, price will be less important than the non-price factors when combined.

Although price is an evaluation factor, it will not be evaluated based upon a predetermined evaluation rating scale. Price will be analyzed in order to ensure that the proposed price is fair and reasonable, as required by the SSA/CO.

Evaluation of the business proposal of each individual order shall be conducted under the guidance of the assigned Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. The TEP Panel

Chair and/or panelists may participate in the evaluation of the business proposal as requested. Since adequate price competition is anticipated, the price analysis will consist of:

A comparison of the total prices quoted for each individual order in response to the

Request for Proposals (RFP).

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An assessment of whether each total price is fair and reasonable.

If deemed necessary, the Government may conduct additional price analysis techniques.

Offerors are strongly encouraged to offer discounted rates in order to remain competitive.

The Government will evaluate proposals for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that a proposal is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced.

Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise option(s).

Washington DC 20065