A.03.23 QASP for New WQ IDIQ (attachment h).docx

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) IDIQ contract for Water Quality Testing, FY2021-2025

BLUF

This QASP was developed to provide a systematic approach to evaluating the work performance of contractors under the associated water quality testing contract. Required deliverables will be subject to 100% inspection and review by Water Quality personnel to ensure optimal quality of products and services. Any discrepancies or deficiencies will be reported to the Contract Management office, and the Contractor will be given the opportunity to correct or remediate. Analysis costs may be removed from invoices if rejection criteria are met. Repeated issues may result in not exercising contract option periods.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Huntington District intends to procure an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract for Water Quality Testing. The contractor shall furnish all supervision, labor, supplies, and materials necessary to perform Water Quality Testing for the Huntington District. The contract period will be for a base period of one year with a provision for 4 (four) option years for a total amount not-to-exceed $1.5 million. The contract will be awarded to the Offeror whose proposal conforms to the solicitation and is within a technical/price competitive range as determined by the Contracting Officer and has been evaluated as most advantageous to the Government, all factors considered. All responsive quotes will be evaluated utilizing the following factors (in descending order of importance): (A) Technical Capability (B) Management and Administration, and (C) Past Performance. Contract type will be an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract, competitively negotiated. Work will be issued by negotiated firm-fixed price task orders. An FSC code of B533 has been established for this solicitation. The NAICS code for this procurement is 541380, which has a size standard of $16.5 million in average annual receipts.

This QASP will be used to assure the government that work specified under this contract is completed satisfactorily. The plan is included for information purposes only. It does not supersede any of the requirements in other sections of the contract. Surveillance or inspections will be conducted through review of products and deliverables resulting from water quality analyses. In conjunction with describing the principle methods used for providing surveillance, this plan defines common terms and acronyms; summarizes the performance requirements for each contract section; and explains how deductions are calculated.

The Contractor shall provide all labor and materials necessary to generate and deliver the products required in the Performance Work Statement document. This plan establishes the specific quality assurance activities for the subject contract. This plan shall be reviewed and updated annually or as necessary by the Contracting Officer Representative or the Contracting Officer.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following personnel shall oversee and coordinate surveillance activities.

Contracting Officer (KO) -- The KO shall ensure performance of all necessary actions for effective contracting, ensure compliance with the contract terms, and shall safeguard the interests of the United States in the contractual relationship. The KO shall also ensure that the contractor receives impartial, fair, and equitable treatment under this contract. Determines the final assessment of the contractor’s performance.

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) -- The COR is responsible for providing continuous technical oversight of the contractor’s performance. The COR uses the QASP to conduct the oversight/surveillance process. The COR shall keep a Quality Assurance file that accurately documents the contractor’s actual performance. The purpose is to ensure that the contractor meets the performance standards contained in the contract. The COR is responsible for reporting early identification of performance problems to the KO. The COR is required to provide an annual performance assessment to the KO which will be used in documenting past performance. The QASP is the primary tool for documenting contractor performance. The COR is not empowered to make any contractual commitments or to authorize any contractual change on the Government’s behalf.

Water Management Staff -- This includes technical leads, supervisors, or others who inspect contract deliverables, review invoices, and provide information that helps the COR monitor contractor performance. Staff will perform a quality assurance review of all work to review that proper criteria, regulations, laws, codes, principles, and professional procedures have been used. This review will assess the utilization of clearly justified and valid assumptions that are in accordance with policy. It will also consider resolution of legal, technical and policy review issues. The Huntington District will review the work during each task order and follow the District’s Quality Management Processes (ISO Procedures). All noted QC issues will be addressed to the contractor immediately and promptly reported to the Contracting Officers Representative (COR).

DEFINITIONS

Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) -- Predetermined criteria used by the Government to distinguish between satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance.

Defect -- Any deficiency determined to be significant as to render the unit unsatisfactory.

Deficiency -- Any inspection unit which does not meet the Contract requirements in their entirety.

Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) – a spreadsheet of test results that is sufficient for import into the LRH Water Quality database.

100% Inspection -- An inspection method requiring full examination of each product or deliverable issued by the Contractor.

Line Item -- Refers to the Bid Items contained in the Scope of Work document.

Quality Assurance (QA) -- Those actions taken by the Government to insure goods or services meet the requirements of the contract.

Quality Control (QC) -- Those actions taken by a contractor to control the production of goods or services to ensure that they meet the requirements of the contract.

Quality Surveillance Plan (QASP) -- An organized written Government document used for quality assurance surveillance.

Work -- The general scope of services covered under the specifications of this contract.

ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION CRITERIA

Acceptance of Results/Deliverables

· Contractor performance meets all requirements per the contract SOW document.

· Test results are deemed accurate per the Contractor’s internal QC procedures and are comparable to historical USACE testing data.

· All EDDs and reports are in the correct format and include all test results ordered as per task orders and awards.

· Reports and EDDs have few, if any, mistakes or errors.

Rejection of Results/Deliverables

· Contractor fails to adhere to or meet requirements of the contract SOW.

· Test results are deemed inaccurate or fail the Contractor’s internal QC procedures.

· Test results are significantly different than historical data AND there are other deficiencies present such as the samples were analyzed past standard holding times, there was contamination discovered, or there were deficiencies across multiple analytes/test methods.

· Reports and/or EDDs are incomplete, in the incorrect format, or contain multiple errors/mistakes.

DEDUCTIONS

Deductions will be made whenever work or parts of work are rejected, and the Contractor is unable to remediate the discrepancy. Deductions are generally made on a whole line item quantity basis, because water quality testing is generally completed in whole units. Test results are either acceptable or unacceptable with little to no middle ground.

Though these circumstances are infrequent, analysis costs will be removed from an invoice when results meet rejection criteria and the Contractor is unable to complete the work or remediate the defect. Reasons an analysis will be removed from an invoice include but are not limited to: the Contractor was unable to perform the test, samples were mishandled or lost, or the results were determined to be unusable by USACE personnel.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY