A28 RFQ Instructions and Evaluation.pdf

INSTRUCTIONS AND EVALUATION

Maintenance and Repair

RFQ #: 15DDHQ21Q00000134

1. Submittal Requirements: Quotes shall be submitted electronically to amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov. Submittal shall be on Vendor’s letterhead clearly labeled with Vendor’s name, address, phone number, business size/socio economic category, and point of contact for the quote. Quotes must include the name and signature of an official authorized to bind the submitting organization. Quotes must be received by the published due date and time; fax submittals and late quotes shall not be considered.

2. Basis for Award: The government intends to award an 8(a) set aside, single, firm fixed priced

Purchase Order with options based on the best value to the Government under FAR 13.5.

3. Time, Date, and Place for Submission of Quote: Phase I proposals only shall be submitted to amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov in response to this RFQ Phase I no later than 4:00 pm EDT on 09/01/2021. Phase II submission date is TBD. See section 10 for details.

4. Questions: Questions for Phase I only shall be submitted to amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov no later than 12:00 pm EDT on 8/27/2021. Phase II question submission date is TBD.

5. Quote Period: The Vendor’s quote shall be good for not less than 60 calendar days.

6. Expenses Related to Vendor Submission: The Government will not pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of any quotes.

7. Determination of Vendor Responsibility: Separate and independent of this evaluation, the Contracting Officer will make a determination of responsibility using the standards listed in FAR 9.104-1. In the event a Vendor is deemed not responsible, that Vendor will be notified and removed from participation in this procurement.

8. RFQ Response - The quote shall conform to provisions and clauses included in this solicitation.

To aid its evaluation, the quote shall be clearly and concisely written as well as being neat, indexed, and logically assembled. The quote shall be specific and complete in every detail. The quote shall be practical, straightforward with concise delineation of what it is the Vendor will do to satisfy the requirements of the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The quote shall not merely offer to perform work in accordance with the scope of the work. It shall outline the actual work proposed as specifically as practical. The PWS reflects the objectives of the program, therefore merely stating or affirming that the Vendor will execute the performance requirements without sufficient elaboration will not be acceptable. All pages shall be appropriately numbered and identified with the name of the Vendor, the date, and RFQ number.

9. Instructions

8.1 52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition. (JAN 2017) mailto:amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov mailto:amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov mailto:amanda.j.vanderveen@dea.gov

A. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard.

The NAICS code and small business size standard for this acquisition appear in Block 10 of the solicitation cover sheet (OF 347).

B. As a result of the solicitation, the Government intends to make a single Firm Fixed Price (FFP) purchase order for a base year period and four (4) option periods.

C. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Offeror whose quote, conforming to the solicitation, represents the best value to the Government, price, and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate quotes, all factors are equal in importance:

1) Prior Experience (Volume I)

2) Technical Approach & Understanding of the Requirements (Volume I)

3) Price (Volume II)

8.2 Compliance Check

The Government will conduct an initial compliance check. The initial compliance check will include the following:

- Verification of small business size

- Compliance with RFQ instructions

The Government will consider an offeror’s noncompliance with these RFQ instructions, or any attempt to evade the requirements imposed by these instructions, as indicative of the conduct the Government may expect from the offeror during contract performance. The Government reserves the right to treat noncompliance with these instructions as a risk, and may treat such risk as grounds to eliminate any offeror from award consideration.

8.3 Quote Volumes

The quote shall be prepared in two separated volumes and shall be organized to address each of the evaluation factors in order.

a. Technical Quote (Volume I)

Factor I — Prior Experience

Factor II — Technical Approach & Understanding of the Requirement

Factor I. – Prior Experience

The offeror shall provide information to facilitate the Government’s considerations of Criteria I. The Government is most interested in examples of real work with actual results of the prime contractor is maintenance and repairs similar to the requirements in the above SOO.

The prime contractor shall provide at least two (2) examples of its experience (its own experience, not the experience of any proposed subcontractors or their teaming partners).

The Government is more interested in the quality and similarity of the experience examples to the requirement than the quantity of examples. The offeror shall include the name and contact information of a reference that can substantiate the real example of real work and real results. The information shall be sufficiently detailed that the evaluators can determine whether the examples demonstrate the prime contractor’s experience. The government will not contact the reference to obtain detail lacking from the offeror’s response.

Page limit: 5 pages

Factor II. – Technical Approach & Understanding of the Requirement

The PWS reflects the objectives of the program, therefore merely stating or affirming that the

Vendor will execute the performance requirements without sufficient elaboration will not be acceptable. The offeror shall provide a technical approach to include:

1) A corporate organizational chart including positions with direct supervisory control of on-site personnel.

2) Proposed DEA on-site personnel positions to include specific hours of on-site presence.

3) Back-up contingencies for loss of personnel due to termination, resignation, medical or vacation absences.

4) Staffing strategy for maintenance and repair activities requiring multiple persons to complete.

5) A strategy to ensure Service Calls and Repairs are accomplished, as specified in the

PWS, without diminished performance to other requirements.

6) A description of how the offeror will meet the response time requirements described in the

PWS for each defined Service Call classification.

7) Proposed use of subcontractors for specific equipment and systems identified in the DEA

Equipment Inventory and the prime contractors strategy for monitoring and managing their subcontractor’s work.

8) Requirements Plans as described in the PWS (submit as attachments, not included in page count): Preventative Maintenance Plan, Repair Plan, Quality Control Plan, Hazardous Material Plan

Page limit: 10 pages

Factor III. Price

b. Business/Price Quote (Volume II) –The Vendor shall provide the following business information with their Business/Price Quote:

• Company Name, Address, Point of Contact

• DUNS number

• CAGE CODE number

• Special Item Number (SIN) 712-3

• NAICS Code 238220: Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditions Contractors

• Business Size $16,500,000

• RFQ Amendment acknowledgements

• Price Quote – The Vendor shall provide a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) quote for Base and all options repair and maintenance. A note to exceed value is included for any necessary repairs and maintenance not covered in the preventative FFP CLINs.

• Any changes or updates to the representations and certifications on file in the System for Award Management as required by paragraph (b) of Federal Acquisition Regulation provision 52.212-3 Vendor Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items.

• Completion of DEA-2852.209-70 – Organizational Conflicts of Interest – The Vendor shall refer to clause DEA-2852.209-70 Organizational Conflicts of Interest (MAY 2012) located in attached clause matrix. Furthermore, the Vendor shall include a section in its price quote (Volume II) to warrant that to the best of its knowledge and belief, there are no relevant facts or circumstances that would give rise to an organizational conflict of interest as described in FAR Subpart 9.5, and the Vendor has disclosed all such relevant information. In the event that an actual, potential, or apparent organizational conflict of interest is discovered prior to award, the Vendor shall make full disclosure of the particular facts and circumstances to the Government’s Contracting Officer in writing. This disclosure shall include a description of the actions that the Vendor has taken, or proposes to take in order to avoid, mitigate, or neutralize the risk to the Government.

• Completion of DEA-2852.242-74 – Contract Administration Points of Contact.

• Certification of Teaming Arrangements and/or Subcontracting Information.

Page Limit: None

10. Evaluation of Quotes

All evaluation factors other than cost/price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price. As technical differences narrow, cost/price will become more important. If there are no significant technical differences, cost/price may be the determining factor for source selection.

This is a best-value procurement. The Government may or may not award to the lowest priced Offeror or highest technically rated Offeror. Factors are equally weighted.

The Government will assess its level of confidence that the offering contractor will successfully perform the requirements based on their experience in the evaluation factors in section 8.

High Confidence The Government has high confidence that the Offeror understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, and will be successful in performing the contract with little or no Government intervention.

Some Confidence The Government has some confidence that the Offeror understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, and will be successful in performing the contract with some Government intervention.

Low Confidence The Government has low confidence that the Offeror understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, or will be successful in performing the contract even with Government intervention.

9.1 Factor I. – Prior Experience

The Government will assess its level of confidence that the prime contractor will successfully perform the requirements based on its experience, considering matters such as:

1) In five of the past seven years, working in a high-rise facility more than six stories in elevation with at least 400,000 square feet of total occupied space.

2) Working as a prime contractor in buildings occupied by a Federal law enforcement agency.

Due to the unique requirements for security, confidentiality and continuity of operations this is of vital concern to DEA.

3) Performing preventive maintenance and repair of the type of equipment and systems itemized in the DEA Equipment Inventory. Such past experience must be relevant to equipment of the same or equivalent with regards to size/capacity, manufacture and model as that noted in the DEA Equipment Inventory.

9.2 Factor II. – Technical Approach & Understanding of the Requirement The Government will assess its level of confidence of the offeror’s technical approach & understanding by evaluating the offeror’s:

1) Back-up contingencies for loss of personnel due to termination, resignation, medical or vacation absences.

2) Staffing strategy for maintenance and repair activities requiring multiple persons to complete.

3) Service Calls and Repairs strategy.

4) Plan to meet the response time requirements for each defined Service Call classification.

5) Proposed use of subcontractors for specific equipment and systems identified in the DEA

Equipment Inventory and the prime contractors strategy for monitoring and managing their subcontractor’s work.

6) Requirements Plans (submitted as attachments): Preventative Maintenance Plan, Repair

Plan, Quality Control Plan, Hazardous Material Plan

11. Source Selection Procedures

It is deemed in the best interest of the Government to use a procedure approved by Office of Federal Procurement Policy Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL) known as “Down Select” technique to review and evaluate Factor I and Factor II.

This procedure is not designed to form a competitive range. The Offerors shall be selected using the down-select technique in order for the Government to complete its evaluations and make the best value award decision.

The Government’s intent for use of the down-select technique to reduce the number of the proposals based on the Government’s evaluation of Factor I.

All interested offerors are invited to submit quotes in a two- phased process:

Phase I:

Only respond to Factor I due no later than 9/1/2021, 4:00pm EST.

Based upon the evaluation Factor I, Offerors with quotes evaluated to have the highest likelihood of success to meet the Government’s needs will be invited to submit the remainder of their proposal.

Each Offeror will receive an Advisory Notification. The Advisory Notification will inform the Offeror of:

The basis of the Government advisory notice; and Either that it will be invited to participate in Phase II of the RFQ, based on the information submitted, or that it is unlikely to be a viable competitor with the basis for that opinion. The intent of this distinction is to minimize proposal development costs for those vendors with little or no chance of receiving an award. However, notwithstanding the advice provided by the Government in response to their Phase I submissions, all respondents may participate in Phase II.

Phase II:

Factors II and III will be evaluated in this step. The selection decision will be a tradeoff involving all three factors, Prior Experience, Technical Approach & Understanding, and Price.

A single best-value offeror will be selected

Participation in Phase I is a mandatory part of this acquisition. Failure to participate in Phase I will preclude further consideration of the Offeror’s proposal. Phase II submission will not be accepted from any Offeror who has not completed Phase I.

Results of Phase I will be carried over to Phase II for the overall evaluation of proposals.

The Government will assess its level of confidence that the contractor’s quote is the best value combination of non-price and price factors to successfully provide services.

12. Basis of Award

The basis of award is best value trade-off between non-price and price factors. Factors will be assigned a confidence rating based on the quotes assessed level of understanding of the unique DEA requirement. The Offers shall be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation factors listed above.

Award on Initial Responses - The government anticipates selecting the best‐suited contractor from initial responses, without engaging in exchanges with contractors. Contractors are strongly encouraged to submit their best technical solutions and price in response to this RFQ.

Exchanges with Best-Suited Offeror - Once the government determines the contractor that is the best‐suited (i.e., the apparent successful contractor), the government reserves the right to communicate with only that contractor to address any remaining issues, if necessary, and finalize a delivery order with that contractor. These issues may include technical and price. If the parties cannot successfully address any remaining issues, as determined pertinent at the sole discretion of the government, the government reserves the right to communicate with the next best‐suited contractor based on the original analysis and address any remaining issues.

The Government will make award to the responsive, responsible Offeror whose proposal is most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government will evaluate proposals based upon technical factors described herein in Section 8 and cost/price. Prior to being evaluated in terms of the technical factors, the proposal must meet the requirements set forth in the solicitation. Offeror’s proposed cost/price will be considered independently of the technical factors and will not of themselves be accorded any specific confidence rating.

All evaluation factors other than cost/price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price. As technical differences narrow, cost/price will become more important. If there are no significant technical differences, cost/price may be the determining factor for source selection.

This is a best-value procurement. The Government may or may not award to the lowest priced Offeror or highest technically rated Offeror.