Solicitation Q As 1 11Apr12.pdf

Solicitation Q&As #1; 11 April 12

Question #1 Using the option year budgets as a guideline, the amount budgeted would not cover the service pricing and extended warranty costs for all of the units that could be purchased using year one guidelines. Should I simply state the prices for the various services needed during the optional years and leave it at that even though this means that not all of the devices purchased would have service in the option years due to the budget constraints?

Answer #1 Pricing for the Option years should be on a by unit basis showing the unit price for service and extended warranty separately. The Government will determine the best combination of units and service that meets the Forest Service needs and budget.

Question #2

1) I understand that the proposal is to be emailed to you in two PDF volumes: one contains the technical proposal the other contains the price proposal

2) The Price Proposal contains two sections:

a. Section 1 identifies exceptions to the T&Cs

b. Section 2 is a description of how our proposed SEND units meet the requirements and provides a narrative of the units’ past performance (noting issues and resolutions), and 2 references of prior customers to be contacted.

3) The Technical Proposal is a point-by-point compliance document using the headings in the Solicitation

Is my understanding of Item (2) correct? If so, is SF 1449 to be filled out manually, scanned, and provided as part of the Price Proposal (such as the front)?

Am I correct in stating (3) that the Technical Proposal provides technical descriptions of the items identified in Section 3 Technical Specifications of the Solicitation, separate from the description and narrative of the Price Proposal?

Finally, I was planning to provide the Technical Proposal as a compliance matrix (section / topic title | compliance (C, NC, PC) | description). Would you prefer the approach of a section/title followed by the description only?

Answer #2 The proposal format for this Solicitation as follows:

Technical Proposal

Price Proposal

Section 1 Exceptions to Terms and

Conditions

Proposed pricing broken out as follows:

1. Price per SEND unit;

2. Total number of SEND units proposed;

3. Price per SEND unit for the associated satellite data service plan, customer support, WEB

Section 2 A detailed technical discussion demonstrating how the proposed SEND unit meets all of the requirements of the

Requirements Document.

Section 3 A detailed narrative describing the past performance of the units; problems encountered with performance or deployment; solutions made by the offeror; and 2 references for prior customers to be contacted by the Forest Service.

Technical proposal limited to 25 pages.

monitoring services, and minimum of a 1-year warranty for repair/replacement of damaged units.

4. Price per year for 2 1-year options to cover satellite data service plan, customer support, WEB monitoring services, warranty repair/replacement of damaged units and purchase of additional new units.

As long as the above format is followed, the details of submission are up to the offeror.

Return of a completed SF 1449 is not required.

Question #3 One of the items under Contract Clauses (b) Submission of Offers mentions “If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying . . .” We would prefer to use SF 1449, but have questions about the way to go about it.

1) The SF 1449 available from the Solicitation site in FBO does not allow text entry; I was able to get a version (REV. 2/2012) but would like to know if normally offerors use a blank form and fill in both the original information and their own information. In other words, how can we respond using SF 1449?

2) The SF 1449 available from the Solicitation site contains only 4 of 17 pages; I assume that the other pages are not necessary at this time. Is this correct?

3) The Submission of Offers also mentions offerors are to provide an “Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments”; however, I was unable to find any amendments. I assume that at this time there are none, and if there were they would be identified as a separate document as part of the document tree. Is this correct?

Answer #3 Submission of your proposal on the SF 1449 is not required. At the conclusion of evaluation, the successful offeror will be sent a contract document for signature.

Pages 5-17 are comprised of the specification, FAR clauses, and evaluation criteria that are the text of the solicitation.

There have been no amendments to this solicitation to date.