ATCH 2 - Proposal Instructions and Evaluation Criteria.pdf

Attachment 2 15A00026R00000014

ATTACHMENT 2 - PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND EVALUATION

CRITERIA

FAR 52.252-1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) PROVISIONS

INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

This RFP incorporates one or more provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer (CO) will make the full text available. Be cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by offerors and submitted with their proposal. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, offerors may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its proposal. Also, the full text of a provision may be accessed electronically at these addresses:

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

(a) The Government may award without discussions with offerors; therefore, offerors are cautioned to examine the RFP in its entirety and to ensure that its proposal is complete, containing all necessary documentation, in all respects. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions and to permit offerors to revise their proposal.

(b) Offerors shall submit an electronically signed and dated offer by the date and time in Block 8 of the SF-1449 RFP document to Amanda Boshears, amanda.boshears@atf.gov.

1. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

(a) Offerors shall submit a complete response to this Request for Proposal (RFP) using the format provided in these instructions. All pages must be identified with offeror’s name and the RFP number.

(b) For the electronic submission, the offer shall be submitted in uncompressed files submitted via email.

(c) The electronic version of the text shall be in Adobe Acrobat Portable Data Format (PDF) for Volume I and Microsoft Excel for Volume II. A narrative PDF may also be submitted as part of Volume II as well.

(d) Information shall be confined to the appropriate volume folder/tab to facilitate independent evaluation. The technical proposal should be clear and concise, logically assembled and indexed and cross-indexed to applicable parts of the RFP as appropriate.

Pages over the maximum-page limitation for any volume folder/tab will be excluded from evaluation. The page limits for Volume I shall not include any diagrams, figures, tables, or reference material, unless otherwise indicated in paragraph 2.c.

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far mailto:amanda.boshears@atf.gov

2. FORMAT

(a) Submissions. The text shall have 1” margins on all sides, be single-spaced; font style Times New Roman; font color black; and font size 12. Illustrations (e.g., graphics figures, graphs, and tables) shall be in portrait format with font colors other than black allowable and font sizes 12, 10, and 9 are considered acceptable. Offeror’s company name (no logos), the date, RFP number, volume number and section shall be included on each page of the proposal/offer (may be included in a header/footer). All pages of the proposal/offer shall be numbered, using a uniform paragraph-numbering system.

Page numbers, headers and footers may be outside the page margins, and are not bound by the font, color and point-size requirement. Information not contained within the above limitations will not be evaluated.

(b) Offer Volume. Offerors shall present all information relevant to each factor in the appropriate section. Offerors shall insert its company’s name in the filename.

(c) Requirements

Volume Section/Tab Title Page Limits

I Section I – Tab A/Introduction (Table of Contents, Tab B/Executive-Level Summary, Corporate Qualifications), Tab C/ORCA Certification or other Certifications and Representations and Tab D/Exceptions

I Section 2 –Technical Approach 15 I Section 3 – Past/Present

Performance (per Attachment 2) 3 Pages per Reference (this attachment is to be completed by references and returned to the ATF CO II Price (to include signed SF-1449) 5

3. CONTENT

3.1 Volume I – Offerors are requested to provide the below information.

3.1.1 Section 1/Tab A – Introduction & Table of contents for easy reference.

3.1.2 Section 1/Tab B – Executive-Level Summary. Provide a letter formally transmitting the offer. Identify the name, address, e-mail address, telephone and facsimile transmission number of the person(s) who has contractual authority and can be contacted concerning any questions about this offer. Also, include the following as attachments to the letter: a document containing the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, cage code and UEI of the contractor and of any corporate affiliate at which work is to be performed.

3.1.3 Section 1/Tab C - Exceptions/Alternatives (Terms and Conditions).

(a) Offerors are cautioned that it takes exception to any Terms and Conditions of the RFP at their own risk. The Government may, at its option, reject an offer which contains any such exceptions.

Nonetheless, any exception taken by Offerors, at their own risk, shall be identified in this tab. Offerors shall clearly identify the paragraph and term or condition to which the exception is being made and include appropriate rationale for any such exception.

(c) Suggested, optional wording changes (to include clarifications and addenda) to any terms and conditions of the RFP shall be identified in this part. The Government may at its option accept or reject any such changes. If accepted, it may be necessary to amend the RFP and to discuss the changes with other Offerors.

(d) If no exceptions are taken, Offerors shall include the following statement in this part of the proposal: “[Name of Offeror] takes no exception to any terms and conditions of RFP No. 15A00026R0000014.

3.2 Section 2 – Technical

The technical proposal shall contain sufficient information to ensure complete analysis and evaluation of offeror’s proposal. All available information pertaining specifically to the requirements in Attachment 1 – Statement of Work shall be included, as well as any other information that offerors believe would demonstrate its ability to successfully accomplish the work. Offerors are cautioned that any information submitted for subcontractors or team members (if applicable) will only be evaluated if a firm commitment with the firm or individual is demonstrated by signed letters of intent, subcontracts, or teaming agreements.

Offerors shall submit the information in the technical proposal in the following order:

(1) Technical Approach: Offerors shall demonstrate their complete understanding of ATF’s tasks by fully describing its proposed technical approach to perform each of the tasks specified under the SOW. Offerors shall identify any barriers that it would conceivably encounter in pursuing the required work and make specific proposals for its solution. Offerors shall include a plan for how it intends to accomplish, administer, and manage the tasks in the SOW. If offerors propose subcontractors and/or teaming arrangements, the plan shall explain to what extent subcontractors and/or team members will be involved in the performance of the proposed tasks, and how offerors will manage the subcontractor and/or team member participation.

The technical proposal will be reviewed for technical acceptability in meeting or exceeding the requirements of Attachment 1 – Statement of Work.

Table 3.2. Technical Acceptable/Unacceptable Ratings

Rating Description Acceptable Proposal clearly meets the minimum requirements of the RFP.

Unacceptable Proposal does not clearly meet the minimum requirements of the RFP.

3.3 Section 3 – Past/Present Performance

Offerors shall list and describe no more than three (3) recent and relevant contracts/projects performed for the Federal Government that are similar with respect to size, scope, and complexity of the SOW. For the description, offerors should include Contract Number, Contract point of contact, the Government contracting and/or technical point of contact (POCs) with current phone numbers, e-mail addresses and titles, project dollar value, and a brief narrative regarding the project’s size, scope, and complexity to allow the Government to verify experience and Past/Present Performance information contained in the quote.

The Government may contact those references during the evaluation. For this factor, recent is defined as license plate reader access services provided and completed within the last three (3) years. Additionally, the Contacting Officer may use other Government sources which may include Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), the Contracting Officer’s knowledge of and previous experience with the service, or any other reasonable basis.

References shall also submit past/present performance surveys directly to the CO no later than the date and time proposals and Past/Present Performance surveys are due by the date and time in Block 8 of the SF-1449 RFP document to Amanda Boshears, amanda.boshears@atf.gov.

Recent is defined as contract performance within three years of when proposals are due.

Relevancy includes, but is not limited to, the following: Similarity of product/service/support, complexity, dollar value, contract type, use of key personnel (for services), and extent of subcontracting/teaming.

The following ratings will be used for Past/Present Performance Relevancy:

Past/Present Performance - Ratings

Adjectival Rating

Description

Acceptable

Based on Past/Present Performance information, which is both relevant and recent, the Government expects offerors to be capable of successfully fulfilling the Government’s requirement. In situations where offerors are without a record of relevant and recent Past/Present Performance and offerors has affirmatively stated that it possesses no relevant and recent Past/Present Performance, offeror’s Past/Present Performance will be deemed acceptable.”

Unacceptable Based on Past/Present Performance information, which is both recent and relevant, the Government does not expect offerors to be capable of successfully fulfilling the Government’s requirement.

For offerors who lack relevant and recent experience, offerors must provide an affirmative declaration stating as such, and in such situations, an offeror who fails to provide such a declaration may be found to have provided an incomplete offer, which the Government may deem to be non-responsive and ineligible for award.

The Government will award a firm-fixed price contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible offeror whose quote conforming to the RFP is the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA). The lowest price proposal who has acceptable ratings in technical and Past/Present Performance factors, will be eligible for award.

References shall also submit past/performance survey responses directly to the CO no later than the date and time proposals and Past/Present Performance surveys are due by the date and time in Block 8 of the SF-1449 RFP document to Amanda Boshears, amanda.boshears@atf.gov.

3.4 Volume II – Price

3.4.1 General.

Offerors shall ensure that all information is presented in an organized fashion to allow ATF to understand the price of the work to be performed. The award resulting from this RFP shall be firm-fixed price. To assess price reasonableness and amount:

• Offerors shall present the information in electronic format via email using

Microsoft Excel for the government to review any proposed escalation, etc.

• Section B contains specific pricing instructions that shall be followed in developing the price proposal.

Section 1 – Section B, Pricing

Offerors shall submit pricing in accordance with Section B of the SF-1449. The pricing volume shall contain sufficient information to allow the contracting officer to perform an analysis of the proposed price.

The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. This includes options under FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, which applies to this solicitation. Evaluation of options under 52.217-8 will be accomplished by using the prices offered for the last option period, which will be added to the base and other option years to arrive at the total price. Evaluations of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

Price shall be evaluated for reasonableness. The CO will evaluate proposed pricing to ensure it aligns with the requirements in the SOW. The CO may use other techniques based on competition, etc. Price will not be evaluated adjectivally.

4. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

4.1 EVALUATION PROCESS

(a) The Government will award a single contract resulting from this RFP to offerors, which shall include a technical approach that meets the requirements of the statement of work. The Government will also evaluate Past/Present Performance and price.

(b) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, furnished to the successful Offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party.

4.2 BASIS FOR AWARD

Evaluations will be conducted in accordance with the guidelines provided in the FAR and the RFP. Award will be made to offerors with the expectation that the proposal meets the requirements in the statement of work. Past/Present Performance and price will also be evaluated. ATF requires and intends to procure Secondary Market Enterprise access with API for the Office of Intelligence Operations’ Operational Intelligence Division. The contract awarded shall be Firm-Fixed Price.

ATF may award without discussions; however, ATF will hold discussions, if deemed in the best interest of the Government.

4.3 EVALUATION AND EVALUATION FACTORS

The government will review and evaluate Past/Present Performance, technical acceptability in meeting the requirements of the statement of work, and price. ATF will award a contract to the responsible, responsive firm that is determined to be the lowest price, technically acceptable offeror. An offeror’s proposal submission must conform to the RFP and all attachments provided.

5. FORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

(a) The RFP and amendments will be made available via SAM.gov and offerors are advised to monitor this site continuously for notifications and amendments.

(b) All correspondence pertaining to this RFP shall be addressed to the Contracting Officer, Amanda Boshears via e-mail at amanda.boshears@atf.gov. In order to issue pertinent and timely RFP amendments, all offeror’s questions must be received no later than Thursday, 2/11/26 at noon.

6. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Any contractor (or member of its team and/or subcontractor) having a conflict of interest as defined under FAR Part 9.5 must identify the conflict as soon as it is known and provide a recommended mitigation plan. Mitigation plans are required whenever a competing contractor has had unequal access to non-public information regarding this requirement and/or competition or has assisted the Government in defining the requirements or evaluation criteria.