Atch4_36C25522Q0099_CSS_Addend_852.273-73.pdf

Combined Synopsis-Solicitation for Commercial Items Request for Quotation (RFQ) 36C25522Q0099

Attachment 4: VAAR 852.273-73 EVALUATION - HEALTH-CARE RESOURCES (JAN 2003)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer, conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following information or factors shall be used to evaluate offers (see Addendum):

(b) Except when it is determined not to be in the Government's best interest, the Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are materially unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) If this solicitation is a request for proposals (RFP), a written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise 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.

Before the offer's specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

ADDENDUM TO VAAR 852.273-73 Evaluation – Health-Care Resources

DEFINITIONS

As used in this part:

(a) “Quoter” means an entity that submits a response (i.e., quotation) to the Government’s Request for Quotation (RFQ).

(b) “Offer” means a quotation (to include documentation in support of the evaluation criteria) submitted in response to the Government’s Request for Quotation (RFQ).

(c) Responses requested are quotes and not proposals. The term “proposal(s)” refers to a negotiated acquisition under FAR Part 15, which does not apply to this acquisition. Any reference to “proposal”, if any, should be replaced with “quote” in this solicitation.

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

So that the Government may respond to all questions timely and in an appropriate format, questions must be submitted no later than January 19, 2022 - 10:00 a.m. Central Time. If answers merit RFQ amendment, it will be issued/published in the same manner as the solicitation. Telephonic inquiries will not be accepted. All technical questions shall be submitted via e-mail to michael.cumins@va.gov.

Questions received after this date will not be answered.

RESPONSE

(a) This requirement is being solicited under the authority of Public Law 104-262, and FAR Parts 12 and 13, and VAAR 873.

(b) Offers are to be submitted in two parts: 1) a price response and 2) a non-price response to the evaluation factors. Both responses are to be submitted together; however, the non-price and price responses shall be separated into two severable parts. The pricing response shall consist of a Cover Letter and the Completed Price Schedule at Attachment 1, with the quoter’s signature by a person within the firm authorized to bind the firm in a contract on the Cover Letter. The signed Immigration and Nationality Act Certification form and a copy of the offeror’s certificate of insurance. The non-price response shall address the non-price evaluation criteria.

(i) Cover Letter/Page: The cover page shall include the name and address of the quoter, point(s) of contact to include e-mail address and phone number. The point of contact should be the person mailto:michael.cumins@va.gov having authority to bind and make representations for the quoter relative to the quotation and any contract resulting from it.

(ii) The non-price response to the quotation shall not have any reference to price and/or cost.

These items are to be included in only the price response.

(iii) In order that each quotation be properly evaluated, it is required that each offeror respond to all items in the order as they appear in the evaluation criteria below. Quotations shall be organized with each section appropriately identified.

(iv) A past performance questionnaire completed by a firm who can provide relevant and recent past performance shall have been issued by the quoter to that firm, who in turn will provide it to the Contracting Officer.

(v) The VA will not pay any cost incurred in preparation and submission of quotations.

(a) Every precaution will be taken to safeguard non-price responses against disclosure to unauthorized persons. Any reference to price or cost within the non-price response shall be removed. The non-price response will be informally evaluated for completeness to ensure that all solicitation requirements are addressed.

(b) Responses will be evaluated for both technical merit and price completeness and reasonableness.

In order to provide full consideration of qualifications for contract award, offerors are encouraged to ensure that the information furnished in support of the technical response is factual, accurate and complete. The Government reserves the right to verify any information provided for evaluation purposes.

(c) It is the government’s intent to award without exchanges. The government is not obligated to request any additional information from an offeror who does not provide sufficiently detailed information of which an accurate evaluation can be made of an offeror’s quotation. Failure to submit complete information in the manner described above for the Technical Quotation may be grounds to consider the offeror “Non-responsive” and exclude the quotation from further considerations. It is, therefore, in the offeror’s best interest to submit all required documentation to the fullest degree possible. If an offeror cannot provide all information required by the evaluation factors, a statement documenting each omission shall be included in the offeror’s quotation addressing the omission(s).

BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD

Comparative Evaluation will be conducted.

Additional information pertaining to Comparative Evaluation below:

What Comparative Evaluation is:

1. It is the direct comparison of one quotation/offer with another in a uniform and fair manner to determine which quote/offer provides the Government what it needs, where and when as identified in the Request for Quote (RFQ).

2. It is an assessment of which response is the “best” as a whole.

3. Once one quotation/offer is found acceptable, it is compared side by side to the remaining ones, and the “best” one is chosen.

What Comparative Evaluation is not:

1. It does not individually evaluate quote/offers against specified evaluation factors.

2. It does not assign a rating using a color, numerical, or other rating methodology.

3. It does not require additional evaluation to determine if minimal advantage is worth a minimal or normal price difference, but not prohibited.

4. It is not a low price technically acceptable (LPTA) or trade-off process.

SOLICITATION NOTICE OF TIERED EVALUATIONS

This procurement is set-aside based on an order of priority as established in 38 U.S.C. 8127.

TIERED EVALUATIONS EXCLUDING LARGE BUSINESS CONCERNS:

This solicitation is being issued as tiered evaluation with the following tiers: (1) SDVOSB, (2) VOSB,

(3) 8(a), (4) HUBZone, (5) Other Small Business Concerns, e.g., SB, WOSB, Other. Large Businesses are Excluded. If award cannot be made, the solicitation will be cancelled, and the requirement resolicited.

The relative importance of Factors: Technical Capability and Past Performance, when combined, are approximately equal to price. In the following order of precedence Technical Capability and Past Performance are of equal importance. When Factors 1 and 2 are combined, they are approximately equal to price. A best value determination will be made using this order of precedence in conjunction with comparative and tiered evaluation.

(a) This is a best value evaluation using comparative and tiered evaluations in accordance with FAR 13 and

VAAR 813. The Government will select the best overall offer, based on price and other factors (technical, past performance veteran’s involvement), listed below. A contract may be awarded to the quoter who is deemed responsible in accordance with FAR 9, whose offer conforms to the solicitation’s requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required the Performance Work Statement of this solicitation) and is judged by an overall assessment of the evaluation factors to represent the most advantageous to the Government. As part of making the assessment, a best value analysis will be performed determining whether or not exceeding the minimum requirements at an associated price provides the best value that will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.

(b) THE GOVERNMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO AWARD TO OTHER THAN THE LOWEST PROPOSED PRICE.

However, the degree of importance of price as a factor in determining award could become greater depending upon the equality of the offers evaluated in the non- price factors. The greater the equality of offers within the non- price factors, the more important price becomes in selecting the best value to the Government.

(c) Award for All of the Work. The Government intends to award one contract as a result of this solicitation. Offers received for less than the stated number of items listed in the schedule may be considered ineligible for award. The Government, however, reserves the right to make an award for any item from any offeror for a quantity less than or equal to the quantity offered, at the unit prices offered, unless the offeror specifies otherwise in the offer.

EVALUATION FACTORS / EVALUATION CRITERIA

Offers will be evaluated in accordance with the following factors and sub-factors:

Factor 1: Technical Capability Sub-factor A; Qualifications & Experience of Registered Polysomnographer Technician’s

(RPSGT)

Sub-factor B; Management Capability Factor 2: Past Performance Factor 3: Price Factor 4: Veteran’s Involvement (VAAR 813.003-70(c)(2))

FACTOR 1 – Technical Quality:

Response shall demonstrate understanding of the requirements and capabilities to perform the requirements of the Performance Work Statement, meeting or exceeding the requirements. The technical portion submitted will be evaluated based on the verifiable evidence of qualifications and experiences of the offeror’s Registered Polysomnographer Technician (RPSGT) staffing plan of the organization:

(1) Sub-factor A Qualifications & Experience of Registered Polysomnographer Technician’s (RPSGT): For each Registered Polysomnographer Technician’s (RPSGT) proposed under the contract, the following documentation is required:

a) Evidence of valid, current certification.

b) Curriculum vitae (CV)s/resumes documenting current and previous experience in providing sleep study experience.

c) Names and contact information (telephone numbers and e-mail addresses) of three individuals who have firsthand knowledge of qualifications and competency of the proposed

RPSGT.

e) Skills assessments, competencies and evaluation documenting performance.

(2) Sub-factor B Management Capability: Provide the following information detailing how the offeror will meet the requirements of the solicitation:

a) Ability to provide full range of services required in the Performance Work Statement.

b) Ability to monitor quality, appropriateness of care and patient satisfaction.

FACTOR 2 – Past Performance:

The past performance evaluation will assess the relative risks associated with a quoter’s likelihood of success in fulfilling the solicitation’s requirements as indicated by the quoter’s record of past performance. The past performance evaluation may be based on the contracting officer’s knowledge of and previous experience with the service being acquired; Customer surveys, and past performance questionnaire replies; Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) at http://www.cpars.gov/; or any other reasonable basis.

- Response shall demonstrate documented provision of Sleep Study Services (do not include information related to interpretation or diagnosis, and limit information to performance of sleep studies – scheduling, patient management and monitoring, scoring and documenting, in an on-site environment and scoring of home sleep studies scoring and documenting within the previous 3-year period and be similar in size, nature and complexity of the requirements of the

PWS.

- Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ): Quoter provide no more than 3 PPQ references that discuss the quoter and their quoted/proposed RPSGT personnel in the past 3 years. PPQ must include the quoter’s past performance combined with the proposed/quoted RPSGT by name and title/position related to sleep study performance. Use the attached PPQ for this purpose.

FACTOR 3 - Price: Price analysis will be used to determine that offered prices are fair, and reasonable.

The Government will evaluate price in the order of precedence as stated in the Evaluation Criteria section to determine the best value to the Government.

http://www.cpars.gov/ http://www.cpars.gov/

This procurement is a Small Business Set-Aside comparative and tiered, comparative evaluation competitive procurement.

FACTOR 4 – Veteran’s Involvement:

In accordance with Veterans Affairs Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) 852.215-70, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) Evaluation Factors, the Government will assign evaluation credit for an Offeror (prime contractor) which is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB). To receive credit, an Offeror must be registered and verified in Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov at both time of quote submission and at time of award and must meet federal small business size standards for the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to the solicitation.

Non-SDVOSB/VOSB Offerors proposing to use SDVOSBs or VOSBs as subcontractors will receive some consideration under this evaluation Factor. Offerors must state in their quote the names of the SDVOSBs and VOSBs with whom they intend to subcontract and provide a brief description of the proposed subcontracts and the approximate dollar values of the proposed subcontracts. In addition, the proposed subcontractors must be registered and verified in the VIP database at https://www.vip.vetbiz.gov at both time of quote submission and at time of award and must meet federal small business size standards for the NAICS code assigned to the solicitation.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Responses are to be submitted by E-mailing (1) complete packet by January 24, 2022, 10:00 a.m.

Central Time to michael.cumins@va.gov. Mail, Courier, Hand-Carry or Fax versions shall not be accepted.

The Government will consider an offeror’s compliance with the solicitation instructions to be indicative of the type of conduct that it may expect from the offeror during contract performance. Therefore, failure to comply with these instructions may be grounds for exclusion of the quotation from further consideration.

(End of Addendum to VAAR 852.273-73)

Options. The Government will evaluate quotations 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 FAR 52.217-8 will be accomplished by adding six months of the quoter's price for the last potential period of performance under this contract to the quoter's total price. For example, if the contract includes option periods that are exercisable under FAR 52.217-9, the quoter's total price for the purpose of evaluation will include the base period, all option periods, and an additional six months of the last option period. Quoters must price only the base and option periods specified in the line item numbers (LINs) and subline item numbers (SLINs) and shall not submit a price for the potential six-month extension of services under FAR 52.217-8. The Government reserves the right to exercise the option under FAR 52.217-8 before the end of any of the contractor's performance periods and will be exercised at the price and/or rates in effect at the time the clause is exercised. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

End of Provision mailto:michael.cumins@va.gov

Attachment 4: VAAR 852.273-73 EVALUATION - HEALTH-CARE RESOURCES (JAN 2003)