Attachment 0002 Section L Instructions Conditions and Notices to Offerors.pdf

HEAVY LIFT 9 (HL9)

SOLICITATION NUMBER: W519TC-23-R-0002

L.1. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. These instructions are a guide for preparing proposals in response to W519TC-23-R-0002. These instructions, conditions, and notices to Offerors represent an addendum to and tailoring of FAR 52.212-1, and that in the event of a conflict, the language herein takes precedence over the terms of FAR 52.212-1 (reference FAR 12.302(a)). They describe the extent of information the Offeror should provide and emphasize the significant topic areas the Offeror should address in its proposal. Each Offeror shall submit a maximum of one proposal. The USG will not reimburse the Offeror for costs incurred in association with the preparation of its proposal. The Offeror is expected to review the PWS contained in the ‘List of Attachments’ of the solicitation for further insight into the areas that the proposal must address. The Offeror shall include in its proposal sufficient information to enable the USG to determine the Offeror’s understanding of the requirements in each of the evaluated areas. Offerors are cautioned that repeating language of the PWS with a statement of intent to perform does not reflect understanding of the requirement.

Offerors shall not specifically prepare samples or descriptive literature for submission with its proposal. Adherence to the prescribed format is required. Data not submitted with the proposal, but submitted previously or presumed to be known, will not be considered as part of the proposal. Failure to provide a proposal in compliance with the instructions specified in this solicitation shall render the Offeror’s proposal non-compliant. The proposal will not be further evaluated and will not be further considered for award. The Offeror must provide information in sufficient detail to allow the USG to make an assessment of the Offeror’s ability to successfully execute the HL9 effort. The proposal shall be prepared in a clear and legible manner. In addition, the Offeror shall write the proposal in English and the proposal must be specific and complete as described in these instructions.

Offerors shall complete the Standard Form 1449 and indicate within its proposal submission that its offer shall be accepted within 180 calendar days of the RFP closing date.

L.2. POINT OF CONTACT. The Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) is the sole point of contact for this acquisition. Any questions or concerns shall be addressed, in English, to the PCO. Except as otherwise indicated, e-mail is the only method of communication.

The PCO for this acquisition is:

David S. Fields E-mail: usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil

L.3. STANDARD PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS. This section specifies the format each Offeror shall use in preparing its proposal. The intent is not to restrict the manner in which proposals are prepared, but rather to ensure a certain degree of uniformity in proposal format for evaluation purposes. Four separate volumes shall be submitted.

These volumes shall be self-contained and shall not be cross-referenced, with the exception of the Price Volume. Unless specifically requested, pricing information shall not be contained in any volume except the Price Volume. Proposals not structured IAW these instructions may be considered non-compliant and may not be evaluated. The USG will not assume the duty to search for data or information to cure problems discovered in any proposal submitted. The burden of providing complete and thorough information to address the elements below remains with the Offeror. The proposal shall include the following volumes subject to the limitations discussed below (exclusions listed, following the table):

Volume Title # of Copies Page Limit Due I Supplemental

Docs and Executive Summary

1 each CD/DVD or electronic (e-mail provided in Section L.2 of Attachment 0002)

No Limit (except for 10 pg Executive Summary)

RFP Closing Date

II Technical 1 each CD/DVD or electronic (e-mail provided in Section L.2 of Attachment 0002)

50 pages* RFP Closing Date

III Past Performance

1 each CD/DVD or electronic (e-mail provided in Section L.2 of Attachment 0002)

25 pages + 5 pages for each Major Subcontract or*

RFP Closing Date

IV Price 1 each CD/DVD or electronic (e-mail provided in Section L.2 of Attachment 0002)

No Limit RFP Closing Date

*Exclusions. Each page shall be counted except for the following:

- Cover pages

- Table of contents

- List of figures

- Glossaries

- Tabs / Dividers

- Other items as indicated in each Volume

- CTIP Compliance Plan

- Teaming Arrangements / Joint Ventures

- Past Performance Questionnaires

- DCMA/DCAA Audits and Reviews

- Past Performance Consent Letters and Commitment Letters from Major

Subcontractors (Labor Brokers are not considered Major Subcontractors)

- List of Points of Contact (POCs) who were sent a questionnaire per L.8.1(4)

L.3.1. Offerors shall submit one copy on CD/DVD or electronically (e-mail provided in Attachment 0002, Section L.2) for each Volume of the proposal; all submissions must be virus free. All of the proposal files shall be compressed (zipped) into one file entitled proposal zip using WinZip version 6.2 or later, or as separate uploads in their native format, i.e., doc, xls, ppt, etc., and provided on CDs or DVDs. Files shall be in read-only format, using PDF files. All price breakdown information to aid in the cost/price evaluation shall be submitted in Microsoft Office Excel Read/Write format and viewable in Microsoft Excel 2007 or newer. Offerors are responsible for ensuring all files and/or CD/DVDs function properly, and be externally labeled with the volume number, date, and the offeror’s name. Upon receipt of proposals, all files and/or CD/DVDs submitted will be scanned for viruses with an anti-virus program. If a virus is detected, the files and/or CD/DVDs shall not be considered when evaluating the Offeror’s proposal. At the Government’s discretion, the Offeror may not be given the opportunity to resubmit this information. Offerors shall redact all company names/logos/pictures from the CD/DVD labels and all pages of the proposal with the exception of Volume I (Supplemental Documents and Executive Summary), Volume III (Past Performance), and Volume IV (Price). All copies of an individual volume shall be identical. The use of hyperlinks in proposals is prohibited. An authorized official of the firm shall sign the electronic submission of the Offeror’s proposal to include SF1449, and all amendment cover sheets, SF30, and all certifications requiring signature.

L.3.2. Each page is defined as one sheet, one-side. Excess pages will be removed from the back of each volume and will NOT be read or evaluated. Page limitations do not prohibit the Government from requesting additional supporting data.

L.3.3. Offerors shall use 8-1/2 x 11-inch size pages and a 12 point, or greater, Arial font.

Font requirements apply to bullets and other special text formatting. 10-point Arial font may be utilized for tables and graphic displays. 11 x 17-inch size pages are acceptable for tables/graphic representations; however, each 11 x 17-inch size page counts as two pages.

L.3.4. Proposal Organization. No classified material shall appear anywhere in the proposal. All proposal volumes shall include:

L.3.4.1 Front cover, a table of contents, Summary Section, and the Narrative discussion. All factor and subfactor narratives shall be clearly identified.

L.3.4.2 List of Tables and Figures for each Volume.

L.3.4.3. Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms for each Volume.

L.3.5. At a minimum, all cover sheets shall contain the following information:

L.3.5.1 Offeror’s Proposal in response to Solicitation W519TC-23-R-0002 in accordance with (IAW) solicitation instructions

L.3.5.2. Volume Number and Title

L.3.5.3. Name and Address of Offeror (with the exception of Volume II)

L.3.5.4. Date of Submission

L.3.5.5. Offeror’s POC information to include phone number and e-mail (with the exception of Volume II)

L.4 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA). FOIA and its amendment have resulted in an increasing number of requests from outside the USG for copies of contractors' proposals and other documents submitted to federal agencies. If an Offeror's submission contains information that it believes should be withheld from such requestors under FOIA on the grounds that it contains trade secrets and commercial or financial information [5 USC 552(b)(4)], the Offeror should mark its submissions in accordance with FAR 52.215-1 and in the following manner:

L.4.1. The following notice should be placed on the title page: Some parts of this document, as identified on individual pages, are considered by the submitter to be privileged or confidential trade secret or commercial or financial information not subject to mandatory disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Material considered privileged or confidential on such grounds is contained on page(s) .

L.4.2. Each individual item considered privileged or confidential under FOIA should be marked by placing the text within {brackets} with the following notice placed in the right margin: Privileged or Confidential.

Failure to do so may result in an involuntary release via a FOIA request.

L.5. PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL. All proposals and related information shall be submitted in the format identified above, to the Army at the address shown below, no later than the date and time specified in the solicitation.

Army Contracting Command - Rock Island ATTN: David S. Fields 3055 Rodman Avenue Rock Island Arsenal, IL 61299-8000 or

ATTN: David S. Fields usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil

L.5.1. Offerors are responsible for ensuring that a full and complete proposal is received by the date and time established within the solicitation for receipt of timely proposals.

mailto:usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil

Receipt means actual receipt and acknowledgement by PCO, not merely receipt on the USG Installation. Failure to confirm receipt will result in the waiver of any argument of an offer being timely sent, but not delivered to the PCO. It is highly recommended that Offeror’s request a delivery confirmation or other form of acknowledgement to verify the proposal submission was received. Absent the opening of discussions, if required, the USG will not accept any changes, additions, or deletions for evaluation purposes.

Should an Offeror have difficulties with the delivery of proposals, please immediately notify the PCO via e-mail to: usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil. Any proposal, or partial proposal, received after the time and date established for receipt of timely proposals will be considered late and will not be considered for award.

L.6. VOLUME I - SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.

There is no page limit to this volume, except as noted below.

- Completed and Signed Solicitation and any Amendments

- Executive Summary (10-page limit)

L.6.1. Solicitation. Utilizing Adobe Acrobat, Offerors must provide a completed and signed copy of the solicitation including Sections A-K and any Amendments. Unless fill-ins are required, individual copies of the attachments in the ‘List of Attachments’ section of the solicitation do not need to be included within this submission.

L.6.2. The Executive Summary should be a concise narrative of the entire proposal, including a highlight of any key or unique features, excluding price. The Executive Summary will not be evaluated for purposes of determining contract award. As such, any summary material presented here shall not be considered as meeting the requirements for any portions of other proposal volumes. The Offeror shall, at a minimum, provide an overview of its proposal and accurately summarize all parts of the proposal, except for the Price Volume.

L.7. VOLUME II – Technical. The volume shall be organized into the following sections:

L.7.1. Technical Subfactor 1 - Management Approach: The Offeror shall describe its approach to and demonstrate its understanding of the processes, procedures, capabilities and experience it will employ and rely upon to ensure successful execution of the requirements of the resulting contract from on-set through the final performance period. The Offeror's proposal should include but is not limited to discussion of the following aspects of executing the proposed management approach for all ordering periods. The Offeror must explain how it will manage logistics support for a large fleet of assets; manage complex projects; staffing (recruit and train workforce, retain key people, and transportation into and within theater); operate a program management office (staffing skill sets and levels in program management office), and manage operations for commercial line haul. The plan must be specific, detailed, and complete and clearly and fully demonstrate how the Offeror will accomplish these tasks.

mailto:usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil.

L.7.2. Technical Subfactor 2 - Technical Capability: The Offeror’s detailed technical capability plan must clearly and fully describe a sound technical approach, and a thorough understanding of technical methods and techniques for meeting performance standards and customer requirements. The submission shall be specific, detailed, and complete. The proposal shall include the Offeror’s plan to provide all personnel, supervision, labor, materials, tools, and vehicles as well as all required equipment, other items, and non-personal services necessary to accomplish the operation of the Government’s HL9 requirement IAW the PWS.

L.7.3. Technical Subfactor 3 - Maintenance and Quality Control Plans: The Offeror must explain its maintenance plans for the performance of both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. The maintenance plan must describe the ability to provide scheduling, facilities, personnel, and equipment. The Offeror shall describe how it will execute routine maintenance procedures on the fleet of vehicles. The Offeror’s proposal must also identify how the Offeror intends to execute its unscheduled maintenance plan to include vehicle recovery time, facilities, personnel, and equipment. The Offeror shall describe its ability to provide trained mechanics and adequate maintenance facilities without degradation to fleet readiness or availability; outline manufacturer approved maintenance schedule for planned and unplanned maintenance procedures.

The maintenance and quality control plan shall also detail Offeror's approach to implement a robust maintenance and quality control program providing comprehensive maintenance and quality control of its processes and procedures. The Offeror should describe its surveillance and oversight processes to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of its maintenance and quality control program. The Offeror’s proposal must identify and explain procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. In addition, the Offeror’s plan should address controls designed to ensure PWS requirements are met for acceptance, condition, safety standards, maintenance requirements, and record keeping. These plans must be realistic, achievable, and supportable. The Offeror’s maintenance and quality control plan should demonstrate a sound technical approach and a thorough understanding of quality methods and techniques for meeting performance standards and customer requirements including:

1) Providing a comprehensive, independent plan for developing and maintaining the maintenance and quality control program.

2) Setting forth internal and external maintenance and quality control methods and policies for measuring, tracking, analyzing, reporting, and implementing preventive and corrective actions required to ensure the quality performance standards required by the PWS and customer satisfaction is met.

3) Demonstrating a workable relationship, to include reporting requirements, between the Offeror’s management personnel.

4) Demonstrating integration of the maintenance and quality control system into daily operations.

Providing methods to be used for communications with the Government, measuring customer satisfaction, including a customer feedback program and a customer satisfaction reporting system.

L.8. VOLUME III – Past Performance. This volume shall contain past performance information regarding similar contracts. This volume shall not exceed 25 (25) pages plus five (5) pages for each major subcontractor (exclusions listed in L.3).

L.8.1. Offerors may submit past performance information on up to three (3) recent and relevant USG and/or commercial contracts for the prime Offeror and up to two (2) recent and relevant USG and/or commercial contracts for each major subcontractor. For the purposes of this requirement, recent and relevant are defined in the basis for award (Incorporated as Attachment 0003, ‘Section M Evaluation Factors for Award’ in the ‘List of Attachments’ section of the Solicitation). The Offeror shall also submit the written consent of its major subcontractors to allow the disclosure of its subcontractors' past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, signed letters of commitment shall be included for all major subcontractors. Failure to submit signed letters of commitment may result in non-consideration of the major subcontractors identified. Regarding new corporate entities, Offerors may submit data on prior contracts involving its parent company. This volume shall be organized into the following sections:

1) Section 1 - Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format. Offeror data shall be listed first followed by each proposed major subcontractor, alphabetically.

(a) Contractor/Subcontractor place of performance, CAGE Code and DUNS

Number. It is recommended that Offerors limit references to those involving its performance as a prime or first tier subcontractor only. If the work was performed as a subcontractor, also provide the name of the prime contractor and Point of Contact (POC) within the prime contractor organization.

(b) USG contracting activity, and current address, PCO's name, e-mail address and telephone numbers.

(c) USG’s technical representative/Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and current email address, and telephone numbers.

(d) USG contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting

Officer's name, current email address, and telephone number.

(e) Contract Number and Delivery Order Numbers (as applicable).

(f) Contract Type (specific type such as Fixed-Price (FP), Cost Reimbursement (CR), Time & Material (T&M), etc.). In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (i.e., Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (i.e., FP, CR, T&M, etc.).

(g) Awarded price/cost and final/projected price/cost.

(h) Original delivery schedule, including dates of start and completion or work.

(i) Period of Performance

2) Section 2 - Performance. Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1, Contract Descriptions, describing the objectives achieved and detailing how the effort is relevant to the requirement of this solicitation. For any contracts that did not/do not meet original schedule or technical performance requirements, provide a brief explanation of the reason(s) for the shortcomings and any corrective action(s) taken to avoid recurrence. The Offerors shall list each time the delivery schedule was revised and provide an explanation of why the revision was necessary. All Requests for Deviation and Requests for Waiver shall be addressed with respect to causes and corrective actions. The Offerors shall also provide copies of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters received on each contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the Offeror or proposed major subcontractor.

The Offeror shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination. For any contracts with adverse performance, the Offeror shall identify every recent and relevant contract awarded that encountered any performance problems related to deliverables or services, and any recent and relevant contracts that were in whole or in part terminated; these are excluded from the Past Performance Factor page count.

3) Section 3 - Subcontracts. Offerors shall provide an outline of how the effort required by this RFP will be assigned for performance within the Offeror's corporate entity and among the proposed subcontractors. The information provided for the prime Offeror and each proposed major subcontractor must include the entire company name, company address, CAGE Code, DUNS Number and type of work to be performed by citing the applicable USG PWS subparagraph number. Major subcontractors are defined as members of an Offeror's overall team who are expected to perform ten percent or more of the proposed effort's target cost and do not include labor brokers.

4) Section 4 - Past Performance Questionnaire. For all contracts identified in

Section 1, Contract Descriptions, a Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 0019 in the ‘List of Attachments’ section of the Solicitation) must be completed and submitted. The Offeror shall complete Part I of the Past Performance Questionnaire and e-mail the questionnaire to mail to:

usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil and to the POC responsible for the mailto:usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil past/current contract. The POCs shall be instructed to electronically complete Part II of the questionnaire and e-mail the entire questionnaire to the Contracting Office no later than the proposal due date, to mail to:

usarmy.ria.acc.mbx.hl9@army.mil. Early submission of Past Performance data is encouraged. However, Past Performance data may be submitted up through the solicitation closing date and time. The Offeror shall submit within its Past Performance Volume a list of all the POCs who were sent a questionnaire. The POC list shall be submitted in table format to include the following fields:

Solicitation Number; Company Name; Contract Number; USG Agency; POC Last Name, First Name; POC Title; POC Telephone Number; POC email Address;

and Date the questionnaire was emailed to the POC.

L.9. VOLUME IV – Price. Prices will be proposed under FFP CLINs. Competition under those FFP CLINs will be utilized to determine price reasonableness.

The Price Matrix (Attachment 0004 of the ‘List of Attachments’ section of the Solicitation) of the proposal may be evaluated to determine whether the proposal reflects a thorough understanding of the PWS; and whether the price proposal (matrix) is consistent with the unique methods of performance described in the Offeror’s Technical proposal.

The USG reserves the right to require the submission of any data (i.e., cost or pricing data) necessary to validate the reasonableness of an offer.

L.9.1. Organization of Volume IV – Price

Volume IV shall contain the Offeror’s price proposal (matrix). Offerors DO NOT need to fill out Section B of the solicitation.

The Offeror must provide information as follows:

- Offerors shall provide proposed unit prices for the quantities solicited in the Pricing Matrix, Attachment 0004 of the solicitation. Proposed unit prices are limited to whole dollars. Offerors shall complete all tabs (Daily, Semi Annual, and Annual) within the Price Matrix, except for the Summary tab. The Summary tab is automatically populated with the information from the other tabs. The proposed unit prices shall be the prices used by the USG to calculate the Total Evaluated Price and for the establishment of ceiling prices for future task order competitions. Offerors must propose unit prices for all CLINs, quantity ranges, and ordering periods identified in the Price Matrix. Ordering Periods One through Three are twelve (12) months in duration, and Ordering Period Four is six (6) months in duration. Failure to complete the Price Matrix may deem the Offeror ineligible for award. All proposed pricing will be binding as ceiling prices.

- All prices for this acquisition shall be stated in U.S. Dollars, rounded to whole dollars. This shall also include escalation, as appropriate.

- The following ordering periods apply as specified on the pricing matrix:

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• Ordering Period 1: Date of award thru 364 days after award

• Ordering Period 2: 365 days after award thru 729 days after award

• Ordering Period 3: 730 days after award thru 1,095 days after award

• Ordering Period 4: 1,096 days after award thru 1,276 days after award

- Instructions for completion of the pricing matrix:

• All information to be filled in by the Offeror is highlighted on the pricing matrix in blue.

• Offerors shall enter their full name in the space provided.

• Offerors are required to state binding prices. Offerors shall enter unit prices for each range in the spaces provided for the contractor to fill-in.

The spreadsheet will limit the display of the offered unit prices to whole dollars.

• The Price Matrix will automatically calculate and populate at the CLIN level.

• No other information is to be added to the pricing matrix, nor shall Offerors make any changes to the pricing matrix. Any alterations to the pricing matrix may deem the Offeror ineligible for award.

- With respect to pricing, the proposal response is presumed to represent the

Offeror’s best effort to respond to the solicitation. Any significant inconsistency between promised performance and price should be explained in the offer. For example, if the use of new and innovative techniques has an impact on unit price, the impact on price should be explained by the Offeror. If a management decision has been made to absorb a portion of the program prices that have not been included in the proposed pricing, that decision should be stated and qualified in the proposal.

- All proposals shall be in compliance with Kuwaiti, and local labor laws. Inclusion of any Kuwait and local labor laws considerations (i.e., Overtime) shall be included within the proposed unit prices. The USG will not provide interpretations of the Kuwait or local labor laws for Offerors.

- Pricing for Defense Base Act Insurance, Contractor Manpower Reporting, and

Contract Data Requirements List shall be included within the unit prices proposed.