Attachment 0003-Instructions_Conditions and Notices to Offerors-Section L.pdf

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SECTION L

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

L.1.0 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

This section of the Instructions to Offeror (ITO) provides general guidance for preparing proposals as well as specific instructions on the format and content of the proposal. The Offeror's proposal shall include all data and information requested by the ITO and must be submitted IAW these instructions. The Offeror shall be compliant with the ITO and is to conform to the solicitation requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by this solicitation).

a. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims. The proposal shall not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements, but rather shall provide convincing rationale to address how the Offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and experience, and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror's proposal.

b. Elaborate brochures or documentation, binding, detailed art work, or other embellishments are unnecessary and are not desired.

c. Offerors’ proposals shall be submitted by 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time (CST), 29 June, 2022 via email to the Contracting Officer (KO) and Contract Specialist (CS) listed at paragraph 1.1.3 - Points of Contact. Proposals received after the time and date listed will not be considered or evaluated for award unless the KO determines it can be accepted IAW FAR 15.208(b). Early proposal submission is acceptable.

d. Proposals must be valid for one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days from the closing date of the solicitation.

Solicitation, Proposal and Award – The SF 33 and all fill-in clauses shall be completed.

The Offeror shall ensure the SF33 is signed in block 30a by an authorized representative that can bind the company. The contractor shall acknowledge any amendments to the solicitation IAW the instructions on the SF 33 and provide signed copies. The Offeror shall provide the name, title and telephone number of the company/division point of contact regarding decisions made with respect to the Offeror’s proposal and who can obligate the Offeror’s company contractually.

Representation, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors – The Offeror shall ensure that this is submitted with all blocks in each certification/ representation completed truthfully and completely.

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Organizational Conflicts of Interest – Offerors are directed to review FAR 9.5, Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest (OCIs). Please be advised that the Government will not make an award that would result in a prohibited OCI. Therefore, Offerors should identify in their proposals any and all potential Organizational Conflicts of Interest that might result from their performing any aspects of the requirement as detailed in the Base PWS, and include proposed means of preventing, avoiding or mitigating each OCI identified. If no current or potential OCIs exist then the Offeror shall certify this via a statement included in its Base Technical Proposal.

Exceptions/Deviations – The Government will not accept any proposed exceptions or deviations of any kind. The Offeror is required to comply with all the instructions provided herein. Failure to accept all terms and conditions in the solicitation will result in exclusion from the competition.

L. 1.1 GENERAL INFORMATION

L.1.1.1 Acquisition Strategy This is a best value tradeoff source selection conducted IAW Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Acquisition (DFARS), and the Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS).

This solicitation is a Small Business Set-Aside and competed among all small business types listed within FAR Part 19. Proposal submissions from large business will not be evaluated or considered for award.

L. 1.1.2 Contract Type The Government intends to award a non-personal services Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) base contract and Task Order (TO) #1 simultaneously to one (1) awardee. The award will be a Firm-Fixed-Price contract with some Cost Reimbursable CLINs.

The base IDIQ contract will have a Period of Performance (PoP) of five (5) years consisting of five (5) 1-year Ordering Periods. The PoP for each Ordering Period will be determined at contract award. The guaranteed minimum order will be TO #1. TO #1 will have a six-month PoP.

L.1.1.3 Points of Contact Address any questions or concerns you may have to the KO and CS listed below:

Serina A. Allingham Brian N. Jackson Contracting Officer Contract Specialist serina.a.allingham.civ@army.mil brian.n.jackson14.civ@army.mil

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Questions must be sent to the KO and CS electronically via email by 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time (CST), 15 June, 2022. All questions and the answers to those questions will be conveyed in a solicitation amendment and provided to all offerors; therefore, do not include any proprietary information in questions submitted. The Offeror shall group its questions by solicitation sections A through M. The Offeror shall indicate the solicitation number in the subject line of all emails pertaining to this solicitation.

Submission of questions shall include at a minimum, company name, address, point of contact, email address and phone number. The Offeror must number and format EACH question to include all that is applicable to best identify where their question relates to:

PWS section number and/or title (including subparagraph designations) and page number or solicitation section and/or title and page number being referenced and a complete description of the question.

L.1.1.4 Discrepancies If an Offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the Offeror shall immediately notify the KO and CS via email with supporting rationale.

L.1.1.5 Discussions Offerors are advised that the Government intends to award this effort based on the initial proposal, as received, without discussions as stated at FAR 15.306(a)(3). However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the KO determines them necessary.

L.1.1.6 Electronic Reference Documents All referenced documents for this solicitation are available on the Sam.GOV (SAM) web site at https://sam.gov/. Potential Offerors are encouraged to subscribe for real-time e-mail notifications when information has been posted to the website for this solicitation.

L.1.2 Submission Requirements The Offeror’s proposal submission shall consist of the proposal volume numbers identified in Table 1 below. The titles and contents of the volumes shall be as defined in this table, all of which shall be within the required page limits and with the number of copies as specified in Table 1. Each volume of the proposal should be saved as a separate file and titled as shown under each Evaluation Factor.

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TABLE 1

Evaluation Factor

Proposal Volume Number

Proposal Volume Description Limitations

Technical Approach Evaluation Factor

I Technical Volume – Base IDIQ

-Key Personnel -Management Plan -Staffing Plan -Facilitation of Future Competitive Procurement of Software Maintenance/Sustainment Services

25 pages, PDF.

Technical Approach Evaluation Factor

II Technical Volume – Task Order

Past Performance III Past Performance Volume 10 Pages, PDF Price Evaluation Factor

IV Base IDIQ - Reference Price Matrix

N/A

Price Evaluation Factor

V Task Order 1 - Reference Price Matrix

N/A

L.1.2.1 Page Limitations Page limitations are maximums. If exceeded, the excess pages will not be read or considered in the evaluation of the proposal. Each page shall be counted except the following: table of contents, glossary of abbreviations and acronyms, indices.

L.1.2.2 Cost or Pricing Information The Government reserves the right to require the submission of any data (i.e. cost or pricing data) necessary to validate the reasonableness of an offer. It is anticipated that 1 (one) IDIQ contract will be awarded to one (1) awardee and will be based on adequate price competition. If after receipt of proposals, the Contracting Officer determines that adequate price competition does not exist IAW FAR 15.403-1(b), the Offeror shall provide data other than certified cost/pricing data as requested by the Contracting Officer.

Surrogate amounts will be provided in the Price Matrixes for the Cost Reimbursable CLINs.

L.1.2.3 Cross Referencing Each volume shall be written on a stand-alone basis so that its contents can be evaluated without cross referencing to other volumes of the proposal. Each Volume will be evaluated independently and information required for proposal evaluation that is not found in its designated volume will be assumed to have been omitted from the proposal.

Cross referencing within a proposal volume is permitted.

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L.1.2.4 Indexing Each volume shall contain a detailed table of contents to delineate the subparagraphs within that volume. Tab indexing shall be used to identify sections. The table of contents page(s) will not be counted toward the Offeror’s page count stated in Table 1.

L.1.2.5 Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms Each volume shall contain a glossary of all abbreviations and acronyms used, with an explanation for each. Glossaries do not count against the page limitations for their respective volumes.

L.1.3. Page Size and Format

a. A page is defined as each face of a document containing information. Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches. Pages shall be single spaced, text size shall be 12 point and the Times New Roman font shall be used. Use at least 1 inch margins on the top and bottom and 3/4 inch side margins. Pages shall be numbered sequentially by volume. 9 point font is acceptable for tables and graphics.

b. Legible tables, charts, graphs and figures may be used to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, and plans. These displays shall be uncomplicated, legible and shall not exceed 11 by 17 inches in size. Note that tables, charts, graphs and figures will be counted towards the Offeror’s Factor 1 page count. 11 by 17 page size submissions will count as two (2) pages.

L.1.4 Electronic Offers Electronic proposal submissions will be the only type of submission allowed. The electronic copies of the proposal shall be submitted in a format readable by Adobe Acrobat (PDF) or Microsoft Excel, as appropriate.

L.1.5 Distribution Proposals shall be addressed to the KO and CS and emailed to:

Serina A. Allingham Brian N. Jackson Contracting Officer Contract Specialist serina.a.allingham.civ@army.mil brian.n.jackson14.civ@army.mil

It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure all files submitted to the Government have been received and accepted by the closing date and time.

L.1.6. Post Award Debriefings to Offerors Per FAR 15.506(a)(1), an Offeror may request a debriefing within three (3) days after the date the Offeror received notification of being an unsuccessful Offeror.

L.2 PHASE 1 of Evaluation – Go/No Go Submission Requirements

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This technical evaluation will be conducted in two phases. Phase 1 will be a Go/No-Go evaluation which will consist of the Government validating that the Offeror has the required certifications and facility clearance for this requirement. Any Offeror that cannot provide the certifications and facility clearance will be rendered technically unacceptable and no further evaluation of the Offeror’s proposal will be conducted. The Offeror will not proceed to Phase 2 of the evaluation. Proposals that pass Phase 1 will proceed to Phase 2 of the evaluation and will be evaluated IAW the evaluation criteria specified in Section M of the solicitation.

The offeror must submit the following information for Phase 1:

1. The Offeror shall be certified as a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 provider or higher in any one of the CMMI domains (e.g. DEV, Services, Acquisition). The offeror shall provide the name, date, number and a copy of the certificate.

2. The Offeror shall have a current Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented

Information (TS/SCI) Facility Clearance with TS safeguarding capability with a minimum of two (2) cubic feet. The offeror shall provide the date the TS/SCI Facility Clearance was acquired (MM/DD/YYYY) and provide a copy of the certification document to substantiate your response.

PHASE 2 of Evaluation – Submission Requirements

VOLUME I AND II, TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

L.2.1 VOLUME I – BASE IDIQ

Volume I’s proposal submission must be clearly marked as “Volume I – Base IDIQ, RFP W52P1J-22-R-0049”

The Contractor must demonstrate an understanding of the required and specified work as described in the Base PWS, and provides a clear description of how the offeror proposes to meet the Base PWS requirements. Furthermore, the technical proposal for the Base IDIQ will also consist of the following sections – Key Personnel, Management Plan, Staffing plan, and explanation of Facilitation of Future Competitive Procurement of Software Maintenance/Sustainment Services.

L.2.1.1 Key Personnel Explain its overall knowledge, understanding and plan to fulfill the key personnel roles to support this requirement in full as well as meet the qualifications, experience, and certifications for these positions to perform all tasks in the PWS without any additional training beyond process familiarization. All key personnel employees must possess all prerequisites, skills, qualifications and certifications identified within the PWS Section

1.3.2.3. by the time of award. Key personnel are identified as a Program Manager, Information Assurance Specialist, Senior Software Developer, and a Senior Systems Engineer (Amazon Web Service Solutions). Submissions should include the

L-7 (of 12) qualifications proposed for each role. If submitted, resumes will be considered only as representations of the qualifications proposed and not an intention to provide a specific person.

L.2.1.2 Management Plan The Offeror shall submit a program management plan demonstrating how it proposes to accomplish the Base PWS work requirements through the seamless integration of its diverse organizational elements, personnel, and subcontractors to ensure quality and continuity of operations throughout the contract life cycle. In addition, the Management Plan should discuss how the Offeror plans to achieve the requirement identified in Section 5.9.2 of the Base PWS for SCIF and JWICS terminal access.

L.2.1.3 Staffing Plan The Offeror shall submit a staffing plan that outlines the TOTAL proposed staffing (inclusive of existing staff, new hires, direct labor, inter-organizational transfers, subcontracts, etc., as applicable) to perform the work from implementation through contract end. The Offeror shall, at a minimum, provide the following information:

Provide the labor categories to be used for the entirety of the contract. Provide a description of the labor categories to include minimum experience levels and certification requirements.

Provide an overview of all proposed sources of staffing (i.e. new hires, subcontracts, inter-organizational transfers, teaming arrangement, etc.).

Provide details of a recruiting and retention plan for new hires and current employees.

L.2.1.4 Facilitation of Future Competitive Procurement of Software Maintenance/Sustainment Services

The Offeror shall explain how its proposal facilitates competitive procurement of software maintenance/sustainment services from third parties (i.e., contractors other than the original manufacturer or developer) by the Government, using the technical data and software deliverables under this contract. Specifically, the Offeror shall explain how its proposal facilitates competitive procurement of software maintenance/sustainment services for software deliverables, in any instances where the Government will only be provided “Limited Rights”, “Restricted Rights”, or other restrictions (such as restrictions in commercial software license agreements). If the Offeror will be providing the Government with broader license rights in technical data and software deliverables than the Government is normally entitled to under DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227- 7014, or the standard commercial software license agreements, and there will be additional costs incurred by the Government for this broader license rights, then the Offeror shall provide an itemized list of these additional costs in the Pricing section of the Offeror’s proposal.

Any Offeror’s proposal will be deemed deficient if license restrictions (in technical data and software deliverables) impede competitive procurement of software

L-8 (of 12) maintenance/sustainment services related to software deliverables and there is no plan to mitigate hindrances to competitive procurement of software maintenance/sustainment services related to software deliverables. In addition, any proposals that offer the Government more restrictive license terms than a "Limited Rights" or "Restricted Rights" license in NON-COMMERCIAL technical data or software deliverables (respectively) will be deemed deficient (in view of minimums set forth in the DFARS 227.71 and DFARS 227.72 for license rights in technical data and software deliverables).

L.2.1.5 VOLUME II - TASK ORDER 01

Volume II’s proposal submission must be clearly marked as “Volume II – Technical Task Order 1, RFP W52P1J-22-R-0049”

This task order will be awarded simultaneously with the base award. The Task Order will have a 6-month base period and will count as the minimum amount for this IDIQ. The Contractor must demonstrate an understanding of the required and specified work as described in the Task Order 1 PWS, and provides a clear description of how the offeror proposes to meet the Task Order 1 PWS requirements. Specifically the offeror shall provide a written proposal that addresses the following:

1. The mission essential requirements of Task Order 1 per Section 3.0 of the Task Order 1 PWS.

2. A written Transition Plan that details how a successful transition will be made within 60 calendar days of the task order award.

3. All required CDRL deliverables must also be addressed in Technical Volume II.

4. Provide the total proposed number of hours, FTE’s, and labor categories/ skill mix that will result in quality performance for this Task Order. The contractor is expected to offer staffing levels based on their best judgment as to how the tasks are to be performed in accordance with the Task Order PWS. The contractor shall provide all equipment, services, and labor necessary to perform the tasks unless the individual tasking documents explicitly state otherwise.

5. The Offeror’s description of a plan for system builds and an understanding of, and rationale for, the development approach (e.g. waterfall, agile, hybrid agile/waterfall, other), as well as the approach for obtaining user input to meet all requirements.

6. The Offeror’s shall provide a proposed methodology to deliver software products developed in accordance with established software development standards and guidelines as prescribed by a minimum level 3 Capability Maturity Model (CMM), a minimum level 3 Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The Government will assess the degree to which the Offeror follows industry best practices related to configuration and

L-9 (of 12) change management policies developed in accordance with CMMI, IEEE and

ISO.

The Offeror shall also provide and describe the following:

(1) Provide a comprehensive and viable approach for the development of software including techniques and tools used; describes how the proposed software design elements will ensure effective delivery of the CASTLE KEEP system, lead to certifiable software delivery, and address all aspects of the software life cycle process, including design, development, verification, maintenance and operations, configuration management and quality assurance; and describes its software development organization and its methodology for project tracking, quality control and oversight.

(2) Describe the Offeror’s approach to the development of software, with specific discussion of their understanding of the elements comprising an operational environment and integration into the CASTLE KEEP Infrastructure and interfaces with other systems and the way their approach considers these elements to reduce risk and life cycle costs.

L.3 VOLUME III - PAST PERFORMANCE VOLUME INSTRUCTIONS

Volume III’s proposal submission must be clearly marked as “Volume III – Past Performance, RFP W52P1J-22-R-0049”

L.3.1 General This volume shall contain past performance information regarding recent and relevant references. All past performance must be recent and relevant per the definition in Section M.3 of this solicitation. Performance that is not recent and relevant will not be further evaluated or considered.

L.3.2 Recent and Relevant Contracts Submit Past Performance information on three (3) relevant contracts that you consider most relevant in demonstrating your ability to perform the proposed effort. The definition of what is considered “Relevant” is contained in Section M. This volume shall not exceed 10 pages not including the Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs). PPQs will be provided as Attachment 0007 for the Offeror to send to the cognizant Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO) for each relevant contract submission if desired. Request the cognizant PCO to send the filled out PPQ to the Contract Specialist listed within this solicitation.

The Past Performance volume of your proposal should list the following details for each recent and relevant reference:

(1) Section 1 – Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format.

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a. Contractor/Subcontractor place of performance, CAGE Code and DUNS Number. 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 (name, and current address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers).

b. Government contracting activity, and current address, Procuring Contracting Officer’s name, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.

c. Government’s technical representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative and current email address, telephone and fax numbers.

d. Government contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting Officer’s name, and current e-mail address, telephone and fax number.

e. Contract Number and, in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreements, include Delivery Order Numbers.

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 (Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (FP, CR, T&M, etc.).

g. Awarded price/cost.

h. Final or projected final price/cost.

i. Original delivery schedule, including dates of start and completion or work.

j. Final or projected final, delivery schedule, including dates of start and completion of work.

(2) Section 2 – Performance. Offeror shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1 - Contract Description, 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 Offeror shall list each time the delivery schedule was revised and provide an explanation of why the revision was necessary. The Offeror shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

L.3.3 Specific Content Offerors are required to explain what aspects of the contracts are deemed relevant to the proposed effort, and to what aspects of the proposed effort they relate. This may include a discussion of efforts accomplished by the Offeror to resolve problems encountered on prior contracts as well as past efforts to identify and manage program risk. Merely having problems does not automatically equate to a little or no confidence rating, since the problems

L-11 (of 12) encountered may have been on a more complex program, or an Offeror may have subsequently demonstrated the ability to overcome the problems encountered. The Offeror is required to clearly demonstrate management actions employed in overcoming problems and the effects of those actions, in terms of improvements achieved or problems rectified. This may allow the Offeror to be considered a higher confidence candidate. For example, submittal of quality performance indicators or other management indicators that clearly support that an Offeror has overcome past problems is required.

L.3.4 Organizational Structure Change History Many companies have acquired, been acquired by, or otherwise merged with other companies, and/or reorganized their divisions, business groups, subsidiary companies, etc. In many cases, these changes have taken place during the time of performance of relevant past efforts or between conclusion of recent past efforts and this source selection.

As a result, it is sometimes difficult to determine what past performance is relevant to this acquisition. To facilitate this relevancy determination, include in this proposal volume a "roadmap" describing all such changes in the organization of your company. A pamphlet or other commercial document describing such reorganizations may suffice. As part of this explanation, show how these changes impact the relevance of any efforts you identify for past performance evaluation/ performance confidence assessment. Since the Government intends to consider past performance information provided by other sources as well as that provided by the Offeror(s), your "roadmap" should be both specifically applicable to the efforts you identify and general enough to apply to efforts on which the Government receives information from other sources.

L.4.0 VOLUME IV – PRICE BASE IDIQ & VOLUME V – PRICE TASK ORDER

1. The Offeror shall complete Price Matrix (Attachment 0005). The following instructions are to assist the Offeror in filling out the Price Matrix.

a) Offerors shall submit their proposals using the attached Price Matrix (Attachment 0005). This matrix consists of a single worksheet. The Offeror must complete all cells filled in with blue.

The Offeror must enter the amount they propose for each CLIN for the Base Ordering Period, Ordering Period 1, Ordering Period 2, Ordering Period 3 and Ordering Period 4. For CLIN 0003 (Travel) and CLIN 0004 (Materials) the Government has provided a surrogate and the Offeror shall not alter the value provided. It should be noted that the proposed amount will be an annual value.

The annual value for each CLIN will then be divided by 12 to equate to a monthly value for each period and CLIN. The Offeror shall not alter the monthly calculation or any other calculation on within the matrix.

b) All proposed prices/rates shall be expressed in U.S. Dollars, and rounded to two decimal places. No additional information is to be added to the Price Matrix, nor

L-12 (of 12) shall any changes to be made to the Price Matrix. Failure to complete the Price Matrix may deem the offeror ineligible for award.

2. The Government reserves the right to require the submission of any data (i.e. cost or pricing data) necessary to validate the reasonableness of an offer. It is anticipated that all contracts awarded will be based on adequate price competition. If after receipt of proposals, the Contracting Officer determines that adequate price competition does not exist in accordance with FAR 15.403-1(b), the Offeror shall provide data other than certified cost/pricing data as requested by the Contracting Officer.