Attachment 0003 Proposal Submission Instructions Conditions and Notices to Offerors (Section L).pdf

Attachment 0003

Proposal Submission Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors (Section L)

A. General Instructions:

1. These instructions describe the type and extent of information the Offeror shall provide and emphasize for the significant topic areas that the Offeror’s quote must contain.

2. Offerors shall submit proposals in accordance with (IAW) the information in this section. Offerors shall review all documents contained or referenced in the solicitation for further insight into the areas that your proposal must address. Proposals that do not contain the information requested in the solicitation risk the Government determining the proposal unacceptable.

3. Clarity and completeness are essential, and proposals should be clear, consistent, and concise. Offerors must provide information in sufficient detail to allow the Government to make a best value assessment of the capability to support the solicitation requirements. The burden of providing complete and thorough information remains with the Offeror.

4. Offerors shall confine information intended for the Government to consider to the appropriate volume. Offerors shall provide information by addressing each factor/sub‐factor in the format and sequence identified in these instructions. Information submitted that is not within the appropriate volume may not be considered. The Government will not assume the duty to search for data or information to cure problems it finds in proposals.

5. The Government will not assume the Offeror possesses any capability, understanding, or commitment not specified in the proposal. The Government cautions Offerors that merely repeating the technical requirements with stated assertions DOES NOT reflect an understanding of the requirement or substantiate capability to perform. Proposals must provide documentary evidence in support of conclusive statements of how the Offeror will meet contract requirements.

6. The Government intends to award one contract. The Offeror should include sufficient information to enable the evaluators to determine the Offeror’s understanding of the requirements in each of the evaluated areas.

Data requested for evaluation has been clearly identified in this solicitation.

Offerors should note the provision at FAR 52.215-1, “Instructions to Offerors – Competitive Acquisition”.

7. The Government intends to award one contract resulting from Solicitation without discussions, but reserves the right to contact Offerors for clarification, or conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary in accordance with FAR 15.306(a)(3). Offerors initial quotes should contain the best terms and approach available. It is the responsibility of each offeror to submit a proposal that conforms to all the terms and conditions of the solicitation and contains the best offer in case discussions are deemed unnecessary, as award may be made without discussions. Offerors may be given the opportunity to clarify certain aspects of proposals (e.g., the relevance of a past performance information and adverse past performance information to which the Offeror has not previously had an opportunity to respond) or to resolve minor or clerical errors that are not deemed “discussions”.

8. Discussions will not be opened for the sole purpose of allowing an Offeror to submit data. Therefore, quotes lacking information may be deemed unacceptable and possibly eliminated from any further consideration. The Government reserves the right to not open discussions to allow for the submission of data that should have been submitted with the initial quote. The Offeror shall provide information by addressing each Factor and Subfactor in the format and sequence identified in this solicitation. The Offeror must provide information in sufficient detail to allow the Government to make an assessment of technical acceptability of the quote.

9. The Government reserves the right to consider past performance information available through publicly disclosed records available through cpars.gov. The Government hereby informs Offerors: Adverse past performance information the Offeror has not yet had an opportunity to respond to (reference FAR 15.306) is not available at https://www.cpars.gov.

10. All proposals shall use the English language. Offerors shall utilize Arial or Times New Roman, with a minimum font size of 12 point. Each paragraph should be single spaced and shall be separated by at least one blank line.

O n l y tables and illustrations may use a reduced font size no less than 8‐ point and may be produced in landscape mode.

11. VOLUME STRUCTURE. Each Volume must be clearly labeled via cover page or named IAW corresponding Volume. Offeror’s proposal shall consist of the following four (4) volumes:

a) Volume 1 – Introductory Volume

• Cover Page

• Introduction

• Table of Contents

• Active SAM.gov registration: containing company’s Unique

Entity Identifier (UEI) number and Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code

• Executed Request for Proposal (RFP) and any amendments http://www.cpars.gov/

(signed by an individual authorized to bind the company)

• Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Business License & Value

Added Tax (VAT) Certificate

b) Volume 2 - Technical Factor

• Cover Page

• Introduction

• Table of Contents

• Key Personnel (PWS 1.7.13 and 1.7.14) o Resumes and/or Curriculum Vitaes (CV) o Letter of Intent and/or Hiring Agreements

• Transition-In Plan (PWS 1.6.1 and 1.6.2)

• Contractor Work Plan (PWS 1.6.3) o Attachment 0006 Offeror Staffing Model

c) Volume 3 - Past Performance Factor

• Cover Page

• Introduction

• Table of Contents

• Past Performance Descriptions

• Attachment 0005 Past Performance Questionnaire(s) of

Offeror’s three (3) recent/relevant contracts

d) Volume 4 - Price Factor

• Attachment 0002: Price Matrix

Volumes 1, 2, and 3 shall have an Introduction and Table of Contents. Each volume must be clearly labeled on a cover page with a cross-reference to each evaluation factor as detailed below.

NOTE: Because this procurement is being conducted on behalf of the KSA and is a Foreign Military Sales requirement, the contracting officer has elected to not apply FAR Part 19 U.S. Small Business subcontracting goals.

12. The complete proposal, as described above, shall be electronically submitted to the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) and Contracting Specialist (CS). Proposal submission shall be no later than the due date and time specified in the solicitation and any subsequent amendments (if applicable). The Government will not evaluate proposals submitted by mail or hand carried. Any portion of the proposal that is changed (as a result of negotiations or proposal revisions) should be annotated and dated.

13. All computer files shall be free of viruses prior to submission. The Government may hold Offerors financially liable for damage caused to Government computer systems by any virus introduced during review of submitted documents.

14. PAGE LIMITATIONS AND LAYOUT. Quotes must be submitted in electronic form as attachments. The Government does not assume the duty to search for data or information to cure problems discovered in quotes. The burden of providing complete and thorough information to address the elements below remains with the Offeror. Each quote shall include clear references to the corresponding paragraphs of the PWS or RFP that apply, as applicable.

a) Volume 1 – Introductory Volume – This volume is limited to no more than 20 pages. The Executed RFP, Active SAM.gov registration, and any amendments (signed by an individual authorized to bind the company) are excluded from this total page count.

b) Volume 2 - Technical Factor –

i. Subfactor 1: Key Personnel volume is limited to no more than 3 pages per individual/person, not including hiring agreements

ii. Subfactor 2: Transition-In Plan is limited to no more than 10 pages.

iii. Subfactor 3: Contractor Work Plan is limited to no more than 50 pages, not including Attachment 0006 Offeror Staffing Model.

c) Volume 3 – Past Performance Factor – The volume is limited to no more than 10 pages, not including up to three (3) recent/relevant contracts, with three (3) corresponding completed Attachment 0005: Past Performance Questionnaires.

d) Volume 4 – Price Factor – The Offeror shall submit pricing in the form of a Microsoft Excel file utilizing Attachment 0002: Price Matrix. The volume is limited to no more than 2 pages.

15. The submission shall be clearly indexed and logically assembled. Each volume shall be clearly identified and shall begin at the top of a page. All pages of each volume shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date and RFP number in the header and/or footer.

A Table of Contents should be created using the Table of Content feature in Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word (.docx) files shall use the following page setup parameters:

Margins – Top, Bottom, Left, Right – 1” Gutter – 0” From Edge – Header, Footer 0.5” Page Size, Width – 8.5” Page Size, Height – 11”

The following additional restrictions apply: Files (excluding Pricing) shall be converted to read‐only format, using PDF files. The Offeror shall develop its proposal using Microsoft Word or Portable Document Format (.PDF) with a minimum font size of 12 point. All price breakdown information to aid in the cost/price evaluation shall be submitted in Microsoft Excel Read/Write format and viewable in .xlsx Microsoft Excel 2016. **Please note – Self extracting .exe files are not acceptable.

B. Proposal Instructions, Preparation, and Content by Volume:

All information shall be confined to the appropriate file. The offeror shall confine submissions to essential matters, sufficient to define the proposal in a concise manner, to permit a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

The Offeror's quote shall be prepared and authorized by a person, or persons regularly employed by the Offeror, with express authority to bind the offeror.

The quote should be prepared in a clear, legible, practical manner. In addition, the quote shall be written in English and should be specific and complete as described in these instructions.

1. Proposal Volume 1 – Solicitation and Amendments, Offer and Award

Documents and Certifications/Representations

a) Cover Page: Identifying Proposal Volume, containing Company’s UEI number and CAGE code, the name of each person contributing to the authorship of the proposal, the person's position title, and the position the person will hold in relation to the quote should a contract be awarded.

b) Table of Contents: At minimum, this section shall identify organization of items and page number/location of the sections: B.1.c. through B.1.e.

below:

c) Introduction- Executive Summary - a concise narrative summary of the entire quote.

d) Executed RFP and any amendments (signed by an individual authorized to bind the company)

i. Certifications and Representations – Each offeror shall complete (fill‐in and signatures) the solicitation and amendment sections indicated below using the file (without modification to the file) provided with the RFP. An authorized official of the firm shall sign the SF 1449 and all certifications requiring original signature.

ii. An Acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission.

iii. Section G – Contract Administration Data

iv. Section K – Representations, Certification and Other Statements of

Offerors

v. Solicitations, Offer and Award Documents and

Certifications/Representations shall not be addressed separately from that submitted in VOLUME 1 – SOLICITATIONS, OFFER AND

AWARD DOCUMENTS AND

CERTIFICATIONS/REPRESENTATIONS. There is no applicable page limit.

e) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Business License & Value Added Tax (VAT) Certificate - Within the technical proposal, the offeror shall submit legible copies of the Offeror’s KSA business license and VAT certificate demonstrating the ability to operate in KSA.

2. Proposal Volume 2- Technical Approach The Technical Approach Factor consists of the following three (3) sub‐factors:

• Key Personnel (PWS 1.7.13 and 1.7.14)

• Transition-In Plan (PWS 1.6.1 and 1.6.2)

• Contractor Work Plan (PWS 1.6.3)

a. Proposal Volume 1 Instructions: Volume shall be organized into the following sections:

i. Cover Page: Identifying Proposal Volume, Company’s Name, and Solicitation

ii. Table of Contents: At minimum, this section shall identify organization and page number/location of the following criteria:

iii. Subfactor 1: Key Personnel: Within the technical proposal, the Offeror shall submit qualifications of all Key Personnel identified in Paragraph 1.7.13 of the PWS. This shall include:

a. Hiring agreements and/or letters of intent

b. Resumes and/or Curriculum Vitaes (CV). Resumes or CVs shall include all information to determine requirements found at PWS, Paragraph 1.7.14 are met. Resumes shall be PDF format and are limited to 3 pages, excluding certification documentation, hiring agreements or letters of intent.

iv. Subfactor 2: Transition-In Plan: Within the technical proposal, the Offeror shall submit a plan for how they will mobilize to KSA, use the instructor preparation phase, and be ready to instruct on day one of instruction. Offeror shall propose a schedule and/or calendar detailing the steps taken during each day of the transition and instructor preparatory phase, which shall include all days of transition up to the first day of instruction.

v. Subfactor 3: Contractor Work Plan: Within the technical proposal, the Offeror shall submit its plan to deliver instruction, develop, revise, and update curriculum; determine need to and plan to increase/recruit employees for exercised options; develop the campaign case study; integrate and execute campaign case study in the form of a field study trip during the academic year; create, integrate and execute material; and develop and propose a faculty development training program. The plan at minimum shall identify regularly scheduled work, to include location, specifics of work to be completed, timelines, and subcontractor’s roles and responsibilities, detailing specifics of relationship with the prime contractor and management. Offeror shall provide an organization chart to include subcontractors. Offeror shall complete Attachment 0006 Offeror Staffing Model and include in Volume 1, subfactor 3:

Contractor Work Plan.

3. Proposal Volume 3 – Past Performance Factor

The Past Performance Factor has NO sub‐factors.

a) The Offeror shall include a Table of Contents page, listing the title and page number for each recent and relevant contract included in the Past Performance Factor volume. In the body of the volume, each recent and relevant contract will consist of a Contract Description and a Performance section, with the Performance section discussing the Quality and On‐Time Delivery. Each recent and relevant contract shall begin on a new page to clearly delineate between efforts.

b) The Past Performance Volume shall consist of three (3) recent/relevant historical contracts that demonstrate that the Offeror has performed instruction/education programs in the past six (6) years from the date of the solicitation issuance.

c) A list and description of all recent, as defined in Section M of this solicitation, Government, Commercial, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contracts that are relevant to this solicitation and requirement in which the Offeror performed as either the Prime or a key subcontractor.

d) The Government reserves the right to and may evaluate any subsequent performance prior to the date of the award of this requirement.

e) The Offeror shall explain the relevance of the data provided, as defined in Section M of this solicitation. The Government shall also consider the degree to which contracts are of comparable complexity to the proposed effort in determining relevance.

f) Data concerning an Offeror shall be provided first, followed by each proposed key subcontractor, in alphabetical order. The Offeror shall also submit the written consent of its key subcontractors to allow the disclosure of its subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment shall be included for all key subcontractors for their past performance to be considered.

g) The Offeror shall explain why it considers a proposed subcontractor to be a key subcontractor on a relevant contract. The Government considers a company a key subcontractor when the company performed or is performing 20 percent or more of a relevant contract based on total dollar value OR, performed or is performing key or critical aspects of a relevant contract.

h) Proposal Volume 3 Content: Past Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format:

i. Contract Number and, in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and/or Blanket Purchase Agreements, include Delivery/Task/Call Order Numbers.

ii. Contractor/Subcontractor company name, place of performance, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code, and Unique Entity ID.

iii. Contract Type (Firm-Fixed Price (FFP), Cost Reimbursable (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.).

iv. Total awarded contract value and total current contract value.

v. Description of the contract effort.

vi. Description of relevance to this acquisition. Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of relevance to this acquisition, describing the objectives achieved and detailing how the effort is relevant to the requirement of this RFP.

vii. Name of Government contracting activity or Commercial firm and address; PCO or Contract Manager name, e‐mail address, and telephone numbers.

viii. Government's technical representative/Contracting Officer Representative, and current e‐mail address and telephone numbers.

ix. Government contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting Officer's name, current e‐mail address, and telephone numbers (if different from (8) above).

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

• 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 a copy of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters received (if applicable) on each contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the offeror or proposed subcontractor. Submission of Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters will not count toward maximum page count limits. The offerors shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and, if any, provide the type of termination and reason(s) for the termination.

• Subcontracts. Offerors shall provide an outline of how the effort required by the 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 key subcontractor must include the entire company name, company address, CAGE Code, Unique Entity ID and type of work to be performed by citing the applicable Government PWS subparagraph number. This includes all subcontractors who will be providing critical services or whose subcontract is for more than 20% of the total proposed cost/price.

• New Corporate Entities. New corporate entities may submit data on prior contracts involving its offices and employees.

However, in addition to the other requirements in this section, the Offeror shall discuss in detail the role performed by such persons in the prior contracts cited. Information should be included in the files described in the sections above. Letters of Commitment shall be included in the proposal for these employees in order to be considered.

xi. Past Performance Questionnaire. For all contracts identified in

Section 1, Contract Descriptions, a Past Performance Questionnaire, found at Attachment 0005, may be completed and submitted. The Offeror shall complete Part I of the Past

Performance Questionnaire and e‐mail the questionnaire to both the Government contracting activity and technical representative responsible for the 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 carly.c.frye.civ@army.mil, nicholas.m.sharp10.civ@army.mil, and amanada.l.smith.civ@army.mil. The Offeror shall e‐mail the Contracting Officer a list of all the POCs who were sent a questionnaire. The Government must receive this list no later than the proposal due date. The POC List shall be submitted in Microsoft Word for Windows Table Format to include the following fields: Solicitation Number; Company Name; Contract Number; Government Agency; POC Last Name, First Name;

POC Title; POC Telephone Number; POC E‐mail Address; and Date E‐Mail to POC (month/day).

• Submissions. Offerors are discouraged from providing points of contact with another contractors’ facility, i.e., in case an Offeror (or one of his/her team members) is in a subcontract with another contractor who has submitted a proposal on the same requirement. Offerors shall provide and submit the prime contract number and all Governmental agency POCs in lieu of subcontract numbers or prime contract POCs in situations as described above.

4. Proposal Volume 4 –Cost/Price Factor Instructions

Proposed prices will be used by the Government to calculate the Total Evaluated Price (TEP). For each proposal, the Government will calculate a Total Evaluated Price by adding the total of the Base Year, Option Periods, Option Year 1, Option Year 2, Option Year 3, Option Year 4 and Value Added Tax (VAT). The Offeror shall complete the Price Matrix (Attachment 0002) as detailed below.

Offerors shall submit their proposals using the Microsoft Excel Price Matrix (Attachment 0002). Failure to propose prices for all blue highlighted cells may result in the Offeror’s proposal being considered unacceptable and ineligible for award. The Price Matrix consists of one tab, the Price Matrix Summary tab. All proposed firm-fixed prices will be binding.

Gray shaded cells represent totals or Government developed surrogates;

no action is required by Offerors in relation to gray shaded cells.

Please note that on CLIN 0009 - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Value Added Tax (VAT), has been pre-calculated at a rate of 15%. Offerors are mailto:carly.c.frye.civ@army.mil mailto:amanada.l.smith.civ@army.mil cautioned to ensure the VAT is not included in your FFP proposed cost (CLINs 0001 - 0008).

All prices for this acquisition shall be stated in current U.S. dollars, rounded and displayed to two decimal places. (Current U.S. dollars shall be interpreted to include escalation where appropriate.)

The Price Matrix is locked to prevent inadvertent changes. Offerors shall not alter the Price Matrix in any way. If an Offeror changes the price matrix, its proposal may be considered unacceptable and ineligible for award. The Price Matrix shall be completed as follows:

Offerors shall complete the Price Matrix Summary tab by entering its Offeror Name, Unique Entity ID, Cage Code, and proposal date in the blue highlighted cells.

For all cells on the Price Matrix Summary/Detail tabs that are not highlighted in blue, they are either pre‐populated, or they will populate automatically as they include formulas that will sum values of other cells from within the Price Matrix Summary tab.

Price proposals are assumed to represent the Offeror’s best efforts, as final proposal revisions may not be requested. Any additional information considered necessary to explain the proposed pricing shall be submitted at the time of proposal submission.

Price Information: All information relating to the proposed price including all required supporting documentation must be included in the section of the proposal designated as the Price Volume. Under no circumstances shall this information and documentation be included elsewhere in the proposal.

The Government reserves the right to request data other than certified cost or pricing data or certified cost or pricing data when necessary to validate the reasonable price of an offer.