Attachment_0007_Section_L_Design_ES_01_JUN_2022.docx

14 01 April June 2022 Soldier Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) Design and Development Engineering Services Solicitation W58RGZ-22-R-0073

Instructions to Offerors - Section L

1. GENERAL. The RFP will be open for 30 days. Proposals are due by 31 28 May June 2022 4PM CDT via DoD SAFE Site https://safe.apps.mil to the Contract Specialist (KS) only. Please do not use email for submitting proposals nor with the CC: the Contracting Officer (KO) in SAFE on CC.

KS: Angela AndrewsJulie W. Nelson, julie.w.nelson.civ@army.mil HYPERLINK "mailto:angela.l.andrews5.civ@army.mil" angela.l.andrews5.civ@army.mil.

KO: Gregory Wilson, HYPERLINK "mailto:gregory.a.wilson12.civ@army.mil" gregory.a.wilson12.civ@army.mil.

The Government intends to award on a competitive basis a Cost Plus Fixed Fee Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Small Business Set-aside contract for Design and Development Engineering Services. The Government also intends to award in conjunction with that award a Task Order to the offeror that is awarded the IDIQ contract. The Government intends to issue the IDIQ contract and task order to the offeror whose proposal provides Best Value to the Government based on Source Selection Procedures. Interested parties must submit a proposal in response to this solicitation in order to be eligible for contract award. Responsive proposals shall address all Performance Work Statement (PWS) requirements and criteria set forth in Instructions to Offerors section and Evaluation Factors section.

The Government will provide the offeror the labor categories and the number of estimated labor hours in the RFP for the Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) Design and Development Engineering Services IDIQ contract. The Government will also provide the offeror “plug in numbers” to be used for Travel, Material, and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) in the Cost Reimbursable Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs).

In response, for the IDIQ contract the offerors shall propose their fully burdened CPFF hourly labor rates (including the buildup showing all cost elements included in the burdened rates) for the Government specified labor categories and hours, for this Design and Development Engineering Services IDIQ contract.

Offerors may deviate from the Government provided labor mix (e.g., propose more or less hours for a certain labor category and/or propose other labor categories to perform the PWS). Any deviations must be explained in the Basis for Estimate. Offerors shall not deviate from the Travel, Material, and ODC costs provided. Offers shall include the application of all applicable burden rates to the Travel, Material, and ODC costs.

For the Task Order (TO) the offerors shall submit proposals based on the labor categories and the number of hours it estimates that will be required to perform the task using the labor rates/labor categories proposed in the IDIQ contracts.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) INDUSTRY QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD

The Government will only accept writtenThe time period to submit questions regarding this Request for Proposal (RFP) has expired and the results of the Questions and Answers have been posted to the System for Award Management (SAM).. Verbal questions will not be accepted nor answered. Questions are due by 25 April 2022 4PM CDT. Interested parties shall submit questions regarding this solicitation by electronic mail to the KS (listed above) with their company name and the solicitation number in the subject line. Submitted questions shall reference the specific RFP section and page numbe Any further submission of questions will not be addressed. r.

Example Subject Line: “Wiley Coyote’s ACME Company // RFP# W58RGZ-22-R-0073”

Questions received after the deadline may not be answered prior to proposal submission. Offerors shall not ask proprietary-related questions. The Government will answer all questions through the issuance of a solicitation amendment prior to the deadline for final proposal submissions, provided it receives those questions no later than the date specified in the RFP. All questions and answers will be published on the Beta.SAM.gov website.

The Government does not anticipate extending the closing date for receipt of proposals. Award Date: The anticipated award for this requirement is 15 18 July November 2022.

Offerors are cautioned that in order for their proposal to be eligible for award, the proposal shall be in compliance with all of the terms and conditions set forth in the RFP.

Proposals shall demonstrate that the offeror has an understanding of the requirements and associated risks, as well as possesses the resources and acumen to support the Soldier Unmanned Aircraft SystemSUAS efforts. The Government considers statements that the prospective offeror understands, or can or will comply with the specifications, and/or statements paraphrasing the requirements or parts thereof to be inadequate and nonresponsive. The Government further considers mere reiteration of the requirement or standard reference material to also be inadequate and non-responsive. In addition, it is the offeror’s responsibility to present sufficient information to be meaningfully evaluated without discussions. In presenting material in their proposals, offerors are also advised that quality of information is more important than quantity.

Any data previously submitted in response to another solicitation, should be assumed to be unavailable during this proposal evaluation and source selection process. Proposal data shall not be incorporated into the proposal by referring to another proposal or other source. Elaborate brochures or other presentations beyond that sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal, are neither necessary nor desired.

The Government reserves the right to request additional information after receipt of offeror’s response to the RFP. The proposal shall be valid for no less than 180 calendar days from the proposal due date. Offeror shall make a clear statement that the proposal is valid until such date in the Administrative Volume of the proposal. Files shall not contain classified information.

A company with multiple Divisions is permitted to submit a separate proposal for award consideration if each Division is separately registered in System for Award Management (SAM) (https://www.sam.gov). However, offerors are cautioned that if a company submits separate proposals from multiple Divisions, each Division’s proposal should address the full RFP requirements uniquely based on their particular Division’s capabilities. For example, management processes, small business participation plans, and/or past performance submissions of a different Division may not be used in support of another Division submitting a proposal. The proposal must be specific to the Division submitting the proposal.

In accordance with (IAW) Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS) 5116.505 an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. If resolution cannot be made by the KO, concerned parties may contact: Mr. Eric Lampkin 256-876-7145, Email: eric.d.lampkin.civ@armymail.mil.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Offerors shall use DoD SAFE Site email file transfer to submit proposals to the Points of Contact POC(s) listed in the GENERAL Section, above.

LATE PROPOSALS

Offerors are responsible for submitting proposals, and any revisions, and modifications, so as to reach the Government office designated in the solicitation by the time specified in the solicitation. Any proposal, modification, or revision, that is received at the designated Government office after the exact time specified for receipt of proposals is “late” and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made, the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late proposal would not unduly delay the acquisition; and, it was received at the initial point of entry to the Government infrastructure not later than 45:00 p.m. one working day prior to the date specified for receipt of proposals; or it was the only proposal received.

In the event of a late proposal, the KS or KO will notify the Offeror if they met the criteria to have their proposal accepted for evaluation.

PROPOSAL FILES

Offeror’s proposal submission shall be submitted via email or file transfer siteDoD SAFE Site. Spreadsheet files included in the pricing volume shall be submitted in Microsoft (MS) Excel format. Price volume narratives and the remaining volumes shall be submitted in either MS Word or PDF formats. PDF formats must be searchable by Optical Character Recognition. All volumes shall be clearly indexed and logically assembled. Offers shall be provided to the Contract Specialist (KS) only, please do not CC: the with the Contracting Officer (KO) on CC (see GENERAL Section, above, for POC information).

a. Offeror may use their own file transfer site provided it is coordinated and approved by the Contracting Officer no later than one week before proposals are due.

b. Offeror may shallalso use the DoD SAFE Site (https://safe.apps.mil/) to submit proposals. transfer large files that are unable to be transferred via email. The DoD SAFE Site can transfer files up to 8 GB. Authenticated Common Access Card (CAC) users can send files to any email address (i.e., .mil, .gov, .com). Guests (i.e., Personal Identity Verification holders, users with .com and .edu emails) can send files but only if solicited by CAC users. In order for a guest user to create a drop-off, they must receive a drop-off request from an authenticated user. A drop-off request is valid for 14 days. To request a drop-off using the DoD SAFE Site, Offerors will need to submit an email request to the Contract Specialist with the Contracting Officer copied no earlier than 13 days prior to proposal deadline and no later than 72 hours prior to proposal deadline. The Contract Specialist will provide a "Request a Drop Off” using the DoD SAFE Site, which will be valid for 14 days. Offerors who request a drop-off will provide the Full Name and Email of the point of contact who will upload the files. Government Enterprise Email can accept email sized up to 15 MB.

Offerors are advised that DoD SAFE does NOT guarantee a delivery time. Please allow up to 4 hours for delivery and work closely with the CS to ensure acknowledgement of on time delivery.

c. The Government reserves the right to accept proposals via other methods in the event the DoD SAFE site is unavailable.

Each volume shall be clearly identified and shall begin at the top of the page. All pages of each volume shall be appropriately numbered and identified by the complete company name, date, and solicitation number in the header and/or footer. Proposals shall be written using Arial size 12 font, with one (1) inch margins. Proposals may include Arial size 9-12 font in headers, footers, and tables. Each proposal file shall state the company name, followed by the proposal volume, for example “ABC – Technical”. A Table of Contents should be created using the Table of Contents feature in MS Word. Spreadsheet formulas shall remain intact and no pivot tables shall be included.

All pages shall contain the phrase: “SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION” in addition to referencing the FAR 3.104 proprietary data notice provided on the front/cover page.

PROPOSAL VOLUMES

The offeror’s proposal submission shall be in compliance with the table below: Information shall be confined to the appropriate volume to facilitate independent evaluation. The proposals shall be clear and concise, logically assembled (with all pages appropriately numbered), as well as indexed and cross-indexed to the RFP as appropriate. Pages over the maximum page limitation for any volume or evaluation factor will be excluded from evaluation. Offerors’ proposals shall be in four (4) volumes, Volumes I through IV, as listed below.

Volume I: Administrative

· Executive Summary (ES) shall include the following information:

· Master Index

· Statement of Compliance

· Format and Content

· Security Clearance and Defense Security Service (DSS) office

· Offeror POCs, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code, and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number

· Attachment 1 – Online Representations and Certifications and Provisions and Clauses

· Attachment 2 – Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Mitigation Plan

· Attachment 3 – Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) offices

· Attachment 4 – Complete, signed Teaming Agreements and Subcontracting Plan (if applicable due to offeror size)

· Attachment 5 – Non-disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) contractors.

Page Limit (Volume I):

· Executive Summary: 10 Pages

· Attachments: None.

Volume II: Technical (Factor 1)

· Section 1: General Technical Capability

· Section 2: Subfactor 1 Technical Understanding

· Section 3: Subfactor 2 Management Resources

· Section 4: Subfactor 3 Initial Task Order Proposal

Page Limit (Volume II):

· Section 1: 2 Pages

· Sections 2-4: 60 Pages combined total

Volume III: Past Performance (Factor 2)

· Section 1: Contract Description

· Section 2: Contract Performance

Page Limit (Volume III):

· Sections 1 and 2: 20 Pages combined total

Volume IV: Cost/Price (Factor 3)

· Section 1: Cost Volume Requirements

· Section 2: Task Order 1

· Section 3: Unbalanced Pricing and Proposal Inconsistencies

· No Page limit

Table Notes:

Information shall be confined to the appropriate volume to facilitate independent evaluation. The proposals shall be clear and concise, logically assembled (with all pages appropriately numbered), as well as indexed and cross-indexed to the applicable parts of the RFP as appropriate. Pages over the maximum page limitation for any volume or evaluation factor will be excluded from evaluation. Exceptions to the page limitations are, if required: cover pages, indices/tables of contents, cross-reference matrix, and acronym list.

The offeror shall write each volume on a stand-alone basis so the Government can evaluate its contents without cross-referencing to other volumes of the proposal. The Government will consider information it requires for proposal evaluation not found in its designated volume as the offeror having omitted it from the proposal. A Cross-Reference Matrix correlates the evaluation criteria with the information the offeror submitted in the proposal. The offeror shall complete a Cross-Reference Matrix by indicating the proposal volume/paragraph corresponding to the Instructions to Offerors section and the Evaluation Factors for Award Section, and include a copy in each Volume. The Cross-Reference Matrix is not included in the page count.

1.1 DISCLOSURE OF PROPOSAL

Information contained in the successful offeror’s Technical, Past Performance, or Cost proposal volumes must be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552) upon request from the public except to the extent it contains trade secrets and privileged or confidential commercial or financial information. Offerors who consider their information as proprietary may insert a statement similar to the following, “We consider the data in our submission proprietary to our firm, and object to its disclosure outside the U.S. Government, or its cognizant administrative or audit offices, whether pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act Section 821 Public Law 104-201, or any other law or regulation, including the transmittal of unencrypted proprietary data over the internet.” Unsuccessful offerors’ proposals will not be released pursuant to a FOIA request. See FAR 52.215.1 regarding restriction on disclosure and use of the data.

1.2 PROPOSAL FORMAT AND TIMELINESS

Offerors are hereby on notice that a failure to submit all the required documentation in exactly the manner (timeliness and format) specified in the solicitation may constitute a basis for the Government to reject a proposal as non-compliant and therefore unacceptable, at the sole discretion of the Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO).

Should an Offeror’s proposal cause the Government to question the Offeror’s compliance with the requirements, the PCO, may determine at his/her discretion, that the Offeror’s proposal is deficient and/or non-compliant, and therefore, ineligible for award.

2. PROPOSAL CONTENT

2.1 VOLUME I - ADMINISTRATIVE

Executive Summary: A letter formally transmitting the proposal shall include:

a. Master Index. A master index that identifies the location of all major topics provided in each volume.

b. Statement of Compliance. Each offer shall include a signed letter or memorandum on company letterhead providing a statement indicating complete compliance with the solicitation in the Administrative volume, or detailed analysis of any objections, exceptions, contingencies, or additions. Any objection, exception, contingency, or addition shall be cross-referenced to the applicable solicitation paragraph(s).

c. Format and Content. Each offeror shall describe any deviations from the specified proposal format and content. If the offeror’s proposal differs from these guidelines, state the differences, and explain the reason.

d. Security Clearance. Each offeror shall provide, if applicable, disclosure of the level of their Facility Security Clearance (personnel and facility) and their cognizant DSS office with POC (address, name, phone, and email). Per the DD254, the level of facility security clearance required is: Secret.

e. Offeror POCs. Offeror shall identify (primary and alternate) POCs authorized to respond to questions and/or negotiate on the offeror’s behalf. POC contact information shall include: physical address, primary email, work phone numbers, and cell phone numbers.

Attachment 1 - Representations and Certifications: Offeror shall complete (fill-in with signatures) the solicitation sections indicated below using the file (without modification to the file) provided with the solicitation. An authorized official of the firm shall sign the SF 26 and all certifications requiring original signature. Using System for Award Management (SAM) the offeror shall enter the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this effort (NAICS Code 541330–Engineering Services), and complete the Representations and Certifications information appropriately. Offerors must register in SAM for NAICS 541330 to be determined responsive and responsible at time of proposal submission. Please refer to the website: https://www.sam.govSAM.gov.

Attachment 2 - Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Mitigation Plan. Regardless of offerors’ size, they shall include an OCI mitigation plan in accordance with the clauses and provisions listed elsewhere in the RFP. In addition to the elements outlined in FAR Part 9.5, the Plan shall include an organizational chart and entry/exit employee NDA Template in offeror format. The Government’s request for a correction or revision of an OCI Plan shall not be considered as Discussions/Negotiations or the reopening of negotiations closed by a Final Proposal Revision.

Attachment 3 - Identification of the applicable Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) with POC name, address, phone, email, and Department of Defense Activity Address Code (DODAAC). Offeror shall also provide its CAGE, DUNs, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) or any Government issued DODAAC.

Attachment 4 - Signed Teaming Arrangements and Subcontracting Plan (if applicable). All offerors (Large and Small Businesses) shall provide a summary describing the teaming or subcontracting arrangement established for this RFP, and a signed document (format as established by offeror) indicating a legally binding agreement (i.e., Teaming Agreements (TA)) among the parties. The TA should identify each proposed team member by company name and address, CAGE, description of the work to be performed and approximate amount of the subcontract. Also, Other Than Small Business (Large Businesses) offerors ONLY shall submit a Subcontracting Plan in accordance with FAR Clause 52.219-9 and DFARS Clause 252.219-7003 (for reference see FAR 19.704 and DFARS 219-704). The Subcontracting Plan should be similar to the Small Business Participation Plan. This Plan shall be evaluated IAW AFARS Appendix DD. The Government’s request for a correction or revision of a Subcontracting Plan shall not be considered as Discussions/Negotiations or the reopening of negotiations closed by a Final Proposal Revision.

Attachment 5 - Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) NDA with SSEB contractor. Offerors shall include a copy of the signed NDA in the proposal outlining in offeror format, the NDA between the offeror, and any contractors identified as working on this RFP and subsequent SSEB.

Failure to submit all of the documents required under Paragraph L.2.1 of this RFP may result in a determination of non-compliance or non-responsiveness at the sole discretion of the PCO.

2.2 VOLUME II - Technical

FACTOR I 1 - TECHNICAL

The Offeror shall describe their technical approach in meeting the Program, Contract, and Management objectives as stated in the PWS cited in this solicitation. The Offeror shall describe their approach and processes as outlined in the following three subfactors, Technical Understanding, Management of Resources and Initial Task Order and the Offeror’s submits a proposal that shall clearly outlines their approach to meeting Performance Requirements as outlined in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP).

· Subfactor 1 - TECHNICAL UNDERSTANDING The Offeror shall describe their approach to perform all aspects of the scope of the Soldier Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) technical support services contract IAW the Performance Work StatementPWS. The offeror shall describe their understanding of the service support requirements of the PWS and demonstrate an understanding of the Army PEO Aviation UAS Project Office mission and programmatic needs. The Offeror shall describe their approach to meeting Performance Requirements as outlined in the QASP.

· Subfactor 2 - MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES The Offeror shall describe their proposed approach for this contract to recruiting/obtaining, training, retaining, and replacing personnel of appropriate qualifications, experience, education, and skill levels to satisfy the requirements and objectives set forth in the PWS. Any proposed skill mix included in the technical volume shall match the skill mix included in the Skill Classification CrosswalkLabor Category Mapping at RFP Section L Appendix A. The Offeror shall describe their approach to managing workload fluctuations, ensuring the ability to maintain the required personnel, and their approach to ensure timely availability and cost effectiveness of contractor resources.

· Subfactor 3 - INITIAL TASK ORDER The Offeror shall propose to the task order that will be evaluated and issued in conjunction with the IDIQ award to establish a minimum guarantee using the criteria established in the Government-provided PWS and the Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs). The Offeror shall describe their technical approach in meeting the Program, Contract, and Management objectives as stated in the Task Order. The Government will evaluate the offerors use of proposed labor hours and labor mix in regards to realism and efficiency.

2.3 Volume III - Past Performance

FACTOR 2 - PAST PERFORMANCE

The offeror shall describe the offeror’s Past Performance against a probability of success in performing work specific to the PWS requirements, and describes offeror’s execution of cost, schedule, and performance relative to the areas as described in Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors Section, as well as information that addresses demonstrated use of business processes relevant to the PWS.

Based on the offeror’s input and other Government Past Performance research, the Government will make a Past Performance Confidence Assessment. , The Government will also evaluate the recent and relevant Performance Citations provided by the offeror. The performance Confidence Assessment includes assessing the risk associated with an offeror’s likelihood of success in performing the solicitation requirements as indicated by the offeror’s record of Past Performance.

The Government’s intent in this assessment is to identify those offerors whose Past Performance is recent and relevant. “Recent” for this solicitation is defined as within the past four years from the date of release of the RFP. “Relevant” for this solicitation is described as contracts equal to or greater than $500,000 and with comparable scope as this PWS. A record of more relevant past performance will typically be a stronger predictor of future success and may have more influence on confidence assessment than a favorable record of less relevant past performance. The most relevant past performance records are contracts supporting Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The Government is not bound by the Offeror’s opinion of relevancy.

Past Performance represents the highest confidence in providing beneficial solutions to the PWS requirements in the execution of TOsTask Orders.

Sources of Past Performance Information may include (not a complete list):

· Past Performance Information provided by the offeror, as solicited

· Contractor Performance Assessments Reporting System (CPARS)

· Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS)

· Electronic Subcontract Reporting System (eSRS)

· Other Government databases

· Interviews with Program Managers, Contracting Officers (KO)s, Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs), and Fee Determining Officials

· Defense Contract Management Agency

The offeror shall prepare and submit a Past Performance Volume. The offeror shall provide performance information using the Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors Section. Offerors shall provide up to five submissions reflecting their recent and relevant Past Performance. By submission of Past Performance data, the offeror: 1) authorizes the Government to seek and use information from commercial sources to verify performance of past commercial contracts, if applicable, and 2) constitutes consent from subcontractors, teaming partners and joint venture partners to release Past Performance information to the offeror in order for the offeror to respond to such information, if required by the Government.

Past Performance Information

The offeror shall submit Past Performance information on contracts (as a prime or subcontractor) relevant to the efforts required. The Government may choose to investigate contracts prior to the past four years for the purpose of the evaluation.

Contracts terminated for any reason in whole or in part, to include those currently in process of such termination are considered relevant. The offeror shall provide Past Performance Information for those contracts (not included in Volume page limit).

Data concerning the Prime offeror shall be provided first, followed by each proposed major Subcontractor, in alphabetical order. The major Subcontractors listed in this volume should match the Teaming Arrangements and Subcontracting Plan (if applicable) provided in the Administrative Volume, and the Small Business Participation Plan listed in the Technical Volume. The Past Performance volume shall be organized into the following sections:

Section 1 - Contract Descriptions: This section shall include the following information for up to five (5) contracts:

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 POC within the Prime contractor organization (i.e., name, current address, e-mail address, and telephone).

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

c. Government’s Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and/or the Government’s Program Manager’s, current e-mail address, and telephone.

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

e. Government contract administration activity’s Pre-Award Monitor’s name, current e-mail address, and telephone.

f. Contract Number (in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreements, include delivery/task order numbers).

g. Contract Type (specified type, such as Fixed Price (FP), Cost Reimbursement (CR), Time & Materials (T&M), etc.). In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (Requirements, Definite Quantity, or Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (FP, CR, T&M, etc.).

h. Award amount or projected final price.

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

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

Section 2 - Contract Performance: For any contracts that did not/do not meet original schedule or technical performance requirements, or small business participation/ subcontracting requirements offerors shall 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. The offerors shall also provide a copy of any Cure Notices, Show Cause Letters, or Letters of Concern received on each contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the offeror or proposed subcontractor. The offerors shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

The past performance factor considers each offeror’s demonstrated recent and relevant record of performance in supplying products that meet the contract requirements. There are two aspects to the past performance evaluation: relevancy and performance confidence assessment.

(i) RELEVANCY: The first aspect of the past performance evaluation is to assess the offeror’s past performance to determine how relevant a recent effort accomplished by the offeror is to the effort to be acquired through the source selection. Relevancy is not separately rated; however, the following criteria will be used to establish what is relevant which will include similarity of service/ support, complexity; dollar value, contract type, and degree of subcontract/ teaming.

(ii) PERFORMANCE CONFIDENCE ASSESSMENT: The final step is for the team to arrive at a single consensus performance confidence assessment for the offeror, selecting the most appropriate rating from Figure 3 included in RFP Section M. This rating considers the assessed quality of the relevant/recent efforts presented for review.

The offeror’s recent and relevant past performance as defined in this RFP shall provide the Government with an expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort. The offeror-provided recent and relevant Past Performance examples that validated its ability to deliver engineering services that provide the capabilities defined in the SOW and demonstrated Past Performance that met cost, schedule, and performance requirements on recent and relevant programs.

2.4 FACTOR 3 - COST/PRICE (Volume IV)

Section 1 - Cost Volume Requirements

(a) Electronic Copy. Files contained on the Volume IV Cost DVD-R may not be password protected. The Cost Volume shall contain a spreadsheet of the estimated cost of performing the work and any associated fees along with a Cost Volume proposal supporting narrative describing the basis and rationale of all proposed costs.

The electronic spreadsheet files (workbooks) shall be submitted in a Microsoft (MS) Excel compatible format and include all formulas, functions, macros, computations, or equations used to compute the proposed amounts. Electronic links are only permissible within the Cost Volume. If files contain links, the links must be intact and maintained through all revisions. The offeror shall not include in the Excel spreadsheets pivot tables and shall not include cell references to data or files which are not included in the Cost Volume. For each workbook, all rows, columns, cells, and worksheets are to be visible. Do not include zero height/zero width rows/columns in worksheets.

The Cost Volume proposal narratives, including any Basis of Estimate (BOE) sheets provided, shall be provided in files which are MS Excel or MS Word compatible. Do not submit BOEs as pictures. Do not provide text or spreadsheets used as supporting rationale within a BOE as a picture.

The offeror shall provide a completed Section B Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs. Additionally, the prime offeror is required to fill out RFP Section L, Appendix B, CAGE Code, and Cognizant DCMA/DCAA/DFAS Information for themselves and all proposed subcontractors to include the DCMA and DCAA Point of Contacts’ (POCs’) email addresses and telephone numbers. The prime offeror shall ensure that all DCMA/DCAA information is current and that the correct POC information is provided. Subcontractors are defined as members of an offeror’s overall team who are expected to perform on the proposed effort.

Provide a Table of Contents showing each file submitted as part of the Cost Volume with a short description of the contents of the file. Hyperlink each of these entries in the Table of Contents to the respective files.

(b) Compliance. Failure to comply with the RFP requirements for Cost information may result in an adverse assessment of an offeror’s proposal and reduce or eliminate its chance of being selected for award. Offerors shall ensure that the information presented in this volume is consistent and correlates with the information contained in the other proposal volumes. Also, the offeror shall ensure that the information submitted in this volume is consistent with and fully supports the amounts set forth in the SF33 and continuation sheets.

(c) General Instructions. In accordance with FAR 15.402 and 15.403-1, certified cost or pricing data are not required based on the fact that adequate competition is expected for this procurement. Information other than certified cost or pricing data may be provided in contractor format provided that sufficient information is made available. Information submitted shall be prepared following the instruction in FAR 15.403-5. If after receipt of proposals the Contracting Officer determines that there is insufficient information available to determine price reasonableness and none of the exceptions at FAR 15.403-1 apply, the offeror may be required to submit cost or pricing data. Additionally, in the event that adequate competition is not obtained, the Contracting Officer may incorporate FAR 52.215-20 entitled, “Requirements for Cost or Pricing Data or Information Other Than Cost or Pricing Data,” into the solicitation and request a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data.

All prices and costs must be in U.S. dollars only, including the amounts for the prime offeror and any potential subcontractors. If the basis for the proposal is in any other currency, the offeror shall state the exchange rate(s) being used to convert any currency to U.S. dollars.

There are no page limitations for this volume. Proposal information included in this volume which is not directly related to Cost will be disregarded. In addition to the information requested below, the Government reserves the right to request additional or more detailed information to support an evaluation of reasonableness and realism.

(d) Cost Proposal Assumptions. The offeror shall use the following assumptions when proposing its Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) and Cost Reimbursement (CR) prices.

(1) PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The offeror shall assume an award date of 15 18 July November 2022 and shall base the costs for a period of performance as defined below for proposal purposes only:

CLINs 0001-0007: 185 July November 2022 – 14 17 July November 2023 CLINs 1001-1007: 185 July November 2023 – 14 17 July November 2024 CLINs 2001-2007: 185 July November 2024 – 14 17 July November 2025 CLINs 3001-3007: 15 18 July November 2025 – 14 17 July November 2026 CLINs 4001-4007: 15 18 July November 2026 – 174 July November 2027 CLINs 5001-5007: 185 July November 2027 – 14 17 December May 20287

(2) BUSINESS SYSTEM STATUS:

The offeror shall provide the most current compliance status and date of adequacy/inadequacy determination for the following business systems: Purchasing System and Accounting System. For all subcontractors, divisions, subsidiaries, and affiliates proposed, the prime offeror shall provide the contract type arrangement proposed. For every subcontractor, division, subsidiary, and affiliate proposed on the CPFF and CR CLINs the offeror shall also provide the most current compliance status and date of adequacy/inadequacy determination of its Accounting System. Offerors without approved business systems are not precluded from submitting a proposal.

If DCAA has not audited the offeror’s, subcontractor’s, division’s, subsidiary’s, or affiliate’s Accounting System; DCMA has not approved the Accounting Systems; or DCAA has not determined adequacy, the offeror, subcontractor, division, subsidiary, and affiliate shall indicate that by completing the Pre-award Survey of Prospective Contractor Accounting System Checklist under RFP Section L, Appendix C. In order for the Army Contracting Command-Redstone to proceed with a request for a DCAA pre-award accounting system survey, completion of the Pre-award Survey of Prospective Contractor Accounting System Checklist, included as RFP Section L Appendix C, is required. The Contracting Officer may forward a copy to the cognizant DCAA office along with the request for audit. Any known/cited Accounting System deficiencies shall be identified. The Contracting Officer may forward the Pre-award Survey of Prospective Contractor Accounting System Checklist requesting an Accounting System audit or follow up audit from DCAA.

(3) COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD (CASB) DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: The offeror shall provide a copy of its most current CASB Disclosure Statement if applicable.

(4) UNCOMPENSATED OVERTIME: In accordance with FAR 52.237-10, Identification of Uncompensated Overtime, if uncompensated overtime is proposed for employees who are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, the offeror shall compute an estimated hourly rate for each employee based on the total compensated and uncompensated hours the employee is expected to work during the year and distribute salary costs to all projected tasks/efforts at the estimated hourly rate. The offeror’s accounting practices used to estimate uncompensated overtime must be consistent with its cost accounting practices used to accumulate and report uncompensated overtime.

(i) If proposing uncompensated overtime, an offeror shall adjust the proposed labor rates to cover the extra hours proposed to be worked and submit the calculations as shown in the following example:

Proposed Uncompensated Overtime Example

(ii) A copy of the offeror’s policy addressing uncompensated overtime shall be included in the proposal submission.

(5) COMPENSATION FOR PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES: In accordance with FAR 52.222-46, the offeror shall submit a total compensation plan setting forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for the professional employees who will work under the proposed effort. The offeror shall support the total compensation plan by providing unloaded labor rates for each labor category proposed. The offeror shall provide supporting information to include data, such as recognized national and regional compensation surveys and studies of professional, public and private organizations, used in establishing the total compensation structure. The offeror shall ensure that the compensation levels proposed reflect a clear understanding of work to be performed on the proposed effort and indicate the capability of the proposed compensation structure to obtain and keep suitably qualified personnel to meet mission objectives. The salary rates or ranges must take into account differences in skills, the complexity of various disciplines, and professional job difficulty.

(6) Cost Formulation: The offeror shall propose in accordance with the following assumptions by CLIN.

(i) CPFF CLINs (CLIN 0001, CLIN 1001, CLIN 2001, CLIN 3001, CLIN 4001, and CLIN 5001): The offeror shall propose a cost for all CPFF CLINs, including Option CLINs, listed in Section B of the solicitation in accordance with the PWS.

These CLINs shall include prime and subcontract labor costs only. Any material/nonmaterial costs related to these CLINs will be captured under CR Travel CLINs 0003, 1003, 2003, 3003, 4003, and 5003, Material CLINs 0004, 1004, 2004, 3004, 4004, and 5004, and Other Direct Cost (ODC) CLINs 0005, 1005, 2005, 3005, 4005, and 5005.

Although approximately 5.0% of the effort may be performed on temporary duty locations inside the Continental United States, for proposal purposes the offeror shall assume that 100 percent of the labor hours will be performed at the contractor’s site.

The CPFF CLIN pricing should be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate realism. The offeror is responsible for providing adequate evidence to prove credibility of proposed costs/prices. The offeror’s proposal shall be submitted with any and all information reasonably required to explain the CPFF CLIN estimating process, including the judgmental factors applied and the mathematical or other methods used in the estimates, including those used in projecting from known data; and the nature and amount of any contingencies included in the CPFF proposed price. Provide any other general or specific information that may be beneficial in the evaluation of the offeror’s CPFF CLIN prices. The offeror shall ensure that the Cost Volume includes supporting data and rationale in sufficient detail to enable the Government to evaluate the realism of the offeror’s proposed costs.

The offeror’s cost estimating practices shall be in accordance with the offeror’s established accounting practices for accumulating, allocating and recording costs to final cost objectives. The offeror shall identify any deviations from the offeror’s standard procedures in preparing this proposal. If the offeror proposes to absorb a portion of costs, explain the reason and impact on cost and the specific accounting treatment that will be given to those absorbed costs.

The CPFF CLIN prices shall be based upon prime and subcontractor labor hours, labor rates, and indirect rates/factors that are realistic and achievable.

For the CPFF CLINs, the offeror shall include a cost element summary of the total proposed CPFF cost/price and a cost element summary by CLIN/contract year, including fee dollars and percentage. The summaries should distinguish between the prime and each subcontractor. The offeror shall provide formulas in the cost element summaries to show how the direct labor costs, indirect costs, and subcontract costs are calculated from the supporting cost information. Subcontract costs shall be traceable from the subcontractors’ proposals to the prime offeror’s proposals. The prime offeror shall explain any differences between the subcontractor costs included in the prime offer and the subcontractor costs included in the subcontractor proposals.

Provide supporting cost information as described below.

A. Labor. The offeror shall identify the proposed labor categories, labor rates, and labor hours for the prime and each subcontractor. In support of direct labor, the offeror shall complete the Skill Classification CrosswalkLabor Category Mapping at RFP Section L, Appendix A, to show the mapping of the contract’s labor categories to the offeror’s internal contractor/corporate labor categories.

Labor Hours. A notional labor hour skill mix is provided below. Offerors must use the total number of hours per CLIN but may deviate from the Government provided labor mix (e.g., propose more or less hours for a certain labor category and/or propose other labor categories to perform the PWS). Any deviations must be explained in the Basis of EstimateOE.

CLIN

CLIN

CLIN

CLIN

CLIN

Total Hours

Program Manager III

5,760

Program Manager II

Design Engineer III

Design Engineer II

Design Engineer I

Safety Engineer II

Safety Engineer I

Technical Writer II

Technical Writer I

5,760

Labor hours shall be delineated by labor category by CLIN/contract year for the prime and each subcontractor. The labor hour delineation must be directly traceable to the same information proposed in the Technical Volume. The offeror shall provide sufficient details for the Government to evaluate the proposed skill mix. If a particular proposed labor category is a composite of more than one of the offeror’s internal contractor/corporate labor categories, the offeror shall provide the calculation of the composite with the assigned weightings. This information shall be directly traceable to the same information proposed in the Skill Classification CrosswalkLabor Category Mapping at RFP Section L, Appendix A. The offeror shall identify the productive work year proposed for the requirement and provide its basis.

Labor Rates. Labor rates shall be delineated by labor category by CLIN/contract year for the prime and each subcontractor. The offeror shall provide the following in support of the proposed labor rates on the CPFF CLINs:

1. A listing of labor rates by labor category and by CLIN/contract year used in the development of the proposal for the prime and each subcontractor. Labor rates shall identify the baseline (takeoff point) plus projected escalation for each CLIN/contract year. The offeror shall disclose the correlation between the contractor’s fiscal year and the proposed direct labor rates by CLIN/contract year;

2. A narrative explaining the basis of estimate for proposed labor rates and any escalation factors used to support why the proposed rates are realistic;

3. State whether the proposed rates represent a Forward Pricing Rate Proposal (FPRP), Forward Pricing Rate Recommendation (FPRR), or Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA), and note the date of the agreement. If the proposed direct labor rates are based on a FPRP, FPRR, or FPRA, the offeror shall provide a copy of the FPRP, FPRR, or FPRA;

4. If the proposed direct labor rates are based on surveys (i.e., personnel for that category are not currently employed by the offeror), then the offeror shall provide the applicable pages from the proposed surveys and show which rates were utilized (i.e., 50th percentile, median, etc.);

5. If the proposed direct labor rates are based on actual employee payroll rates for employees working in the same or similar positions as those proposed, the offeror shall provide copies of the employees’ payroll records from the offeror’s accounting system. The offeror shall ensure that the employees’ actual payroll rates, labor categories, and labor category job descriptions is included;

6. If the proposed direct labor rates are based on agreed to labor rates with prospective employees, the offeror shall provide copies of the letter of intent/contingent offer letters signed by the prospective employees. The offeror shall ensure the letter of intent/contingent offer letters identify the job title, job description, and the agreed to compensation; and

7. If the proposed direct labor rates are based on something other than a FPRP, FPRR, FPRA, survey, actual payroll rates, or prospective employee agreed to compensation, the offeror shall provide the supporting documentation to show the proposed labor rates are realistic.

B. Indirect Costs (to include Facilities Capital Cost of Money (FCCOM). The offeror shall provide the following in support of the proposed indirect costs on the CPFF CLINs:

1. A listing of indirect rates by CLIN/contract year used in the development of the proposal. The offeror shall disclose the correlation between the contractor’s fiscal year and the proposed indirect rates by CLIN/contract year;

2. A narrative explaining the basis of estimate for proposed indirect rates used to support why the proposed rates are realistic;

3. State whether the proposed rates represent a FPRP, FPRR, or FPRA, and note the date of the agreement.