Attachment 1 - DRAFT Instructions to Offerors.pdf

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Fixed Income Investment Services

Attachment 1: DRAFT Instructions to Offerors

(Addendum to provision 52.212-1)

1. Adherence to Instructions

To maximize efficiency and ensure fairness during the proposal evaluation process, offerors must comply with FAR 52.212-1 and this addendum. Offerors must also draft their responses in a clear and coherent manner using detail adequate for effective evaluation by the Government. Proposals must address all aspects as described hereunder. Offers that do not comply with these instructions may be considered non-compliant with the solicitation terms and ineligible for award.

2. Proposal Due Dates

Proposals will be due in accordance with the following schedule:

Volume 1 – Offeror Qualifications: See solicitation closing date posted at www.sam.gov under this opportunity announcement.

Volume 2 – Technical Proposal: Approximately three weeks after PBGC provides notice that your firm has passed Phase 1. PBGC will provide the exact date within the notice.

Volume 3 – Price Proposal: Approximately 60 days after Volume 2 is due. PBGC will provide an exact date in the Phase 1 notice.

NOTE: Offerors must be fully registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at the time that they submit Volume 3 – Price Proposal. PBGC will stop evaluating proposals from any offerors not fully registered in SAM at that point and remove those offerors from further consideration for award.

3. Industry Questions

Prior to submitting questions regarding this solicitation, firms should review the attachment Responses to Industry Feedback – Draft Solicitation, which includes PBGC replies to industry questions and recommendations submitted in response to the draft solicitation (DRAFT25R0062).

If upon reviewing the solicitation and Responses to Industry Feedback – Draft Solicitation firms still have questions, they may submit them using the Industry Feedback Form – Official Solicitation form to the PBGC points of contact for this solicitation no later than http://www.sam.gov/

9:00 a.m. ET on the following dates:

• Phase 1: [Date TBD]; and

• Phase 2: Seven calendar days after PBGC provides notice of Phase 1 results.

PBGC will post public responses to all questions received in the Industry Feedback Form – Official Solicitation by the above deadline. PBGC may or may not provide responses to questions that do not meet these criteria; however, if it does, these too will be made public.

4. Multiple Awards

PBGC anticipates making seven (7) contract awards against this solicitation, although it reserves the right to award more or less than this if determined to be within the Government’s best interests.

5. Proposal Submission Method

Offerors shall submit their proposals through the PBGC Secure File Exchange at https://pbgc.leapfile.com/.

6. Proposal Formatting

Offerors shall organize their proposals in accordance with Table 1, located on the following page.

https://pbgc.leapfile.com/

Table 1.

Solicitation Phase

(Informational only) Title Contents Formatting

Phase 1: Pass/Fail Assessments

Volume 1: Offeror Qualifications

a. Cover Letter;

b. Table of Contents;

c. Completed Offeror

Qualifications Form;

d. Responses to Product

Qualifications Forms (one per offered product);

Submit each volume as a single PDF document.

Submit volume attachments separately within a single zipped folder. Format documents as PDF unless forms specify Excel formatting.

Use Aptos, Calibri, or similar sans serif font with minimum 11-point size (minimum size doesn’t apply to tables or images).

The forms contain page and word limits as applicable. If unstated, there is no page or word limit for a particular form or prompt.

Volume 1 Supporting Materials

All supporting information requested by the Offeror Qualifications Form and Product Qualifications Forms.

Phase 2: Technical and Price Proposal Assessments

Volume 2: Technical Proposal

a. Cover Letter;

b. Table of Contents;

c. Responses to Offeror

Capability Form; and

d. Responses to Product

Attributes and Past Performance Form.

Volume 2 Supporting Materials

All supporting information requested by the Offeror Capability Form and Product Attributes and Past Performance Forms.

Volume 3: Price Proposal

a. Cover Letter;

b. Completed copy of the representations and certifications found within provision 52.212-3;

c. Completed Fixed Income Pricing Template; and

d. (As appropriate) Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Risk Mitigation Plan

7. Detailed Proposal Instructions

a. Cover Letter. Offerors shall submit a new cover letter with each proposal volume. The letter shall include, at a minimum, the following:

i. The solicitation number;

ii. The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers;

iii. The name, address, and telephone number of the offeror;

iv. The offeror’s Unique Entity Identifier;

v. Acknowledgement of solicitation amendments;

vi. A statement identifying which financial products the offeror is proposing (minimum of two): Core, Credit, Global, and/or Emerging Markets Debt;

vii. A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation;

viii. (Price proposal only) A statement that the offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 180 days from the date specified for receipt of offers;

ix. Either a statement certifying that the offeror knows of no actual or potential OCIs that would result from the offeror receiving an award under this solicitation or a brief explanation of what actual or potential OCIs may result from the offeror receiving an award under this solicitation;

x. The following statement, completed as indicated: “I, [name of cover letter signatory], certify that [company name] leadership has reviewed the solicitation in full, understands the Government’s requirement, including the standards for acceptable performance, and believes [company name] to be fully capable of satisfactorily performing this requirement. In addition, [company name] leadership has either participated in or reviewed all aspects of this proposal. The information contained herein is accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.”; and

xi. The signature of a senior company official with authority to enter the offeror into a contract for this work, as well as the signature date (each cover letter requires a new signature and date).

b. Table of Contents. At a minimum, identify the page numbers of the contents specified in Table 1, above.

c. Responses to PBGC Form Prompts. Offerors shall propose a minimum of two, and no more than four, financial products among Core, Credit, Global, and Emerging Markets Debt. For each proposed product, the offeror shall complete the appropriate product form.

When applicable, page and word limits are specified within the forms. When unspecified, there are no limits. Nevertheless, offeror responses must be:

i. on-topic – provide information responsive to each prompt as stated;

ii. complete – include all information relevant to each prompt;

iii. clear – contain accurate, well-organized, and grammatically sound language; and

iv. concise – omit redundant or irrelevant information.

Responses that do not meet the above criteria increase the likelihood that PBGC will misunderstand an offeror’s proposal, potentially resulting in a lower rating than the offeror otherwise would have received.

d. Supporting Materials. Certain form prompts instruct the offeror to provide supporting documents or data. Offerors shall include all documents pertaining to a specific volume separately within a zipped folder. Each document shall be labeled clearly so that PBGC can understand by looking at the document titles exactly which solicitation requirement each document addresses. Missing supporting documents will reduce the agency’s confidence level for those factors. Documents that are not clearly labeled increase the likelihood that PBGC will overlook a supporting document.

e. OCI Risk Mitigation Plan. Only offerors unable to certify the absence of actual or potential OCI risks in their cover letters shall submit an OCI risk mitigation plan with their proposals. The plan only needs to be submitted once, before or at the time of price proposal submission. The risk mitigation plan must list, in specific detail, the issue(s) that constitute the OCI, how the issues originated, a draft plan on how to mitigate the OCI, and any other pertinent facts or assumptions that led the offeror to believe an OCI issue exists with regard to its proposal.

f. Representations and Certifications. Offerors shall satisfy this requirement by submitting a PDF copy of their electronic representations and certifications located within the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov). If applicable, offerors shall also complete solicitation provision 52.212-3 (see provision to determine applicability).

g. Price. Offerors shall complete the Fixed Income Pricing Template by populating it with rates and corresponding investment amounts. Offerors may propose more than one set of rates for each product (e.g., discounted rates in exchange for reaching certain investment levels). See the template for specific instructions.

8. Discussions http://www.sam.gov/

At the conclusion of Phase 2, PBGC anticipates holding discussions (i.e., negotiations) with the best-qualified offerors prior to making awards, although it reserves the right to further limit discussions to the greatest number of offerors that will permit an efficient competition. For non-incumbent offerors, PBGC will travel to those offerors’ facilities to hold discussions. For incumbent offerors, discussions may be held remotely or at the offerors’ facilities, at the Government’s discretion. (The reason for this distinction between incumbent and non-incumbent offerors is addressed within Attachment 2 – Evaluation Criteria.)

Discussions will be far-reaching. They will address any identified weaknesses and deficiencies in the offerors’ technical proposals, prices that are significantly higher than competitors’ prices, events that have ensued since proposal submission that could impact the offeror’s qualifications or abilities as represented in its proposal, areas of the proposal for which PBGC seeks elaboration, and any additional information as deemed necessary for the parties to reach agreement as to the terms of each potential contract up to this point in the process (but see Section 10 for details on post-selection negotiations). PBGC will tailor discussions to each offeror in a manner that is fair to offerors.

9. Assessments for Factor 7: Offeror Facilities and Factor 8: Personnel Expertise

These assessments will occur while PBGC is on offerors’ premises for discussions (or, in the case of incumbent offerors, may occur based on the agency’s pre-existing knowledge of these aspects). Offerors will be expected to provide PBGC personnel with a tour of their facilities and systems sufficient to address the Government’s questions and concerns.

There are no proposal submission requirements associated with these factors.

10. Post-Selection Negotiations

Once PBGC has selected the apparent awardees, the parties will negotiate additional performance terms specific to each awardee. Mutual execution of these supplemental terms is a prerequisite for each contractor to begin performance. Because at this point the competition will have concluded and awardees will have been selected, these negotiations are not “discussions” as defined in FAR part 15, and the rules pertaining to discussions will not apply.

11. Additional Considerations

The Contractor shall comply with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws. The Contractor's compliance is material to the Government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code, and certifies that it does not operate any programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order of January 21, 2025 (Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity), which revokes Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity), Contractors are no longer required to complete the associated representations found at FAR 52.212-3(d) or comply with clauses (or portions of clauses) implementing Executive Order 11246 (i.e., FAR 52.222-26, FAR 52.212-5).