Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Expert Financial Advisory Services

Attachment 2: Evaluation Criteria

1. General

a. Basis for Award. PBGC will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible firm whose quotation, conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.

PBGC may select for award a respondent who does not quote the lowest price if it finds the quotation to be technically superior to those of lower-priced competitors. It may also select for award a respondent whose quotation is not considered to be technically superior, but who nevertheless provide better value by virtue of a lower price.

b. Factors. The evaluation factors and general rating methods are summarized in the following table:

c. Evaluation Phases. PBGC will evaluate quotations in the following two phases:

i. Phase 1 – Pass/Fail Assessments (Factor 1): Respondents must meet the minimum criteria to proceed to Phase 2. Any respondent that does not meet the minimum qualifications will be removed from further consideration for contract award. PBGC will notify respondents of the Phase 1 results.

ii. Phase 2 – Technical and Price Quotation Assessments (Factors 2 – 5):

PBGC will provide respondents who pass Phase 1 an invitation to participate in oral presentations. Upon conclusion of oral presentations and any negotiations, PBGC will evaluate Factors 2 – 5 and select the awardee. PBGC will notify Phase 2 participants of the Phase 2 results.

d. Incorporation of Quotations into Contracts. PBGC may, at its discretion, incorporate any express promises contained within the successful respondent’s

Factor # Title Rating Method

1 Respondent Qualifications Pass/Fail 2 Contractor Experience Qualitative Assessment 3 Personnel Experience Qualitative Assessment 4 Past Performance Qualitative Assessment 5 Price N/A (Price Analysis) quotation into the final contract.

2. Evaluation Considerations

In evaluating each factor, PBGC will consider the information described below.

a. Factor 1 – Respondent Qualifications. PBGC will ensure that the respondent:

i. Has provided all requested cover letter information listed at Attachment 1

– Instructions to Offerors, Section 6.a.;

ii. Has provided in-court or out-of-court restructuring advisory services to a debtor or creditor in a case in which the debtor had at least $4 billion in funded debt at the time of filing for bankruptcy or at the initiation of an out-of-court restructuring; and

iii. Completed, executed, and submitted Attachment 6 – Intent to Compete and Non-Disclosure Agreement no later than 48 hours before the solicitation closing date and time.

A respondent that fails to meet any of the above, or that meets the above but PBGC determines to be ineligible to receive a copy of the PWS, will be eliminated from the competition and not considered for award.

b. Factor 2 – Corporate Experience. A measure of the amount of relevant work a respondent firm has performed. Work may have been for a public- or private-sector client and must have occurred within the previous 10 years. Prime contractor experience will carry more weight than subcontractor experience.

Experience with the PBGC pension termination process is of particular importance to PBGC.

c. Factor 3 – Personnel Experience. A measure of the amount of relevant work a respondent’s proposed personnel have performed. Work may have been with any employer and must have occurred within the previous 10 years. Relevant expert testimony experience is of particular importance to PBGC.

d. Factor 4 – Past Performance. The strength of the respondent’s performance on relevant work that occurred within the previous three (3) years. PBGC may rely on a wide variety of sources in considering past performance, to include client references, the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), and the personal knowledge of evaluators, among other sources. A lack of recent and relevant past performance information will result in a “neutral” rating for this factor.

e. Factor 5 – Price. To evaluate price under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, PBGC will calculate prices for the following task orders using quoted first-year prices:

i. Task Order No. 0001: Twelve (12) months of Monitoring Support Services (of which the first month will be based on the quoted price for contract line item number (CLIN) 0005 and the following 11 months will be based on the quoted price for CLIN 0001).

ii. Task Order No. 0002: Twelve (12) months of Active Engagement Services,

(15) hours of Expert Testimony Services, and travel costs totaling $1,000.00.

Task Order No. 0001 reflects the agency’s actual intention to award a twelve-month task order for monitoring support services concurrent to or soon after the award of the IDIQ. Task Order No. 0002 is hypothetical, as it is not possible to estimate when PBGC will require active engagement services, expert testimony services, or travel. In addition to evaluating the prices of each task order, PBGC will also examine annual escalation rates to ensure they are reasonable.