Attachment 2 - Instructions to Quoters and Basis for Award.pdf

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Instructions to Quoters and Basis for Award

AOCSSB21Q0025

Release Date: 03/03/2021

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC), Supplies, Services, and Material Management Division (SSMMD) is issuing Request for Quotations (RFQ) # AOCSSB21Q0025 for an agency-wide Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for uniforms. It is anticipated that this RFQ will result in a single award, Blanket Purchase Agreement with Firm Fixed Price orders (and one Labor Hour order) to a responsible Quoter actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) and whose quote provides the overall best value to the AOC in accordance with the requirements set forth by this solicitation and the Statement of Work (SOW).

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation;

quotations are being requested and a separate written solicitation will not be issued.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for this requirement is 315990

– Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing. The Product Service Code is 84 – Clothing, Individual Equipment, Insignia, and Jewelry. The BPA period of performance will be 1 base year and 4 one-year options, for a total of five years from the date of award if all options are exercised.

This procurement is set-aside to small businesses for NAICS code 315990.

The List of Attachments is in Section J of Standard Form 18 (SF18).

L.1 RFQ GENERAL CONDITIONS

The submission of a quote to the Government shall constitute the quoter’s acknowledgement, agreement and compliance with the terms and conditions of the RFQ. The Government will not be obligated to pay any cost incurred by a contractor in the preparation and submission of a quote. Quoters are cautioned to ensure that their quote submissions are complete and reflective of the evaluation criteria and requirements described herein. Quoters are encouraged to provide their best terms with their initial quote submission. Quoters shall not assume that the Government will afford an opportunity to clarify, discuss, or revise a quote.

The Government reserves the right to allow a quoter to revise their quotation if it determines that it is in the best interest of the Government, although a formal competitive range will not to established, the AOC is using Simplified Acquisition Procedures for this procurement.

Quotes shall be valid for 90 days from the date of final quote submission.

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Any exceptions or conditional assumptions taken with respect to the requirements outlined in the RFQ or SOW shall be fully explained in the quoter’s Introductory Letter. The Government cautions quoters that taking exception to any term or condition may render their quote non-responsive and the quoter will be ineligible for award, unless the RFQ expressly authorizes such an exception with regards to a specific term or condition.

L.2 QUESTIONS AND QUOTATION SUBMISSIONS

All correspondence in conjunction with this solicitation, including questions and quotation submittals, shall be directed to the Contracting Officer, Roman Davydov, via e-mail at roman.davydov@aoc.gov. E-mail messages shall not exceed 10 MB. If necessary, quoters shall compress files with a .zip extension.

L.2.1 Questions Due Date

Questions about the technical or contractual details of this procurement must be submitted in writing via e-mail by March 10, 2021 at 12:00 noon ET. When submitting questions, please include the RFQ #, Company Name and the word “Questions” in the subject line of the email.

For example, “AOCSSB21Q0025_ ABC Inc. Questions”. Questions submitted after this cut off will be responded to at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. Quoters shall use the following format in a table or spreadsheet when submitting questions:

RFQ

Document

Document Section

Document Section Paragraph

Document Page Number Question

Example:

Attachment 2 – Instructions to Quoters

Example:

L.2.1

Example:

Example:

Example:

Your Question

Answers to questions will be provided as an amendment to the RFQ.

L.2.2 Quotation Due Date

Quotations must be received no later than March 19, 2021 at 12:00 noon ET. When submitting your final quotation, please include the RFQ #, Company Name and the word “Quotation” in the subject line of the email. For example, “AOCSSB21Q0025_ ABC Inc. Quote”. Quotations received after this date and time shall be considered late and shall not be accepted by the Government unless it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government.

L.3 VOLUMES AND ORGANIZATION

Quotations shall be clearly and concisely written, as well as being neat, indexed and logically assembled as described herein. Quoters are advised to supply all information in the sequence and format specified in the table below. The submitted quotation must provide a sufficient basis for a thorough evaluation and contain the information necessary for evaluation. The Government will not assume the quoter possesses any capability, understanding, or commitment not specified in the quotation. The quotation must not merely repeat the solicitation and Statement of Work requirements, but rather must provide convincing documentary evidence in support of conclusive statements of how contract requirements will be met.

Quotations shall be prepared in separate volumes: Volume I – Technical and Volume II – Price.

The quoter shall provide the requested information within the designated volume evaluation factor. Any requested information placed outside of the designated location shall not be considered or evaluated under that evaluation factor regardless of whether it is located somewhere else in the quotation. As an example, the quoter shall not refer to any key personnel qualifications, corporate experience, or past performance in the Technical Approach factor section of its quotation. If the quoter does so, that content will not be considered by the Government during the evaluation of the quoter’s Technical Approach. In order for the technical quotation to be strictly evaluated on the merit of the material submitted, Volume I and Volume II shall be submitted as separate documents. Pricing is prohibited in, and shall be omitted from, Volume I. Each volume shall be indexed by evaluation factor.

Volumes shall be organized in the following manner:

Volume Factor Title Page Limit (Not to Exceed)

I

NA Introductory Letter NA 1 Technical Approach 10 Pages 2 Key Personnel 3 Page resume 3 Corporate Experience 3 Pages per contract

4 Past Performance NA – to be provided by past customers

II

5 Price NA (in Excel)

NA Standard Form 18 (Provision Fill-Ins) NA

All pages in Volume I, except the introductory letter, shall include page numbering.

Content which is outside the Page Limits in the above chart will not be considered by the Government during evaluations.

L.3.1 Paper Size and Formatting

Written materials shall be submitted 1 sided single spaced pages using standard 8 ½” x 11” size paper with a minimum of 1” margins. Font size shall be Times New Roman or Calibri with a minimum of 12-point size for text and 10-point size for tables and graphics.

L.3.2 Introductory Letter

The following introductory information is required before the first index of Volume I:

• RFQ Number & Title;

• Name and address of quoter;

• Dun & Bradstreet number (DUNS Number) & cage code;

• NAICS / PSC;

• Name, telephone number & e-mail address of quoter’s main point-of-contact;

• Date of submission;

• Name, title and signature of authorized representative;

• All technical factor assumptions to the RFQ and SOW shall be identified in this section.

Pricing assumptions shall be identified in Volume II. Exceptions identified in other areas of the quote will not be considered.

L.3.3 Standard Form 18

The quoter shall complete Page 1 of the SF18 and all the provision fill-ins under Section K - Representations, Certifications, and other Statements of Quoters or Respondents. The entire form shall be returned in PDF format in Volume II. Any SF-30 associated with any amendments to this RFQ shall be signed by the quoter and included in Volume II as well.

L.3.4 Factor 1 – Technical Approach

The quoter shall provide a technical approach plan in a narrative format that describes the quoter’s approach to managing and executing the requirements of the SOW. Quoters are cautioned that the submitted approach will be contractually binding.

The Technical Approach narrative shall reflect key management approaches, policies, and procedures to be implemented to ensure exceptional project management, delivery and quality control to complete the contract on-time, within budget and provide an approach which meets the requirements of SOW sections C.3 Scope of Work, C.5 Specific Performance Areas of the BPA, and C.6 Deliverables and Deliverables Schedule.

L.3.5 Factor 2 – Key Personnel

The quoter shall provide a resume for the Project Manager. The Project Manager is responsible for the overall BPA and Delivery Orders, and is the primary interface between the Contractor and the Government. The resume shall demonstrate that the Project Manager has the experience and ability to perform as the Project Manager for the resultant BPA.

L.3.6 Factor 3 – Corporate Experience

The quoter shall demonstrate past corporate experience and expertise on three past contracts in either as the lead role (specifically serving as the prime contractor), as a subcontractor, or that their proposed subcontractor(s) were directly responsible for performing contracts of similar size and scope of the SOW. If any firm has multiple functions or divisions, limit the project examples to those performed by the division, unit or team member submitting the quoter. These projects shall be both recent and relevant to the requirements in the SOW. The term relevant means similar to project size and complexity as the scope identified in the SOW.

The term recent means contracts which were completed within the past five years, or those which are at least 80% completed if they are active contracts.

The quoter shall provide the following information on each of the contracts identified in this section:

• Contract Number (if applicable);

• Contract Type (e.g., Firm-Fixed Price, Labor-Hour, Cost-Reimbursement, etc.)

• Description of services provided;

• Name of the entity for whom the services were provided (agency, firm, etc.);

• Point of contact (POC) information, to include name, phone number, and email address of the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), or Project Manager on stated contract;

• Total dollar value to include all option periods;

• Period of Performance;

• Percent complete (in terms of Period of Performance);

• Place(s) of performance;

• Whether performance was as a prime or subcontractor; and

• If performed as a subcontractor, percent of work completed as a subcontractor.

L.3.7 Factor 4 – Past Performance

The Government is providing a Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ) as an attachment to this solicitation (Attachment 12) which the quoter/proposed subcontractor(s) shall provide to the past customer POC’s for the three past contracts identified under the Corporate Experience factor (L.3.6) for completion. The Government requests that the quoter/proposed subcontractor(s) submit the questionnaire to the POCs via email. All completed questionnaire forms must be emailed by the past customer POC directly to the Contracting Officer, Roman Davydov, at roman.davydov@aoc.gov by the due date and time of quotes.

L.3.8 Factor 5 – Price

Quoters shall input the price per item in Attachment 3 – Pricing Sheet. Estimated Quantities are provided by the Government and shall not be changed, input the price per items in the respective cells for the Base and all Option years, the totals will auto-calculate. FAR 52.225-1 Buy American Act – Supplies is applicable to this RFQ, the quoter shall indicate yes or no for Buy American Act compliance for each item in column O. Quoters shall input the hourly rate for the Fitting Room Employee (see SOW section C.5.2.8) for each BPA ordering period.

mailto:roman.davydov@aoc.gov

M.1 BASIS FOR AWARD

Evaluations will be conducted in accordance with the procedures defined below. The Government will first verify the on-time submission of all quotes. The Contracting Officer will then verify the quotes meet the Volume and Organization structure described in Section L.3.

Volume I of the quotes that meet the requirements of Section L.3 will be submitted to the Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) for evaluation. The TEP will evaluate each quote against the evaluation criteria individually, then as a group. Each non-price factor will be assigned an adjectival rating as established in Section M.2 herein. Once all Volume I quotes are evaluated, the SSEP will evaluate Volume II, Price in accordance with the evaluation criteria for this factor.

The Government will make an award to the quoter whose quote represents the best value to the Government. Within the best value continuum, the Government will use the Tradeoff process of non-price and price factors in evaluating the quotes approved for evaluation. The Government will reserve the right to make an award without discussions if there is a fully acceptable quote received in the initial submissions. If not, the Government may allow a quoter to revise their quotation although a formal competitive range will not be established.

The Government also reserves the right to make no award.

In the event that two or more quotes are determined not to have any substantial technical differences (i.e., are technically equivalent), price becomes the determining factor and award may be made to the lower priced quote. In the event that quotes are not technically equal, award may be made to other than the quoter with the lowest priced quote, if the Government determines that a price premium is warranted due to technical merit. The Government may also award to other than the highest technically rated quote, if the government determines that a price premium is not warranted.

Evaluations will be based on a complete assessment of the quote submission. Quotes will be evaluated on the following factors listed in descending order of importance. All non-price factors when combined are more important than Factor 5, Price.

Non Price Factors:

Factor 1: Technical Approach Factor 2: Key Personnel Factor 3: Corporate Experience Factor 4: Past Performance

Price Factors:

Factor 5: Price

The evaluation criteria for each factor is as follows:

M.1.1 Factor 1 – Technical Approach

The Government will evaluate the quoter’s Technical Approach to determine the quoter’s understanding of the requirement and method for completion. The Government will evaluate the quoter’s detailed knowledge and understanding of the SOW challenges associated with SOW sections C.3, C.5, and C.6. The Government will make a determination to which extent the technical approach provided by the quoter meets or exceeds the Government’s expectations.

M.1.2 Factor 2 – Key Personnel

The Government will evaluate the Program Manager’s resume to determine the extent to which that individual has the experience and ability to perform as the Project Manager for the resultant BPA.

M.1.3 Factor 3 – Corporate Experience

Corporate Experience will be evaluated to determine the extent to which the quoter’s/proposed subcontractors’ Corporate Experience reflects services of similar size and scope to this requirement. A quoter/proposed subcontractor that submits Corporate Experience which is not within five calendar years of the date of the quoter’s quotation date will be rated unacceptable for this factor, and therefore not eligible for award. A higher degree of relevancy of the corporate experience will result in a higher score for this evaluation factor.

The more the Corporate Experience demonstrates elements in SOW sections C.3, C.5, and C.6, the more relevant the Corporate Experience will be found in determining the score for this evaluation factor. All else being equal (e.g., the Corporate Experience is same or similar in scope to this requirement), if the quoter or proposed subcontractor performed as the prime contractor the quoter will be rated more favorably than if they had performed as a subcontractor.

M.1.4 Factor 4 – Past Performance

Past performance will be evaluated to determine the extent to which the quoter’s/proposed subcontractors’ past performance demonstrates successful performance on the contracts identified under the corporate experience evaluation factor.

The Government will evaluate the Past Performance Questionnaires received from customer references to determine the extent to which the quoter/proposed subcontractor, including the quoter’s/proposed subcontractors’ subcontractors on those contracts, have demonstrated at least a satisfactory record of customer satisfaction. The Government may contact these references or use other references/information to verify past performance, such as CPARS. See Attachment 12 – Past Performance Questionnaire for the contents that the Government will evaluate from the quoter’s past customers when using the Past Performance Questionnaire to evaluate past performance. Quoters without a record of relevant past performance, or for whom information on past performance is not available, shall not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably, but shall instead receive an overall rating of “neutral.”

M.1.5 Factor 5 – Price

The Government will evaluate the price quotes of all quoters receiving an Acceptable rating or above for Factors 1, 2, and 3. Price criterion will measure not only actual dollars but reasonableness of the quoter’s proposed price and its position in the range of all quoter prices.

The quoter’s price quote shall be evaluated for price reasonableness to prevent the Government from paying too much for the services outlined in the SOW. Additionally, a price realism analysis may be performed to determine whether a quoter’s price is unrealistically low.

An unrealistically low quote may question whether a quoter fully understands the size, magnitude, complexity, and scope of service outlined in the SOW. An unrealistic price quote may serve as a rejection for the quote.

The quoter’s quote will be evaluated for unbalanced pricing utilizing price analysis techniques.

The Government may determine that a quote is unacceptable if the prices proposed are materially unbalanced. A quote may be rejected if the Contracting Officer determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

Price will not be rated adjectivally, but will be evaluated based on a comprehensive review.

Price quotes shall be evaluated with respect to accuracy and completeness based on information submitted in the quoter’s written submission. This process will involve verification that figures are correctly calculated, prices are presented in the requested format, and that proposed rates and any applicable discounts are accurate. Additionally, the Government may utilize one or more of the following methods to evaluate price:

• Comparison to other quotes received;

• Comparison and/or analysis based on Independent Government Cost Estimate; or

• Comparison/analysis to historical prices.

As part of the price evaluation, the Government will evaluate the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract and FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The quoter's total evaluated price shall include the base period and all option periods. FAR 52.217-8 will be evaluated by dividing the price of option period 4 by two and including that amount in the evaluated price.

FAR 52.225-1 will be complied with by performing all line items contained in the solicitation method, meaning all items in Attachment 3, see FAR 25.503.

M.2 RATING AND DEFINITIONS

The Government will evaluate non-price factors 1, 2, and 3 of Volume I using the following adjectival ratings and definitions scale:

Rating Description

Outstanding The quote provides a very clear, comprehensive and detailed response which exceeds all requirements and includes significant strengths and strengths with no weaknesses, significant weaknesses, or deficiencies. The risk of unsuccessful performance is very low as the quote demonstrates a clear understanding of the requirements and can be expected to result in outstanding performance.

Good The quote provides a sound response which meets all requirements and includes significant strengths and strengths with few weaknesses, no significant weaknesses, and no deficiencies. The risk of unsuccessful performance is low as the quote demonstrates an understanding of the requirements and can be expected to result in satisfactory performance.

Acceptable The quote provides a response which is capable of meeting all requirements and may include both strengths (may include some significant strengths) and weaknesses with no significant weaknesses or deficiencies where the strengths outweigh the weaknesses or weaknesses do not outweigh the capability to meet the requirement. The risk of unsuccessful performance is moderate as the quote demonstrates a general understanding of the requirements and can be expected to result in satisfactory performance.

Marginal The quote provides a response which does not meet all requirements and includes strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses and/or deficiencies where the strengths are outweighed by the weaknesses and/or deficiencies. The risk of unsuccessful performance is high as the quote does not demonstrate an understanding of requirements and can be expected to result in unsatisfactory performance.

Unacceptable The quote provides a response that does not meet all requirements and includes significant weaknesses and/or deficiencies which far outweigh any strengths noted. The risk of unsuccessful performance is very high as the quote does not demonstrate an understanding of the requirements and will result in unsatisfactory performance.

During the course of the evaluation, the Source Selection Evaluation Panel will record quote Significant Strengths, Strengths, Weaknesses, Significant Weaknesses, and Deficiencies. The definitions of these terms are as follows:

Significant Strengths: A strength that appreciably enhances the merit of a quote or appreciably increases the probability of successful contract performance.

Strengths: Any aspect of a quote which exceeds a requirement and increases the probability of successful performance of the contract.

Weaknesses: A flaw in the quote that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

Significant Weaknesses: A weakness that appreciably increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

Deficiencies: A material failure of a quote to meet a Government requirement or a combination of significant weaknesses in a quote that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance to an unacceptable level.

Quoters who rate below Acceptable under Factors 1, 2, or 3 will not be eligible for award and their price (Factor 5) will not be evaluated.

The Government will rate factor 4, Past Performance, using the following adjectival ratings and definitions scale, NLT means “No Later than”:

Rating Description Substantial Confidence

Based on the Quoter’s recent (NLT 5 Years) and relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the Quoter will successfully perform.

Satisfactory Confidence

Based on the Quoter’s recent (NLT 5 Years) and relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the Quoter will successfully perform.

Limited Confidence

Based on the Quoter’s recent (NLT 5 Years) and relevant performance record, the Government has a limited expectation that the Quoter will successfully perform.

No Confidence Based on the Quoter’s recent (NLT 5 Years) and relevant performance record, the Government has a no expectation that the Quoter will successfully perform.