Combined Synopsis Description 36C24422Q0545.docx

Solicitation Number / RFQ – 36C24422Q0545– HCHV Services for the Lebanon VAMC/Berks CBOC

This is a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, “Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items.” This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The combined synopsis solicitation number is 36C24422Q0545. It is issued as a Request for Quote (RFQ). The government anticipates awarding one five-year firm-fixed price Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract resulting from this solicitation. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2023-01 (12/30/2022) and can be found at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html.

The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 624221, Temporary Shelters, with a small business size standard of $12 Million. This solicitation is being posted as Unrestricted.

This solicitation requires registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to award, pursuant to applicable regulations and guidelines. Registration information is at www.sam.gov. Confirmation of SAM registration will be validated prior to awarding a contract.

The Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, located at 1700 South Lincoln Ave, Lebanon, PA 17042, (Lebanon VAMC) requires a contractor to provide services as part of its Community Based Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program, in accordance with VHA Handbook 1162.09. The goal of the HCHV program is to remove homeless Veterans from the street or habitation unfit for Veterans and place them in community-based, residential environments with sufficient therapeutic services to meet the needs of those Veterans. Lebanon VAMC is seeking to award a five-year Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The contractor must be capable of meeting all requirements in the Performance Work Statement.

A complete description of the services to be acquired, and/or applicable Government need(s) are as follows:

See Attachment A: Performance Work Statement.

Contracting Office Address:

Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Procurement Office East Network Contracting Office 4 (NCO 4) Lebanon VAMC 1700 South Lincoln Ave | Lebanon, PA 17042-7529 Contract Specialist: Stefanie Carter

Quotes in response to this RFQ are due on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at 5:00PM (EST). They shall be submitted in writing and sent via email to stefanie.carter3@va.gov. Please include “Solicitation Number 36C24422Q0545 HCHV Services for Lebanon VAMC/Berks CBOC” in the subject line of your email. All submissions shall be 5MB or less. If the email is more than 5MB, submit multiple emails labeling them 1 of XX, 2 of XX, etc. Late submissions shall be treated in accordance with the solicitation provision at FAR 52.212-1(f). Any questions or concerns regarding this solicitation shall be forwarded in writing via e-mail to the Contract Specialist by Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 12:00pm EST. Questions will not be accepted after this date. Responses to vendor question(s) will be posted via an amendment on SAM.gov.

See Attachment B: Price/Cost Schedule. Fill out Attachment B and send with your proposal.

To facilitate the award process, all proposals must include a statement regarding the terms and conditions herein as follows:

"The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document without modification, deletion, or addition."

OR

"The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:"

Provision FAR 52.212-1 Instructions To Offerors – Commercial Items (NOV 2021) applies to this acquisition.

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1 Supplemental Instructions to Offerors applies to this acquisition:

For the purposes of evaluating competing proposals, Offerors shall submit proposals that include the following documentation:

Addendum to FAR 52.212-1:

Offerors shall submit Pricing, Technical Capability and Past Performance information as follows:

Submission Information/Instructions:

Offerors shall submit their proposal electronically in four volumes. Volume 1 Introductory, Volume 2 Price, Volume 3 Technical Capability, and Volume 4 Past Performance. Failure to follow these instructions may result in Offerors being determined as non-responsive and be removed from this competition.

Volume 1: Introductory (cover letter) shall be submitted in Adobe or MS Word Volume 2: Price - the Price/Cost Schedule shall be submitted in Adobe or MS Word Volume 3: Technical Capability - shall be submitted in Adobe or MS Word Volume 4: Past Performance - shall be submitted in Adobe or MS Word

A. Volume 1 Introductory Folder (No Page Limit):

The Introductory Folder shall include the information listed below and any other items for which a location has not otherwise been specified.

a. Cover Letter. Offerors shall submit a cover letter identifying their Company name, contact information, CAGE Code, DUNS number of the prime and any teaming partner/subcontractor.

b. Page 1 of SF 1449 – Complete Blocks 17a. (including Contractor Point of Contact); 30a; 30b. and 30c.

c. Page 2 of SF1449 – Complete Contractor POC Information and acknowledge amendments, if applicable.

d. FAR 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision with their offer if the Offeror has not completed electronically in the System for Award Management (SAM) accessed through https://www.sam.gov/SAM/.

e. All proposals shall be valid 60 days from the quote response date.

B. Volume 2 Price

a. Offerors shall complete the Price/Cost Schedule in Section B.2.

C. Volume 3 - Technical Capability – (No Page Limit):

Offerors shall submit a Technical Capability which shall address the following:

Offeror shall submit a technical plan that describes how you will provide Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) services as follows:

a) Describe the location of your facility, in relation to the Berks CBOC, 2762 Century Blvd., Suite #120, Wyomissing, PA,19610.

b) Describe how your organization will provide 5 beds for Veterans, including the structure of each bedroom/floor (i.e. shared bedrooms/number of residents in each room, bathrooms, community/laundry rooms, ADA compliance, policy for transgender Veterans, respite/safe room, division between programs and males).

c) Describe how the organization can service priority homeless Veteran groups, such as Veterans with ambulatory difficulties, sex offender designation, Veterans in opioid treatment and Veterans with medical issues that do not meet criteria for inpatient med/nursing home services.

d) Offerors shall provide the following documents with their offer: License, permits, certifications, and accreditation required by PA law.

e) List of key personnel to include qualifications and training.

f) Explain your meal program.

g) Explain your transportation capabilities.

h) Describe your organization’s ability to provide community engagement/support, encourage independence, life skills, medical/mental/substance use disorder care.

i) Describe your organization’s case management practices and methodology, including permanent housing, financial planning, recovery, employment, etc.

j) Describe how your organization offers structured therapeutic/rehabilitative group activities and provide certifications.

D. Volume 4 - Past Performance – (No Page Limit)

Offeror must demonstrate experience providing Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) services by providing three (3) references for whom contracts of similar scope, size, and complexity, are either ongoing, or were completed within the past three years. Use Attachment. Include the following information:

Company name and address Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of Company POC Dates of contract performance, aggregate award amount, and Contract number.

Past performance information shall be recent (performance within the last three years) and relevant to this scope of work. The offerors ratees shall complete and email the attached Past Performance form directly to Stefanie.carter3@va.gov by the solicitation deadline. The Government reserves the right to seek past performance information from any sources not included in your past performance references and available to the Government to include, but not limited to, CPARS or other databases, interviews with Program Managers, customers, and Contracting Officers.

Addendum to FAR 52.212-2: Evaluation Approach

Evaluation will be conducted in accordance with FAR 12.6 in conjunction with FAR 15 procedures. Proposals will be evaluated based on the following evaluation factors and sub-factors set forth below.

Factor 1 – Technical Capability Factor 2 – Past Performance Factor 3 - Price

Technical Capability and Past Performance, when combined, are significantly more important than price. All technical subfactors are of equal importance, and all elements within each sub-factor are of equal importance.

Factor 1 - Technical Capability:

The Government will evaluate all offerors’ technical capability proposals to assess how offerors will meet or exceed the performance requirements of the solicitation as requested in the instructions to offerors.

Technical Capability will be evaluated as listed in the chart below.

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

Strength: Any aspect of a proposal that, when judged against a stated evaluation criterion enhances the merit of the proposal or increases the probability of successful performance of the contract.

Weakness: A flaw in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

Factor 2 - Past Performance:

Past Performance will be evaluated as a measure of the Government’s confidence in the Offeror’s ability to successfully perform the requirements of the solicitation based on recent and relevant past performance efforts. Relevant past performance means the reference has a logical connection to the work described in the Performance Work Statement and recent past performance means the referenced work is ongoing or was performed within the past three years of the proposal due date. The Government will begin its evaluation of an Offeror’s past performance by first determining the recency and relevancy of each past performance effort being evaluated.

The Government will consider recent past performance information identified by each Offeror as well as any additional recent past performance information obtained by the Government in determining an overall past performance confidence assessment rating for each Offeror.

While the Government will consider past performance information on relevant projects performed for federal, state, and local Governments, as well as in the commercial sector, past performance conducted within the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) or for other Federal departments will receive greater consideration when assigning a past performance confidence assessment rating than those for work performed for organizations other than the VA or Federal Government.

After all past performance work efforts have been assigned individual relevance ratings, the Government will assign a single Performance Confidence Assessment rating. The assigned rating will reflect the Government’s overall confidence in the Offeror’s ability to successfully perform this effort considering performance on previous efforts, information identified by each contractor, Past Performance Questionnaires, and/or other information obtained by the Government. The Performance Confidence Assessment rating is based upon all of the information submitted/obtained and determined relevant by the Government, regardless of whether the information is for a prime or subcontractor. Past Performance which cannot be validated by a source other than the Offeror will not be considered in the Past Performance Confidence Assessment. Note: In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, that Offeror will receive an overall Performance Confidence Assessment rating of “Unknown Confidence (Neutral)” which will be considered neither favorably nor unfavorably. The Performance Confidence Assessment ratings are as follows:

successfully perform the required effort

Factor 3 – Price:

Prices will be evaluated for reasonableness using one or more of the techniques set forth in FAR 15.404-1(b)(2). Each offeror’s price proposal will be evaluated for award purposes by adding the total price of the 5 years.

The Contracting Officer will award one, firm fixed price IDIQ contract resulting from this RFP to the responsible Offeror whose proposal conforming to the RFP is most advantageous to the Government.

Clauses included in this solicitation:

FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items (JAN 2021) (JUL 2020) (DEVIATION). The following subparagraphs are applicable:

52.203-6, 52.204-10, 52.209-6, 52.219-4, 52.219-8, 52.219-28, 52.222-3, 52.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.222-40, 52.222-50, 52.222-54, 52.223-18, 52.225-13, 52.232-33, 52.232-34, 52.222-41, 52.222-42, 52.222-43, 52.222-55, 52.222-62.

52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es):

http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html http://www.va.gov/oal/library/vaar/

(End of Clause)

FAR 52.216-18 ORDERING (AUG 2020)

(a) Any supplies and services to be furnished under this contract shall be ordered by issuance of delivery orders or task orders by the individuals or activities designated in the Schedule. Such orders may be issued from April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2028.

(b) All delivery orders or task orders are subject to the terms and conditions of this contract. In the event of conflict between a delivery order or task order and this contract, the contract shall control.

(c) A delivery order or task order is considered "issued" when—

(1) If sent by mail (includes transmittal by U.S. mail or private delivery service), the Government deposits the order in the mail;

(2) If sent by fax, the Government transmits the order to the Contractor’s fax number; or

(3) If sent electronically, the Government either—

(i) Posts a copy of the delivery order or task order to a Government document access system, and notice is sent to the Contractor; or

(ii) Distributes the delivery order or task order via email to the Contractor’s email address.

(d) Orders may be issued by methods other than those enumerated in this clause only if authorized in the contract.

(End of Clause)

FAR 52.216-19 ORDER LIMITATIONS (OCT 1995)

(a) Minimum order. When the Government requires supplies or services covered by this contract in an amount of less than $25,000.00, the Government is not obligated to purchase, nor is the Contractor obligated to furnish, those supplies or services under the contract.

(b) Maximum order. The Contractor is not obligated to honor—

(1) Any order for a single item in excess of $525,000.00.

(2) Any order for a combination of items in excess of $525,000.00; or

(3) A series of orders from the same ordering office within 30 days that together call for quantities exceeding the limitation in paragraph (b)(1) or (2) of this section.

(c) If this is a requirements contract (i.e., includes the Requirements clause at subsection 52.216-21 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)), the Government is not required to order a part of any one requirement from the Contractor if that requirement exceeds the maximum-order limitations in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, the Contractor shall honor any order exceeding the maximum order limitations in paragraph (b), unless that order (or orders) is returned to the ordering office within 1 days after issuance, with written notice stating the Contractor's intent not to ship the item (or items) called for and the reasons. Upon receiving this notice, the Government may acquire the supplies or services from another source.

(End of Clause)

FAR 52.216-22 INDEFINITE QUANTITY (OCT 1995)

(a) This is an indefinite-quantity contract for the supplies or services specified, and effective for the period stated, in the Schedule. The quantities of supplies and services specified in the Schedule are estimates only and are not purchased by this contract.

(b) Delivery or performance shall be made only as authorized by orders issued in accordance with the Ordering clause. The Contractor shall furnish to the Government, when and if ordered, the supplies or services specified in the Schedule up to and including the quantity designated in the Schedule as the "maximum." The Government shall order at least the quantity of supplies or services designated in the Schedule as the "minimum."

(c) Except for any limitations on quantities in the Order Limitations clause or in the Schedule, there is no limit on the number of orders that may be issued. The Government may issue orders requiring delivery to multiple destinations or performance at multiple locations.

(d) Any order issued during the effective period of this contract and not completed within that period shall be completed by the Contractor within the time specified in the order. The contract shall govern the Contractor's and Government's rights and obligations with respect to that order to the same extent as if the order were completed during the contract's effective period; provided, that the Contractor shall not be required to make any deliveries under this contract after 03/31/2029.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.201-70 CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE (DEC 2022)

The Contracting Officer reserves the right to designate representatives to act for him/her in furnishing technical guidance and advice or generally monitor the work to be performed under this contract. Such designation will be in writing and will define the scope and limitation of the designee’s authority. A copy of the designation letter shall be furnished to the Contractor.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.203-70 COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING (MAY 2018)

The Contractor shall not make reference in its commercial advertising to Department of Veterans Affairs contracts in a manner that states or implies the Department of Veterans Affairs approves or endorses the Contractor’s products or services or considers the Contractor’s products or services superior to other products or services.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.232-72 ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF PAYMENT REQUESTS (NOV 2018)

(a) Definitions. As used in this clause—

(1) Contract financing payment has the meaning given in FAR 32.001;

(2) Designated agency office means the office designated by the purchase order, agreement, or contract to first receive and review invoices. This office can be contractually designated as the receiving entity. This office may be different from the office issuing the payment;

(3) Electronic form means an automated system transmitting information electronically according to the accepted electronic data transmission methods and formats identified in paragraph (c) of this clause. Facsimile, email, and scanned documents are not acceptable electronic forms for submission of payment requests;

(4) Invoice payment has the meaning given in FAR 32.001; and

(5) Payment request means any request for contract financing payment or invoice payment submitted by the contractor under this contract.

(b) Electronic payment requests. Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this clause, the contractor shall submit payment requests in electronic form. Purchases paid with a Government-wide commercial purchase card are considered to be an electronic transaction for purposes of this rule, and therefore no additional electronic invoice submission is required.

(c) Data transmission. A contractor must ensure that the data transmission method and format are through one of the following:

(1) VA’s Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment System at the current website address provided in the contract.

(2) Any system that conforms to the X12 electronic data interchange (EDI) formats established by the Accredited Standards Center (ASC) and chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

(d) Invoice requirements. Invoices shall comply with FAR 32.905.

(e) Exceptions. If, based on one of the circumstances in this paragraph (e), the Contracting Officer directs that payment requests be made by mail, the Contractor shall submit payment requests by mail through the United States Postal Service to the designated agency office. Submission of payment requests by mail may be required for—

(1) Awards made to foreign vendors for work performed outside the United States;

(2) Classified contracts or purchases when electronic submission and processing of payment requests could compromise the safeguarding of classified or privacy information;

(3) Contracts awarded by contracting officers in the conduct of emergency operations, such as responses to national emergencies;

(4) Solicitations or contracts in which the designated agency office is a VA entity other than the VA Financial Services Center in Austin, Texas; or

(5) Solicitations or contracts in which the VA designated agency office does not have electronic invoicing capability as described above.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.237-75 KEY PERSONNEL (OCT 2019)

The key personnel specified in this contract are considered to be essential to work performance. At least 30 days prior to the Contractor voluntarily diverting any of the specified individuals to other programs or contracts the Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer and shall submit a justification for the diversion or replacement and a request to replace the individual. The request must identify the proposed replacement and provide an explanation of how the replacement’s skills, experience, and credentials meet or exceed the requirements of the contract. If the employee of the Contractor is terminated for cause or separates from the contractor voluntarily with less than thirty days notice, the Contractor shall provide the maximum notice practicable under the circumstances. The Contractor shall not divert, replace, or announce any such change to key personnel without the written consent of the Contracting Officer. The contract will be modified to add or delete key personnel as necessary to reflect the agreement of the parties.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.242-71 ADMINISTRATIVE CONTRACTING OFFICER (OCT 2020)

The Contracting Officer reserves the right to designate an Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO) for the purpose of performing certain tasks/duties in the administration of the contract. Such designation will be in writing through an ACO Letter of Delegation and will identify the responsibilities and limitations of the ACO. A copy of the ACO Letter of Delegation will be furnished to the Contractor.

(End of Clause) (End of Addendum to 52.212-4)

Provisions included in this solicitation:

FAR 52.252-1 Solicitation Provisions Incorporated By Reference (FEB 1998).

This solicitation incorporates one or more solicitation provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. The offeror is cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the offeror and submitted with its quotation or offer. In lieu of submitting the full text of those provisions, the offeror may identify the provision by paragraph identifier and provide the appropriate information with its quotation or offer. Also, the full text of a solicitation provision may be accessed electronically at this/these address(es): http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html http://www.va.gov/oal/library/vaar/ (End of provision)

Provisions incorporated by reference are:

(End of Addendum to 52.212-1)

52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984)

The Government contemplates award of a Firm-Fixed-Price, Indefinite Quantity contract resulting from this solicitation.

52.233-2 SERVICE OF PROTEST (SEP 2006)

Protests, as defined in section 33.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), shall be served on the Contracting Officer (addressed as follows) by obtaining written and dated acknowledgment of receipt from:

Email Address:

(b) The copy of any protest shall be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO.

(End of Provision) VAAR 852.215-70 SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN-OWNED AND VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS EVALUATION FACTORS (OCT 2019)

(a) In an effort to achieve socioeconomic small business goals, VA shall evaluate offerors based on their service-disabled veteran-owned or veteran-owned small business status and their proposed use of eligible service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) as subcontractors.

(b) Eligible service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses offerors will receive full credit, and offerors qualifying as veteran-owned small businesses will receive partial credit for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned and Veteran-Owned Small Business Status evaluation factor. To receive credit, an offeror must be registered and verified in the Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database.

(c) Non-Veteran offerors proposing to use SDVOSBs or VOSBs as subcontractors will receive some consideration under this evaluation factor. Offerors must state in their proposals the names of the SDVOSBs and VOSBs with whom they intend to subcontract and provide a brief description of the proposed subcontracts and the approximate dollar values of the proposed subcontracts. In addition, the proposed subcontractors must be registered and verified in the VIP database.

(d) Pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 8127(g), any business concern that is determined by VA to have willfully and intentionally misrepresented a company’s SDVOSB/VOSB status is subject to debarment for a period of not less than five years. This includes the debarment of all principals in the business.

(End of Clause)

VAAR 852.215-72 NOTICE OF INTENT TO RE-SOLICIT (OCT 2019)

This solicitation provides offerors fewer than 30 days to submit proposals. In the event that only one offer is received in response to this solicitation, the Contracting Officer may cancel the solicitation and resolicit for an additional period of at least 30 days in accordance with 815.370–2.

(End of Provision)

VAAR 852.233-70 PROTEST CONTENT/ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (OCT 2018)

(a) Any protest filed by an interested party shall—

(1) Include the name, address, fax number, email and telephone number of the protester;

(2) Identify the solicitation and/or contract number;

(3) Include an original signed by the protester or the protester’s representative and at least one copy;

(4) Set forth a detailed statement of the legal and factual grounds of the protest, including a description of resulting prejudice to the protester, and provide copies of relevant documents;

(5) Specifically request a ruling of the individual upon whom the protest is served;

(6) State the form of relief requested; and

(7) Provide all information establishing the timeliness of the protest.

(b) Failure to comply with the above may result in dismissal of the protest without further consideration.

(c) Bidders/offerors and Contracting Officers are encouraged to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures to resolve protests at any stage in the protest process. If ADR is used, the Department of Veterans Affairs will not furnish any documentation in an ADR proceeding beyond what is allowed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(End of Provision)

VAAR 852.233-71 ALTERNATE PROTEST PROCEDURE (OCT 2018)

(a) As an alternative to filing a protest with the Contracting Officer, an interested party may file a protest by mail or electronically with: Executive Director, Office of Acquisition and Logistics, Risk Management and Compliance Service (003A2C), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420 or Email: EDProtests@va.gov.

(b) The protest will not be considered if the interested party has a protest on the same or similar issue(s) pending with the Contracting Officer.

(End of Provision) VAAR 852.252-70 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS OR CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (JAN 2008) The following provisions or clauses incorporated by reference in this solicitation must be completed by the offeror or prospective contractor and submitted with the quotation or offer. Copies of these provisions or clauses are available on the Internet at the Web sites provided in the provision at FAR 52.252-1, Solicitation Provisions Incorporated by Reference, or the clause at FAR 52.252-2, Clauses Incorporated by Reference. Copies may also be obtained from the contracting officer.

[Contracting officer shall list all FAR and 48 CFR Chapter 8 (VAAR) provisions and clauses incorporated by reference that must be completed by the offeror or prospective contractor and submitted with the quotation or offer.] (End of Provision)