Combined Synopsis Solicitation 6913G623Q3422131_14April2023.pdf

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotations are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Solicitation No. 6913G623Q3422131 is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ).

This solicitation is being conducted under FAR Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items and FAR Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This solicitation document and incorporated provisions are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2023-02, effective 03/16/2023.

This is a Total Small Business set-aside. The NAICS Code is 541330; the Small Business size standard is $25.5 million.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) Cambridge, MA, 02142, intends to solicit and award a firm fixed price (FFP) purchase order. This RFQ is expected to result in a single purchase order award, subject to receipt of an acceptable quote submission. Vendor’s price quotation shall include a firm fixed price.

The Volpe Center has a requirement for Engineering Consulting Services, specifically a vendor who can provide expert support in performing Strategy Analysis and Resilience Engineering for the Strategy Decision milestone of a major FAA program. This includes performing a risk reduction analysis, developing tools for Risk Assessment, and designing frameworks to support the Strategy Decision milestone in accordance with the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS).

The anticipated Period of Performance (POP) is 08 May 2023 through 31 July 2023.

Attachments:

1. Request for Quote (RFQ)

2. Performance Work Statement (PWS)

3. FAR Clause 52.212-3

CLAUSES

This combined synopsis/solicitation hereby incorporates all Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions and clauses contained herein. The FAR provisions and clauses cited in this notice can be viewed at https://www.acquisition.gov/

52.203-11 Certification and Disclosure Regarding Payments to Influence Certain Federal

Transactions 52.203-12 Limitation on Payments to Influence Certain Federal Transactions 52.203-18 Prohibition on Contracting With Entities That Require Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements 52.203-19 Prohibition on Requiring Certain Internal Confidentiality Agreements or Statements 52.204-7 System for Award Management

52.204-10 Reporting Executive Compensation and First-Tier Subcontract Awards 52.204-13 System for Award Management Maintenance 52.204-16 Commercial and Government Entity Code Reporting 52.204-17 Ownership or Control of Offeror 52.204-18 Commercial and Government Entity Code Maintenance 52.204-19 Incorporation by Reference of Representations and Certifications.

52.204-20 Predecessor of Offeror 52.204-21 Basic Safeguarding of Covered Contractor Information Systems 52.204-22 Alternative Line Item Proposal 52.204-23 Prohibition on Contracting for Hardware, Software, and Services Developed or Provided by Kaspersky 52.204-24 Representation Regarding Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment.

52.204-25 Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance

Services or Equipment.

52.204-26 Covered Telecommunications Equipment or Services Representation 52.209-2 Prohibition on Contracting with Inverted Domestic Corporations—Representation 52.209-6 Protecting the Government’s Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment 52.209-10 Prohibition on Contracting With Inverted Domestic Corporations 52.209-11 Representation by Corporations Regarding Delinquent Tax Liability or a Felony Conviction under any Federal Law 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items 52.212-2 Evaluation--Commercial Items 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders— Commercial Items 52.219-1 Small Business Program Representations 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside 52.219-28 Post-Award Small Business Program Representation 52.222-3 Convict Labor 52.222-19 Child Labor—Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies 52.222-21 Prohibition of Segregated Facilities 52.222-22 Previous Contracts and Compliance Reports 52.222-25 Affirmative Action Compliance 52.222-26 Equal Opportunity 52.222-35 Equal Opportunity for Veterans 52.222-36 Equal Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities 52.222-41 Service Contract Labor Standards 52.222-42 Statement of Equivalent Rates for Federal Hires 52.222-44 Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Labor Standards-Price Adjustment 52.222-50 Combating Trafficking in Persons 52.222-55 Minimum Wages Under Executive Order 13658 52.222-62 Paid Sick Leave Under Executive Order 13706 52.223-6 Drug-Free Workplace 52.223-18 Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving 52.225-13 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases 52.225-25 Prohibition on Contracting with Entities Engaging in Certain Activities or Transactions

Relating to Iran—Representation and Certifications 52.232-8 Discounts for Prompt Payment

52.232-33 Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer—System for Award Management 52.232-39 Unenforceability of Unauthorized Obligations 52.232-40 Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors 52.233-1 Disputes 52.233-3 Protest after Award 52.233-4 Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim 52.242-15 Stop-Work Order 52.247-34 F.O.B. Destination 52.252-1 Solicitation Provisions Incorporated By Reference 52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated By Reference 52.252-5 Authorized Deviations in Provisions 52.252-6 Authorized Deviations in Clauses

1252.222-72 Contractor Cooperation in Equal Employment Opportunity and Anti-Harassment

Investigations 1252.232-70 Electronic Submission of Payment Requests 1252.237-73 Key Personnel 1252.239-72 Compliance with Safeguarding DOT Sensitive Data Controls 1252.239-74 Safeguarding DOT Sensitive Data and Cyber Incident Reporting 1252.239-92 Information and Communication Technology Accessibility Notice 1252.239-93 Information and Communication Technology Accessibility 1252.242-72 Dissemination of Contract Information

All Vendors must include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items. A vendor shall complete only paragraph (b) of this provision if the Offeror has completed the annual representations and certifications electronically in the System for Award Management (SAM) accessed through http://www.sam.gov. If the vendor has not completed the annual representations and certifications electronically, the vendor shall complete only paragraphs (c) through (v) of this provision. All Contractors must be registered in SAM in order to receive an award from a DOT Agency.

In addition to FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Items and any other instructions contained elsewhere in this solicitation, the following information is provided:

Vendors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as evaluation factor and elements of evaluation factor.

Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. If the Vendor finds it necessary to take exception to any of the requirements specified in the solicitation, the Vendor shall clearly identify where it is addressed in its submission and provide a complete explanation of why the exception was taken, what benefit (if any) accrues to the Government, and its impact (if any) on the performance, schedule, cost and specific requirements of the solicitation. Each exception shall clearly identify the specific paragraph and/or part of the solicitation to which the exception is taken.

Questions regarding this RFQ shall be submitted no later than 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time on April 20, 2023.

Quotes shall be submitted by 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time on April 28, 2023.

Questions and quotes shall be submitted to Danelle Quinn at danelle.quinn@dot.gov.

SUBMISSION OF QUOTES

Quote submission will consist of two (2) parts: Price and Technical Submission

Vendors’ quotes shall comply with the requirements outlined below and incorporated herein.

1. Completed and Signed RFQ Sheet, Attachment 1.

2. Completed Attachment 3.

3. Signed Copies Acknowledging Amendments, if applicable

4. System for Award Management (SAM): Vendors must be registered in the SAM database to be considered for award. Registration is free and can be completed on-line at http://www.sam.gov/

5. A point of contact, name, email address, phone/FAX number, SAM UEI

6. Representations and Certifications completed by the vendor in accordance with instructions

Contained elsewhere in this solicitation. Note, if the vendor has completed all of the representations and certifications required by this solicitation in SAM.gov in accordance with FAR 52.204-8, then the vendor need not submit the hardcopy Representations and Certifications.

7. Technical and Pricing Submissions as noted below.

SECTION I –PRICE

The Government intends to issue a firm fixed price (FFP) purchase order as a result of this solicitation.

Vendor’s price quotation shall include a firm fixed price. Vendors shall provide total price and labor rates as described below. Failure to include pricing for all line items shall be cause for rejection of the quote.

Vendors shall submit a price submission which shall include the following:

Labor rates for the proposed Labor Categories Hours by Labor Category and total hours Supporting documentation, if any Assumptions, conditions, and exceptions related to price

Pricing submissions shall not exceed fifteen (15) pages. Price Quotes shall be held firm for sixty (60) days.

Vendors responding to this solicitation are advised that, prior to award, the government may request vendors to submit additional information/data to support price reasonableness such as copies of paid invoices for the same or similar items, or price list with effective date and/or copies of catalog pages along with any applicable discounts. Failure to submit the requested information may result in disqualification of the submitted quote.

SECTION II-TECHNICAL SUBMISSION

The Technical submission shall include the following:

FACTOR 1 –Technical Understanding/Merit FACTOR 2 –Staffing FACTOR 3 –Past Performance

The Vendor shall limit the technical response to a total of fifteen (15) pages, exclusive of resumes which shall be limited to four (4) pages each.

FACTOR 1 –Technical Understanding/Merit

Vendors shall provide a response that describes in detail their technical approach to meeting the requirements set forth in the Government’s Performance Work Statement (PWS). The vendor must demonstrate both 1) an in-depth technical understanding of the Government’s requirements and 2) the required knowledge and capabilities to independently perform all tasks in the PWS. The response shall also include a description of how each task will be managed.

In its response, the Vendor must demonstrate documented expertise in each of the following areas:

1. Strategy Analysis

2. Resilience Engineering

3. Planning for Strategy Decision Milestone for a major FAA program

4. Risk reduction analysis

5. Developing tools for Risk Assessment

6. Developing frameworks to support the Strategy Decision milestone

7. Risk adjusted cost and schedule models

8. Analysis and assessment of infrastructure including Telecommunications Infrastructure

9. Evaluating the Security risks and implications of using a specific infrastructure

10. Development of program schedules and plans

11. Development of tools and processes for managing program schedules

FACTOR 2–Staffing

The Vendor shall propose a staffing plan that includes sufficient staffing and hours to meet the requirements of the PWS. The Government will consider and evaluate the following aspects of the Vendor’s submission regarding Staffing:

Staffing plan, which includes all the labor categories to be used for meeting this requirement, along with the tasks assigned to each labor category (this includes key personnel as well as other staff). All key personnel shall be named. The Government anticipates that this task could be accomplished with the equivalent of three (3) staff members working for the duration of the period of performance.

Vendor résumés shall be provided for all key personnel. Vendor résumés must demonstrate the qualifications of the proposed key personnel in terms of technical experience, expertise, education, and training relevant to the effort described in the PWS.

The resumes will be evaluated for experience, education, and accomplishments against the task areas described in the PWS. In addition to applicable technical experience, resumes should reflect experience (if any) in managing and/or directing projects similar in size and scope to those described in the PWS.

Resumes should be provided for only those personnel for whom the Vendor can make a firm commitment to this task order. Resumes must also be verifiable in that relevant dates, names, and addresses of educational institutions and employers must be provided for all experience, education, and specialized training claimed.

FACTOR 3–Past Performance

The Government will evaluate the past performance record of the proposed vendor and proposed major subcontractor(s) for this task order. A major subcontractor(s) is a subcontractor that is proposed to perform at least 20 percent (20%) of the effort. The Vendor shall submit documentation for at least three

(3) recent and relevant projects. The Government will evaluate the likelihood of successful performance and relative capability to perform the requirements outlined within the PWS. The Government will only evaluate projects or contracts that have already been performed. Past performance submission shall include:

Recency and Relevancy of the past performance history.

o Recency - Projects are considered recent if they have been completed within the last five

(5) years. Project examples that fail to meet this condition will not be evaluated.

o Relevancy- Projects are considered relevant if they are similar to the tasks of the type and complexity described in the PWS.

For each contract or project, the Vendor shall provide the following: customer’s name, organization, and contact information; contract or project number and title; dates of performance;

a description of the work performed and how it is relevant to the PWS.

The Vendor shall also identify the amount of involvement of the proposed key personnel under this task order in the past performance examples (if applicable). It is preferable that named key personnel in the Vendor’s submission are also staff in the Vendor’s Past Performance examples.

EVALUATION AND BASIS OF AWARD

The anticipated firm fixed price contract will be issued to the Vendor that can provide the services that represent the best value to the Government. Non-price factors are significantly more important than price.

The Government will make award to the responsible Vendor whose submission conforms to the solicitation terms and conditions and represents the “Best Value” to the Government. Therefore, award may be made to other than the lowest priced offer.

The Government reserves the right to award without discussions. Therefore, each initial offer should contain the Vendor’s best terms. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer (CO) to be necessary.

In addition to price, this assessment will be based on the Technical Factors: Factor 1 – Technical Understanding/Merit, Factor 2 – Staffing, Factor 3 – Past Performance. Technical Understanding/Merit, Past Performance, and Staffing are equally weighted.

FACTOR 1 – Technical Understanding/Merit

The Vendor shall provide all the necessary information to facilitate the Government’s consideration of Factor 1 – Technical Understanding/Merit. The Vendor shall be evaluated on its demonstration of technical understanding of the requirements of the PWS based on the information provided in response to the requirements and using the criteria described in Section II, Factor 1 of Section B above.

FACTOR 2 - Staffing

The Vendor shall provide all the necessary information to facilitate the Government’s consideration of Factor 2 – Staffing. The Vendor shall be evaluated on its demonstration of the appropriate staffing skills and experience to meet the requirements of the PWS. Staffing will be evaluated based on the information provided in response to the requirements and using the criteria described in Section II, Factor 2 of Section B above.

FACTOR 3 – Past Performance

The Vendor shall provide all the necessary information to facilitate the Government’s consideration of Factor 3 – Past Performance. The Vendor shall be evaluated on its performance on past projects relevant to the tasks of this PWS. Past Performance will be evaluated based on the information provided in response to the requirements and using the criteria described in Section II, Factor 3 of Section B above.

ADJECTIVAL RATING SYSTEM

The Technical Evaluators shall use the following adjectival rating system to evaluate the Technical and Staffing Submissions:

Exceptional: Submission meets all requirements and indicates an extensive detailed approach and understanding of the requirements. The submission contains multiple strengths, no significant weaknesses, or any deficiencies. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is extremely low.

Very Good: Submission meets all requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding.

The submission contains strengths, no significant weaknesses, or any deficiencies. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Satisfactory: Submission meets all requirements and indicates an adequate approach to and understanding of the requirements of the RFQ. Submission has some strengths or weaknesses, but no deficiencies. Any weaknesses are offset by strengths or will have little or no impact on contract performance. The risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Marginal: The submission does not meet the requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach to and understanding of the requirements of the RFQ. The submission has one or more weaknesses that are not offset by strengths. The risk of unacceptable performance to the Government is moderate.

Unsatisfactory: Submission does not meet the requirements of the RFQ. The submission contains significant numerous weaknesses and deficiencies. Th submission shows a clear lack of understanding of the requirement. The risk of unacceptable performance to the Government is high.

Submission is unawardable.

During their evaluations, Technical Evaluation Team members shall provide narrative to specifically identify a Vendor’s strengths and weaknesses/significant weaknesses, and deficiencies in support of the ratings given. The definitions of these characteristics are as follows:

Strength: A strength is an aspect of the submission that exceeds stated requirements and evaluation standards of the solicitation in a way that is beneficial to the Government for the purpose of this particular acquisition.

Weakness: A weakness is a flaw in the submission that increases the risk of unsuccessful task order performance.

Significant Weakness: A significant weakness is a flaw in the submission that appreciably increases the risk of unsuccessful task order performance. A combination of weaknesses in a single factor can equate to a significant weakness.

Deficiency: A deficiency is a material failure of a submission to meet a Government requirement or a combination of significant weaknesses in a submission that increases the risk of unsuccessful task order performance to an unacceptable level.

In the evaluation of Past Performance, the Technical Evaluation Team members, shall use the following adjectival rating system:

Vendors are advised that the Government may consider past performance information obtained from sources other than those identified by the Vendor, including Federal, State, and local Government agencies, better business bureaus, published media and electronic databases including, but not limited to, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). The Government may research Vendor performance on any Federal, State, local and commercial procurement that is known to the Government, but not included on a submitted reference.

The first aspect is to evaluate whether the Vendor’s past performance is relevant or not relevant to the effort to be acquired.

Adjectival Rating Description

Relevant Present/past performance effort involved similar scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Not Relevant

Present/past performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires

The second aspect of the past performance evaluation is to determine how well the Vendor performed on the contracts. Past Performance information that is not recent or relevant is not considered in the assessment of Past Performance Confidence. In conducting a performance confidence assessment, each Vendor shall be assigned one of the ratings below:

Adjectival Rating Description

Acceptable Acceptable Based on the Vendor’s performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the Vendor will successfully perform the required effort, OR the Vendor’s performance record is unknown.

Unacceptable Unacceptable Based on the Vendor’s performance record, the Government does not have a reasonable expectation that the Vendor will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

In the case of a Vendor without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the Vendor may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance (see FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv)). Therefore, the Vendor shall be determined to have unknown (or “neutral”) past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, a neutral rating shall be considered “acceptable.”

METHOD OF PROPOSAL SUBMISSION:

All quotes must be sent via email to danelle.quinn@dot.gov. Quotes shall include delivered price(s), a point of contact, name and phone number, SAM UEI, business size under NAICS Code 541330, and payment terms. Each response must clearly indicate the capability of the vendor to meet all specifications and requirements.

Important Notes:

Vendors shall respond to all requirements of the solicitation document. Vendors are cautioned not to alter the solicitation.

Please review all specifications carefully, and make note of the specific accommodation requirements.

Please also note payment terms and the primary point of contact in the quotation.

Initial submissions and any modifications thereto are to be submitted to the Contracting Office on or before the closing date and time of this posting.

Deadline for receipt of submissions is April 28, 2023 at 12:00 PM EST.

No telephone requests will be honored. The Government will not pay for any information received. The Government intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order as a result of this solicitation. This RFQ is expected to result in a single purchase order award, subject to receipt of an acceptable proposal.

*****End of Combined Synopsis/Solicitation******