DEP.BWR.RFR.2018-10-MACROINVERT.LAB.SERVICES.5.23.18.docx

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Department of Environmental Protection

Department of Environmental Protection

BUREAU OF WATER RESOURCES

DIVISION OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT– WATERSHED PLANNING PROGRAM

8 NEW BOND STREET

WORCESTER, MA 01606

Request for Response (RFR)

Aquatic/Marine Macroinvertebrate Laboratory and Sampling Services

COMMBUYS Bid#: BD-18-1045-BWR00-BWR02-27679

Agency Document #: BWR-RFR-2018-10-MACROINVERT LAB SERVICES

May 24, 2018

Please Note: This is a single document associated with a complete Bid (also referred to as Solicitation) that can be found on COMMBUYS (www.COMMBUYS.com). All Bidders are responsible for reviewing and adhering to all information, forms and requirements for the entire Bid, which are all incorporated into the Bid. Bidders may also contact the COMMBUYS Helpdesk at COMMBUYS@state.ma.us or the COMMBUYS Helpline at 1-888-MA-STATE. The Helpline is staffed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight time, as applicable, except on federal, state and Suffolk county holidays.

Document Sensitivity Level: High during development; Low once published.

Revised: June 29, 2016 Contents

Table of Contents Page i Document Sensitivity Level: High during development; Low once published.

1. RFR Introduction and General Description Procurement Scope and Description Through this solicitation, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“MassDEP” or the “Department”), Division of Watershed Management (“DWM”), Watershed Planning Program (“WPP”) is seeking to establish a list of pre-qualified firms (referred to as “Contractor”) to provide MassDEP with biomonitoring, sample processing, taxonomy, and other related services for aquatic and marine macroinvertebrate samples on a project-by-project basis during the contract term.

Qualified Contractors selected as a result of this solicitation will be placed on a pre-qualified list for macroinvertebrate field and lab services on the Department’s Master Service Agreement. Whenever the Department needs any of the services described in this RFR to be performed for a specific task, Contractors from the pre-qualified list will be contacted with specific details for the work to be performed and will be asked to provide a project or task-specific price quote, stating the cost and the period of performance for completing the work. All such price quotes must include all costs that will be charged to the Department, including labor (hourly staff rates, including overhead and fees), subcontracts, any sample shipping costs to and from Contractor, and direct costs (mileage, duplication, postage, etc.). The Contractor whose specific price quote offers the best value to the Department will be selected for that specific task/project.

Applicable Procurement Law This Bid is issued under the following law(s):

MGL c. 7, § 22; c. 30, § 51, § 52; and 801 CMR 21.00 (Goods and Services)

Number of awards MassDEP is seeking to pre-qualify multiple Contractors and has not set an upper limit on the number of Contractors.

Adding Contractors after initial Contract award In the discretion of the Strategic Sourcing Team (“SST”), qualified Contractors may be added to the Master Service Agreement after initial Contract award. If, over the life of the Contract, the SST determines that additional Laboratories should be added, these firms may first be drawn from qualified companies which responded to this Solicitation but were not awarded contracts. If necessary to meet the requirements of the Commonwealth, the Solicitation may be reopened to obtain additional bids.

Eligible Entities Any contract resulting from this Bid will be open for use to the Issuing Entity Only.

Acquisition Method(s) The acquisition method(s) to acquire goods and/or services from this Bid are Fee for Service.

Performance and Payment Time Frames Which Continue Beyond Duration of the Contract.

All agreements for services entered into during the duration of this contract and whose performance and payment time frames extend beyond the duration of this contract shall remain in effect for performance and payment purposes (limited to the time frame and services established per each written agreement). No agreements for services may be executed after the contract has expired. Any contract termination or suspension pursuant to this section shall not automatically terminate any agreements for services already in place unless the department also terminates said agreements for service, which were executed pursuant to the main contract.

Contract Duration The expected duration of this contract is as follows:

Initial Duration

3 years Effective/Start Date (Contract execution date) through 06/30/2021

Renewal Options

2 years

Total Maximum Contract Duration

No agreements for services may be executed after the Contract has expired.

Estimated Value of the Contract Based upon past Contracts for these laboratory services, the estimated value of purchase(s) resulting from this Bid is $150,000. The Contract resulting from this solicitation will utilize federal funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Commonwealth makes no guarantee that any commodities or services will be purchased from any Contract resulting from this Bid. Any estimates or past procurement volumes referenced in this Bid are included only for the convenience of Bidders, and are not to be relied upon as any indication of future purchase levels.

2.

Estimated Procurement Calendar

Times are Eastern Daylight Savings (US), as displayed on the COMMBUYS system clock displayed to Bidders after logging in. If there is a conflict between the dates in this Procurement Calendar and dates in the Bid’s Header, the dates in the Bid’s Header on COMMBUYS shall prevail. Bidders are responsible for checking the Bid record, including Bid Q&A, on COMMBUYS for Procurement Calendar updates.

Written questions via the Bid Q&A on COMMBUYS The “Bid Q&A” provides the opportunity for Bidders to ask written questions and receive written answers from the SST regarding this Bid. All Bidders’ questions must be submitted through the Bid Q&A found on COMMBUYS (see below for instructions). Questions may be asked only prior to the Deadline for Submission of Questions stated in the Estimated Procurement Calendar. The issuing department reserves the right not to respond to questions submitted after this date. It is the Bidder’s responsibility to verify receipt of questions.

Please note that any questions submitted to the SST using any other medium (including those that are sent by mail, fax, email or voicemail, etc.) will not be answered. To reduce the number of redundant or duplicate questions, Bidders are asked to review all questions previously submitted to determine whether the Bidder’s question has already been posted.

Bidders are responsible for entering content suitable for public viewing, since all of the questions are accessible to the public. Bidders must not include any information that could be considered personal, security sensitive, inflammatory, incorrect, collusory, or otherwise objectionable, including information about the Bidder’s company or other companies. The SST reserves the right to edit or delete any submitted questions that raise any of these issues or that are not in the best interest of the Commonwealth or this Bid.

All answers are final when posted. Any subsequent revisions to previously provided answers will be dated.

It is the responsibility of the prospective Bidder and awarded Contractor to maintain an active registration in COMMBUYS and to keep current the email address of the Bidder’s contact person and prospective contract manager, if awarded a contract, and to monitor that email inbox for communications from the Purchasing Department, including requests for clarification. The Purchasing Department and the Commonwealth assume no responsibility if a prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the prospective Bidder’s/awarded Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP) cause email communications sent to/from the prospective Bidder/Awarded contractor and the Purchasing Department to be lost or rejected by any means including email or spam filtering.

Locating Bid Q&A Log into COMMBUYS, locate the Bid, acknowledge receipt of the Bid, and scroll down to the bottom of the Bid Header page. The “Bid Q&A” button allows Bidders access to the Bid Q&A page.

Amendment Deadline The SST reserves the right to make amendments to the Bid after initial publication. It is each Bidder’s responsibility to check COMMBUYS for any amendments, addenda or modifications to this Bid, and any Bid Q&A records related to this Bid. The SST and the Commonwealth accepts no responsibility and will provide no accommodation to Bidders who submit a Quote based on an out-of-date Bid or on information received from a source other than COMMBUYS.

3. Specifications Additional required terms appear in the Appendices to this RFR.

Bidder Qualifications

IN GENERAL: All Bidders must submit an RFR Response that includes a description of all services offered, along with pricing information as required by this Section. By submitting a response to this RFR, all Bidders acknowledge and affirm that their RFR Response: (1) complies with and will adhere to all required terms and conditions of the RFR, (2) includes a qualified team, and (3) if selected as a result of this solicitation, will ensure that all personnel associated with the required services will remain qualified for these services for the duration of the Contract.

FIRM QUALIFICATIONS: In General

Each Bidder shall provide as part of its Response a Statement of Qualifications, which addresses its firm’s experience to provide the services requested by this RFR. In general, the Bidder’s firm must provide a narrative summarizing its experience in performing prior biomonitoring and/or macroinvertebrate taxonomy projects. In addition, the Statement of Qualifications must address the following key areas, at a minimum:

A. previous experience with processing and sorting macroinvertebrate samples;

B. previous experience with identification of macroinvertebrates;

C. previous experience with sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates in freshwater and/or estuarine habitats;

D. previous experience analyzing biological monitoring data; and E. a demonstrated ability to complete the RFR’s anticipated scope of services in a timely manner.

As part of its Statement of Qualifications and related experience, Bidders must also identify, if applicable, any other past or current contracts with other Massachusetts state agencies or authorities where their firm provided services similar to the scope described in this RFR.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

The RFR Response shall provide in the Statement of Qualifications the following items:

A. Provide resumes for the Bidder’s Key Employees, including subcontractors, who will have primary responsibility for project tasks and identify their educational, work history, and current job description;

B. Provide three (3) references who may be contacted by Department to discuss the Bidder’s qualifications, including their subcontractor(s)’s qualifications, work experience, and ability to perform the services;

C. A Company Profile or Organizational Chart; and

D. A list of any proposed subcontractors and the specific task(s) to be performed by the subcontractor(s).

Anticipated Scope of Services

The Scope of Services may include the following deliverables as outlined below. Those Bidders who have been pre-qualified as a result of this solicitation to be on the Department’s Master Service Agreement will be contacted during the course of the Contract term to provide a work plan that includes a specific price quote for some or all of the following tasks.

IN GENERAL: The present need of the Department is to process benthic macroinvertebrate samples from freshwater and/or marine/estuarine habitats. The tasks may include, but are not limited to, the following: methods development, characterizing benthic habitat, collecting benthic samples, documenting receipt of samples, sorting macroinvertebrates from sediments and other materials captured in the sample, subsampling as specified in project-specific methodologies, slide-mounting larvae and worms for microscopy, identifying and enumerating specimens to genus/species level, and conducting data analyses. Other tasks include documentation of Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA), preparation of electronic files, and development of reports. In order to perform these tasks, the pre-qualified Contractors must demonstrate to the Department (through submission of the RFR response with the Statement of Qualifications) the ability, experience, and qualifications to address and perform one or more of the following required tasks in the above referenced habitats :

Collecting and Processing Samples A. The Contractor shall follow all specific requirements of protocols for collecting and laboratory processing of macroinvertebrate specimens and recording data, as approved by the MassDEP/DWM project manager.

B. Identification shall be to genus/species-level. MassDEP/DWM recognizes that it may be impractical to achieve a reliable identification at the genus or species level for the following reasons: life stage of the specimen is too immature; condition of the specimen is poor, and essential diagnostic structures may be damaged or missing; or, a suitable taxonomic key does not exist for a particular genus or available keys are not representative of the regional species populations. MassDEP/DWM requires that these, and possibly other, reasons be coded and recorded in logbooks, bench sheets, or electronically as, e.g., (imm)ature, (cond)ition, and (key), respectively. Otherwise, identification of macroinvertebrate specimens shall be to genus/species.

C. If a project includes a data analysis component, the Contractor will obtain prior written approval from MassDEP/DWM for the analytical approach, including but not limited to, statistics and/or models to be used.

D. In performance of tasks as required by the Department, the Contractor shall also adhere to the minimum requirements listed below.

E. Ensure that identification of specific macroinvertebrate taxa is performed by the qualified individual(s) specified in the Response to this RFR, or by those qualified personnel identified in subsequent project staff revisions, based on notification to and approval by MassDEP.

F. Provide all field and laboratory equipment and supplies in sufficient quantity to ensure compliance with the protocols specified for the project.

Employee requirements Contractor staff and subcontractors performing taxonomic determinations on freshwater macroinvertebrate specimens must hold appropriate taxonomic certifications from the Society For Freshwater Science Taxonomic Certification Program. Staff of all Contractors responsible for identification of marine macroinvertebrates need to be able to document and provide evidence to the Department of appropriate training and experience in taxonomy of marine invertebrates.

Quality Control/Quality Assurance

3. 4.3.1 Sample Record Keeping

All sample processing information must be recorded either electronically, in a taxonomist’s bench notebook, on a data sheet, or in another format accepted by MassDEP/DWM. The recorded information must include:

A. all sample label information;

B. the name of the sorter and taxonomist (if different), and the dates sample sorting and taxonomy were performed;

C. the count of the organisms in the subsample; and D. a list of macroinvertebrates observed in the sample but not in the final subsample (i.e., “large/rare specimens”).

3. 4.3.2 Sample Sorting Efficiency

Quality Control checks must be performed on 10% of all sorted samples. A QC plan that addresses sample sorting efficiency and count accuracy must be provided to, and approved by, MassDEP prior to the initiation of project activities. The Contractor must be able to document and provide evidence to the Department that their sorting efficiency is 90% or greater (MassDEP’s Management Quality Objectives).

3. 4.3.3 Taxonomy

Once all of the samples are processed, identification of the sorted specimens to genus/species can take place. Taxonomic determinations can be recorded electronically, in a bench notebook, on a data sheet, or in another format provided that this alternative format has been pre-approved by MassDEP. When all taxonomic determinations for a sample are completed, the taxa names and counts are transcribed from the bench notebook/bench sheets to an electronic data format (Excel or csv).

The Contractor is required to have a Quality Control Plan pre-approved by MassDEP for all taxonomy work. The QC plan is expected to address the following elements, to be performed by a taxonomist not responsible for the original identifications (the reviewer):

A. checks for errors in transcription, count totals, and spelling of taxa names;

B. brings any detected errors to the attention of the taxonomist for correction;

C. spot checks the identity of taxa listed;

D. works with the taxonomist toward determining the correct identity of a taxon when there is disagreement;

E. seeks assistance from an authority on the taxonomic group if the identity of the organism(s) cannot be resolved;

F. places his/her initials next to checked taxa when there is concurrence; and G. initials and dates the data sheet (or electronic file) when the Quality Control check is completed satisfactorily.

3. 4.3.4 Taxonomy Quality Assurance

In addition to the “in-house” QC checks listed above, specimens may be subject to validation by an outside taxonomic authority (QA). It will be at the discretion of MassDEP as to which specimens will require taxonomic validation, and by what taxonomic expert. This decision will be made based on a review of the Contractor’s preliminary list of taxonomic determinations for specimens in the “validation sample” (i.e., the taxa list, which will be provided by the Contractor). It is possible that more than one taxonomic authority will be used, depending on the taxonomic group in question. Specimens sent out for taxonomy validations must be recorded in a taxonomy validation notebook, data sheet, or electronic file showing label information and date sent out. When the specimens are returned, the date received and the findings are also recorded. The label will be modified to show corrections to the identification, if any, and to add the abbreviation “val.” plus the first initial and last name of the authority who validated the identification. Such specimens will be placed in a separate collection of validated specimens.

3. 4.3.5 Data Review and Management

Once all in-house transcription and taxonomic QC measures have been performed by the Contractor, and taxonomic determinations have been validated by an outside taxonomic authority (as determined by MassDEP), data must be entered into a spreadsheet (MS Excel or csv) to create tables listing taxa present and counts at each station. After the data are entered, a reviewer (not the data entry person) should check for any transcription or data entry errors. Once any errors are corrected, data tables can be made available (via e-mail or on a CD-ROM) to MassDEP.

3. 4.3.6 Record Keeping: Contractors must also perform the following functions on projects:

A. Maintain accurate and complete records as described in the tasks above.

B. Track the progress of each subsample, including completion status, dates of sorting, mounting, taxonomy (worms, midges, and non-mounted specimens), and any QC activities.

C. Complete and record all Quality Control/Quality Assurance measures.

Progress Reporting and Billing The Contractor shall be required to provide progress reports to the Department. These reports shall be submitted via Email (MS Word or other suitable software as determined by the Department) on a standard form provided by the Department and shall contain a summary and percentage of all work completed by task during the reporting period and planned activities for the next reporting period. Progress and other reports should be provided to the Department’s Contract Manager.

Other Project Deliverables All Bidders should note that, after Contract award, the pre-qualified Contractor(s), on a project-specific basis, shall provide to the Department some or all of the products/records specified below:

Required Materials

a. labeled vials of preserved specimens representing each subsample, as well as large/rare and voucher specimens;

b. labeled glass slides of all mounted specimens, in protective slide boxes; and

c. any collection of taxa validated by an outside authority.

Required Records (all records listed below must be made available in electronic format)

1. scanned copies of all paper records (e.g., laboratory bench sheets or notebooks, other data sheets); electronic copies of all electronic files, including data and other records recorded in spreadsheets or other electronic file types;

2. copies of the Taxonomy Validation Notebook (scanned copies) or other documentation of expert taxonomic validations;

3. a record of all Quality Control/Quality Assurance measures;

4. documentation accounting for sample delivery to the consultant (samples received/sample products returned);

5. final taxa lists of all macroinvertebrate data in electronic format (Microsoft Excel spreadsheets; exact MassDEP format and required sample information to be provided to the contractor by MassDEP); and

6. any other pertinent data, records, or correspondence not previously specified in this Scope of Services (e.g., notification of changes to project staff) Additional Mandatory Terms & Conditions Standard Commonwealth Forms In addition to meeting all the requirements of this RFR, the terms and conditions for this Contract are presented in the “Commonwealth Terms and Conditions” and “Standard Contract Form” as well as other Commonwealth forms that the Bidders must agree to, sign and submit with the responses to this RFR. SEE RFR Section 7 regarding detailed submission requirements for all required Commonwealth forms. Please note that Bidders must also complete, sign, and submit the Commonwealth’s Prompt Payment Discount (PPD) form as part of the RFR Response for this solicitation. For additional information, Bidders should review Appendix 2 (Required Specifications) and Appendix 3 (instructions for execution and submission of Commonwealth Forms).

Data Ownership MassDEP’s Ownership of, and Unrestricted Access to and Use of Data and Deliverables: Contractor and MassDEP agree that MassDEP holds ownership of and unrestricted access to and use of all data and deliverables developed for projects under this MSA. Related documentation includes all finished or unfinished studies, modeling, analyses, flow charts, design documents, program specifications, programs, magnetic tapes, source codings and listings, source and object decks, test data, test results, schedules and planning documents, training materials and user manuals, forms, reports and similar documents, including modifications thereto.

Environmental Specifications Executive Order 515, Establishing an Environmental Purchasing Policy Products and services purchased by state agencies must be in compliance with Executive Order 515, issued October 27, 2009. Under this Executive Order, Executive Departments are required to reduce their impact on the environment and enhance public health by procuring environmentally preferable products and services (EPPs) whenever such products and services perform to satisfactory standards and represent best value, consistent with 801 CMR 21.00. In line with this directive, all contracts, whether departmental or statewide, must comply with the specifications and guidelines established by OSD and the EPP Program. EPPs are considered to be products and services that help to conserve natural resources, reduce waste, protect public health and the environment, and promote the use of clean technologies, recycled materials, and less toxic products. Questions concerning the EO or the appropriate specifications may be directed to OSD’s EPP Procurement Program, www.mass.gov/epp.

The Order can be seen at: http://www.mass.gov/Agov3/docs/Executive%20Orders/executive_order_515.pdf.

Environmental plan Beginning the first year of the Contract and throughout the life of the Contract, awarded Bidders must agree to work with the SST to examine the feasibility of implementing an environmental plan. The objective of this requirement is to actively encourage suppliers to incorporate sustainable practices throughout their business operations and further market such practices to Contract users. Such a plan may include, but not be limited to, the following:

· Implementing energy efficiency initiatives at the corporate level in line with Executive Order 484, such as lighting retrofits, purchase of energy from renewable sources, use of bio-heat fuel, and other energy reduction technologies.

· Encouraging environmental initiatives at a corporate and/or manufacturing level for the purpose of reducing the impact of manufacturing on the environment; such as clearly identifying recycled content of packaging on the packaging, providing product life cycle assessments, working toward the elimination of ozone depleting chemical usage in the manufacturing or refining process (where applicable), and conducting internal environmental auditing related to pollution control.

· Adopting standards and/or obtain certifications, where applicable, for product development and manufacturing processes such as but not limited to LEED, ISO 14001, Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Protocol, Green Seal, Environmental Choice and others.

· Using alternative fuel vehicles for delivery or transportation purposes and/or vehicles equipped with diesel emission control devices and operating such vehicles with guidance on anti-idling initiatives.

· Working with the SST to develop and distribute information and/or materials to Commonwealth customers on the Awarded Bidder’s environmental practices and initiatives throughout the term of the Contract.

· Developing a plan to implement the recycling of materials used or produced in normal business operations.

The SST may award points to Bidders who provide evidence that measures and initiatives such as these are already in place within their operations, and/or for written proposals submitted with their Quote detailing a commitment to action contingent upon receipt of a Contract award. (See the Additional Environmentally Preferable Products / Practices form on COMMBUYS).

Compensation Structure/Pricing This is a fee for service contract. The payment procedure for this project is a fixed fee for services based upon MassDEP’s acceptance of all deliverables from the Contractor during the contractual period. Advance payments shall not be made. Payment is generally made within 45 days subsequent to a Contractor submitting a correctly executed invoice with appropriate backup documentation that is acceptable to MassDEP. MassDEP reserves the right to retain ten percent (10%) of the total maximum obligation of the contract until all contract provisions are satisfied and all final reports and other products are delivered and accepted by MassDEP. This 10% retainage shall be reflected on each invoice submitted by the contractor and will be cumulative.

As part of the RFR Response, all Bidders are required to submit their firm’s base price list for all sampling services and materials associated with the firm’s selected services for this solicitation. After Contract award, MassDEP reserves the right to further negotiate all price list submissions with the selected Contractors on a project-by-project basis in order to ensure Best Value to the Commonwealth for this Contract.

4. Other Terms—reporting

Contractors are responsible for complying with all other contract reporting requirements including, but not limited to, any federal reporting requirements, as required by this contract. Following Contract award, all questions must be directed to the MassDEP Contract Administrator. Changes to the Contractor’s contact information, company name, legal address, payment address, tax identification number, authorized signatories or EFT information must be promptly reported via email to the MassDEP Contract Administrator. In some cases additional paperwork will be required to effect the change.

MassDEP’s designated Contract Administrator is as follows:

Robert M. Nuzzo Watershed Planning Program Division of Watershed Management Bureau of Water Resources Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection 8 New Bond Street Worcester, MA 01606 Tel: 508-767-2809 robert.nuzzo@state.ma.us

5. Audit During the term of this Agreement and for a period of six years thereafter, MassDEP, its auditors, the Operational Services Division, the Office of the Inspector General or other authorized representatives shall be afforded access at reasonable times to Contractor's accounting records, including sales information on any system, reports or files, in order to audit all records relating to goods sold or services performed pursuant to this Agreement. If such an audit indicates that Contractor has materially overcharged MassDEP, then the Contractor shall remit the overcharged amount and be responsible for payment of any costs associated with the audit.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA

The SST will evaluate the Responses using the following general process. Bidders whose RFR Responses meet the overall requirements of the RFR will be selected by the SST for inclusion on the list for the Master Service Agreement.

STEP 1 – Initial Screening: RFR Responses received by MassDEP within the date and time deadlines set forth in the Estimated Procurement Calendar will be screened for compliance with completeness and responsiveness to the requirements provided in this RFR.

Step 2 - Bidder Qualifications: The SST will evaluate the portions of the Bidders’ Response that provide the information on Bidder qualifications and capabilities to provide the services for the Contract. The SST’s evaluation of each Bidder’s capabilities and experience will include contacting client points-of-contact to obtain references. The Department will use its discretion as to how many client points-of-contact are contacted. The Department also reserves the right, in its discretion, to contact and ask about any Bidder’s past performance from any other individual or organization in addition to those clients/projects cited by Bidders in the Response. It is the responsibility of the Bidder to ensure that contact information for previous projects is up to date.

Step 3 - Supplier Diversity Program (SDP) Plan (formerly Affirmative Market Plan): IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS PROCUREMENT, since this procurement will receive federal funding. See Steps 4 and 5.

Step 4 – Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy Statement must be submitted by all Bidders with the bid package. See Appendix 4.

Step 5 – Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Participation (DBE) The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) DBE rule requires the use of MBEs and WBEs for all federally funded procurements. As such all requirements listed in Appendix 4 must be submitted by the Bidders with the bid package.

Step 6 – Bidder price lists: MassDEP will review and evaluate the Bidders’ standard price list submissions for services and materials. As indicated above, the Department reserves the right to request and negotiate all prices on a project-by-project basis after Contract Award.

NOTE TO BIDDERS:

- Price Quote Process:

(following establishment of the Master Service Agreement and the Pre-Qualified Contractor List) At any time after the establishment of the Master Service Agreement, the Department may solicit price quotes for a service or services from one or more pre-qualified Contractors. Depending on Department need and the capabilities of pre-qualified Contractors, selected Contractors from the Master Service Agreement will be contacted, informed of any special considerations or instructions for the work, and asked to provide a project or task-specific price quote stating the cost and period of performance for completing the work. All such price quotes must include all costs that will be charged to the Department including labor and materials, sub-contractual and direct costs. The Contractor whose specific price quote offers the best value to the Department will be selected for that specific task. This determination may include consideration of the project or task-specific price quotes regarding the total cost, period of performance for completing the work, the experience of the Contractor, and the Department’s determination of a Contractor’s suitability to perform the work and past performance. If none of the specific price quotes received meets the Department’s needs, the Department may reject any and all quotes and may solicit additional quotes in order to locate the best value procurement for the Department.

7. HOW TO SUBMIT A quote

All Bidders may begin creating and compiling Quote materials as soon as the Bid with all attachments is in the Sent document status. Bidders are instructed not to submit Quotes before the Bid Amendment Deadline has been reached (see Estimated Procurement Calendar).

Response Content and General Instructions The Response must include the following items in the order presented below. In addition, for RFR Response content, all Bidders must comply with the requirements of RFR Section 3.0.

Cover Letter: Signed by an authorized signatory of the Bidder, affirming that the Bidder, by submitting a response to the RFR, agrees to and will comply with all mandatory requirements of this RFR during the Contract term.

Bidder’s Statement of Qualifications: this Statement must include all elements specified in RFR Section 3, including but not limited to a complete narrative statement, three (3) references, resumes of key personnel, and a specific description of the firm’s experience in performing prior biomonitoring and/or macroinvertebrate taxonomy projects.

Price Lists: Bidders must provide base price lists for all selected services (see RFR section 3.9).

Commonwealth Forms: Bidders must provide the requested Commonwealth Forms as described in this RFR.

EEO/AA and DBE Forms: as specified in the RFR and attached as Appendix 4, these Forms must be submitted by all Bidders as part of the RFR Response.

Proposal Checklist (see RFR Section 7.6.1 and Appendix 7) Quote Submission Method Online Quote Submission via COMMBUYS is required.

All Bidders must submit Quotes online using tools available only to Sellers registered in COMMBUYS. COMMBUYS provides Seller registration functionality at no charge. To register, go to www.COMMBUYS.com and click on the “Register” link on the front page. All Bidders who are awarded a contract resulting from this Bid, if any, will be required to maintain an active account during the duration of the Contract, by reviewing their registration information regularly and maintaining its accuracy.

COMMBUYS Quote Submission Training and Instructions

The following resources are provided to assist Bidders in submitting Quotes:

· Appendix 5—Instructions for Vendors Responding to Bids Electronically through COMMBUYS, which is part of this document;

· Training sessions focused on online Quote submission, if offered, are noted in the Estimated Procurement Calendar;

· An online job aid on How to Create a Quote;

· Webcast video on How to Find Bids (Solicitations) and Submit Quotes (Responses) through COMMBUYS.

COMMBUYS Support Technical assistance is available during the procurement process. Every effort is made to respond to inquiries within one business day.

Website: Go to www.mass.gov/osd/commbuys and select the COMMBUYS Resource Center link offered under Key Resources.

Email: Send inquiries to the COMMBUYS Helpdesk at COMMBUYS@state.ma.us Telephone: Call the COMMBUYS Help Desk at 1-888-MA-STATE (1-888-627-8283). The Help Desk is staffed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday Eastern Standard or Daylight time, as applicable, except on federal and state holidays.

Bidders are advised that COMMBUYS will be unavailable during regularly scheduled maintenance hours of which all users will be notified.

Bid Opening Date/Time All Bids must be received by the Operational Services Division before the specified date, month, year and time displayed as the Bid Opening Date/Time in the Header Information section of the Bid in COMMBUYS. Times are Eastern Standard/Daylight Savings (US), as applicable. All Bidders are advised to allow adequate time for submission by considering potential online submission impediments like Internet traffic, Internet connection speed, file size, and file volume. OSD is not responsible for delays encountered by Bidders or their agents, or for a Bidder’s local hardware failures, such as computers or related networks, associated with bid compilation or submission. Bids submitted via COMMBUYS are time stamped by the COMMBUYS system clock which is considered the official time of record.

Quote Contents Bidders must comply with the requirements below.

Proposal Checklist The Strategic Sourcing Services Team seeks to reduce the number of Bidder disqualifications based on incomplete submissions. Therefore, Bidders must complete and submit the Proposal Checklist and all documents referenced in the Checklist (Appendix 7).

Electronic Signatures Quotes submitted via COMMBUYS must be signed electronically by the Bidder or the Bidder’s Agent by accepting the terms and conditions of the bid on the “Terms & Conditions” tab of the Bid in COMMBUYS. By selecting “Save & Continue” on the “Terms and Conditions” tab after accepting the terms and conditions of the bid, the submitter attests that s/he is an agent of the Bidder with authority to sign on the Bidder’s behalf, and that s/he has read and assented to each document’s terms.

Ink Signatures Original ink signatures are required only after contracts have been awarded. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires Contractors to submit original ink-signature versions of the following forms:

· Standard Contract Form

· Commonwealth Terms and Conditions

· Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing

· Request for Taxpayer Identification and Verification (Mass. Substitute W9 Form)

· Electronic Funds Transfer Sign Up Form

· Prompt Pay Discount Form Successful Bidders who agreed to the terms and conditions of these forms electronically via COMMBUYS online Quote submission tool must still submit the above forms with ink signatures within seven (7) calendar days of award notification or their contract may not be executed by the Commonwealth. Bidders who have previous contract(s) with the Commonwealth and have up-to-date, ink-signature versions of the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions and Request for Taxpayer Identification and Verification (Mass. Substitute W9 Form) on file with the Office of the State Comptroller may submit copies of the signed forms. However, a new Standard Contract Form and Contractor Authorized Signatory Listing with original ink signatures must be submitted for each new contract with the Commonwealth.

Limits and Restrictions File Naming Conventions Files submitted via COMMBUYS must follow the file naming convention specified below. The Description entered during the file upload process ensures each file is readily identified by Company Name and content. The File Name assigned by the Bidder as stored on their computer or network must be structured such that each file can be processed by the upload tool. The upload tool will reject any file name that includes spaces or symbols, like the brackets [ ] some systems apply when files are downloaded from the Internet.

6.1 RFR Section or

Quote Component Description Enter in COMMBUYS during upload File Name Assign when creating files

Company Name Marketing Print Ad Company Name Marketing Postcard CompanyName_MktBroch.doc CompanyName_MktPrint.doc CompanyName_MktPost.doc

Company Name Clothing Catalog Part 1 Company Name Clothing Catalog Part 2 CompanyName_FootCat.pdf CompanyName_ClothCat1.pdf CompanyName_ClothCat2.pdf

File Size Limits The system will not accept files that approach or exceed 10 MB. If a large file fails to upload, the Bidder must save the contents as multiple files. Note the naming convention used above which illustrates distinguishing multi-part files through use of Part 1, Part 2, etc. If a large file fails to upload, bidders must break up the file and append _Part1, _Part2 to the end of the Description and File Name.

File Format Restrictions All scanned documents must be in .pdf or .gif format, and must be scanned in such a way that they can be read on a computer monitor and printed on 81/2” x 11” paper, unless otherwise specified. Forms provided for the Bidder to complete, with the exception of the forms requiring ink signatures, must be completed and submitted in their original formats, NOT scanned and submitted as PDF or other file types.

Documents and items that can not be submitted electronically Documents and items that can not be submitted electronically, like confidential business references submitted by the reference, or requests for material samples, respectively, must be submitted to the address of the Contract Manager in accordance with all of the Quote submission requirements including Bid Opening Date/Time, Bid Package and Environmental Response Submission Compliance provisions.

Withdrawing a Quote Prior to Bid Opening Date/Time Quotes may be withdrawn using the “Withdraw Quote” button offered under the Summary tab of a submitted Quote.

After Bid Opening Date/Time No Quote can be withdrawn after the Bid Opening Date/Time. If the Bidder wants to remove a Quote from consideration, contact the Strategic Sourcing Services Lead for guidance.

Additional Quote Terms Prohibition regarding contract terms Bidders must not, as part of their Quote, propose additional contractual terms, or supplemental or clarifying language pertaining to contractual terms, even if the proposed additions/clarifications are not in conflict with the Commonwealth Terms and Conditions, the Standard Contract Form, or other documents comprising this RFR. It is essential for Contracting Departments that all contractors’ Statewide Contracts can be depended upon to incorporate the same terms and only those terms. Contractors who wish to propose additional non-conflicting contractual terms, or supplemental or clarifying language, may do so ONLY on a case-by-case basis, negotiated for each specific engagement and memorialized in the Project Statement of Work.

Appendix 1—Required Terms for all RFRs General Procurement Information Alterations Bidders may not alter (manually or electronically) the Bid language or any Bid component files, except as directed in the RFR. Modifications to the body of the Bid, specifications, terms and conditions, or which change the intent of this Bid are prohibited and may disqualify a Quote.

Ownership of Submitted Quotes The SST shall be under no obligation to return any Quotes or materials submitted by a Bidder in response to this Bid. All materials submitted by Bidders become the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will not be returned to the Bidder. The Commonwealth reserves the right to use any ideas, concepts, or configurations that are presented in a Bidder’s Quote, whether or not the Quote is selected for Contract award.

Quotes stored on COMMBUYS in the encrypted lock-box are the file of record. Bidders retain access to a read-only copy of this submission via COMMBUYS, as long as their account is active. Bidders may also retain a traditional paper copy or electronic copy on a separate computer or network drive or separate media, such as CD or DVD, as a backup.

Prohibitions Bidders are prohibited from communicating directly with any employee of the procuring Department or any member of the SST regarding this RFR except as specified in this RFR, and no other individual Commonwealth employee or representative is authorized to provide any information or respond to any question or inquiry concerning this RFR. Bidders may contact the contact person using the contact information provided in the Header Information this Bid in the event that this RFR is incomplete or information is missing. Bidders experiencing technical problems accessing information or attachments stored on COMMBUYS should contact the COMMBUYS Helpdesk (see the document cover page for contact information).

In addition to the certifications found in the Commonwealth’s Standard Contract Form, by submitting a Quote, the Bidder certifies that the Quote has been arrived at independently and has been submitted without any communication, collaboration, or without any agreement, understanding or planned common course or action with, any other Bidder of the commodities and/or services described in the RFR.

Terms and Requirements Pertaining to Awarded Contracts Commonwealth Tax Exemption Invoices or invoices submitted to Massachusetts government entities must not include sales tax.

Contractor’s Contact Information It is the Contractor’s responsibility to keep the Contractor’s Contract Manager information current. If this information changes, the Contractor must notify the Contract Manager by email immediately, using the address located in the Header Information of the Purchase Order or Master Blanket Purchase Order on COMMBUYS.

The Commonwealth assumes no responsibility if a Contractor’s designated email address is not current, or if technical problems, including those with the Contractor’s computer, network or internet service provider (ISP),…