Quotation Instructions and Evaluation Criteria 10 06 11 -I.docx

PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

This solicitation incorporates one or more provisions by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer (CO) will make the full text available. Be cautioned that the listed provisions may include blocks that must be completed by the Offeror and submitted with its quotation/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/offer. Also, the full text of a provision may be accessed electronically at these addresses:

http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm http://www.arnet.gov/far

(a) The Government may award without discussions with the offeror; therefore, the offeror is cautioned to examine the solicitation in its entirety and to ensure that its quotation is complete, containing all necessary information/all required documentation, in all respects. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions and to permit the offeror/ quoter to revise its quotation(s).

(b) The Offeror shall submit an electronically signed and dated offer, by COB, Eastern Standard Time (EST) on October 24, 2011 to vernessa.younger@ATF.gov.

(c) Offers/Quotes received after the time and date specified for receipt will be considered LATE.

1. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

(a) To be considered for selection, the Offeror must submit a complete response to this Request for Quotation (RFQ) using the sequence and format provided herein. All pages must be identified with the Offeror’s name and Solicitation number.

(b) For the electronic submission, the offer/quote shall be in uncompressed files submitted via email.

(c) The electronic version of the text shall be in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat Portable Data Format (PDF).

(d) Information shall be confined to the appropriate volume folder/tab to facilitate independent evaluation. The technical proposal/quote should be clear and concise, logically assembled and indexed and cross-indexed to applicable parts of the RFQ as appropriate. Pages over the maximum-page limitation for any volume folder/tab will be excluded from evaluation. The page limits shall include any diagrams, figures, tables, or reference material, unless otherwise indicated in paragraph 2.c. RESUMES ARE NOT A PART OF THE PAGE LIMITATION.

2. FORMAT

(a) Submissions. Submissions shall be on 8 ½” x 11” (with no fold-outs) white papers and printed only on one side of the paper. The text shall have 1” margins on all sides, be single-spaced; font style Times New Roman; font color black; and font size 12. Illustrations (e.g., graphics figures, graphs, and tables) shall be in portrait format with font colors other than black allowable and font sizes 12, 10, and 9 are considered acceptable. The Offeror’s company name (no logos), the date, solicitation number, volume number and section shall be included on each page of the quotation/offer (may be included in a header/footer). All pages of the quotation/offer shall be numbered, using a uniform-paragraph-numbering system. Page numbers, headers and footers may be outside the page margins, and are not bound by the font, color and point-size requirement. Information not contained within the above limitations will not be evaluated.

(b) Offer Volume. The Offeror shall present all information relevant to each factor in the appropriate section. The Offeror shall insert its company’s name in the filename. At the end of each Volume folder/tab, the Offeror may include any “Exceptions” that they take with the requirements, constraints, and terms and conditions. Any exceptions taken shall clearly identify the RFQ Section, paragraph, and requirement/objective, constraint, or terms and conditions to which exception is being made and include appropriate supporting rationale for each exception. The Government is not obligated to accept such exceptions to the RFQ, and these may render the Offeror’s proposal/quotation unacceptable.

(c) Requirements

3. CONTENT

3.1 Volume I – The Offeror is requested to provide the below information.

3.1.1 Section 1/Tab A – Introduction & Table of contents for easy reference.

3.1.2 Section 1/Tab B – Executive-Level Summary. Provide a letter formally transmitting the offer/quote. Identify the name, address, e-mail address, telephone and facsimile transmission number of the person(s) whom has the contractual authority and can be contacted concerning any questions about this offer/quote. Also, include the following as attachments to the letter:

(a) A document containing the following information:

· Name, address, telephone number, facsimile number, e-mail address, and cage code of the contractor and of any corporate affiliate at which work is to be performed.

· The Offeror shall demonstrate its corporate experience, as well as that for all proposed subcontractors or team members, in performing tasks similar to those identified in the Statement of Work (SOW), (Attachment I).

3.1.3 Section 1/Tab C – ORCA Certification in accordance with FAR Part 52.212-3.. This tab shall contain a completed copy of your company’s ORCA Certification or proper DUNS Number that will allow the government to download your ORCA information.

3.1.4 Section 1/Tab D - Exceptions/Alternatives (Terms and Conditions).

(a) Offerors are cautioned that they take exception to any Terms and Conditions of the solicitation at their own risk. The Government may, at its option, reject an offer/quote which contains any such exceptions.

(b) Nonetheless, any exception taken by the Offeror, at its own risk, shall be identified in this tab. The Offeror shall clearly identify the paragraph and term or condition to which the exception is being made and include appropriate rationale for any such exception.

(c) Suggested, optional wording changes (to include clarifications and addenda) to any terms and conditions of the solicitation shall be identified in this part. The Government may at its option accept or reject any such changes. If accepted, it may be necessary to amend the solicitation and to discuss the changes with other Offerors.

(d) If no exceptions are taken, the Offeror shall include the following statement in this part of the proposal/quotation: “[Name of Offeror] takes no exception to any terms and conditions of Solicitation No. DJA11RFQ0042.

3.2 Section 1 – Personnel Qualifications

3.2.1 Personnel Qualifications: The Offeror shall demonstrate the experience and qualifications of personnel in resume form. Resumes are limited to two pages each, and shall indicate the proposed job category that the individual will perform within. Each resume shall contain the following information:

(a) Company: Current company affiliation and location

(b) Education: Degree(s), School, Location of School, Major, and Year of Graduation

(c) Job Title: Current & Planned Job Title

(d) Professional Experience/Qualifications: Brief summary of experience and training.

(e) Security Clearance: Current security clearance (if applicable)

3.3 Section 2 – Past Performance

The evaluation will be based on past performance and price, past performance being more significant. The Offeror shall provide references for a maximum of three contracts/Orders with the Federal Government and/or commercial customers that demonstrate recent and relevant past performance of similar scope, size and complexity of services identified. Recent is defined as within the last three years. Relevant is defined as work similar in complexity, magnitude, and type of the work described in the SOW.

Offerors are instructed to send requests for references to the referenced party with instructions that they, in turn, should complete the “Past and Present Performance Survey”, Attachment III and send the information directly to the ATF Contracting Officer listed above. The government may consider the past performance of other companies when they are team members, affiliates, or significant subcontractors, who will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to the acquisition; however, the offeror must clearly explain how these other companies will be significantly involved in the proposed contract. The Offeror shall provide a detailed summary of the work performed for each past performance reference submitted. Where possible, ATF intends to interview each reference provided to verify project scope, dollar value and obtain additional past performance information. The Solicitation Number is already identified on the past performance surveys.

The Offeror shall provide telephone, fax, and email for the points of contact for the technical and contractual personnel with each referenced project as well as a description of the referenced contracts/task orders.

Contract Descriptions. The description of each contract and subcontract shall include the following information in the task order listed:

(i) Government/Commercial Contracting activity, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.

The Government may also consider information obtained through other sources. Past performance information will be utilized to determine the quality of the contractor’s past performance as it relates to the probability of success of the required effort. In this section the Offeror will include demonstrated and relevant corporate experience, including subcontractors and teaming partners, in performing projects requiring the type of services solicited.

3.4 Volume II – Price

3.4.1 General. An hourly rate of $50.00 has been established. The contract resulting from this solicitation shall be a Hybrid Firm-Fixed Price with Cost Reimbursement, for Travel only.

4. FORMAL COMMUNICATIONS

4.1. The solicitation, amendments, notices and other information will be made via email.

4.2 Offerors are advised to monitor their email continuously in order to obtain information in a timely manner.

4.3 All questions pertaining to this solicitation shall be addressed to the Contracting Officer, Vernessa Younger, via e-mail, vernessa.younger@atf.gov. In order to issue pertinent and timely solicitation amendments, all offerors’ questions must be received by COB EST Friday October 14, 2011.

5. CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Any contractor (or member of its team and/or subcontractor) having a conflict of interest as defined under Far Part 9.5 must identify the conflict as soon as it is known and provide a recommended mitigation plan. Mitigation plans are required whenever a competing contractor has had unequal access to non-public information regarding this requirement and/or competition, or has assisted the Government in defining the requirements or evaluation criteria.

6. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

6.1 EVALUATION PROCESS

(a) The Government intends to award multiple contracts resulting from this solicitation to the responsible Offeror whose offer/quote, conforming to the solicitation, will be the most advantageous to the Government

(b) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer/quote, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful Offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer/quote, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer's/quote’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer/quote, whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

6.2 BASIS FOR AWARD

Evaluations will be conducted, and a Selection will be made in accordance with the guidelines provided in the FAR, the Department of Justice Acquisition Regulation (JAR), and the Solicitation. Award will be made to that Offeror whose quotation represents the greatest overall value to the Government. The ATF requires and intends to procure services for Hearing Officers support services. The contracts awarded as a result of this solicitation shall be a Firm-Fixed Price with Cost-Reimbursement for Travel only. ATF may award without discussions; however, ATF will hold discussions, if deemed in the best interest of the Government.

6.3 EVALUATION AND EVALUATION FACTORS

Quotations will be evaluated in accordance with personnel qualifications and past performance .

Factor 1: Personnel Qualifications. ATF will evaluate the Offeror on the proposed key personnel’s resume how it demonstrates the individual’s ability to execute SOW requirements on the bases of strength of relevant education, training and experience.

Personnel Qualifications Ratings

Factor 2: Past Performance.

The Offeror will be evaluated on its past performance. Offerors shall submit a maximum of three (3) references for recent (within the past three (3) years) and relevant experience (i.e., experience in providing the services required in the Statement of Work (SOW). The Government may use information provided by the Offeror in their quotation submission, information in both Government and commercial databases, and other information available as ATF determines is reasonable.

Offerors shall be asked to provide the organization name, technical, and contractual points of contact, the dollar value and period of performance (dates), a three (3) page or less description of the project or contract referenced and the Offeror’s rationale as to the relevance of the experience to the prospective work to be performed under this solicitation. ATF shall assess the relevance of the experience and references provided to the work to be performed under the contract/task order to be awarded under this solicitation and evaluate the Offeror’s relevant experience and related past performance (how well the Offeror performed on the referenced project). If the Offeror has no past performance readily available (FAR 15.306 (a)(2)(iv)), it will be evaluated as Neutral. References shall submit responses directly to the CO or CS no later than the date and time quotations and past performance surveys are due, Monday October 24, 2011, 11:00 a.m. EST.

The Government will evaluate past performance quality using the following adjectival ratings for the factor.

Past Performance Ratings

Acceptable = 3

The Offeror’s performance of previous relevant contracts demonstrates an overall performance and quality record that supports an expectation of satisfactory achievement of the great majority of SOW requirements.

Marginal = 2

The Offeror’s performance of previous relevant contracts demonstrates a general trend that supports an expectation that successful achievement of the SOW requirements may be difficult to achieve or can occur only with increased levels of ATF oversight.

Factor 3: Price. An hourly rate of $50.00 has been established.

DJA11RFQ0042 Page 4 of 8 (ATF Attachment II)