Instructions_to_Offerors_(July_31 _2014).pdf

52.212-1 – Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items (April 2014)

“Challenge, Simulations, and Innovation” IDIQ with Task Orders 0001 and 0002

To be eligible to submit a proposal for this procurement, the offeror must qualify as a small business under NAICS 541613 ($15,000,000 size standard). The Government intends to award a firm fixed price Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with two firm fixed price task orders for the work outlined in the attached Performance Work Statements (PWSs). The minimum ordering quantity for the IDIQ contract will be satisfied by the issuance of Task Orders

0001 and 0002. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is being issued in accordance with procedures set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 19.5 (Set-Asides for Small Business), Part 12 (Acquisition of Commercial Items), and Part 15 (Contracting by Negotiation).

The offeror is expected to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the performance objectives, tasks, and requirements specified in the PWSs. The proposal should address the requirements in the PWSs and state how the offeror will meet those requirements, not simply repeat the language in the PWSs. The proposal should be written in sufficient detail so that a review panel can adequately judge its full merits. Although the intent of each task is expressly stated in the PWS, it is up to the offeror to propose the most effective method for performing the tasks and the most feasible timeline and dates for all key activities. Offerors are encouraged to exercise independent judgment with respect to the best methods of satisfying all of the objectives identified in the

PWSs. If an offeror believes it is not able to perform all tasks outlined in the PWSs, the offeror is encouraged to identify qualified subcontractors to include in their proposal to ensure all tasks required in the PWSs can be conducted competently and successfully.

The offeror's submission shall consist of two volumes: Volume I: Technical Proposal and

Volume II: Business Proposal. All information necessary to judge the technical soundness and management capabilities of the offeror shall be contained in the technical proposal. The technical proposal shall NOT contain any reference to specific price or cost, but resources information

(e.g., staff mix and staff hours by task and sub-task) shall be included so that the offeror's understanding of the scope of the work may be evaluated. The business proposal will contain all information related to the determination of the price associated with each of the project's tasks.

Contract award is planned for late September 2014.

The Department is seeking a contractor to provide management and logistical services, but to also serve as a thought partner who can collaborate with the Department to conceive innovative technology and process management solutions. The offeror is expected to be innovative in its approach and is encouraged to respond with an approach that expedites the objectives of the project while maintaining quality and integrity of the processes. In responding to this procurement, the offeror is also encouraged to propose alternative approaches to conducting the project tasks if it believes the alternative would improve outcomes, reduce the duration of tasks, or improve the quality of deliverables.

Technical Proposal

The technical proposal shall illustrate the offeror’s approach for satisfying the requirements contained in this solicitation. The technical proposal must be clear, coherent, and prepared in sufficient detail for effective evaluation of the offeror's proposal against the technical evaluation criteria. Proposals must clearly demonstrate how the offeror intends to accomplish the requirements and must include convincing rationale and substantiation of all claims. Offerors should not expect the technical evaluation panel to make assumptions or guesses; proposals must be detailed and not vague. The technical proposal must disclose the offeror’s technical approach in sufficient detail to provide a clear and concise presentation that includes, but is not limited to, the requirements outlined below.

The technical proposal shall be limited to a maximum of 30 single-spaced 8.5 x 11 inch pages using font size no smaller than 12 points, with margins no smaller than 1 inch on every side. The page limit includes the table of contents as well as the narrative and corresponding tables and graphics. Specifications pertaining to font size and spacing do not apply to tables, figures, or exhibits. Any pages over 30 shall not be considered. The page limit excludes the cover page;

resumes (Appendix 1); and, letters of agreements from subcontractors or partners (Appendix 2), if any. There are no formatting restrictions for the three appendices, except that they should be formatted to fit on 8.5 x 11 inch pages. In Appendix 1, the offeror shall include resumes for all key personnel, including key personnel from subcontractors. If key personnel are unknown at the time of submission, a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria) shall be substituted for resumes and may be included in Appendix 1.

Appendix 2 should include letters of commitment from all proposed consultants and key personnel not employed currently by the offeror.

Offerors shall follow the format and content requirements detailed below in preparing their technical proposals. No price information may be included in the technical proposal. The technical proposal shall consist of the sections outlined below. The beginning of the technical proposal shall include information relevant to all portions of this proposed contract (i.e., the

IDIQ PWS (covering future task orders), the PWS for Task Order 0001, and the PWS for Task

Order 0002). The latter portions of the technical proposal are to feature the offeror’s technical solutions for Task Order 0001, Task Order 0002, and those tasks in the IDIQ PWS that are not included in either Task Order 0001 or Task Order 0002. To the extent that Sections 4, 5, and 6 below have commonalities, to avoid duplicative narrative the offeror may include a prior section addressing the commonalities.

1. Table of Contents: The Table of Contents with page numbers will provide an easy means to identify major points of discussion. Authors of each section of the technical proposal shall be identified clearly in the Table of Contents.

2. Introduction: The Introduction should provide briefly an impression of the offeror's general understanding of the project’s objectives, scope of work, intended products, and applicability of those products.

3. Experience and Past Performance

This section should describe the offeror’s relevant past and current experience in conducting projects of a similar or comparable nature, and demonstrate an understanding of conducting challenges and creative competitions on a national scale. Summaries of such work should be submitted, including the names, current affiliations, and current telephone numbers of appropriate references. Offerors are encouraged to include examples of past performance conducting national challenges and competitions that match closely the types of challenges included in the PWSs, regardless if the past performance was for a government agency.

For each past performance reference, the offeror shall include or describe:

(1) Contract number and type,

(2) Client name or funding agency (ED, DOL, HHS, DOT, etc.),

(3) Original dollar value and final dollar value (including options if a contract),

(4) Anticipated or Actual Completion Date,

(5) Description of the effort,

(6) Relevance of this work to this contract,

(7) Challenges in the effort and how they were overcome

(8) Why the effort is considered “successful.”

It is the responsibility of the offeror to ensure that telephone numbers, email addresses, and points of contact for references are current and accurate. Inability to contact references may figure negatively in any evaluation of past performance. The Government also reserves the right to obtain past performance information from other sources.

4. Management Plan, Key Personnel, and Technical Approach for Task Order 0001: In this section of the technical proposal the offeror should describe its approach to managing large concurrent projects, how it will administer the Task Order 0001 project, the roles and responsibilities of key personnel performing tasks in the Task Order 0001 PWS, and include a list of all subcontractors and partners. As appropriate, the offeror should indicate non-personnel resources, if any, to be applied to each task.

The project requires that the contractor have in place an effective management system that enables tasks to be completed on schedule. The offeror is encouraged to identify and collaborate with organizations and companies that strengthen the capabilities of the offeror to perform the tasks in the PWS. The offeror should describe how key personnel, organizations, and companies would be integrated into its proposed strategies and indicate clearly which subcontractors or personnel will lead each task or subtask.

The offeror is expected to demonstrate experience conducting national challenges, especially in the area of innovative technology products, as evidenced by the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience of key personnel. The Project Director shall demonstrate clearly both content area expertise as well as management experience. Key personnel are defined as individuals who contribute to the execution of the project in a substantive, measurable way. Subcontractor personnel and consultants should also be included if they meet the definition of key personnel.

The offeror shall propose a team that has the appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities, and relevant past accomplishments to support the Department’s goals and objectives for this project. The offeror shall also document the proposed staff with existing knowledge of Career and Technical

Education (CTE), if any. The offeror shall indicate clearly the relationship between past staff experience and their proposed task assignment for this contract.

As part of Appendix 1, resumes shall be included for all key personnel for this contract, including key personnel from subcontractors. Resumes shall document experience, educational background, publications, and professional activities related to the tasks that the individual will perform for this PWS. If key personnel are unknown at the time of submission, a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria) shall be substituted for resumes and may be included in Appendix 1.

As part of Appendix 2, a letter of commitment from all proposed consultants and key personnel not employed currently by the offeror shall be included. The need for any proposed consultants shall also be justified fully, including how they would contribute to the project. Consultant resumes shall be provided.

The Department, upon review of the resumes, shall have approval rights of the individuals selected by the contractor as key personnel, including project director. Please note that key personnel as accepted in the final contract represent a firm commitment by the offeror to use said personnel to carry out the activities in the PWS.

This section should also include a listing of materials or services the offeror expects ED to furnish (e.g., data, reports, etc.).

This section should describe the specific processes that will be implemented to monitor task progress and quality assurance and the roles of key personnel in the quality assurance process.

This section shall describe fully the approach that the offeror proposes to perform the tasks in the

Task Order 0001 PWS. General statements of strategy should be accompanied by the specific procedures for each task of the project, and should reflect efficient utilization of the offeror's resources.

In its approach to the tasks, the Offeror should describe clearly their understanding of the technology that is the topic of the challenge, and demonstrate their experience with:

1. Managing national challenge and prize competitions,

2. Conducting high-profile national communications activities,

3. Integrating and exchanging open and secure data, and

4. Career and Technical Education.

This section should also describe the capacity and capability of the offeror to conduct multiple, concurrent, high-profile challenges. The offeror is encouraged to apply their creativity in proposing an innovative design for each deliverable and leverage existing technologies and platforms when possible. This procurement is not intended to develop simulations or applications; however the offeror is expected to demonstrate its understanding of new and emerging technologies.

The offeror shall identify potential and/or anticipated problems, and suggest proposed variations in the design of the work that may facilitate successful completion of the tasks and objectives in the PWS. The offeror should demonstrate its organizational capacity and ability to carry out all phases of work associated with the major activities stated in the PWS.

The offeror shall include a chart that shows staff mix and staff hours by task and sub-task. The chart shall indicate both job position and employee name (if available). The chart shall indicate which company each employee works for, and if the proposed person is not currently employed with that company, the chart should indicate that the person is a contingency hire. For each contingency hire, the offeror shall provide a signed letter of commitment or a position description (including job duties, qualifications required, and selection criteria). (Position descriptions can be included in Appendix 1). The offeror shall include all labor categories in the chart and demonstrate an ability and present intention to provide personnel to commence work at the time of contract award.

The offeror shall demonstrate that the proposed personnel are not overextended by including a chart showing how the labor hours on this project compare to other commitments. The chart shall include the following data:

Staff Member Total labor hours proposed for Task

Order 0001

During Task Order 0001, %

FTE on this contract

During Task Order 0001, % FTE on other federal projects

During Task Order 0001, % FTE on other non-federal projects

5. Management Plan, Key Personnel, and Technical Approach for Task Order 0002: The same requirements as outlined above, applied to Task Order 0002.

6. Management Plan, Key Personnel, and Technical Approach for IDIQ PWS: To the extent that the above sections of the proposal fail to address how the offeror would respond to any tasks laid out in the IDIQ PWS, the offeror can describe its approach here.

Business Proposal

Offerors to this solicitation shall structure their business proposal in a manner that will allow for the Government to conduct a separate analysis of the proposal for Task Order 0001 and the proposal for Task Order 0002. The business proposal shall be submitted as a separate document from the Technical Proposal. It shall contain complete information in sufficient detail for the

Government to make a fair and reasonable price determination. The Contracting Officer may reject a proposal if a negative determination is made, or if proposed prices are found not to be reasonable.

There is no page limit to the business proposal or formatting requirements, though the preference is for pages that can be printed on 8.5” x 11” paper. The business proposal shall be formatted in a readable way (e.g., no tiny fonts). The business proposal shall start with a cover page that provides:

The name of the company.

The website address of the company (if applicable).

A statement certifying that the vendor meets the size standard of NAICS 541613 (i.e., $15,000,000).

A statement as to whether the vendor qualifies as any of the following small business categories: small disadvantaged business (SDB); women-owned small business (WOSB);

service-disabled veteran owned small business (SDVOSB); or HUBZone small business

(HUBZone).

The point of contact (name, phone number, email address) of a company representative who can answer any questions that the Department may have.

The vendor’s DUNS number.

A statement certifying that the vendor has active System for Award Management (SAM) registration, or a statement describing the current status and when the vendor expects to achieve active SAM status.

If the vendor has any General Service Administration (GSA) schedule contracts, the contract numbers for those GSA agreements and the periods of performance for the contracts should be provided.

Date. (If an offeror is selected for negotiations, and the offeror later updates its business proposal as part of negotiations, the date on the cover page should be updated to reflect the new submission date.)

At the beginning of the business proposal, there should be a chart showing the offeror’s proposal prices, listing the following information:

A B

1 Proposal Price for Task Order 0001 (excluding Prize Pool)

2 Prize Pool for Task Order 0001 $250,000.00

3 Total Proposal Price for Task Order 0001 =B1+B2

4 Proposal Price for Task Order 0002 (excluding Prize Pool)

5 Prize Pool for Task Order 0002 $750,000.00

6 Total Proposal Price for Task Order 0002 =B4+B5

7 TOTAL: =B3+B6

After this summary chart, the offeror shall propose labor categories and loaded labor rates for all personnel who might be used on any task orders issued against this IDIQ contract. The offeror should use the following format:

Labor Category Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Sample: Project Director

$123.45 / hour $134.56 / hour $145.67 / hour $156.78 / hour $167.89 / hour

The proposals for Task Orders 0001 and 0002 shall make use of labor categories and rates from the above chart. Future task orders will also make use of the labor categories and rates from the chart. The offeror may include labor categories in the chart that are not necessary for Task

Orders 0001 and 0002 if the offeror believes they may be necessary for future task orders.

Other Details:

The business proposal shall list the names and telephones numbers of persons authorized to conduct negotiations;

The business proposal shall include a statement to the effect that the offer is firm for a period of at least 60 calendar days from the date of receipt of offers specified by the

Government;

The business proposal shall include a Conflict of Interest Plan and Certificate (as provided in the solicitation).

All prices in the business proposal (and any accompanying spreadsheets) shall be to the dollar (e.g., $500) or cent (e.g., $500.03), but not past two decimal places (e.g., $500.006). The offeror shall verify that all numbers add up properly, to the nearest cent.

The final proposal price shall be to two decimal places (e.g., $123,456.78). The

Department reserves the right to view sloppiness and rounding errors in the business proposal as indicative of potential problems in program execution.

If subcontractors are proposed, a separate price buildup (by task) should be submitted for each proposed subcontractor, and these prices should also be included in the prime's total firm-fixed price for each task order. In the master buildup for each task order, it should be clear which costs are associated with the prime contractor and which costs are associated with subcontractors.

If subcontractors are proposed, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.219-14(c)(1) requires that “At least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the concern.” The small business primary contractor must perform at least 50% of the labor for each task order, as measured by dollars (not hours). Please ensure that the Prime is proposing to perform at least 50% of the labor dollars, and that subcontractors (including Subject Matter Experts and consultants) are performing less than 50% of the labor dollars. The business proposal shall clearly reflect that the prime contractor is performing greater than 50% of the work, as measured by labor dollars. For each task order, the offeror shall include a chart comparing labor prices between the prime and subcontractors to aid in the Government’s analysis of this issue. The offeror shall explicitly state its intent and commitment to comply with FAR 52.219-14(c)(1).

Task Order 0001 Price Buildup

The business proposal shall provide a complete price build-up for Task Order 0001 that includes identification of proposed labor categories by named individuals, their functional category, level of effort, effective hourly rate, extended labor price (i.e., labor hours x hourly labor rate), other direct costs (including the identification of any applicable indirect cost and how it is applied to other direct costs), and profit on other direct costs. Profit on the labor costs should be embedded in the effective hourly rates proposed, so that the proposed labor rates are “loaded.” The price shall be presented by task and shall include any applicable assumptions used to formulate the price build-up. Where a percentage rate is applied (e.g., “Technology Fee” at x%), it should be clearly disclosed what the rate is being applied against (e.g., against total labor costs). The staff loading chart included in the technical proposal shall be consistent with the information provided in the business proposal. Offerors are encouraged to justify any indirect rate by explaining what its purpose is and providing evidence of its reasonableness (e.g., an approved indirect cost rate agreement or usage in other competitively procured contracts).

Task Order 0002 Price Buildup

Same as the required elements described above, applied to Task Order 0002.

Conflict of Interest Plan

The Offeror shall submit a Conflict of Interest Plan, providing details on its policies and procedures to identify and avoid potential organizational or personal conflicts of interest (or apparent conflicts of interest). The Plan should also address procedures taken to neutralize or mitigate such conflicts, if they have not been or cannot be avoided. The Plan should indicate that such policies and procedures are operative throughout the period of performance of the contract or task order. The policies should address, at a minimum, gifts, outside activities financial interests, or other significant connections or identifications that would establish, or give the appearance of establishing, a conflict of interest. A method for reviewing periodically financial interests of employees, subcontractors and consultants, and their immediate families, in order to assess actual or apparent conflicts of interest should be included in the plan. In this clause, the term "potential conflict" means reasonably foreseeable conflict of interest.

The thoroughness, completeness and effectiveness of the Plan shall be evaluated as part of the

Offeror’s overall proposal. The Plan will be incorporated into the contract or task order awarded to the successful Offeror.

Payment Schedules

The offeror shall submit a proposed payment schedule for Task Order 0001 and a proposed payment schedule for Task Order 0002. These should be submitted as separate Microsoft Excel files (or separate sheets in the same Excel file). The individual amounts should add up to a total amount. The payment schedule should include the prize amounts so that the payment schedules add up to the total proposal price for the task order. The payment schedule need not reference due dates and can generally follow a simple format such as:

Task Order 0001

Description of Payment Trigger (Deliverable or Milestone Achievement)

Payment Amount

Total:

The payment triggers should be based on accomplishments (e.g., submitting a deliverable, or meeting a milestone), as opposed the passage of time (e.g., monthly). The payment schedule total should equal the offeror’s proposal price for the task order. All numbers in the payment schedule should be to the nearest cent (e.g., $123.45 not $123.454323). The total amount of should be calculated in the Excel document (e.g., the SUM feature). The payment schedule should be formatted to fit on 8.5 x 11 inch pages.

Submission Instructions

All questions in response to this solicitation must be received at or before 11:00am Eastern

Time on August 13, 2014. Clarification questions should be submitted as an MSWord or PDF document titled, “[Name of Firm] Clarification Questions for ED-VAE-14-R-0058 ([Date])”

(e.g., “ABC Company Clarification Questions for ED-VAE-14-R-0058 (August 13, 2014).” The subject line of the email should be “Clarification Questions for ED-VAE-14-R-0058 ([Name of

Firm]).” Questions shall be submitted electronically to the points of contact listed below:

Steve Madsen, Contract Specialist (Email: Stephen.Madsen@ed.gov)

Stephen Scheffer, Contracting Officer (Email: Stephen.Scheffer@ed.gov)

The technical and business proposals shall be submitted as separate volumes (see details below) but may be submitted in the same email. The subject line of the email should be “Proposal for

ED-VAE-14-R-0058 ([Name of Firm]).” The technical and business proposals must be received at or before 10:30am Eastern Time on August 22, 2014. Proposals shall be submitted electronically to the points of contact listed below:

Steve Madsen, Contract Specialist (Email: Stephen.Madsen@ed.gov)

Stephen Scheffer, Contracting Officer (Email: Stephen.Scheffer@ed.gov)

The Department’s email system cannot handle emails larger than 25mb. Submissions should be broken into separate emails if necessary, for example, “Proposal for ED-VAE-14-R-0058 (Email

1 of 3) ([Name of Firm]).”

The technical proposal and the business proposal must be submitted as separate documents, because the Technical Evaluation Panel is not permitted to view proposal prices while conducting a technical review. With that qualification in mind, the Department prefers document consolidation. Therefore, where possible, the technical proposal and its appendices should be combined into a single document. The technical proposal and appendices may be submitted as MSWord or PDF. The requested file name standards for the technical proposal are

“[Name of Firm] Technical Proposal (Date)”; the date in the file name should match the date on the cover page of the technical proposal. The offeror may use the date when the file was submitted to the Department or the date that proposals are due.

The business proposal shall be MSWord or PDF, but the offeror may also submit supporting

Excel documents. The requested file name standards for the business proposal are “[Name of

Firm] Business Proposal (Date)” or, for an add-on document, e.g., “[Name of Firm] Supporting

Cost Breakdown (Date).”