EVALUATION FACTORS_REV1.pdf

QUOTE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

A. Quote Submittal and Inquiries.

1. Quotes shall be submitted prior to the closing date and time identified on page 1, box 8 of this document (SF 1449), to the following address:

Jeremy.a.mcdougall.civ@army.mil

2. Electronic submissions via email are required.

3. The point of contact responsible for supplying additional information and answering all inquiries is the

Contracting Officer via the Contract Specialist. Address all questions or concerns the offeror may have to the Contract Specialist, Jeremy MacDougall. All questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing via email at jeremy.a.macdougall.civ@army.mil

B. General Instructions

1. The selection of a source for award purposes will be conducted utilizing source selection (negotiated) procedures as delineated in FAR Part 15.3. Offers will be evaluated using the criteria under the “Evaluation Factors” section below. Noncompliance with the Request for Quote (RFQ) requirements may hamper the Government's ability to properly evaluate the quote and may result in elimination of the quote from further consideration for contract award.

2. The submission of the documentation specified below will constitute the offeror's acceptance of the terms and conditions of the RFQ, concurrence with the Performance Work Statement, and contract type.

3. It is the Government’s intention to award without discussions. Offerors are encouraged to present their best technical quote and prices in their initial quote submission. However, in accordance with (IAW) FAR Part 15.306, should discussions become necessary, the Government reserves the right to hold them. If this occurs, a competitive range will be determined and offerors notified. The competitive range may be limited for purposes of efficiency IAW FAR Part 15.306 (c)(2).

4. Instructions outlined in paragraph C below, prescribe the format for the quote and describe the approach for the development and presentation of quote data. These instructions are designed to ensure the submission of necessary information to provide for the understanding and comprehensive evaluation of the quotes.

5. If an offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, an ambiguity, omission, or are otherwise deemed unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the KO in writing with supporting rationale. The offeror is reminded that the Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial quote, as received, without discussion.

6. In accordance with FAR Subpart 4.8 (Government Contract Files), the Government will retain one copy of all unsuccessful quotes. Unless the offeror requests otherwise, the Government will destroy extra copies of such unsuccessful quotes.

7. All referenced documents for this solicitation are available on the Contracting Opportunities (SAM) website at http://www.sam.gov . Potential offerors are encouraged to subscribe for real-time e-mail notifications when information has been posted to the website for this solicitation.

If any necessary documents are not available on Contracting Opportunities, the offeror may request (in writing) more information from the contract specialist. Any added information shall be posted on subsequent solicitation amendments.

8. Debriefings. The KO will promptly notify offerors of any decision to exclude them from the competitive range, whereupon they may request and receive a debriefing in accordance with FAR 15.505. The KO will notify offerors who were in the competitive range of the source but were not selected for award in accordance with FAR 15.503(b). Upon such notification, unsuccessful offerors may request and receive a debriefing in accordance with the requirements of FAR 15.506.

C. Quote Preparation Instructions

1. Offerer’s quote shall consist of 3 volumes: Technical Capability, Past Performance, and Price.

mailto:Jeremy.a.mcdougall.civ@army.mil mailto:jeremy.a.macdougall.civ@army.mil http://www.sam.gov/

2. Quote Format

(a) Offerors shall submit an original and the number of copies listed in paragraph (c) below of their quote.

(b) Exceptions. Offerors 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 factors below. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. If the offeror finds it necessary to take exception to any of the requirements specified in this solicitation, the offeror shall clearly identify the applicable Volume and exceptions with a complete explanation of why the exception was taken, what benefit accrues to the Government (if any), and its impact, if any, on the performance, schedule, cost, and specific requirements of the solicitation. Each exception shall be specifically related to each paragraph and/or specific part of the solicitation to which the exception is taken. Offerors are cautioned that taking an exception may render the offer ineligible for award. This information shall be provided in the format below.

Table 1 - Solicitation Exceptions

Solicitation Document

Page/ Paragraph

Requirement/ Portion

Rationale & Impact

CLINs, PWS, Section L&M, etc.

Applicable Page and Paragraph Numbers

Identify the requirement or portion to which exception is taken

Describe The rationale and impact of the exception

(c) The quotes shall be organized into 3 volumes. Each volume of the Quote should be separated from other volumes and contain a cover sheet. Each volume shall be in Microsoft Office or Adobe pdf format. Each volume shall be clearly marked as to volume number, title, copy number, solicitation identification and the offeror's name. All text shall be single spaced and printed black on white paper (Black and white requirement does not apply to graphics, photos, etc., Company stationery and logos are acceptable). Printing shall be easily readable (12-pitch type or 10 point proportional spacing.) Cross-references should be utilized to preclude unnecessary duplication of data between sections. Page limitations are as follows:

Table 2

VOLUME TITLE NO. HARD COPIES NO. OF DIGITAL

COPIES (CD

ROM)

PAGE LIMITS

I Technical Capability 0 1 CD-ROM or 1 Digital Copy via email

II Past Performance 0 1 CD-ROM or 1 Digital Copy via email

III Price/General 0 1 CD-ROM or 1 Digital Copy via email

(d) Quote Limitation. The quote shall not exceed the limits stated above. If the page limits are exceeded, the pages in excess of the limit shall be removed and returned, unread, to the offeror.

The Government will not accept any changes to the contractor’s quote after the closing date of the solicitation (See FAR 15.208 for further information regarding late quotes). If discussions become necessary, page limitations may be placed on responses to Evaluation Notices (ENs). The specified page limits for EN responses will be identified in the letters forwarding the ENs to the offerors.

(e) Indexing. Each volume shall contain a more detailed table of contents to delineate the subparagraphs within that volume. Tab indexing shall be used to identify sections.

(f) Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms. Each volume shall contain a glossary of all abbreviations and acronyms used, with a definition for each.

3. Quote Content

(a) Volume I – Technical Capability

(1) The Technical Capability Volume shall be clear, concise, and include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims in the Offeror’s Quote. Legibility, clarity and coherence are very important. Your responses will be evaluated against the Mission Capability factor defined in the Evaluation Factors for Award. The quote should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements but rather shall provide convincing rationale to address how the offeror intends to meet these requirements. Statements that the offeror understands, can, or will comply with the PWS (including referenced publications, technical data, etc.); statements paraphrasing the PWS or parts thereof (including applicable publications, technical data, etc.); and phrases such as “standard procedures will be employed” or “well known techniques will be used,” etc., will be considered unacceptable. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the offeror's quote. Elaborate brochures or documentation, binding, detailed artwork, or other embellishments are unnecessary and are not desired.

(2) The Technical Capability Volume shall, at a minimum, be prepared in a form consistent with the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and the evaluation criteria for award set forth in this solicitation. The section shall be prepared in an orderly format and in sufficient detail to enable the Government to make a thorough evaluation of the contractor’s technical competence and ability to comply with the contract task requirements specified in the PWS. The offeror shall address as specifically as possible the actual methodology you would use for accomplishing the PWS tasks. The volume shall be organized according to the following general outline:

-Table of Contents -Technical Capability

(3) Technical Capability

i. Technical Capability. Clearly and comprehensively demonstrate the ability to provide the services as specified in the PWS. The assessment, at a minimum, will include an evaluation of the offeror’s response to the following technical requirements:

1) The Offeror shall possess a minimum of three (3) years of experience in the maintenance and repair of autoclaves as identified in the PWS, paragraph 3.h.

2) The Offeror’s quote shall state their plan for performing preventative maintenance and repairs of autoclaves and glasswasher in accordance with the PWS, paragraphs 1 and 2, provide evidence of a minimum of three (3) years of experience of the same by both the offeror, its teaming or joint venture partners, and subcontractors during which time there no instances of violations, fines, citations or other adverse performance records .

3) The Offeror shall provide proof of liability insurance, see FAR clause 52.228-5.

4) The Offeror shall provide credentials and training certificates from manufacturers, or confirmation of being an Authorized Service Agency (ASA) for the listed equipment.

5) The Offeror shall demonstrate that their proposed organization, manning, and skill mix is adequate meet the PWS performance requirements described in the PWS Paragraph 3, and 5 and in its entirety.

(b) Volume II - Past Performance. The Government will evaluate each offeror’s past performance for the past three (3) full calendar years. The offeror’s overall past performance rating will encompass both the offeror’s past performance and all team and joint venture members as well as any subcontractor who account for more than 10% of the total number of contractor proposed man-hours. The Government past performance evaluation will include, but not be limited to:

- Performance of preventative maintenance and repair as a contractor, team member or member of a joint venture.

- Performance of Same or similar work as required by the PWS as a prime or major subcontractor (25% or more of the total contract work) or work that is the same or similar as to scope and size to that to be performed. The offeror is responsible for identifying the contract type and scope, how that work is the same or similar to a referenced PWS requirement, and references that the Government can contact to validate performance and customer satisfaction.

The offeror is required to submit the Past Performance Volume as part of the quote package to the Contracting Officer at the address specified above in paragraph A.1. The offeror shall include documentation regarding their relevant past performance as it directly relates to the work being procured under this solicitation. The offeror SHALL NOT go back any farther than 3 years for the submitted data.

The past performance data shall document a successful history of past contract performance.

1. In conducting the Past Performance evaluation, the Government reserves the right to use both the information provided in the offeror’s Past Performance Volume and information obtained from other sources, such as the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) or similar systems, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and commercial sources. Offerors are reminded that both independent data and data provided by offerors in their quotes may be used by the Government to evaluate offeror past performance. However, the burden of providing thorough, complete, and current past performance information as requested in this paragraph remains with the offerors. Quotes that do not contain the information requested by this paragraph risk rejection or a less than acceptable performance rating by the Government. All past performance comments received will be taken into account and could affect the overall rating. The overall past performance evaluation is a subjective decision based on the whole of all data received. In the case of an offeror 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 offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance (see FAR 15.305 (a)(2)(iv)). Therefore, the offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered “acceptable.”

2. Submission Requirements. The offeror shall submit a Past Performance Volume containing the following:

• Table of Contents

• Summary Page describing the role of the offeror and each subcontractor, teaming partner, and

/or joint venture partner that the offeror is required to provide Past Performance Specific Relevant Contract Reference Sheets for the past performance experience in accordance with Attachment 2.

• Consent Letters executed by major subcontractors, teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner, authorizing the release of past performance information so the offeror can respond to such information. A sample consent letter is attached as Attachment 2).

• Client Authorization Letters for each identified effort for a commercial customer authorizing release to the Government of requested information on the offeror’s performance.

• Organization Structure Change History— Organizational Structure Change History. Many companies have acquired, been acquired by, or otherwise merged with other companies, and/or reorganized their divisions, business groups, subsidiary companies, etc. In many cases, these changes have taken place during the time of performance of relevant present or past efforts or between conclusion of recent past efforts and this source selection. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to determine what past performance is relevant to this acquisition. To facilitate this relevancy determination, include in this quote volume a "roadmap" describing all such changes in the organization of your company. As part of this explanation, show how these changes impact the relevance of any efforts you identify for past performance evaluation/performance confidence assessment. Since the Government intends to consider present and past performance information provided by other sources as well as that provided by the offeror(s), your "roadmap" should be both specifically applicable to the efforts you identify and general enough to apply to efforts on which the Government receives information from other sources.

• Specific Relevant Contracts Format - Sheets in accordance with Attachment 2 and are limited to 3 pages per reference. The offeror shall provide documentation outlining the offeror’s past performance with contracts, as a prime or major subcontractor, which is the same or similar in nature, size, and complexity to the services being procured under this Solicitation. The submittal shall include rationale supporting your assertion of relevance and how it was determined that the work performed previously was the same or similar in nature, size, and complexity to the work specified by this solicitation. Offerors are required to explain what aspects of the contracts are deemed relevant to the proposed effort, and to what aspects of the proposed effort they relate.

Past Performance Questionnaire - See Attachment 3, Past Performance Questionnaire. For the contracts identified on each Specific Relevant Contract Reference, the offeror shall forward a copy of the Past Performance Questionnaire to the points of contact responsible for monitoring performance under such contracts. The points of contact shall return the questionnaires directly to Jeremy MacDougall at jeremy.a.macdoigall.civ@army.mil not later than the RFQ submission deadline. Any questionnaires not returned directly to the KS will not be reviewed and evaluated. The information contained in the questionnaires will be used to evaluate the offeror’s past performance. New entities that have no past customers shall annotate on the Summary Page that they have had no previous clients and that the minimum number of questionnaires cannot be provided.

(c) Volume III Pricing/General– The Offeror shall submit proposed pricing and supporting documentation as instructed below. For the Price volume, the electronic version will take precedence for any differences noted between the hard and electronic versions of an Offeror’s quote.

(1) The Offeror shall ensure that the information submitted in this volume is consistent with and fully supports the amounts set forth in the SF 1449 and continuations sheets.

TAB A, Exceptions/Assumptions (for all volumes, if required) - Identification and explanation of any exceptions or deviations from the Solicitation, Attachments, or Exhibits. Please note, any assumptions used in the quote preparation shall be identified in this section.

TAB B, Solicitation, Offer and Award - The SF 1449 shall be submitted fully completed. The offeror is cautioned that the SF 1449 must contain an original signature in block 30a of the form.

The contractor shall acknowledge any amendments to the RFQ in accordance with the instructions on the SF 1449 and with, FAR 52.215-1(b), Instruction to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition.

The offeror shall provide the name, title and telephone number of the company/division point of contact regarding decisions made with respect to your quote and who can obligate your company contractually. Also, identify those individuals authorized to negotiate with the Government.

TAB C, CLINS (Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs) - Section B shall be submitted fully completed and error free. It shall contain the offeror’s prices for the established Contract Line Items Numbers (CLINS).

a. The Offeror shall ensure that the totals from the Base Term, Option Year 1, Option Year 2, Option Year 3, and Option Year 4 tabs, when added together, equal the total proposed amount on the “Total” tab.

b. When completing the SF 1449, the Offeror shall price per validation service. Since this is going to be an FFP contract, each shall be billed upon completion of the requirements for each

CLIN.

mailto:jeremy.a.macdoigall.civ@army.mil

Failure to follow the above preparation instructions may cause your offer to be deemed unacceptable by the Government. The Government reserves the right to require the submission of Other Than Certified Cost or Pricing Data as deemed necessary to arrive at a fair and reasonable price. The General Volume shall be organized as follows and contain the identified information.

TAB D, (Representation, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors) – The offeror shall ensure that Certs and Reps are thoroughly completed with all blocks in each certification/representation completed truthfully and completely. The Government will review the System for Award Management's electronic version of each vendor's Certs and Reps for the evaluation.

Evaluation Factors for Award

EVALUATION OF QUOTES

1. Evaluation Factors for Award

a. Basis for Contract Award

(1) This is a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable source selection conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.3, Source Selection, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and the Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS). Award will be made to a single offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), whose quote conforms to the solicitation requirements, and whose quote, judged by an overall assessment of the evaluation criteria and other considerations specified in this solicitation, represents the Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable offer.

(2) Trade-offs between cost/price and non-cost/price factors is not permitted. Unreasonably high/unrealistically low, unbalanced, inaccurate or incomplete price quotes, may be the grounds for eliminating a quote from competition.

(3) The Government will evaluate proposed prices for reasonableness using price analysis techniques. Proposed prices evaluated as unreasonable may be grounds for eliminating a quote from competition.

b. Award for All of the Work. The Government will award One (1) contract as a result of this solicitation. Offers received for less than the stated number of items listed in the Bid Schedule will be considered ineligible for award. As set forth in FAR 52.215-1 (f)(4), the Government intends to evaluate quotes and award one (1) contract without discussions with offerors (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a), Clarifications and award without discussions).

Therefore, the offeror’s initial quote should contain the offeror’s best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. In the event that discussions are held, a competitive range determination will be made. The Government will only conduct discussions of those quotes determined within the competitive range. All other quote will be determined unsuccessful and the offerors notified accordingly If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of quotes that would otherwise be in the competitive range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of quotes in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated quotes.

c. Evaluation Criteria

(1) Evaluation criteria consist of factors. The quotes will be evaluated under 3 evaluation factors:

Factor 1: Technical Capability Factor 2: Past Performance Factor 3: Price

(2) Factor 1 - Technical Capability Factor. The Technical Capability Factor evaluation provides an assessment of the offeror’s capability to satisfy the Government’s minimum requirements.

In their description, offerors shall identify their approach in meeting the service requirements as stated in the PWS. In their approach, the offeror shall demonstrate their ability to comply with the Technical Capability Elements as stated in Paragraph 3. located in Section L of this document.

1) The Government will evaluate the offeror’s proposed process. To receive an acceptable rating the offeror’s process shall address the below in compliance with the Performance Work Statement, paragraphs 3 and 5.

2) The Government will evaluate the offeror’s proposed organization, manpower, and skills.

To receive an acceptable rating the offeror shall how the proposed organization and labor mix will perform the work described in the PWS. This will include work by subcontractors, consultants, suppliers, and others under the Contractor's employ as they relate to the PWS and the contract.

a) The offeror’s proposed organization’s management and manning demonstrates the offeror’s understanding the performance requirements.

b) The proposed manning, both number of personnel and labor categories used, is justified in the quote.

The Technical Capability Factor will receive one of the adjectival ratings defined below. The element ratings will be used to determine an overall rating for the factor.

Table A-1. Technical Acceptable/Unacceptable Ratings Rating Description Acceptable Quote clearly meets the minimum requirements of the solicitation.

Unacceptable Quote does not clearly meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation.

(3) Factor 2 - Past Performance. The Past Performance evaluation will assess the offeror’s probability of meeting the solicitation’s requirements as indicated by that offeror’s record of past performance. Past Performance is assessed at the factor level after evaluating aspects of the offeror’s recent past performance and focusing on performance that is relevant to the services being procured under this solicitation. Offerors are cautioned that in conducting the performance risk assessment, the Government may use data provided in the offeror’s quote and data obtained from other sources, such as the Past Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) or similar systems and State Department Watch Lists. Past performance areas of evaluation include:

- Quality of Service

- Schedule

- Customer Satisfaction

(a) Each offeror will receive a performance confidence assessment rating based on the Offeror’s recent past performance, focusing on performance that is relevant to the Contract requirements.

(b) Recency Assessment. An assessment of the past performance information will be made to determine if it is recent. To be recent, the effort must be ongoing or must have been performed during the past 3 years from the date of issuance of this solicitation. Past performance information that fails this condition will not be evaluated.

(c) Relevancy Assessment. To be relevant, the effort must be similar in nature of work, size, and complexity. The Government will conduct an in-depth evaluation of all recent performance information obtained to determine if it is the same or similar in nature of work, size, and complexity to the services/products being procured under this solicitation. Recent past performance is defined as not more than 3 years from the RFQ release date; relevant in terms of similar nature of work, size and complexity.

A relevancy determination of the offeror’s (including joint venture partner(s) and major subcontractor(s)) past performance will be made. In determining relevancy for individual contracts, consideration will be given to the effort, or portion of the effort, proposed by the offeror, teaming partner, or subcontractor whose contract is being reviewed and evaluated. In establishing what is relevant for the acquisition, consideration should be given to what aspects of an offeror’s contract history would give the most confidence that the offeror will satisfy the current procurement. The past performance information provided in the quote and obtained from other sources will be used to establish the relevancy of past performance.

(d) The Past Performance Evaluation Team will review this past performance information and determine the quality (satisfactory performance on previous contracts) and applicability (was the work performed on previous contracts similar to the requirements established in this solicitation) as it applies to performance confidence assessment.

(e) Assigning Ratings. The Past Performance Factor will be assigned one of the ratings defined below.

Table 4. Past Performance Evaluation Ratings Rating Description Acceptable Based on the offeror’s performance record, the

Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort, or the offeror’s performance record is unknown.

Unacceptable Based on the offeror’s performance record, the Government has no reasonable expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

(f) Offerors 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 offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. Therefore, the offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered “acceptable.”

(4) Factor 3 – Price. Price will not be scored or rated. Evaluation of price will be performed using one or more of the price analysis techniques in FAR 15.404-1(b). Through these techniques the Government will determine whether prices are reasonable, complete and balanced.

Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s). As part of price evaluation, the government will evaluate its option to extend services (see FAR Clause 52.217-8) by adding one-half of the offeror's final option period price to the offeror's total price. Thus, the offeror's total price for the purpose of evaluation will include the base period, 1st option, 2nd option, 3rd option, 4th option, and 1/2 of the 4th option.

Offerors are not required to enter a price for the six-month period.

Unbalanced Pricing may be evaluated in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(g), as applicable, to assess potential performance risk which could result in unreasonably high prices

Definitions:

Completeness/Accuracy. The offeror’s quote is in compliance with the Price Volume instructions in the solicitation

Reasonableness. A price is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person in the conduct of competitive business.