LM_SMXG_-_Draft_(amendment).doc

SECTION L PROVISION

L-900. INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

A. The following instructions cover the preparation and submittal of the offeror’s proposal for this solicitation. Offerors are cautioned that any noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the RFP may cause their proposal to be determined to be unacceptable and therefore not eligible for award. Proposals shall be submitted to the Government in (fill-in number) separate volumes as set forth below:

PAGE

NUMBER

VOLUME

LIMITS

OF COPIES

DESCRIPTION

I

N/A

Completed RFP (including VPP)

II

10*

Total Compensation Plan

III

N/A

Cost/Price Proposal *The 10 page limit for the Total Compensation Plan is in addition to the Salary Attachment spreadsheet.

All contents of each Volume of the proposal shall be submitted electronically via AMRDEC SAFE at https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/safe/guide.aspx with an email to notification sent to benjamin.walker@robins.af.mil containing the access password.

In addition to the page limitations set forth above, proposals should comply with the following format:

(1) Each volume shall be marked with the RFP number and the offeror’s name and address, and the number of the Volume, i.e. I, II, III, etc. Proposals shall be in the English language and all monies shall be proposed in United States dollars.

(2) Print shall be no smaller than a font size of 12 and should be on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. Charts, graphs, drawings, diagrams, supporting illustrations, or spreadsheets may be on 8 ½ x 14. Each volume within the proposal shall be separately identified. Margins shall be no smaller than 1 inch and each page within a volume shall be numbered consecutively.

(3) The page limitation includes any drawings, diagrams, illustrations, etc., but excludes any table of contents or list of acronyms (if utilized). Offerors are cautioned that any pages that exceed the page limitations shall not be read but shall be removed and either retained in the contract file without being considered in the evaluation, or, sent back to the offeror.

(4) Each page containing proprietary information should be so marked.

(5) Each page should contain the following legend at the bottom of each sheet:

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION--SEE FAR 2.101 and 3.104

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Communications:

Exchanges of source selection information between Government and offerors will be controlled by the Contracting Officer. Email may be used to transmit such information only if the email can be sent encrypted, and must include “Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104” in the subject line of the email. Otherwise, source selection information will be transmitted via direct mailing or facsimile. In order to facilitate the sending and receiving of encrypted emails, offerors must use MS Outlook email configured to support encryption or a different email product that is S/MIME compatible and configured to support encryption. If you intend to submit your source selection information via encrypted email, you will need to contact the Buyer/Contracting Officer indicated on the face page of the solicitation prior to that first submittal in order to exchange certificates used for encryption. To insure the process is working correctly, send a test encrypted message first (without including any source selection information).

B. Volume I will consist of the completed and signed RFP with a cover letter delineating any exceptions taken to the RFP terms and conditions. However, offerors are cautioned that any noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the RFP may cause their proposal to be determined unacceptable and therefore not eligible for award. Offerors shall ensure that all clauses and provisions that require “fill-in” information are appropriately completed, including the proposed prices associated with the contract line items in the Schedule of the RFP.

The prime contractor is required to possess a Top Secret facility clearance in order to propose on this requirement. A combination of a prime contractor with Secret clearance and a subcontractor with a Top Secret clearance is NOT sufficient for eligibility. Related to this requirement, the government is NOT willing to sponsor the awarded contractor for their Top Secret facility clearance post award. In the case of an 8(a) Joint Venture, the Joint Venture entity will be considered the prime contractor, responsible for performance at the TS/SCI level and below, and will be required to obtain personnel security clearances at the appropriate levels for performance. A currently cleared contractor may sponsor an uncleared company for a facility clearance. The 8(a) participant (or the total of all 8(a) participants involved in the Joint Venture) must perform a significant portion of the contract. Since significant portions of this contract will require both Secret and Top Secret/SCI personnel clearances, the 8(a) participant within the joint venture must have clearance at or above the Secret Level at time of proposal in order to perform a significant portion of this contract upon award and the other Joint Venture participant must have a Top Secret facility clearance.

A Joint Venture is eligible to propose on the requirement, however the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) approval of the joint venture before award of the contract is required. The Joint Venture applicants must submit all required information to the managing 8(a) participant's servicing District Office as soon as possible, but no fewer than 20 working days prior to the scheduled date for contract award. Incomplete packages will be returned to the participant without action. The managing participant is the managing partner or lead venturer. The JVA must be approved by SBA prior to the award of an 8(a) contract to the Joint Venture. Failure to obtain SBA approval of the JVA prior to award of the contract will result in SBA's request that the buying activity terminate the award to the Joint Venture. SBA must approve in advance all proposed amendments, modifications, or extensions to a JVA. Further guidance is located within SBA SOP 80 05 3.

Air Force Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) requirements are applicable to this acquisition as work on an Air Force installation will be required by contractor employees working 1,000 hours or more in any calendar quarter and the employees are not directly supervised by the Air Force installation. As part of Volume I, for each of the past three (3) calendar years ending with the calendar year immediately prior to the calendar year in which this solicitation is being issued, submit your Total Case Incidence Rates (TCIR) and Day Away, Restricted, and or Transfer Case Rates (DART) for the Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC) code or North American Industrial Classification Systems (NAICS) code for the applicable industry as identified on the face page of this solicitation. If TCIR/DART rates are not maintained, submit comparable insurance rates or compensation injury rates. This VPP information shall be no more than 4 pages. Note: This VPP information pertains to the offeror. If an unpopulated joint venture is formed (a joint venture in which the employees are employed by the joint venture partners and not the joint venture itself), each joint venture partner must submit these rates. Any proposed subcontractor with employees working 1,000 or more hours in any calendar quarter on an Air Force installation whose subcontractor employees are not directly supervised by the Air Force installation must submit these rates as well. For information on TCIR/DART rates, visit the following VPP site:

http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html The Government intends to award without discussions, but reserves the right to conduct discussions if determined necessary. Any discussions will be conducted in accordance with FAR 15.306.

C. Volume II, Total Compensation Plan:

1. The total compensation plan shall be clear, concise, and include all the information required by this provision in sufficient detail for effective evaluation. The total compensation plan required by FAR 52.222-46 shall be submitted as Volume II and shall be no more than 10 pages in addition to the Salary Attachment spreadsheet submitted using the attached template (The page count of the Salary Attachment spreadsheet will not be counted toward the 10 page limit). The plan shall set forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for professional employees and include supporting information to enable the Government to review the proposed salaries and fringe benefits in accordance with FAR 52.222-46. Note: The compensation plan pertains to the offeror only. However, if a populated joint venture is formed (a joint venture in which the employees are employed by the joint venture itself and not by any individual joint venture partner), the joint venture must submit the total compensation plan for the joint venture. If an unpopulated joint venture is formed, each individual joint venture partner must submit its own total compensation plan. In order for offerors to comply with FAR 52.222-46, estimated unburdened average salaries per labor category shall be submitted using the Salary Attachment spreadsheet. Offerors shall submit this spreadsheet in Excel format. Offerors are NOT required to break out salaries into cost and profit. Resumes are not required to be submitted with the proposal.

D. Volume III, Cost/Price:

Volume III shall consist of the completed “Price Volume Template.xls” spreadsheet, submitted in Excel format. Offerors are to fill-in all yellow highlighted cells with applicable fully burdened unit prices (hourly fully burdened labor rates proposed). Proposals containing unit prices that appear to be unburdened, that do not include indirect costs and profit in addition to covering direct salary costs, will not be considered for award. The offeror’s proposed unit prices in US dollars and cents shall be used for input, no fractions of a cent are to be proposed as part of the rate. Using the given annual estimated production hours and the offeror’s proposed unit prices, the spreadsheet will calculate the evaluated prices per CLIN as well as the total evaluated price. The contractor shall not propose pricing for Travel and Data CLINs. Travel CLIN cost ceilings amounts will be determined unilaterally by the government on individual orders. Data CLINs are Not Separately Priced (NSP).

SAMPLE M PROVISION

M-900. EVALUATION BASIS FOR AWARD

1. Basis for Contract Award.

A. This acquisition is set-aside for 8(a) Small Businesses under NAICS Code 541511. This acquisition will utilize a low price source selection procedure in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.3 as supplemented by DFARS and AFFARS to make an integrated assessment for a best value award decision. The only evaluated factor for award is price, therefore DoD Source Selection Procedures do not apply. The Government intends to award a single Requirements Contract as a result of this solicitation. Award will be made to the responsible offeror whose offer, conforming to the solicitation, has the lowest total evaluated price. Contractors will not be required to submit a technical volume with their proposal.

B. The Government intends to award without discussions, but reserves the right to conduct discussions if determined necessary. Any discussions will be conducted in accordance with FAR 15.306. If the Contracting Officer determines that the number of proposals 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 proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals.

C. The total compensation plan and supporting information will be evaluated per FAR 52.222-46 to assure it reflects a sound management approach and understanding of the contract requirements. Failure by the offeror/populated joint venture/each joint venture partner in an unpopulated joint venture to submit this total compensation plan (salaries and fringe benefits) will result in the offeror being considered as failing to meet the RFP terms and conditions.

Proposed compensation plans will be evaluated by comparing each labor category’s proposed unburdened salary to the government’s estimate. Any proposed labor categories reflecting a salary lower than the government’s estimate, as stated in the below table, will be determined unrealistically low and the corresponding price volume will not be evaluated for award. This table is applicable to the basic and option years.

D. The submitted TCIR/DART rates or other comparable rates for the past three (3) calendar years ending with the calendar year immediately prior to the calendar year in which this solicitation is being issued, shall be compared to the most recently published Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) national average for the specific SIC or NAICS code identified on the face page of this solicitation. Failure by the applicable offeror/joint venture partner(s)/subcontractors to submit TCIR/DART or other comparable rates will result in the offeror being considered as failing to meet the RFP terms and conditions.

2. Proposal Evaluation. The evaluation process will be accomplished as follows.

A. Cost/Price Factor. Each offeror’s cost/price volume will be evaluated based on the following: The contract unit prices proposed by the Offeror will be evaluated for Reasonableness and Balance. . A Total Evaluated Price (TEP) will be calculated, based on all year’s unit prices. Information on each evaluation and how TEP will be calculated is detailed below.

i. Reasonableness: The existence of adequate price competition is expected to support a determination of reasonableness. In addition, price analysis techniques may be used to further validate price reasonableness. If adequate competition is not obtained or if price reasonableness cannot be determined using price analysis, other techniques described in FAR Subpart 15.4 will be used.

ii. Balanced Pricing: Offerors are cautioned against submitting an offer that contains unbalanced pricing. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, one or more contract labor rates is significantly overstated or understated as indicated by the application of analysis techniques. Rates within each offeror’s response will be compared and evaluated to assure that a logical progression exists as related to rates proposed for each labor category and year proposed. Offers that are determined to be unbalanced may be rejected if the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

iii. Total Evaluated Price: The TEP will be calculated based on multiplying the proposed fully burdened labor category unit price by the estimated hours for that category. The following is a summary of how the TEP will be calculated:

CLIN X001 – Travel will be Cost Reimbursable and not included in the TEP.

CLINs X002 – X029 – Labor FFP – Offeror to propose fully burdened labor rates for each labor category (IAW the attached “Price Volume Template.xls”) by year to be multiplied by estimated hours.

CLIN X030 – Data is Not Separately Priced (NSP).

FAR 52.217-8 – Option to Extend Services – For evaluation purposes only, the price for the Option to Extend Services under FAR 52.217-8 shall be calculated by multiplying the prices proposed for the final option period by the best estimated quantity over a 6 month period. This amount will be included in the TEP by the “Price Volume Template.xls”.

*Based on Single Award