Attachment_5_Sections_L_and_M.docx

Section L Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors or Respondents A. Offerors must follow the instructions contained herein to assure timely and equitable evaluation of proposals. Offerors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale. The response shall consist of three Volumes: Volume I – Administrative, Volume II-Technical and Volume III - Price.

B. The Contracting Officer has determined there is a high probability of adequate price competition in this acquisition. Upon examination of the initial offers, the Contracting Officer will review this determination and if, in the Contracting Officer's opinion, adequate price competition exists no additional cost information will be requested. However, if at any time during this competition the Contracting Officer determines that adequate price competition no longer exists; Offerors may be required to submit information to the extent necessary for the Contracting Officer to determine the reasonableness and affordability of the price.

C. Point of Contact The Contracting Officer (CO) is the sole point of contact for this acquisition. Address any questions or concerns you may have to the CO. Written requests for clarification may be sent to the CO via email. Email is the preferred method of communication. The CO for this acquisition is as follows:

Michelle Linder 255 Richard Ray Blvd Robins AFB GA 31098-1637 Commercial Phone: 478-327-1619 Email address: michelle.linder@us.af.mil (preferred method of contact) D. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims. The proposal 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. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities or experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror's proposal.

E. If an Offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the CO in writing with supporting rationale. The Offeror is reminded that the Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial proposal, as received, without communications with the Offerors. This reservation includes matters of additional or substitute pages of the initial proposal.

F. Communications Exchanges of acquisition information between Government and Offerors will be controlled by the CO.

G. Page limitations shall be treated as maximums. If exceeded, the excess pages will not be read or considered in the evaluation of the proposal and Offerors will be notified of the excess as soon as practicable. Page limitations may be placed on responses to Information Exchanges (IEs). The specified page limits for EN responses will be identified in the letters forwarding the IEs to the Offerors.

H. Page Size and Format

(a) Pages shall be 8.5 x 11 inches

(b) Text pages shall be portrait-oriented. Graphics and tables may be landscape-oriented if required to properly present the information.

(c) Pages shall be typed with at least single line spacing.

(d) Times New Roman, Arial, or similar font preferred. The font size shall be no less than 12 point.

(e) Margins on all four edges of each sheet will be at least one inch.

(f) Proprietary statements, security markings, and page numbers may fall within the defined margin area.

(g) Any proposal revisions will require an electronic re-submission IAW 1.2. Any replacement pages, which have changes, should be clearly indicated by a vertical line in the right margin.

(h) These page format restrictions shall apply to responses to Information Exchanges (IEs).

(i) The Offeror shall submit an electronic copy via DOD SAFE** (https://safe.apps.mil) with all three proposal volumes containing all of the required information in paragraph I, Proposal Organization Table. These electronic copies shall not be linked to any other document. The electronic copy shall be clearly marked as to Offerors’ name, solicitation title, and solicitation number. The format shall be Microsoft Office compatible. The electronic copy will be used for proposal evaluation. Offerors shall ensure electronic copy is virus-free. Sound or video (e.g. MPEG) files shall not be embedded into the proposal files.

**For DoD SAFE delivery method, use a Chrome or Firefox browser, visit the help section of the site early, contact POC for Drop-off Request code. Do not wait until the last minute to contact POC for Drop-off Request code; recommend obtaining Drop-off Request code at least a week prior to submission due date. Drop-off Request codes are valid for up to 14 days; however, submissions after the proposal due date will not be accepted. Note the Drop-off Request code is for one time use only. If a second Drop-off code is needed you will need to request second one. Do not wait until the day proposals are due to request Drop-off Request codes.

H. 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

I. Proposal Organization

VOLUME I: ADMINISTRATIVE/CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION

Volume Organization

(a) Contact Information

1. Provide address, phone number, fax number, proposal POC and email address for the proposing prime and each of the teaming members.

(b) Validity Statement

1. The Offeror shall make a clear statement how long the proposal is valid (usually 60 days).

(c) Exceptions to Terms and Conditions:

1. Exceptions to terms and conditions of the solicitation are strongly discouraged. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the Offeror being removed from consideration for award.

2. Exceptions taken to terms and conditions of the solicitation, to any of its formal attachments, or to other parts of the solicitation shall be identified.

3. Each exception shall be specifically related to each paragraph and/or specific part of the solicitation to which the exception is taken.

4. Provide rationale in support of the exception and fully explain its impact, if any, on the performance, schedule, cost and specific requirement of the solicitation.

5. This information shall be provided in the format and content as shown below. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the Offeror being removed from consideration for award.

(d) Financial Statement from the Offeror’s financial institution certifying that the offeror either has the financial capability to perform the resulting contract or has the means to acquire them. Financial capability will be a part of the responsibility determination.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROPOSAL PAGE LIMITATIONS. The Administrative Proposal page limit is unlimited.

Volume II – TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Staffing Plan. The offeror shall include a detailed staffing plan that demonstrates a sound approach for staffing requirements to include onboarding transition. The plan shall include any cross-utilization of personnel.

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL PAGE LIMITATIONS. The Technical Proposal is limited to five (5) pages.

Volume III – PRICE PROPOSAL All information relating to the price must be included in the section of the proposal designated as the price/financial volume.

1. General Instructions: Information is provided to assist you in submitting information other than certified cost or pricing data that is required to evaluate the reasonableness and balance of your proposed price. Compliance with these requirements is mandatory and failure to comply may result in rejection of your proposal. Unbalanced pricing poses an unacceptable risk to the Government and may be a reason to reject an Offeror's proposal. Offers should be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate their reasonableness and balance. The burden of proof for credibility of proposed prices rests with the offeror.

2. Exceptions: List any exceptions taken to the pricing requirements stated in this solicitation and state assumption(s) made by the offeror. Provide complete rationale.

3. Properly executed (by an official authorized to bind the company) Request for Proposal (SF33) with Section B (both UNIT and extended amounts), excluding attachments, but including all amendments (SF30) completed.

4. Insert proposed unit and extended prices in Section B for each Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract Line Item Number (CLIN), including all option periods. You MUST include unit prices and extended prices on all FFP CLINs. The extended amount must equal the whole dollar unit price multiplied by the number of units. For this acquisition assume the number of units to be 5 each on CLINs X001 and X002. All dollar amounts provided shall be rounded to the nearest dollar.

5. Make sure your information is up to date in System for Award Management (SAM) https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.

6. Data beyond that required by this instruction shall not be submitted, unless you consider it essential to document or support your price position. All data relating to the proposed price, including all required supporting documentation, must be included in the section of the proposal designated as the Price Volume. Under no circumstances shall this data and documentation be included elsewhere in the proposal.

7. If, after receipt of proposals, the CO determines that there is insufficient data available to determine price reasonableness, the offeror shall be required to submit additional cost or pricing data.

8. All dollar amounts provided shall be rounded to the nearest dollar.

PRICING PROPOSAL PAGE LIMITATIONS. The Pricing Proposal page limitations is unlimited.

Section M Evaluation Factors for Award

a. Basis for Contract Award Lowest Price Technically Acceptable will be used as a basis for award conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.3, Source Selection. These regulations are available electronically at the Air Force (AF) FARSite, http://farsite.hill.af.mil. The Government will select the proposal with the lowest evaluated price from among those meeting the acceptability standards for non-price factors. The Government will select the offeror based on an integrated assessment of the Offeror’s technical proposal and price information. Contract(s) may be awarded to the offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with the FAR Part 9.1, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the solicitation’s requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by Section L of this solicitation) and is judged, based on the evaluation factors and subfactors, to represent the lowest price technically acceptable proposal. While the Government will strive for maximum objectivity, the evaluation process, by its nature, is subjective; and therefore, professional judgment is implicit throughout the entire process.

b. Number of Contracts to be Awarded The Government intends to award one (1) contract for the AFRC Continuous Process Improvement Cultural Transformation support services.

c. Communications The Government intends to award a contract without communications with the Offerors. The Government, however, reserves the right to have communications with the Offerors if deemed in its best interest.

If, during the evaluation period, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government to have communications with the Offerors, these communications will be considered in making the award decision. If the Offeror’s proposal has been evaluated as acceptable at the time of communications, any changes as a result of these communications and may introduce risk that the Offeror’s proposal be determined unacceptable and, thus, ineligible for award.

d. Solicitation Requirements, Terms and Conditions 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 factors or subfactors. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the offeror being ineligible for award. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and must provide complete supporting rationale. The Government reserves the right to determine any such exceptions unacceptable and the proposal therefore, ineligible for award.

EVALUATION FACTORS

a. Evaluation Factors and Subfactors The following evaluation factors and subfactors will be used to evaluate each proposal. The Government will evaluate the two lowest price proposals first for acceptability, but will not rank the proposals by the non-price factors or subfactors. If neither of the two lowest proposals are rated acceptable then the next higher priced proposal will be evaluated until a proposal with technical acceptability is found.

Factor 1: Technical Subfactor 1 – Staffing Plan Factor 2: Price

b. Technical Factor The Government’s technical evaluation team shall evaluate the technical proposals on an acceptable or unacceptable basis, assigning one of the ratings described below for each subfactor. Any subfactor evaluated as “Unacceptable” will render the entire proposal unacceptable and, therefore, un-awardable. Only those proposals determined to be technically acceptable, either initially or as a result of discussions, will be considered for award. However, the offeror is reminded that the Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial proposal, as received, without discussion.

TABLE 1 - TECHNICAL RATINGS

Unacceptable

Proposal does not clearly meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation.

The proposals shall be evaluated against the following technical subfactors:

Subfactor 1: Staffing Plan Description: This factor evaluates the detailed staffing plan of the Offeror. The submission shall include a detailed staffing plan that demonstrates a sound approach for staffing requirements to include onboarding transition. The plan shall include any cross-utilization of personnel.

Measure of Merit: This requirement is met when the Offeror’s staffing plan provides rationale that can satisfy the requirements set forth in the PWS, reflecting their understanding of the work involved and reflect experience to include: Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Black Belt certification, a minimum of 5 years’ of relevant experience in the application of CPI methods in production and services areas, and meets the security and background investigation requirements set forth in the PWS.

c. Price Factor Offerors whose price is determined to be unreasonable and unbalanced may not be considered for award.

(1) The Offeror’s Price proposal will be evaluated for award purposes, based upon the total price proposed for basic requirements (basic award) and all options.

(2) Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise such options.

(3) Reasonableness: The existence of adequate price competition is expected to support a determination of reasonableness. Price analysis techniques may be used to further validate price reasonableness. If adequate price competition is not obtained or if price reasonableness cannot be determined using price analysis of Government obtained information, additional information may be required to support the proposed price.

(4) Balance: Offerors are cautioned against submitting an offer that contains unbalanced pricing. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one or more contract line items is significantly overstated or understated as indicated by the application of proposal analysis techniques. The Government shall analyze offers to determine whether there are unbalances separately priced line items or sub-line items. Prices submitted will be compared and evaluated to assure that a logical progression exists as related to price and quantity changes within each Offeror’s response to the pricing structure in Section B. Offerors that are determined to be unbalanced may be rejected if the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

(5) The Total Evaluated Price (TEP) shall be calculated by multiplying the unit price by the quantity (assume quantity unit of 5 for CLIN X001 and 5 for CLIN X002) to calculate the extended prices for all of the firm fixed price CLINs for the basic year and the Option CLINs, then totaling those amounts. Insert unit price into the TEP Calculator Attachment 6. Note: Travel will be Cost Reimbursable No Fee (CRNF) in accordance with the JTR and must be approved by the Contracting Officer. The government reserves the right to fund the CRNF Travel CLINs at its discretion; therefore, Offerors are not required to propose to the travel CLINs.

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