Question and Answers - 01 July 24.pdf

A-E IDIQ

Q&A

01 July 2024

1) Will awarded firms that provide Title I, Title II, or “Other A-E services” as described in

Attachment 1, paragraph 2 on a project be eligible for construction contracts related to same project? See FAR 36.209, Construction Contracts with Architect-Engineer Firms and FAR 36.606(c), Negotiations. "No contract for the construction of a project shall be awarded to the firm that designed the project or its subsidiaries or affiliates, except with the approval of the head of the agency or authorized representative." Additionally, please refer to DAFFARS Mandatory Procedures, #178; authority is at the AFICC level, Director of Contracting, and not at the Contracting Squadron level.

2) Attachment 1, paragraph 3, Criteria #1 indicates that the “A-E Firm” must have the capability of providing the following five (5) professional services: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering. Must all these services be self-performed by the same firm or can these services by provided by separate consulting firms (team members)? Services can be provided by separate team members. Reference synopsis. Teaming agreements to include partnerships and joint ventures are addressed in the synopsis and in the Submission Requirements attachment.

3) Attachment 1, paragraph 3, Criteria #1 for Section E states “provide resumes for all proposed key personnel that illustrate experience in the work proposed under this contract.” Earlier in this paragraph the RFP lists fourteen (14) “key personnel”. Are fourteen (14) Section E resumes required to be submitted (one for each of these roles)?

Yes, provide resumes for all key personnel listed in Attachment 1

4) Attachment 1, paragraph 1 indicates a maximum of five (5) team partners (members). Attachment 1, paragraph 3, Criteria #2 for Section F indicates “provide a maximum of six (6) projects and “all projects….must be completed by prime or subcontractor A/E firm office/branch/regional office/individual team member proposed to manage and perform work under this contract.” Please confirm that each of the six (6) projects submitted are only required to have been completed by one (1) of the five (5) team members. The synopsis has been revised to remove the team partners maximum of 5. And yes, each of the six projects submitted are only required to have been completed by one of the team members, i.e, the prime, subcontractor, or team member proposed.

5) Reference: Page 5 of A-E Synopsis under Criteria #2: Specialized Experience and Page 3 of A-E Submission Requirements under Submission Requirements Table. Question: These RFQ documents state to provide DUNS. Government agencies have recently quit using DUNS and instead Unique Entity IDs (UEI), which is also how firms are identified in SAM.gov.

Please confirm we are to include DUNS instead of UEI in our response to the RFQ. We will be using the UEI

6) Reference: Page 5 of A-E Synopsis (last paragraph) under Criteria #1: Professional Qualifications and Page 1 of A-E Submission Requirements paragraph 2. Question: The A-E Synopsis states an overall 50-page limitation while the A-E Submission Requirements state an overall 80-page limitation. Please clarify. Page limitation was corrected to read 50-pages in both documents.

7) Reference: Page 7 of A-E Synopsis under Criteria #4: Past Performance and A-E Past Performance Questionnaire. Question: This Performance Survey is different than the standard NAVFAC-USACE Past Performance Questionnaire (PPQ). Please confirm this PPQ form is not permissible to use for this response. The PPQ (Attachment 3) is permissible to use.

8) Reference: Page 7 of A-E Synopsis under Criteria #4: Past Performance and Page 4 of A-E Submission Requirements under Submission Requirements Table. Question: It is stated to “submit a completed CPARS/ACASS evaluations for each project under Criterion 2. Do these CPARS/ACASS evaluations count toward the 12-page limitation identified in the Submission Requirements Table for Section VII – Past Performance? If not, where should the Past Performance Documents be inserted within the overall package and will they count toward the overall page limitations? The CPARS evaluations will not count towards page count

9) Reference: Page 10 of A-E Synopsis under 4. Submission Requirements and Page 2 of A-E Submission Requirements, Paragraph 4. Question: The A-E Synopsis states submissions to be emailed to SrA Ruth Elias-Hernandez and Javier Hinojosa. The A-E Submission Requirements state submissions to be emailed to SrA Ruth Elias-Hernandez and Juanita Vasquez. Please clarify. Submission to be sent to SrA Ruth Elias-Hernandez and Javier Hinojosa, with a courtesy copy to Juanita Vasquez.

10) Reference: Page 1 of A-E Synopsis under 1. Contract Information. Question: The Sources Sought indicated Goodfellow AFB would be part of this contract, but it is not shown in the Synopsis. Is that location no longer included? Goodfellow will no longer be part of this contract.

11) Could we consider incorporating overseas resources to assist with the design? I believe this approach could significantly benefit the project cost. Compliance with FAR 36.601-4 is required.

12) Can we partner with another engineering firm in a joint venture to bid for this project?

Reference synopsis and response to question No. 2 above.

13) Reference: Page 2 of A-E Synopsis under Teaming Agreements. Question: This paragraph states, “The total number of teaming partners submitted initially cannot exceed five (5).”

Does this mean all firms listed within Section C of the SF330 cannot exceed five, or that the Prime Offeror can include up to five teaming partners on their team (so six total)? See response to question No. 4 above.

14) Reference: Page 5 of A-E Synopsis under Submission Requirements for Criteria #1 and Page 3 of A-E Submission Requirements within 5th row of the table. Question: The A-E Synopsis states, “Resumes for key personnel are limited to two (2) pages each.” However, the Submission Requirements Table states “1 page per person.” Please clarify. One (1) page per person is the limit for both synopsis and Submission Requirements.

15) Question 1 – the current solicitation requires the key personnel to hold professional registration in the State of Texas, but in supporting USACE or NAVFAC A-E related military contracts it has not been a requirement to have professional registration in the State in which the projects are located due to being on a federal installation. Wanted to confirm that professional registration in Texas is required for key personnel? Compliance with FAR 36.601-4 is required.

16) Question 2 – on the subject of professional registration, what Texas professional registration is required for the following key personnel? – Quality Control Manager Cost Engineer/Cost Estimator

Specification Writer Construction Inspector Scheduler Please refer to FAR 36.601-4.

17) Question 3 – FYI, most firms no longer have dedicated “Specification Writers”, the engineers prepare their own specifications now. Would you consider eliminating the Specification Writer as a key personnel requirement? We will not eliminate the specification writer as a key personnel requirement; however, we will allow other key personnel to carry that dual responsibility.

18) Please clarify the page limit requirements for Laughlin IDIQ FA309924Q1013 ATCH 1, page 5 1st paragraph states that the page limit is 50 pages ATCH 2, page 1, item #2, 1st line states that the page limit is 80 pages Which of the two is correct? Please see response to question No. 6 above.

19) Will the deadline be extended since many people will be taking time-off the previous week for the July 4th holiday (before and after the 4th)? Submission date has been changed to no later than 11 July 2024 at 11:59 P.M. Central Daylight Time.

20) In the synopsis under Teaming Agreements, we note the requirement, “The total number of teaming partners submitted initially cannot exceed five (5).” Can you clarify if this means our firm (prime) plus five (5) teaming partners or five (5) total including ourselves? Please see response to question No. 4 above.

21) On page 5 of the synopsis, we see that each firm is required to include the DUNS number in Part 1 of the SF330. Do you mean UEI number? Yes, we will be using the UEI

22) The submission requirement 1A requires a DUNS number be included in the cover letter, do you mean UEI number? Yes, we will be using the UEI

23) In the Submission Requirements attachment, the page limitation is listed as 80 pages, however in the synopsis, a 50-page limitation is mentioned. Which limitation should we adhere to? Please see response to question No 6 above.

24) Can you please define the Airfield Operations Specialist role? Per US Bureau of Labor Statistics - Ensure the safe takeoff and landing of commercial and military aircraft. Duties include coordination between air-traffic control and maintenance personnel, dispatching, using airfield landing and navigational aids, implementing airfield safety procedures, monitoring and maintaining flight records, and applying knowledge of weather information.

Intent would be with airfield projects to ensure LAFB airfield operations would be considered during to design to have minimal impact to flying operations.

25) Can you please define the Construction Inspector role? Are there expectations for this role outside of the typical construction periods services? There are no expectations for this role outside of typical construction period services. Reference SOW Part 3 for specifics.

26) Page 4 refers to part 1, Section g. key personnel.

-Quality Control Manager. Is this for the design QCM?

-Construction Inspector. Is this intended for the awardee to perform construction inspections for LAFB? Please clarify.

-Scheduler. Please clarify.

Quality Control: is for design quality control. Construction Inspector: Yes, if Title II services are awarded during the life of resultant contract.

27) Page 5 | Criteria #2: Specialized Experience: Tab 6 includes a variety of construction projects. For example, will we be disqualified if we include a design in a New University Classroom building with offices? Recommend a change to the project’s completion date from 5-year period to 8 years? Projects stated in tab 6 are examples only and are not an all-inclusive list. You will not be disqualified for including projects not on the list. Completion date will remain at 5 years.

28) Reference: Page 4 of A-E Synopsis under Criteria #1: Professional Qualifications and Page 30/83 of the A-E SOW under 3.1 Title II Traditional Services. Question: One of the key personnel listed under this contract is Construction Inspector (quality assurance) and paragraph 3.1.1.1 in the SOW outlines the qualifications needed for this role. It is tough for small business firms to provide an on-site Title II inspector and even tougher to provide a resume for an individual in response to a multi-year IDIQ because we do not know when the task order(s) will be awarded or what their scopes and magnitudes would be. Furthermore, paragraph 3.1.1.2 in the SOW states the proposed inspector’s resume to be submitted during the cost proposal, which is when the full scope and schedule for these task orders are known. Please consider removing the requirement of a Construction Inspector resume from this SF330 submission. Concur

29) Reference: Page 4 of A-Synopsis under Criteria #1: Professional Qualifications. Question: A resume is required to be submitted for Specification Writer. Generally, the lead engineers and architects (with resumes identified in the SF330) produce and seal the specifications as part of the continuity and quality control during the design. Please consider removing the requirement of a Specification Writer resume from this SF330 submission. Specification writer will not be removed.

30) Per the solicitation we understand that the engineers and architects, and interior designer are required to have a Texas License for their discipline. Will the Project Manager be required to have a license from Texas if our intent is to solely use him as a project manager? May he/she/they have a professional engineering/architectural license from another state? Follow what is required by law and compliance with FAR 36.601-4 is required.

31) May the total number of teaming partners be increased to support Laughlin AFB? Our concerns arise from the other specialized services identified on page four of the synopsis. Will submissions from contractors require teaming arrangements to support the specialized services identified? These additional services may impact small business percentage capabilities required for a small business set aside if only five teaming partners can be presented. Please see response to question No. 4 above.

32) For the specialized services identified on page four, will they need to be identified in the organizational chart? Individual specialized services do not need to be on the organizational chart. Please group them all together and show where all specialized services would fall.

33) The RFP stipulates that all key personnel must hold professional registration in the State of Texas. Typically, under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), only civil engineers and geotechnical engineers are required to have local professional engineer (PE) certifications for federal projects. Could you please clarify if this broader requirement applies to all key personnel involved in this project, including those in roles that traditionally do not require local PE certification? Compliance with FAR 36.601-4 is required.

34) Is this a new requirement? If not, please identify the incumbent and contract number. New requirement.

35) What is the current spend to date if this is not a new requirement? New requirement.

36) If this is a new requirement, what is the project budget? New requirement.

37) Are there incumbent employees? If yes, will the contractor have access to the incumbent employees? Not intended to be a services contract.