Pre-Con Minutes_Final-r1.pdf

19 Dec 2023

MEMORANDUM FOR: DISTRIBUTION

FROM: 374 CONS/PKSA

SUBJECT: Minutes of Pre-proposal Conference and Site Visit for Natural Gas at Yokosuka Naval Base

1. A pre-proposal conference for the subject requirement was conducted at approximately 1000 hrs on 15 Dec 2023 at 3rd floor Conference Room, Bldg.1805 at Yokosuka Naval Base . A site visit was followed the conference. The Government participants are listed below:

Name: Title: Organization:

Ms. Izumi Ito Contracting Officer 374 CONS Ms. Autumn Johnson Contracting Officer 374 CONS Mr. Yuki Kawada Contract Specialist 374 CONS Ms. Yuri Takashima Contract Specialist 374 CONS Mr. Peter Ly Utilities Management NAVFAC FE Product Line Director Mr. Toshiki Tachibana Engineering Technician NAVFAC FE Mr. Otis G. Giddens Supervisory Utilities NAVFAC FE

Energy Commodity Manager

2. After introductions, the meeting began with a review of the solicitation.

3. The Government reviewed the overarching components of the requirement, and emphasized several key points:

a. Memorandum for Prospective Offerors: This is a memorandum from the Commander of 374

CONS.

b. Notice to Offerors (NTO):

i. Para 1.a: Contract POC: Ms. Yuri Takashima and Ms. Autumn B. Johnson for Contract

Specialist, Ms. Izumi Ito for Contracting Officer

ii. Para 1.b: Submission by email or fax

iii. Para 1.c: Clauses or Provisions Incorporated by Reference can be found at full text at the specified websites.

iv. Para 1.d: The successful offeror must be licensed and registered to perform the business in Japan.

v. Para 1.g: The offeror is required to be registered in SAM at the time an offer is submitted and is responsible during performance and through final payment. Annual renew is required.

c. Solicitation

i. Standard Form(SF) 1449: The Government will explain how to fill in this section later

ii. Solicitation Number is FA520924R8000

iii. Para 1: This is a 5-year contract

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

PACIFIC AIR FORCES

iv. Para 1.1: Service Location is the Cogeneration Plant, Bldg 3030 at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan

v. Para 1.2: The Contractor will provide natural gas to the Cogeneration Plant in accordance with Japanese Gas Business Act and all other relevant laws.

vi. Para 1.3: The Government will clarify this paragraph at a Q&A session.

vii. Para 2: Period of Performance is 1 May 2024 through 30 Apr 2029 (5 years). After a contract award, the Contractor will need to attend Post-Award Conference.

viii. Para 3: As for technical data/requirement, refer to Technical Description (TD).

ix. Para 4.1: All prices shall be exclusive of any taxes.

x. Para 4.2: The solicitation shall be submitted with the price schedule set forth in Exhibit

A, Pricing Schedule.

xi. Para 4.3: Gas Resource Base is Y57,300/ton

xii. Para 4.4: Unit price is subject to market price change, and it may be revised in accordance with Para 2 of TD.

xiii. Para 4.5: For evaluation purpose, Fuel Expense Adjustment Cost and Renewable Energy Surcharge shall not be included in the prices, and a power factor assumes ±0

xiv. Para 4.6: The Estimated Annual Consumption is 52,100,000m3. The Total Estimated Consumption is 260,500,000m3.

xv. Para 4.7: Total maximum amount is 310,000,000m3 for the life of contract.

xvi. Para 4.8 Minimum guarantee is ¥50,000 for the first year of the contract.

xvii. Para 5: Listed clauses can be found at full text at the specified websites of NTO letter.

Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application is emphasized. As for Order Limitations, the contract guarantees a minimum amount of Y50,000 for the life of contract. As for Indefinite Quantity & Ordering, the contract type is an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, and annual estimate order will be issued each year to inform the Contractor for the estimated quantity, estimated monthly usage, and unit priced fixed in Exhibit A, Pricing Schedule for the year.

xviii. Para 6: Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States and implementing the Japanese laws authorizes the United States exemption from certain Japanese taxes for materials, supplies, equipment, and services, such as1) Consumption tax, (2) Gasoline tax and local road tax on gasoline, (3) Diesel oil tax, and (4) Liquefied petroleum gas tax.

xix. Para 7: Payment voucher, Standard Form 1034 shall be sent to the Contractor by Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Address for invoicing and payment office were confirmed.

xx. Para 8: The Comptroller General of the United States, or an authorized representative of the Comptroller General, shall have access to and right to examine any of the Contractor’s directly pertinent records involving transactions related to this contract.

xxi. Para 9: In case of company merger, name change, address change, the Contractor needs to let CONS know as soon as possible. Payment could be affected.

xxii. Para 10: The Status of United States Armed Forces in Japan (SOFA) shall be integral parts of contract.

xxiii. Para 11: Any disagreement arising under this contract which is not resolved by the parties to this contract, refer to this paragraph.

xxiv. Para 12: For ombudsman procedure, refer to this paragraph.

xxv. Para 13: Contracting Office, Contracting POC and Technical Representative were confirmed. Mr. Ly’s email address will be corrected by Amendment 1.

xxvi. Para 14: The Contractor shall comply with the Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka

Security Regulations for the base access.

xxvii. Para 15: The Government’s obligation under this contract continuation is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made.

xxviii. Para 16: Correspondence shall be conducted in English.

xxix. Para 17: The Contractor is responsible for retaining an active SAM during performance of contract and through final payment.

xxx. Para 18: If the Contractor hires “Covered DoD Official”, refer to this paragraph.

xxxi. Para 19: The Government anticipates awarding a firm fixed-price IDIQ contract.

xxxii. Para 20.1: See the RFP Atch2, Estimated Consumption, for monthly average consumption and maximum flow basis on historical data.

xxxiii. Para 20.2: The service location (bldg. 3030) at Yokosuka Naval Base is connected to the natural gas of Tokyo Gas Network.

xxxiv. Para 20.3: No supplier subcontracting will be permissible in this contract.

xxxv. Para 20.4: Offerors must complete the necessary fill-ins where applicable.

xxxvi. Para 20.5: Solicitation provisions will be physically removed from any resultant award, but will be deemed to be incorporated by reference in that award.

xxxvii. Para 21.1: Offerors must follow the instructions contained in this paragraph.

xxxviii. Para 21.2: The Contracting Officer has determined there is a high probability of adequate price competition in this acquisition. If at any time during this competition the contracting officer determines that adequate price competition no longer exists, the Government may request cost data to offeror(s) to determine the reasonableness and affordability of the price.

xxxix. Para 21.3: An Offeror is required to be registered in SAM when submitting an offer or quotation, and shall continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation.

xl. Para 21.4: The submission may be made by email or facsimile.

xli. Para 21.5: Submittals

a. Part I – Summary and Miscellaneous data: The signed original solicitation with para 25 fill-in, Active SAM, Signed SF 1449 (Instruction will be amended later), copy of the current financial statement, acknowledgement of all solicitation amendment, if issued.

b. Part II – Price Proposal: Exhibit A, Pricing Schedule for 5 years

c. Part III – Technical Proposal: Contract Management Ability, Quality Control, Start-up and phase-in schedule, Licenses, An Emergency Response Plan.

xlii. Para 21.6: The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 180 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers.

xliii. Para 22.1: Price and Technical Acceptability factors are used to evaluate the proposal(s).

xliv. Para 22.2: The Government will let the successful offeror know for a contract award by a written notice.

xlv. Para 23: Closing Date is 28 Dec 2023, 1100 hrs, Japan Standard Time. Any offer submitted to the Government after the closing date will be “late”. The late offer may be accepted if the conditions specified in para 23.1 are met.

xlvi. Para 24.1: The Government intends to award a contract without discussions.

xlvii. Para 24.2.1: This is a competitive Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection. The Government will select the lowest total offer that meets acceptability standards for non-price factor (Technical Proposal). The evaluation process will include the following:

(a) Price Evaluation: The Government will rank offers by the total offer price. The price evaluation will document the fairness and reasonableness of the total offer price. If proposed price structure is a unit price only, a basic charge can leave blank. The proposal must be submitted for all CLINs, A001 thru A401

(b) Technical Acceptability: Technical proposals from offerors will first be evaluated to determine technical acceptability. 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.

1) Contract Management Ability. Technical proposal should include an organizational chart and describe functions, responsibilities, and authorities for performing such duties as overall contract management and quality control.

Technical proposal shall specify hiring criteria (skill levels, experience, and background) for personnel in these positions. Standard is met when the organizational chart and other information demonstrate that the Contractor understands the Technical Description and has the management ability to perform this contract.

2) Quality Control: Technical proposal should include a summary quality control plan. This plan should be broad enough to address all aspects of quality control.

3) Start-up and phase-in schedule. Technical proposal should include a start-up and phase-in schedule based on the expected contract award date of 31 Jan 2024 at the latest. Standard is met when a start-up and phase-in schedule is realistic and demonstrates that the Contractor is able to start on site performance on 1 May 2024.

4) Licenses. Technical proposal should include a copy of licenses evidencing registration with the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Government of Japan, or its subordinate office in accordance with Japanese Gas Business Act.

Standard is met when a copy of the valid licenses is attached.

5) An Emergency Response Plan and a Security Plan. The Contractor will be required to develop and maintain an Emergency Response Plan to address system failures and catastrophic events. The Contractor shall develop and maintain a Security Plan to address Anti-terrorism and other 3rd party attacks on the Contractor’s gas distribution system located outside Yokosuka Naval Base which is used to serve the Navy Facilities.

The Government will use the technical acceptable/unacceptable ratings definitions listed in this paragraph when assigning technical overall ratings of Acceptable or Unacceptable.

xlviii. Para 25: Offerors will represent whether they use Covered Telecommunication Equipment or Services or not.

d. RFP, Exhibit A, Pricing Schedule:

i. Ms. Takashima explained step by step on how to fill in Pricing Schedule. Unit price shall be the third decimal place for Estimate Amount only. Estimated amount needs to be rounded to the nearest whole number with no decimal place, and Amendment 1 for this clarification will be issued shortly. Gas Resource Base is ¥57,300/ton. Unit price is subject to market price change, and it may be adjusted in accordance with Para 2 of Attachment 1, Technical Description for Natural Gas Yokosuka Naval Base. For evaluation purpose, Fuel Expense Adjustment Cost and Renewable Energy Surcharge shall not be included in the prices, and a power factor assumes ±0. Price structure can be a basic charge and a unit price or a unit price only. If a unit price only, a basic charge can be a blank.

e. Technical Description: Mr. Ly, Technical Representative, went over the requirements, emphasized items below.

i. The Government acknowledges that duties of the supplier and Tokyo Gas Network and the supplier under the Japanese Gas Business Act and all other relevant laws. Even if Tokyo Gas Network is the one who is conducting periodic and emergency inspections on the US Government owned gas line, the Government would like the offerors (the supplier) to understand that rules and regulations at Yokosuka is not the same as off-base.

It is the Government responsibility to make sure who needs access the base because prime and subcontractor needs to comply with the Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka Security Regulations.

f. Questions were received by 11 Dec 2023. 4:00PM. Questions and Answers (Q&A) are below.

i. Q: In TD para 1.1, it is stated that the annual minimum order volume for the first year is

46,890,000 m3/year; can we assume that the same number will be ordered for the second and subsequent years?

A: Yes. Annual consumption will increase/decrease depending on end-user requirements and weather, so the Government calculated the annual minimum order volume based on historical averages using data from 2014.

ii. Q: In para 1 of TD and para 1.3 of RFP, it contains that the duties of a general gas pipeline operator (Tokyo Gas Network) who undertake under the Gas Business Law (e.g., gas pipe leak inspections, and emergency plan). If we, as a gas supplier, after a contract award, can we discuss the details?

A: We could discuss the details regarding a contract schedule, however, if any matters related the technical requirements, we can’t discuss after a contract award due to an unfairness to the other offerors. As Mr. Ly said earlier, the Government considered as it is still the supplier’s responsibility as well as Tokyo Gas Network.

iii. Q: In para 1.2 of TD, it states “The Contractor will provide the following technical submittals as part of this contract within 10 days after award”. Can we assume "within 10 business days" as "within 10 business days after receiving the formal written notice of award"? When will the successful offeror be notified?

A: Yes, your understanding is correct. Notification of a contract award is scheduled for around 31 Jan 2024.

iv. Q: The emergency response plan to be submitted to Yokosuka Naval Base will be prepared based on the "Safety Regulations" that the General Gas Pipeline Service Provider has submitted to the Government of Japan in accordance with the Gas Business Law. Para 1.2.2 of TD requires that the emergency response plan be submitted to and accepted by the government. Does "the government" mean the US Government or the Government of Japan A: It must be submitted to the U.S. Government even if that is not required by Gas Business Law. The US Government is the customer and needs to review/approve the Plan.

v. Q: In para 5 of RFP, FAR 52.204-10 requires Executive Compensation Reporting, but our company does not meet the requirements for disclosure, is that correct?

A: Executive compensation report is applicable if your company received 80 percent or more of its annual gross revenues from Federal contracts. See details in the clause.

vi. Q: In para 20.3 of RFP, it states “No supplier subcontracting will be permissible in this contract”. However, would it be allowed to subcontract some operations such as posting meter reading slips and collecting bills to subcontractor(s).

A: Yes. It is allowed. We meant that the supplier cannot subcontracting for supplying natural gas. Other that, we don’t see an issue.

vii. Q: In para 21.5.3(d) of RFP, it states “ Technical proposal should include a copy of licenses evidencing registration with METI or its subordinate office in accordance with Japanese Gas Business Act”. Our license is written in Japanese. Do we need to translate this document into English and submit it as well?

A: Yes, please translate and submit it as well.

viii. Q: Regarding Part I of para 21.5.1(a) of RFP, should we print out all 22 pages of this RFP, fill-in SF1449 and add checkmarks on para 25? Also, where would we input “UEI” and CAGE Code?

A: Please fill in as follows in Standard Form 1449. Block 12: Discount Terms, Block 17a Code: NCAGE, Block 17a: The Contractor Name, Address, and Phone number, Block 30a: Signature of Offeror/Contractor, Block 30b: Name and Title of Signer, Block 30c:

Date Signed There is no place to input UEI, so you don’t need to input. We will amend the instruction later.

ix. Q: Regarding Part III of para 21.5.3 of RFP, we would like to ask the Government to confirm and request the General Gas Pipeline Service Company (Tokyo Gas Network) to prepare the items that the General Gas Pipeline Service Provider is required to undertake under the Gas Business Law.

A: We need the offerors to submit technical proposals per the RFP.

x. Q: Regarding Para 21.5.3 of RFP, is it possible to see samples of (a) and (c)?

A: No.

xi. Q: Paper meter reading sheets will be discontinued at the end of October 2024, and after November 2024, customers will be able to check their usage on our web membership service, or if they wish to continue to receive paper meter reading sheets, they will receive them by mail and will be charged an issuance fee of 150 yen per month (excluding tax) in addition. If you wish to confirm your usage by yourself or continue to request a paper meter reading, we will send you the meter reading by mail.

A: We would like paper bills.

xii. Q: Regarding para 1 of TD, is it correct to understand that the scope of the specifications corresponds to the classification of general gas pipeline operators (Tokyo Gas Network) under the current Gas Business Act? What is your view on para 1.2.1 and 1.2.2, which are also in the same category? Also, as stated in para 1.2.2, is it the same for the contractors that they must be available to answer the phone 24 hours a day?

A: As previously discussed, we are going to contract with the supplier company, not Tokyo Gas Network. We don’t expect the awardee to answer the phone 24 hours a day, but we’d like to be able to call when needed in accordance with Japanese Gas Business Act. We’d like to request an Emergency Response Plan (communication chart for emergency) including the awardee as the supplier and Tokyo Gas Network information.

xiii. Q: In para 4 of RFP, what does “Extended Estimate Amount” indicate?

A: Refer to Exhibit A, Pricing Schedule. Basic Charge + (Unit Price x Gas Consumption) = Estimated Amount (This is Extended Estimate Amount)

xiv. Q: How will demand measurement and meter reading be conducted when handing of Telecommunication and Video Surveillance Service is prohibited? Also, please tell us how it is currently done?

A: Currently, manual meter reading is conducted once a month, and meter maintenance is conducted twice a year.

xv. Q: Can I assume that the Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract listed under Anticipated Contract Type is a 5-year contract?

A: Yes. It is a 5-year contract.

xvi. Q: Regarding Part III(b) of para 21.5.3 of RFP, the natural gas supplied by the pipeline has a certain quality. What exactly does "quality" mean in this section? Also, is it correct to assume that the quality and quality control of natural gas is within the scope of the gas pipeline operator?

A: Please refer to subparagraph ii of this paragraph. A general gas pipeline operator (e.g., Tokyo Gas Network) is mainly responsible for quality control under the Gas Business

Law, but the Government considered as it is still the supplier’s responsibility as well as Tokyo Gas Network.

xvii. Q: Regarding Part III(e) of Para 21.5.3 of RFP, since pipelines and other gas facilities are under the category of gas pipeline operator (Tokyo Gas Network), is the Inspection/Maintenance Plan also under the category of gas pipeline operator (Tokyo Gas Network)? Also, what exactly is the emergency response plan?

A: Please refer to subparagraph ii of this paragraph

xviii. Q: In para 21.5.1 (a)(2) of Request for Proposal (RFP), it states "the fill-ins in the on-line Representations and Certifications at www.sam.gov”. What do I need to do?

A: Log into SAM (https://sam.gov/content/home), open your company's SAM information, and click on "Reps and Certs (FAR/DFARS)." Select "Version: Current Record" and then select "Downloads: FAR & DFARS" to see if you have filled in. If you are already registered in SAM, I think you have already answered to Reps & Certs.

xix. Q: Is it possible to see a sample of the "21.5.3 Part III - Technical Proposal" of RFP?

A: No.

4. After the conference, the site visit was conducted near Bldg. 3030 for the meter reading. The Government employee will unlock the area, and the supplier can check the meter reading manually once a month.

5. The preproposal conference and the site visit concluded at approximately 1200.

6. These minutes shall be submitted to all attendees. The foregoing is a brief summary of the pre-proposal conference and the site visits conducted for this acquisition. Those present should advise the undersigned of any additional information, clarifications, or corrections that they feel should be made to the minutes by 1500 hrs on 21 Dec 2023 in JST. Failing notification to the contrary, these minutes will stand for the record.

Prepared by:

YURI TAKASHIMA

Contract Specialist

Reviewed by:

IZUMI ITO

Contracting Officer