Final_REC_SOW_Comments_Labor_Categories__19_Feb_14.pdf

Regional Engineering & Construction (RE & C) DRAFT Home/Field Labor Categories

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

HOME

LABOR

CAT.

FIELD

LABOR

CAT.

QUESTION / COMMENT

1 X

Based on the draft SOW and the extensive scope items for radiological waste (SOW 4.11.2) and ordnance removal (SOW 7.9), we propose these additional rate categories for HOME Labor:

Non-concur Although included in the draft SOW, expertise to address radiological waste is expected to be minimal, and only necessary if found during the course of construction.

Operations Manager Non-concur

Design Manager Non-concur

Financial Analyst Non-concur

GIS Specialist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Health Physicist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Chemist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Geologist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Environmental Scientist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Environmental Engineer (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

2 X

Based on the draft SOW and the extensive scope items for radiological waste (SOW 4.11.2) and ordnance removal (SOW 7.9), we propose these additional rate categories for FIELD Labor:

Non-concur Although included in the draft SOW, expertise to address radiological waste is expected to be minimal, and only necessary if found during the course of construction.

Surveyor (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Chemist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Geologist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Environmental Scientist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

HOME

LABOR

CAT.

FIELD

LABOR

CAT.

QUESTION / COMMENT

Environmental Engineer (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Health Physicist (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Radiation Safety Officer (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Radiation Supervisor (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Radiation Field Technicians (Sr, Mid, Jr) Non-concur

Senior Unexploded Ordnance Supervisor (SUXOS) Non-concur

Unexploded Ordnance Quality Control Specialist (UXOQCS) Non-concur

Unexploded Ordnance Safety Officer (UXOSO) Non-concur

UXO Technician III Non-concur

UXO Technician II Non-concur

UXO Technician I Non-concur

3 X

Three of the design disciplines proposed for HOME labor are not generally accepted practice in the architect-engineering business. Regulated discipline refers to those architecture and engineering disciplines that require state professional registration to seal construction documents.

LEED Professional (all levels) – LEED accreditation is not as separate discipline. It is an additional, non-regulatory certification by a non-government organization that an individual in any discipline has completed certain non-professional training and passed a standard exam. Any one in any discipline can attain LEED accreditation from the US Green Building Council, but we encourage all of our design professionals to attain LEED accreditation to assure that sustainable design principles are incorporated into all design products. A more appropriate classification would be a single line for LEED Administrator, whose responsibilities would be to assure that “All new facilities shall attain LEED Silver designation in accordance with the Air Force Sustainable Design and Development (SDD) Implementing Guidance. The Contractor shall prepare a LEED Silver scorecard with the 65% Design Analysis or as directed in the TO Requirements Document (RD).”

Non-concur References to LEED will be replaced in the SOW with "comply with UFC 1-200-02 High Performance and Sustainable Building Requirements.", as it is not known which rating and certification system may be used by the AF in the future.

As noted, any design professional can attain LEED accreditation, therefore a separate labor category is unwarranted.

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

HOME

LABOR

CAT.

FIELD

LABOR

CAT.

QUESTION / COMMENT

MEP Engineer (all levels) – This classification is redundant as “MEP” indicates “Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing.” Nearly all jurisdictions license Electrical Engineers separately from Mechanical Engineers, and very few engineers are licensed or practice in both disciplines. We recommend that this classification be deleted and Mechanical Engineer be revised to “Mechanical / Plumbing Engineer” as these are normally licensed and practiced together.

1. Concur. MEP (all levels removed).

2. Non-concur with revising Mechanical Engineer to Mechanical/Plumbing Engineer. Mechanical Engineering discipline includes plumbing expertise.

PLC Engineer (all levels) – PLC design is not generally considered a separate regulated discipline unto itself but is generally considered an area of specialization within the Electrical Engineering discipline. If sealed drawings of building control /process control systems are to be required under this contract, the only regulated discipline that can seal those drawings is the Electrical Engineering discipline. A more appropriate selection criterion would be to demonstrate past experience using LONWorks for building automation as required by the Unified Facility Criteria.

Concur. PLC Engineer (all levels) removed

4 X

There are several regulated design disciplines and task-specific certifications that are essential to complete and functional designs that are NOT included in the HOME Labor classification. We recommend the following labor categories be added:

Structural Engineer (Sr, Mid, Jr) – Some jurisdictions require a separate registration in structural engineering. Design of structures is separate expertise that is required for the design of all military facilities and is especially important for the evaluation of progressive collapse as required to meet the AT/FP requirements of the Unified Facility Criteria

Concur

Fire Protection Engineer (Sr, Mid, Jr) - Fire Protection Engineering is a regulated engineering discipline with minimum acceptable qualifications stated in the Unified Facility Criteria.

Concur

Interior Designer (Sr, Mid, Jr) – Although not a regulated discipline, minimum acceptable qualifications for this discipline are included in the Unified Facility Criteria.

Concur

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

HOME

LABOR

CAT.

FIELD

LABOR

CAT.

QUESTION / COMMENT

Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD) – While this is not a regulated discipline, the RCDD certification reduces the risk of design error and omissions in telephony, data networks and building automation systems. This skill will contribute to the long term integrity of command and control as well as secure systems.

Concur

Commissioning Agent - While this is not a regulated discipline, employment of a commissioning agent that is independent of the design team can substantially reduce the risk of under- performance of building systems over time.

Non-concur, Commissioning requirements are often a part of third party green building construction rating systems, and any design professional can serve in the role of the Commisioning Agent.

Hazardous Materials Designer – While this is not a regulated disciple, demonstrated expertise in the identification and abatement of hazardous materials, particularly asbestos containing materials and lead based paint is essential for building renovation projects.

Non-concur, Although included in the draft SOW, expertise to address hazardous materials is expected to be minimal, and only necessary if found during the course of construction.

Petroleum Engineer-POL Fuels (Sr, Mid, Jr) – This is a specialty within the Mechanical engineering field. Petroleum engineers are required for Airfield fuels projects. Petroleum engineers understand the UFC requirements as well as the USACE Center of expertise standard design requirements.

Non-concur - expertise for fuel distribution or storage projects lies with the Mechanical Engineering discipline.

5 X

The assignment for professional engineers and architects to ‘field’ rates generally is limited to remote projects where professional staff is required on a full time basis.

If this is the expectation for this contract, Structural Engineer should be added to the currently listed architect, civil engineer, electrical engineer, geotechnical engineer, and mechanical engineer. Other design disciplines would generally not be required full time in a remote environment.

Concur

DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW)

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

# PAGE #

Paragraph

REFERENC

E

QUESTION / COMMENT GOVT RESPONSE

1 6 1

During the construction contractor roundtable on 11 Dec, the briefer stated the RE&C contracts will be awarded to Construction Contractors and the WE&C to General Contractors. Why is AFCEC making this distinction when the RE&C contract is supposed to be a Small Business Set aside ? Please reconsider this distinction, as it appears to restrict Small Business General Contractors from participating in the Regional contracts. General Contractors can perform successfully and comply with FAR self performance requirements. And with a focus on clear subcontract scopes, selection and oversight of quality subcontractors, schedule and work integration, quality control, and safety, Small Business General Contractors can produce just as successfully as a Construction Contractor.

Distinction between General Contractors and General Construction Contractors has been removed from the solicitation. The distinction was intended originally to be informational, and was never meant to indicate the Government would be categorizing offerors for either solicitation.

2 5 1.0 SCOPE

Please clarify AFCEC’s intent and approach to identifying two categories of contractors for this multi-award RE&C contract (General Contractors and General Construction Contractors): What is the purpose of having two categories of contractors?

Please see response to Question #1

3 5 1.0 SCOPE How will AFCEC evaluate each Offeror to determine if each will be selected as a General Contractor, a General Construction Contractor, or qualified as both?

Please see response to Question #1

4 5 1.0 SCOPE

Will the selection be based solely on the experience/past performance of each Offeror, considering each Offeror will only be able to submit a finite number of projects?

The evaluation criteria is published in the Information to Offerors and Evaluation Criteria posted on the FBO on 18 December

5 5 1.0 SCOPE

For future TOs on the RE&C, will you solicit only to one category of contractors?

If so, for each task order, how will you determine which category to solicit to? Is it possible that a task order could be solicited to both categories?

Please see response to Question #1

6 5 1.0 SCOPE

How many Offerors will be selected for award as part of the General Contractors category, the General Construction Contractors category, and the combined categories?

Please see response to Question #1

7 5 1.0 SCOPE During the proposal phase, will there be an opportunity for the Offeror to explicitly state for which category (or both) they would like to be evaluated?

Please see response to Question #1

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

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Paragraph

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QUESTION / COMMENT GOVT RESPONSE

8 5 of 25 4th paragraph

Does the Govn't have a defined threshold for bonding capacity to categorize a project as "large."?

The bonding requirement is set in the FAR for both performance and payment bonds, and the requirement is based on the Task Order award amount. So that will be an individual TO determination. However for our purposes, a $40M project is generally considered to be a "large" project, although larger task orders may be awarded.

9 6 of 25 1st paragraph

Government states that "It is possible for any individual Contractor to qualify as both a General Contractor and a General Construction Contractor..." Is it the intent of the Government to categorize Contractors upon overall contract award similar to a restricted and non-restricted pool? If so, does the Government envision instances where task orders would be competed/solicited from all contract holders vs. just one category of Contractor?

Please see response to Question #1

10 6 of 25 1st paragraph Per question 2 above - does a Contractor have any ability to reclama Government's determination that may exclude it from bidding a task order as either a General Contractor or General Construction Contractor?

Please see response to Question #1

11 7 of 25 Para 4.2.2

Regardless of size and/or complexity of project/task order; must the Contractor have any specific scheduling software (e.g. Primvera) or will the Contractor be able to use other compliant scheduling software (e.g. Microsoft Project)?

Specific scheduling software requirements will be specified at the task order level.

12 Page 10 of 25 Para. 4.8 Photo documentation to be loaded to the "project website." Is this website a contractor or Government website?

Requirement clarified in revised SOW. The contractor is responsible for establishing project site.

13 Page 14 of 25 Para 5.1.3 IT Environment Inspections. Are these inspections/audits applicable to a company's general IT and IT infrastructure or only Contract/task order specific IT?

Requirement deleted from SOW.

14 Page 14 of 25 Para 5.1.3 Is it the intent of the Government to issue all task order RFP documents by secure means only, e.g. SFTP?

Requirement deleted from SOW.

15 Page 16 of 25 Para. 5.1.4.5 What is requirement, if any, to delete RFP documentation from servers if contractor loses bid or decides to no-bid a task order if TO's aren't solicited by a secure means?

Requirement deleted from SOW.

16 Page 16 of 25 Para. 5.1.4.5 Contractor is potentially limited to be able to respond to any Task Order inquiries from Government after TO completion if all info must be deleted. Clarify what information can be maintained by the Contractor.

Requirement deleted from SOW.

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

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Paragraph

REFERENC

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QUESTION / COMMENT GOVT RESPONSE

17 Page 20 of 25 Para 7.1

Why address the WE&C contract in 7.1? If turn-key is not a viable option for the RE&C contract, recommend deleting this paragraph.

SOW revised to eliminate the sentence indicating no Turn-key projects are anticipated in the RE&C.

Turn-key remains a valid delivery method if a project meets all the criteria, and appropriate approvals are received.

18 Page 19 of 25 Para 6.2 Confirm that each task order's general provisions will identify what utilities services may be made available to the contractor at no cost. (e.g. electrical, water, sewage hookups for construction trailers; water for dust control; etc.)

The utilities and services that will be made available for use by the contractor will be specified at the TO level.

19 Page 23 of 25 Para 7.9

Confirm that CBR UXO is outside scope of Contractor's responsibility and any UXO removal as determined by task order is limited to conventional ordnance/munitions only.

Section not deleted. UXO removal under this contract would be incidental to other construction work as indicated in SOW.

20 4 1

Will the RFPs for the three regional contracts be released at the same time? If they are to be released one at a time, what order will they be released in?

The governemnt anticipates having one solicitation for all three regions on the RE&C. However, separate proposals will be required per region.

21 5 4 Draft SOW states that General Contractors are to have sufficient bonding capacity to accept large projects. What is the bonding capacity that will be required and what is the anticipated ROM for the large projects.

Bonding requirements for the RE&C are $25M for each region proposed on.

22 5 5

Will a General Construction Contractor who performs a specific type of work with their own workforce (e.g., excavation) be precluded from bidding a project that includes other trades (e.g., electrical) if the company has successful past performance in the GC role encompassing all trades?

Please see response to Question #1

23 5 of 25 4 and 5

Regarding sufficient bonding capacity. We respectfully urge the Government to consider no greater than an aggregate bonding capacity of $25M for each region (East, Central and West). Small business contractors are capable of having various IDIQs with contract capacities in the billions of dollars and still meet the NAICS code requirement of staying under $33.5M in revenues. Executing under this strategy would never require more than $25M of aggregate bonding capacity. We feel strongly that a $25M aggregate bonding capacity is well suited to the anticipated IDIQ contracts with the anticipated number of awardees and anticipated task order range

Bonding requirements for the RE&C are $25M for each region proposed on.

Question/Comment Matrix Dated 19 Feb 2014

QUESTION

# PAGE #

Paragraph

REFERENC

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QUESTION / COMMENT GOVT RESPONSE

24 5 of 25 4 and 5

Regarding sufficient bonding capacity. Please consider allowing independent bonding capability for each region under the RE&C IDIQ contracts. It should be possible for a small business to compete for all three regions. The government should not limit proposal competition in this manner. The awardees should be selected on the strength of their position as evaluated. The current bonding language requiring a small business to prove escalating aggregate bonding capacity is not relevant given the explanation in question # 1 above. It is possible for a company to hold multiple IDIQ contracts and not exceed their aggregate bonding capacity (even when contact capacity is in the billions). This is due to the fact that task orders under the various IDIQs are competed. In other words, please do not require twice the bonding capacity to bid in two regions or triple bonding capacity to bid in three regions. Our bonding company allows us to hold multiple IDIQ contracts with contract capacities that exceed our bonding capacities due to the fact that IDIQs release solicitations during various times and under various budgets. In addition, aggregate bonding is a snap shot in time as it raises when awards are first received and lowers as jobs are complete. Aggregate bonding availability is thus a moving target.

Please reference response to Question #23.