FPAC National Furniture RFQ draft.pdf

DRAFT

REQUEST FOR QUOTE

United States Department of Agriculture

Farm Production & Con servation Business Center National Furniture BPA

March 11, 2021

A. Overview of Requirement:

i. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Acquisition Division (AD) is seeking a solution to provide systems furniture, private offices, task seating and related services for the Farm

Production & Conservation Business Center (FPAC-BC). The Government will be issuing Multiple Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) exclusively for FPAC-BC.

Against GSA Schedule 71 for FPAC-BC Agencies Nationwide.

This is a Request for Quote (RFQ) using GSA Schedules under FAR Subpart 8.4 (Federal Supply

Schedules). All quoter submissions in response to this RFQ are considered quotes and not proposals or offers, even, if labeled as such. The quoters agree to and are bound by all instructions, procedures and rules of this RFQ.

Since contractor submissions are simply quotes under the GSA Schedule program, the Government is not obligated to determine a competitive range, conduct discussions with all quoters, solicit final revised quotes, and use other techniques associate with FAR part 15. The contracting techniques associated with FAR Part 15 do not apply to this acquisition.

ii. This is a Fixed Price Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for Office Furniture. Products ordered under this BPA will be ordered through task orders placed pursuant to the ordering procedures described below. All orders placed under this BPA shall be within scope of the contract Statement of Work (see Attachment 1).

iii. USDA/FPAC Contracting Officers (CO) may place orders against this BPA, within the limits of their warrants.

iv. Ordering Period The BPA ordering period includes a 12-month Base Period and four (4) 12-month Option Periods for a total of 60 months beginning from the date of award. Note: USDA requires that options and discounts be pre-priced on the Pricing form (Attachment 3).

v. BPA Estimate Value The estimated value of this BPA is anticipated to be 25 million dollars for the five-year period of performance.

vi. The Government intends to award three (3) Multiple Award BPAs from this RFQ. The Government intends to compete each individual Call Order (including small satellite offices) among the three BPA holders.

B. Ordering Procedures:

(a) The Contracting Officer (CO) will follow the procedures of FAR 8.4 in conjunction with the procedures in this section when placing task orders under this BPA.

(b) The CO will initiate a new Call Order by submitting a request for a Call Order quote and cost estimate from the Contractor. The request will include: the task order statement of work (SOW), design & drawings (as applicable), price form, other attachments or supplemental information (if any), task order terms and conditions (if any), submission instructions, and the due date for the task order quote. Requesting a task order quote does not commit the Government to awarding a task order.

(c) The Contractor shall submit a Call Order quote, price estimate, and bill of materials in accordance with the submission instructions. The Government will evaluate the task order proposal and cost estimate received. The Government may request revisions to the task order quote if deemed necessary. Once the Government has accepted the task order quote and cost estimate, the CO will award a task order by sending a fully funded task order on SF 1449 with the task order SOW to the Contractor prior to award. The Contractor shall acknowledge receipt of each task order to the CO within three days of receipt.

(d) Task Orders may include their own special terms and conditions including clauses to which the contractor shall adhere. All special terms and conditions will be included in the CO’s request for task order quote and in the awarded task order.

(e) Task orders may be placed at any point during the ordering period of the BPA.

(f) Task Orders will be solicited and awarded as firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract type. Task orders may be performance-based. The Contracting Officer will follow the ordering procedures of FAR 8.4 when competing task orders under this BPA.

(g) GOVERNMENT USE ONLY. The Integrated Acquisition System (IAS) shall be used to award all task orders placed against this BPA. For tracking purposes and to ensure all calls appear in the IAS Summary Report screen, CO’s should always select “BPA Call” as the document type when creating a call from the IAS DOCUMENT CREATE screen. It is important to capture all calls in order to ensure the maximum BPA amount is not exceeded.

For any assistance on use of the BPA or to discuss problems or concerns related to the BPA please contact Erica Robinson at Erica.Robinson@usda.gov.

There are 4 Attachments to this RFQ:

C. Attachments

1. Attachment 1 – BPA Statement of Work (Sections 1 and 2)

2. Attachment 2 – BPA Terms, Conditions, and Clauses

3. Attachment 3 – BPA Pricing Form

D. RFQ Submission Instructions:

Quotes in response to the RFQ MUST be submitted via email under “RFQ# 12FPC221Q0030 FPAC NATIONAL FURNITURE BPA” to Contract Specialist, Erica Robinson at Erica.Robinson@usda.gov and Contracting Officer, Nnenna Njoku at Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov.

mailto:Erica.Robinson@usda.gov mailto:Erica.Robinson@usda.gov mailto:Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov.

Quotes must contain the name, phone number, and e-mail address of the person to be contacted concerning any matter related to the solicitation. FPAC-BC may, for example, contact that individual to schedule and make arrangements for the vendor’s discussion meetings, if necessary.

Include the following information in your Quote:

DUNS number and TIN;

Company Name mailing address, and website address;

Date submitted and Quote due date;

Type of Company (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the beta.SAM. All offerors must be registered in SAM located at http://www.beta.sam.gov/;

Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email address.

Quote Instructions: Quotes are to be inclusive of costs to install furniture, disassemble furniture, disconnect systems furniture from whips and remove from building. Contractors are required to furnish prices, hours and labor categories needed for this requirement.

Contractors must quote on installation, disassembly, removal and disposal of existing furniture. Award of property disposal will only be made in conjunction with each order. Contractors must bid on all items to be considered for award.

Contractors who respond to this RFQ acknowledge and agree to all the instructions and procedures described herein.

Quote Due Date/Time: Quotes must be submitted electronically via e-mail (maximum upload file size is 50 MB) to Contract Specialist, Erica Robinson at Erica.Robinson@usda.gov and to Contract Officer, Nnenna Njoku at Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov on or before the RFQ closing date of XXX NLT 12:00 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time (EST). Please do not embed any documents within your uploaded files, as they may not be accessible or evaluated.

Note: The Government will begin immediate review and evaluation of the submissions following the RFQ closing date and time. Therefore, submissions or information requests about this RFQ received after the closing date and time, are considered late, and will not be accepted.

- If amendments are issued the portions that are modified will be identified and provided to the offeror.

Quote Submittal Instructions:

The written submission shall be broken into two volumes: Volume I – Technical Quote and Volume II – Price Quote.

Note: Volume I and Volume II of your quote shall include the following legend on each page: “Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104”

Questions: All questions regarding this requirement shall be submitted via email to Contract Specialist, Erica.Robinson@usda.gov, and Contracting Officer, Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov, XXX by 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Please be advised that the Government reserves the right to transmit those questions and answers of a common interest to all prospective Offerors.

Submission Formatting Requirements

Vendor quotes shall be formatted as follows:

Volume I – Technical Quote shall be formatted as follows:

http://www.beta.sam.gov/;

mailto:Erica.Robinson@usda.gov mailto:Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov mailto:Erica.Robinson@usda.gov mailto:Nnenna.Njoku@usda.gov

Volume II – Price Quote shall be formatted as follows:

Use Attachment 3 - Product Line/Discount Spreadsheet Page Limitation: None

Evaluation Criteria and Quote Submittal Instructions

The quote submission shall include two separate volumes, denoted in Roman Numerals:

Volume I – Technical Quote and Volume II-Price Quote.

Quotes will be evaluated on the factors listed below. Failure to follow the instructions may result in the quote being removed from further consideration for award.

Quoters are cautioned not to include assumptions, caveats, or exceptions within any part of their submission.

Inclusion of assumptions, caveats, or exceptions to the requirement of any kind may result in the quote no longer being considered. Quoters should ONLY submit information explicitly requested in this RFQ.

NOTE: Quotes will first be reviewed to ascertain whether they have been submitted in accordance with the instructions for Volume I-Technical Quote and Volume II-Price Quote before being evaluated against the criteria identified below.

VOLUME I-TECHNICAL QUOTE

The Technical Factors below are listed in descending order of importance. The Technical Factors when combined are approximately equal to price. However, price is always evaluated, and price rises in importance when technical merit among the quotes becomes more equal.

Technical Evaluation Criteria for Best Value:

1. Technical Compliance

2. Management Plan

3. Past Performance

The Technical Factor Evaluation Criteria applicable to this Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) are:

Phase I, Factor 1 – Technical Compliance (Consisting of the following: Go/No Go and Written Criteria)

Written Criteria

The quoter shall provide the following information to demonstrate that the product line(s) quoted meets the requirements of the SOW:

Page Limitation: 10 single spaced pages, maximum applicable to Factors 1 and 2; and 3 single spaced pages for Factor 3, equaling a total of 23 combined pages. (Key Personnel résumés are not included in the page count).

Page Size: One sided, letter size (8.5” x 11”) Font Size: 11-point font size Font Type: Times New Roman

A copy of the current GSA Catalog(s) (PDF) and/or a web link (Internet Explore, and Microsoft Edge) for all products being quoted, including all products quoted. If a web link is not provided, entire catalogs should be submitted; single pages of catalogs will not be accepted. Note: Due to size limitations each file attachment cannot be larger than 50 MB.

NOTE: Catalogs are excluded from page limitation.

Go/No Go Criteria

The quoter shall demonstrate that the product line(s) quoted can meet the requirements identified Attachment 3 Pricing Form. This is a go/no go requirement. If the bill of materials and drawings are not submitted with the written quote, it is a “no go” and the quote shall not be considered for further evaluation. The quoter shall submit drawings in a Plan View and Isometric View (3D) for each typical in PDF and CAD Format. Quoter shall submit a bill of materials broken down by typical.

This RFQ is for GSA Scheduled contract products and services only. All products and services quoted in response to this RFQ must be on GSA Schedule contract by the due date for submission of quotes. All products and services must be quoted in order to be considered a complete quote.

THIS BILL OF MATERIALS SHALL NOT CONTAIN ANY PRICING INFORMATION.

Phase II, Factor 2 – Management Plan

The Management Plan shall address all of the following elements in order to be considered for further evaluation.

Failure to address any of the elements below may result in removing the quote from further consideration for a BPA. The Management Plan shall include a narrative description of the following:

Describe how the contractor or contractor will manage a project of this scope and complexity.

Describe the contractor's approach for coordinating phased, multi-floor installations and concurrent multi-building installations.

Describe how the contractor will provide a single, accountable point of contact for the resultant BPA.

The narrative shall describe how the contractor will ensure product ordering, communications, scheduling and invoicing flows.

Describe corporate procedures for addressing poor performing dealers and installers, while maintaining seamless performance to the customer.

APPENDIX A – QUALITY CONTROL PLAN

o Identify risk(s) associated with a BPA of this magnitude and the means the contractor will take to mitigate those risks. (The Quality Control Plan will be included into the BPA Ordering Guidelines).

APPENDIX B – KEY PERSONNEL RÉSUMÉS

o In this appendix the offeror shall include résumés of proposed key personnel as described in instructions above.

The Management Plan will be evaluated on the degree to which the information provided demonstrates a thorough understanding of the requirements and a management approach to successfully provide products throughout the life of the BPA with minimal risk to the Government.

Phase II, Factor 3 – Past Performance

The quoter shall provide three (3) examples of past performance that is similar to the size and technical scope of this requirement that were:

Performed as the Prime Contractor Valued with an aggregate amount of $1 Million per year Performed within the past 5 years and may have been performed under a federal, state, local Government contract or a private commercial contract.

Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) Previous contract history

The government intends to use PPIRS and previous contract history to make an overall determination of past performance. If sufficient information cannot be found within PPIRS and if the quoter does not have any previous contract history, the Government will use the provided examples to make a determination of Past Performance.

The past performance examples shall be satisfied using either method below or a combination of both:

Delivery order(s) under a single BPA/IDIQ/GSA schedule over a 12-month period (e.g. BPA Calls, IDIQ or GSA schedule delivery orders). Each example shall include up to five delivery orders under a single BPA/IDIQ/GSA Schedule. Anything in excess of five delivery orders will not be considered or evaluated by the Government.

Or

Single contract(s) over a 12-month period. Each example shall include up to five single contract(s).

Anything in excess of five single contract(s) will not be considered or evaluated by the Government.

So that the Government may efficiently evaluate and verify the past performance information the quoter should include the following information for each example:

Name and Address of Organization and Contract Number Period of Performance Place of Performance Dollar Value Points of Contact with correct phone numbers, titles, and e-mail addresses to allow the Government to verify information submitted. Provide at least 1 verifiable contracting or technical point of contact. If possible, provide both contracting and technical points of contact. The Quoter shall ensure that information presented for points of contact is accurate and current (i.e. current phone numbers, email addresses).

The Government's Technical Evaluation Team will evaluate the recency, relevancy, quality, timeliness, and customer satisfaction for the Quoter’s past performance example. In evaluating the past performance example, the Government reserves the right to use data obtained from other sources as well as that provided in the quote.

Note: Quoters are cautioned that it is exclusively the Quoter’s responsibility to ensure that information provided is accurate and complete for all points of contact listed. Further, Quoters are responsible for ensuring references will willingly participate in the Government’s attempts to verify information provided in the quote. The Government is not responsible for the inability to contact a Quoter’s references due to inaccurate contact information or uncooperative references. Past performance information from the contractor’s references which cannot be readily confirmed may receive a lower rating for this factor.

Each example shall be a maximum of one (1) page.

The Government intends to make an overall determination of Past Performance based on a review of the following:

VOLUME II – PRICE QUOTE

Quoters shall submit a Firm-Fixed Price Quote, utilizing the Pricing Form contained in Attachment 3 (Discount Spreadsheet), for all work described in the RFQ package to include the SOW. Attachment 3 should be submitted in MS Excel Format. The quote shall be derived from the product line(s) and discount(s) on the quoter’s current, approved GSA Schedule.

Missing or incomplete pricing data in the Pricing Form may result in the quote no longer being considered, or downgraded.

The Government seeks additional discounts off contractor’s current GSA Schedule pricing. The quoted discounts will apply for the entire period of performance to include all locations inclusive of the base year and all option years.

NOTE: All products quoted must be on the contractor’s MAS contract at the time for receipt of quotations.

The Government will verify the information from Attachment 3 against the GSA Schedule catalogs submitted with the Technical Quote. Attachment 3 will be utilized to evaluate the total BPA discounts for the base year and all four (4) option years, inclusive of all optional accessories/services.

*GSA Teaming agreements are not permitted on this BPA.

The quoter shall submit the following items for all products quoted. In addition to these items, quoters are required to furnish a Bill of Materials (BOM) and a typical drawing for workstations, private office configurations, conference rooms.

Catalog Name Catalog Page Number Manufacturer Name Part # Quantity Brief Description Fabric Grade (list as grade out of total range of fabric grades offered) and Abrasion Test results in # of double rubs (for fabrics only) List Price Discount Percentage Extended Price

NOTE: The Government will verify the information from the Bill of Materials against the pricing form contained in Attachment 3.

The price quote should include a current electronic copy / web link (Internet Explore, and Microsoft Edge) of the GSA Price Catalog for all products being quoted. The prices quoted must be at or below the current GSA Schedule contract pricing. The Quoter is responsible for making sure all GSA Schedule pricing is current.

Single pages of price catalogs will not be accepted. Note: Due to size limitations each file attachment cannot be larger than 50 MB.

E. Basis for Award

(1) The Government’s intent is to evaluate the submitted quotes against the criteria set forth below and then make award on Best Value basis considering price and other factors (tradeoffs). This process allows for a tradeoff between non-cost factors and cost/price and allows the Government to accept other than the lowest priced proposal or other than the highest technically rated proposal to achieve an overall best-value contract award.

The Government will establish BPAs with three (3) vendors resulting from this RFQ to the responsible quoter submitting the best value quotation that satisfies all terms and conditions of this RFQ.

NOTE: The Government anticipates selecting awardees based upon initial quotes received; therefore, quoters are cautioned to submit their best price and technical quotes in the initial submission.

The Government intends to award three BPAs to the responsible Vendor whose quote represents the best value to the Government. Using the best-value, tradeoff process, the Government will evaluate each proposal in accordance with the evaluation criteria.

Phase I, Factor 1 – Technical Compliance

Phase II, Factor 2 – Management Plan

Phase II, Factor 3 – Past Performance

Phase II, Factor 4 – Price

(2) Relative Importance

All non-price evaluation criteria, when combined, are significantly more important than Factor 4 – Price.

As the non-price merits of competing Vendor’s quotes approach equal, Factor 4 will become more important in the best value trade-off decision. Vendors are cautioned that the award may not necessarily be made to the lowest priced quote. Evaluations will be based solely on the materials included in the quote. Therefore, the Vendor’s initial quote should contain the Quoter’s best terms. After receipt of quotes, the Government will conduct an evaluation. However, during the evaluation process, the

Government may, solely at its discretion, communicate with Vendors regarding quote elements. At any time prior to selection, including upon receipt of proposal, the Government may exclude a quote from further consideration for any material failure to follow instructions, including the omission of required information, or when the Quoter is no longer considered to be among the most highly rated quoters being considered for award.

(3) Evaluation Methodology

A two-phase multi-step down select strategy will be used for this procurement. Interested vendors are required to submit quotes in accordance with the RFQ instructions.

(a) Multistep Process

The Government intends to conduct the evaluation and selection process in two (2) Steps:

(i) Phase I – Go/No Go. Factor 1 will be evaluated in this step. After evaluation, Vendors who are rated “Go” under Phase I will be evaluated under Step 2 of the evaluation process.

Vendors who are rated “No Go” under Phase I will be provided with the general basis for the

Government’s decision via a Notification.

Note: The Notification is the only notice the Government will provide from Step 1.

(ii) Phase II – Tradeoff. Factor 2 (Management Plan), Factor 3 (Past Performance) and Factor 4

(Price) will be evaluated in this step. The selection decision will be a trade‐off involving all three factors Management Plan, Past Performance and Price. Non-price factors will be evaluated using confidence ratings. If an offeror receives a “No Confidence” rating under

Factor 2, the Vendor shall be ineligible for award and shall not be further evaluated. If a

Vendor receives a rating greater than “No Confidence” under Factor 2, the Vendor will be evaluated under Factor 3. If the Vendor receives a “No Confidence” rating under Factor 3, the

Vendor shall be ineligible for award and shall not be further considered. If a Vendor receives a rating greater than “No Confidence” under Factor 3, then the Vendor’s price quote will be evaluated under Factor 4 (Price).

(b) Rating Criteria

(i) Phase I, Factor 1 – Technical Compliance will be rated on a Go/No Go basis. To be eligible for award, Vendors must receive a rating of “Go”. Any Quoter who does not meet all of the stated requirements shall be rated “No Go” under this factor, shall be deemed ineligible for award, and the Government will not be evaluated further. Phase I will be evaluated using rating found in Table 1.

Table 1 – Factor 1 Go/No Go Ratings

Rating Definition

Go Quote meets the requirements of the solicitation.

No Go Quote does not meet the requirements of the solicitation.

(ii) Phase II non-price factors will be performed using confidence ratings (Table 2). Factor 3

(Past Performance) will first be evaluated to determine recency and relevancy.

Table 2 – Factors 2-3 Confidence Ratings

Rating Definition

High Confidence

The Government has high confidence that the Quoter understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, and will be successful in performing the contract with little or no Government intervention.

Some Confidence

The Government has some confidence that the Quoter understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, and will be successful in performing the contract with some Government intervention.

No Confidence The Government has no confidence that the Quoter understands the requirement, proposes a sound approach, or will be successful in performing the contract.

(c) Comparative Evaluation

Upon completion of Phase I and II evaluations, the Government may perform a comparative evaluation of the quotations (comparing quoter responses to one another) to select the quotation that is best suited to fulfill the requirements, based on the Quoters’ responses to the criteria outlined in this

RFQ and their relative importance. The Government anticipates selecting the best-suited quoter from initial responses, without engaging in exchanges with quoters. Quoters are strongly encouraged to submit their best technical solutions and price in response to this RFQ.

Once the Government determines the quoter that is the best-suited (i.e., the apparent successful quoter), the Government reserves the right to communicate with only that quoter to address any remaining issues, if necessary, and finalize award with that quoter. These issues may include technical and price. If the parties cannot successfully address any remaining issues, as determined pertinent at the sole discretion of the Government, the Government reserves the right to communicate with the next best-suited quoter based on the original analysis and address any remaining issues. Once the Government has begun communications with the next best-suited quoter, no further communications with the previous quoter will be entertained until after the task order has been awarded. This process shall continue until an agreement is successfully reached and a task order is awarded.

(4) EVALUATION OF OPTIONS

Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b) not to be in the Government’s best interests, the Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).