Attachment 6 - Section L - 080326.docx

Attachment 6 / Solicitation # FA330027R0002

Section L – Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Bidders

A. General: This firm fixed-priced (FFP) contract is set-aside 100% for small business concerns to submit a proposal. Only offers from small business concerns will be accepted. 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 and certification under RFO 15.403-4 will not be required. However, if at any time during this competition the Contracting Officer determines that adequate price competition no longer exists, offeror(s) may be required to submit information to the extent necessary for the Contracting Officer to determine price reasonableness.

Proposals must be complete, self-sufficient, and respond directly to the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP). 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 Government intends to evaluate offers and award this firm-fixed price contract without discussions. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if deemed in its best interest. Therefore, the offeror’s initial proposal should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint.

Offerors may be asked to clarify certain aspects of their proposal (e.g., the relevance of past performance information) or respond to adverse past performance information to which the offeror has not previously had an opportunity to respond. Adverse past performance is defined as past performance information that supports a less than satisfactory rating on any evaluation element or any unfavorable comments received from sources without a formal rating system. Exchanges conducted with regard to adverse past performance or to resolve minor or clerical errors will not constitute discussions, and the contracting officer reserves the right to award a contract without the opportunity for proposal revision.

Offerors shall submit only one proposal for Air Force (AF) Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL) Purchase Agents Requirement. The Government will review only one proposal per offeror. Proposals must be electronically submitted via email to Mark Restad at mark.restad.1@us.af.mil, LaChandra Thompson at lachandra.thompson@us.ad.mil and Samantha Millington at samantha.millington.1@us.af.mil, no later than the date and time specified in Block 8 on the face page of the RFP.

B. Acceptance Period: The Government requires a minimum acceptance period of 60 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers; however, offerors may specify an acceptance period exceeding the Government’s minimum requirement.

C. Communications: Exchange of source selection information after submission of the initial proposal packages between the Government and offerors will be controlled by the Contracting Officer. E-mail should be used to transmit such information and must be encrypted. “Source Selection Information should be listed in the subject line of the email – See RFO 2.101 and 3.104-1”. In order to facilitate the sending and receiving of encrypted e-mails, offerors must use MS Outlook e-mail configured to support encryption or a different e-mail product that is S/MIME compatible and configured to support encryption. Please contact the following Contracting Officer, Team Lead, and Buyer: Mark Restad at mark.restad.1@us.af.mil LaChandra Thompson at lachandra.thompson@us.af.mil and Samantha Millington at samantha.millington.1@us.af.mil prior to the first submittal in order to exchange certificates used for encryption. This will ensure the process is working correctly. When submitting source selection information via e-mail, file suppression to include but not limited to zip files will not be accepted.

D. Points of Contact: The Contracting Office Points of Contact (POC) are the sole POCs for this acquisition. Solicitation information and amendments will be posted to the SAM.GOV website at https://sam.gov/. Offerors may e-mail written questions pertaining to this RFP, or any of its attachments, to the addresses below. The Government will answer questions received up until 3:00 PM C.S.T. on 18 September 2026 and provide responses to interested parties via SAM.GOV. Questions received after this date may not be answered.

Mark Restad, Contracting Officer E-mail: mark.restad.1@us.af.mil

LaChandra Thompson, Team Lead E-mail: lachandra.thompson@us.af.mil

Samantha Millington, Contract Specialist E-mail: samantha.millington.1@us.af.mil

E. Electronic Reference Documents: All referenced documents for this solicitation are available on the SAM.GOV website. Potential offerors are encouraged to subscribe for e-mail notifications to be updated when information has been posted to the website for this solicitation.

F. Late Proposals: Late proposals will be processed in accordance with RFO 52.215-1(c) Submission, modification, revision, and withdrawal of proposals.

G. Specific Instructions: Proposals shall be submitted to the Government in four (4) separate volumes as set forth below:

(1) VOLUME I – SUMMARY AND MISCELLANEOUS DATA.

(a) The offeror shall provide a concise summary and master table of contents of the entire proposal.

Volume I shall be organized according to the following general outline:

1. Table of Contents

2. Completed Clause fill-ins & Certifications

3. Authorization Letter

4. Joint Venture Agreement, if applicable

5. Responsibility Determination Supporting Information

(b) Standard Form 1449 (SF 1449). Complete all necessary blocks to include Blocks 12, 17a, 30a-30c of the RFP, the offeror accedes to the contract terms and conditions as written in the RFP. A scanned copy of the originally signed (“wet” signature) page or electronically signed signature page should be included in the proposal package.

(c) Standard Form 30 (SF 30), Blocks 15A-15C, for any/all amendments. A scanned copy of the originally signed (“wet” signature) page or electronically signed signature page should be included in the proposal package for any/all amendments.

(d) Complete all necessary fill-ins and certifications in Representation, Certification, & Other Statements (Pg. 24). Ensure compliance with RFP requirements if using the annual representations and certifications electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) website at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Ensure the Tax Identification Number (TIN) is loaded in SAM or provided for in the proposal submission. If the CO is unable to access/retrieve an offeror’s annual representations and certifications, that offeror may, upon request by the CO, be required to submit a hard copy of their annual representations and certifications. This request will not be construed as communications or discussions with an offeror as defined by RFO 15.202.

(e) Authorization Letter. Submit a letter, signed at the vice-president level or equivalent or higher, that identifies the individual(s) with the authority to obligate or otherwise bind your company to the resulting contract and, if necessary, future contract modifications.

(f) Joint Venture Agreement. If a joint venture arrangement exists for this acquisition, the offeror shall provide a copy of the joint venture agreement that is signed and dated by all joint venture members as part of the proposal submission.

(g) Responsibility Determination and Supporting Documentation. To assist in determining contractor responsibility in accordance with RFO 9.104-3(a), the offeror shall explain how they plan to maintain adequate financial resources for a contract of this magnitude and length. The offeror shall address a fiscal plan for covering mobilization, unexpected or emergency situations, and initial performance costs prior to recoupment in the form of monthly invoice payments. If the offeror intends to rely on internally available working/operation capital, documentation of availability must be submitted. If the offeror plans to rely on financial support from external sources, documentation of availability and maximum lines of credit available (based upon the inclusion of this contract effort) must be submitted. Evidence of external funding must be provided in the form of a dated letter from the external source.

IAW RFO 9.104-5, the offeror is required to comply with the submission regarding RFO 52.209-5, Certification Regarding Responsibility Matters. Since it is the Government’s intent to make Award without Discussions IAW RFO 52.215-1, the Government may request that an offeror submit additional information so a responsibility determination can be made. This request for additional information will not be construed as communications or discussions with an offeror as defined by RFO 15.202. An incomplete proposal may be considered to indicate lack of understanding of the requirement and may result in the entire proposal being determined “unacceptable” and eliminated from further consideration.

(2) VOLUME II – FACTOR 1 - TECHNICAL PROPOSAL.

(a) General. The written Technical Volume shall be clear, concise, and include all the information required by this provision in sufficient detail for effective evaluation. 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 the Government has no prior knowledge of their capabilities, work processes, facilities, and experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the offeror’s technical proposal.

(b) Volume Organization.

1. Table of Contents

2. Glossary

3. Summary Page

4. Subfactor 1 – Financial Capability

5. Subfactor 2 – Management Plan

(c) Summary Page(s). To aid the Government’s understanding, provide a summary of the offeror’s proposed technical approach and how the approach will efficiently and effectively meet the requirement. The summary page(s) shall not exceed two (2) pages.

(d) The technical volume shall not exceed 40 pages. The page limit does not include the title page, table of contents, resumes, any list of acronyms or definitions. A page is defined as one face of a sheet of paper containing information. Pages shall be numbered consecutively. Offerors are cautioned that any pages that exceed the page limitations shall not be read but shall be removed and either retained in the contract file without being considered in the evaluation, or, sent back to the offeror.

(e) Page size will be 8 1/2” x 11” except for fold-outs used for charts, tables, or diagrams, which may not exceed 11” x 17.”

(f) Typing shall be double spaced, in Times New Roman font, and not be less than 12 pitch. Offeror’s are allowed to use a smaller text font for charts, tables and diagrams, no smaller than 10 pt. Additionally, offeror’s can single space within tables.

(g) Elaborate formats or color presentations are not desired or required.

(h) Each page containing proprietary information should be so marked.

(i) Each page should contain the following legend at the bottom of each sheet:

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE RFO 2.101 and 3.104 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(j) Technical Subfactors are listed below:

Subfactor 1: Financial Capability

The offeror shall provide written evidence from a reputable financial institution or entity that he or she has access to at least one and a half million dollars ($1,500,000.00).

Subfactor 2: Management Plan

The offeror shall provide a Management Plan that describes its approach/process to ensure the employment of qualified personnel as necessary for functional continuity. At a minimum, the Management Plan shall include the following:

• Submit resumes for qualified purchasing manager intended to fill the performance objective designated in PWS paragraph 6.4.

• Approach and process to ensure no gap in any labor category exceeds ten (10) working days as required in PWS paragraph 8.0.

(3) VOLUME III – FACTOR 2 - PAST PERFORMANCE PROPOSAL. Each offeror shall submit a Past Performance Volume with its proposal. The Past Performance Volume shall be prepared in accordance with all instructions contained within this section. Only references for past efforts/contracts of relevance are desired.

(a) Volume Organization. The Past Performance volume shall be organized according to the following general outline:

(1) Table of Contents

(2) Glossary

(3) Summary Page

(4) Past Performance Information (PPI)

(5) Organization Structure Change History

(6) Teaming Agreement, if applicable

(7) Subcontractor Letters of Consent

(b) Summary Page. Many companies have acquired, been acquired by, otherwise merged with other companies, and/or reorganized their divisions, business groups, subsidiary companies, etc. In many cases, these changes have taken place during the time of performance of relevant present or past contracts. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to determine what past performance is relevant to this acquisition. To facilitate this relevancy determination, include in this proposal volume a “roadmap” describing all such changes in the organization of the offering company. As part of this explanation, show how these changes impact the relevance of any efforts identified for the past performance evaluation. Since the Government intends to consider past and present performance information provided by other sources as well, the “roadmap” should be applicable to contracts the Government receives information on from other sources.

If applicable, describe the role of the Offeror and each subcontractor, teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner for whom the Offeror is required to provide Past Performance Information Sheets in accordance with paragraph e below.

(c) Quality and Satisfaction Rating of Contracts completed in the Past Five (5) Years: Provide any information currently available (letters, metrics, customer surveys, independent surveys, etc.) that demonstrates customer satisfaction with overall job performance and/or quality of completed and/or ongoing contracts. In addition, explain corrective actions taken in the past, if any, for substandard performance and any current performance problems, such as cost overruns, extended performance periods, numerous warranty calls, etc. There is no required format for submission of this information.

(d) Performance Surveys/Questionnaires: Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs) shall be used by the offeror in obtaining and providing past performance information. The government requires the offeror to send out a PPQ to each of the Points-of-Contact (POCs) identified in the Past Performance Information (paragraph (e) below).

The offeror shall send out the PPQ (Attachment 3), using the Past Performance Evaluation Cover Letter provided within same attachment, to each of their references.

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO SEND OUT THE PAST PERFORMANCE QUESTIONNAIRE RESTS SOLELY WITH THE OFFEROR.

Past Performance Questionnaire: For each of the three (3) submitted contracts found to have some relevance to the instant acquisition, the Past Performance Team will contact the points of contact identified in the PPQs. A telephone interview will be conducted utilizing the Present/Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 3). The Government reserves the right to change, alter, and/or supplement the questionnaire without further notice to the offeror(s).

(e) Past Performance Information (PPI): Utilizing the PPI Sheet (Attachment 2), submit information on no more than three (3) recent contracts the offeror considers most relevant in demonstrating the ability to perform the proposed effort. One (1) of the past performance references may be for a subcontractor, teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement (i.e., 25% or more of the work). Recent past performance information includes contracts performed and/or being performed for any customer within (5) years from the issuance date of the solicitation, to include at least twelve (12) months of documented performance during the five (5) year period. Include rationale supporting your assertion of relevance and identify aspects of the contracts deemed relevant and how they relate to the proposed effort.

(f) If an offeror has no past performance history of relevance, the offeror must affirmatively state it possesses no past performance history of relevance.

(g) The evaluation of past performance information will take into account past performance regarding (i) predecessor companies, (ii) will take into account past performance of key personnel who have relevant experience, and/or (iii) will take into account past performance regarding subcontractor(s), teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement when such information is relevant to this acquisition. There is no required format for submission of this information.

(h) Specific Content: Offerors may include a discussion of efforts accomplished by the Offeror to resolve problems encountered on prior contracts as well as past efforts to identify and manage program risk. Merely having problems does not automatically equate to a Limited or No Confidence rating, since the problems encountered may have been on a more complex program or an Offeror may have subsequently demonstrated the ability to overcome the problems. The Offeror is required to clearly demonstrate management actions employed in overcoming problems and the effects of those actions, in terms of improvements achieved or problems rectified. This could result in a rating of Substantial or Satisfactory Confidence.

(i) Teaming Agreement: If a teaming arrangement is contemplated, provide complete information as to the arrangement, including any relevant and recent past performance information on previous teaming arrangements with same partner. If this is a first time joint effort, each party to the arrangement must provide a list of past contracts of relevance.

(j) Subcontractor Consent: Past performance information pertaining to a subcontractor cannot be disclosed to the prime offeror without the subcontractor’s consent. Provide with the proposal a letter from each subcontractor that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement, consenting to the release of its past performance information to the prime contractor (Attachment 4). If the subcontractor does not consent, include a statement to that effect.

(4) VOLUME IV – FACTOR 3 - PRICE PROPOSAL.

(a) Insert proposed unit and extended prices in Supplies or Services & Prices or Costs (Pg. 3) for Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs), x001. DO NOT PRICE CLINs x002 and x003; no price is required for CLINs x002 and x003, as they will not be evaluated in the Total Evaluated Price (TEP). The extended amount must equal the unit price multiplied by the number of units. It is imperative that mathematical calculations are correct; particular care should be taken to ensure the amounts match when using the EXCEL program and the rounding of figures, limited to two decimal places.

(b) Extreme care should be exercised to ensure that no price data of any kind are included in any other Part of the proposal.

(c) Price Reasonableness. The source selection will be conducted with the expectation of adequate price competition for this acquisition per RFO 15.403-2(c)(1); therefore, certified cost or pricing data are not required per RFO 15.403-2(b)(1). If at any time during this competition the Contracting Officer determines that adequate price competition no longer exists or that price reasonableness cannot be determined, offerors may be required to submit additional certified cost or pricing data for the Contracting Officer to determine price reasonableness. A contract will not be awarded to a contractor whose price is not determined to be fair and reasonable.

(d) Point of Contact. The Contracting Officer (CO), Team Lead, and the Contract Specialist are the sole points of contact for this acquisition. Address any questions or concerns IN WRITING to the individuals listed below. The deadline for all questions, concerns and/or requests for clarification is 3:00 PM local time on 18 September 2026. The Government may not respond to submissions past the deadline. Contact information is as follows:

(e) Contract Award. The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors. Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary.

(f) Discrepancies. If an offeror believes these instructions contain errors, omissions or are unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer in writing with supporting rationale as well as remedies the offeror is asking the Contracting Officer to consider as related to the omission or error.

(End of Section)