HC108426R0004 Draft Solicitation.docx

HC108426R0004

Section SF 1449 - CONTINUATION SHEET

ADDENDUM TO 52.212-1(B)

I. ADDENDUM TO 52.212-1(b): SUBMISSION OF OFFERS

(i) General Information

(A) Points of Contact: The contracting officer (KO) and contract specialist (CS) are the sole points of contact for this procurement. Direct all questions and concerns to the KO/CS. Submit written requests for clarification to:

CS: Joseph Santel - joseph.l.santel2.civ@mail.mil KO: Tricia Singler - tricia.l.singler.civ@mail.mil

(B) Discrepancies: Offerors believing the instructions contain errors, omissions, or unsound requirements must immediately notify the KO in writing with supporting rationale. The Government reserves the right to award based on initial proposals without discussion.

(C) Electronic Reference Documents: All referenced documents are available on the Contracting Opportunities website at https://www.sam.gov. Offerors are encouraged to subscribe to real-time email notifications.

(D) Communications: KO and CS will control exchanges of source selection information. Email will be used to transmit such information with the subject line: “Source Selection Information – See Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101 & 3.104”. Requests for clarification and information concerning the solicitation must be provided in writing no later than 15 calendar days prior to the solicitation closing date. Answers to questions will be posted electronically as an amendment to the solicitation. Questions must be sent via e-mail to the KO and CS.

(E) Phased Procurement: The Government intends to conduct this procurement through a multi-phased proposal submission and evaluation.

(ii) Instructions for Proposal Preparation A. Technical Proposal: Offerors are requested to submit a technical proposal and a price proposal in response to the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS). The Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan is provided for contractor reference (See Attachment 6). Information on the organization and submission of technical and price proposals is provided below. The proposal has written and oral components, as identified in Table 1 – Proposal Organization.

The proposal must be clear, concise, and include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of statements asserted in the proposal. The proposal should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements, rather, it must provide convincing rationale to address how the offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors must assume the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and capabilities and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the offeror's proposal. The offeror's proposal must include all data and information requested by the Request for Proposal (RFP) and must be submitted in accordance with these instructions. The proposal should sufficiently address the requirements as stated in the PWS. Non-conformance with these instructions may result in removal of the proposal from further evaluation.

B. Oral Presentation Medium: The Government intends to hold oral presentations virtually via a Microsoft (MS) Teams meeting. Offerors are not required to purchase any video teleconferencing (VTC) software in response to this solicitation and will not be reimbursed for any costs associated. Offerors must state in their submission whether they can or cannot present their oral proposal via MS Teams (see addendum to 52.212-1(b)(12)(vii)(A)). If an offeror cannot present their oral proposal via MS Teams, the Government will make every reasonable attempt to accommodate the offeror via another VTC medium or voice-only telephone. By participating in the oral presentations, the offeror acknowledges that it complies with all solicitation rules and parameters, in accordance with applicable laws and statutes.

C. Recording Oral Presentations: Recording oral presentations by offerors is strictly prohibited, notwithstanding local laws and regulations with regards to virtual meetings or voice-only telephone oral presentations. The Government reserves the right to record oral presentations. If recorded, the recording is source selection sensitive and will be handled accordingly.

D. Exchanges During Oral Presentation: The Government intends to engage in interactive dialogue during the oral presentations. These exchanges are viewed as a component of the oral presentation itself and do not constitute discussions.

(iii) Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest (OCCI). Per DISA Special Contract Requirement H1, each offeror must specifically identify in its proposal whether any potential or actual OCCI, as described in FAR Subpart 9.5, exists for this instant procurement. If the Offeror believes that no OCCI exists, the OCCI response must set forth sufficient details to support such a position. If an offeror believes that an actual or perceived OCCI does exist on the instant procurement, the offeror must submit an OCCI plan with the proposal, explaining in detail how the OCCI will be mitigated and/or avoided.

(iv) Administrative Requirements. The written portion of the proposal shall follow the formatting instructions below. Page and slide limitations, if applicable, are identified below and will be treated as maximums. A page and slide are defined as each face of a sheet of paper containing information. When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it will be counted as two pages. Page and slide sizes must be 8.5 x 11 inches, when printed. If exceeded, excess pages and slides will not be read or considered in evaluation of the proposal. The following items will not be considered when calculating page limits: cover pages, table of contents, glossary, executive summary, OCCI mitigation plans, Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) plans, Government Furnished Property attachment, FAR/Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Provisions and Clauses (fill-in text), and Section 508 compliance. If the Government issues evaluation notices, page limitations may also be placed on those. Page and slide limitations must not be circumvented by including inserted text boxes/pop-ups or internet links to additional information; such inclusions are not acceptable and will not be considered part of a proposal. The Government reserves the right to exclude from evaluation and not consider any proposal for award that does not adhere to the administrative requirements of this RFP.

(v) Proposal Organization. Proposals must be prepared according to the table below. Each volume's title, content, page limits, and number of copies must comply with these requirements. The contents of each volume should be self-contained to allow for independent evaluation with minimal cross-referencing. Missing information will be regarded as omitted. Internal cross-referencing is allowed if it conserves space and maintains clarity. Detailed tables of contents and tab indexing are recommended for easy navigation. Each volume may include a glossary of abbreviations and acronyms with explanations. Glossaries are not counted towards the page limits for the volumes.

Table 1:

Proposal Organization

Five Pages

12 Pages

(Oral Presentation)

Five Pages

No Limit

No Limit

No Limit

20 Pages

(vi) Electronic Submission of Offers. Submit Volumes I through VI via email with "Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 & 3.104" in the subject line. Each volume should be a separate file. If any files are compressed, include the required decompression program. Send proposals to:

· CS: Joseph Santel - joseph.l.santel2.civ@mail.mil

· KO: Tricia Singler - tricia.l.singler.civ@mail.mil

(vii) Proposal Volumes

(A) Volume I – Executive Summary: Describe the significant attributes and theme of the proposal concisely, including significant risks and key/unique features (excluding price). Summary material presented here does not meet the requirements for other volumes. Include a master table of contents for the entire proposal.

(B) Volume II – Technical/Management: Develop a concise and comprehensive Technical/Management volume to fulfill the requirements set forth in FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation – Commercial Items. Your document should:

1. Be submitted in MS Word 2007 or newer format.

2. Follow a 1-inch margin format using at least an 11-point Arial, Times New Roman, or Courier New font.

3. Not exceed two megabytes (MB) in document size.

4. Clearly describe the methodology for achieving the technical/management factors and subfactors.

5. Address your approach to meeting or exceeding the performance requirements, highlighting any associated risks in terms of technical performance, price, schedule, oversight needs, and contract success potential.

6. Provide realistic risk mitigations and state any new risks introduced by these mitigations.

Volume II - Technical/Management shall be organized as follows:

Evaluation Factor 3: Technical/Management Phase I Written Proposal:

· Subfactor 1.1: Self-Certification Checklist and Letter (Attachments 2 & 3)

· Subfactor 1.2: Technical Solution (PWS 6.2.1, 6.2.1.1, 6.2.1.2, 6.4.1, 6.4.1.1, 6.4.1.2)

· Subfactor 1.3: Availability (PWS 6.5.1)

· Subfactor 1.4: Service Delivery Plan (PWS 6.5.2.1, 6.5.4, 6.12.1, 6.12.2)

Phase II Oral Presentation:

· Subfactor 2.1: Unclassified Continental United States (CONUS) Data Center Operational Storage Environment Task Order

· Subfactor 2.2: Unclassified CONUS Data Center Network Attached Storage (NAS)/Object Storage Task Order

· Subfactor 2.3: Unclassified CONUS Data Center Backup Storage Environment Task Order

· Subfactor 2.4: Unclassified CONUS Data Center Growth Task Order

· Subfactor 2.5: Storage Resource Management (SRM)

Phase III Proof of Concept:

· The Government may require a PoC demonstration from selected offerors. Offerors are solely responsible for all costs associated with the PoC demonstration, including location, personnel, and equipment.

Alternative SLINs shall be a separate chapter of the Technical/Management Volume.

Attachment 4 Offeror Technical Specifications

Instructions for Phase I Written Proposal:

The following instructions are for the preparation and submission of proposals. The purpose of this section is to establish requirements for the format and content of proposals so that proposals contain all essential information and can be evaluated equitably. Offerors are instructed to read the entire solicitation document, including all attachments, prior to submitting questions and/or preparing your offer. Omission of any information from the quote submission requirements may result in rejection of the offer.

1. Offerors are expected to follow the detailed proposal preparation instructions fully and carefully. The Government will rely on the information provided by the offerors to evaluate the proposals. It is therefore imperative that offerors carefully follow the instructions set forth below and submit their proposals in the format and with the content specified below, providing all requested information.

2. Proposals that fail to provide information in the format requested may be found unacceptable and may be rejected without further consideration if the KO determines that a significant revision or addendum to the offeror’s proposal would be required to permit further evaluation, and especially if the incompleteness of the proposal or errant formatting of the quote appears to be due from a lack of diligence or competence of the offerors.

3. The instructions provided have been specifically tailored to the evaluation procedures to be applied for proposal evaluations. They are designed to ensure the submission of information essential to the understanding and comprehensive validation and evaluation of proposals. Clarity and completeness are of utmost importance to the proposal. The relevance and conciseness of the proposal is important. The offerors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the offeror’s proposal. The proposal shall be valid for one hundred and eighty (180) calendar days from the proposal due date.

Page Size and Font

1. Number of Pages – No more than 12 single-sided pages. If the technical proposal is longer than this page-count limitation, the excess pages shall not be reviewed nor evaluated. The page count for the technical proposal is exclusive of the cover letter, cover page, table of contents, resume.

2. Paper size shall be 8 1/2 by 11-inch white paper with printing on one (1) side only, using 12-point font. No reduction is permitted except for organization charts or other graphic illustrations, or in headers/footers. In those instances where reduction is allowable, offerors shall ensure that the print is easily readable; no less than 8-point font on graphs and 10-point font on tables. Each page shall have adequate margins on each side (at least one (1) inch) of the page. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be evaluated) may be included in the 1" margin space. Pages that exceed the maximum page limitation will not be evaluated.

3. For the electronic copy of the quote, each file shall be submitted in a format readable by MS Office 2013 or searchable Portable Document Format (PDF).

Advisory Down-Selection Notification from Phase I to Phase II

1. After the Government completes evaluation criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4, offerors will receive an advisory notification via e-mail from the KO. This notification will advise the offerors of the Government’s advisory recommendation to proceed or not to proceed with Phase II submission. Offerors who are rated most highly for criteria 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be advised to proceed to Phase II of the quote submission process. Offerors who were not among the most highly rated will be advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors, along with the general basis for the Government’s advisory recommendation. The intent of this advice is to minimize quote development costs for those offerors with little to no chance of receiving an award. Offerors should note that Phase I evaluation criteria are more important than Phase II evaluation criteria.

2. The Government intends to provide no more than four offerors with an advisory notification to proceed. However, the Government’s advice will be a recommendation only, and those offerors who are advised not to proceed may elect to continue their participation in the procurement.

3. Failure to participate in Phase I of the procurement precludes further consideration of an offeror. Phase II submissions will not be accepted from offerors who have not submitted Phase I proposals by the due date and time stated in this solicitation. For those offerors that are rated most highly and advised to proceed to Phase II of the quote submission process, the KO will include the Phase II submission instructions on the advisory notification, including the date, time and exact location of the offeror’s scheduled oral presentation, as well as the due date for the written portion of the Phase II submission. The Phase II written submission due date will be a minimum of three weeks from the date of the advisory notification, and oral presentations will be scheduled after the submission of written Phase II proposals. The Government recommends offerors to begin preparation of Phase II oral presentation only after receipt of the Phase I advisory down-select notice.

4. Those offerors that received advisory notification not to proceed to Phase II, but regardless choose to proceed to Phase II, shall send an email to tricia.l.singler.civ@mail.mil, and joseph.l.santel2.civ@mail.mil no later than 24 hours after receipt of the advisory recommendation not to proceed, indicating its intent to participate in Phase II. After the KO receives notice from the offerors stating its intent to participate in Phase II despite the Government’s advisory notification not to proceed, the KO will send a separate e-mail with Phase II submission instructions within two business days.

Instructions for Phase II Oral Presentation:

The Government’s notification to offerors after evaluation of Phase I quote submissions will include the due date for Phase II written submissions, as well as the scheduled time for offerors oral presentations. The due date for Phase II written submissions will be prior to the scheduled oral presentations.

The technical and management volume should be specific, complete and consist solely of the oral proposal and the offeror’s slides used during the presentation. If there is a discrepancy between the offeror’s slides and the oral proposal, the information in the slides shall take precedence. However, the Government will not evaluate or consider information referenced in the offeror’s slides that was not presented orally as part of the offeror’s proposal. The Government will evaluate oral proposals against the technical and management approach subfactors defined in the addendum to 52-212-2, Evaluation—Commercial Products and Commercial Services.

1. The Technical and Management Volume Phase II (oral proposal and offeror’s slides), address the proposed approach to meeting or exceeding the minimum performance or capability requirements of each technical and management subfactor, as well as any risks in your proposed approach in terms of technical performance, price, or schedule. Address any technical and management risk by identifying those aspects of the proposal considered to have the potential for disruption of schedule, increased cost, poor performance, the need for increased Government oversight, or the likelihood of unsuccessful contract performance. Describe the impact of each identified risk in terms of its potential interfering with or preventing the successful accomplishment of other contract requirements (e.g., PWS or specification requirements), whether those requirements are or are not identified as subfactors. Propose a realistic "work around" or risk mitigation for identified risks that will eliminate or reduce risk to an acceptable level. Identify any new risks introduced by such risk mitigation.

2. Oral Proposal. Oral proposals are limited to a maximum of 90 minutes per offeror. At the conclusion of the oral proposal, the Government will convene for up to a 30-minute internal caucus to determine if there are any questions for the offeror. After the 30-minute caucus, there will be a 30-minute session for the Government to ask the offeror questions. This dialogue is a component of the oral proposal, and offerors will not be given the opportunity to revise any part of their previously submitted written proposal or submit any subsequent proposal revisions. The question-and-answer segment will be of clarifying nature only per FAR 15.306(a), which will not constitute discussions under FAR 15.306(b) and (d). Offerors may not exceed the 90-minute time limit for oral proposals.

3. Presentation Slides. Offerors shall submit their presentation slides with their proposal submission for Subfactors 2.1 – 2.5 and shall cover all presentation material. If the offeror does not include their slides with their proposal, the Government will consider the offeror as non-responsive and exclude the offeror from further consideration. The presentation slides submitted with the proposal submission shall be the same slides used in the oral proposal. No additions or changes are permitted between the time the proposal is submitted and the time of the oral proposal. Offerors shall not include narrative discussions (i.e., note pages, handouts, or other similar narrative material) with the briefing slides.

There is a 30-slide limitation for the presentation slides. This limitation does not include a cover slide or an agenda/summary slide. The slides shall be a PDF or MS PowerPoint file. Font size in the slides shall be 14 points or larger. Headers and Footer fonts shall be no smaller than 10 points. Slides shall be a 16:9 aspect ratio. Offerors may use both text slides and graphics slides. Each slide shall have fixed content, and no animations are allowed on the slides. All information on the slides shall be visible when printed (i.e., text or graphics do not extend past the border of the slide).

4. Oral Presentation Participants. Offerors shall include a point of contact in their proposal for oral presentations, providing the point of contact's name, phone number, and email address. The Government will arrange oral presentations with the point of contact for those who submit a complete package by the specified deadline. These presentations will be scheduled approximately seven business days after the submission of the Phase 2 written proposal and slides and will be assigned randomly.

Each offeror is allowed four representatives at the oral presentation: three speakers (three key personnel or two key personnel and one company executive) and one silent participant. Each company can attend only one presentation, either as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor for another offeror. Only government personnel will participate in the source selection process.

Offerors who submit timely and compliant proposals will receive detailed information about the venue, media, and schedule for oral presentations. These presentations will be conducted virtually via MS Teams Department of War (DoW) 365-J. If there are unexpected connectivity issues, the 90-minute limit will be adjusted accordingly. Presentations cannot be conducted in person, and a Common Access Card is not required to access the platform. The Government will record the presentations and question and answer period. All costs related to the oral presentations will be the responsibility of the offeror; no costs will be reimbursed by the Government.

Advisory Down-Selection Notification from Phase II to Phase III

1. If the Government requires a PoC demonstration based upon the offeror’s oral presentation in Phase II, offerors will receive an advisory notification via e-mail from the KO. This notification will advise the offerors of the Government’s advisory recommendation to proceed or not to proceed with Phase III submission. Offerors who are rated most highly after the oral presentations in Phase II will be advised to proceed to Phase III of the proposal submission process. Offerors who were not among the most highly rated will be advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors, along with the general basis for the Government’s advisory recommendation. The intent of this advice is to minimize quote development costs for those offerors with little to no chance of receiving an award. Offerors should note that Phase II evaluation criteria are more important than Phase III evaluation criteria.

2. The Government intends to provide no more than two offerors with an advisory notification to proceed. However, the Government’s advice will be a recommendation only, and those offerors who are advised not to proceed may elect to continue their participation in the procurement.

3. Failure to participate in Phase II of the procurement precludes further consideration of an offeror. Phase III product demonstrations will not be accepted from offerors who have not submitted Phase II proposals by the due date and time stated in this solicitation. For those offerors that are rated most highly and advised to proceed to Phase III of the quote submission process, the KO will include the Phase III instructions on the advisory notification, including the date and time of the offeror’s scheduled PoC demonstration. The Government recommends offerors to begin preparation of Phase III PoC demonstration only after receipt of the Phase II advisory down-select notice.

4. Those offerors that received advisory notification not to proceed to Phase III, but regardless choose to proceed to Phase III, shall send an email to tricia.l.singler.civ@mail.mil, and joseph.l.santel2.civ@mail.mil no later than 24 hours after receipt of the advisory recommendation not to proceed, indicating its intent to participate in Phase III. After the KO receives notice from the offerors stating their intent to participate in Phase III despite the Government’s advisory notification not to proceed, the KO will send a separate e-mail with Phase III instructions within two business days.

Instructions for Phase III Proof of Concept:

The Government may require a PoC demonstration from selected offerors. Offerors are solely responsible for all costs associated with the PoC demonstration, including location, personnel, and equipment. The PoC will focus on validating the first two technical subfactors specified in this solicitation. To ensure consistent evaluation, the Government will provide offerors with a comprehensive test plan and any necessary data 21 days before the scheduled demonstration. This test plan will detail the specific elements of the offeror's solution requiring validation. Offerors will be notified if they are required to participate in the PoC, which will be scheduled to take place within 30 days of that notification. The demonstration will be conducted over two consecutive days, with a maximum of eight hours per day allotted for presentation and testing.

(C) Volume III – Small Business Participation: Reference DFARS 215.304(c)(i): In acquisitions requiring the use of the Small Business Subcontracting Plan (FAR 52.219-9) and not based on the lowest price technically acceptable process, the participation of small businesses such as those owned by Small Business (SB), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), and Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) should be considered in the source selection. The KO will assess how well offerors identify and commit to the involvement of small businesses in fulfilling the contract, whether through joint ventures, teaming arrangements, or as subcontractors.

Evaluation Factor 1: Small Business Participation Plan (SBPP) A SBPP template is provided (See Attachment 7). The document is for guidance but is not mandatory for use by offerors.

All offerors (both large and small businesses) will be evaluated on the level of proposed participation of U.S. small businesses in the performance of this acquisition. The Government will assess if small business participation meets the Minimum Quantitative Requirements (MQRs) of this requirement as identified in the paragraphs below. The SBPP an actual commitment document that addresses the extent of small business utilization in the performance of a contract as outlined in DFARS 215.304(c)(i). The SBPP specifies the details of how the offeror will maximize the utilization of small businesses within this acquisition. The offeror shall articulate how small businesses will participate through performance as a small business prime offeror and/or first-tier small business subcontracting only. Second and third tier small business subcontractors will NOT be considered towards the total small business participation percentage in this factor.

All offerors, including those who are DoW comprehensive test program participants, shall submit a SBPP as a part of their proposal. The final SBPP will be monitored as a measure of contract compliance and execution and results of it may be used in Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting Systems assessments. The SBPP shall not reference the Subcontracting Plan or any other volume of information; all information required within the SBPP shall be contained within the tab for that element. This SBPP and the MQRs apply to the overall contract and will be incorporated at contract award. In accordance with DFARS 215.304(c)(i), small business participation is an evaluation factor under Volume III of this solicitation.

For the purposes of this SBPP, offerors should use $500M for the “Total Contract Value” (TCV) when calculating percentages and dollars. This TCV shall not be considered minimum guarantees, ceiling amounts, or estimates for pricing purposes. Execution percentages will be based on actual dollars obligated. This TCV calculation is for the purposes of the SBPP calculations only. This number does not represent the government's anticipated spending under the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract and is solely for standardization of the small business plan.

Offerors shall provide the following:

1. The total combined dollars and percentage of work to be performed by the prime contractor, any large business subcontractors and any small business subcontractors.

Note: The SBPP measures the percentage of the TCV while the Subcontracting Plan measures the percentage of the subcontracted dollars. Small business offerors will be required to report achievements against their SBPP while “Other Than Small Business” offerors will be required to report results against both sets of goals during contract execution.

2. The total percentage of participation is to be performed by each small business category. The percentage of work performed by small businesses that qualify in multiple small business subcategories should be counted in each category. For example, if a company is a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), the dollars subcontracted to that company should be counted for Small Business, WOSB and SDVOSB.

Detailed explanations shall be provided when the percentages fall short of the MQRs listed in the solicitation. The Government does not recognize zero percent as an acceptable proposed goal. However, if zero goals are proposed for small businesses or any subcategory, they shall be supported with a detailed explanation as to why the offeror cannot utilize small business. If the offeror does not submit a detailed rationale/explanation, the zero percentage may be deemed unacceptable. All percentages should use the TCV as a baseline. The Small Business Evaluation Board shall be able to verify that each percentage is based on the TCV.

Table 2:

MQRs for this Requirement

Note: Double counting is permitted. A participation plan that reflects X% of the acquisition value for any of the categories would also count towards the overall small business goal.

The Government must be able to verify that each percentage is based on the total evaluated price. Execution percentages will be based on actual dollars obligated.

3. List of principal services to be performed by small businesses. This list should include the specific task areas from the PWS and the complexity * (low, medium or high) that small businesses will perform for this specific requirement to include the dollars planned for each small business.

*Complexity: These are presented as guidelines only and should not be construed as replacing requirements in any other section of the solicitation to include labor category requirements.

Low: Does not require technical expertise. May not require employees to have a college degree, may require direct supervision and/or require less than five years of related experience. Examples: SharePoint Support, Project Management, Non-technical support, acquiring products or ordering materials/software/hardware.

Medium: Requires technical expertise or knowledge. Does require an employee to have a college degree, require little direction or supervision, requires 5-10 years of related experience. Examples: Information Technology (IT) Operations, Data Management, IT Support Services, Cybersecurity, Tier I and Tier II Help Desk Support, Program Management, Development, Security, and Operations, Operations & Sustainment of existing systems.

High: Requires significant technical expertise or knowledge. Does require an employee to have a college degree or advanced degree, require no direction or supervision, require ten+ years of related experience. Examples: Engineering Support, Tier III Help Desk Support, Advanced IT Support Services, Systems Engineering work for new requirements, Innovation requirements/work.

List the extent of commitment to using such firms as either enforceable or unenforceable (enforceable arrangements demonstrate commitment vice unenforceable arrangements). Documentation regarding enforceable commitments shall be provided. For example, signed teaming agreements, mentor-protégé agreements, joint ventures, subcontracting or partnership letters of commitment(s), etc., may be included to support your commitment to small business utilization. Enforceable commitments shall be specific to the subject requirement and include signatures by both parties.

4. Describe the specifics on how the offeror’s firm intends to maximize the utilization of small businesses within this acquisition. What plans of action will the offeror execute to ensure maximum participation for small businesses? The offeror shall articulate how small businesses will participate through performance as a small business prime offeror and/or first-tier small business subcontracting only. Second and third-tier small business subcontractors will not be considered towards the total small business participation percentage in this factor.

5. DISA is focused on removing barriers to entry for small businesses. The number one barrier is the facility site clearance (FCL). Part of maximizing the utilization of small businesses is to remove barriers. This solicitation and any resultant contract require the prime contractor to sponsor at least two FCLs for small businesses during the base year. To be rated “Acceptable” offeror shall provide a written guarantee that they will sponsor two or more FCLs to small business during the first two years of performance of a resultant contract.

6. Demonstration of success in the utilization of small business. The SBPP shall provide demonstrations of success in utilization of small businesses. This may be in the form of a Defense Contract Management Agency’s Small Business Subcontracting Program compliance review with a satisfactory rating or higher or Summary Subcontract Reports, as reported in the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System, demonstrating meeting or exceeding goals or rationale for unsuccessful goal achievements that include lessons learned and actions taken to meet goals and why they didn’t work. The documents included shall be from the offeror.

In the case of offerors for which there is no utilization of small business information on past contract performance or where past contract performance information is not available, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably (See FAR 15.305[a][2][iv]). This may be the case for small business offerors. If small business offerors claim this, they should state so in this section of the proposal.

This SBPP is for the overall contract and will apply to all task orders cumulatively unless individually negotiated at the task order level per the solicitation of the specific task order.

Note: The percentages and dollar values shall be achievable for the procurement for both the Participation Plan as well as the Subcontracting Plan. For “Other Than Small” Businesses only: The dollar values proposed for small business participation presented in the SBPP shall be consistent with the dollar values presented for small business participation in your Individual Subcontracting Plan.

E. VOLUME IV - PRICE.

Evaluation Factor 4: Price

1. The price volume shall be organized as follows:

a. Attachment 5, ESS IV Price Model.

b. Price Narrative - to include cost or pricing information, supporting data, estimating methodology.

2. Price proposals should be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate their reasonableness. Offerors should ensure price proposals include detailed information regarding the resources required to accomplish the task (e.g., labor categories, labor hours, number of employees for each labor category, rates, materials). The KO may require data other than certified cost or pricing data may to support the price reasonableness of the proposal per FAR 15.403.

3. The Price Volume shall consist of a price proposal outlining the proposed prices for each of contract line-item numbers (CLIN) and SLINs. The Government has provided an MS Excel pricing workbook (Attachment 5, ESS IV Price Model) that offerors shall use in pricing their proposal. Within the workbook offerors shall provide monthly unit prices for all contract years, in the worksheet tab entitled “B-Table”. The workbook formulas will multiply unit prices entered by the offeror by the Government provided scenario evaluation quantities (as detailed in the “Evaluation Quantities” worksheet tab). This scenario will calculate the Total Evaluated Price in “Total Evaluated Price” worksheet tab. Offerors should only provide monthly unit pricing, unless otherwise noted in the B-Table worksheet tab for all the Government provided SLINs. Unit pricing provided in the B-Table will populate into the remaining worksheet tabs. Except for price cells within the B-Table tab of the workbook, the cells and formulas are protected by the Government and offerors shall not unprotect, alter, or add to the worksheets in any manner not directed in the workbook instructions. The offeror’s price proposal shall include all formulas and calculations in the workbook and NOT be manually calculated and entered as values.

All SLIN pricing will be based upon the current contract year pricing when the order is accepted as Ready for Use (RFU) and shall continue billing forward according to the pricing schedule proposed in the Price Volume. For example, a new call order that is RFU in month 18 of the contract period of performance will be priced and billed using the unit price for month 18 (Year Two Price) as proposed in the Price Volume and will transition to the unit price for the next contract year in month 25 (Year Three Price).

The total price of the sample task orders (Attachment 1) in each of the tabs Table M-1-1, Table M-1-2, Table M-1-3, and Table M-1-4 will be calculated based upon the proposed unit pricing in the B-Table tab, multiplied by the proposed quantities for each sample task order. The total price of the CLINs/SLINs in the B-Table will be added to the price of each of the sample task orders to calculate the total evaluated price.

The offeror shall demonstrate a complete ESS IV solution to meet the minimum requirements of the PWS using the Government provided SLINs. SLINs should not be added within the existing SLIN groupings. The offeror shall provide the proposed make and model of each CLIN/SLIN as specified in the workbook. The offeror shall provide supporting pricing data to the Government upon request.

Pricing shall be submitted for the base period and all option periods, including option pricing for an additional six-month period that may be authorized per FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services (authorizes the Government to require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract). The pricing proposal should include separate line items by CLIN and SLIN for the additional six-month period authorized under FAR 52.217-8. The prices for this six-month option period shall be equal to the proposed pricing in the six months prior to expiration of the final option period. The total evaluated price will consist of the proposed price for the base period, all option periods, and the option pricing for an additional six-month period.

4. The offeror’s unit pricing submitted in the Government’s price model will be included as an exhibit in the contract awarded to the successful offeror and used by the Government to price all orders placed post-contract award.

5. Under no circumstances shall the information and documentation from the price volume be included elsewhere in the proposal.

6. The Government will verify that all solicitation requirements have been priced, figures are correctly calculated, and prices are presented in a clear and useful format. The Government may deem proposals that contain unreasonably high proposed prices as unacceptable. Additionally, unbalanced pricing poses an unacceptable risk to the Government and may be a reason for the Government to remove an offeror’s proposal from further consideration.

(E) VOLUME V - CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION. The purpose of this volume is to provide information to the Government for preparing the contract document and supporting file.

1. Complete blocks 30 a, b, and c of the Standard Form (SF) 1449 and return this form with your proposal. Signature by the offeror on the SF 1449 constitutes an offer, which the Government may accept.

2. Acknowledge all amendments made to the solicitation and include a statement that the offeror’s technical proposal and price proposal incorporates all changes made to the solicitation by each amendment.

3. Include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms and conditions outlined in the solicitation.

4. This solicitation contains provisions that apply and clauses that will be applicable to the resulting award. Some of the provisions and additional DITCO text require a response from the offeror and shall be submitted with the proposal. These provisions are: FAR 52.204-24; FAR 52.209-5; FAR 52.209-7; FAR 52.212-3; FAR 52.219-28; FAR 52.229-11; DFARS 252.204-7016; DFARS 252.204-7017; DFARS 252.239-7009; and DITCO Contract Administration Data G1, Points of Contact. If the offer has completed any of the provisions listed above as part of its annual representations and certifications at https://www.sam.gov, the Government will consider this information instead of requiring the offeror to complete and submit these provisions for this solicitation. The offeror should include a statement identifying if any of the provisions have been completed at https://www.sam.gov.

5. Section 508 Accessibility Standards requirements are listed in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The offeror should notify the Government in its proposal if any exception to Section 508 standards is proposed. The Government may eliminate any proposal failing to meet the Section 508 standards, as listed in the PWS, from consideration for award.

6. Offerors shall complete Blocks 6, 7, and 8 of the DoW Contract Classification Specification Form (DD254) with the appropriate information for their company and any subcontractors (when applicable). Security requirements, as specified in the attached DD254, shall be met no later than the date of proposal submission. The government will consider proposals submitted without the DD254 as incomplete and a failure to adhere to the administrative requirements of this RFP.

7. Provide an OCCI Mitigation Plan or a statement that an OCCI does not exist (See paragraph (b)(12)(iii)).

8. Provide the certification as required by FAR 52.222-56, Certification Regarding Trafficking in Persons Compliance Plan (OCT 2020). The full text of this provision is included in this solicitation.

(F) VOLUME VI - SCRM PLAN. The Government has determined that the items or services to be procured under this solicitation are subject to SCRM controls as outlined in the PWS. As a result, offerors are required to submit a detailed organization wide SCRM plan as part of their proposal. Supply chain risks range from natural threats to counterfeit products and apply to quality, security, resiliency, and product integrity. Mitigation plans to manage risks may involve logistics, cybersecurity, and financial management. The goal is to preclude undue risk to the Government and ensure supply chain continuity in the event normal business operations are interrupted. The offeror’s SCRM plan shall include countermeasures which mitigate threats and system vulnerabilities, including:

1. The application of supply chain risk management best practices applied as appropriate to the development of the system. Supply chain risk management key practices may be found in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Interagency Report 7622, Piloting Supply Chain Risk Management for Federal Information Systems, and the National Defense Industrial Association Guidebook, Engineering for System Assurance, both publicly available.

2. The enumeration of potential suppliers of critical components, as they are identified, includes cost, schedule, and performance information relevant to choice among alternatives and planned selection for the purpose of engaging the government to develop mutually agreeable risk management plans for the suppliers to be solicited.

3. The processes to control access by foreign nationals to program information, including, but not limited to, system design information, DoW-unique technology, and software or hardware used to integrate commercial technology.

4. The processes and practices employed to ensure that genuine hardware, software, and logic elements will be employed in the solution and that processes and requirements for genuine components are levied upon subcontractors.

5. The process to protect unclassified DoW information in the development environment.

52.212-1(c), Period for Acceptance of Offers, is tailored as follows: The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 180 calendar days (or until the adjudication of any protests unless other withdrawn) from the date specified for receipt of offers. The offeror shall make a clear statement in the proposal documentation volume that the proposal is valid through this date.

52.212-1(e), Multiple Offers, is tailored as follows: Multiple offers will not be accepted.

52.212-1(h), Multiple Awards, is tailored as follows: The Government intends to award a single Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract. Multiple awards will not be contemplated.

(End of provision addendum)

ADDENDUM TO 52.212-2

II. ADDENDUM TO 52.212-2

52.212-2(a), Evaluation-Commercial Items is tailored as follows:

(i) Basis for Contract Award. Award will be given to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined to represent the overall best value to the Government using a best value tradeoff (BVTO) evaluation process. The offeror’s technical proposal should include all information the offeror wants the Government to consider and evaluate regarding its ability to perform all required tasks and conform to all required terms and conditions. To be eligible for award, the offeror’s proposal shall sufficiently address all aspects of the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the offeror being ineligible for award.

(ii) Administrative Requirements A. Prior to evaluations, the Government will review all timely proposals submitted for compliance with the solicitation instructions listed under 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Products and Commercial Services and its addendum. The Government may consider proposals that are incomplete or missing information as non-responsive to the solicitation. The Government reserves the right to exclude from evaluation and not consider any proposal for award that does not adhere to the administrative requirements of this RFP.

B. Section 508 Accessibility Standards apply to this requirement. Section 508 requirements are listed in the attached PWS (Attachment 8). Compliance with Section 508 standards will be considered prior to evaluating any of the selection criteria listed below. Any proposal failing to meet the Section 508 Accessibility Standards, as listed in the PWS, may be eliminated from consideration for award.

(iii) Evaluation Factors and Subfactors. Proposal evaluation will occur in three phases.

Phase I involves evaluation of the written proposal, resulting in an advisory down select to Phase II. Phase I utilizes an acceptable/unacceptable rating based on four subfactors: Self-Certification Checklist and Letter, Technical Solution, Availability and Service Delivery Plan. To proceed to Phase II, offerors must receive an acceptable rating.

Phase II consists of an oral presentation and employs a confidence rating to evaluate five subfactors. Following each presentation, the SSET will conduct immediate consensus evaluations. Proposal evaluations may occur at a single facility or be distributed across multiple government facilities throughout the evaluation period.

If a PoC demonstration is required, an advisory down-select from Phase II to Phase III will be issued, potentially limiting participation to the top two highest-rated offerors. The government intends to invite no more than two offerors to Phase III. Offerors are solely responsible for all costs associated with the PoC demonstration, including location, personnel, and equipment. The PoC will validate the first two technical subfactors outlined in this solicitation. To ensure consistent evaluation, the government will provide offerors with a comprehensive test plan and any necessary data 21 days prior to the scheduled demonstration.

Award will be given to the offeror whose proposal is determined to represent the best overall value to the Government with an acceptable SBPP and SCRM plan.