Attachment 3 - Instructions to Offerors.doc

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

A. Questions Questions concerning the RFQ must be submitted via e-mail to the Contract Specialist at Elaine.Foster@dhs.gov, no later than 3:00 pm local time on August 27, 2008. Answers will be provided to all prospective offerors, giving due regard to the proper protection of proprietary information. ICE recommends that offerors ensure that questions are written to enable a clear understanding as to the contractor’s issues or concerns. Statements expressing opinions, sentiments or conjectures are not considered valid inquiries or comments for this purpose and will not receive a response from ICE. Further, offerors are reminded that ICE will not address hypothetical questions aimed toward receiving a potential evaluation decision.

B. General Quotation Preparation Instructions Quotations shall be received by September 3, 2008 no later than 3:00 pm local time via email at Elaine.Foster@dhs.gov. No additional copies are necessary. Facsimile quotations are not permitted and will be disregarded if received. However, see section D (Volume I) below for delivery of solicitation test samples.

Information requested herein must be furnished in writing in compliance with the instructions. The information requested and the manner of submittal is essential to permit prompt evaluation of all quotations on a fair and uniform basis. Simple statements of compliance without the detailed description of how compliance will be met may not be considered sufficient evidence that the proposed supplies can technically meet the requirements of this RFQ.

Any changes to the quotation by the offeror shall be accomplished by an amended page, with the changes clearly marked. The offeror shall include the date of the amendment on the lower right hand edge of the page. Changes to the quotation will only be allowed prior to the due date for quotations.

Quotations must be submitted in strict accordance with the instructions set forth herein. The government may consider any failure on the part of an offeror to comply with these instructions to be non-responsive and no longer considered for award.

C. Quotation Preparation Costs

The Government will not pay costs incurred by any contractor in the preparation and submission of a quotation in response to this RFQ. The Contracting Officer is the only person who can legally obligate the Government for the expenditure of public funds in connection with this procurement.

D. Quotation Content and Submission Instructions

Each offeror shall furnish the quote in two separate volumes as follows:

Volume I

Technical and Past Performance Volume II Price Paper size shall be 8 1/2 x 11-inch white paper with printing on one side only. The font size (typewritten or printed letters) shall be equivalent to 12 point Times New Roman (with the exception of pre-printed product literature). No reduction is permitted except for organization charts, tables, or other graphic illustrations. In those instances where reduction is allowable, offerors shall ensure that the print is not less than 10 point Times New Roman. Each page shall have text margins of at least one (1) inch on all sides and single line spacing. Header/footer information (which does not include any information to be evaluated) may be included in the margin space. The offeror’s quotes shall not exceed the page limitations specified for each section. Pages that exceed the maximum page limitation will not be evaluated.

The electronic version shall be submitted using PDF files with the exception of the Price Schedule which should be submitted using the MS Excel spreadsheet. Quotes not received by the time and date specified and in the manner specified will be eliminated for further consideration. The Government will notify you of receipt of electronic copies by reply e-mail.

All quotation submissions must include the following information (preferably to be provided on the quotation submission cover letter):

a) Tax Identification Number (TIN)

b) Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS)

c) North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) Code:

d) Standard Product Code

e) Contact Name

f) Contact Email address

g) Contact telephone and fax number

h) Complete business mailing address

In addition to the cover letter, your quote should include the following separate volumes:

VOLUME I – TECHNICAL AND PAST PERFORMANCE

This section shall be limited to 10 pages excluding the documentation for Technical Acceptability. The contractor shall describe the technical approach to providing the ammunition identified in the Price Schedule (Attachment 2) and the Statement of Work (SOW) (Attachment 1). The technical approach should include:

A. Demonstrated Technical Feasibility

The offeror must demonstrate the ability to supply ammunition listed in the Schedule that meets or exceeds the requirements as outlined in the SOW. The description of your technical feasibility should be specific, detailed, and complete enough to clearly and fully demonstrate that you can meet or exceed the requirement. Quotations which merely offer to conduct a program in accordance with the requirements of the Government's work statement will not be eligible for award. Phrases such as "Standard procedures will be employed" and "well known techniques will be used" are not considered an adequate description.

B. Technical Acceptability

The offeror shall provide a sample of 2,000 rounds of each type of ammunition that the offeror is quoting. This sample shall be selected from at least a production run or lot size of 10,000 rounds. The offeror shall provide the supporting documentation as per the requirements of sections 5.2 to 5.5 of the SOW. This sample of ammunition will undergo qualification testing in accordance with section 5.6 of the SOW to ensure that it meets or exceeds the standards as stated in the SOW. All ammunition submitted for acceptance shall comply with all requirements listed in the SOW and will become the property of DHS/ICE NFTTU upon receipt and will not be returned. NFTTU will perform the solicitation testing on all ammunition submitted. The solicitation test samples shall be delivered to the following address, no later than the date and time designated for receipt of quotes.

RFQ No.: HSCESS-08-Q-00018

Sample for Solicitation Testing 2,000 rounds

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

National Firearm Training Tactical Unit

Armory Operations

320 East Chestnut Avenue

Altoona, PA 16601

C. Past Performance

The contractor shall describe previous experience in providing ammunition of similar scope and complexity to the ammunition being competed. The Government will evaluate relevant past performance of each offeror. The offeror shall identify three (3) ongoing or successfully completed projects (Federal, State, and Local governments) performed by the offeror or subcontractors that demonstrate recent and relevant past performance. Recent is defined as within the last three (3) years from the issued date of this RFQ. Relevant is defined as work similar in scope, complexity, magnitude, and financial impact to client to the work identified in the SOW.

For ongoing projects, at least 50 percent of the contract funding for the period of performance must have been expended by the date of submission of the quotation.

Please include the following information:

a) Project Title

b) Description of the Project

c) Contract/Task Order Number

d) Contract/Task Order Amount

e) Government Agency/Organization

f) COTR’s name, address, phone number and email address

g) Contracting Officer’s name, address, telephone number and email address

h) Current status, e.g. completed and/or in progress, start and estimated completion dates

A brief narrative of why your firm believes this reference is relevant to the proposed task.

Offerors shall not include any price information in Volume I.

VOLUME II – PRICE

There is no page limitation for this section.

The offeror must complete Attachment 2 of the RFQ (Price Schedule). In addition, the contractor shall submit a list of quantity price breaks for each item in the Price Schedule. The offeror agrees to hold the prices, terms, and conditions in its quote for at least 90 calendar days from the date of receipt by the Government.

E. EVALUATION FACTORS

Technical

The Technical Quotation in response to this RFQ will be evaluated as follows:

A. Demonstrated Technical Feasibility

The Government will evaluate the offeror’s technical feasibility to supply ammunition listed in the Schedule that meets or exceeds the requirements as outlined in the SOW.

B. Technical Acceptability

Solicitation testing will verify that the initial sample supplied by each competing offeror meets the minimum requirements of the SOW. Offerors will be rated on their ability to achieve and/or surpass all performance parameters detailed in section 4, Performance Description of the SOW.

The Government will evaluate the Technical Factor using the following adjectival ratings:

C. Past Performance

The Government will evaluate the relevance, breath and quality of the offeror’s past performance based on the past performance references provided in the offeror’s submission and/or other information obtained from references provided by the offeror, as well as other relevant past performance information obtained from other sources known to the Government. The Government reserves the right to perform customer surveys only for those contracts that are deemed by the Government to be most relevant to this procurement. An offeror without a record of past performance or for whom information on relevant past performance is not available will be evaluated as neutral. The past performance evaluation will assess the contractor’s record of providing quality ammunition that ensures the SOW requirements are met, to include cost effectiveness and overall customer satisfaction.

The Government will evaluate the Past Performance Factor using the following adjectival ratings:

Unacceptable

Neutral

Price The schedule contractor’s proposed pricing will be evaluated for price reasonableness in accordance with FAR 13.106.

The Government will evaluate price quotations for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the price for the base requirement. Evaluation of options does not obligate the Government to exercise the options.

The Government will validate that any information provided in other parts of the quotation is consistent with the information provided in the price quotation. Any inconsistencies will be noted and may adversely affect the quotation evaluation.

F. BASIS OF AWARD

The Government will award a contract to the responsible offeror submitting an overall quotation that is determined most advantageous to the Government, price and non-price criteria considered in accordance with FAR Provision 52.212-2. Award will be made to the vendor whose quote meets the Government’s requirements and represent the best value to the Government. However, the government reserves the right to make multiple awards if it is advantageous to do so. If the Government determines that it is advantageous to make multiple awards, then it will be limited to a maximum of three (3) vendors. The evaluation of quotations will be based on the following factors:

A. Technical

B. Past Performance

C. Price

Relative Importance of Evaluation Factors The evaluation factors are stated in descending order of importance. Factors A and B are referred to as non price factors. Non price factors (when combined) are significantly more important than Factor C, Price. As the non price evaluation factors approach equality, price becomes more important in making the award determination. In the event that two or more quotations are determined not to have any substantial technical differences (i.e. are technically equivalent), award may be made to the lower priced quotation. It should be noted that award may be made to other than the lowest priced quotation if the Government determines that a price premium is warranted due to technical merit. The Government may also award to other than the highest technically rated quotation, if the Government determines that a price premium is not warranted.

In the event that the government decides that it is advantageous to make multiple awards, then those awards will be made to the offerors that present the best value to the Government. Awardees will then be awarded competitive delivery orders in accordance with FAR Part 16.505 (b), Orders under multiple award contracts.

Award on Initial Quotations

The Government intends to award without discussions (although the right to conduct discussions, if necessary, is reserved). Offerors are therefore cautioned that each initial quote should contain the offeror’s best terms.

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