Instr-Eval Crit.doc

Solicitation HSCG38-10-R-410009

Engine Test Cell Upgrade & Sustainment

Instructions, Conditions, and Notices FAR 52.212-1 INSTRUCTION TO OFFERORS – COMMERCIAL ITEMS (Jun 2008) is hereby incorporated by reference and is tailored as follows:

(a) This procurement is restricted to small business concerns.

(b) Submission of offers. In addition, signed facsimiles and signed electronic mail proposals are not acceptable. Proposals are to be sent to the attention of Ginger Woodington by mail to the following address:

Contracting Officer

United States Coast Guard

Aviation Logistics Center

Aviation Logistics Division ATTN: Ginger Woodington

Elizabeth City, NC 27909-5001

(c) Period of acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer for ninety (90) calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

All other provision requirements remain the same.

Notice Of Preaward Survey

(a) Offerors are advised that the Government may contact potential contractors to ascertain their capabilities to perform the work specified in this solicitation. In addition to the financial statements and credit rating checks, the Government may visit prospective contractor's facility. Areas of interest on this survey may include, but are not limited to the following:

(1) performance plans

(2) quality assurance and control plans

(3) personnel recruitment and training plans

(4) production capability

(i) plant facilities, equipment, and labor resources

(iii) performances records and ability to meet delivery schedules

(b) Offerors are advised that accomplishment of this survey is a part of the evaluation process and is not to be construed as an indication that an offeror will receive or is in the best position to receive the resultant award.

Subcontracting Plan

In accordance with FAR 19.702(a)(1), the offeror shall submit a subcontracting plan along with any proposal which exceeds $550,000 (including options) and which has subcontracting possibilities. If the proposal exceeds $550,000 and the offeror believes there are no subcontracting possibilities for the proposed services/supplies, the offeror should include with his proposal a letter so stating, along with supporting rationale. The plan (if required) shall comply with the requirements of FAR clause 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting Plan. In accordance with paragraph (c) of the clause, upon acceptance by the contracting officer, the plan will be incorporated into the resulting contract. Formal Subcontracting plans in accordance with FAR 19.702(b) are NOT required from small businesses or foreign firms.

Extent of Small Disadvantaged Business Concerns Subcontracted In evaluation of SDB participation, the Government may consider:

In accordance with FAR 19.1202-4, offerors are required to provide with their offers, targets, expressed in dollars and percentages of the total contract value, in the applicable, authorized NAIC Industry Subsector specified by Block 10 of the Standard Form (SF) 1449, Page 1 for SDB participation by the contractor, including joint venture partners, and team members, and a total target for SDB participation by subcontractors. Targets submitted will be evaluated and incorporated into and become part of the resulting contract. The offeror shall specifically identify the SDB’s intended for use during the contractual period and the extent of or portion of work intended for the SDB’s specified. The successful offeror shall be required to report SDB participation throughout the entire contractual period.

· The extent to which SDB concerns are specifically identified:

· The extent of commitment to use SDB concerns (e.g., enforceable commitments are given greater weight than non-enforceable ones.) The complexity and variety of the work SDB concerns are to perform; Past performance of offerors in complying with subcontracting plan goals for SDB concerns and monetary targets for SDB participation: and Sales brochures, mass-produced company literature, informational only cd’s, and etc. should not be sent.

· The realism of the proposal:

· The extent of participation of SDB concerns in terms of the value of the total acquisition.

NOTE: SDB offerors who opt to waive the SDB price evaluation adjustment in the clause at 52.219-23, Notice of Price Evaluation Adjustment for Small Disadvantaged Business Concerns, are required to provide with their offers a target(s) for work it intends to perform as the prime contractor.

Proposal Submittal Instructions

Proposals should be submitted with the following guidance:

1. To the address shown in block 7 of the attached SF 1449 of this solicitation by the due date shown in block 8.

2. Alternate proposals are permitted. Offerors should propose the best basic system possible which may include thresholds, objectives and other technical capabilities (OTC). Offerors may submit an alternate proposal that encompasses a basic system with any or all of the OTC separately priced. The government will NOT evaluate more than 2 proposals per offeror. The Government will not make an award for a basic system that exceeds funds availability.

3. Proposals should be submitted in two separate sections, technical and price. Five (5) copies of the technical proposal are required, clearly delineating the basic system offered, using the matrix format shown in the Attachment – Vendor Response. The priced portion of the offer shall be further separated by the pricing relative to the basic system offered and the pricing submitted for the Optional Technical Capabilities.

4. Proposals must clearly address the evaluation criteria contained Source Selection Procedures and Criteria below.

5. Proposals should include a completed technical compliance spreadsheet similar to the one shown in the Attachment – Sample Vendor Response. The spreadsheet should acknowledge each requirement and assign a” meets, does not meet, or exceeds” rating to each line item noted in section C as a minimum.

6. Proposals, excluding pricing and manufacturer data sheets, shall not exceed 100 pages.

7. Proposal dollar amounts should be rounded to nearest dollar and in U.S. Currency.

8. Questions regarding the solicitation should be in writing to ginger.g.woodington@uscg.mil no later than five calendar days after the Industry Day.

Source Selection Procedures and Criteria

I. Competition Competition will be restricted to small business concerns. A combined synopsis/solicitation was used to synopsize this requirement on the FedBizOps website at www.fbo.gov.

II. FAR 52.212-2 EVALUATION – COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JAN 1999)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. For efficiency purposes, the Government reserves the right to limit the competitive range to the three (3) most highly rated proposals. Site surveys of the three (3) offerors’ facilities may be conducted for a final, comprehensive assessment of the offerors’ capabilities to perform.

(b) Offerors are required to submit information relevant to the evaluation factors listed below with their proposals. The technical factors are listed in descending order of importance and are considered, as a whole, more important than SDB and price. Each subfactor will be evaluated and rated individually toward a final, composite rating to determine which offer is the most technically superior. Offerors are advised that, as technical ratings become more equal among competitors, prices will become more significant; however, the Government reserves the right to award to a higher priced proposal if deemed the overall best value to the Government.

(c) Offerors must submit, as part of their proposal, information sufficient to assess their capability to perform the services specified by the solicitation. That information may include, but is not limited to, descriptions or diagrams of facilities, descriptions of personnel staffing, including management and engineering, qualifications, certifications and training of personnel; safety, environmental records, and quality assurance procedures and processes.

(d) Source selection criteria will include the following factors. Offerors are advised that a rating of less than “Acceptable” in any one of these factors will result in removal from further consideration. Factor I Technical Capability is of the greatest importance with remaining factors listed in descending order of importance. All evaluation factors (other than cost or price), when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price. Note: Failure to address each bullet in the factors listed below will result in a lower assessment in those areas.

· Factor I Technical Capability

· Factor II Past Performance

· Factor III Experience

· Factor IV Quality Indicators

· Factor V Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Participation Program

· Factor VI Price Factor I – Technical Capability The offeror(s) proposals will be evaluated against the requirements listed in the solicitation for demonstrated understanding of all requirements and ability to perform those requirements. This factor may be evaluated using all relevant information that is readily available to the Government, including both the information received from the offeror(s) and information obtained from other sources. Evaluation of technical proposals submitted will include, but is not limited to, the following:

· Technical capabilities of the system(s)

· System interface/specification

· Size limitations

· Ability to meet or exceed objectives

· Content, substance, and completeness of required documents

Factor II – Past Performance

In accordance with FAR 15.304(c)(3)(ii), past performance will be evaluated and the elements listed below are considered subfactors of the entire past performance evaluation. The Offeror’s past performance (of the prime contractor and major subcontractors) may be evaluated using all relevant information that is readily available to the Government, including both the information received from the Offeror and information obtained from other sources. Other sources may include interviews with program managers and Contracting Officers, current and past product users, available USCG and other agency past performance databases, and available data from previous source selections or contractor capability assessments. While the Government may elect to consider data obtained from other sources, the burden of providing thorough and complete past performance information rests with the offeror. The Government will analyze performance risk based upon the past performance of the Offeror and their proposed major subcontractors as it relates to the risk of successful contractual performance. Offerors must submit, as part of their proposal, information sufficient to assess their capability to perform the services specified by this solicitation. Proposals that do not contain the information requested risk rejection by the Government. Offerors are advised that more recent performance is more relevant than less recent performance and will be given greater weight in the evaluation process. In order to adequately evaluate an offeror’s past performance, all offerors are required to provide a minimum of three

(3) references for past performance information such that experience in the management of the item(s) specified in the Statement of Objectives can be verified. References must reflect contracts with Federal agencies or commercial/military or similar organizations. Information must include applicable contract number(s), point of contact, telephone and email address. Verification of information will address, but is not limited to the sub-factors listed below:

· Quality Deficiency Reports (QDR) or other measures of quality as reported from current users

· Ability to meet desired delivery schedule

· Percentage of on-time deliveries

· User Input regarding ease of operation

· User Input regarding ease of maintenance Factor III – Experience

In addition to past performance described above, offeror(s)’ proposals will be evaluated for actual experience relevant to this requirement. Offerors are advised that more recent experience is more relevant than less recent experience and will be given greater weight during the evaluation process. Verification of information will address, but is not limited to, the subfactors listed below.

· Number of contracts currently held similar to this effort

· Number of similar systems produced in the past 24 months

· Number of similar systems produced for the lifetime of the design

Factor IV – Quality Indicators

In accordance with FAR 46.706(a), any offered warranty shall clearly state 1) exact nature of the item and its components and characteristics that the offeror warrants; 2) the extent of the Contractor’s warranty including all the Contractor’s obligations to the Government for breach of warranty; 3) specific remedies available to the Government; and 4) scope and duration of the warranty. The quality indicators shall include, but are not limited to, the subfactors listed below:

· Length and extent of warranty provided

· Proof of ISO certification

· Proof of quality program such as continuous improvement Factor V -- Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Participation Program

In accordance with FAR 19.1202-4, offerors are required to provide with their offers, targets, expressed in dollars and percentages of the total contract value, in the applicable, authorized NAIC Industry Subsector specified by Block 10 of the Standard Form (SF) 1449, Page 1 for SDB participation by the contractor, including joint venture partners, and team members, and a total target for SDB participation by subcontractors. Targets submitted will be evaluated and incorporated into and become part of the resulting contract. The offeror shall specifically identify the SDB intended for use during the contractual period and the extent of or portion of work intended for the SDB specified. The successful offeror shall be required to report SDB participation throughout the entire contractual period.

· The extent to which SDB concerns are specifically identified:

· The extent of commitment to use SDB concerns (e.g., enforceable commitments are given greater weight than non-enforceable ones.)

· The complexity and variety of the work SDB concerns are to perform;

· Past performance of offerors in complying with subcontracting plan goals for SDB concerns and monetary targets for SDB participation

· Sales brochures, mass-produced company literature, informational only CD, and etc. should not be sent.

· The realism of the proposal:

· The extent of participation of SDB concerns in terms of the value of the total acquisition.

NOTE: SDB offerors who opt to waive the SDB price evaluation adjustment in the clause at 52.219-23, Notice of Price Evaluation Adjustment for Small Disadvantaged Business Concerns, are required to provide with their offers a target(s) for work it intends to perform as the prime contractor.

Factor VI – Price or Cost

After technical factors I through IV have been evaluated for the basic system, ratings assigned and proposals ranked, price will then be considered. As stated previously, price is substantially less important than the technical factors; however, as technical ratings become more equal among competitors, prices will become more significant. The government reserves the right to award to a higher priced proposal if deemed the overall best value to the government. Conversely, the government also reserves the right to purchase a basic system of lesser technical capability, if it represents the overall best value to the government, price and other factors considered.

(a) Price is a substantial consideration in any resulting price/technical tradeoff evaluation, but price is subordinate to the listed technical, past performance, experience, quality indicators and SDB evaluation considerations. Accordingly, the Government reserves the right to award to a higher priced proposal. Price will not be rated; however, the Offeror’s total price proposal will be evaluated to make an award decision based upon best value to the Government. Price is a significant factor and will be considered increasingly important in selecting among proposals deemed substantially equivalent in terms of the other evaluation criteria.

(b) After technical ratings have been assigned, the pricing submitted for the basic system will be evaluated to determine fairness and reasonableness, and if deemed necessary, establish a competitive range for the purposes of negotiation. The total evaluated price for a basic system that encompasses any or all of the OTC will be the total price for the basic system offered, including the one-year base period, the three option periods, and the three award term periods. The total evaluated price for proposals offering a basic system with separately priced OTC will be the total of the basic system, the total of the separately priced OTC, for the one-year base period and the two (2) option periods.

(c) The Government will also examine price realism and price risk for the overall effort amongst the various CLIN. Congruence between the price and technical proposals will also be considered. Prices that are extremely high or low in relation to the Government estimate may be judged unrealistic and may indicate that the offeror has misunderstood the nature of the work to be performed. Unrealistically low prices may be grounds for eliminating a proposal from competition on the basis that the offeror does not understand the requirement and represents a performance risk.

(d) A Firm-Fixed-Price contract will result from the price proposal which shall provide for all prices associated with satisfying the USCG requirement for engine test cell upgrade and sustainment. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option period prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of option periods will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(e) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.