Preparation_Instructions.pdf

PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

A. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. The offeror shall comply with the following instructions for preparing the Request for Proposal. Failure to do so shall result in the contractor’s proposal being considered non-compliant.

2. Mandatory Site Visit – There will be one (1) site visit for this solicitation. (Friday, April 15th, 2016 at 10:00 am (est.). This is a mandatory site visit for prime contractors. Please submit names of those attending the site visit within 48 hours prior to the site visit date and time. Security clearance will be conducted at the entrance of the facility, please have valid identification with you. There will be other sign in process upon entrance to the facilities. No More than two representatives per company may attend. Location of Site Visit: 63 Old Marlboro Road, Maynard, MA

3. Request for Information – shall be submitted for all questions. The answers for all questions will be submitted as an amendment to the solicitation. Any Amendments to the solicitation will be acknowledged by signing in Block 15a, b, and c of the amendment. All amendments will be posted on Federal Business Opportunity (FedBizOpps) www.fbo.gov . Submit acknowledged amendment (s) with proposal.

Failure to acknowledge all amendment(s) shall be deemed as non-responsive and the offeror shall be disqualified for consideration for award

4. The proposal must be prepared in three volumes: Volume 1: "Technical Proposal", Volume 2 “Past Performance” and Volume 3 "Price Proposal" so that each part can be evaluated independently from the other. The technical and past performance proposal must not contain reference to price; however, resource information (such as data concerning labor hours and categories, materials, etc.)

may be contained in the technical proposal.

5. Each Volume shall be marked with the Solicitation number, Title of the project, and offeror’s name.

6. Pages shall be numbered. Bookmarks are encouraged title pages, tables of contents; cross-reference matrices, acronym lists, and glossaries may be provided for the sole purpose of ease in evaluation and won’t be counted in the page limitation.

7. Font size for the proposal shall be at least 12 point and must be easy to read such as Arial or Times New Roman. Page margins shall not exceed 1 inch. All page limits referenced below include tables, graphics, and appendices.

8. Amendments to Proposal - Any changes to a proposal made by the offeror after its initial submittal at the request of the Contracting Officer (i.e., in the http://www.fbo.gov/

Final Revised Proposal) shall be accomplished by replacement pages. The offeror shall include the date of the amendment on the upper right corner of the changed pages. No amendments to the solicitation shall be accepted after the closing date and time of the proposal.

9. Submission of Proposal – proposals shall be sent by mail, email or express mail. Faxes are not acceptable.

Certified mail or Express mail shall require a signature for receipt:

• DHS/FEMA, 99 High Street, Boston, MA 02110

• with the Solicitation Number and Title on package.

• Submit 1 Original and 3 redacted copies

Email submissions shall have a read receipt attached. An email showing proof of receipt read shall be sent to the CO within three (2) days of submission

All Email submissions shall have in the subject line the Solicitation Number, Title and the word PROPOSAL.

All proposals shall be submitted with all required documentation. One

(1) proposal shall be submitted for this requirement.

10. It is anticipated that this solicitation will result in the award of a fixed price, Base year with 4 Year Options contract.

11. The Government will evaluate the proposal in accordance with Section H of the

RFP.

B. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS VOLUME 1

The technical proposal shall not exceed 20 double sided pages and shall address the following areas: (the review board will look at the first 40 pages only).

1. WORK PLAN - Describe the approach you will use to accomplish each task listed in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The projects should be numbered and coincide with Area Sections of the PWS. Your approach should be specific, detailed, and complete enough to clearly and fully demonstrate that you understand the requirement. The work plan shall address all proposed labor, staffing plan, supervision, Bio base materials, and supplies that will be provided to meet the contract requirements.

2. MANAGEMENT PLAN - Provide a management plan which includes at minimum, detailed information on the following: The management plan shall include a discussion on how work will be managed and coordinated to achieve the requirements in the PWS. The management plan shall demonstrate the Offeror’s ability to recruit and maintain a qualified work force available for this requirement. In addition, the offeror shall describe the organizational structure, including supervisory responsibilities, lines of authority, and relationships to corporate headquarters. Specifically, the offeror shall show its understanding of who will be in a position of authority over, or could impact, the technical and management entities. This should include a discussion on how subcontracts will be managed.

The management plan shall include a staffing plan showing the number of proposed staff, the distribution and effective use of the staff, levels of expertise and qualifications required for key positions and other than "Key Personnel" positions. Key Personnel shall be designated by the offeror. In addition, the offeror shall provide the duties and responsibilities for each position proposed.

3. KEY AND OTHER RESUMED PERSONNEL EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATONS -

The offeror shall identify key and professional personnel positions by title and name that are proposed for this requirement. The offeror shall demonstrate that the proposed key personnel and professional staff have an understanding of the requirements, as well as appropriate qualifications and previous experience in performing similar services. The offeror shall provide resumes for all proposed key and professional personnel proposed.

C. PAST PERFORMANCE INSTRUCTION VOLUME 2

The offeror shall provide at least two (2), no more than Three (3) relevant (meaning similar in services and scope) and recent (completed within five (5) years or current with at least 70% complete) contracts or subcontracts performed. Offeror shall provide the Contract number, title of project, contract cost, location of project, year completed, point of contact (POC), phone number, email address and a brief description of duties or tasks performed under the contract. If the offeror has past performance reports for previous contracts, include them in this section.

Do not submit Contractor Appraisal Performance Reporting Systems (CPARS) Reports.

Note: Responses should be no longer than 2 pages in length, not including past performance reports for previous contracts.

D. PRICE/COST PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS VOLUME 3

The Price Proposal shall be priced using the Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) as provided.

Fixed Price CLINS

A fixed unit rate and extended price shall be provided for all fixed priced CLINS. This includes direct, indirect cost, supplies, materials, and equipment.

The fixed hourly rate shall be fully burdened and include fringe benefits, overhead, G&A, and fee, supply cost etc.

E. ALTERNATE PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Alternate proposals will be considered for different pricing approaches. In the event the Government elects to utilize an alternate pricing approach submitted by an offeror, the solicitation may be amended accordingly. By submitting an alternate proposal the offeror grants the right to the Government to utilize any proposed alternate approaches by amending the solicitation and submitting the change to all interested offerors.

F. EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD (AWARD CRITERIA)

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Parts 15.101-1 and 15.305. Evaluation is performed to determine the Offeror’s understanding of the work to be performed, technical approach, realism of contract schedule, Past Performance and price/cost reasonableness.

The Government intends to award one contract to the to the highest rated qualified Small Business Offeror deemed responsible in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and whose proposal conforms to the RFP's requirement and represents the Best Value to the Government. The Best Value is the most advantageous offer where Past Performance and Technical when combined is of equal weight to Price. The evaluation process will be conducted in accordance with FAR Part 15.3.

TECHNICAL EVALUATION: Each offeror shall be rated on their ability to show competency in the responses to each titled section. Each section will be rated against the following factors:

1. Offeror demonstrates knowledge of equipment needed to complete task(s).

2. Offeror demonstrates the ability to effectively meet requirements.

3. Offeror demonstrates the ability to efficiently meet requirements (i.e. has resources – people/staff).

4. Offeror demonstrates the overall ability to meet requirements.

Table 1. Combined Technical/Risk Ratings

Number Rating Description 5 Outstanding Proposal meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

4 Good Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Proposal contains strengths which outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

3 Acceptable Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

2 Marginal Proposal does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The proposal has one or more weaknesses which are not offset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

1 Unacceptable Proposal does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is unawardable.

PAST PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: The Offeror’s Past performance will be rated using Currency, Relevancy, and Confidence Assessments. Currency is defined as performance occurring within the last three years. In assessing Relevancy, the Government will look at the general scope, type of work performed and cost. The following methodology will be used to assess relevancy:

Past Performance Relevancy Ratings Rating Definition Very Relevant Present/past performance effort involved essentially the same scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Relevant Present/past performance effort involved similar scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Somewhat Relevant

Present/past performance effort involved some of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Not Relevant Present/past performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

The following methodology will be used to assess Government’s confidence in ability to successfully perform:

Performance Confidence Assessment Rating Definition Substantial Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Satisfactory Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Limited Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a low expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

Unknown Confidence (Neutral)

No recent/relevant performance record is available or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

PRICE EVALUATION:

Price will be evaluated to determine reasonableness and realism of the proposed price.

Unreasonable/ Unrealistic Offers cannot be selected for award. Price is not the deciding factor however best value to the government does.

Establish Competitive Range:

The contracting officer will establish a completive range based on the highest ranking technical proposal. Contractors will be notified if your proposal is not in the competitive range. Those not in the competitive range will not be evaluated for award.