Document 18 - Sub-Section E-2.pdf

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS

HSHQE3-12-R-00001

SUB-SECTION E-2:

ADDENDUM TO FAR 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

(JUNE 2008)

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations, Federal Protective Service (FPS) is issuing this competitive request for proposals (RFP) to solicit offers for the purpose of awarding a contract to provide the services described herein. DHS/OPO/FPS (the Government) will conduct this acquisition using the procedures of Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Proposals are due no later than 2:00 PM EST, OCTOBER 15, 2012. Submissions shall be made via hard copy to:

DHS/OPO/NPPD/ECCG3

701 MARKET STREET, SUITE 3200

PHILADLEPHIA, PA 19106

ATTN: BETH H. ARNOLD-MESSICK, CONTRACT SPECIALIST

Any proposal received at the Government office designated in the RFP after the exact time for receipt of proposals specified above will be deemed “late” and will be considered only in accordance with the provisions set forth under FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Items, paragraph (f).

By submitting a proposal, the Contractor agrees to comply with all terms and conditions set forth in this RFP, including the Statement of Work (SOW).

Evaluation Criteria

1. Proposals shall be evaluated using both price and non-price factors. For this requirement, the following non-price factors will be used and are listed in descending order of importance.

Relevant Past Performance and Management Approach are significantly more important than the Socio Economic Factor

Relevant Past Performance Management Approach Socio Economic Factor

Sub-Section E-2

2. The non-price factors, when combined, are considered to be significantly more important than price.

3. Efficient Competition. Non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than price. However, offerors are advised that the Government may not evaluate the technical proposals of all offerors under this RFP.

The government will first review the total evaluated price of all proposals received. The technical proposals of those offerors whose pricing is determined by the Contracting Officer to be most competitive may be reviewed prior to, or instead of, other technical proposals received. Based on the initial review of these technical proposals, the government may not evaluate the technical proposals of other offerors, whose total evaluated pricing was higher than that of one already evaluated and already assigned the highest possible technical rating.

This would occur when the Contracting Officer determines that any possible technical superiority of an unevaluated (and higher priced) technical proposal, over (a lower priced) one that was already evaluated and assigned the highest possible technical rating, would not warrant any additional price premium.

Proposal Submission Requirements

1. Standard Form 1449, Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items – When responding to this RFP the Contractor must use the Standard Form 1449 as a cover page to the proposal.

2. Proposals shall be comprised of TWO (2) separate sealed envelopes. The first envelope shall contain five (5) paper copies and one compact disc (CD) of the technical (non-price) submission. The CD shall contain a searchable version, in any format (e.g. Adobe.pdf, Word, etc.) The second envelope shall contain the pricing submission and all other documents required by the solicitation (e.g. SF1449, Price Element Breakdown, Disclosures, Representations and Certifications, Sub-Contracting Plan (if applicable), etc.). Both of these envelopes should then be sealed in a third envelope that clearly identifies the RFP for which it is being submitted.

3. Page Limitation - Excluding the cover page and past performance forms and questionnaires, the technical proposal (covering all non-price factors) is limited to twenty

(20) pages in at least 11pt. font and 1” margins. Pages in excess of this limitation will not be evaluated.

4. Contractors are informed that it is the Government’s desire to make award on initial proposals when deemed possible by the Contracting Officer, however the Government reserves the right to communicate and/or negotiate with offerors if later determined necessary.

5. Proposals shall specify the offer expiration date. Offerors shall hold their offers valid for 120 days after the solicitation closing date, unless requested to further extend it by the Contracting Officer.

6. Offerors, other than small businesses, shall prepare and submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan.

a. Offerors should thoroughly review the requirements set forth in FAR 19.704, Subcontracting plan requirements, and FAR Clause 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting Plan, before submitting their Plans. The subcontracting plan shall state separately the total dollars and percentages that will be subcontracted to each category; large business, small business (SB), HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business (SDB), women-owned small business (WOSB), and service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) concerns.

b. The Government will review each plan to assure it is consistent with the provisions of the above Clause. Subcontracting plans are subject to negotiations along with the terms and conditions of any contract resulting from this solicitation. The offeror’s subcontracting plan must be approved by the Contracting Officer prior to award. A contractor’s approved subcontracting plan will be incorporated into the resultant contract and the Contracting Officer will monitor, evaluate and document contractor performance in adhering to 52.219-9 and meeting its subcontracting goals as set forth in its approved plan.

c. The DHS subcontracting goals for Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013 are listed below and shall be utilized for developing a subcontracting plan in response to this solicitation.

Percentage of Total Subcontracting Dollars SB Subcontracts 45.0% SDB Subcontracts 5.0% WOSB Subcontracts 5.0% HUBZone Subcontracts 3.0% SDVOSB Subcontracts 3.0%

Technical Proposal (Non-price factors) – The government shall incorporate all elements of the successful contractor’s technical proposal (in full or by reference), except for Relevant

Past Performance information, into any contract resulting from this RFP. The Contractor is required to submit the following technical (non-price) information:

1. Relevant Past Performance:

A. The Contractor shall demonstrate relevant past performance or affirmatively state that it possesses no relevant past performance. Relevant past performance is performance under projects (currently being performed or performed within the past three (3) years although those projects of short duration or recently awarded may be considered as slightly less relevant and/or presenting a higher performance risk given the shorter period of performance) that are of a similar or directly related scope, magnitude and complexity to that described in the solicitation and as defined below. Note that the Government will also consider the quality of the Contractor’s relevant past performance. Information provided in response to this factor will assist the Government in determining the degree of risk associated with award of this project to the Contractor in question based upon that Contractor’s past and present performance on other relevant projects. In addition, the Contracting Officer may use past performance information as one of the components in making a determination of responsibility.

B. The Contractor shall submit a maximum of three (3) projects for evaluation. Where contractor teaming arrangements (as defined at FAR Subpart 9.6) are proposed, an additional maximum of three (3) projects for a partner or each subcontractor shall be submitted. For each submitted project, the Contractor shall include references, using the form at Attachment 3, to provide the requested past project information. An evaluation of relevance will be done for no more than three (3) projects submitted by the Contractor for itself and three (3) projects submitted for a partner or each subcontractor. The Contractor is therefore cautioned to submit only the three (3) most relevant efforts of its partner or subcontractors. If the Contractor or its partner or subcontractors submit more than three (3) projects each for consideration, only three (3) per entity will be reviewed.

The three (3) reviewed for each entity will be the first three (3) as displayed within the proposal from front to back.

C. For each of the projects submitted as references, the Contractor shall ensure that a Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 4) is sent to a cognizant representative of the customer organization that purchased the services from our company to provide feedback

(e.g. Project Manager, Contracting Officer’s Representative). The Contractor shall instruct customers to complete the questionnaire and return it by the RFP submission due date to Beth H. Arnold-Messick by e-mail (preferred) at beth.arnold-messick@dhs.gov or by mail to US. Department of Homeland Security, FPS Acquisition Division, 701 Market Street, Phila., PA 19106, Attn: Beth H. Arnold-Messick. If a Past

Sub-Section E-2 mailto:beth.arnold-messick@dhs.gov

Performance Questionnaire cannot be obtained from the customer organization that received the services wherein the Contractor was a subcontractor, the prime contractor on the project may complete the Past Performance Questionnaire, but any responses completed by the prime contractor may be given less consideration by the Government than if it is completed by the customer.

D. The Government reserves the right to obtain information from sources other than those identified by the Contractor.

E. If an Offeror believes that any unfavorable information may be provided within the questionnaires for submitted projects, the Offeror should include a brief explanation on the Past Project Form (Attachment 3) of the circumstances pertaining to this data and the Offeror’s position in reference to these circumstances. If appropriate, the Offeror should indicate what steps have been included in this offer to prevent a recurrence of such situations.

F. The Government will determine the relevance of a past performance project/contract by analyzing the following and comparing it to the instant RFP:

“Scope” by considering the type of service provided (i.e. is the project/contract for security PSO services?);

“Magnitude” by considering various measures such as, but not limited to, any or all of the following: number of productive hours per year, number of PSO personnel to support the effort, and total contract value; AND

“Complexity” by considering various measures such as, but not limited to, any or all of the following: whether or not PSOs are armed; type of PSO qualifications and training requirements; type of permit, licensure and certification requirements in performance of the effort; typical duties/responsibilities required of security force; type of protection required (e.g. interior and exterior building protection vs. exterior-only protection and gate access control);and the number and geographic dispersion of service sites under a single project.

G. Where contractor teaming arrangements (as defined at FAR Subpart 9.6) are proposed, a narrative and/or the actual Teaming Agreement if one exists, shall be submitted as part of the proposal which clearly details the roles, responsibilities, and distribution of effort (by type and percentage) between the parties in performance of the Government’s requirement. This information should be provided by the managing partner of the joint venture or the prime contractor as a one (1) page supplement to its Past Project Forms (Attachment 3) and will not count against the 20-page size limitation on the proposal.

H. Where a contractor provides projects performed by its managers, key personnel, subcontractors or other partners for consideration, the Government will evaluate the past performance of its proposed managers, key personnel, subcontractor or other partners separately and consider its findings about them, in conjunction with information provided as required in paragraph D above, when determining the risk associated with the proposal and assigning the appropriate rating to the proposal. The Government will determine whether the past performance of a contractor’s, managers, key personnel, subcontractors or other partners offsets the risk of doing business with a prime contractor that has no or limited experience and past performance of its own. The Government may decide not to attribute to the prime contractor, as an organization, the past performance of its managers, key personnel, subcontractors or other partners.

I. If the government attributes to the successful offeror the past performance of its proposed managers, key personnel, subcontractors or other partners, the successful offeror’s proposal will be incorporated into the resultant contract as a requirement. In such cases the subject managers, key personnel, subcontractors or other partners shall not be replaced without prior approval of the Contracting Officer.

2. Management Approach:

FPS desires that offerors provide management strategies and proposed solutions demonstrating how they will result in better value to the government. In response to this Evaluation Factor, offerors shall address Quality Assurance, Transition and Staffing.

A. Quality Assurance:

At a minimum, provide a narrative that addresses field level Supervision and Quality Control as follows:

1. Field Level Supervision of Protective Security Officers (PSO)

a. Offerors shall complete Attachment 8 entitled “Field Level Supervision Exhibit” clearly delineating and establishing the minimum level of field/onsite supervision the offeror shall provide under this effort. The proposed minimum level of field/onsite supervision will be evaluated by the Government to assess the level of oversight offered by the contractor and shall be incorporated into the successful offerors’ contract. For purposes of completing the “Field Level Supervision Exhibit” the following individual(s) are not considered field level supervisors:

Contract Manager Training Instructor

Quality Control Personnel “Lead” PSOs ( Note: The Government defines a Lead PSO as a single point of communication at a facility, identified by post orders, for the purpose of communicating operational and facility specific info to the security force at a facility.)

Note: The “Field Level Supervision Exhibit” attachment does not count against the page limitation in the technical proposal.

b. Provide your firm’s supervisory processes and procedures for ensuring contract requirements are met throughout performance and a description of the supervisory methods employed.

Note: The government’s review and acceptance of an offeror’s proposed field level supervision will not alleviate the vendor from modifying (i.e, increasing) the amount of supervision after contract award should the Government’s or contractor’s oversight and inspections reveal systemic problems with performance. If at any time the vendor determines that additional supervision beyond what was initially proposed, is needed to address performance issues, such additional supervision will be provided at no additional cost to the Government

2. Quality Control:

a. Describe the Methods of Inspection to be used and delineate specifically what is inspected.

b. Detail processes for addressing non-compliance issues (employee and other).

c. Address the proposed frequency, locations and methods of documenting inspections.

d. Describe all information generated by the contractor’s QC inspection program that will be transmitted to the Government. In addition describe how inspection results and corrective actions will be communicated to the Government, including the timing, content and format of those communications.

B. Transition:

1. Describe the methods to be used to provide for the timely delivery and proper documentation of all contract required transition training considering the magnitude of training requirements and allotted time to accomplish it NOTE – In no event shall any proposed plan for training be dependent upon availability of Government personnel after normal business hours (e.g.

overseeing training during evenings and weekends).

2. Transition Timeline – outline all significant transition steps and the associated timeframes for completing all steps to assure timely performance start up including but not limited to timely provision of all contract required equipment, licensing, permits and required contract training.

NOTE - In no event shall any proposed transition timeline include assumptions that the government will waive or defer ANY contract requirements.

C. Staffing:

1. Staffing Plan. The solicitation includes estimated Basic PSO Service hours that may be ordered by the Government, which exceed the initial known basic PSO Service hours reflected in the post exhibits. Similarly the solicitation includes estimated hours that the Government may order for TAS and ESS. The Government may order these additional hours at anytime during the performance period of this contract and may do so without providing for a “phase-in” period. Provide a staffing plan that details how your firm intends to staff those hours up to the maximum quantities identified in the contract to include supporting TAS and ESS requirements. Your staffing plan should detail how you intend to provide fully licensed, trained/certified PSOs to meet the total estimated hours of this solicitation (i.e., all, or a large portion of the hours may be ordered at once, without providing for additional phase-in time to meet those requirements).

2. Relief Plan. Provide a detailed plan indicating your approach to providing relief. At a minimum, the relief plan shall specifically state your policy for providing meal and break periods to include discussing whether these periods are paid or unpaid, the number of annual relief hours that will be required to fill all posts requiring continuous coverage during meal/break periods, the number of personnel that you will provide to perform annual relief hours and whether the personnel are dedicated full time equivalents for provision of relief or if they will perform under the contract in other capacities in addition to relief. Statements such as “relief shall be provided in accordance with the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement or applicable Department of Labor regulations” or other non-definitive statements may adversely impact your evaluation under this technical factor. Offerors are reminded that patrol (rover) and supervisory PSOs shall not be used to provide breaks/relief while simultaneously performing the rover or supervisory function.

Notice to Offerors: Submission of information under the “Management Approach” factor in response to the solicitation does not take the place of or otherwise diminish the successful contractor’s requirement to submit detailed related contract deliverables (e.g., Transition Plan, Quality Control Plan, etc.) after contract award. Rather, the information provided in response to this factor should be detailed enough (without exceeding prescribed page limitations) to present the offeror’s strategy and/or innovative solutions to delivering the highest quality security services in full compliance with all contract requirements. After award of the contract, the successful contractor's Management Approach will be incorporated into the contract. Notwithstanding this incorporation, the successful awardee will be required to submit detailed contract deliverables which not only provide greater detail than what is provided with the quote or proposal, but also fully delineates the planned implementation of the promised approach(s) and plans for communicating results to the COTR throughout contract performance.

3. Socio Economic Factor:

A. All business concerns (to include small businesses) shall address Extent of Participation of Small Disadvantaged Business Concerns. The offeror must provide with its offer targets expressed as dollars and percentages of the total evaluated contract price for the services required by the solicitation. To this end, offerors shall complete and submit the following table as part of the technical proposal.

1. Total Evaluated Contract Price

100%

2. Target for SDB participation in the contract by the Prime Contractor or Joint Venture

% of line 1 =

3. Target for SDB participation in the contract by subcontracting

4. Target for Total SDB participation in the contract

1. The targets will be incorporated into and become part of any resulting contract.

Contractors shall be required to report SDB participation.

2. The current goal held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for contracting with SDB concerns is 5%. The NAICS code assigned to this requirement is 561612. The small business size standard associated with 561612 is as set forth at http://www.sba.gov/contracting opportunities/officials/size/index.html.

B. Large Business Concerns shall address Prime Contractor Participation in the DHS Mentor Protégé Program

1. Large business concerns shall choose one of the following options:

http://www.sba.gov/contracting%20opportunities/officials/size/index.html

____ The offeror participates in the DHS Mentor-Protégé Program as verified at http://www.dhs.gov/xopnbix/smallbusiness/gc 1198248049694.shtm. A signed letter of mentor-protégé agreement approval from the DHS Office of Small Business and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) has been provided as an attachment to this proposal.

_____ The offeror has submitted an application to the OSDBU but has not yet received final approval from OSDBU.

_____ The offeror does not participate in the DHS Mentor-Protégé Program.

2. Large Businesses may be given additional credit for participating in the DHS Mentor Protégé Program. Additional credit will only be applied when comparing the offer of one large business to the offer of another large business. A large business will not be given credit for this factor when comparing the offer of a large business concern to the offer of a small business concern. The contracting officer may, in his or her discretion, give credit for approvals that occur after initial evaluation of proposals, but before final evaluation.

Price Proposal

1. Using the Pricing Schedule, the Contractor must submit unit prices and extended prices (i.e. Unit Price x Estimated Quantity) for every line item listed under each potential ordering period (including the 6 month option available under FAR 52.217-8). The Contractor must also provide a Total Estimated Price for each potential ordering period (i.e. the sum of all line items within that performance period). Contractors submitting partial pricing information shall be ineligible for award. The unit price prevails if a discrepancy exists between the unit price and the extended price.

2. In accordance with FAR 52.216-31, Time-and-Materials/Labor-Hour Proposal Requirements – Commercial Item Acquisition, incorporated by reference herein, the Contractor must affirm that the fixed hourly rate for each labor category applies to labor performed by (1) the Contractor; (2) subcontractor(s); and (3) divisions, subsidiaries, or affiliates of the Contractor under a common control, or some combination thereof.

3. The minimum wage rates and fringe benefits applicable to this contract are outlined in the attached Department of Labor (DOL) prevailing wage determination(s) and/or the predecessor contractor’s Collective Bargaining Agreement(s) (CBA). For purposes of proposal preparation, where a predecessor contractor’s CBA applies, the minimum wages and fringe benefits of the predecessor contractor’s CBA corresponding to the initial period of http://www.dhs.gov/xopnbix/smallbusiness/gc performance of this contract shall be regarded as applicable to all additional period of performance under this contract.

4. The Contractor shall also provide a detailed breakdown of its proposed unit prices for each contract line item.

A. At a minimum the breakdown should clearly and adequately identify:

(1) Elements in the proposed unit prices that are associated with the level of supervision, staffing, quality control, transition, relief, COOP and other advantageous aspects proposed under the Management Approach factor.

(2) Price elements which may be subject to escalation under FAR 52.222-43, Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Act – Price Adjustment (Multiple Year and Option Contracts). Examples of such elements would include, but are not limited to:

Anticipated hourly wage rates to be paid Health and welfare costs Vacation and holiday pay Unemployment insurance

(3) Price elements associated with providing the services described in the Statement of Work including, but not limited to: supervision (if not separately priced), PSO relief, uniforms, weapons, ammunition, training, drug testing, licensing and permits, taxes, range practice, overhead and general and administrative costs, etc.

B. To ensure the submission of an adequate price element breakdown for purposes of this RFP, the Government suggests that the Contractor complete the attached worksheet, “Price Element Breakdown” (Attachment 6). The worksheet serves as a proforma for the expected format of the price element breakdown.

C. The Government may use this breakdown to conduct a price realism evaluation for the purpose of measuring the Contractor’s understanding of the solicitation requirements and for assessing the performance risk inherent in the Contractor’s price. In addition, the proposed rates/elements subject to escalation under FAR 52.222-43 as shown in this breakdown may be used in conjunction with submitted payroll records when evaluating price adjustment requests presented by the contractor.

5. The Contractor’s price shall be inclusive of all the Contractor’s direct costs, indirect costs and profit and shall include all costs associated with providing the services described in the Statement of Work, the Post Exhibits and the Contractor’s technical proposal.

6. Prices (for the base and option periods including the 6 month option available under FAR 52.217-8)) will be evaluated to ensure that they are fair and reasonable for performance of the requirements established in the RFP and as proposed in the technical submission.

The Government has estimated Other Direct Costs in Support of COOP Implementation as follows:

Other Direct Costs in Support of COOP Implementation

Base Year $100,000 Option I $100,000 Option II $100,000 Option III $100,000 Option IV $100,000 52.217-8 $50,000

The Government’s estimated Other Direct Costs (ODCs) (inclusive of applicable indirect burden(s)) shall be used for the purpose of evaluating the price proposal. Therefore, offerors shall use these estimates in preparing their price proposal. For applicable Indirect Burden rates (i.e. G&A and Material Handling), separately identify such indirect rates for the proposed Base and four option years in the chart below. Since this is a commercial contract, note that these rates are fixed throughout the life of the contract and not subject to adjustment. Additionally, please identify your accounting practices for applying the proposed indirect rates to the ODCs (i.e whether G&A applies to all costs or all non-material/subcontractor costs).

Fixed Indirect Rate

Identify Accounting Practice for applying the proposed indirect rate

Base Period Optional Ordering Period 1 Optional Ordering Period 2 Optional Ordering Period 3 Optional Ordering Period 4

7. The Contractor is cautioned that its proposal may be rejected if it is found to be materially unbalanced in the base period or any option periods. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price of one or more line items is significantly overstated or understated.

8. The Government shall not be responsible for compensating the Contractor for any costs tied to solicitation requirements but not factored into the proposed prices, either by the Contractor’s intention or by mistake.

9. Prior to award the Contractor may be required to furnish the following information to establish the company’s financial responsibility in accordance with FAR 9.104-1:

A. The last three years of audited financial statements (includes balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows). Unaudited financial statements may be requested if audited do not exist. The Contractor may be requested to provide written confirmation that the provided financial statements include disclosure of all off-balance sheet arrangements and related party transactions as defined as follows:

Off-balance sheet arrangements may involve, but are not limited to, unconsolidated, non-independent, limited purpose entities, often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities. These entities may be in the form of corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, trusts, structured finance entities or other types of agreements, relationships or understandings. These entities may be used to provide financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support, or involve leasing, hedging, and/or research and development services.

Related party transactions are defined in Statement of Financial Accounting

Standards No. 57, Related Party Disclosures, and include, but are not limited to, transactions between any organizations, divisions, subdivisions, or affiliates under common control.

B. The last two quarters of filed payroll tax returns (Federal Tax Return Form 941) and evidence of payment. (Evidence of payment may include copies of canceled checks, receipts from the bank, receipts from electronic fund transfers, and/or similar information from an external payroll service) If unpaid payroll taxes are owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), provide any agreements with IRS to make timely payments and evidence those payments are being made.

Basis for Selection

The Government will select the responsible Contractor whose proposal, in conforming to this RFP, provides the overall best value to meet the Government’s requirements, price and non-price factors considered. Only apparent successful contractors determined to be responsible pursuant to FAR 9.104-1 will be issued a contract.

Notice of Award

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

Period of Performance

The duration of the awarded contract will be up to five (5) years inclusive of all optional ordering periods. Individual task orders placed against the contract will cite specific performance periods. The contract will be reviewed in accordance FAR 17.207 prior to the exercise of any option.

Contracting Officer (CO)

The Contracting Officer for this RFP and resultant award is:

Annmarie Bartholomeo, annmarie.bartholomeo@dhs.gov, 215-521-2260

Questions

The Contractor is requested to submit any questions regarding this requirement via email as soon as possible but no later than 2:00 PM EST, September 28, 2012 to beth.arnold-messick@dhs.gov. Prospective contractors may contact the Government while preparing a proposal in order to obtain clarification of the statement of work or to obtain other information needed to prepare a proposal. Any clarifying information issued by the Government will be provided to all prospective contractors.

mailto:annmarie.bartholomeo@dhs.gov