B08 - HT942525R0005 Amend 0001.docx

HT942525R0005

SECTION SF 30 BLOCK 14 CONTINUATION PAGE

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

SECTION J - LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS

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SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO BIDDERS

The following have been modified:

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

1. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Introduction: This section provides general guidance for preparation of proposals as well as specific instructions on the format and content of the proposal. The Offeror’s proposal shall include all data and information requested and shall be submitted in accordance with these instructions. Proposals shall be clear, coherent, and prepared in sufficient detail for effective evaluation of the Offeror’s proposals against the evaluation criteria. Failure to submit all documents concurrently and in accordance with these instructions may render a proposal unacceptable.

This requirement is a follow-on to services currently being provided under Contract W81XWH-22-C-0053 with Chenega Professional & Technical Services, LLC, and is being competed as 100% 8(a) Small Business Set-Aside. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard for this acquisition is 541714 with a size standard of 1,000 employees.

Questions: All questions shall be submitted electronically, via e-mail, to jayme.l.fletcher2.civ@health.mil and christina.m.lewis14.civ@health.mil. Questions shall be submitted no later than 1300 Eastern Time on 14 April 2025. Offerors shall submit one set of questions only; multiple sets of questions from an offeror will not be accepted. Questions not submitted via e-mail will not be answered. Answers to contractor submitted questions will be provided via an amendment to the solicitation and posted on https://sam.gov.

Proposal Submission: Proposals shall be submitted electronically, via e-mail, to jayme.l.fletcher2.civ@health.mil and christina.m.lewis14.civ@health.mil. All submissions shall include solicitation number HT942525R0005 in the e-mail subject line. All proposals are due no later than 1300 Eastern Time on 22 May 2025. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to confirm receipt with the Government points of contacts.

Proposal Format: Each Offeror’s proposal shall consist of four (4) volumes, individually titled. Each volume shall be clearly labeled with its Volume Number, Title, Date and Offeror’s Name. Files shall not contain classified data. The use of hyperlinks in proposals is prohibited. Electronic submission of these volumes is required, as outlined above. The volumes are as follows:

Volume I – Technical Volume II – Past Performance Volume III – Cost/Price Volume IV – Business

Cost/Price information shall be included in Volume III – Cost/Price only. Proposed cost/price information shall not be discussed or exhibited in any other volume of an Offeror’s proposal.

Proposals shall be single spaced and submitted in MS Word or searchable PDF format. Each paragraph shall be separated by at least one blank line. A standard, 12-point minimum font size applies. Arial or New Times Roman fonts are required. Tables and illustrations may use a reduced font size no less than 8-point and may be landscape. All pages shall be single-sided.

To aid in evaluation, all information shall be confined to the appropriate volume and proposals shall be practical, specific and complete as well as being indexed (cross-indexed, as appropriate) and logically assembled. The proposal shall be in a clear, concise form. All pages of each proposal volume shall be numbered, dated and must include the solicitation number.

Page Limitations: The proposal shall adhere to the following single-sided page limitations:

NOTE: Pages exceeding the maximum pages limitation will not be evaluated. Additional pages over the maximum allowed will be removed or not read and will not be evaluated by the Government. The following sections are not subject to page limits, and may be included as appendices to the corresponding volume of the proposal:

· Cover Letter

· Table of Contents

· Title Page

· Summary Narrative

· Government Furnished Equipment/Information/Property

· Resumes for Key Personnel

· Attachment naming Key Personnel with description of the portion of the PWS each individual is being proposed to perform

· Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Certification

· OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan (if necessary, in accordance with the OCI Certification)

· List of Acronyms

· Past Performance Questionnaires’ (PPQs)

· Transition-In Plan

· Subcontractor Letters of Commitment

· Cure Notices/Show Cause Letters

Offerors are cautioned that “copying” of the technical requirements or the Performance Work Statement (PWS) with a statement of intent to perform does not reflect an understanding of the requirement or capability to perform. Offerors are responsible for including sufficient details to perform a complete and accurate evaluation of each proposal.

The Government will evaluate only one proposal from each prime Offeror. The Government will not accept alternate proposals. Offerors’ proposals must include a statement that the proposal shall remain valid for a minimum of 180 days from the date of submission.

The Government intends to award a single-award, contract without discussions with Offerors. Therefore, the Offeror’s initial proposal should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary.

Offerors are prohibited from modifying any documents, printed or electronic, associated with this solicitation and any amendments unless specifically authorized by the Government to do so. The electronic solicitation documents posted on https://sam.gov shall be the official documents for this solicitation.

All proposal information is subject to verification by the Government. Falsification of any proposal submission, documents, or statements may subject the Offeror to civil or criminal prosecution under Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

All Offerors must comply with FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management. In complying with this clause, the Offeror must ensure that all representations and certifications contained within the solicitation under Clauses Incorporated in Full Text are completed and uploaded into its SAM record at https://sam.gov by the date specified for receipt of proposals. Any Offeror that does not have an active SAM record or has a record that does not include all representations and certifications required within the solicitation under Clauses Incorporated in Full Text may be considered ineligible for award.

Any data previously submitted in response to another solicitation, whether submitted to the USAMRAA or another agency, shall be assumed to be unavailable during this proposal evaluation and source selection process. Proposal data shall not be incorporated into the proposal by referring to another proposal or other source.

The Government will not reimburse any Offeror for costs incurred as a result of preparation and submission of a proposal in response to this solicitation. Offerors shall submit proposals in response to this solicitation in English and in U.S. dollars only.

A company with multiple divisions (and each division registered separately in the System for Award Management (SAM)) is permitted to submit a separate proposal by division for award consideration. However, Offerors are cautioned that if one company submits separate proposals from multiple divisions, each division’s proposal should address the full solicitation requirements uniquely based on their particular division’s capabilities. For example, management processes and/or past performance submissions of a different division may not be used in support of the division submitting the proposal. The proposal must be specific to the division submitting the proposal.

2. VOLUME INSTRUCTIONS

a. Volume I: Technical. The volume shall be organized into the following sections:

i. Section 1 – Technical Approach – The Offeror shall submit a Technical Approach which effectively demonstrates a clear and complete understanding of the PWS requirements, regardless of the Government’s estimated effort. Specifically, the Technical Approach shall demonstrate:

· Ability to conduct various science related tasks within BSL-2 through BSL-4 biocontainment laboratories.

· Ability to effectively manage task-related travel, CONUS and OCONUS.

· Understanding and methodology to meet and comply with the Occupational Health and Safety requirements in a CONUS laboratory environment as established in the PWS 2.10.2.

· Strategies / processes to identify, manage and mitigate risk.

ii. Section 2 – Management/Staffing Approach – The Offeror shall submit written information which effectively demonstrates the Offeror’s Management/Staffing Approach that will lead to the successful accomplishment of the requirement. Specifically, the approach shall address the following:

· Management structure with regard to roles and responsibilities, lines of authority, span of control, flow of information, and communication strategies amongst the contractor team, subcontractors, requiring activities, and external organizations.

· Recruitment and staffing approach to recruit quality staff with the experience, capabilities and security clearance required for the successful accomplishment of this requirement.

· Retention/incentive plan to retain qualified personnel with the experience, capabilities and security clearance required for the successful accomplishment of this requirement.

· Plan for program management and scheduling for coverage of required tasks outlined in the PWS.

· Offerors management practices for establishing and maintaining a cohesive team that ensures completion of all tasks, managing subcontracts and managing budgets.

· Strategies/processes used to identify, manage and mitigate risk of getting qualified personnel through the BPRP process and retaining those qualified personnel.

· Approach to managing cost, schedule, and performance.

· Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Certification (Not subject to Page Limit) – The Offeror shall complete and include an OCI Certification (Attachment 12) and (if necessary) an OCI Avoidance or Mitigation Plan, as attachments to the Technical proposal.

· Government furnished property management plan in accordance with FAR Part 52.245-1(f). The Government anticipates providing the equipment/information/property shown in Attachment 07 – List of GFP. Offerors should include as an attachment to the Technical proposal a listing of any Government Furnished Equipment/Information/Property not already identified but necessary to perform this requirement. This attachment should include the following information: Item description, HA/OA tag number (if applicable), quantity, and current location. Detailed Bills of Materials shall be submitted along with the proposal noting part numbers, prices, and need dates for all required GFE. This attachment is excluded from the Technical Proposal page limits.

· A Transition-In Plan that is: i) achievable, ii) takes custody of documents, and iii) takes physical responsibility of any and all Government Furnished Equipment. Offerors are to provide a plan for 15 days of Transition-In from contract to contract. The Transition-In Plan may be submitted as an appendices to Volume I – Technical, and is excluded from the Technical Proposal page limit.

iii. Section 3 – Experience – The Offeror shall submit written information which effectively demonstrates the Offeror’s relevant experience (for this purpose, experience refers to what an Offeror has done, not how well it was accomplished) identical to, similar to or related to performing services outlined within the PWS. The Offeror’s proposal shall demonstrate the amount of relevant corporate and Government experience the Offeror possesses. Offeror’s relevant experience shall support and substantiate that the organization (to include support contractors, consultants, key personnel, and business partners) has current capabilities for assuring performance of this requirement. Experience shows: (a) Appropriate mix and balance of education and training of team members and (b) Quality and effectiveness insofar as the allocation of personnel and resources. Specifically, the experience section shall address the following:

· Experience with staffing and providing services in support of the BPRP and CS-PRP program or an equivalent personnel reliability program.

· Experience with recruiting and getting qualified personnel through the BPRP process (or equivalent personnel reliability program) and retaining those qualified personnel.

· Corporate experience in the areas of program management, client services support, and administrative support services in a highly regulated laboratory (BSL-3 and BSL-4) and scientific environment.

· Use of Key Personnel. The Government has identified the following tasks/positions to be filled by Key Personnel. The Offeror may propose alternate and/or additional positions as Key Personnel.

(1) For all Key Personnel positions, provide an attachment naming the individuals proposed to fill Key Personnel tasks/positions along with a description of the portion of the solicitation’s PWS that each individual is being proposed to perform. This attachment is excluded from the Technical Proposal page limits.

(2) A resume is required for all individuals proposed to fill Key Personnel tasks/positions. Do not submit resumes for all labor proposed, only for those Key Personnel identified above.

(3) Resumes shall provide thorough and detailed documentation of the experience, abilities and background for proposed Key Personnel or equivalent statements of qualifications. Such documentation shall include but not be limited to name, curriculum vitae, type and description of experience. Experience shall be identical to, similar to or related to performing the services contained within the PWS and shall reflect an appropriate mix and balance of education and training. DO NOT include Social Security Number, date of birth, home address, or personal telephone number of the person on the resume. Resumes are limited to two pages per key personnel and do not count towards the overall page limit of 50 pages for the technical proposal.

b. Volume II: Past Performance. The Offeror shall submit no more than three references of relevant contracts within the past three years for its own performance. Contracts cited must be current or have ended not more than three years prior to the original closing date of the solicitation. If the contract performance ended more than three years prior to the original closing date of the solicitation it will be determined to not be recent and not evaluated further. The Offeror shall also submit no more than one reference for each Subcontractor proposed. This volume shall not exceed 15 pages, excluding Past Performance Questionnaires (Attachment 13), letters from subcontractors, cure notices and show cause letters. The Offeror shall also submit a written consent of its subcontractors to allow the disclosure of its subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment shall be included for all subcontractors for their past performance to be considered. This volume shall be organized into the following sections:

i. Section 1 – Contract Descriptions. This section shall include the following information in the following format.

· Contractor/Subcontractor place of performance, CAGE Code and UEI. If the work was performed as a subcontractor, also provide the name of the prime contractor and Point of Contact (POC) within the prime contractor organization (name, current address, e-mail address and telephone number).

· Government contracting activity and current address, Procuring Contracting Officer’s name, e-mail address and telephone number.

· Government’s technical representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative and current e-mail address and telephone number.

· Government contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting Officer’s name, current e-mail address and telephone number.

· Contract Number and, in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreements, include Delivery/Task Order Numbers.

· Contract Type (specific type such as Fixed-Price (FP), Cost Reimbursement (CR), Time & Material (T&M), etc.). In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (FP, CR, T&M, etc.).

· Awarded cost/price.

· Final or projected final cost/price.

· Period of Performance dates.

ii. Section 2 – Performance. Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1, Contract Descriptions, describing the objectives achieved and detailing how the effort is relevant to the requirement of this solicitation.

For any contracts that did not/do not meet original schedule or technical performance requirements, provide a brief explanation of the reason(s) for the shortcomings and any corrective action(s) taken to avoid recurrence. The Offerors shall list each time the delivery schedule was revised and provide an explanation of why the revision was necessary. All Requests for Deviation and Requests for Waiver shall be addressed with respect to causes and corrective actions. The Offerors shall also provide copy of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters received on each contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the Offeror or proposed subcontractor (not included in the 15-page limit). The Offerors shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

iii. Section 3 – Subcontracts (if applicable). Offerors shall provide an outline of how the effort required by the solicitation will be assigned for performance within the Offeror’s corporate entity and among the proposed subcontractors. The information provided for the prime Offeror and each proposed subcontractor must include the entire company name, company address, CAGE Code, UEI Number and type of work to be performed by citing the applicable Government PWS subparagraph number. This section will further include written consent of subcontractors to allow the disclosure of their subcontractor’s past performance information to the Offeror. In addition, letters of commitment shall be included for all subcontractors (not included in the 15-page limit).

iv. Section 4 - PPQs. For all contracts identified in Section 1 - Contract Descriptions, a Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 13) shall be completed in its entirety and submitted. The Offeror shall complete Part I of the PPQ and e-mail the questionnaire to both the Government contracting activity and technical representative responsible for the past/current contract. The POCs shall be instructed to electronically complete Part II of the PPQ and e-mail the entire questionnaire to the contracting office no later than the proposal due date specified in the solicitation, to jayme.l.fletcher2.civ@health.mil and christina.m.lewis14.civ@health.mil. The Offeror shall e-mail a list of all the POCs who were sent a PPQ to the contracting office no later than the proposal due date specified in the solicitation, to jayme.l.fletcher2.civ@health.mil and christina.m.lewis14.civ@health.mil. The list of all POCs shall be submitted in Word for Windows Table Format to include the following fields: Solicitation Number; Company Name; Contract Number; Government Agency; POC Last Name, First Name; POC Title; POC Telephone Number; POC E-mail Address; and Date E-Mail to POC (month/day).

The Government may contact the POCs listed on the PPQs. POCs shall be either Government personnel (civil service or military) or employees of private sector clients for whom you have provided services. Information provided by or for POCs who work directly for your company, or indirectly (i.e., in a prime/ subcontractor or mentor/protégé relationship, etc.), will be determined not relevant.

Offerors are discouraged from providing points of contact with another contractors’ facility, i.e., in case an Offeror (or one of his/her team members) is in a subcontract with another contractor who has submitted a proposal on the same requirement. Offerors shall provide and submit the prime contract number and all Governmental agency POCs in lieu of subcontract numbers or prime contract POCs in situations as described above.

Past performance information may be obtained from any other sources available to the Government, to include, but not limited to the Contractor Performance Assessment System (CPARS), Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), Electronic Subcontract Reporting System (eSRS), or other databases; interviews with Program Managers, Contracting Officers, and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

c. Volume III: Cost/Price. The cost/price volume shall be a separate volume from all other volumes.

Content: Offerors’ cost/price proposal shall include proposal cost assumptions and include required information, i.e., a cost breakdown by labor categories and rates, indirect rates, other direct costs and proposed fee. The Offeror shall provide a statement of the methodology and assumptions utilized as the basis for costs proposed for the required services to include proposed fee. The Offeror shall also include a narrative that describes how rates are applied, which includes the cost base that the rates are applied against and outlines how blended or prorated rates are calculated based on the offeror’s accounting system. In accordance with FAR Part 15.402 and Part 15.403-1, certified cost or pricing data is not required because adequate competition is expected for this procurement. The proposed costs must be sufficiently detailed to evaluate the reasonableness and realism for the proposed level of effort. Information other than certified cost or pricing data may be provided in contractor format providing that sufficient information is made available; information submitted shall be prepared following the instruction in FAR 15.403-5. Offerors shall address, at a minimum, all escalation factors applied with rationale and calculations of all Direct, Indirect, Overhead, G&A and Fee cost factors. For purposes of FTE hours, full time is established as 1,912 hours.

In accordance with FAR 52.222-46 "Evaluation for Compensation of Professional Employees" the Offeror shall submit the information as required by this provision. The price proposal must be sufficiently detailed to evaluate the reasonableness of price.

FAR 52.217-8: Option to Extend Services: The Government will evaluate FAR 52.217-8 by using the Offeror’s proposed pricing for the last option period.

Plug Number - Other Direct Costs (ODCs):

The Government is providing a pre-determined Not to Exceed (NTE) amount for ODCs as shown in the table below to include Travel, Training and Supplies. The Offeror shall propose their ODC amount as follows:

The Offeror shall also provide the following with their Cost/Price proposal:

· Accounting System: Demonstrate evidence of an accounting system that is adequate for determining costs applicable to the contract. The Offeror shall provide evidence of the accounting systems adequacy in the form of a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), or an independent third-party accredited audit report of the accounting system and methods within the past two (2) years that had been deemed adequate for determining costs applicable to this contract in accordance with FAR 16.301-3(a)(1).

· Pricing Sheet: The Offeror’s proposal shall include a completed pricing sheet in the attached format (Attachment 14 – Pricing worksheet). The Offeror shall ensure mathematical computations are correct, showing all formulas. Errors in mathematical computations may be considered a reason to remove the Offeror’s proposal from the competition.

· Offerors shall propose on all contract line items. A line-item price left blank will be considered nonresponsive to this request and the proposal may not be considered for award.

· The Offeror’s proposal shall remain valid for a minimum of 180 days from the date of submission.

· Surge shall be proposed as 10% of the proposed labor for each performance period (eg. CLIN 0003 – Surge shall be equal to 10% of CLIN 0001 – Labor)

· Supplemental Cost/Price Worksheet: The Offeror’s proposal shall include a completed Supplemental Pricing Worksheet, included in Attachment 14 – Pricing worksheet, that provides a detailed breakdown of proposed pricing, including labor hours, labor rates, Overhead, General and Administrative (G&A), and profit or fee including sub elements. Supplemental pricing sheet shall also include all other direct and indirect costs including materials, equipment, travel, shipping and any other costs associated with the performance of the resulting contract. ODC’s shall reflect the Government pre-determined ceiling of $80,000.00 per year. The addition of profit/fee on top of the actual cost of travel is not allowed. Offerors shall define which labor categories will be performed by subcontractor(s) along with the subcontractor(s) company name. The Offeror shall provide a detailed breakdown of the proposed labor rate for all proposed subcontractor labor. Errors in mathematical computations may be considered a reason to remove the Offeror’s proposal from competition. All formulas shall be visible. Supporting cost documentation is not required for plug numbers predetermined by the Government.

· Discounts: The Offeror’s proposed pricing shall include all other costs, and all reductions or discounts offered shall be called out.

· Compensation for Professional Employees: The Offeror shall submit a total compensation plan setting forth salaries and fringe benefits proposed for the professional employees who will work under the contract in accordance with the provision at FAR 52.222-46. Failure to comply with these provisions may constitute sufficient cause to justify rejection of a proposal.

· Historical Level of Effort: The table in Attachment 05 of the solicitation represents the Government’s Historical level of effort for information purposes only. Offerors are advised to carefully review the requirement in deriving the level of effort it believes necessary in providing their best value proposal. Offerors are not bound to propose these labor categories or quantities, rather Offerors are expected to provide the best solution citing the labor mix and quantity required to accomplish the tasks.

· Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS): The Offeror shall identify which proposed labor categories, if any, are covered by the SCLS. If determined that none of the labor categories are covered by the SCLS, the Offeror shall clearly state that the SCLS would not apply with a brief explanation. Wage determination schedule 2015-4629 rev 28 is applicable to this requirement and is included as Attachment 15 to the solicitation.

· Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA): Include a copy of any current rate agreement or FPRA that supports the proposed contract rates. “Copy” in this context is defined as a direct and full copy of the actual applicable pages from your FPRA (to include cover sheet) and not offeror created tables or excerpts. These agreements may be with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), or other Federal Government contracting offices.

· Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) Audit: Include a copy of any DCAA audit that supports the proposed contract rates or costs.

Offerors shall not password protect cost/price excel spreadsheets, shall not include pivot tables in excel spreadsheets and shall not include locked out spreadsheets so that formulas are not visible or link to other spreadsheets where the Government cannot access the underlying value. All calculations and formulas shall allow the Government to view all numerical values in the calculations or shall link to cells in the same spreadsheet that allow the Government to view the values.

Offerors are cautioned that their proposed costs should be consistent with the proposed technical approach and reflective of the effort required by the solicitation. Unrealistically low proposed costs may be grounds for eliminating a proposal from the competition on the basis that the offeror does not understand the requirement.

d. Volume IV: Business. The business volume shall include the following:

i. Company Cover Letter including Offeror’s UEI, CAGE Code and Tax Identification Number.

ii. SF 33 – Solicitation, Offer and Award with Blocks 12 – 17 completed by the Offeror and signed by an authorized official of the firm.

iii. Acknowledgment of all Solicitation Amendments, if applicable, through completion of block 14 of the SF33 or by signing the cover sheet of each amendment and returning as part of this volume. Failure to acknowledge all solicitation amendments may render the Offeror ineligible for award.

iv. Contract Administration Data and Contractor Point of Contact

v. Representations and Certifications at FAR 52.204-8 (FAR 52.204-8(b) for those representations and certifications that the Offeror shall complete electronically) and other statement of Offeror’s. Offers that fail to furnish required representations or information or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration for award.

vi. Offeror’s cognizant DCAA office, including telephone numbers for POCs and the DCAA DODAAC number.

vii. Offeror’s cognizant DCMA office, including telephone numbers for POCs.

An acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission.

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

The following have been modified:

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

1. BASIS FOR AWARD

The award will be made on a competitive best value basis, using “best value tradeoff” among cost/price and non-cost/price factors. A best value tradeoff process will be used; thus, the Government may elect to award to other than the lowest cost/priced offeror, or other than the offeror with the highest rated non-cost/price proposal. Experience and Past Performance will be evaluated independently from the other non-cost/price evaluation factors using different standards. The non-cost/price evaluations factors numbered in descending order of importance, are as follows:

Factor 1: Technical Approach Factor 2: Management/Staffing Approach Factor 3: Experience Factor 4: Past Performance Factor 5: Cost/Price

Government evaluators will not assume that the Offerors possess any capabilities or knowledge unless it is specified in the proposal.

Cost/Price is the least important factor; however, as the collective non-cost/price factors begin to reach equality in the evaluation, the cost/price factor becomes more important in the tradeoff analysis.

After each of the non-cost/price factors (Factors 1 through 4) is rated individually, an overall rating will be assigned collectively to these factors. If any of the above non-cost/price factors receive an individual rating of “Unacceptable” or the equivalent “No Confidence” rating for past performance, the collective overall rating will also be “Unacceptable”. Only proposals receiving an overall rating of “Acceptable” or higher will be considered for award. In addition, cost/price proposals that are not found to be fair and/or reasonable will not be considered for award. This trade-off approach will include an integrated assessment where Technical, Management/Staffing Approach, Experience and Past Performance, when combined, are significantly more important than Cost/Price. The trade-off process permits trade-offs among cost/price and non-cost/price factors and allows the Government to award to the higher cost/priced Offeror when the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Contracting Officer determines the higher cost/priced Offeror represents the best value to the Government.

A set of adjectival ratings to evaluate non-Cost/Price Factors other than Past Performance will be used and are defined in Section 2 – Non-Cost/Price Evaluation Criteria. The components of each factor will be assessed for significant strengths, strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses, deficiencies, risks and uncertainties, which are defined below.

Table 1. Best Value Trade-off Evaluation Definitions

be appreciably advantageous to the Government during contract performance.

performance or capability requirements in a way that will be advantageous to the Government during contract performance.

performance. See FAR Part 15.001.

combination of significant weakness in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance to an unacceptable level. See FAR 15.001.

offeror is unclear (e.g., more than one way to interpret the offer or inconsistencies in the proposal indicating that there may have been an error, omission or mistake).

2. NON-COST/PRICE EVALUATION CRITERIA

a. Factor 1: Technical Approach

The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s Technical Approach to determine the degree to which the Offeror’s written technical approach:

i. Effectively demonstrates the Offeror’s overall ability to perform requirements in accordance with the PWS with Offeror’s approach and to:

· Conduct various science related tasks within BSL-2 through BSL-4 biocontainment laboratories,

· Effectively manage task-related travel, CONUS and OCONUS,.

· Understand and provide a methodology to meet and comply with the Occupational Health and Safety requirements in a CONUS laboratory environment as established in the PWS 2.10.2.

· Provide strategies/processes for identifying, managing and mitigating risk.

Table 2. Combined Technical/Risk Rating Standards for the Non-Cost/Price Proposal (Excluding Experience and Past Performance)

Acceptable

Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements, and risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

b. Factor 2: Management/Staffing Approach

The Management/Staffing Approach will be evaluated to the degree to which the offeror effectively demonstrated:

i. A management structure with regard to roles and responsibilities, lines of authority, span of control, flow of information, and communication strategies amongst the contractor team, subcontractors, requiring activities, and external organizations.

ii. A recruitment and staffing approach capable of recruiting quality staff with the experience, capabilities and security clearance required for the successful accomplishment of this requirement.

iii. A retention/incentive plan for retaining qualified personnel with the experience, capabilities and security clearance required for the successful accomplishment of this requirement

iv. A plan for program management and scheduling for coverage of required tasks outlined in the PWS.

v. Ability for establishing and maintaining a cohesive team that ensures completion of all tasks, managing subcontracts and managing budgets.

vi. A strategy for identifying, managing and mitigating risk of getting qualified personnel through the BPRP process and retaining those qualified personnel.

vii. An approach for managing cost, schedule and performance through contract.

viii. An OCI Mitigation Plan (if necessary) in response to an actual, potential, or perceived OCI, identified in the OCI Certification, associated with performance of this requirement.

ix. A plan for managing GFP in accordance with FAR 52.245-1(f).

x. A Transition-In Plan that is i) achievable, ii) takes custody of documents, and iii) takes physical responsibility of any and all Government Furnished Equipment, and provide for 15 days of Transition-In from contract to contract.

The rating standards outlined in Table 2 - Rating Standards for the Non-Cost/Price Proposal shall be used when evaluating Factor 2 – Management/Staffing Approach.

c. Factor 3: Experience

Experience will be evaluated as follows:

i. The Offeror’s proposal will be evaluated to the degree to which the Offeror’s proposal effectively demonstrates the Offeror’s relevant experience identical to, similar to or related to performing services outlined in the PWS.

ii. The amount of relevant corporate experience the Offeror possesses showing an (a) Appropriate mix and balance of education and training of team members, (b) Quality and effectiveness insofar as the allocation of personnel and resources, and (c) Specific experience in the following areas:

· Experience with the staffing and providing services in support of the BPRP and CS-PRP program or equivalent personnel reliability program.

· Experience with recruiting and getting qualified personnel through the BPRP process and retaining those qualified personnel.

· Corporate experience in the areas of program management, client services support, and administrative support services in a highly regulated laboratory (BSL-3 and BSL-4) and scientific environment.

iii. The Offeror’s submitted resumes, for proposed Key Personnel, will be evaluated to the degree to which:

· The Offeror demonstrated experience of the Key Personnel that is identical to, similar to or related to performing services contained within the PWS that reflect appropriate mix and balance of education and training.

Table 3. Experience Rating Standards

Acceptable

Proposal meets requirements and demonstrates experience identical to, similar to, or related to the requirement. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

d. Factor 4: Past Performance

The Government will conduct a Past Performance evaluation of the Offeror’s Past Performance for contract/task orders that are determined to be both relevant and recent. Recent is defined as performance within the last three years. References that are not recent will not be evaluated. Past Performance consists of two aspects for evaluation, relevancy and performance confidence; thus, the Offeror will be assigned two ratings for Past Performance.

First, the Government will evaluate the Offeror’s Past Performance reference(s) to determine how relevant an effort accomplished by the Offeror is to the requirement to be acquired through this source selection. Common aspects of relevance include similarity of service/support, complexity, magnitude of effort, dollar value, and task order type. The burden of demonstrating relevancy of the past performance rests with the Offeror.

Second, the Government will evaluate the Offeror’s Past Performance references to determine the quality of work performed and assess the level of expectation that the Offeror can successfully perform the required effort. The Government may also consider information obtained through other sources. Offerors are reminded the Government may elect to consider data obtained from other sources. Other sources available to the Government include, but are not limited to CPARS, FAPIIS, eSRS and PPQs.

In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, the Offeror will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance - the Offeror will receive a neutral rating.

Table 4. Past Performance Relevancy Rating Standards for the Non-Cost/Price Proposal

Table 5. Past Performance Confidence Assessment Standards for the Non-Cost/Price Proposal

3. COST/PRICE EVALUATION CRITERIA

Cost/Price will be evaluated separately from past performance and other non-cost/price factors, and will be evaluated for fairness, reasonableness and realism as follows:

· Evaluation of cost will be performed using one or more of the cost analysis techniques in FAR 15.404-1. Through these techniques the Government will determine whether the Offeror’s cost is fair, reasonable, and realistic.

· The total evaluated cost will be evaluated for fairness and reasonableness in terms of consistency with the Technical and Management/Staffing Approach outlined in the Offeror’s proposal in that the cost is consistent and reflects the proposed staffing requirement for all years that is in line with the Offeror’s proposed technical solution.

· The evaluated cost will be the total of all the cost line items, inclusive of fee, for the base period and all option periods.

· For realism, the Government will independently review and evaluate specific elements (including direct labor and fully burdened labor rates, and labor hours; any other proposed costs associated with the performance of the resulting contract; indirect rates; and fee, if any) of each offeror’s proposed cost estimate to determine whether the estimated proposed cost elements are realistic for the work to be performed; reflect a clear understanding of the requirements; and are consistent with the unique methods of performance and materials described in the offeror’s technical proposal.

Through this cost realism analysis, the Government will determine a probable cost of performance for the offeror. The probable cost may differ from the proposed cost and will reflect the Government’s best estimate of the cost of any contract that is most likely to result from the offeror’s proposal. The probable cost will be used for purposes of evaluation to determine the best value. The probable cost will be determined by adjusting each offeror’s proposed cost, and fee when appropriate, to reflect any additions or reductions in cost elements to realistic levels based on the results of the cost realism analysis.

· Evaluation of ODC’s proposed based on plug numbers under Section L of the solicitation.

· The Government will evaluate offers by establishing a Total Evaluated Cost which will consist of the total cost proposed for all base contract line items, option contract line items, and the amount associated with FAR 52.217-8.