Instruction to Offerors Waybill.pdf

ATTACHMENT 2

Instruction to Offerors Request for Proposal

Waybill U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration

Solicitation Number: 693JJ623R000002 NAICS Code: 518210

Instruction to Offerors

Each offeror should submit the following via e-mail to veronica.dorsey@dot.gov

a. Technical response to the Statement of Work (SOW) not exceeding 10 pages. Contractors may include a cover page and a table of contents up to two (2) pages in length each (in addition to the 10-page technical response above).

b. Response to Management of Key Personnel not exceeding ten (2) pages.

c. Ten (3) page Past Performance Narrative and References

c. Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) Proposal not exceeding five (5) pages.

The Government will evaluate all proposal and select the proposal that represents the “Best Value” after the evaluation factors of technical approach, past performance and price are considered. Proposals will be evaluated as described below.

Proposals are due no later than 1:00 PM EST, Thursday, June 8, 2023, and shall be submitted by e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Veronica Dorsey, at Veronica.Dorsey@dot.gov Questions are due no later than 12:00 Noon, Friday, June 2, 2023.

Technical Proposal

Offerors providing a quotation shall include a title page, technical approach, resumes of key personnel, and past performance evaluations. The title page shall include the offeror’s name, RFP number, offeror’s point of contact, and a brief table of contents. The title page shall not exceed two (2) pages in length. Required elements for other evaluation factors are included below.

The technical proposal shall address the following technical evaluation criteria:

Basis for award:

This award will be Firm Fixed Price (FFP).

mailto:veronica.dorsey@dot.gov

Offerors are advised that award will be made to that offeror whose proposal provides the combination of features that offers the greatest overall value to the Government though cost or price and non-cost factors and allows the Government to accept other than the lowest price proposal or other than the highest technically rated proposal. However, the Government will not make an award at a significantly higher overall cost to the Government to achieve only slightly superior performance.

The Offeror should designate whether its offer applies to Phase I, Phase II or both.

The technical proposal should explain the offeror’s technical capabilities and approach, staffing approach and past performance. For each Phase separately, all evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important than cost or price. The technical factors are of equal importance and carry equal weight.

The solutions that best meet the requirements of the Government will be considered for award.

The Government will use the following criteria to evaluate the Offeror’s proposal based on the requirements specified above.

1.) Technical Approach

Each offeror will be evaluated on their responses to all the requirements listed in Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Statement of work.

The Offeror should consider addressing the following topics as applicable to their overall approach:

• Understanding of the requirements; reasonableness and logic of approach; and availability of qualified staff to fulfill this requirement.

• Clarity and completeness of proposal, with explicit and detailed responses to requirements in Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Statement of Work.

• A detailed explanation of how the offeror will meet the requirements set forth in the Statement of Work.

• Quality and timeliness of the deliverables, as shown by the offeror’s responses to the Government’s requirements.

• Proof of the offeror’s ability to deliver the products/services as required.

• The ability to manage the size and scope of all the requirements set forth in the RFP, applicable to Phase I, Phase II or both, depending on the bid.

• The ability to manage the complexities of the required functions.

• Access to the Industry Reference Files identified in the Statement of Work.

• The Government will evaluate Phase II bidders’ miling proposals based on their reliability, compatibility with prior miling estimates, and documentation.

• The information technological capability to collect, analyze, and process the relevant data and produce the deliverables.

2.) Key Personnel

In no more than two (2) pages, each offeror will be evaluated on their approach to staffing and the expertise and experience illustrated in the resumes of the Key personnel proposed for the effort. See Section 2 of the Statement of Work (SOW).

Resumes shall demonstrate relevant education and experience for performing work similar to the SOW tasks.

Key Personnel (Program Manager, Data Collector, Rail Network Modeler, Transportation Modeler and Traffic Assignor, Statistician, and Data Analyst) will be evaluated based on the requirements specified below. As part of its staffing analysis, the Government values existing employees more than contingent hires.

Personnel Discipline Minimum Qualifications

Program Management (Phase I and II)

Experience handling waybill data, 3 years’ experience as a program manager

Data Collection (Phase I) Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field of study, or 3 years of related field experience

Rail Network Modeling (Phase I and II) Bachelor’s degree in transportation engineering or related field, or 5 years of related experience

Transportation modeling and traffic assignment (Phase II)

Bachelor’s degree in transportation engineering or related field of study, or 5 years of related experience

Statistical Analysis (Phase I and II) Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics or a related field of study, or 5 years of related experience

Data Analysis (Phase I and II) and Miling (Phase II)

5 years of work-related experience

3.) Past Performance

Each Offeror will be evaluated on its knowledge and experience along with its capability and capacity to effectively deliver high quality and timely service and solutions. The offeror will demonstrate its ability to deliver the product/services as contracted.

This would encompass, for example, experience with past efforts similar in size, scope, and complexity, as well as the current availability of resources (i.e., personnel) needed to perform required tasks. Each Offeror will submit at least 2 companies and/or government agencies with which they have conducted a significant amount of business within the last five (5) years. Each offeror will be evaluated on their ability to successfully address the service requirements of the 2 companies/agencies they submit, and on how their service requirements compare to the needs of the Government as described in this RFP.

Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) ratings could be considered in the evaluation of the Past Performance requirement.

NOTE:

In evaluating an offeror’s past performance, the Government reserves: (a) the right to look beyond the Past Performance references submitted by the offeror, and the right to perform its own research into the offeror’s past performance; and (b) the right to take into account any other information (not provided by the offeror) which the U. S.

Department of Transportation and the Surface Transportation Board possess regarding the offeror’s past performance.

Price Proposal

Offerors shall provide a firm-fixed-price quotation by phase for all periods and a total. The firm-fixed-price quotation shall be for the entire period of performance (Including Base Period and three (3) Option Periods) and shall include both a total price and a breakdown by deliverable. The firm-fixed-price quotation shall include the build-up used to create the offeror’s firm-fixed-price quotation and shall include, labor hours and loaded labor rates of all prime and subcontractor personnel (if applicable), and any and all expected other direct costs (supplies, materials, travel, etc.). Additionally, the offeror shall submit an interim payment schedule tied to specific milestones to be completed during performance of the task order.

The quotation shall not exceed five (5) pages.