Instructions and Evaluation Criteria - Basis for Award.pdf

Instructions and Evaluation Criteria, and Basis for Award

A. INSTRUCTIONS:

1. The Contractor shall submit their quotation on letterhead to the email address stated therein by the date and time specified herein. The quotation shall contain, at a minimum, the information detailed below. If the quotation is missing any of the elements listed below, the quotation may be deemed unacceptable and may not be evaluated further.

2. The contractor is required to meet all solicitation requirements, including terms and conditions, and representations and certifications. The contractor must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete rationale.

3. The quote must be complete, self-sufficient, and respond directly to the requirements of this solicitation. All quoter’s must be able to provide a complete solution to meet the overall goal to transmit and receive signaling that emulates the physical layer of P25 compliant radio systems and allows for recording of demodulated symbols and identification of bit errors in the transmitted data streams as outlined in the attached Statement of Work (SOW).

4. The Government intends to award a firm fixed price Purchase Order. The award will be made to the contractor whose submission represents the best value to the Government.

The Government may award to other than the lowest priced Contractor or the highest technically rated Contractor. Pricing will be evaluated separately from technical factors and may be used as a trade-off. Business judgments and tradeoffs will be used to determine the quotation offering the best value to the Government. The importance of price in the evaluation will increase with the degree of equality among quotations of the non-price factors.

5. The evaluation procedures of FAR Part 13.106-2 shall be utilized for this procurement.

The solicitation shall not be subject to the formal source selection procedures described in FAR Part 15.

6. The Government intends to evaluate submissions based on the quoter’s technical approach, relevant experience, past performance, and price. The Government intends to award without exchanges, including discussion. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct exchanges, including discussions, if determined by the CO to be necessary. Therefore, each initial quotation should contain the Contractor’s best approach from both a price and a technical standpoint. The Government shall not be liable for any costs incurred by the contractor submitting a quote in response to this solicitation.

6. The contractor shall provide a quotation which includes the following three (3) non-price factors and price:

a) Factor 1 - Technical Approach

b) Factor 2 - Relevant Experience

c) Factor 3 - Past Performance

d) Factor 4 – Price

7. Contractors shall clearly demonstrate their approach to meet the technical requirement as outlined in this Request for Quotation (RFQ).

8. The Government intends to evaluate the quotations and issue a purchase order based on the initial quotation received. Therefore, the initial quotation should contain the quoter’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct exchanges, including discussions with one or more offerors and request a revised quotation from or negotiate final purchase order terms with a quoter if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary.

B. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD:

1. All quotes will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer (CO) and the Contracting

Officer’s Representative (COR). The quotes will be evaluated to determine whether the contractor’s technical approach, relevant experience, and past performance have adequately and completely considered, defined, and satisfied the requirements specified in the RFQ. The quotes will be evaluated to determine the extent to which the requirement has been addressed.

2. The Government will award a firm fixed price purchase order resulting from this RFQ to the responsible contractor whose quotation conforming to the solicitation is determined most advantageous and represents the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered.

3. The following factors three (3) non-price factors and price shall be used to evaluate quotes:

a) Factor 1: Technical Approach

b) Factor 2: Relevant Experience

c) Factor 3: Past Performance

d) Factor 4: Price

4. Evaluation Factor Importance: In this selection, non-priced Factors 1 (Technical Approach), 2 (Relevant Experience), and 3 (Past Performance) are of equal importance to each other. When combined, the non-priced Factors are more important than Factor 4 (Price).

5. The Government intends on selecting the contractor’s quotation package that represents the best value regarding the evaluation factors identified above. As a best value, the award may be made to other than the lowest price contractor or other than the highest technically rated contractor. Business judgments and tradeoffs will be used to determine the quotation offering the best value to the Government.

6. A written notice of award or acceptance of a quotation mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful Quoter within the time for acceptance specified in the quotation, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the quotation’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept a quotation (or part of a quotation), whether there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

7. By submission of its quotation, the contractor is required to meet all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as evaluation factors and sub-factors. Failure to meet a requirement may result in a quotation ineligible for award.

Contractors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale. The evaluation process shall proceed with Evaluation Factors:

FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL APPROACH

(1) Submittal Requirement: The Contractor’s quotation shall clearly and unambiguously describe a technical approach for the proposed items to successfully fulfill the specification requirements, performance capability, performance approach, delivery schedule, installation, warranty, and all requirements as applicable per the Statement of Work.

(a) The technical approach shall not exceed 3 single-sided pages/6 total pages using no smaller than 11-point font.

(b) The technical approach shall also include the offeror’s approach to quality control.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Evaluation of this factor is a subjective evaluation of the Offeror’s understanding of the solicitation requirements (clauses, provisions and the SOW) and demonstrated ability to meet contract requirements and SOW based on the offeror’s proposed technical approach. A technical quotation that demonstrates a thorough understanding of all solicitation and project requirements will be rated higher than a quotation that does not clearly detail approach, does not adequately address all aspects of the solicitation and project, and/or does not demonstrate the offeror’s technical capability to perform the work. Additionally, a technical quotation which is primarily a copy and paste version of the SOW and solicitation requirements will be deemed unacceptable and not given further consideration for award.

FACTOR 2: RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

(1) Submittal Requirement: The contractor shall submit a maximum of three (3) projects that best demonstrate their company’s experience performing relevant projects. Each project shall be submitted utilizing the attached Experience Submittal Form (Attachment B). For all submitted projects, the description of the project shall clearly describe the scope of work performed and the relevancy to the project requirements of this RFQ.

(a) A relevant project is defined as a project that is similar in size, scope, and complexity to that of the RFQ for providing a complete solution for a base station, mobile station, and station which converts from a base station to mobile station.

(b) Projects submitted for the contractor must be completed within the past five

(5) years of the date of issuance of this RFQ. For purposes of this evaluation, a relevant project is further defined as a complete solution project of similar scope, including the replacement of components and warranty, valued at least $1M or more.

(c) The attached Experience Submittal Form (Attachment B) is MANDATORY and SHALL be used to submit project information. Individual blocks on this form may be expanded; however, the total length for each project data sheet shall not exceed eight (6) single-sided pages (or three (3) double-sided pages.

To receive a satisfactory rating or better, the Contractor must demonstrate relevant experience by providing a minimum of two (2) contracts or task orders, of similar size and complexity, performed within the past five (5) years that collectively demonstrate each of the elements identified within the scope of work for a complete solution base station, mobile station and or conversion from base to mobile station.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Evaluation of the contractor’s submittals will be a subjective means of assessing the contractor’s experience with similar projects of similar size, scope and complexity. The assessment of the contractor’s submittals will be used to subjectively evaluate the contractor’s demonstrated breadth and depth of experience in performing similar/relevant projects as defined in the solicitation requirements. Project relevancy will be assessed on a graduated scale.

The assessment of the contractor’s relevant experience will be used as a means of evaluating the capability of the contractor to successfully meet the requirements of the RFQ. The Government will only review three (3) Relevant Experience projects in the order of submittal. Any projects submitted more than the three (3) relevant projects will not be considered.

FACTOR 3: PAST PERFORMANCE

(1) Submittal Requirements: The contractor shall submit a completed Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment C -PPQ) or Contract Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) Evaluation Report for each relevant project submitted for Factor 2. If a completed CPARS Evaluation Report is available for each project, it shall be submitted with the proposal. If there is not a completed CPARS evaluation report, then Contractors shall submit a completed Attachment C-PPQ for each project included in Factor 2. Ensure that all PPQs include points of contact (names, positions, telephone numbers and/or email addresses) for the assessing individuals / clients.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Past performance will be reviewed by the Government using the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and the recent and relevant projects submitted under factor one (1) to confirm the quality and timeliness of the work performed. Past Performance will be assessed based on project relevancy and client ratings. Recent means within the last five

(5) years and relevant means the project was similar in scope, size, and complexity to this project. Project relevancy will be assessed on a graduated scale. Offerors lacking relevant past performance history will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably in past performance and will receive a Neutral rating.

FACTOR 4: PRICE

(1) Submittal Requirement: The Contractor shall complete and submit one price quotation. Price quotations shall include the below identified information:

(a) A pricing sheet to explain the cost breakout in terms of major categories of the quotation, i.e. one (1) Base Station which can be configured to a secondary mobile station, one (1) Mobile Station, and any parts and equipment associated that are deemed necessary for determining price fair and reasonable.

(b) The quotation shall provide a total firm fixed price. The Government intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order, the breakdown is to assist with determining the price fair and reasonable.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Price will be evaluated based on the total price. The Government has requested, and shall evaluate, each Contractor’s detailed cost breakdown to determine the reasonableness and completeness of the price quotation. One or more of the following techniques will be used to ensure a fair and reasonable price:

(a) Comparison of proposed prices/costs received in response to the solicitation.

(b) Comparison of proposed prices/costs with the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

(c) Comparison of proposed prices/costs with available historical information.

(d) A price/cost that is found to be either unreasonably high or unrealistically low in relation to the proposed work may be indicative of an inherent lack of understanding of the solicitation requirements and may result in the overall quotation being considered unacceptable.

(e) A price realism analysis will not be conducted; price will be evaluated for reasonableness.

7. The Government reserves the right to eliminate from consideration for award, any or all quoters at any time prior to award of the purchase order.

8. The Government intends to evaluate quotations and award a purchase order without discussions with offerors. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions with one or more offerors if the Contracting Officer (CO) later determines them to be necessary.

9. Inquiries regarding the subject RFQ shall be submitted electronically to patricia.rose@nist.gov not later than Thursday, August 19, 2021 by 09:00 AM MST.

10. Quotations regarding the subject RFQ shall be submitted electronically to the CO, Patricia Rose, at patricia.rose@nist.gov not later than the date specified within the RFQ posting.

11. The Government shall not be liable for any costs incurred by the quoter submitting a quotation in response to this RFQ.

(End of provision)