Instructions Evaluation and Bases for Award.pdf

Instructions and Evaluation Criteria, and Basis for Award

NB680000-23-00530

A. INSTRUCTIONS:

1. The Contractor shall submit their quotation on letterhead to the email address stated herein 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 end products as outlined in the attached Statement of Work.

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

Capability, Experience, Past Performance and Price. The Government intends to award without exchanges, including discussions. 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 non-price factors and price:

a) Factor 1 - Technical Capability

b) Factor 2 – Experience

c) Factor 3 – Past Performance

d) Factor 4 - Price

7. Contractors shall clearly demonstrate their capability/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 quoters and request a revised quotation from or negotiate final purchase order terms with a quoter if later determined by the CO to be necessary.

B. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND BASIS FOR AWARD:

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

Contact (TPOC). The quotes will be evaluated to determine whether the contractor’s Technical Capability, Experience, and Past Performance terms and conditions 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 non-price factors and price shall be used to evaluate quotes:

a) Factor 1 - Technical Capability

b) Factor 2 – Experience

c) Factor 3 – Past Performance

d) Factor 4 – Price

4. Evaluation Factor Importance: In this selection, non-priced factors 1-3 (Technical

Capability, Experience, and Past Performance), when combined, are more important to 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. Failure to meet a requirement may result in a quotation ineligible for award. The Contractors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale.

8. The evaluation process shall proceed with the following Evaluation Factors:

FACTOR 1: TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

Technical Capability is defined as the contractor's demonstration of resources and capability to successfully conduct/provide the requirement.

(1) Submittal Requirement: Contractors shall submit Technical Capability documentation which may include a narrative, charts, graphs, tables, and drawings.

The Technical Capability documentation should clearly describe, in sufficient detail, the vendor's authority, proposed items, resources and methods to successfully fulfill the requirements including specifications, performance capability requirements, delivery schedules, warranties and all requirements per the RFQ and Statement of Work (SOW).

(a) The Technical Quotation shall not exceed 6 single-sided pages using no smaller than 11-point font.

(b) Proposed items will include the country of origin and/or place of manufacturing in the quote package.

(c) Capabilities of interest to NIST: See SOW

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Evaluation of this factor is a subjective evaluation of the vendor’s demonstrated resources, capability, and methods to meet all requirements. The vendor’s submittals will be evaluated in terms of demonstrated understanding of the requirements and demonstrated capability to meet or exceed the requirements. This may include the authority to provide the required items (i.e. authorized dealer/seller/reseller), authority to provide maintenance and repair services (as applicable), and the capability and method to successfully meet all the requirements including but not limited to item specifications, installation, warranty, etc. Additionally, a technical quotation which is primarily a copy and paste version of the SOW document and solicitation requirements will be deemed unacceptable and not given further consideration for award.

FACTOR 2: EXPERIENCE

This factor involves an assessment of the vendor’s experience in terms of relevancy (similarity in scope, size, and complexity), as a means of evaluating the capability of the vendor to successfully meet the requirements of the RFQ.

(1) Submittal Requirement: The vendor shall provide the following information for a minimum of four (4) relevant projects (item and/or service) similar to the specifications described in the SOW. Each project shall be submitted utilizing Attachment B - Relevant Experience Project Data Sheet. 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 (i.e.: unique features, technical capabilities).

(a) A relevant project is defined as a project that is similar in size, scope, and complexity to that of the RFQ. Projects submitted for the Vendor must be completed within the past five (5) years of the date of issuance of this RFQ.

(b) The attached Experience Project Data Sheet (RFQ Attachment B) is MANDATORY and SHALL be used to submit project information. Individual blocks on this form may be expanded; however, total length for each project data sheet shall not exceed eight (8) single-sided pages (or four (4) double-sided pages).

(c) Prior experience is extremely important for this complex piece of machinery.

(1) Basis of Evaluation: The assessment of the vendor’s submittals will be used as a means of subjectively evaluating the vendor’s demonstrated breadth and depth of experience in performing similar / relevant projects as defined in the solicitation requirements. Project relevancy will be assessed based on a graduated scale. The assessment of the vendor’s relevant experience will be used as a means of evaluating the capability of the vendor to successfully meet the requirements of the RFQ. The Government will only review four

(4) Relevant Experience projects. Any projects submitted in excess of the four (4) relevant projects will not be considered.

FACTOR 3: PAST PERFORMANCE

Past performance is a defined as how well a vendor has performed on meeting recent and relevant requirements in terms of scope, size, and complexity.

(1) Submittal Requirement: The Vendor shall submit a Past Performance Questionnaire

(PPQ) (RFQ Attachment C) 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 quotation. If there is not a completed CPARS evaluation report for the project, then the vendor shall submit a completed PPQ for each project included in Factor 2.

(a) The vendor should provide completed PPQs in the quotation. Vendor should follow-up with clients to help ensure timely submittal of the completed questionnaires with the RFQ. If the vendor is unable to obtain a completed PPQ from a client for a project(s) before the RFQ closing date, the Vendor should complete and submit with the quotation the first page of the PPQ, which will provide contract and client information for the respective project(s). The Government may make reasonable attempts to contact the client noted for that project(s) to obtain the PPQ information.

(b) A relevant project is defined as a project that is similar in size, scope, and complexity to that of the RFQ. Project relevancy will be assessed based on a graduated scale.

(c) Vendors may provide any information on problems encountered and the corrective actions taken on projects submitted under Factor 2 – Experience.

Vendors may also address any adverse past performance issues. Explanations shall not exceed four (4) single-sided pages (or two (2) double-sided pages) in total.

(d) The Government reserves the right to contact references for verification or additional information. The Government’s inability to contact any of the vendor’s clients / references or the references’ unwillingness to provide the information requested may affect the Government’s evaluation of this factor.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: The assessment of the vendor’s past performance will be used as a means of evaluating the vendor’s probability of successfully meeting the requirements of the RFQ. This past performance evaluation considers each vendor’s demonstrated recent and relevant record of performance regarding the RFQ requirement. This subjective evaluation focuses on how well the vendor performed on relevant projects submitted under the Experience Factor as well as Past Performance on other projects currently documented in known sources. More emphasis will be placed on more relevant projects.

In addition to the three relevant projects submitted under the Experience Factor, the Government reserves the right to obtain more information for use in the Evaluation of the past performance factor. Evaluation of past performance is a subjective evaluation of how relevant a recent contract effort was regarding the RFQ requirements and how well the vendor performed on relevant contracts.

(a) In addition to the above, the Government may review any other sources of information for evaluating past performance. Other sources may include, but are not limited to, past performance information retrieved through the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) using all CAGE / DUNS numbers of team members (partnership, joint venture, teaming arrangement, or parent company / subsidiary / affiliate) identified in the vendor’s quotation, inquiries of owner representative(s), and any other known sources not provided by the vendor. The Government reserves the right to contact any other source of information that may have knowledge or information on a vendor’s relevant past performance history.

(b) The Government will consider the currency and relevance of the information, the source of the information, context of the data, and general trends in the Vendor’s performance. This evaluation is separate and distinct from the Contracting Officer’s responsibility determination.

(c) Vendor 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 (1) copy of the entire price quotation, electronically, via E-mail to angela.hitt@nist.gov. The price quotation shall be separate from any other portion of the quotation. The offeror shall propose a firm-fixed-price quotation for each CLIN. Price quotations shall remain valid for a period of 90 days from the date quotations are due.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: The proposed price will be evaluated. The evaluation will determine whether the proposed prices are reasonable in relation to the solicitation requirements. Prices must be entirely compatible with the technical portion of the quotation.

(3) 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.

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

(b) Quotes where non-price factors are determined to be “Unacceptable” will not have other factors evaluated and the quote will be deemed as unawardable.

(c) Inquiries regarding the subject RFQ shall be submitted electronically to angela.hitt@nist.gov not later than the date specified within the RFQ posting.

(d) Quotations regarding the subject RFQ shall be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist, Angela Hitt, at angela.hitt@nist.gov not later than the date specified within the RFQ posting.

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

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