Instructions to Offerors.pdf

INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

A. Proposal Submittal and Inquiries.

1. Proposals shall be submitted on or before the closing date and time identified on the SF1442 to the following address:

Mission and Installation Contracting Command – West Point

Attn: Tara D’Amico, Contract Specialist

681 Roger’s Place, Room 104

West Point, NY 10996-1514

2. Electronic submissions via email or facsimile will not be accepted. Offers shall be mailed through a commercial/Government carrier or hand carried.

3. The point of contact responsible for supplying additional information and answering all inquiries is the Contracting Officer (KO), Ms. Marlene Barretto via the Contract Specialist, Ms. Tara D’Amico. Address all questions or concerns regarding this solicitation to the Contract Specialist, Ms. Tara D’Amico at: (520-687-8136). All questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing to Ms. Tara D’Amico via email to: Tara.M.Damico.civ@army,mil.

4. Site Visit. The Government does not intend on holding a site visit for this requirement.

5. The deadline for Requests for Information (RFIs) submission is due no later than 19 November 2024 at 12:00pm Eastern Standard Time (EST). The deadline for the Request for Proposal (RFP) is due no later than 09 December 2024 at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST).

mailto:Tara.M.Damico.civ@army,mil

6. Proposal shall be provided in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF and Excel.

Proposals shall be mailed through a commercial/Government carrier or hand carried.

Electronic submissions via email or facsimile shall not be accepted.

B. General Instructions

(a) This is a best value source selection conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.3, Source Selection, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), and the Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS). Award will be made to a single offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), whose proposal conforms to the solicitation requirements, and whose proposal, judged by an overall assessment of the evaluation criteria and other considerations specified in this solicitation, represents the Lowest Priced Technically Acceptable offer.

(b) The selection of a source for award purposes will be conducted utilizing source selection (negotiated) procedures as delineated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15.3. Offers will be evaluated using the criteria under Section 00 21 16, “Evaluation Factors for Award.” Noncompliance with the Request for Proposal (RFP) requirements may hamper the Government's ability to properly evaluate the proposal and may result in elimination of the proposal from further consideration for contract award.

(c) The Offer. The submission of the documentation specified below will constitute the offeror's acceptance of the terms and conditions of the RFP, concurrence with the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and contract type.

(d) It is the Government’s intention to award without discussions. Offerors are encouraged to present their best technical proposal and prices in their initial proposal submission. However, in accordance with (IAW) FAR Part 15.306, should discussions become necessary, the Government reserves the right to hold them. If this occurs, a competitive range will be determined and offerors will be notified. The competitive range may be limited for purposes of efficiency IAW FAR Part 15.306 (c)(2). When discussions are deemed necessary to be held and when determined, as a reserved right of the Government, as not constrained by efficiency concerns, proposals containing unacceptable ratings may be included in the competitive range but only if such proposals are reasonably considered as amendable to improvement and an acceptable evaluation as a result of such discussions.

(e) Instructions outlined in paragraph C below, prescribe the format for the proposal and describe the approach for the development and presentation of proposal data.

These instructions are designed to ensure the submission of necessary information to provide for the understanding and comprehensive evaluation of proposals.

(f) If an offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, an ambiguity, omission, or are otherwise deemed unsound, the offeror shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer (KO) in writing with supporting rationale.

The offeror is reminded that the Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial proposal, as received, without discussion.

(g) In accordance with FAR Subpart 4.8 (Government Contract Files), the Government will retain one copy of all unsuccessful proposals. Unless the offeror requests otherwise, the Government will destroy extra copies of such unsuccessful proposals.

(h) All referenced documents for this solicitation are available on the SAM.Gov website at https://sam.gov/. Potential offerors are encouraged to subscribe for real-time e-mail notifications when information has been posted to the website for this solicitation.

If any necessary documents are not available on SAM.Gov, please notify the point of contact shown on the Standard Form 1442.

(i) Debriefings. The KO will promptly notify offerors of any decision to exclude them from the competitive range, whereupon they may request and receive a debriefing in accordance with FAR 15.505. The KO will notify unsuccessful offerors in the competitive range of the source selection decision in accordance with FAR 15.506.

Upon such notification, unsuccessful offerors may request and receive a debriefing.

Offerors desiring a debriefing must make their request in accordance with the requirements of FAR 15.505 or 15.506, as applicable.

C. Proposal Preparation Instructions

1. Offeror’s proposal shall consist of four (4) separate volumes: General, Technical Capability, Past Performance, and Price.

2. Proposal Format

(a) Offerors shall submit an original and the number of copies listed in paragraph (c) below of their proposal.

(b) Exceptions. Offerors are 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 an offer being ineligible for award. If the offeror finds it necessary to take exception to any of the requirements specified in this solicitation, the offeror shall clearly identify the applicable Volume and exceptions with a complete explanation of why the exception was taken, what benefit accrues to the Government

(if any), and its impact, if any, on the performance, schedule, cost, and specific requirements of the solicitation. Each exception shall be specifically related to each paragraph and/or specific part of the solicitation to which the exception is taken.

Offerors are cautioned that taking an exception may render the offer ineligible for award. It is recommended that the Offeror contact the Contracting Officer immediately/prior to solicitation closing, upon identifying an area that may result in an exception. This information shall be provided in the format below.

Table 1 - Solicitation Exceptions

Solicitation Document

Page/ Paragraph

Requirement/ Portion

Rationale & Impact

SOW, Section Applicable Identify the requirement Describe L&M, etc. Page and or portion to which The rationale

Paragraph exception is taken and impact of Numbers the exception

(c) The proposals shall be organized into four (4) volumes. Each volume of the proposal should be separately bound in a three-ring loose leaf binder which shall permit the volume to lie flat when open. A cover sheet should be bound in each book, clearly marked as to volume number, title, copy number, solicitation identification and the offeror's name. The same identifying data should be placed on the spine of each binder.

All text shall be single spaced and printed black on white paper (Black and white requirement does not apply to graphics, photos, etc.) Company stationery and logos are acceptable. Printing shall be easily readable (12-pitch type or 10 point proportional spacing.) Cross-references should be utilized to preclude unnecessary duplication of data between sections. In addition to submitting hard copies of the proposals, digital copies shall be provided on CD-ROM disk in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and/or Excel as outlined in Table 2. The file name shall be “Company Name – Initial” for the first submission. The file name of later submissions (if necessary) shall be “Company Name

– Revision X’ with X indicating the number of the revision. Page limitations are as follows:

Table 2

VOLUME TITLE NO. HARD

COPIES

NO. OF

DIGITAL

COPIES

(CD ROM)

PAGE LIMITS

I General 1 1 N/A

II Technical Capability

1 1 75

III Past Performance 1 1 30 (does not include questionnaire responses)

IV Price 1 1 N/A

(1) Proposal Limitation. The proposal shall not exceed the limits stated above.

If the page limits are exceeded, the pages in excess of the limit shall be removed and returned, unread, to the offeror. The Government will not accept any changes to the contractor’s proposal after the closing date of the solicitation (See FAR 15.208 for further information regarding late proposals). If discussions become necessary, page limitations may be placed on responses to Evaluation Notices (ENs). The specified page limits for EN responses will be identified in the letters forwarding the ENs to the offerors.

(2) Page Limit Includes: All appendices, charts, graphs, diagrams, tables, photographs, drawings, etc.

(3) Page Limit does not include covers for volumes, tables of contents, glossary of abbreviations and acronyms, indices, title pages, cross reference indices, and section dividers/tables if they are inserted solely to provide ease to the reader in locating parts/sections of the proposal. Pages will be counted if they contain any other information, i.e., diagrams, extraneous data, etc.

Pages marked “This page intentionally left blank” will not be counted.

(4) What Counts As A Page? A page shall be an 8 ½ X 11” sheet of paper.

When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two pages. Letter size and spacing requirements for illustrations and tables can be at the discretion of the offeror but must be easily readable. Fold-outs will be counted as the appropriate number of pages based on an 8 ½” X 11” sheet of paper. Margins shall be at least 1 inch on the top and bottom and 3/4 inch on the side. The Contractor shall number each page in order to eliminate any confusion. In the event contractor creates an ambiguity in their numbering of pages, the Government may exercise its own discretion in counting pages. In the event contractor creates an ambiguity in their numbering of pages, the Government may exercise its own discretion in counting pages.

(5) Indexing. Each volume shall contain a more detailed table of contents to delineate the subparagraphs within that volume. Tab indexing shall be used to identify sections.

(6) Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms. Each volume shall contain a glossary of all abbreviations and acronyms used, with a definition for each.

3. Proposal Content

(a) Volume I – General. Offerors are required to submit a completed SF 1442 (including acknowledgment of Amendments), Solicitation, and Section 00 45 00 (Representation and Certifications). All final monetary extensions shall be in whole dollars only. Failure to follow the below Contract Proposal preparation instructions may cause your proposal to be deemed unacceptable by the Government. The General Volume shall be organized as follows and contain the identified information.

TAB A, Executive Summary. Provide an executive summary that introduces the Contractor team and proposal submission.

TAB B, Exceptions/Assumptions (if required) - Identification and explanation of any exceptions or deviations. Additionally, any assumptions used in the proposal preparation must be identified.

TAB C, SF 1442 - The SF 1442 shall be fully completed upon submission.

The offeror is cautioned that the SF 1442 must contain an original signature in block 20(b) of the form. The contractor shall acknowledge any amendments to the RFP in accordance with the instructions on the SF 1442, Section 00 21 16 (Instructions to Proposers), FAR 52.215-1 (b), Instruction to Offerors— Competitive Acquisition. The offeror shall provide the name, title and telephone number of the company/division point of contact regarding decisions made with respect to your proposal and who can obligate your company contractually.

Also, identify those individuals authorized to negotiate with the Government.

TAB D, Solicitation (Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs) - Section 00 10 00 (Solicitation) shall be submitted fully completed and error free. It shall contain the offeror’s prices for the established Contract Line Items (CLINS).

TAB E, Section 00 45 00 (Representation and Certifications) – The offeror shall ensure that Section 00 45 00 is submitted thoroughly completed with all blocks in each certification/representation completed truthfully and completely.

(b) Volume II – Technical Capability.

(1) The Technical Capability Volume shall be clear, concise, and include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims in the Offeror’s proposal. Legibility, clarity and coherence are very important.

Your responses will be evaluated against the Technical Capability factor defined in Instructions for Procurement, Evaluation Factors for Award.

The proposal should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements, but rather shall provide convincing rationale to address how the offeror intends to meet these requirements. Statements that the offeror understands, can, or will comply with the PWS (including referenced publications, technical data, etc.);

statements paraphrasing the PWS or parts thereof (including applicable publications, technical data, etc.); and phrases such as “standard procedures will be employed” or “well known techniques will be used,” etc., will be considered unacceptable. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities and experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the offeror's proposal. Elaborate brochures or documentation, binding, detailed art work, or other embellishments are unnecessary and are not desired.

The submission shall not exceed 15 pages, using 11 size font and Times New Roman font style.

(2) The Technical Capability Volume shall, at a minimum, be prepared in a form consistent with the PWS and the evaluation criteria for award set forth in Section 00 21 16 (Evaluation Factors) of this solicitation. The section shall be prepared in an orderly format and in sufficient detail to enable the Government to make a thorough evaluation of the contractor’s technical competence and ability to comply with the contract task requirements specified in the PWS.

The volume shall be organized according to the following general outline:

-Table of Contents -List of Table and Drawings -Cross Reference Matrix -Exceptions/Assumptions (Identification and explanation of any exceptions or deviations). Additionally, identify any assumptions used in preparing the proposal.

-Evaluation Criteria – Technical Experience

Technical Experience: Offerors shall submit details of previous work experience (projects) meeting the requirements of this solicitation.

(a) Information for completing Solicitation Attachment 2:

• Offerors shall complete a Specific Relevant Contracts Sheet, Attachment 2, with a total listing not-to-exceed (NTE) ten (10) projects, performed within the last six (6) years or currently being performed (at least 50% complete), that best represents the Offeror’s work experience required on this solicitation. If more than ten (10) projects are submitted, then only the most recent ten (10) projects will be evaluated.

(b) Projects provided for experience should show the Offeror’s ability to manage projects performed in all of the following categories:

• Restoring stone masonry on historic structures

• Portland Cement Concrete (PPC) walkway work

(c) If a key subcontractor or Joint Venture partner’s experience is submitted for evaluation purposes, clearly address the experience of those entities and relationship thereto on previous and/or ongoing projects.

(c) Volume III - Past Performance. The Past Performance evaluation will be accomplished by reviewing aspects of an Offeror's recent and relevant Past Performance, focusing on and targeting performance which is relevant to the effort as it directly relates to the work being procured under this solicitation and as defined in Section 00 21 16 (Evaluation Factors).

Past Performance information described herein is required on the offeror and all subcontractors, teaming partners, and/or joint venture partners brought to bear or significantly influence the performance of the proposed effort. The offeror shall submit, along with the information required in this paragraph, a consent letter, executed by each subcontractor, teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner, authorizing release of adverse past performance information to the offeror so the offeror can respond to such information. For each identified effort for a commercial customer, the offeror shall also submit a client authorization letter, authorizing release to the Government of requested information on the offeror's performance.

1. Early Proposal Information. The offeror is requested to submit the Past Performance Volume 20 calendar days after the RFP issuance date, to the Contracting Officer at the address specified in L-III.

2. The offeror shall include documentation regarding their relevant past performance as it directly relates to the work being procured under this solicitation. The offeror SHALL NOT go back any farther than six (6) years for the submitted data. The past performance data shall document a successful history of past contract performance.

3. In conducting the Past Performance evaluation, the Government reserves the right to use both the information provided in the offeror’s Past Performance Volume and information obtained from other sources, such as the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) or similar systems, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and commercial sources. Offerors are reminded that both independent data and data provided by offerors in their proposals may be used by the Government to evaluate offeror past performance. However, the burden of providing thorough, complete, and current past performance information as requested in this paragraph remains with the offerors. Proposals that do not contain the information requested by this paragraph risk rejection or a less than acceptable performance rating by the Government. All past performance comments received will be taken into account and could affect the overall rating. The overall past performance evaluation is a subjective decision based on the whole of all data received. In the case of an offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned, the offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance (see FAR 15.305 (a)(2)(iv)). Therefore, the offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability/unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered “acceptable.”

4. Submission Requirements. The offeror shall submit a Past

Performance Volume containing the following:

Table of Contents

• Summary Page describing the role of the offeror and each subcontractor, teaming partner, and /or joint venture partner that the offeror is required to provide Past Performance Specific Relevant Contract Reference Sheets for the past performance experience in accordance with Attachment 1.

• Consent Letters executed by each subcontractor, teaming partner, and/or joint venture partner, authorizing the release of past performance information so the offeror can respond to such information. A sample consent letter is attached as Attachment #1.

• Client Authorization Letters for each identified effort for a commercial customer authorizing release to the Government of requested information on the offeror’s performance.

• Organization Structure Change History— Organizational Structure Change History. Many companies have acquired, been acquired by, or otherwise merged with other companies, and/or reorganized their divisions, business groups, subsidiary companies, etc. In many cases, these changes have taken place during the time of performance of relevant present or past efforts or between conclusion of recent past efforts and this source selection. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to determine what past performance is relevant to this acquisition. To facilitate this relevancy determination, include in this proposal volume a "roadmap" describing all such changes in the organization of your company. As part of this explanation, show how these changes impact the relevance of any efforts you identify for past performance evaluation/performance confidence assessment. Since the Government intends to consider present and past performance information provided by other sources as well as that provided by the offeror(s), your "roadmap" should be both specifically applicable to the efforts you identify and general enough to apply to efforts on which the Government receives information from other sources.

• Specific Relevant Contracts Format - Sheets in accordance with Attachment #3. The offeror shall provide documentation outlining the offeror’s past performance with contracts, as a prime or major subcontractor, which is the same or similar in nature of work, size, and complexity to the services being procured under this Solicitation. The submittal shall include rationale supporting your assertion of relevance and how it was determined that the work performed previously was the same or similar in nature of work, size, and complexity to the work specified by this solicitation. Offerors are required to explain what aspects of the contracts are deemed relevant to the proposed effort, and to what aspects of the proposed effort they relate.

• Past Performance Questionnaire - See Attachment 3, Past Performance Questionnaire. For the contracts identified on each Specific Relevant Contract Reference, the offeror shall forward a copy of the Past Performance Questionnaire to the points of contact responsible for monitoring performance under such contracts. The points of contact shall return the questionnaires directly to Tara D’Amico, Contract Specialist. Any questionnaires not returned directly to the Contract Specialist will not be reviewed and evaluated. The information contained in the questionnaires will be used to evaluate the offeror’s past performance. New entities that have no past customers shall annotate on the Summary Page that they have had no previous clients and that the minimum number of questionnaires cannot be provided.

(d) Volume IV- Price – The offeror shall complete Section B of the solicitation. For the Price Volume, the electronic version will take precedence for any differences noted between the hard and electronic versions of an offeror’s proposal.

Certified cost or pricing data is not anticipated due to expected competition.