Instructions to Offerors.pdf

FAR 52.212-1 IS REPLACED IN ITS ENTIRETY BY THIS ADDENDUM

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS — COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES

ADDENDUM

General Instructions

This acquisition will be conducted under the procedures of FAR Part 12 – Commercial Items and FAR Part 13 – Simplified Acquisition Procedures. Offerors are expected to examine this entire solicitation document (including attachments). Failure to do so will be at the Offeror’s own risk. The proposal shall set forth full, accurate, and complete information as required by this Solicitation package (including attachments). The penalty for making false statements in offers is prescribed in 18 U.S.C. Sect. 1001.

The Government intends to evaluate offers and award a contract without discussions with offerors.

Therefore, the offeror’s initial offer should contain the offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined by the Contracting Officer to be necessary. The Government may reject any or all offers if such action is in the public interest; accept other than the lowest offer; and waive informalities and minor irregularities in offers received.

This Solicitation does not commit the Government to pay any cost for the preparation of the submission in response to this RFQ.

System for Award Management

Quoters shall complete provisions/clauses as required. Quoters must complete the annual representations and certifications electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov.

For additional information, please see FAR 52.204-7: System for Award Management.

Unique Entity Identifier: If the Quoters does not have a unique entity identifier, it should contact the entity designated at www.sam.gov for unique entity identifier establishment directly to obtain one. The Quoter should indicate that it is an Quoter for a Government contract when contacting the entity designated at www.sam.gov for establishing the unique entity identifier.

After reviewing the SAM information, the Quoters verifies by submission of their proposal that the representations and certifications currently posted electronically at FAR 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items, are correct.

Submission of Questions

Quoters are requested to submit their questions by April 21, 2022 at 10 AM EST. Questions shall be submitted via email to the Contracting Officer, Jasmin Webb at JWebb@cns.gov and the Contract Specialist, Richard Clinkscales at RClinkscales@cns.gov.

https://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ mailto:JWebb@cns.gov mailto:RClinkscales@cns.gov

When submitting questions, the Offeror shall submit the email to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer. Questions must be written in a clear, concise manner that demonstrates the Offeror’s issue or concern.

The Government will publish questions and answers within a reasonable timeframe giving particular consideration to the proposal submission due date and time. Only the written responses from AmeriCorps will be considered the official responses. Any verbal information or responses should not be considered an official response to any question regarding this RFP.

Proposal Submission

The proposal shall be received by the Contracting Officer and Contract Specialist at the email addresses and by the deadline specified within this solicitation.

Any offer, modification, revision, or withdrawal of an offer received at the Government office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt of offers is "late" and will not be considered unless it is received before award is made and the Contracting Officer determines that accepting the late offer would not unduly delay the acquisition. Offers may be withdrawn by written notice received at any time before the exact time set for receipt of offers.

In case of an emergency that delays government, operations and makes submission or receipt of offers impossible, the deadline to submit offers is extended to the same time of day specified in the solicitation on the first workday on which normal Government processes resume.

Offers must include:

(1) The solicitation number of this RFP.

(2) Company name, address, DUNS and Unique Entity Identifier, and telephone number.

(3) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary.

(4) Terms of any express warranty.

(5) Price and any discount terms.

(6) "Remit to" address, if different than mailing address.

(7) A completed copy of the representations and certifications at Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the Offeror shall complete electronically);

(8) Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments.

(9) Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information);

Format of Submission and Number of Copies

(1) A proposal submitted in response to this proposal must consist of three (3) Volumes.

- Volume I shall contain the Introduction of Company, Past Performance, and Key Personnel.

- Volume II shall contain the Technical Proposal. These sections must not contain any contract price/cost information, which shall be submitted in a separate volume.

- Volume III shall contain the Price Proposal.

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.212-3#FAR_52_212_3 https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.212-3#FAR_52_212_3

(2) Proposal must submit the following number of copies:

- Volume I: One (1) original copy of the typed Introduction of Company, Past Performance, and Key Personnel.

- Volume II: One (1) original copy of the typed Technical Proposal.

- Volume III: One (1) original copy of the Price Proposal.

The three Volumes must be submitted as separate attachments. The proposal may have a cover letter (Maximum 2 pages). Each Volume and section must have a table of contents.

In addition, all files shall be compatible with Microsoft Office product(s). Spreadsheets must be submitted via Microsoft Excel.

(3) An Offeror’s Technical Proposal will be evaluated in accordance with those factors set forth in the Evaluation Factors for Award.

(4) Any data previously submitted in response to another proposal will be assumed unavailable to the Contracting Officer; and this data must not be incorporated into the technical proposal by reference.

(5) Clarity and completeness of the proposal are of the utmost importance. The proposal must be written in a practical, clear, and concise manner. It must use quantitative terms whenever possible and must avoid qualitative adjectives to the maximum extent possible.

(6) Proposals must be legible, singled-spaced, typewritten (on one side only), in a minimum type size of 10 font.

The following page restrictions by Volume are:

- Volume 1 - Introduction of Company, Past Performance, and Key Personnel shall not exceed 15 pages

- Volume 2 - Technical Proposal shall not exceed 25 pages.

- Volume 3 - Price Proposal shall not exceed 20 pages.

Items not included within the page restriction count are as follows: System for Award Management (SAM), Cover Pages, Cover Letters, Table of Contents, Blank Section Dividers, Resumes, Charts, Graphs, Glossary of Terms, Exhibits, Drawings, Sample Formats, and items of an illustrative nature.

Debriefing

Under FAR Part 13 procedures, a de-briefing is not required. Instead, a brief explanation of the basis of the contract award shall be given. If a post-award explanation is given to requesting offerors, the Government shall disclose the following information, if applicable:

(1) The number of offerors solicited.

(2) The number of proposals received.

(3) The name and address of each offeror receiving an award.

(4) The items, quantities, and any stated unit prices of each award. If the number of items or other factors makes listing any stated unit prices impracticable at that time, only the total contract price need be furnished in the notice. However, the items, quantities, and any stated unit prices of each award shall be made publicly available, upon request; and

(5) In general terms, the reason(s) the offeror ’s proposal was not accepted, unless the price information readily reveals the reason. In no event shall an offeror ’s cost breakdown, profit, overhead rates, trade secrets, manufacturing processes and techniques, or other confidential business information be disclosed to any other offeror.