J.2 Instructions to Quoters and Basis for Award.docx

Fire Protection Systems Inspection & Testing Release Date: April 9, 2024

Section L. Instructions to Quoters

L.1 RFQ GENERAL CONDITIONS

The submission of a quote to the Government shall constitute the quoter’s acknowledgement, agreement and compliance with the terms and conditions of the RFQ. The Government will not be obligated to pay any cost incurred by a contractor in the preparation and submission of a quote. Quoters are cautioned to ensure that their quote submissions are complete and reflective of the evaluation criteria and requirements described herein. Quoters are encouraged to provide their best terms with their initial quote submission. Quoters shall not assume that the Government will afford an opportunity to clarify, discuss, or revise a quote. The Government reserves the right to allow quoters to address weaknesses and revise their quotes if it determines that it is in the best interest of the Government.

Quotes shall be valid for 90 days from the date of quote submission.

Any exceptions or conditional assumptions taken with respect to the requirements outlined in the RFQ or SOW shall be fully explained in the quoter’s Introductory Letter. The Government cautions quoters that taking exception to any term or condition may render their quote non-responsive and the quoter will be ineligible for award, unless the RFQ expressly authorizes such an exception with regards to a specific term or condition.

L.2 QUESTIONS AND QUOTATION SUBMISSIONS

All correspondence in conjunction with this solicitation, including questions and quotation submittals, shall be directed to the Contracting Officer, Tatjana Johnson, via e-mail at tatjana.johnson@aoc.gov. E-mail messages shall not exceed 10 MB. If necessary, quoters shall compress files with a .zip extension.

L.2.1 Questions Due Date Questions about the technical or contractual details of this procurement must be submitted in writing via e-mail by April 19, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET. When submitting questions, please include the RFQ #, Company Name and the word “Questions” in the subject line of the email. For example, “AOCSSB24Q0024_ ABC Inc. Questions”. Questions submitted after this cut off will be responded to at the discretion of the Contracting Officer. Quoters shall use Attachment J.3 to submit questions.

Answers to questions will be provided as an amendment to the RFQ.

L.2.2 Quotation Due Date Quotations must be received no later than May 1, 2024 at 4:00 PM ET. When submitting your final quotation, please include the RFQ #, Company Name and the word “Quotation” in the subject line of the email. For example, “AOCSSB24Q0024_ ABC Inc. Quote”. Quotations received after this date and time shall be considered late and shall not be accepted by the Government unless it is determined by the Contracting Officer to be in the best interest of the Government.

L.3 VOLUMES AND ORGANIZATION

Quotations shall be clearly and concisely written, as well as being neat, indexed and logically assembled as described herein. Quoters are advised to supply all information in the sequence and format specified in the table below. The submitted quotation must provide a sufficient basis for a thorough evaluation and contain the information necessary for evaluation. The Government will not assume the quoter possesses any capability, understanding, or commitment not specified in the quotation. The quotation must not merely repeat the solicitation and Statement of Work requirements, but rather must provide convincing documentary evidence in support of conclusive statements of how contract requirements will be met.

Quotations shall be prepared in separate volumes: Volume I – Technical and Volume II – Price. The quoter shall provide the requested information within the designated volume evaluation factor. Any requested information placed outside of the designated location shall not be considered or evaluated under that evaluation factor regardless of whether it is located somewhere else in the quotation. As an example, the quoter shall not refer to any Corporate Experience in the Technical Approach factor section of its quotation. If the quoter does so, that content will not be considered by the Government during the evaluation of the quoter’s Technical Approach. In order for the technical quotation to be strictly evaluated on the merit of the material submitted, Volume I and Volume II shall be submitted as separate documents. Pricing is prohibited in, and shall be omitted from, Volume I. Each volume shall be indexed by evaluation factor.

Volumes shall be organized in the following manner:

The Schedule

All pages in Volume I, except the introductory letter, shall include page numbering.

Content which is outside the Page Limits in the above chart will not be evaluated by the Government.

L.3.1 Paper Size and Formatting Written materials shall be submitted on 1 sided single-spaced pages using standard 8 ½” x 11” size paper with a minimum of 1” margins. Font size shall be Times New Roman, Calibri, or similar fonts with a minimum of 12-point size for text and 10-point size for tables and graphics.

L.3.2 Introductory Letter The following introductory information is required before the first index of Volume I:

· RFQ Number & Title;

· Name and address of quoter;

· UEI Number & cage code;

· NAICS / PSC;

· Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of quoter’s main point-of-contact;

· Date of submission;

· Name, title, and signature of authorized representative; and

· All technical factor assumptions to the RFQ and SOW shall be identified in this section. Pricing assumptions shall be identified in Volume II. Exceptions identified in other areas of the quote will not be considered.

L.3.3 Standard Form 18 The quoter shall complete Page 1 of the SF18 and Section B. The entire form shall be returned in PDF format in Volume II. Any SF-30 associated with any amendments to this RFQ shall be signed by the quoter and included in Volume II as well.

L.3.4 Factor 1: Technical Approach – Maximum of 6 Pages A. Methodology. The Quoter shall describe the processes and methods to successfully perform the tasks outlined in Statement of Work, Section 3.0 Scope of Work.

B. Modifications. The Quoter shall demonstrate an effective and practical process for identifying potential deficiencies and system repairs leading to the submission of quotes within 30 days of the finding(s).

C. Personnel. The Quoter shall demonstrate the qualifications and experience of assigned personnel performing the inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire protection systems. Quoter shall include details of the assigned personnel’s ability to perform the range of services included in the solicitation, ability to manage work being performed across multiple campuses, and ability to meet and support increases in resources to adjust to unforeseen events and schedule changes.

L.3.5 Factor 2: Corporate Experience - Maximum of 3 Pages for Contract Profiles The Quoter shall describe at least two (2) recent and relevant contracts completed or ongoing within the past four (4) years. Contracts will be considered recent and relevant if they document completed or ongoing work of a similar size, scope, and complexity for a Government or private entity. The contracts identified may be either where the Quoter performed as a prime contractor or performed under a teaming arrangement as a subcontractor. The Quoter shall provide the following information on each of the contracts identified in this section:

a. Agency/Entity Name;

b. Contract Point of Contact (POC) information (e.g., name, telephone number, and e-mail of either the Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer’s Representative, or Program Manager);

c. Contract Number;

d. Contract Type;

e. Contract Value (in U.S. dollars);

f. Contract place of performance;

g. Contractor’s Role in Contract (Prime or First Tier Subcontractor);

h. Description of the work performed, including scope and responsibilities;

i. Any significant problems or issues that occurred during performance of the contract and how the Contractor resolved those issues; and

j. Highlights of Quoter’s performance that contributed to the success of the contract.

The quoter shall use Attachment J.4 Corporate Experience Template to submit their Factor 2 response.

The quoter shall provide the identified Contract POC with the J.5 Past Performance Questionnaire for each of the two (2) agencies/entities referenced above. The questionnaires must be emailed by the agency or organization to the attention of the Contracting Officer, Tatjana Johnson, at tatjana.johnson@aoc.gov by the date and time established for receipt of quotations. It is the Quoter’s responsibility to ensure questionnaires are submitted timely. In evaluating this factor, the Government will reserve the right to use additional information obtained from Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) / Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) to evaluate past performance.

Quoters without a record of relevant past performance, or for whom information on past performance is not available, will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably, but will instead receive an overall rating of “Neutral.”

L.3.6 Factor 5: Price Each Quoter shall provide pricing that is in accordance with established GSA Schedule rates. Quoters shall provide a completed J.6 ATTACHMENT G - THE SCHEDULE (EXCEL). Pricing shall be submitted for every line item identified in Attachment G. The only base work for this contract is annual fire pump testing for (x4) Senate Office Building fire pumps. The Quoter shall not add additional labor categories, hide any cost cells, and shall show all viewable formula access with no cells being locked in the electronic submission of the price Quote.

Quoters shall also provide a document that indicates what BPA labor categories and rates are used to come to the total annual firm fixed price, for the base and all option years. For the line items in the FAR 52.217-8 tab, the quoter shall input the unit price that equals the unit price for Option Year Four line items respectively.

Open market rates will not be evaluated for award. All rates must be GSA schedule rates.

Section M. Evaluation Factors for Award The following will be the evaluation factors for award. The Government will utilize the Lowest-Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) approach to determine best value. Listed in no order of importance, all evaluation factors other than price, when combined, are of equal significance to price.

M.1 Factor 1: Technical Approach The Government will evaluate:

A. Whether the Quoter described the processes and methods to successfully perform the tasks described in the SOW.

B. Whether the Quoter demonstrated an effective and practical process handling modifications.

C. Whether the Quoter provided sufficient information demonstrating the qualifications and experience of assigned personnel and their ability to perform a range of services at multiple campuses and support increases in resources to adjust to unexpected events and schedule changes.

M.2 Factor 2: Corporate Experience The Government will evaluate the quoter’s past performance to determine whether the quoter demonstrated successful performance on the contracts identified under the quoter’s Corporate Experience section.

As part of the evaluation criteria, references other than those identified by the quoter may be contacted and the information received may be used in the evaluation of past performance. Additionally, the Government may use data obtained from other sources also provided under Corporate Experience.

The Government may contact the listed person(s) identified under Corporate Experience to gather additional information if it is deemed necessary. While the Government may attempt to follow up on questionnaires that have not been received, the quoter is ultimately responsible for ensuring their submission.

Quoters without a record of relevant past performance, or for whom information on past performance is not available, will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably, but will instead receive an overall rating of “neutral.”

M.3 Rating Scale The rating definitions below shall be used on all non-Price Factors.

M.4 Factor 3: Price The quoter’s price quote will be evaluated for price reasonableness to prevent the Government from paying too much for the services outlined in the SOW. Additionally, a price realism analysis may be performed to determine whether a quoter’s price is unrealistically low. An unrealistically low quote may question whether a quoter fully understands the size, magnitude, complexity, and scope of service outlined in the SOW. An unrealistic cost/price quote may serve as a rejection for the quote.

Price will be evaluated based on a comprehensive review. The quote will be evaluated with respect to accuracy and completeness based on information submitted in the quoter’s written submission. This process will involve verification that figures are correctly calculated, prices are presented in the requested format, proposed rates are consistent with the quoter’s GSA schedule, and any applicable discounts are accurate. Additionally, the Government may utilize one or more of the following methods to evaluate price:

· Comparison to other quotes received;

· Review of the proposed level-of-effort and associated pricing;

· Comparison and/or analysis to the Independent Government Estimate; or

· Comparison/analysis to historical costs and published pricing.

As part of the price evaluation, the Government will evaluate the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services for up to six (6) months. Thus, for the purpose of evaluation under this solicitation, the Quoter's total price will include the base period, all four (4) option periods, and the FAR 52.217-8 extension period.