171108_PC_Gen_III_RFP_L_and_M.docx

Section L - Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Bidders

PC Gen III

SECTION L

L.1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

To be considered for award, each Offeror shall submit its proposal in accordance with these Section L instructions. Failing to adhere to these instructions may result in the Government removing the proposal from further consideration in the source selection process. Offerors may ONLY submit one proposal in response to this solicitation. Proposals shall remain valid until 31 December 2018 and shall not contain classified information.

L.2 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

L.2.1 Written Proposal Delivery Address Marine Corps Systems Command 2201A Willis Street Quantico, VA 22134-6050 Attn: Katy Hurd, RFP: M67854-18-R-1309

Source Selection Sample Delivery Address:

Marine Corps Systems Command 2201A Willis Street Quantico, VA 22134-6050 Attn: Katy Hurd, RFP: M67854-18-R-1309

L.2.2 Proposal Submission Date Proposals are due no later than 1:00PM Eastern Standard Time on [DATE TBD].

L.2.3 Package Labeling All packages and boxes responding to this solicitation shall contain the following information on the address label:

· Solicitation Number: M67854-18-R-1309 PC GEN III

· A statement: "TO BE DELIVERED UNOPENED TO KATY HURD”

· The volume and copy number of the written material in each package/box

· The Source Selection Sample quantities and sizes

L.3 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

L.3.1 General Proposal Format Offerors shall submit technical, past performance, small business participation, and business proposals as separate volumes in loose-leaf three ring binders in accordance with Table 1 – Proposal Submission Requirements. Offerors shall submit one original technical proposal, one original past performance proposal, one original small business participation proposal, and one original business proposal. Both the Original and Copy volumes shall be in loose-leaf three ring binders. Each volume (original and copies) shall have a cover sheet marked with the copy number (e.g. Copy 1 of 2), title (e.g. Volume I – Technical Proposal), RFP number (M67854-18-R-1309), classification (i.e., PC Gen III), and Offeror's name. Each CD shall be marked with the title, RFP number, classification, and Offeror’s name. Offerors shall apply all appropriate markings, including those prescribed in accordance with FAR 52.215-1(e), Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data, and FAR 3.104-4, Disclosure, Protection, and Marking of Contractor Bid or Proposal Information and Source Selection Information. Offerors shall also stamp all documents “For Official Use Only and Source Selection Sensitive - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104.” Offerors shall submit all information for Government consideration in a clear, coherent, and concise manner sufficient to demonstrate an understanding the contract requirements. The Government will remove and not consider as part of the proposal any pages exceeding any pages exceeding a specified page limit. A page printed on both sides will be counted as two pages. Pages containing text shall be on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper. Drawings or other graphics should be reduced to the extent legibility is not lost. Each page shall be single-spaced with a minimum of 12 point font and one-inch margins. All pages shall contain appropriate numbering and contain the complete company name, date, and solicitation number in the header or footer. CD Requirements: Offerors shall use Microsoft Office 2007 software or higher to create the required .xls, .ppt and .doc files as well as Adobe Acrobat Version 7.0 or higher to create .pdf files. Table 1 below details the proposal submission requirements:

Table 1: Proposal Submission Requirements

· Design and Wormanship

· Manufacturing

(1) Original

(2) Duplicative Copies

(1) Electronic Copy - CD 30 pages

(1) Duplicative Copy

(1) Electronic Copy-CD No page limit

(1) Electronic Copy -CD No page limit

(1) Original

(1) Electronic Copy -CD No page limit

L.3.2 Specific Proposal Instructions

L.3.2.1 Volume I – Technical Proposal

The Technical Proposal shall contain NO proposal price information.

L.3.2.1.1 Source Selection Samples (Evaluated in Section M.1 GO/NO GO Criteria; M.3.1.1 Factor 1 Technical Performance, Subfactor 1: Design and Workmanship) Offerors shall submit source selection samples in accordance with Table 2:

Table 2: Source Selection Samples

The samples should contain a removable label that includes the Solicitation number, unique identifier (e.g., serial number) and the Offeror’s Name. Item Unique Identification (IUID) labels are not required for Source Selection Samples.

L3.2.1.2 Manufacturing (Evaluated in M.3.1.1 Factor 1 Technical Performance, Subfactor 2: Manufacturing) The Offeror shall submit the following:

1. Written documentation of a Quality Management System (QMS) that complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008.

1. A list of equipment, available personnel, and manufacturing capacity to address the ability to produce at least 1500 PC Gen III per month(threshold) 120 days after FAT approval, and ability to ramp up to 6000 per month within 180 days after FAT approval (objective). Offerors may assume FAT approval 90 days after contract award (estimated to be 1 December 2018).

1. Signed manufacturing agreements with laminate material supplier(s), stiffener material supplier(s), and hook and loop supplier(s). Manufacturing agreements shall verify the suppliers’ commitments to provide materials sufficient to produce at least 12,850 PC Gen IIIs per year. Agreements do not count against the page limit for technical proposal and shall be an appendix.

1. A Supply Chain Management chart demonstrating the use of Berry Amendment compliant materials for constructing the PC Gen III as well as the complete physical address for each supplier. The Supply Chain Management chart does not count against the technical proposal page limit and shall be an appendix. The chart may be incorporated into the final contract and become a quality assurance reference.

1. Self-Certification: Offerors must submit the following signed self-certification in order for its offer to be compliant. The certification must be from the Offeror and must not contain any alternative wording.

I, (sign name here), in submitting this offer under solicitation number M67854-18-R-1309, affirm that only products compliant with the Berry Amendment (10 USC 2533a) will be delivered to the Government. As such, all items delivered, either as end products or components, will be grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States (as defined in DFARS 252.225-7012(b) included by reference herein). This certification covers all materials (including those of all components) and components supplied by subcontractors at any tier, and all labor (including that of all intervening processes), whether performed by the Offeror or any of its subcontractors at any tier.

L.3.2.2 Volume II – Past Performance (Evaluated in Section M.3.2, Factor 2: Past Performance) Offerors shall submit up to three contracts (prime and major subcontracts in performance or awarded) during the past five years that are relevant to this solicitation’s requirements. Those Offerors with fewer than three Government contracts shall provide all Government contracts.

Past performance information shall include:

a. Contract Number and the associated Delivery Order in the case of Indefinite Delivery type contracts, GSA contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreements;

b. Government contracting activity, and current address, Procuring Contracting Officer's name, email address, telephone and fax numbers;

c. The contractor’s place of performance, CAGE Code and DUNS Number. If the Offeror performed as a subcontractor, also provide the name of the prime contractor and Point of Contact (POC) within the prime contractor organization (name, and current address, email address, and telephone and fax numbers);

d. The Government’s technical representative/COR, and current email address, telephone and fax numbers.

e. The Government contract administration activity and the Administrative Contracting Officer's name, and his or her current email address, telephone and fax numbers;

f. The Contract Type (specific type such as Fixed Price (FP), Cost Reimbursement (CR), Time & Materials (T&M), etc.) In the case of Indefinite Delivery contracts, indicate specific type (Requirements, Definite Quantity, and Indefinite Quantity) and secondary contract type (FP, CR, T&M, etc.));

g. The awarded price or cost;

h. The final or projected final price/cost;

i. The original delivery schedule, including start and completion of work dates; and

j. The final, or projected final, delivery schedule, including start and completion of work.

(2) Section 2 – Offeror’s Narrative Offerors shall provide a narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1 describing the objectives with specificity and detailing how the effort is relevant to the solicitation requirements.

(3) Section 3 – Contract Performance

1. The Offeror’s narrative for each contract shall that address all of the questions and information in the attached Past Performance Questionnaire.

1. For any contracts that failed to meet original schedule or technical performance requirements, provide a brief explanation of the reasons for the shortcomings and any corrective actions taken to avoid recurrence.

1. The Offerors shall also provide a copy of any Cure Notices or Show Cause Letters they received for any contract listed and a description of any corrective action implemented by the Offeror or proposed subcontractor.

1. The Offerors shall indicate if any of the contracts listed were terminated and the type and reasons for the termination.

1. The Offeror shall provide evidence of compliance with the requirements of FAR 52.219-8, “Utilization of Small Business Concerns,” and 52.219-9, “Small Business Subcontracting Plan,” in prior contracts containing the clause.

NOTICE: The Government may use data provided in the Offeror’s proposal and data obtained from other sources, to include the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Because the Government may not necessarily interview all of the sources provided by the Offerors, it is incumbent upon the Offeror to explain the relevance of the data provided. While the Government may consider data it obtains from other sources, the Offeror maintains the burden of proving acceptable past performance.

(4) Section 4 – Past Performance Assessment Questionnaire For all contracts identified in Section 1, Offerors shall complete Part I of the Past Performance Assessment and email the questionnaire to both the Government contracting activity and technical representative responsible for the associated contract. The POC should electronically complete Part II of the questionnaire and email the entire questionnaire to the Contract Specialist within thirty (30) calendar days of the solicitation’s release. The POC should send completed questionnaires via e-mail to kathryn.hurd@usmc.mil. Within 20 calendar days after the solicitation’s release, the Offeror shall also email the Contract Specialist a list of all the POCs to whom it sent a questionnaire. The POC list shall be in Word for Windows Table Format and include the following fields: Solicitation Number; Company Name; Contract Number; Government Agency; POC Last Name, First Name; POC Title; POC Telephone Number; POC Email Address; Date Emailed to POC (month/day).

L.3.2.3 Volume III – Small Business Participation (Evaluated in Section M.3.3, Factor 3: Small Business Participation) The cover page for the Offeror’s Small Business Participation volume shall summarize the Offeror’s Small Busines Participation goals for the total requirement using the below format:

Table 3: Template for the Summary Table

SB Participation Plan

Total

All Offerors r shall submit a Small Business Participation Plan presenting percentages in terms of total dollars of work for each SB category, divided by the total contract value.

The Offeror shall identify the extent and nature of participation of SB, WOSBs, HUBZone SBs, and SDVOSBs in the performance of the proposed contract. Participation includes subcontractors or material suppliers to the prime contractor or subcontractors. Offerors shall include in the percentages their own participation as an SB, WOSB, HUBZone SB or SDVOSB.

The plan shall include:

a. The name and DUNS number (or CAGE code) of each of the firm(s) included in the plan;

b. A copy of the System for Award Management (SAM) profile for each of the firm(s) included in the plan;

c. Discussion of the specific components to be produced or services to be performed by each firm;

d. Identification of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code (appropriate to the principal nature of the planned subcontract) supporting each firm’s size status;

e. The estimated total dollar value subcontracted to each firm;

f. The estimated total dollar value subcontracted to each SB category;

g. The percentage of total contract value subcontracted to each firm;

h. The percentage of total contract value subcontracted to each SB category;

i. Evidence of any enforceable commitments in place between the Offeror and the participating small businesses. Each participation percentage shall be accompanied by detailed supporting documentation regarding the individual commitments; and

j. If applicable, for each category in which the Offeror’s SB Participation Plan contains goals below those described below, a detailed explanation as to why.

SB Participation Plan Objectives.

The Government’s Participation objectives for this acquisition are:

Small Business: 5.25% Small Disadvantaged Business: 0.4% Women-Owned Small Business: 0.4% HUBZone Small Business: 0.4% Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business: 0.4%

L.3.2.4 Volume IV – Business Proposal (Evaluated in Section M.3.4, Factor 4: Price) Failing to provide a complete business submission may result in the Government disqualifying an Offeror’s proposal from competition. Offerors seeking any exception to the solicitation’s terms and conditions shall clearly explain the exception and its basis in their cover letter. Exceptions, however, may render the Offeror’s proposal unacceptable. Provisions in the hard copy marked “original” in the Business Proposal govern in the case of any conflicts between the hard copy and the electronic version.

L.3.2.4.1 The Offer The Business Proposal shall include a completed, signed copy of the entire solicitation with all appropriate “fill-in” sections completed as follows:

· Section A: An official having the authority to bind the Offeror contractually must sign the SF33. If the individual is not an officer of the company, the proposal should include written evidence of the individual’s authority to bind the Offeror under contract to a particular course of action, such as a written delegation of authority signed by an officer of the company.

· Section B: Follow the below instructions for particular Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) pricing:

· Offerors shall propose a single blended unit price for all sizes and ordering periods for each CLIN.

· Offerors shall enter the unit prices and total amounts for each CLIN.

· Offerors shall include their overall proposed price at the end of the Schedule of Supplies/Services section. The overall proposed price will be the sum of all CLINs. Failing to fill in the total price for each CLIN or failing to provide an overall proposed price may render the Offeror’s proposal non-responsive and may be grounds for disqualification. Electronic copies in Microsoft Excel format shall include all applicable calculations in the individual cells.

· The pricing for each CLIN shall remain valid for the duration of its respective 12 month contract ordering period.

· Section I: Complete all required fill-ins.

· Section K: Complete all required certifications, representations, and acknowledgments for the prime contractor and subcontractors, as applicable.

· Amendments: Offerors shall acknowledge amendments to this solicitation with signature upon a completed SF30, or appropriate annotation on the SF33, from an official having the authority to bind the Offeror contractually.

L.4 INCORPORATION OF TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

The Government may incorporate all or part of the successful Offeror’s technical proposal in any contract resulting from this solicitation. Additionally, the Detail Specification in the ultimately awarded contract will reflect all above-minimum performance levels or capabilities for which the Government gave evaluation credit during source selection. Nothing contained in the successful Offeror’s technical proposal shall constitute a waiver to any other requirement within the contract. The Order of Precedence clause governs in instances of conflicts between the successful Offeror’s technical proposal and any other requirement of the contract.

The successful Offeror shall provide, as necessary, any updated technical proposal changes reflecting the results of any clarification or discussion. If the Government discovers after award that the awardee did not incorporate changes into the contract resulting from any clarification or discussion, such changes to the Contractor’s documents shall be administrative in nature, and the Government may unilaterally modify the contract accordingly at no change in contract price or other terms and conditions.

L.5 PRE-AWARD SURVEY

The Government may conduct a Pre-Award Survey to examine the Offeror's technical ability, production capacity, quality control plan, management structure, financial capability, labor resources, performance record, and ability to meet required schedules.

L.6 PRE-CONTRACT COSTS

Pre-contract costs are NOT authorized.

L.7 QUESTIONS REGARDING THE SOLICITATION

Offerors should carefully read this solicitation’s terms and conditions and refer any questions in writing to the Contract Specialist, Katy Hurd, via email: kathryn.hurd@usmc.mil no later than 1:00PM Eastern Standard Time on [DATE TBD] . The Government may not address any questions, comments, concerns it receives after that time. The Government will post responses via published amendment to the solicitation.

L.8 OFFER ACCEPTANCE PERIOD

Offerors must hold prices firm until 31 December 2018.

CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY FULL TEXT

52.216-1 TYPE OF CONTRACT (APR 1984)

The Government contemplates award of a Firm Fixed Price Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity contract resulting from this solicitation.

(End of provision)

Section M - Evaluation Factors for Award

SECTION M

M.1 GO/NO GO CRITERIA

Offerors must meet the “Go/No Go” entry criteria identified in Table 1 below before the Government conducts a tradeoff evaluation of their proposals.

Offerors providing the components in accordance with the sizes and quantities listed in Table 1 will receive a “GO.” Offerors that do not provide the components in accordance with the sizes and quantities listed in Table 1 will receive a “NO GO,” and the proposal will receive no further evaluation.

Table 1: Go/No Go Criteria

Per FAR 15.503, the Government will notify all Offerors eliminated from the competition due to having a “NO GO” criteria. All remaining proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria contained herein.

M.2 BASIS FOR AWARD

This acquisition uses best value tradeoff source selection procedures in accordance with FAR 15.101-1. The Marine Corps System Command (MARCORSYSCOM) will award one, 60-month (consisting of one base year ordering period and four one-year ordering periods), FFP, IDIQ contract for the PC Gen III to an Offeror whose proposal (1) complies with the solicitation’s terms and conditions, (2) meets or exceeds the solicitation’s requirements, and (3) is the most advantageous to the Government based upon the Government’s assessment of the evaluation factors and subfactors. When making the best value determination, the Government will evaluate offers using the following factors and subfactors:

Table 2: Evaluation Factors

The Government will evaluate requirements without a monetized or defined value based on the relative importance to other factors. The Subfactors under Factor 1 are listed in descending order of importance. Technical Performance is significantly more important than price. The importance of price as a factor in the final award determination will increase with the degree of equality in the non-price factors of the proposal. The Government will evaluate Past Performance and Small Business Participation as either “acceptable” or “unacceptable.”

The Government intends to evaluate proposals and award on an “initial offer” without discussions. If discussions are necessary, the Government will establish a competitive range and notify all Offerors of their inclusion or exclusion. The Government will hold discussions with Offerors in the competitive range and also notify Offerors eliminated from the competitive range in writing in accordance with FAR 15.503.

The Government will use the following tables in the evaluation of Factor 1 and assess deficiencies, strengths, weaknesses, and significant weaknesses for the Subfactors under Factor 1. The Government will not rate the Subfactors.

Table 3. Combined Technical/Risk Rating Method

Description

DEFINITIONS

1. Deficiency: A material failure of a proposal to meet a Government requirement or a combination of significant weaknesses in a proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance to an unacceptable level.

2. Strength: Any aspect of a proposal that has merit or exceeds specified performance or capability requirements in a way that will be advantageous to the Government during contract performance.

3. Weakness: A flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

4. Significant Weakness: A flaw in the proposal that appreciably increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.

M.3 EVALUATION FACTORS

M.3.1 Factor 1: Technical Performance This factor consists of two subfactors, which are listed below:

M.3.1.1 Subfactor 1: Design and Workmanship The Government will evaluate the source selection samples identified below in Table 4, using Table XX and XXII from Paragraph 4.6 and 4.7 of the Detail Specification and the criteria in Table 5. The systems will be broken out and inspected by component parts also listed in Table 4. Each component part will be assessed to determine if any defects listed in Table XX or XXII exist for each individual component and a defect rate will be calculated for each defect across all the inspected components. Defects repeating across component parts within a given size or across sizes (e.g. the same width dimension out of tolerance across all outer cummerbunds or across all small outer cummerbund) constitutes 1 defect. The defect rate will then be evaluated against the criteria in Table 4 to determine if the workmanship is acceptable or unacceptable.

Table 4: Source Selection Samples

Table 5: Defects

< 14 Minor Defects

> 15 Minor Defects

M.3.1.2 Subfactor 2: Manufacturing The Government will use the information Offerors submit in response to Section L, Paragraph 3.2.1.2, to evaluate the Offeror’s capability to manufacture quality, Berry Amendment compliant products at a threshold rate of at least 1,500 PC Gen III’s per month 120 days after FAT approval. The Government will also use the same information to evaluate the ability to deliver toward the objective rate of 6,000 PC Gen III’s per month within 180 days after FAT approval. The date of FAT approval is 1 December 2018 for evaluation purposes.

M.3.2 Factor 2: Past Performance The Government will evaluate proposals to determine whether the Offeror has an acceptable past performance record (including compliance with FAR 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns, and 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan) using sources provided by the Offeror and other sources available to the Government. To evaluate past performance, the Government will first determine whether each Offeror’s recent efforts are relevant.

Relevant and Not Relevant efforts are defined as follows:

Relevant: Past/present performance efforts with similar scope and magnitude of effort and complexities required by this solicitation. For example: helmets, head protective equipment, or protective equipment contracts in similar size or value.

Not Relevant: Past/present performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires. Contracts completed more than five (5) years prior to the release of the solicitation.

The Government will establish an overall rating per FAR 15.305(a)(2) for the Offeror’s ability to meet the solicitation’s requirements. Table 6 describes the ratings.

Table 6: Past Performance Ratings

Past performance will be initially evaluated to determine whether the Offeror’s present/past performance is recent, and relevant or not relevant to the solicitation requirements. Second, the present/past performance evaluation will be evaluated to determine how well the Offeror performed on the prior/current contracts. 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. Therefore, the Offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance. In the context of acceptability or unacceptability, “unknown” shall be considered acceptable.

M.3.3 Factor 3: SB Participation Plan The Government will evaluate each Offeror’s Small Business Participation Plan against the Small Business goals in Section L.3.2.3 as follows:

1. Proposals meeting or exceeding the percentage goals in Section L.3.2.3 will receive an acceptable rating.

1. Proposals not meeting or exceeding the goals stated in Section L.3.2.3 will receive an unacceptable rating unless the proposal explains why and describes what the Offeror will do to increase the percentages for performance under contract. Justifications adequately describing valid actions toward increasing percentage goals will receive an acceptable rating.

Table 7: Small Business Participation Plan Ratings

M.3.4 Factor 4: Price

The Government will assess the Offeror for completeness and conduct a price analysis using one or more of the techniques specified in FAR 15.404-1(b) to determine price reasonableness and balanced pricing.

The proposed price for the PC GEN III will include production quantities, spare and repair components, training materials, and associated reporting. The total proposed price is the sum of the evaluation quantities for CLINs 0001 through 0069 priced and is detailed in Section B.

In accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b), Price Analysis, the Government will evaluate, but not rate, the price proposals by comparing solicitation prices among the proposals to establish price reasonableness. The Government will only award to an Offeror whose price is fair and reasonable.

A proposal may be unacceptable if the prices are materially unbalanced between line items or subline items and the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable total evaluated price, the price analysis reveals that the Offeror significantly overstated or understated the price of one or more contract line items. Incomplete pricing may also render the entire proposal unacceptable and, therefore, ineligible for award.