NB733050-22-02471 - Instructions and Evalation Criteria - Basis for Award.pdf

Instructions and Evaluation Criteria, and Basis for Award

NB688000-22-02116

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 Requirements and Specification document.

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, Schedule/Delivery, 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 – Schedule / Delivery

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, Schedule/Delivery 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 – Schedule / Delivery

c) Factor 3 – Past Performance

d) Factor 4 – Price

4. Evaluation Factor Importance: In this selection, non-priced factors (Technical Capability, Schedule/Delivery, Past Performance), when combined, are approximately equal 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. 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

(1) Defined as the vendor’s demonstration of the understanding and capability to provide the required items and services as identified in the specification document. This includes the authority to provide the required items (i.e. authorized dealer/seller/reseller), authority to provide maintenance and repair services, capability and method to successfully meet all contract requirements; this includes installation, warranty, and all other requirements.

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

Technical Capability is defined as the contractor's demonstration of resources and capability to successfully conduct/provide the requirement. 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, warranties and all requirements per the RFQ and Requirements and Specifications document.

(a) The Technical Quotation shall not exceed 6 single-sided pages (3 double-sided pages in total) 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:

1. Satellite Antenna

1.1. Nominal diameter of at least 2.4 m. Specification

1.2. Capable of transmission and reception (TX/RX).

1.3. Nominal Ku-band receive frequencies 10.70 GHz through 12.75 GHz.

1.4. Nominal Ku-band transmit frequencies 13.75 GHz through 14.50 GHz.

1.5. Nominal receive gain (midband): >= 47.0 dB.

1.6 Nominal transmit gain (midband): >= 49.0 dB.

1.7. Antenna noise temperature (at 10 degrees elevation): <= 61 K.

1.8. Ku-band feedhorn, appropriate to antenna design, with at least 2 ports for cross-polarized (linear) transmit and receive signals. Overall cross-polarization fidelity on TX signal >= 30 dB.

1.9. Minimum of elevation adjustment range: 6 degrees or lower.

1.10. Wind survivability: >= 125 mph (see Options below).

1.11. De-icing equipment, either integrated into antenna or as add-on kit, including controller, compatible with one of: 110V or 208V ac voltage.

1.12. Pedestal or mast mount, appropriate for mounting satellite antenna and interfacing with square steel flange, bolt pattern, or other independently prepared ground/roof mount.

1.13. Assembly hardware and instructions, if appropriate.

2. OPTION: High-Wind Survivability

2.1 Survivability of satellite antenna for wind speeds greater than 125 mpg, up to 165 mph (current ultimate wind gust design guideline for NIST campus in Boulder, CO).

3. OPTION: Motorization

3.1 Motorization of elevation and azimuth adjustment, including appropriate mounting hardware and indoor unit controllers

3.2 Optionally, motorization control of freedom polarization, including appropriate mounting hardware and indoor unit controls.

(3) 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, and the capability and method to successfully meet all the requirements including but not limited to item specifications, installation, warranty, etc. Vendors capable of meeting optional specifications 2 (High- Wind Survivability) and/or 3 (Motorization) may be rated higher technically over vendors who are unable to meet those optional specifications. Additionally, a technical quotation which is primarily a copy and paste version of the Requirement and Specification document and solicitation requirements will be deemed unacceptable and not given further consideration for award.

FACTOR 2: SCHEDULE / DELIVERY

(1) Submittal Requirements: Submit document(s) that clearly and unambiguously confirm delivery of all items by required delivery date(s); or propose alternate delivery dates.

The schedule shall identify proposed item installation dates, training dates, and any other critical date identified in the requirements and specifications document. Delivery / installation shall not exceed December 1, 2022.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: This factor will be evaluated to determine whether the vendor understands the delivery requirements and whether the vendor can meet the required delivery schedule per the requirements and specifications document. The Government may assess an earlier delivery / installation as more favorable and added value to the Government (Sooner may be determined better).

FACTOR 3: PAST PERFORMANCE

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

(2) Submittal Requirements: Provide the following information for a minimum of three companies / organizations / clients which the vendor has provided recent and similar items for:

a. Company/Organization/Client Name

b. Address

c. Brief Description of items provided

d. Point of contact (Email / Phone number)

(3) Basis of Evaluation: The basis for evaluation is a subjective evaluation of how well the vendor performed on recent and relevant contracts regarding the RFQ requirement.

This factor will be evaluated on an Acceptable / Unacceptable basis. Vendors with an overall satisfactory past performance will be rated as “Acceptable.” Vendors with a less than satisfactory overall past performance will be rated as “Unacceptable.”

Vendors with no recent or relevant performance records, or if the vendor’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned, the vendor may not be evaluated favorably nor unfavorably on the factor of past performance.

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 Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) or the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) using all CAGE / DUNS numbers of 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.

FACTOR 4: PRICE

(1) Submittal Requirement: The Contractor shall complete and submit one price quotation. Price quotations shall include the below identified information:

(a) A pricing sheet to explain the cost breakout in terms of major categories of the quotation, i.e. Total price for end item(s) to include shipping, delivery, warranty, etc. deemed necessary for determining price fair and reasonable.

(b) The quotation shall provide a total firm fixed price. The Government intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order, the breakdown is to assist with determining the price fair and reasonable.

(2) Basis of Evaluation: Price will be evaluated based on the total price. The

Government has requested, and shall evaluate, each Contractor’s detailed cost breakdown to determine the reasonableness and completeness of the price quotation.

One or more of the following techniques will be used to ensure a fair and reasonable price:

(a) Comparison of proposed prices/costs received in response to the solicitation.

(b) Comparison of proposed prices/costs with the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

(c) Comparison of proposed prices/costs with available historical information.

(d) A price/cost that is found to be either unreasonably high or unrealistically low in relation to the proposed work may be indicative of an inherent lack of understanding of the solicitation requirements and may result in the overall quotation being considered unacceptable.

(e) A price realism analysis will not be conducted; price will be evaluated for reasonableness.

(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 aaron.ritter@nist.gov utilizing Attachment B – Question Submittal Form, not later than the date specified within the RFQ posting.

(d) Quotations regarding the subject RFQ shall be submitted electronically to the Contract Specialist, Aaron Ritter, at aaron.ritter@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.

(End of provision) mailto:aaron.ritter@nist.gov mailto:aaron.ritter@nist.gov