RFP_18-03_Plant_Maintenance_Svs.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

(THIS IS NOT AN ORDER)

PAGE

OF

PAGES

1. REQUEST NO.

RFP 18-03

2. DATE ISSUED

2/20/2018

3. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQUEST NO.

N/A

4. CERT. FOR NAT. DEF.

UNDER BDSA REG. 2

AND/OR DMS REG. 1 >

RATING

5A. ISSUED BY

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS (NEA)

400 7th St. SW, 3rd floor

Washington DC 20506

6. DELIVER BY (Date)

5B. FOR INFORMATION CALL: (Name and telephone no.) (No collect calls)

USMAAN Z. CHAUDHRY (202) 682-5494

7. DELIVERY

FOB DESTINATION OTHER (See Schedule)

8. TO: NAME AND ADDRESS, INCLUDING ZIP CODE

9. DESTINATION (Consignee and address, including ZIP Code)

10. PLEASE FURNISH PROPOSALS TO THE ISSUING OFFICE IN BLOCK 5A ON OR BEFORE CLOSE OF BUSINESS (Date)

Please Furnish Proposals no later than:

5:00 PM EST, FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2018

IMPORTANT: This is a request for information, and quotations furnished are not offers. If you are unable to quote, please so indicate on this form and return it to the address in Block 5A.

This request does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of the submission of this quotation or to contract for supplies or services. Supplies are of domestic origin unless otherwise indicated by quoter. Any representations and/or certifications attached to this Request for Proposals must be completed by the quoter.

12. SCHEDULE (Include applicable Federal, State and local taxes)

ITEM NO.

(a)

SUPPLIES/SERVICES

(b)

QUANTITY

UNIT

(d)

UNIT PRICE

(e)

AMOUNT

(f)

Proposals are requested for plant maintenance services in accordance with the included statement of work and request for proposal.

PSC: S217

NAICS: 561730

QUESTIONS DEADLINE:

E-mail to chaudhryu@arts.gov by 5:00 PM

EST, Friday, 23 February 2018.

PROPOSALS DEADLINE:

Proposals must be e-mailed to chaudhryu@arts.gov by the time stated above.

*Faxed proposals will not be accepted.

SEE

PRICING

SCHEDULE

ON PAGE 4

SEE

PRICING

SCHEDULE ON

13. DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT >

10 CALENDAR DAYS

20 CALENDAR

DAYS

30 CALENDAR DAYS

CALENDAR DAYS

14. NAME AND ADDRESS OF QUOTER (Street, city, county, State, and ZIP Code)

15. SIGNATURE OF PERSON AUTHORIZED TO SIGN

PROPOSAL

16. DATE OF PROPOSAL

17. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

18. TELEPHONE NO. (Include area code)

Standard Form 18 (Rev. 6-95) file:///C:/Users/shewfelts/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/FZ5SM5JP/contracts@arts.gov mailto:chaudhryu@arts.gov

Enclosures:

Section B, Supplies/Service and Prices

Section C, Description/Specifications/Statement of Work

Section D, Preservation, Packaging and Marking - Not Applicable

Section E, Inspection and Acceptance

Section F, Deliveries or Performance

Section G, Contract Administration Data

Section H, Special Contract Requirements

Section I, Contract Clauses

Section J, List of Attachments

Section K, Representations, Certifications and Other Statements of Offerors

Section L, Instructions, Conditions and Notices to Offerors

Section M, Evaluation Factors for Award

SECTION B

SUPPLIES/SERVICES AND PRICES

B.1 GENERAL

This solicitation is for plant maintenance services for the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA).

B.2 CONTRACT TYPE & TERM

Contract Type:

Firm-fixed price.

Period of Performance:

This contract shall consist of one (1) base year and four (4) option years for a total of five (5) years. The period of performance of the base year shall commence from the date of award through 30 September

2018. Subsequent option years shall be aligned with the Government's fiscal year (1 October - 30

September). Inclusion of options years does not commit the Government in any way whatsoever for exercising said option years.

Period Dates

Base Year Date of Award – 30 Sep 2018

Option Year I 1 Oct 2018 – 30 Sep 2019

Option Year II 1 Oct 2019 – 30 Sep 2020

Option Year III 1 Oct 2020 – 30 Sep 2021

Option Year IV 1 Oct 2021 – 30 Sep 2022

Location:

NEA Offices: Constitution Center

400 7th St, SW, Washington DC

(2nd & 3rd floors, SW quadrant)

B.3 PRICING

(a) All unit prices are firm fixed rates.

Base Year Quantity Unit Price Monthly Total Annual Total

Plant Maintenance Service 63 $ $ $

Plant Replacement Service* Each $ N/A N/A

Additional Plants

(As needed)

Each $ N/A N/A

Sub-Total (Base Year): $ $

Option Year I

Plant Replacement Service* Each $ N/A N/A

Additional Plants

(As needed)

Sub-Total (Option Year I): $ $

Option Year II

Plant Replacement Service* Each $ N/A N/A

Additional Plants

(As needed)

Sub-Total (Option Year II): $ $

Option Year III

Plant Replacement Service* Each $ N/A N/A

Additional Plants

(As needed)

Sub-Total (Option Year III): $ $

Option Year IV

Plant Replacement Service* Each $ N/A N/A

Additional Plants

(As needed)

Sub-Total (Option Year IV): $ $

GRAND TOTAL (FIRM-FIXED PRICE)*:

*NOTES:

1) All-inclusive figure (including any and all overhead, related costs, travel, etc.)

2) The above table comprise the contractor's entire cost proposal and include all requested services

(removal/disposal, etc.) as detailed in the statement of work below OR additional pricing information must be submitted in the proposal to capture all requested services.

3) The NEA is a federal agency and exempt from tax.

SECTION C

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 SCOPE OF WORK

The NEA requires the plant maintenance services outlined herein to ensure that the continued care, health and maintenance of plants is provided at an optimal level for plant retention, pest prevention, care and elimination that meets the agency's satisfaction.

C.2 DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS

For an inventory of the plants requiring maintenance as described herein, please see Attachment 1.

The contractor shall perform the following duties on a weekly basis:

1) Provide interior plant maintenance services for all NEA-owned plants in accordance with the attached inventory;

2) Water the plants;

3) Prune, clean, shine & dust the plants;

4) Mulch for planters;

5) Fertilize, rotate and conduct pest control analysis and treatment as needed;

6) Replace plants that are dead / not thriving;

7) Re-pot plants when the pot affects the health of the plant; and

8) Remove/dispose of plants from agency facility and inventory as required.

The contractor shall also:

9) Propose plants (if requested) for addition to the plant inventory should the agency choose to add new plants;

10) Provide, maintain and update a current plant inventory as required o Inventory must include plant location, re-locations, removal and/or additions.

11) Make available necessary personnel (plant specialist, etc.) as needed for:

o Providing recommendations and assistance with future plant selection and coordinating installation/delivery of new plants; and o Trouble-shooting plant health/maintenance concerns as they arise;

12) Provide an initial response within 48 hours upon notification by the agency of any concerns/questions and all necessary follow-up customer service.

13) Maintain a quality control system capable of documenting rendered services through-out the life of the contract; and

14) Notify the agency Contracting Officer and Project Director immediately in writing when the following occur:

o Any difficultly in contract performance is encountered; or o When the contractor has knowledge that any actual/potential situation may delay the otherwise timely performance of services.

C.3 ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS / NOTES

1) All plants must be covered by a full replacement guarantee. All plants replaced under the guarantee shall become the property of the National Endowment for the Arts.

2) Should the NEA purchase new plants on its own, the maintenance for the new plants may be added to this contract (any required price adjustment shall be negotiated at that time between the agency and the contractor).

3) There is no parking available at Constitution Center. The contractor shall make adequate arrangements for transportation to/from the NEA offices.

4) In order for the contractor to perform work in Constitution Center and make deliveries to the loading dock at the NEA offices, the building requires a Certificate of Insurance approved by building management. See Attachment 2 for a sample of the insurance levels. The contractor shall provide a Certificate of Insurance that will meet the building’s insurance requirements.

5) Employee Access: Agency personnel will sign in and escort the contractor personnel into NEA space each week upon their arrival at Constitution Center.

6) See Attachment 3 for the wage determination applicable to this procurement.

SECTION E

INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

See clause 52.246-4 Inspection of Services—Fixed-Price (AUG 1996). This clause will govern inspection and acceptance of all services performed by the Contractor. The Contractor is responsible for carrying out its obligations under this contract by controlling the quality of all services rendered and ensuring performance of all contract requirements.

SECTION F

DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

F.1 TIME-LINE

Plant maintenance services shall be rendered on a schedule as outlined in Section C.

F.2 NOTICE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF DELAYS

Required services shall begin at time of award in accordance with the Statement of Work. The Contractor is responsible for carrying out its obligations under this contract by controlling the quality of all services rendered and ensuring performance of all contract requirements. To this end, the Contractor shall establish, maintain, and manage quality control throughout the life of this contract. In the event the

Contractor encounters difficulty in meeting performance requirements, or when the contractor anticipates difficulty in complying with the contract delivery schedule or completion date, or whenever the

Contractor has knowledge that any actual or potential situation is delaying or threatens to delay the timely performance of this contract, the Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer and the

Project Director, via telephone and follow-up in writing, giving pertinent details along with an updated delivery time-frame. This data shall be informational only in character, and this provision shall not be construed as a waiver by the Government of any delivery schedule or date, or any rights or remedies provided by law or under this contract. Deliveries shall be made as immediately as possible after the written notification.

SECTION G

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

G.1 PROJECT DIRECTOR

G.1.1 Upon award, a Project Director will be designated to coordinate the technical/program aspects of this contract and inspect items/services furnished hereunder; however, he/she shall NOT be authorized to change any terms and conditions of the resultant contract, including price.

G.1.2 The NEA Project Director is authorized to inspect and accept all deliverables, direct the contractor within the scope of the statement of work and monitor contract performance. The

Project Director is also authorized to inspect, accept, and certify (but NOT reject or deny) invoices for payment in accordance with enclosed payment terms. If there is a dispute regarding any invoices, the Project Director must immediately contact the Contracting Officer and return the invoice with the rationale to reject or deny payment in accordance with the performance associated with the invoice for further processing.

G.1.3 The Project Director for this contract is:

To be determined at time of award

National Endowment for the Arts

400 7th St. SW

Washington, DC 20506

(202) 682-XXXX

G.1.4 The Contracting Officer for this contract is:

Usmaan Z. Chaudhry

400 7th St. SW, 3rd floor

(202) 682-5494

Written communications shall reference the contract number and shall be e-mailed to the Contracting

Officer/Project Director as necessary. Project-related questions may be directed to the Project Director while contract/cost related questions must be directed to the Contracting Officer. Questions regarding any changes to the contract whatsoever must be directed to the Contracting Officer. Any potential changes, interpretations of scope, and related matters must be submitted to the Contracting Officer for review and approval.

G.2 INVOICE REQUIREMENTS

G.2.1 Payment for actual work and services rendered under this contract will be made by the National

Endowment for the Arts via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and in accordance with the contract clause 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (FEB 2007), and 52.232-34

Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer--Other Than Central Contractor Registration (May 1999), upon submission of electronic commercial invoices to the NEA.

G.2.2. The office that will make the payments due under this contract (i.e., the designated payment office) is shown below. Invoices shall be emailed to the email address below:

NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV

Finance Office, 2nd floor

400 7th St. SW

To constitute a proper invoice, the following information and/or attached documentation shall be included with the invoice.

(1) Name and address of the Contractor

(2) Invoice date.

(3) Contract number.

(4) Period covered by the invoice.

(5) Number and description, quantity, unit price and extended total for the period covered applicable to Section B, Supplies/Services and Prices.

(6) Cumulative amounts billed by to date.

(7) Name and address of Contractor official to whom payment is to be sent (must be the same as that in the contract or in a proper notice of assignment).

(8) Taxpayer Identification Number.

(9) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number.

PLEASE NOTE:

The contractor is required to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at:

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/.

Assistance with SAM account may be found here: https://www.fsd.gov.

SECTION H

SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

H.1 SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

H.1.1 Private Use of Contract Information and Data

In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.227-14(b) Rights in Data-General, the

Contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information and data that is provided by the

Government during the performance of the contract. The Government has determined that some of the information and data that the Contractor will be provided during the performance of the contract is of a sensitive nature and cannot be disclosed in any manner.

H.1.2 Prohibition against Soliciting and Performing Personal Services mailto:NEAINVOICES@ARTS.GOV https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ https://www.fsd.gov/

A. The performance of personal services under this contract is strictly prohibited.

B. Personal service contracting is described in Section 37.104 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations

(FAR). There are a number of factors, when taken individually or collectively, which may constitute personal services. Each contract arrangement must be judged in light of its own facts and circumstances, but the question relative to personal services is: Will the Government exercise relatively continuous supervision and control over the contractor personnel performing this contract?

C. The government and the Contractor understand and agree that the support services to be delivered under this contract are non-personal services in nature; no employer-employee relationships exist or will exist under the contract between the government and the contractor or between the Government and the contractor’s employees.

D. Contractor personnel under this contract shall not:

1. Be placed in a position where they are appointed or employed by a Federal employee, or are under the supervision, direction, or evaluation of a Federal employee.

2. Be placed in a Federal staff or policy making position.

3. Be placed in a position of supervision, direction, or evaluation over NEA personnel, or personnel of other contractors, or become a part of a government organization.

E. Employee Relationship

1. The services to be performed under this contract do not require the contractor or its employees to exercise personal judgment and discretion on behalf of the government.

2. Rules, regulations, direction, and requirements which are issued by NEA management under their responsibility for good order, administration, and security are applicable to all personnel who enter a Government installation. This is not to be construed or interpreted to establish any degree of

Government control which is inconsistent with a non-personal services contract.

3. The Contractor shall immediately advise the Contracting Officer if the contractor or its employees are directed by any Government employee to perform work that the Contractor believes constitutes personal services.

SECTION I

CONTRACT CLAUSES

9.505-4 Obtaining Access to Proprietary Information

(a) When a contractor requires proprietary information from others to perform a Government contract and can use the leverage of the contract to obtain it, the contractor may gain an unfair competitive advantage unless restrictions are imposed. These restrictions protect the information and encourage companies to provide it when necessary for contract performance. They are not intended to protect information-

(1) Furnished voluntarily without limitations on its use; or

(2) Available to the Government or contractor from other sources without restriction.

(b) A contractor that gains access to proprietary information of other companies in performing advisory and assistance services for the Government must agree with the other companies to protect their information from unauthorized use or disclosure for as long as it remains proprietary and refrain from using the information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished. The contracting officer shall obtain copies of these agreements and ensure that they are properly executed.

(c) Contractors also obtain proprietary and source selection information by acquiring the services of marketing consultants which, if used in connection with an acquisition, may give the contractor an unfair competitive advantage. Contractors should make inquiries of marketing consultants to ensure that the marketing consultant has provided no unfair competitive advantage

52.204-9 Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel (JAN 2011)

(a) The Contractor shall comply with agency personal identity verification procedures identified in the contract that implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance M-05-24 and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS

PUB) Number 201.

(b) The Contractor shall account for all forms of Government-provided identification issued to the

Contractor employees in connection with performance under this contract. The Contractor shall return such identification to the issuing agency at the earliest of any of the following, unless otherwise determined by the Government:

(1) When no longer needed for contract performance.

(2) Upon completion of the Contractor employee’s employment.

(3) Upon contract completion or termination.

(c) The Contracting Officer may delay final payment under a contract if the Contractor fails to comply with these requirements.

(d) The Contractor shall insert the substance of this clause, including this paragraph (d), in all subcontracts when the subcontractor’s employees are required to have routine physical access to a

Federally-controlled facility and/or routine access to a Federally-controlled information system. It shall be the responsibility of the prime Contractor to return such identification to the issuing agency in accordance with the terms set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, unless otherwise approved in writing by the

Contracting Officer.

(End of clause)

52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions--Commercial Items (JAN 2017) - Incorporated By

Reference

52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive

Orders- Commercial Items (NOV 2017)

(a) The Contractor shall comply with the following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses, which are incorporated in this contract by reference, to implement provisions of law or Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

(3) 52.233-3, Protest After Award (AUG 1996) (31 U.S.C. 3553).

(4) 52.233-4, Applicable Law for Breach of Contract Claim (OCT 2004) (Pub. L. 108-77, 108-78)

(b) The Contractor shall comply with the FAR clauses in this paragraph (b) that the Contracting Officer has indicated as being incorporated in this contract by reference to implement provisions of law or

Executive orders applicable to acquisitions of commercial items:

[Contracting Officer check as appropriate.]

X (25) 52.222-3, Convict Labor (June 2003) (E.O. 11755).

X (55) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer— System for Award Management (Jul

2013) (31 U.S.C. 3332).

(End of Clause)

52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (NOV 1999)

The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within 30 days.

52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least 15 days before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.

(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.

(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed 60 weeks.

52.227-14 Rights in Data-General (DEC 2007) - Incorporated By Reference

52.243-1 -- Changes -- Fixed-Price. (Aug 1987) – Alternate I

(a) The Contracting Officer may at any time, by written order, and without notice to the sureties, if any, make changes within the general scope of this contract in any one or more of the following:

(1) Description of services to be performed.

(2) Time of performance (i.e., hours of the day, days of the week, etc.).

(3) Place of performance of the services.

(b) If any such change causes an increase or decrease in the cost of, or the time required for, performance of any part of the work under this contract, whether or not changed by the order, the Contracting Officer shall make an equitable adjustment in the contract price, the delivery schedule, or both, and shall modify the contract.

(c) The Contractor must assert its right to an adjustment under this clause within 30 days from the date of receipt of the written order. However, if the Contracting Officer decides that the facts justify it, the

Contracting Officer may receive and act upon a proposal submitted before final payment of the contract.

(d) If the Contractor’s proposal includes the cost of property made obsolete or excess by the change, the

Contracting Officer shall have the right to prescribe the manner of the disposition of the property.

(e) Failure to agree to any adjustment shall be a dispute under the Disputes clause. However, nothing in this clause shall excuse the Contractor from proceeding with the contract as changed.

(f) No services for which an additional cost or fee will be charged by the Contractor shall be furnished without the prior written authorization of the Contracting Officer.

52.246-4 -- Inspection of Services -- Fixed-Price (AUG 1996) (Incorporated By Reference)

52.252-2 Clauses Incorporated By Reference (FEB 1998)

This contract incorporates one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text may be accessed electronically at this Internet address: http://www.acquisition.gov/far/.

SECTION J

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

Attachment Title Description

1 Plant Inventory. Dated 2/16/18; 2 pgs. Current inventory of plants.

2 COI Requirements. Dated 2/15/18; 1 pg. Certificate of insurance requirements for building housing NEA’s offices.

3 Wage Determination. Dated 1/16/18; 11 pgs. Wage determination applicable to this procurement.

SECTION K

REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERORS

Each offeror must also have their representations and certifications filed online in SAM (System for

Award Management found at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/). If an offeror is experiencing technical difficulties during this process and is not registered at the time of proposal submission, a manually filled copy of the clause 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial

Items (NOV 2017) must be turned in along with the proposal. This shall not count towards any stated page limits for the proposal.

https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/

Registering an active account in SAM is REQUIRED for contract award. For assistance with creating a

SAM account, please visit the link in the paragraph above.

SECTION L

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS

52.212-1 Instruction To Offerors--Commercial Items (JAN 2017)

(a) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 561730 and the size standard is $7.5M.

(b) Submission of Offers.

Proposals must meet the following requirements.

1. Page limit: Proposals should be no more than 5 pages and single-spaced. Resumes and references do not count towards the page limit.

2. Each offeror must submit an offer in accordance with the pricing schedule set within this solicitation. The pricing table in Section B must be completely filled out in the offerors’ proposals. Any additional pricing information relevant to offerors’ proposals not captured in the pricing table in Section B must also be included in offerors’ proposals. Offerors are encouraged to consider including the cost of replacement / additional plants within the cost of the monthly plants servicing.

3. Each offeror must submit qualitative / written information pertaining to its capability, service coverage and equipment availability. Offerors’ proposals must describe the process and all costs associated with requesting additional plants, the schedule for plants servicing, having plants acquired for the agency and any costs per plant that would be added to the maintenance plan. Pricing for additional plants must be included in the table in Section B.

4. References: Each offeror must submit a list of three (3) references for roughly commensurate projects for a determination of past-performance. Contractors may wish to disclose instances in which their past performance may be considered by previous customers to have been less than fully satisfactory along with any explanation of corrective action taken if desired by the contractor and applicable. Reference information should include the following:

Customer point of contact (name, address, phone and email);

Period of contract performance; and

Description of work performed.

5. Resumes: Each offeror must submit a resume for each contractor personnel that will be servicing the NEA.

6. Each offeror must have a copy of its representations and certifications filed online in SAM or submit a copy with the proposal.

(c) Period for acceptance of offers. The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.

(d) NA

(e) NA

(f) NA

(g) Contract award (not applicable to Invitation for Bids). 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.

(h) NA

(i) NA

(j) Unique entity identifier. (Applies to all offers exceeding $3,500, and offers of $3,500 or less if the solicitation requires the Contractor to be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database.) The Offeror shall enter, in the block with its name and address on the cover page of its offer, the annotation “Unique Entity Identifier” followed by the unique entity identifier that identifies the

Offeror's name and address. The Offeror also shall enter its Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) indicator, if applicable. The EFT indicator is a four-character suffix to the unique entity identifier. The suffix is assigned at the discretion of the Offeror to establish additional SAM records for identifying alternative

EFT accounts (see subpart 32.11) for the same entity. If the Offeror 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 Offeror should indicate that it is an offeror for a Government contract when contacting the entity designated at www.sam.gov for establishing the unique entity identifier.

(k) System for Award Management. Unless exempted by an addendum to this solicitation, by submission of an offer, the offeror acknowledges the requirement that a prospective awardee shall be registered in the

SAM database prior to award, during performance and through final payment of any contract resulting from this solicitation. If the Offeror does not become registered in the SAM database in the time prescribed by the Contracting Officer, the Contracting Officer will proceed to award to the next otherwise successful registered Offeror. Offerors may obtain information on registration and annual confirmation requirements via the SAM database accessed through https://www.acquisition.gov.

(End of provision)

52.215-1 Instructions to Offerors – Competitive Acquisition (JAN 2017)

(f) Contract Award.

(4) The Government intends to evaluate proposals and award a contract without discussions with offerors

(except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a)). Therefore, the offeror’s initial proposal should contain the offeror’s best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary. If the

Contracting Officer determines that the number of proposals that would otherwise be in the competitive http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.acquisition.gov/ range exceeds the number at which an efficient competition can be conducted, the Contracting Officer may limit the number of proposals in the competitive range to the greatest number that will permit an efficient competition among the most highly rated proposals.

(End of provision)

SECTION M

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation--Commercial Items (OCT 2014)

(a) The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The Government will award a contract on a 'best-value' basis. For each evaluation factor, a point scoring system will be used to rank all proposals, using a rating scale of 100 points. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

1) Technical/Service Capability (40 pts)

2) Past-Performance (40 pts)

3) Price (20 pts)

In order to select the winning offeror, NEA will rank offerors from best to worst by making paired comparisons, trading off the marginal differences in capability and price. If one offeror has both the better capability and the lower price, then that offeror will be the better value. If one offeror has the better capability and the higher price, then the technical evaluation panel will decide whether the marginal difference in capability is worth the marginal difference in price. If the technical evaluation panel considers the better capability to be worth the higher price, then the more capable, higher-priced offeror will be the better value. If not, then the less capable, lower-priced offeror will be the better value. If more than two proposals are received, the technical evaluation panel will continue to make paired comparisons until s/he decided which offeror represents the best value.

(b) Options. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. The Government may determine that an offer is unacceptable if the option prices are significantly unbalanced. Evaluation of options shall not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(c) A written notice of award or acceptance of an offer, mailed or otherwise furnished to the successful offeror within the time for acceptance specified in the offer, shall result in a binding contract without further action by either party. Before the offer’s specified expiration time, the Government may accept an offer (or part of an offer), whether or not there are negotiations after its receipt, unless a written notice of withdrawal is received before award.

EVALUATION FACTORS

Below is an explanation for how each factor will be used to evaluate submitted proposals:

1. Technical/Service Capability

Offerors will be evaluated on their ability to provide the various services listed above in the statement of work and in 52.212-1 Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items.

2. Past-Performance

The Government will evaluate the offeror’s past performance based on the information provided regarding three (3) references/examples of work and based on the instructions provided in 52.212-1

Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items. In conducting the evaluation of proposals, the

Government reserves the right to utilize all performance information available at the time of evaluation, whether provided by the offeror in its proposal or obtained from other sources.

3. Price

The Government will evaluate the offeror's price to determine its fairness and reasonability in relation to the services provided as outlined in the offeror's proposal. The offeror shall provide a cost breakdown to adequately allow the Government to make an assessment of the various components of the cost.

END OF DOCUMENT