Nowruz 2022 Celebration Production Instructions Eval Criteria 12.07.pdf

RFQ No. USAGM-22-Q-0001AM Nowruz 2022 Celebration Production

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1. ADDENDUM FAR 52.212-1 (INSTRUCTIONS TO QUOTERS)

1.0 General

a. Any questions concerning this RFQ must be submitted via e-mail to the Contracting Officer, Alisa Martine at Amartine@usagm.gov and must be received no later than Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at NOON. All (timely) questions received and responses to these questions will be provided to all Quoters via e-mail giving due regard to the proper protection of the identity of the submitter of the question and proprietary information. Quoters shall not direct any questions concerning this RFQ to anyone other than the Contracting Officer.

b. This RFQ does not commit the Government to pay any costs incurred in the submission of any quotation or in making necessary studies for the preparation thereof. Nor does it commit the Government to procure or contract for said services. The Contracting Officer is the only individual who can commit the Government to the expenditure of public funds in connection with this proposed procurement.

c. Quoters shall provide sufficient information for the Government to determine its level of confidence in the ability of the Quoter to perform the requirements of the solicitation based on an assessment of the Quoter’s technical capability information submitted in their quotation. Each Quoter shall submit a complete and acceptable quotation in accordance with the instructions contained herein. Such a quotation: (1) is for the total requirement and scope stated in the RFQ and (2) accepts each of the requirements, provisions, terms and conditions, and clauses stated in all sections of this RFQ. Alternate quotations will not be considered.

2.0 Quotation Submission

a. Quotations submitted in response to this RFQ shall be formatted in accordance with the instructions provided in this section. To be considered for award, quotations must be received no later than Thursday, December 23rd at 4:00pm EST.

Quotations shall consist of three volumes, as follows:

Volume 1 – Technical Capability (Includes Technical and Management Approach) Volume 2 – Past Performance Volume 3 – Price

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY (VOLUME 1)

The length of the technical capability volume shall not be more than 20 pages total (cover page not included). Quoters are encouraged to submit the fewest number of pages responsive to the Statement of Work requirements using the quotation section page limits as cited within this section. The Pricing information SHALL NOT be included in the technical volume of the quote. The instructions to quoters provided within this section assist in providing a fair and equitable evaluation of all quotations received. The Agency may determine those quotations not following the instructions herein to be unacceptable, and if so, shall receive no further consideration.

Quotes shall be submitted via email with the solicitation number in the subject line.

All file attachments shall be compatible with Microsoft Office product(s) and/or Adobe software.

1. Cover Page (not to exceed 1 page) – At a minimum, this page shall include the Quoter’s name, address, taxpayer ID number, SAM.gov registration; Quoter’s Point of Contact to include name, title, phone number, and e-mail address; the solicitation number and date of submission. This page shall also include a quotation validity date of no

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2. Executive Summary (not to exceed 3 pages) The Executive Summary shall provide a concise narrative summary of your technical quotation, highlighting any key or unique features.

3. Technical Capability (not to exceed 17 pages) At a minimum, the following shall be addressed:

a. Technical Approach: A description (in the Quoter’s own words) of the technical approach that satisfies the requirements of the Statement of Work. This discussion shall clearly demonstrate the Quoter’s understanding for performing the work, including the proposed methods to ensure that schedules are met, the methods for achieving the goals and objectives stated herein, and any other information (i.e., difficulties, uncertainties, and risks associated with the work) that may bear on your ability to perform the SOW requirements successfully. A simple repetition and/or paraphrasing of the requirements set forth in this solicitation is unlikely to provide for an adequate demonstration by prospective Quoters of a proper understanding of the scope of effort required and may be judged as insufficient for establishing technical capability.

b. Management Approach: Also, as part of the technical capability the Quoter shall provide a management plan that details how the Quoter plans to manage and balance the technical performance, time constraints, and cost factors. The plan must detail how work will be accomplished in a logical sequence that will lead to successful performance, including how resources will be allocated. The management plan shall indicate all tasks and how they will be monitored and the lines of communication between the Quoter and VOA.

c. Venue: Quoters shall propose at least two (2) Venues for the Nowruz 2022 Celebration Production and indicate the venues’ location and size. The proposed venues shall clearly meet the venue specifications outlined in the SOW. NOTE: The Quoter must notify the Contracting Officer if, between the time of quotation submission and award, their proposed venue(s) will be unavailable to secure for the celebration.

PAST PERFORMANCE (VOLUME 2)

Quoters must provide at least three past performance references. Quoters shall include Company Name/Point of Contact name and email/phone number along with the name of the previous project. Only references for relevant and recent, i.e., the same or similar (complexity, magnitude, dollar value) type of services performed within the past five (5) years from the date of this solicitation will be considered.

It is the Quoter’s responsibility to include the Past Performance Reference information within its proposal to the Government. Past Performance Reference received after the due date will be deemed late and may not be considered.

The Government reserves the right to independently verify the accuracy of the information provided to assess the confidence in the quoter’s ability to successfully accomplish the proposed effort based on the quoter’s demonstrated present and past work record.

Quoters without a record of past performance or for whom information is so sparse that no confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned will not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance and, as a result, will receive an “Unknown Confidence” rating. A strong record of recent and relevant past performance may be considered more advantageous to the Government than an “Unknown Confidence” rating.

PRICE (VOLUME 3)

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The Quoter's price volume of its quote shall include the unit price, quantity, discount terms (if applicable), and total price to be eligible for consideration of award. The quote must reflect the Quoter’s proposed cost and pricing structure in accordance with Attachment 2 - Pricing Schedule. Additionally, the price quotation shall include the following:

1. Your company’s Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS).

2. Your company must have an active System for Award Management (SAM) registration at the time of this solicitation. A record of such active SAM registration must be provided with the Quote.

3. A complete pricing schedule (Attachment 2) for this solicitation in Excel format.

4. A proposed payment schedule based upon the completion of project milestones that includes a brief description of the milestone, the deliverable to which the milestone applies to, and the milestone value.

(End of FAR 52.212-1 Addendum)

2. ADDENDUM FAR 52.212-2 (EVALUATION FACTORS/CRITERIA)

1. BASIS OF AWARD:

The Government will select the best value by conducting a tradeoff among all of the evaluation factors, non-price and price factors considered. The Government intends to award one contract to a Quoter who is deemed responsible in accordance with FAR Part 9, as supplemented, whose quotation conforms to the solicitation’s requirements, (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the FAR 52.212-1 Addendum of this solicitation) and is judged, based on the evaluation factors to be the best value for the Government. In using the Tradeoff methodology, the Government seeks to award to the Quoter who offers the Government the greatest confidence that it will best meet or exceed the requirements affordably in a way that will be advantageous to the Government.

This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced offeror where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors and the Source Selection Authority (SSA) reasonably determines that the technical superiority and/or overall business approach and/or superior past and present performance of the higher priced offeror outweighs the cost/price difference. All non-price evaluation factors, when combined, are significantly more important than price. CPARS and FAPIIS searches will be conducted to determine if the selected awardee is a responsible Quoter.

Relative order of importance of non-price factors: Technical Capability and Past Performance are of equal importance.

2. EVALUATION FACTORS:

The Government reserves the right to incorporate any part of the awardee’s quotation, in part or whole, into the contract. If the Government elects to exercise this right, the Government will address with the awardee whether or not that aspect of the quotation needs to be protected due to being proprietary or a trade secret.

FACTOR 1 - TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

The Government will assess its level of confidence that the Quoter will successfully perform the solicitation requirements based on the Technical Capability information submitted in the quotation.

The Government will evaluate the overall quality, reasonableness, and comprehensive understanding of the Quoter’s technical and management approaches as to whether it includes a detailed narrative that clearly outlines the methodology for accomplishing the requirements of the SOW.

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Technical & Management Approach

1. The Government will evaluate the technical approach as to how well it addresses accomplishment of

SOW requirements and whether it clearly demonstrates the Quoter’s understanding for performing the work; to include the proposed methods to ensure that schedules are met, the methods for achieving the goals and objectives stated herein, and any other information (i.e., difficulties, uncertainties, and risks associated with the work) that may bear on your ability to perform the SOW requirements successfully.

2. The Government will evaluate the management approach based on the extent to which it demonstrates capabilities to manage and balance the technical performance, time constraints, and cost factors. The Government will evaluate how well the plan details how work will be accomplished in a logical sequence that will lead to successful performance, including how resources will be allocated, how tasks will be monitored and how communication will be maintained between the Quoter and VOA.

3. The Government will evaluate if proposed Venues meet the specifications outlined in the SOW.

FACTOR 2 – PAST PERFORMANCE

The Government will review the Quoter’s submitted past performance information for recency, i.e., work performed within the last five (5) years of the date of this solicitation, or is ongoing, and for relevancy to this requirement based on similar size/scope and complexity. The Government will evaluate the Quoter’s relevant past performance information to determine the past performance rating. The recency and relevance of the information, source of the information, context of the data and the quality of performance overall will be considered in the past performance evaluation.

The information provided by the Quoter in the relevant Past Performance Reference may not serve as the sole basis of evaluation of past performance. The Government reserves the right to obtain and utilize information from sources other than those identified by the quoter to include the quoter’s Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS).

Past performance information may take into account predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience or subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement.

FACTOR 3 - PRICE

To be considered for award, the Quoter shall submit prices which comply with the requirements set forth in the FAR 52.212-1 Addendum above. Quoters who fail to comply with these requirements will receive no further consideration and may be eliminated.

The objective of the price proposal evaluation is to ensure that the price is fair and reasonable.

Adequate price competition is expected to support the determination of reasonableness. Price analysis techniques may be utilized to further validate price reasonableness. If adequate price competition is not obtained or if price reasonableness cannot be determined using price analysis of Government obtained information, additional cost data will be required to support the proposed price. The Government reserves the right to obtain data, other than certified cost or pricing data, as necessary to establish fair and reasonable pricing.

(End of FAR 52.212-2 Addendum)

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3. SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES

The following solicitation provisions and contract clauses are incorporated into this solicitation by reference and any resulting contract. The full text of all Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions are available electronically at http://www.acquisition.gov/far.

52.212-2 Evaluation-Commercial Items 52.212-3 Offeror Representations and Certifications - Commercial Items (Complying with this provision requires prospective Offerors to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) website at www.sam.gov (Offerors must be registered in SAM prior to submitting a proposal.)) 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items 52.227-17 Rights in Data-Special Works 52.223-99 Ensuring Adequate Covid-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (Deviation)

4. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

ATTACHMENT 1: STATEMENT OF WORK

ATTACHMENT 2: PRICING SCHEDULE

http://www.acquisition.gov/far http://www.sam.gov/

c. Venue: Quoters shall propose at least two (2) Venues for the Nowruz 2022 Celebration Production and indicate the venues’ location and size. The proposed venues shall clearly meet the venue specifications outlined in the SOW. NOTE: The Quoter must ...