PRESTO Instructions to Offerors.pdf

Section L – Instructions to Offerors

Procurement of Research Evaluation and Statistics Task Orders (PRESTO)

Solicitation #: 91990022R0054

L.1 Proposal Submission Instructions

The following instructions are for the preparation and submission of proposals. The purpose of this section is to establish requirements for the format and content of proposals so that proposals contain all essential information and can be evaluated equitably.

Offerors are instructed to read the entire solicitation document, including all attachments in Section J of this Request for Proposals (RFP), prior to submitting questions and/or preparing your offer.

Omission of any information from the proposal submission requirements may result in rejection of the proposal.

L.2 General Information

This RFP will result in the award of a multiple-award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity

(ID/IQ) contract across five scope categories. Section M details how the Government will evaluate proposals and the extent to which Offerors have choice in the category, subcategory, and task areas.

Offerors may compete for more than one competitive pool by submitting a separate proposal for each relevant scope category. Offerors may propose to all five categories if they so choose, or they may limit themselves to one or any number of categories. The Government will evaluate each scope category individually. There is no advantage or disadvantage to an Offeror that writes to more than one scope category or the Offeror that chooses to focus its efforts on one scope category Please see

Section M for restrictions on subcategory responses.

L.3 Small Business Contracting

ID/IQ Structure: Set-Asides and Restricted Versus Unrestricted Vendor Pools

With the exception of scope category 5, which has been set-aside for small businesses Offerors only, each scope category contains two competitive pools which successful Offerors may be awarded into.

These competitive pools are defined below:

• Restricted Pool – limited to successful small business Offerors which satisfy the small business size standards outlined in Section L.3.1 (“Small Business Goals and Size Standards”). Offerors in the restricted pool will be able to propose on requirements issued for both the restricted and unrestricted pools subject to any further limiting of competition or further set-aside as justified by the Contracting Officer.

• Unrestricted Pool – limited to successful Offerors which do not satisfy the small business size standards outlined in Section L.3.1 (“Small Business Goals and Size Standards”).

Scope category 5 will be set-aside for small business Offerors only and will be considered one, singular Restricted pool of small business contractors.

The form and nature of content submitted for both the restricted and unrestricted pools are identical

(with one exception, see Section M.6.2 Evaluation Factor 3 for other information required from

Other Than Small Businesses).

L.3.1 Small Business Size Standards & ID/IQ Contracting and Subcontracting Small Business

Goals

For the purpose of this solicitation, the small business size standard varies across scope categories by the assigned North American Industry Classifications System (NAICS) code designation.

A summary of NAICS code designations and the relevant small business size standards has been provided for each scope category as follows in Table 1 below. Successful Offerors which exceed the business size standards for the Restricted pools in scope categories 1-4 will be considered “Other

Than Small Business” (OTSB), and are eligible for award only in the Unrestricted pool for a given scope category. Categories 1 through 4 contain restricted and unrestrictive competitive pools.

Category requirements are the same in both pools, but the restricted pool is limited to small business

Offerors only.

Table 1 - Small Business Size Standards and NAICS Code Designations by Scope Category

Scope Category Pool NAICS Code Size Standard

Category 1 Restricted 541720 $24.5M

Category 2 Restricted 541720 $24.5M

Category 3 Restricted 541613 $16.5M

Category 4 Restricted 541611 $21.5M

Category 5 Restricted (SB Set-aside)

541611 $21.5M

The Department of Education (ED) has designed PRESTO to support the small business community.

As such, the tables below highlight ED’s contracting and subcontracting goals as of FY22. These goals will only increase, and ED will include subcontracting requirements (to be reported through the

IDIQ Subcontracting Plan) for all PRESTO task orders not set aside for restricted competition among small businesses.

Table 2 – FY2022 Small and Socioeconomic Business Contracting Goals

FY2022 Small and Socioeconomic Business Contracting Goals

Small Business Category Prime Sub

Small Business 14% 37%

Small Disadvantaged Business 8.25% 5%

Women-Owned Small Business 5% 5%

HUBZone Small Business 3% 3%

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small

Business

3% 3%

L.4 Partnerships and Joint Ventures

For the purposes of this ID/IQ award, two or more companies may form a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor. This type of joint venture will receive one contract award for all members of the joint venture. Additional teaming arrangements may be permitted at the task order level once the ID/IQ is established. A party responding as a partnership or joint venture must ensure that it complies with FAR 9.601 requirements and all applicable requirements for partnerships and joint ventures defined in 13 CFR 125.

L.5 Clarification Questions

The Government will accept clarification questions from potential Offerors. Questions relevant to this solicitation must be submitted via the Clarification Questions web form [MS Forms Link 1]. Question submissions are due no later than 12:00 PM Eastern Time on September 5, 2022.

The Government may not provide a response to clarification questions submitted after the due date.

Offerors will not receive a response until all questions have been received by the date due. Once reviewed and addressed, the Contracting Officer (CO) will post the complete Q&A response to

SAM.gov.

L.6 Proposal Contents

General Instructions

All information within the page limitations of the proposal is subject to evaluation, and it is understood that the proposal submission will become a part of the official contract file.

At a minimum, all proposal submissions must include the title, “PRESTO, Solicitation

91990022R0054, and Applicable Category Number. The information above shall also be included in the cover of each proposal, and the header of each page located within the proposal volume(s).

Additional formatting requirements are located in Section L.7 (“Proposal Format”).

In addition to Phase I Submission Contents, ED requests that Offerors please complete and submit the Request for Proposal (RFP) Supplementary Information web form [MS Forms Link 2].

This form is intended to provide supplementary information for the proposal, and Offerors will be asked to self-select the scope categories, subcategories, and tasks the Offeror intends to address in their proposal submission. The Government recommends Offerors submit the RFP Supplementary

Information web form only after they have completed and are ready to submit their Technical Volume in Phase I.

NOTE: The RFP Supplementary Information web form is requested, but not required for each Offeror.

Any error in the submission of the RFP Supplementary Information web form or omission will not negatively impact an Offeror or result in their automatic disqualification – this form will only further aid the Government in the evaluation of proposal submission.

L.6.1 Phase I-Volume I Submission Contents

The sections below speak to submissions for each scope category.

Recent and Relevant Experience Information

The Offeror must provide sufficient information for the Government to evaluate its level of confidence that the demonstrated prior experience in the specified scope category is recent, relevant, represents the highest quality of work, and demonstrates successful outcomes for that particular scope category.

In order for ED to determine if the information is recent, please include the following information:

• Name of the Customer/Agency/Organization

• Contract/Task Order/Project Title

• Contract/Task Order Type

• Prime/Subcontractor Percentage

• Period of Performance

• Total Contract/Task Order Dollar Value

Recent and relevant information:

• Is not limited to Federal experience and may include State, Local, or private sector work;

• Is not limited to experience as a prime contractor and thus may comprise work performed by the Offeror as a subcontractor at any tier;

• May include the same cited past experience across any and all scope categories if the Offeror so chooses;

• May be referenced in Phase II as aligned with the Phase II evaluation factors.

Table 3 – Phase I Submission Contents

Document Description

PRESTO – Technical Volume I PDF File containing the totality of the Phase

I response document.

RFP Supplementary Information Web form containing a checklist for Offerors to indicate what categories, subcategories, and tasks they address in their Technical

Volume I.

L.6.2 Phase II-Volume II Submission Contents

The Offeror shall submit a written response in PDF format to address Factors 2 and 3 for each scope category that they have self-selected as indicated in Section M. The length of each scope category’s response must adhere to the page limitations identified in Table 7. Written content that extends beyond these page limits for the identified scope category will not be considered.

Example 1: If an Offeror is submitting proposals for scope categories 1, 3, and 5; the Offeror shall provide three (3) separate proposals for each scope category (1, 3, and 5) and address technical

Factors 2 and 3 separately within each proposal submission.

Example 2: If an Offeror is only submitting a proposal to category 1; the Offeror shall provide one

(1) submission for technical Factors 2 and 3.

For any prior experience cited, the Offeror must provide a summary of the contract/task order information to include the following data:

• Name of the Customer/Agency/Organization

• Point of Contact Information

• Contract/Task Order/Project Title

• Contract/Task Order Type

• Prime/Subcontractor Percentage

• Period of Performance

• Total Contract Dollar Value

Personnel Information

Phase II does not mandate Offerors include resumes although personnel is a component of Factor 2. It is up to the Offeror to determine the best means by which it will convey personnel information. It may allocate page space to resumes, it may include excerpts from a resume, or the Offeror may simply reference skills, accomplishments, and successful outcomes in the narrative response. All personnel content (including resumes if the Offeror chooses to submit resumes) must conform to the formatting and page restrictions listed otherwise in this document.

Table 4 – Phase II Submission Contents

Document Description

PRESTO – Technical Volume II Totality of Phase II Technical Submission

PRESTO – Business Volume Totality of Conflicts of Interest, Assumptions, Exclusions, or Deviations

PRESTO – Price Volume (Excel) Totality of ID/IQ Labor Rates

L.7 Proposal Format

This RFP does not commit the Government to pay any cost for the preparation and submission of a proposal. Submission requirements vary based on the procurement phase and proposed scope category. A breakdown of the page limitations are provided in Table 7 below.

Page Limitations:

Phase I and Phase II submissions must adhere to the page count described in Table 7 below. Page limitations do not change based on the number of subcategories the offeror selects for its response.

Table 5 – Multi-Phase Proposal Submission with Page Limits

Proposal Submission Page Limit

Phase I Submission: Technical Volume I (PDF)

Factor 1: Demonstrated Prior Experience 10 Pages

Phase 2 Submission: Technical Volume II (PDF)

Factor 2: Technical Capability & Personnel Qualifications 20 Pages

Factor 3: Demonstrated Problem Solving, Management, and Small Business Engagement

Phase 2 Submission: Business Volume (PDF)

Conflicts of Interest, Assumptions, Exclusions, or

Deviations

No Limit

Phase 2 Submission: Price Volume (Excel)

Price (Labor Category (LCAT) rate card) No Limit

File Format:

The Offeror shall submit a separate proposal volume in PDF file format for each scope category and the length of each response must adhere to the page limitations provided above, for which the Offeror will submit a response. For example, an Offeror responding only to scope category 1 will submit one

PDF whereas an Offeror responding to three scope categories will submit three Phase I volumes.

Written content that extends beyond the page limitations listed for any scope category response will not be considered and may result in the Offeror’s proposal being rejected. Offerors must adhere to the following formatting requirements in their proposal submission:

1. Font: All font shall be Times New Roman twelve (12) point, except for diagrams and drawings where impractical. Fonts in graphics and charts shall be no smaller than eight (8) point, and each page within each attachment shall be numbered consecutively.

2. Spacing: Line spacing should be no larger or smaller than single-spaced.

3. Margins: Files shall be submitted in PDF format, margins shall be set at 1” for the top and bottom and .75” for the left and right, and the documents shall be submitted so that each page will print on 8.5” x 11” paper.

4. File Size: Email attachments cannot exceed 25 megabytes (MB) in total. Compressed or “zip” files are acceptable.

5. Markings: Each page containing proprietary information should be marked so, and each page shall contain the following legend at the bottom of each sheet: This Document is Source

Selection Sensitive Information in accordance with (IAW) FAR 2.101 and 3.104.

6. Exclusions: The cover page, table of contents, and cover letter are excluded from the page limit in responses. ED will not review or consider any technical information included in the cover page for the purpose of technical evaluation.

L.8 Proposal Submission Instructions

L.8.1 Phase I Proposal Submission Instructions

The proposal submission for Phase I, Demonstrated Prior Experience, shall be received on or before 5:00 PM Eastern Time on September 13, 2022. Please note it is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure/verify that the U.S. Department of Education – Contract Acquisition Management (CAM) office receives its submission on or before the time specified. If a Phase I proposal is not received on or before the date and time specified, the Offeror’s submission may be considered late and may be rejected.

NOTE: Factor 1 will be the basis for an Advisory Notice to Offerors. Regardless of the recommendation in the Advisory Notice, any Offeror may choose to proceed to Phase II. Failure to participate in Phase I of the procurement precludes further consideration of an Offeror.

The Phase I proposal shall be submitted electronically as an email attachment to PRESTO@ed.gov, in addition to the Points of Contact listed below:

Table 6 – Phase I Submission Points of Contact

Points of Contact

Name Title E-mail Address

Endrias Leuleseged Contracting Officer Endrias.Leuleseged@ed.gov

Dayna Myers Contract Specialist Dayna.Myers@ed.gov

Charles Fields Contract Specialist Charles.Fields@ed.gov

NOTE: The Department’s email system cannot handle emails larger than 25 MB. Submissions should be broken up into separate emails if necessary. Electronic file names must not contain special characters (e.g. #, *, ?, (,), {,}, %, >, <, /, \, $, |).

L.8.2 Advisory Notifications

After the Government completes the evaluation of Phase I submissions (Factor 1), Offerors will receive an advisory notification via email from the Contracting Officer. Offerors who rate most highly for Factor 1 will be advised to proceed to Phase II. Offerors who were not among the most highly rated will be advised that they are unlikely to be viable competitors and will receive a recommendation not to proceed to Phase II. Offerors are advised that their Factor 1 evaluation results will carry forward to Phase II and will be considered in the Government’s decision of the highest technically rated Offerors with a fair and reasonable price. The intent of this advice is to minimize proposal development costs for those Offerors with little chance of receiving an award. This will be a recommendation only and discontinuing the pursuit of the requirement following the notification is voluntary.

NOTE: As Offerors may submit multiple Phase I proposal responses in accordance with the scope categories for which they have self-selected in Section M, it is possible that some Offerors may be advised to proceed to Phase II on a reduced number of scope categories.

For Example: If an Offeror submits a proposal for scope categories 1, 3, and 5 in Phase I, the

Offeror may be advised to proceed to Phase II on scope categories 3 and 5 but not 1.

Regardless of the Government’s advisory notice, all Offerors who choose to proceed to Phase II must follow the general Phase II submission instructions below. Phase II submission deadlines will be established in the advisory notification. For planning purposes Offerors should assume that they will be afforded 30 days to prepare Phase II responses.

L.8.3 Phase II Proposal Submission Instructions

The Phase II proposal shall be submitted electronically as an email attachment to PRESTO@ed.gov, in addition to the Points of Contact listed below:

Table 7 – Phase II Submission Points of Contact

Points of Contact

Name Title E-mail Address

Endrias Leuleseged Contracting Officer Endrias.Leuleseged@ed.gov

Dayna Myers Contract Specialist Dayna.Myers@ed.gov

Charles Fields Contract Specialist Charles.Fields@ed.gov

NOTE: The Department’s email system cannot handle emails larger than 25MB. Submissions should be broken up into separate emails if necessary. Electronic file names must not contain special characters (e.g., #, *, (,), {,}, %, >, <, /, \, $, |).

L.8.4 Business Volume

Each Offeror should submit a separate Business Volume to include, at minimum, the following elements:

NOTE: LCAT rate cards should be included in the Price Volume Excel document, and do not need to be duplicated in the PDF Business Volume.

(i) Conflict of Interest:

Offerors must include a conflict of interest plan that outlines how the offeror approaches, identifies, manages, and mitigates conflicts of interest in accordance with FAR 9.5.

(ii) Approved Purchasing System:

An approved purchasing system is one that has been reviewed for its efficiency and effectiveness in how the contractor spends government funds and complies with government policy when subcontracting. The purchasing system must have been approved by DCMA or other federal agency.

The government will accept a copy of the contractor’s purchasing system review report

(CPSR) or other documentation granting purchasing system approval.

(iii) Verification of an Adequate Accounting System:

Contractors must be able to respond to cost reimbursement RFQs. Therefore, to be eligible for award, offerors must have an accounting system that has been audited and determined adequate for determining costs applicable to this contract in accordance with

FAR 16.301-3(a)(1).

The government will accept audit reports from DCMA, DCAA, a federal civilian audit agency, or a third party certified public accounting firm. The report must provide a contact name and contact information (i.e., phone number, address, email address) of the auditor or firm that reviewed the offeror’s financial information.

A fully signed copy (by DCMA, DCAA, federal civilian agency, or third party CPA authorized official) of an SF-1408 Pre-award Survey of a Prospective Contractor is acceptable. A signed determination letter from DCMA, approving the offeror’s accounting system is also sufficient.

(iv) Master Small Business Subcontracting Plan (OTSB Offerors)

OTSB offerors must submit a Master Small Business Subcontracting Plan that reflects

ED’s subcontracting goals.

(v) Description of Labor Rates:

Offerors must include any relevant narrative description of the proposed labor rates. At minimum, the narrative should include and/or represent:

• Include a brief description of the position as indicated in the template;

• Represent a fully burdened labor rate;

• Include reasonable escalation (if applicable) for the life of the ID/IQ;

• Identify any labor categories that the Offeror believes are subject to Service

Contract Labor Standards

NOTE: Labor rates for task orders extending more than one year beyond the end of the

ID/IQ ordering period, the ordering Contracting Officer will negotiate updated rates for any period of performance beyond Year 11 and continuing up through Year 15 of performance. For orders issued with a period of performance running through Year 11, the contractor shall apply Year 10 rates. In addition, when proposing on future task orders, Offerors are to propose and keep rates the same within a specified period of performance. Therefore rates shall not shift within one period of performance of a task order to the following years rates, until an option is exercised under the task order.

L.8.5 Price Volume (Excel) (LCAT rate card)

Each Offeror must submit an ID/IQ Pricing Template (Attachment A) to quote the appropriate labor categories and labor rates. Offerors must provide labor rates to span the total lifespan of the contract vehicle for each category as applicable. Offerors may propose as many labor categories as they deem appropriate to cover work expected in their particular scope category. Offerors are not limited to providing labor rates for a specific task within each subcategory. Offerors may propose labor categories that align broadly to all subcategories to which the Offeror is responding. Finally, given that Offerors are not able to respond to all scope subcategories for source selection, Offerors may propose labor categories that align broadly to all scope covered in each category.